Chapter 1061: Great Encompassment Stage Ghost King

The ghostly creatures on the plaza had displayed no fear toward the Azure Dragon Origin Array, but all of them instinctively fled in horror in the face of Han Li's Divine Devilbane Lightning.

However, the golden lightning was far too fast for them to run from, and close to half of them were swallowed up in the blink of an eye before disintegrating into black mist, while everyone in the array looked on with ecstatic expressions.

In particular, Valley Master Fu was staring at Han Li with irrepressible shock and elation on his face.

Could it be that he's actually a High Zenith cultivator?

Jin Liu and Su Anqian exchanged a glance with each other, and both of them could see their own astonishment mirrored in one another's eyes.

Meanwhile, Han Li's gaze remained focused on the dark clouds in the sky above.

Su Anqian had also noticed Han Li's peculiar fixation on the dark clouds overhead, and a perplexed look flashed through her eyes, following which she suddenly yelled, "Look out, Fellow Daoist Shi!"

Right as her voice trailed off, a giant vajra pestle came crashing down from above.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he stomped both feet down into the ground, launching himself directly up at the vajra pestle without displaying any intention of taking evasive measures.

He was extremely fast, reaching the vajra pestle in an instant, but instead of engaging it in a direct collision, he wrapped his arms around the rapidly descending pestle before twisting around forcefully, altering its trajectory to send it flying back at the heavenly king statue that it had come from.

The heavenly king statue hurriedly threw a punch in retaliation, and Han Li launched himself at the statue without pause while channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, giving the vajra pestle a further boost.

A resounding boom rang out as the pestle smashed through the heavenly king statue's fist before barreling straight through its chest, following which a burst of radiant starlight erupted out of its body, causing it to explode into smithereens.

The other heavenly king statue stormed at Han Li while swinging a massive fist through the air, but Han Li was able to easily evade its attack before rushing along the length of its arm to arrive on its shoulder.

After that, he sprang up into the air before grabbing onto the edge of the heavenly king statue's helmet like an agile ape, then threw an almighty punch into the statue's face, pulverizing it with a resounding thump.

A massive hole was punched into the statue's face, revealing a ball of extremely condensed baleful qi, upon which were two flashing specks of ghostly flames.

A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he reached into the hole, and a ghastly wail rang out as the ghostly creature lurking within the heavenly king statue was forcibly dragged out.

Han Li jumped onto the top of the statue's head with the ghostly creature locked firmly in his grasp, and he looked up at the sky as he challenged, "Are you still not going to show yourself?"

A burst of golden lightning erupted out of his hand as he spoke, instantly eradicating the ghostly creature.

The dark clouds in the sky remained completely still, but the ten ghostly generals were infuriated upon seeing this, and some of them immediately began launching themselves in Han Li's direction, but they were stopped in their tracks by the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators.

"If you insist on hiding like a cowardly turtle, then I'll have no choice but to force you out of your shell!" Han Li roared

Immediately thereafter, he made a beckoning motion, and the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that had pierced into the ground below rose up into the air to revolve around him.

Immediately thereafter, eighteen more Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared around him, amounting to a total of thirty-six.

The flying swords were trembling and buzzing incessantly as arcs of golden lightning flashed over its surface, and they sped up toward the dark clouds in the sky at Han Li's behest.

Countless streaks of azure swordlight erupted out of the thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, forming a radiant, azure sword dragon that plunged headfirst into the dark clouds overhead.

A draconic roar rang out as the azure sword dragon plunged into the sea of clouds, vanishing without a trace.

There was a brief moment of silence, followed by an earth-shattering boom.

A vast expanse of radiant golden lightning erupted out of the sea of clouds in all directions, forming countless giant golden lightning whips that lashed through the air with devastating power.

All of the ghostly creatures on the plaza were looking up at the sky while whimpering in horror, and fearful looks had also appeared on the faces of the ten ghostly generals.

At this moment, the natural dominance that Divine Devilbane Lightning had over all ghostly creatures was put on a full display.

Both Su Anqian and Jin Liu were astonished to witness this incredible display of power from Han Li.

They had always thought that Han Li was nothing more than a Golden Immortal who was very fortunate to have survived to this point, but the power that he was currently displaying was already far beyond that of the average Jade Immortal.

Han Li paid no heed to everyone's astonished reactions as he continued to look up at the sky with slightly furrowed brows, and right at this moment, a burst of sinister cackling rang out from within the dark clouds above.

All of the ghostly creatures instantly erupted into a frenzy, while the ten ghostly generals greeted in unison, "We pay our respects to Ghost King Wu Chao."

Both Su Anqian and Jin Liu were astonished to hear this.

"Ghost King Wu Chao? What is he doing here?"

Everyone else, including the other Heavenly Water Sect cultivators, turned to the two of them with perplexed expressions, and it seemed that none of them had heard this name before.

"Isn't he supposed to be in the Immortal Prison? Why is he here?" Han Li murmured to himself with a puzzled expression.

The name of Ghost King Wu Chao was not an unfamiliar one to him. Upon learning that Qi Mozi was the chief warden of the Immortal Prison, Han Li had gathered some information on the Immortal Prison through the Reincarnation Palace, and in the process, he had learned that Ghost King Wu Chao was one of the most notorious prisoners held captive there.

At this moment, the dark clouds in the sky were churning violently, and they began to rapidly condense, forming a cloud of black mist.

The cloud of mist was so dark that it was impossible to see anything within it, and as Han Li gazed upon it, he felt as if his soul were about to be sucked out of his body.

He hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, and that unsettling sensation quickly faded away.

"I must say, I'm very impressed with you. It's a pity that you're not dead yet. Otherwise, I would be more than happy to make you one of my Ten Kings of Hell. Having said that, it's still not entirely out of the question. Who's to say that you won't end up dead soon?"

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

A raspy voice rang out as a figure emerged from the cloud of black mist, and it was a tall, middle-aged man with a scholarly appearance.

He was quite unremarkable in appearance, and there wasn't any baleful qi emanating from his body. Anyone who looked at him could easily be forgiven for thinking that he was just a harmless scholar, and he looked worlds apart from a fearsome ghost king.

However, Han Li knew that this man was most certainly Ghost King Wu Chao.

It was said that back when Ghost King Wu Chao was still alive, he wasn't even a cultivator. Instead, he was just a Confucian scholar from a mortal empire, and he gradually began to develop resentment for the empire after his repeated failures in the imperial examination.

The empire was already in a state of decline, and its woes were compounded even further by the onset of a natural disaster. Wu Chao took advantage of this opportunity to spark a rebellion, and his rebel army quickly conquered most of the empire.

However, as more and more people joined his rebel army, they began to experience a food shortage, and in order to resolve this problem, Wu Chao turned to the horrific solution of cannibalism.

Before long, close to half of the empire's population had been eaten by the rebel army, and dozens of cities had been completely wiped out.

The immortal sects in the area were all forbidden from interfering with mortal affairs, but this was simply far too heinous a crime for them to tolerate, and they made an exception on that occasion to wipe out the rebel army. Otherwise, even the neighboring nations were eventually going to be completely wiped out by Wu Chao and his army of cannibals.

Following Wu Chao's demise, his soul refused to dissipate, and after devouring countless other souls, he became an extremely formidable malicious spirit, quickly reaching the Deity Transformation Stage. Somehow, he was able to transcend countless tribulations and progress all the way to the Grand Ascension Stage.

After that, he was blessed by a range of fortunate circumstances, allowing him to become a ghostly immortal, and he cultivated all the way to the Great Encompassment Stage. Due to his violent and bloodthirsty personality, he became extremely notorious in the Immortal Realm, and in the end, he was captured by the Heavenly Court and thrown into the Immortal Prison.

However, it seemed that he had already escaped from the Immortal Prison long ago, but it was unclear why he was being held captive here.