Chapter 750: Second Unsealing |
Han Li's trio was astonished by the sight of the gargantuan creature that they had just released.
Just a single one of its hands resembled a mountain, and they couldn't even imagine how massive it would be in its full glory.
The black flames were clearly also karmic flames, but the baleful qi aura and scorching heat that were radiating from them were countless times more formidable than those of the flames in the karmic fire lake.
What was even more astonishing to them was the fierce primordial aura that was emanating from deep within the crater. The aura exuded a sense of almighty power, as well as thunderous fury that had been accumulating over the course of countless centuries.
"Looks like Asura City is going to be experiencing some trouble for at least the near future," Shi Chuankong remarked in a grim voice.
"Fellow Daoist Li, should we really release this thing?" Fox 3 asked as he turned to Han Li with a hesitant expression.
"If we don't release it, we'll be dead for sure, but if we do, perhaps there could be a twist in the tale," Han Li replied.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the harsh sound of metal grating against metal rang out from underground, and around a dozen incredibly thick red chains abruptly shot forth.
Every single chain link was riddled with countless runes, and these chains seemed to have a mind of their own, wrapping themselves around the giant hand before instantly stretching themselves taut.
Han Li's trio felt as if their internal organs were shuddering in the face of this deafening roar, and all three of them hurriedly retreated a little.
The giant hand gouged three enormous trenches into the ground as it attempted to resist the tugging chains, but ultimately, its resistance proved to be futile, and it was dragged back into the crater.
"The seal doesn't seem to have been completely broken. Why is that?" Han Li asked with furrowed brows.
Shi Chuankong hurriedly flew over to the altar on the ground upon hearing this, then began conducting a close examination.
Moments later, his gaze settled on a flame pattern that had been revealed on the edge of the altar after the ground around it had fallen away.
"On the surface, this array looks similar to the All-encompassing Restrictive Array of our Devil Race, but its internal makeup is actually very different. We seem to have loosened the seal, but judging from the presence of these array patterns, it appears that fire-attribute law powers must be injected into the array in order to completely break the seal," Shi Chuankong said in a rather unsure manner.
"Fire law powers will be required? Fellow Daoist Baili is still out there buying time for us, where are we supposed to find fire law powers from?" Fox 3 asked with a wry smile.
Shi Chuankong fell silent upon hearing this. Indeed, none of Han Li's trio had mastered the laws of fire.
All of a sudden, a thought occurred to Han Li, and he mused, "Perhaps he can help..."
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out from outside, immediately followed by a draconic roar that sounded like a cry of agony let loose by the blaze dragon formed by Baili Yan.
Han Li immediately sprang into action without any further hesitation upon hearing this, raising a hand to conjure up a door of silver light.
Inside the door of light, Chi Rong was seated against the wall, while Immortal Lord Hot Flame had also already woken up, but his eyes were still completely wooden and soulless. As for the two Infernal children, they were still in an unconscious state.
"Fellow Daoist Chi, right now, we're all trapped in the Gray Realm together, so we have to work together..." Han Li began.
"Tell me what you need me to do," Chi Rong interjected before Han Li had a chance to finish.
"I need to borrow your fire law powers," Han Li immediately replied.
"My cultivation arts primarily specialize in the laws of time, so my fire law powers are only secondary to my time law powers. On top of that, the restrictions in my body haven't been lifted, and too much of my fire law powers had been extracted by those Infernal Servants to refine some type of treasure, so I don't have much left to give. If you need me to help in a big way, then I'm afraid you'll be disappointed," Chi Rong said.
Han Li turned to Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, and the latter said, "It's fine, we only need a small amount of fire law powers to set things into motion."
Chi Rong wasted no more time upon hearing this, quickly stepping out of the door of silver light before flying toward the altar on the ground below.
As he approached the altar, he suddenly swayed slightly as if he were unable to support himself, and Shi Chuankong hurriedly reached out to lend him some stability.
"Just inject your fire law powers into the flame patterns here," Shi Chuankong said as he pointed at the edge of the altar.
Chi Rong took a glance at the altar, then looked into the crater down below before raising an eyebrow.
"We don't have much time, so please make haste, Fellow Daoist Chi," Han Li urged.
Chi Rong promptly obliged, laying a hand down onto the flame patterns on the edge of the altar before injecting his fire law powers into it.
Right as all of their attention was focused on the altar, two figures suddenly flew out of the open door of silver light together, then began darting their way out of the hall.
Han Li took a glance out of the corner of his eye, and he discovered that it was the two Infernal children.
"Should I go capture them again, Fellow Daoist Li?" Fox 3 asked.
"Just let them go. In this situation, it makes no difference whether we have them or not," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
However, right as Chi Rong's fire law powers illuminated the flame patterns on the altar, a low roar rang out as black whirlwind abruptly swept out of the crater, then instantly caught up to the two fleeing children.
Han Li and the others immediately turned their attention to the two children, only to see their robes instantly disintegrate, while their exposed bodies rapidly fell away.
Their skin and flesh decomposed, while their bones were cracked and pulverized, and they quickly transformed into two viscous globules of blood that were swept back by the black whirlwind.
Han Li could sense a very unique aura within the two globules of blood that were rather similar to the true spirit bloodlines in his body, but were also somewhat different.
Before he had a chance to figure out what had just happened, the entire hall began to tremble violently once again, following which a vast expanse of crimson and black flames erupted out of the crater like a volcanic eruption.
"Get back!" Han Li hurriedly yelled as he darted away while closing the Flower Branch domain, and Shi Chuankong's trio instantly followed suit.
The sound of grating chains rang out insistently from within the flames surging out of the crater, and the same enormous hand from before emerged once again, only to be ensnared by more bright red chains as soon as it reached the entrance of the crater.
However, on this occasion, the giant fiery hand was clearly several times more powerful than before, and the chains wrapped around it were only able to pose brief resistance before they were snapped.
The giant hand rose up into the air with its fingers pointed straight at the ceiling of the hall, and it pierced straight through the ceiling with ease. Immediately thereafter, it hooked its fingers into the stone material, using the entire hall as leverage to forcefully hoist itself upward.
The sound of more clanging chains rang out as flames churned violently within the underground crater, and an incredibly powerful aura was emanating from within.
Han Li and the others were swept away in an uncontrollable fashion by the tremendous aura, and they were sent crashing into the surrounding walls in a lopsided fashion.
The crimson flames in the crater gradually faded, while the black flames were only going from strength to strength, erupting out of the crater with tremendous force. At the same time, the cracks on the ground rapidly elongated, and they quickly extended their way out of the hall altogether.
On the plaza outside the hall, Yin Gua had already withdrawn his Dark Hell, and the all-encompassing shadow had faded.
There were eight giant arms formed by dense shadows behind him, all of which were raised high up in the air, and each hand was locked firmly around a vital acupoint on the body of the black blaze dragon formed by Baili Yan.
It was clear that the blaze dragon was no longer fit for battle, and its entire body was riddled with massive wounds, while black blood was flowing out of its slightly agape mouth.
Not far away from it was a black cage formed by countless wooden branches, trapped inside of which was a petite figure. However, it was impossible to make out the situation inside the cage as the figure was ensnared within layers upon layers of black ghost vines.
Bursts of dull rumbling were ringing out incessantly from underfoot, and the ever-widening cracks quickly spilled out of the hall and onto the plaza beneath their feet.
Before long, the cracks had spread over an area of tens of thousands of feet, filling virtually the entirety of the underground space.
Clouds of dust were rising up everywhere, while tongues of black karmic fire were flickering out of the cracks on the ground before blooming like fiery black lotus flowers.
"Finally... It's come out..." the blaze dragon said in a feeble but exultant voice.
"Elder Yin Xu..."
Gui Mu turned to Yin Xu with a grim expression.
"Those fools!" Yin Xu roared, and his eyes were burning with fury as the eight giant shadowy hands behind him abruptly exerted force in unison.
Black blood came cascading down like rain as the blaze dragon was torn into nine pieces like a silken ribbon, and the pieces of its body came tumbling down onto the ground.
Its head, which was still relatively intact, fell beside Yin Xu's feet and was pulverized by a single stomp, but in the instant right before the head exploded, a black shadow flew out of it before darting away.
This didn't fail to attract Yin Xu's attention, but at this point, he had no time to chase after the shadow, and he could only make a dash for the entrance of the hall.