Chapter 1097: Splitting Up

The white trees around the plaza rapidly wilted in the face of the crimson light released by the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, while the ground instantly turned black and completely devoid of life.

All of the spiritual qi in the white jade plaza was also sucked dry in the blink of an eye, following which all of the jade slabs exploded into countless stone shards.

In a mere instant, all of the vitality within several hundred kilometers of the plaza had been sucked dry.

Immediately thereafter, an earth-shattering boom rang out, and the Almighty Sword Array collapsed violently.

All of the flying swords were scattered in all directions, and around a dozen of them were snapped in half.

Lei Yuce shuddered violently as he stumbled back several steps before steadying himself, and an unnatural flush had appeared on his face.

All of the crimson light up above faded away, and at this point, Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 had already flown past Lei Yuce.

"You won't be able to stop us, Fellow Daoist Lei. We do not wish to fight you, so please stand down for your own good," Fox 3 declared, following which he and Wyrm 3 vanished down the staircase up ahead.

Right at this moment, Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan shot forth toward the Divine Wood Tomb as two streaks of blue light.

"Get back here!" Su Anqian yelled as she made a grabbing motion in their direction.

Countless balls of blue water that were roughly ten feet in diameter instantly appeared in the nearby area, and giant arcs of blue lightning were flashing over all of the balls of water.

The balls of water converged toward Lan Yuanzi's duo in unison at Su Anqian's behest, but Lan Yan remained completely unfazed as she summoned that blue pouch, which immediately released a burst of radiant, blue light.

All of the oncoming balls of water were instantly stopped in their tracks before flooding into the pouch, and in the blink of an eye, all of the balls of water had disappeared, as if they had been nothing more than an illusion.

An incredulous look appeared on Su Anqian's face upon seeing this, while Lan Yan's complexion had noticeably paled.

Even though she had only briefly used the blue pouch's power, over half of her immortal spiritual power had been expended.

Lan Yuanzi grabbed onto Lan Yan, and the two streaks of blue light combined into one, accelerating drastically in the process.

As a result, the two of them were able to quickly fly past Su Anqian before vanishing into the distance.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li shot forth toward the Origin Fire Palace as a streak of golden light.

Wen Zhong had been keeping a close eye on him this entire time, and he immediately attempted to intercept Han Li, summoning numerous streaks of formidable swordlight to oppose him.

However, Han Li was able to fly past Wen Zhong at an astonishing speed by channeling his Reversal True Axis ability, and before long, he had also vanished out of sight, leaving Wen Zhong to look on with a resigned expression.

Right at this moment, another streak of golden light shot forth through the air, and this time, it was Xiong Shan.

Wen Zhong was still staring after Han Li, so he was completely caught off guard by this, and by the time he reacted to what Xiong Shan was doing, he was already a step too late.

In the blink of an eye, Lei Yuce, Wen Zhong, and Su Anqian were the only ones remaining on the plaza.

"Those short-sighted fools! They'll be kicking themselves once the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity is freed!" Wen Zhong yelled in a furious voice.

"None of them are from the Golden Origin Immortal Region, so they don't know just how terrifying the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity is. On top of that, the immortal treasures in the array cores are all extremely powerful, so it's no wonder that they've been blinded by greed. What should we do now?" Su Anqian asked as she turned to Lei Yuce.

"At this point, it looks like we'll have no choice but to also split up and do our best to dissuade them from trying to claim the treasures in the array cores. If that doesn't work, then we'll have to repair the arrays as much as we can," Lei Yuce replied as he recovered his set of golden flying swords.

"It seems like that's all we can do at the moment. What exactly do you need us to do, Fellow Daoist Lei?" Su Anqian asked, and Wen Zhong also turned to him for further instructions.

"Please wait a moment," Lei Yuce said, then flipped a hand over to produce two sets of array tools, one red and one yellow, as well as two jade slips, and he distributed these items to Wen Zhong and Su Anqian.

"The arrays are very complex, and they won't be easy to repair, but as long as you follow the instructions laid out in the jade slips, you'll definitely be able to repair them. If you find yourself unable to, then contact me right away," Lei Yuce said as he handed a communication array plate to Su Anqian.

It was clear that he and Wen Zhong could contact each other through alternative means.

Wen Zhong and Su Anqian briefly inspected the contents of the jade slips, following which the former bade farewell to the other two and began flying toward the Origin Fire Palace.

"I'll be going as well then," Su Anqian said as she turned to depart.

"Celestial Maiden Su! The Lan siblings are quite powerful to begin with, and now that they've obtained that blue pouch, they'll be even more difficult to deal with, so make sure you don't directly confront them. If worse comes to worst, just let them claim the treasure. Make sure to prioritize your own safety above all else," Lei Yuce called out after her.

Su Anqian nodded in response, then set off toward the Divine Wood Tomb.

Lei Yuce stared after her all the way until she disappeared out of sight before making his way toward the Heavenly Earth Hall.

Shortly following their departure, three streaks of light flew onto the plaza, revealing Qi Mozi and the two devilish beings.

"Those people have already arrived here, and it seems like there was a brief conflict as well. It appears that they split up into three groups to go after the three array cores separately," the white bone devil remarked after inspecting the surrounding area with two beams of white light shooting out of its eyes.

"Very keen observations, Fellow Daoist White Bone," Qi Mozi praised with a smile.

"You're far too kind, Fellow Daoist Qi Mozi. Now that they've split up into three groups, we can easily eradicate any one group that we please. Should we strike now?" the white bone devil asked.

"There's no hurry. Those people are clearly determined to claim the treasures up ahead, so why not let them break the array cores to free your brothers?" Qi Mozi replied.

"That's true," the white bone devil agreed with a nod.

"Seeing as they've split up, let's also do the same. The three array cores all contain powerful treasures, and we certainly can't allow them to claim those treasures," Qi Mozi said.

The two devilish beings immediately nodded in response, and one of them flew toward the Heavenly Earth Hall, while the other set off for the Divine Wood Tomb.

A cold sneer appeared on Qi Mozi's face as he watched the two of them depart, following which he abruptly vanished from the spot.

......

After flying over the staircase for some time, Han Li's expression eased slightly as he noticed that he wasn't being pursued by Lei Yuce and the others.

He wasn't afraid of Lei Yuce's trio, but just as Fox 3 had said, he didn't want to engage any of them in battle, so if a conflict could be avoided, then that would naturally be ideal.

A faint gleam of excitement appeared in his eyes as he sped up a little more.

While he was averse to the idea of engaging Lei Yuce and the others in battle, he was determined to claim the treasure in the array core up ahead. As for the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity that Lei Yuce had mentioned, that wasn't a major concern for him.

Given his current powers, he was confident in his ability to ensure self-preservation as long he didn't have to directly face a Dao Ancestor.

He had already reaped some significant spoils in this pagoda, so if something were to go awry, then he could simply leave. Even if he couldn't find a way out, he would just have to run away for now.

Of course, he also wanted to secure the Eon Divine Lamp if possible, but it wasn't a huge priority, and he would only try to secure the treasure if he didn't have to take on excessive risk.

The staircase was unexpectedly long, and even after flying for fifteen minutes, there was still no end in sight.

Tendrils of white mist had begun to appear nearby, and even though the mist was harmless, it was very obstructive when it came to visibility.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he slowed down while scouring the nearby area with his spiritual sense.

After flying onward for a while longer, his eyes suddenly lit up as he abruptly accelerated and shot forward, arriving above another plaza, where there was no mist in the surrounding air.

The entire plaza was paved with black volcanic rock that was riddled with countless tiny holes that were releasing plumes of smoke incessantly.

Beyond the plaza was a fiery red palace that seemed to be giving off intense heat, causing the air around it to shimmer and warp in an indistinct fashion.

Even though there was a plaza that was thousands of feet wide between them, Han Li could still feel waves of scorching heat surging toward him from the palace.

Instead of immediately stepping onto the plaza, he scoured his gaze over it with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.

However, he failed to detect anything amiss about the plaza, and he finally descended onto it after some careful inspection.