This came as quite a surprise to him, but it was obviously quite a pleasant one.
However, Han Li's smile soon stiffened on his face as an incredulous look appeared in his eyes.
He had flown for over 500,000 kilometers, but he still hadn't been able to escape from these blood clouds, and there was still no end to them in sight.
Han Li was astonished to see this, and he began to accelerate even further.
After flying for over an hour, the blood clouds remained hanging over his head, and Han Li finally stopped as the azure light around him faded.
At this moment, Han Li wore an extremely dark expression.
It was quite clear that he was situated within some type of profound restriction. Otherwise, something like this definitely wouldn't be happening. However, the size of this restriction was downright staggering.
Han Li hovered in mid-air as he rapidly scrambled for a way to extricate himself from this situation.
However, before he could think of anything, the blood clouds in the air suddenly surged violently, and a series of fist-sized crimson runes emerged from within. These runes swirled through the air before emitting a low buzzing sound, but the noise was growing louder and louder, and slowly becoming quite deafening.
Han Li's heart stirred upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal. Azure light flashed from his body as 72 azure flying swords flew forth from all parts of his body, then circled around him and transformed into 72 azure lotus flowers.
However, that wasn't the end. After releasing his flying swords, Han Li made a grabbing motion, and a black shadow flashed as a miniature black mountain that was several inches tall appeared over his hand.
He tossed the miniature mountain into the air, and it instantly swelled to over 100 feet tall, creating a massive shield above Han Li.
Even though he didn't know what was going to happen, he still instantly set up several layers of defense.
Just as Han Li was looking on with a grim expression, the crimson runes up above suddenly converged toward Han Li in unison as if they'd found a target.
With the massive Divine Essencefused Mountain up above, none of the runes overhead were able to reach him. However, the crimson runes in all four directions and down below were surging toward him in a frenzy.
Han Li's expression changed upon seeing this, and he immediately pointed at the azure lotus flowers around him.
The flowers rotated on the spot before transforming into countless streaks of azure sword Qi that flew toward the oncoming runes.
Strings of dull thumps erupted as all of the runes were instantly slashed into clouds of blood mist. The blood mist then attempted to surge through the gaps between the azure sword Qi, only for Han Li to let loose a low cry as the azure and white arcs of lightning around his body swelled, forming a massive lightning net that repelled the blood mist.
Just as Han Li was heaving a faint sigh of relief, all of the blood mist was swept back and disappeared into the crimson clouds in the blink of an eye.
The clouds instantly began to tremor violently, and following an earth-shattering boom, a massive crimson rune that was around 300 feet in size slowly descended.
Even Han Li was quite intimidated by the sight of such a gigantic blood rune.
He took a deep breath before pointing a finger up at the black mountain above his head.
A dull thump immediately erupted from the mountain as countless grey strands of light shot forth, forming a huge grey net in preparation for the descent of the massive blood rune.
However, the scenes that unfolded next had Han Li scratching his head.
The massive rune didn't plummet straight down as he imagined it would. Instead, it slowly swirled beneath the blood clouds, emanating an eerie crimson light in the process.
Han Li stood still on the spot and waited for a full 10 minutes, only for nothing to happen!
His brows furrowed as he pondered what the purpose of this giant rune could be.
However, his expression then suddenly changed, and he seemed to have discovered something as he abruptly swept a hand over the storage bracelet on his wrist.
Azure light flashed, and a jade box flew forth before landing in his grasp.
There were several talismans of different colors plastered to the jade box, but its lid was still tremoring incessantly while flashing erratically with spiritual light.
What was even more incredible was that in the instant Han Li summoned the box, the massive blood rune in the sky seemed to resonate as it began to flash violently.
The talismans plastered to the box suddenly self-ignited and were burned to ashes in the blink of an eye. Almost at the exact same moment, a resounding boom erupted, and the jade box exploded amid a burst of white light, sending countless shards of shrapnel flying in all directions.
If Han Li were a normal cultivator, that alone would've been enough to severely wound him.
However, Han Li's body had truly reached an extraordinarily powerful state, to the extent that the shrapnel merely bounced off his body in a harmless manner as if they'd struck a statue forged from steel essence.
After the white light faded, the item within the box hovered before Han Li in a motionless manner.
The surface of the item was slightly yellow, but there were dark green patterns running all over it, and it appeared to be a long and thin wooden rod.
It was none other than Han Li's Profound Heavenly Fruit!
As soon as the Profound Heavenly Fruit appeared, the blood rune in the sky tremored violently before disappearing with a dull thump.
An extremely bewildered look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this.
The situation was far too bizarre! These blood clouds had gathered for his Profound Heavenly Fruit?
Before he had a chance to ascertain what was happening, a loud rumbling boom suddenly erupted from within the blood clouds up above.
Han Li faltered before hurriedly looking upward, and the sight that he was greeted by gave him quite a fright.
Countless projections had been manifested within the blood clouds, most of which were projections of all types of demon beasts, while a small portion of them were foreign beings that Han Li had never seen before, many of which appeared to be Flying Spirit beings.
All of the projections wore twisted expressions, as if they were in extreme agony.
"This is a blood sacrifice!" With Han Li's vast knowledge and experience, he was immediately able to identify what he was seeing.
Right at this moment, the crimson projections converged toward the center of the blood clouds, following which brilliant crimson light erupted, and a crimson formation that encompassed almost the entire sky gradually took shape.
Han Li drew a sharp breath as he abruptly grabbed the Profound Heavenly Fruit, then instantly sped to over 1,000 feet away as a streak of azure light.
The situation clearly wasn't quite right, so he decided to flee the scene right away.
After just a few flashes, he disappeared into the distance.
However, the massive formation was still taking shape in an unhurried manner, showing no signs of stopping due to Han Li's departure.
After a while, Han Li had flown to hundreds of thousands of kilometers away after fleeing with all his might.
He was still enshrouded under the blood clouds, but he'd lost sight of the massive formation long ago.
Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief, and only now did he finally slow down a little.
All of a sudden, a loud rumbling erupted within the blood clouds overhead again.
Han Li's heart sank upon hearing this familiar sound, and he hurriedly raised his head.
The sedentary blood clouds up above suddenly dispersed, and the entire sky warped as crimson light flashed, following which a massive crimson formation appeared.
The mysterious light formation was hovering right over Han Li, and his face instantly paled.
He didn't know the purpose of this formation, but it was definit
ely not a good thing for such a massive formation to be stalking him.
Thus, Han Li immediately fled into the distance as a streak of azure light again.
Right at this moment, the crimson formation up above suddenly sprang into action!
Chapter 1537: Battle for the Profound Heavenly Fruit
A thick pillar of light with a diameter of over 1,000 feet erupted from the center of the formation, enveloping Han Li in a flash, affording him no time to evade with its rapid speed.
Han Li was quite stunned by this development, and the pillar of light was somehow able to directly bypass the Divine Essencefused Mountain overhead before striking him.
As soon as the crimson light rained down on him, Han Li found himself completely immobilized, unable to move so much as a single finger.
Han Li's expression changed drastically as the azure lotus flowers around him flashed before reverting back to flying swords that were each around a foot in length, then flying through the air as streaks of sword Qi at his behest.
The sword Qi flashed through the puncturing the pillar of light and emerging on the other side with ease, as if t were merely an illusion. However, Han Li was still completely immobilized, as if the air around him had turned into steel essence that had bound his body and limbs.
Han Li drew a sharp breath as his current predicament dawned on him.
Crimson runes of different sizes began to emerge from the formation up above, and Han Li knew that he couldn't hold back any longer.
He let loose a loud cry as golden light shimmered all over his body, following which the Provenance True Devil Projection appeared.
The projection was seated in mid-air with its legs crossed while making seals with its six hands.
A golden halo then radiated from the projection's body, and ripples were swept up within the crimson pillar of light around Han Li.
At the same time, the restrictive feeling in the air lessened slightly, and Han Li was naturally quite ecstatic to see this. He immediately began to chant something to accelerate the circulation of his magic power, thereby activating his Provenance True Devil Arts to their maximal extent.
However, right at this moment, brilliant crimson light suddenly erupted from the formation overhead.
Immediately thereafter, the crimson runes at the center of the formation dispersed to reveal a massive black hole that was around 100 feet in size. Countless crimson shadows could be seen lurking within the hole amid ghastly howls and eerie sobs.
The crimson pillar of light also began to rotate at high speed.
Han Li felt the pressure around his body intensify once again, and the limited degree of freedom he'd recovered instantly vanished again.
At the same time, countless runes emerged within the golden light around him before surging toward his body.
"Argh!"
Despite how calm and steadfast Han Li normally was, even he had turned deathly pale in the face of this ordeal.
He didn't know how powerful these runes were, but he was completely immobilized within this restriction, so he was nothing but a sitting duck.
In his desperation, Han Li activated his sword arts, and the flying swords around him flashed before appeared around him, then conjured up countless azure streaks of sword Qi before surging through the air in all directions.
However, the azure sword Qi merely passed through the runes as if they were illusions, unable to inflict any damage during the process.
Thus, the runes continued on toward Han Li in a seemingly unstoppable manner.
Han Li gritted his teeth, and black Qi flashed from his body as he conjured up a suit of black baleful armor. At the same time, he contacted the Gold Devouring Beetles within his spirit beast bracelet using his spiritual sense, and a ferocious look appeared on his face as he prepared to release all of his beetles at once.
The restriction around him was indeed quite peculiar, but surely it wouldn't be able to withstand so many mature Gold Devouring Beetles.
As for those runes, he'd naturally just have to try and withstand them using his powerful physical body and his suit of baleful armor.
However, even though he'd already reached the early-Spatial Tempering Stage, his spiritual sense was only powerful enough to support so many Gold Devouring Beetles for a short while. Even so, he had no choice but to unleash them in the face of this perilous situation.
However, the scenes that unfolded next immediately made Han Li falter in his attempt to summon the Gold Devouring Beetles.
Just as the runes were about to strike his body, they suddenly changed direction before surging into toward the object in his hand as specks of spiritual light.
Han Li felt a warm sensation in his palm, following which the Profound Heavenly Fruit in his hand struggled free from his fingers and flew into the air as a ball of white light.
After just a few flashes, the fruit rose over 1,000 feet into the air, enshrouded by countless crimson runes in the process.
Immediately thereafter, the fruit rotated in mid-air before swelling drastically to several times its original size, repelling away countless crimson runes around it. After that, countless streaks of sword Qi began to emanate with brilliant white light, shredding all of the runes in the air.
The white light then faded and disappeared without a trace while the enlarged Profound Heavenly Fruit remained hovering in mid-air.
Han Li looked on at the scenes unfolding before his eyes with a flabbergasted expression.
However, he quickly came to his senses, and the magic power that he'd gathered surged into the projection above him in a frenzy.
The projection shuddered, and shimmering golden light rapidly revolved around it before proliferating in all directions in the blink of an eye.
A scintillating ball of golden light akin to a golden sun rose up above Han Li's head.
Han Li then began to chant something, and the projection raised all three of its heads in unison while also waving its six arms in all directions, then letting loose a low deep cry.
The golden sun overhead expanded and shrank before abruptly exploding.
Following an earthshattering boom, waves of golden light proliferated forth like substantial shockwaves.
As the golden shockwaves surged through the crimson light, the latter flashed erratically before being forced back in a frenzy. With Han Li at the center, all of the crimson light within a radius of over 100 feet was forcibly repelled, thereby allowing him to recover his freedom.
This ability was something that Han Li had attained from the Provenance True Devil Arts after progressing to the early-Spatial Tempering Stage.
In reality, it was merely borrowing the power of his projection to focus the power of his cultivation art into one spot, then releasing it all at once.
That seemingly ordinary attack had actually expended close to half of all of the magic power within Han Li's body.
Of course, what was unbeknownst to Han Li was that the Provenance True Devil Arts contained both Buddhist and devilish elements at the same time, giving it an extremely special attribute. If any other cultivation art had been used, even Body Integration cultivators wouldn't have been able to break free from the crimson light.
Hence, it had to be said that he had been quite lucky here.
However, after finally escaping from the restriction of the crimson pillar after expending extensive effort, a burst of loud howling suddenly rang out from within the black hole in the crimson formation up above, following which countless vibrant crimson threads shot forth, attempting to ensnare the Profound Heavenly Fruit.
However, the Profound Heavenly Fruit seemed to have attained sentient will as it tremored gently before releasing boundless white light.
The white light and crimson threads instantly intertwined with one another amid a series of crackles and pops. The white light was extremely sharp and managed to shred most of the crimson threads, but it was quickly overwhelmed and enshrouded in a massive crimson cocoon.
The Profou
nd Heavenly Fruit struggled with all its might within the crimson threads, but the two waves of white light it had unleashed just then had clearly expended all of its power. Thus, it was dragged toward the large black hole in a powerless manner.
However, right at this moment, golden light exploded within the crimson light down below, sweeping aside a vast expanse of crimson light.
Immediately thereafter, a streak of azure light shot forth from within the crimson light, then surged toward the crimson cocoon and forming a massive azure hand that grabbed toward it.
The azure hand caught the crimson cocoon in a tight grasp, following which countless streaks of sword Qi shot forth from within the massive hand to strike down on the cocoon.
However, a peculiar scene then ensued. The sword Qi merely passed through the cocoon as if it were an imaginary structure, unable to damage it in the slightest. The azure light receded, and the massive azure hand transformed into Han Li. Azure threads then erupted from within one of his sleeves before ensnaring the Profound Heavenly Fruit within the crimson cocoon.
However, the enormity of the crimson cocoon's pulling power was far beyond what Han Li had imagined, so the Profound Heavenly Fruit was still slowly rising up into the air. If it weren't for the fact that the fruit itself was struggling with all its might to resist the immense force being exerted by the crimson threads, it would’ve most likely been drawn into the black hole already.
Even so, it would only a matter of moments before it would disappear into the hole.
In his state of urgency, Han Li abruptly pointed a finger toward the azure flying sword in the air, and a long cry erupted from the sword, following which it blurred into a faint azure mark, as if it had lost all of its substance.
This was none other than the sword's voidform ability.
Immediately thereafter, the azure blur shot forth, slashing through the air amid a string of dull thumps. The seemingly insubstantial crimson threads were instantly sliced into countless segments.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air before flying forth as an azure thread. At the same time, all of the other flying swords caught up to Han Li in a flash, then disappeared into his body.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 869