Chapter 741: Loss of Contact |
Right as Han Li and Weeping Soul were about to fly into the passageway, Su Liu descended upon them once again, and he swung his ax through the air to unleash a dense wall of ax projections.
Han Li was just about to raise his sword in retaliation when Su Liu was abruptly rooted to the spot, frozen in his current posture, and all of the ax projections also drew to a halt.
Upon closer inspection, Han Li noticed that there were wisps of black mist flowing out of Su Liu's mouth and nostrils, and a cloud of black mist had also appeared in his chest cavity, rendering the metal ball inside unable to rotate.
"Let's go, Master!" Weeping Soul yelled as she led Han Li into the karmic fire passageway.
In the next instant, a vast expanse of black ghost vines swept past Mo Guang before descending upon the entrance of the passageway.
The entire mountain face trembled violently as countless loose rocks came tumbling down, completely burying the entrance of the karmic fire passageway.
Han Li and Weeping Soul could sense the violent tremors behind them, but they had no time to look back as they flew toward the other end of the passageway as quickly as they could.
The passageway abruptly tapered as they advanced, concentrating the surrounding karmic fire, and a burst of baleful qi began to seep through Weeping Soul's spirit domain, making Han Li feel as if there were needles being driven into his mind.
He gritted his teeth tight as he attempted to suppress the unrest in his consciousness, but an irrepressible sense of violent anger was welling up in his heart, making him feel extremely frustrated.
However, the further they went, the more viscous the surrounding karmic fire became, and the baleful qi that they contained also became more abundant, thereby further exacerbating Han Li's pain.
"The closer we get to the Soul Cleansing Area, the purer and more invasive the karmic fire will become. I have to focus on controlling my spirit domain, so you'll have to look after yourself, Master," Weeping Soul cautioned.
"I'll be fine," Han Li replied in a slightly hoarse voice.
At this point, he was already channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might, but his mind was still becoming foggier by the second, and his heart was beating like a drum. At the same time, his blood was pumping through his veins, and the baleful qi lurking within his immortal acupoints was beginning to grow more and more restless.
Countless indistinct crimson figures had appeared in his consciousness, and they were rushing around in a frenzied state as if they were on a battlefield. He could even smell the sickly sweet odor of blood, and if someone of lesser mental fortitude were in his place, they would've most likely already given in to insanity.
At this rate, Han Li didn't feel as if he would be able to last until they reached the Baleful Cleansing Pond.
"We're almost there, Master, just a bit longer now," Weeping Soul urged with a concerned look in her eyes.
Right at this moment, Han Li's vision gradually began to blur, and his pupils took on a gray color, while the unrest in the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints also began to escalate out of control.
If his soul hadn't sustained so much damage from the Infernal Soul Bug earlier, then perhaps he would've been able to persevere thanks to his immense spiritual sense and Spirit Refinement Technique, but he was truly about to be overwhelmed now, and once his consciousness faded, he would no longer be able to channel his Spirit Refinement Technique.
If his baleful decay were to return while he was in such a vulnerable state, then he would truly be doomed.
Right at this moment, a glimmer of dark red light suddenly flashed in front of Han Li's glabella, and he discovered that it was Weeping Soul pressing a longan-sized red bead against his forehead.
The bead had a smooth surface that was giving off a warm glow, and there was a tiny beast projection inside, one that resembled the Weeping Soul Beast's true form.
Bursts of gentle soul power seeped into Han Li's mind alongside the warm light emanating from the bead, quelling the unrest in his spiritual sense while also clearing away all of the warring crimson figures.
As Han Li's consciousness returned to a stable state, he was able to ward off the infiltration of the baleful qi using his Spirit Refinement Technique.
As his vision returned to normal, he noticed that Weeping Soul was looking a little pale, and a concerned look immediately appeared on his face as he asked, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. This bead contains my soul essence, but I'll be fine once it returns to my body," Weeping Soul replied with a shake of her head.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then began focusing his attention on fortifying his own spiritual sense.
The karmic fire passageway wasn't very long, only less than ten thousand feet in length, and the hole on the other side was several hundred feet tall, resembling a cavernous mouth.
There were no restrictions inside, and Han Li and Weeping Soul flew out of the hole, then arrived at an enormous underground karmic fire lake.
The two of them rose up into the air to hover above the lake as they inspected their surroundings, and they discovered that the roof up above was pitch black and riddled with glittering black stalactites, while many giant stone pillars were standing around the karmic fire lake, stretching all the way up to the roof above.
Even further away on the edge of the lake was a series of embankments, branching out from which were close to a hundred paths that led to the surrounding mountain faces.
There was a series of smooth and uniform caves that had been drilled into the mountain faces, making the place resemble a giant underground palace, and to Han Li's surprise, there were no Infernal Tribe forces waiting to ambush them here.
"It looks like Gui Mu didn't alert the Soul Cleansing Area to our arrival," Han Li remarked.
"The karmic fire passageway has already collapsed, so even without an alert from Gui Mu, Elder Yin Xu won't be far away," Weeping Soul said with tightly furrowed brows.
Right at this moment, the sound of faint conversation suddenly rang out from within one of the caves on a nearby mountain face, and Han Li and Weeping Soul immediately drifted down onto a nearby embankment.
From there, they hid themselves in another cave, then concealed their own aura as they monitored what was happening outside.
A pair of children from the Infernal Tribe drifted out of the hole, then arrived at the bank of the karmic fire lake.
Both of them were wearing identical black robes, and they were very similar in appearance as well. It seemed that they were a pair of twins.
"Brother Lian, the elder may have told us that there's something important happening in the city today, so we can take a day off from cultivation if we please, but we're already ten years old now, and we'll be coming of age in two years. If we don't work hard in our cultivation, we won't be able to pass the final trial," one of the children said.
"My eardrums are going to grow calluses if I hear you say that one more time, Brother Yin! Don't worry so much, I won't let Yin Chang surpass me," the other child replied in a nonchalant manner.
Compared with adult Infernal beings, these two children had far more expressive faces, so they weren't so cold and forbidding to look at.
As the two of them were speaking, they sat down with their legs crossed by the karmic fire lake, then each made a strange hand seal, upon which bright black light began emanating out of their bodies, and wisps of pure baleful qi flowed out of the lake toward them.
As they breathed, two wisps of black qi were constantly worming their way in and out of their nostrils, presenting quite a peculiar sight to behold.
"Those two are only ten years old, yet they're already close to the Core Formation Stage and can cultivate safely in such close proximity to karmic fire... Infernal beings truly are terrifying," Han Li remarked in a low voice.
"Infernal beings have far superior karmic fire tolerance to beings from other tribes, and all of them possess tremendous cultivation aptitude. When it comes to aptitude, these two children are actually only below average," Weeping Soul said.
Han Li ducked back into the cave before walking some distance into it with Weeping Soul, then swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light.
At this moment, Shi Chuankong and the others were all meditating on the first floor of the bamboo pavilion, and they all rose to their feet at the sight of Han Li's arrival, with the exception of Immortal Lord Hot Flame, who had been bound by a chain of silver light.
His body was trembling slightly, yet he was unable to make any sound as his lips had been sealed by a purple talisman.
Chi Rong was leaning against the wall beside him with a concerned expression, and he turned to look at Han Li with a complex look in his eyes.
"What happened to Fellow Daoist Hot Flame?" Han Li asked.
"He's been driven insane by baleful qi contamination, and he suddenly began to go on a rampage, so we had to restrain him by force," Baili Yan explained.
"At this rate, it won't be long before his dao foundation is completely destroyed, and he's reduced to a gray immortal," Fox 3 mused with slightly furrowed brows, and Han Li fell silent upon hearing this.
As soon as everyone emerged from the Flower Branch domain, they immediately adopted measures to ward off the karmic fire and baleful qi while also hurriedly concealing themselves.
"Right now, we should already be in the Soul Cleansing Area, which is the most special one out of all of Asura City's major areas. Even Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul hasn't been here many times, and the area is also completely blank on our map. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can find the Baleful Cleansing Pond?" Han Li asked.
"Can't we just grab those two children and perform a soul search on them?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Last time, we alerted Yin Gua to our presence just by killing a puppet, who knows if there are any special restrictions placed on these children? We can't afford to take the risk," Baili Yan said with a shake of his head.
Han Li was just about to say something when his expression suddenly changed drastically, and he seemed to have been stunned into silence.
"Are you alright, Master?" Weeping Soul hurriedly asked with a concerned expression, thinking that he was suffering a recurrence of his baleful decay, and everyone else was also looking rather concerned.
"By the way, where's Fellow Daoist Mo Guang?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Just now, my spiritual connection with Mo Guang was completely severed. I tried to communicate with him, but I'm unable to even sense him anymore," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
A stunned look appeared on Shi Chuankong's face upon hearing this.
"Could it be that Fellow Daoist Mo Guang has already met his demise?" Fox 3 asked with an incredulous expression.
"He said that he was going to hold off Gui Mu for fifteen minutes for me. Regardless of whether he lived or died, he fulfilled his promise," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner, and everyone fell silent upon hearing this.