Moments later, lightning flashed overhead, and the Infernal Lightning Beast sped past with arcs of silver lightning revolving around its body, having completely failed to detect Han Li's presence down below.
Following a few flashes, the Infernal Lightning Beast disappeared into the distance.
Han Li's eyes flashed, and he remained hidden beneath the tree. After about seven or eight more minutes, he felt that enough time had passed, and only then did he slowly re-emerge within a flash of silver light.
Several silver runes flew out of his body, then combined together to form a purple talisman again.
Han Li waved a hand through the air, and the talisman disappeared up his sleeve as a streak of purple light.
Immediately thereafter, he sped into the distance as a streak of azure light, traveling along the exact same route that the Infernal Lightning Beast had just taken.
Not long after that, Han Li arrived back at the black light barrier from which he'd originally set off.
The azure light around him faded, and he hovered in mid-air to survey the situation down below, upon which his expression changed slightly.
There was an acrid smoky scent in the air, and thousands of sets of ghostly remains littered the ground below, large patches of which had been charred black. It seemed that this place had been ravaged by lightning, and there were Yin winds surging through the air, as well as residual fluctuations from an extremely powerful restriction. It seemed that a restriction had been forcibly destroyed after it had only been set up halfway.
A hint of surprise and bewilderment flashed through his eyes upon seeing this.
He was naturally unaware of the fact that the crimson-armored puppet and its subordinates had arrived at this place following his departure. After the Weeping Soul Beast had devoured the white-robed ghostly woman, these ghostly beings were completely unaware that the Infernal Lightning Beast was already on its way back. As such, they had no time to take evasive measures and were naturally destroyed by the infuriated beast.
If the crimson-armored puppet were to learn of the fact that all of its subordinates outside had been killed, it would definitely fly into a thunderous rage. If the white-robed ghostly woman had used the Myriad Distance Talisman to inform everyone of the Infernal Lightning Beast's return, then all of the ghostly beings could hide until the beast had passed through before continuing to set up their formation. That was why the puppet had asked its subordinates to deploy a high-grade ghostly being to track Han Li and the Infernal Lightning Beast, but never would it have thought that Han Li would completely ruin its plans.
Han Li circled around in the air at low altitudes, and didn't discover any living ghostly beings in the nearby area. He didn't know whether they'd all been destroyed by the Infernal Lightning Beast or if the survivors had all fled the scene. However, he didn't delve any further into this issue before turning his gaze toward the shimmering blue passageway, and he began to stroke his chin with a contemplative look on his face.
All of a sudden, he rustled a sleeve to hurl forth a stack of silver talismans, and it was another set of Nine Palaces Heavenly Talismans.
Due to how difficult these talismans were to refine, Han Li only had two sets in total. He had already used one set, so this was naturally his final set.
Han Li made a hand seal and cast a series of incantation seals onto the stack of talismans.
An incredible scene ensued.
The silver talismans rushed into the passageway at Han Li's behest, then disappeared into thin air.
It seemed that Han Li had unleashed some kind of secret technique to conceal these talismans.
Han Li withdrew his hand seal before blue light flashed through his eyes as he assessed the locations where these talismans had been concealed, and he nodded with a pleased expression in response to what he saw.
A thought then occurred to him, and he flipped a palm over to produce two more silver talismans.
However, these talismans were much different compared to the Nine Palaces Heavenly Talismans. There weren't any runes flashing on those talismans, but there was a faint humanoid figure inscribed onto each talisman. The facial features of both humanoid figures were quite indistinct, but the suits of golden armor they were wearing were quite clearly depicted.
One of the humanoid figures was wielding a golden spear while the one on the other talisman held twin sabers in its hands.
What was strange was that these two humanoid figures were moving around on the talismans and brandishing their weapons from time to time, as if they were alive.
As soon as Han Li summoned these two talismans, he rubbed his hands together, the talismans exploded amid two dull thumps and a flash of silver light. Two golden projections emerged within the silver light, then hurtled downward and disappeared into the ground, merging with Han Li's shadow.
Han Li wasn't hovering very high up in the sky, but his shadow on the ground was still extremely faint. Even so, the two golden projections were still able to conceal themselves into his shadow without a trace.
These were none other than the Armor Origin Talismans that Han Li had refined according to the method recorded on that half-page of the Golden Jade Tome. He had only refined three of these talismans in total, yet he was using up two of them here, thereby providing a sufficient indication of how seriously he was taking this operation.
It was no wonder that this was the case. After all, all of the beings within the black light barrier were fearsome beings at or above the Body Integration Stage. He wouldn't even be able to take on any single one of them, so he had to prepare as thoroughly as he could.
After using up two of his Armor Origin Talismans, Han Li still wasn't satisfied. He opened his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames, which then transformed into the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven.
He then raised a hand to produce a dozen or so azure lightning beads, all of which were swallowed by the bird.
Immediately thereafter, the Fire Raven flew up onto a massive tree nearby before concealing itself from view.
After doing all that, Han Li exhaled to compose himself before he raised his hand to summon the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman again. The talisman exploded, and his body took on an insubstantial form as he hovered soundlessly into the blue passageway.
After passing through the black light barrier, Han Li surveyed his surroundings, and he immediately furrowed his brows.
The area around him was extremely dark, and there were only a few azure rocks situated an indeterminate distance away that were glowing with a faint light, making Han Li feel as if he'd returned to the Umbra Realm again.
However, with his spirit eyes, the darkness naturally didn't faze him.
Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly, and everything around him became clear as day.
The surrounding area seemed to be extremely bleak and desolate with nothing on the ground aside from a few rocks of different sizes.
There weren't even any tall trees around, and the occasional patches of plant life he could see were all short bushes and scrubs.
Han Li inhaled a few times to find that the spiritual Qi in the surrounding area was quite abundant and rich, which made the scenes around him rather perplexing.
However, he didn't remain in this place to ponder the situation for too long. Instead, he continued onward, venturing deeper into this unknown land.
Even though he didn't know where this so-called divine pond was, it certainly couldn’t be wrong for him to head toward the center of the restriction.
Even after adopting an insubstantial body, Han Li was still traveling quite quickly, covering a distance of close to 10 kilometers in the blink of an eye.
Han Li's eyes then immediately lit up as he discovered a palace-like building in the distance.
The building was only several hundred feet tall and appeared to have been constructed using ordinary rugged stone blocks, it was the first noteworthy landmark he'd come across, and it indicated that he was heading in the right directi
on.
Thus, Han Li immediately flew toward the palace.
The entrance of the palace was a tall and rectangular one that was over 100 feet tall, and a black stone gate had been completely opened outward.
Han Li reflexively swept his spiritual sense toward the gate, upon which a peculiar look appeared in his eyes, and he paused on the spot.
There were a couple of bursts of powerful Yin Qi situated on either side of the gate, indicating that there seemed to be a high-grade ghostly being concealed on each side of the entrance.
Han Li was slightly surprised to make this discovery, but he was quickly enlightened as he thought of the thousands of ghostly beings that had been destroyed back at the entrance of the blue passageway.
Chapter 1500: Divine Infernal River Elixir
However, Han Li didn't want any unforeseen elements affecting his plans, so a hint of killing intent welled up in his heart as he injected his spiritual sense into his spirit beast bracelet.
Following a loud ape cry, a streak of black light surged through the air, heading for one side of the entrance while he revealed himself and pounced toward the other side.
"Hmm?"
"Who goes there?"
Two cries of surprise erupted from either side of the palace's entrance.
Gusts of Yin winds were swept up from one end, following which a massive two-headed skeleton appeared.
On the other side, the pungent odor of blood and gore wafted through the air as a white-furred zombie with a pair of crimson eyes emerged. The zombie had a pair of green wings on its back that were extremely rank and putrid.
Black light flashed, and a giant ape appeared. It then immediately let loose a cold harrumph, blasting a burst of yellow light out of its nostrils toward the two-headed skeleton.
A burst of eerie cackling rang out from the skeleton's mouths as its arms blurred through the air, creating countless claw projections.
This high-grade ghostly being was clearly very confident in its body and wanted to tear the soul-devouring light apart with its bare hands, rather than fleeing the scene like the white-robed ghostly woman had.
As soon as the two made contact with one another, the claw projections were immediately vanquished by the yellow light, which then surged onward to sweep up the skeleton's bony claws.
Yellow light flashed, and the two-headed skeleton let loose a howl of anguish as its bone claws disintegrated into clouds of black mist.
The skeleton was shocked by this turn of events, and it hurriedly attempted to hurtle back in retreat, but it was too late.
The yellow light continued onward, sweeping up the skeleton's entire body, transforming it into a dense cloud of black mist that was then sucked into the Weeping Soul Beast's mouth.
The beast then let loose a cry of elation before turning to appraise Han Li, just in time to see Han Li hovering above the white-furred zombie while pointing a finger toward the Divine Essencefused Mountain. The mountain had expanded to over 100 feet in size, and it had trapped the ghostly being down below.
Meanwhile, two golden-armored projections had appeared, and both of them were in the process of withdrawing their weapons from the zombie's body. One of them was wielding a spear with arcs of golden lightning surging along its entire length, and the spear had punctured the zombie's heart, creating a charred wound. As for the dual sabers, they had been withdrawn from the zombie's back, following which a layer of white light flashed, and the zombie's repugnant wings were sealed in translucent glacial ice.
Han Li didn't spur on the two projections to kill this ghostly being. Instead, he indicated for the Weeping Soul Beast to do the honors.
The Weeping Soul Beast faltered slightly before immediately springing through the air with an elated expression, quickly landing beside Han Li.
It unleashed its soul-devouring light from its nostrils again, reducing this zombie into Yin Qi as well before devouring it, then thumping its chest with glee.
These two were both powerful ghostly beings that had been cultivating within the infernal river for countless years, so they were most definitely rare delicacies for the Weeping Soul Beast. Han Li smiled at the sight of the ecstatic Weeping Soul Beast, and a plan suddenly began to hatch in his mind. He carefully appraised the Weeping Soul Beast before issuing some instructions.
The Weeping Soul Beast listened with wide eyes before nodding emphatically. Black light flashed from its entire body, and it transformed into a demon beast with a single horn on its head and arcs of lightning revolving around its limbs.
It was a spitting image of the Infernal Lightning Beast that had almost hunted down Han Li earlier, except it was slightly smaller in size. Han Li nodded with a pleased smile upon seeing this before waving a hand toward the Infernal Lightning Beast, and it shrank down to only several inches in size before disappearing up his sleeve.
He then brought out his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman again to conceal himself, then entered through the palace gates.
The palace consisted of a main hall with a smaller hall on the side, and Han Li went directly into the larger main hall.
The interior of the hall was very clean, and it was completely empty aside from a dozen or so thick stone pillars.
However, Han Li paid no heed to all of this as his attention had been completely drawn to a small hole that was shimmering with white light at the center of the hall. He slowly made his way over to this hole, then peered into it to discover that it was a smooth round tunnel that led downward on a slanted angle, and there were no stairs or rungs to be seen. Furthermore, Han Li could only see a vast expanse of faint white light within the tunnel, thereby preventing him from seeing what laid at the bottom.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li slowly drifted down this tunnel. Along the way, he discovered that this tunnel was extremely deep; even after descending for over 10,000 feet, there was still no end in sight. However, there were gusts of cold winds blowing toward him from down below, so there was clearly some kind of ventilated place at the conclusion of the tunnel.
After descending for several thousand more feet, Han Li's expression changed slightly as he could hear the indistinct sounds of thunderclaps and beasty roars, as well as the occasional earth-shattering boom that made the stone walls of the tunnel around him tremor and quake.
Han Li began to slow down in his descent while releasing his spiritual sense to survey the situation up ahead.
Moments later, a film of piercing white light appeared down below, and he had reached the exit.
After sweeping through the area with his spiritual sense, he found that there was nothing lurking down there.
He was reassured by this discovery and landed soundlessly onto the ground below, then quickly passed through the white film of light. On the other side, he found himself in another massive hall that was several times larger than the one above it, and also vastly more lavish in its construction as well.
Not only was the floor paved with flawless white jade, there were gems the size of large bowls embedded onto the walls and ceiling of the hall. These gems shimmered with a gentle white light that illuminated the entire hall. The spiritual Qi in this area was also a lot more abundant than that of area up above, and there were spirit herbs and spirit flowers of all types of different colors growing in two miniature flower gardens on either side of the hall. All of the plants were extremely vibrant and shimmering with faint spiritual light, clearly having been nurtured here for countless years.
However, Han Li merely looked away with a disinterested furrow of his brows.
He was immediately able to identify that even though these plants were quite rare, they were mostly renowned for their beauty and aesthetic appeal rather than any practical applications.
However, Han Li was only able to see most of the hall as a small portion of it was currently enshrouded in dense blood mist and arcs of lightning that were flashing violently.
Clumps of blood mist and lightning intertwined with one another at low al
titudes over a certain section of the hall, tumbling and exploding incessantly as they fought for dominance. However, it was quite clear that the arcs of lightning were far more powerful than the blood mist. If it weren't for the fact that there were countless green threads and gusts of Yin winds whizzing through the mist to reinforce it, it would've most likely have been vanquished by the arcs of lightning already.
Even so, fist-sized balls of lightning were still being manifested amid rumbling thunderclaps, then exploding to tear through large swaths of blood mist, thereby placing it firmly on the backfoot.
The blood mist completely obstructed Han Li's vision, but it was most likely the case that it had been conjured up by Di Xue in conjunction with the other demon monarchs. Amid the flashes of lightning, Han Li could indistinctly make out the silhouettes of two single-horned beasts, both of which were roaring with fury. There were two Infernal Lightning Beasts unleashing a relentless barrage of fearsome attacks, so it was no wonder that the demon monarchs were severely on the back foot.
Han Li was quite stunned by this observation, and after spectating the battle for a while, he turned his gaze downward, upon which his pupils abruptly contracted.
Directly down below the vast expanse of blood mist was a green pond that was several tens of feet in size. There was white mist as well as rich spiritual Qi swirling around the pond, and there was also an indistinct layer of crimson light over the surface of the water as well.
"Is that the Divine Infernal River Elixir?" Han Li made his way over to the pond, but he didn't pause to examine it for too long. Instead, he continued to survey his surroundings as if he were searching for something.
All of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he caught sight of the motionless Yuan Yao and Yan Li standing in an obscure corner of the palace.
Both of them wore stiff wooden expressions, seemingly completely unmoved by the intense battle taking place nearby.
Han Li had witnessed the restrictions being cast on these two women, so he knew that their consciousness were still intact, but they were unable to control their bodies at all. He was relatively confident in his ability to break restrictions of this nature.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 845