Chapter 754: Heavenly Fox Patriarch |
All of as sudden, the four-colored lightning restriction on the stone gate began to rumble violently while releasing a terrifying aura of destruction.
Four bolts of lightning that were as thick as water vats erupted out of the array, with each one a different color, and all of them hurtled directly toward Shi Chuankong.
Each bolt of lightning was giving off incredibly fearsome lightning law power fluctuations, and this turn of events had clearly caught Shi Chuankong off guard.
He immediately tried to dart back in retreat, but it was already too late, and the four bolts of lightning were on the verge of striking him.
Right at this moment, Han Li's Profound Heavenly Gourd abruptly appeared in front of him, and a burst of green light erupted out from within before sweeping up the four bolts of lightning, causing them to slow down significantly.
The four bolts of lightning struggled with all their might within the green light, but were unable to free themselves.
In the next instant, Han Li appeared beside the Profound Heavenly Gourd before laying a palm down onto it, and the four bolts of lightning instantly began to shrink down rapidly before being sucked into the gourd along with the burst of green light.
Inside the second internal space of the gourd, four balls of lightning had emerged, each of which was around the size of a prayer bead, and they were giving off formidable lightning law power fluctuations that weren't inferior to those of a grade immortal treasure.
Han Li was very pleased to see this. Having recently used the Profound Heavenly Gourd on several occasions, he had already used up most of the law powers stored within it, so these four balls of lightning had come at just the right time.
"There's no need to thank me, Fellow Daoist Shi. Let's go in," Han Li said as he stowed the Profound Heavenly Gourd away.
"Brother Fox, Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul, we can go in now," Shi Chuankong called out.
Fox 3 immediately flew over to Han Li and Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, as did Weeping Soul.
Some color had returned to her cheeks, and she was looking in much better condition than before.
Shi Chuankong strummed his fingers over his lute to release more streaks of silver light, which landed on the ground to form a silver array, and the group vanished from within the array shortly thereafter.
Han Li's entire field of view was filled with radiant silver light, preventing him from being able to see anything else, but the silver light quickly faded, restoring his vision to normal.
Han Li looked around to discover that they were currently situated in a giant square hall, the ground and walls of which were all paved with some type of glowing white crystal.
The hall was enormous, standing at tens of thousands of feet tall and over a hundred thousand feet wide.
At the center of the hall were four square ponds that were roughly a thousand feet each, and each pond was a different color, namely azure, purple, silver, and gold.
Furthermore, the four ponds were filled with thick arcs of lightning, all of which were churning violently like furious dragons amid rumbling thunderclaps, presenting an awe-inspiring sight to behold.
There were some extremely complex array patterns engraved onto the ground, and they spanned the entire hall to form a highly complex array.
Occasionally, an arc of lightning would spring out of one of the four ponds, but whenever this happened, bursts of white mist would surge out of the surrounding array patterns to contain the escaping lightning.
However, what was most astonishing to Han Li and the others was that there was an enormous wooden cross on the ground at the center of the four lightning ponds.
Seated atop the wooden cross was an enormous white fox with nine tails resting feebly on the ground behind it.
There were four thick chains wrapped several times around the giant fox's body, binding it firmly to the cross, and the four chains were also azure, purple, silver, and gold in color.
Furthermore, arcs of lightning were constantly flashing over the chains, and it looked as if they had been formed by lightning.
One end of the chains was plunged into the fox's dantian, while the other end was connected to the bottom of the four lightning ponds, and all four were stretched taut.
Even though the giant fox was completely bound to the cross, it was still giving off an unfathomably powerful aura, making everyone feel as if they were standing before a primordial deity.
Right at this moment, the fox slowly opened its eyes to reveal a pair of light gray pupils, and a hint of surprise appeared on its face at the sight of Han Li's group.
"You're from the True Immortal Realm... How did you get into this place?"
"Who are you?" Han Li asked.
Right at this moment, Fox 3's excited voice suddenly rang out from beside him.
"You're Patriarch Liu Qi! I've finally found you! Ninth-generation disciple Liu San of the Heavenly Fox Race pays his respects to Patriarch Liu Qi!"
He flew over to the giant fox, doing so in such a hurry that he left a string of afterimages in his wake, then fell to his knees with an extremely excited look on his face.
Both Han Li and Shi Chuankong were rather bewildered to see this.
"I never thought that I'd see a member of the Heavenly Fox Race in the Gray Realm. How are things back home?" the giant fox asked.
"Everything is fine, but in the wake of your sudden disappearance all those years ago, our race was dealt a heavy blow, and we lost a lot of our territory," Fox 3 replied in a respectful manner.
The giant fox's expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "How is Liu Qing right now?"
Fox 3 took a hesitant glance at Han Li and the others, but ultimately still revealed, "Our chief has already severed two corpse souls and reached the late-Great Encompassment Stage."
"That's not too bad," the giant fox mused with a nod.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was stunned upon hearing this conversation.
It seemed that Fox 3 and this giant fox had both come from the Heavenly Fox Race, which was one of the most prominent powers in the primordial land between the Northern Glacial Immortal Region and the Black Mountain Immortal Region.
As for this Chief Liu Qing, that was most likely the white-robed Great Encompassment cultivator of the Heavenly Fox Race that he had encountered.
At the moment, Liu Le'er was cultivating in the Heavenly Fox Race, and it seemed like his fate was going to continue to be entangled with the Heavenly Fox Race.
Given the unfathomable aura emanating from Liu Qi's body, Han Li could sense that he was a Dao Ancestor, and he couldn't help but wonder how an almighty Dao Ancestor had ended up being imprisoned here in the Gray Realm.
"You have decent aptitude, considering you've already reached the High Zenith Stage at your age. Judging from what you just said, it sounds like you were looking for me. Did you know that I was in the Gray Realm?" Liu Qi asked.
"Ever since your disappearance, Chief Liu Qing has constantly been sending out people to search for you, and I was one of them. I joined the Reincarnation Palace by chance, and from there, I learned that you could be in the Gray Realm, so I found a way to come here, and here you are!" Fox 3 explained with an ecstatic expression.
Patriarch Liu Qi raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and a peculiar look flashed through his eyes as he remained silent.
The change in his expression hadn't failed to escape Han Li's attention, and he could tell that Patriarch Liu Qi seemed to be hiding something.
"What happened to you all those years ago, esteemed patriarch? How did you end up here?" Fox 3 asked.
"I'll tell you about that some other time. For now, answer me this: how did you manage to get into this restricted area? This is where the Infernal Tribe's four Baleful Cleansing Ponds are situated," Liu Qi asked.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this. It seemed that by some miraculous stroke of luck, they had made it to their destination, and Shi Chuankong was also ecstatic to hear this.
After taking a glance at Han Li and the others, Fox 3 gave Liu Qi a brief recount of the time that they had spent in the Gray Realm and how they had managed to get here.
"I see, the Three Region Conference does present a slim window of opportunity that can be exploited. However, right now, the entirety of Asura City is definitely already in a state of lockdown, so there's no way any of you will be able to escape," Liu Qi said.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong's expressions darkened slightly upon hearing this, and the latter looked down at his Virata Lute with slightly furrowed brows.
He had already tried to use the lute to conjure up a long-distance teleportation array to teleport himself out of Asura City, but the spatial restrictions around the city completely foiled those plans.
"There's no way we'll be able to escape on our own, but as long as we can free you, I'm sure you'll be able to take us out of Asura City with your unmatched power!" Fox 3 said.
"You want to free me? I'm afraid that's much easier said than done. These four Lightning Entrapment Chains were personally created by Yin Chengquan, and they've sealed away my immortal spiritual power and law powers. Unless they can be severed, there's no way for me to escape," Liu Qi replied.
"Please bear with me for a moment, esteemed patriarch. My cultivation base may be nothing worthy of note, but I have some tricks up my sleeve," Fox 3 said as he stepped forward with a confident expression.
Liu Qi's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he didn't say anything.
Han Li was just about to urge Fox 3 to proceed with caution, but he chose not to, seeing as even Liu Qi hadn't said anything.
Fox 3 strode forward before flipping a hand over to summon a silver longsword that was riddled with runes.
As soon as the sword emerged, bursts of rippling swordlight immediately began to spread through the air around it, and judging from the law power fluctuations that it was giving off, it had to have been at least a sixth-grade immortal treasure.