Chapter 1343: Assimilation

All of a sudden, the seventy-two sword spirit children flew back through the air to surround Jin Tong and Yi Jiao's trio at Han Li's behest.

Immediately thereafter, a giant lightning array took shape, and the four of them vanished amid a flash of lightning.

Having teleported them to safety, Han Li sat down in mid-air with his legs crossed, then began channeling his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra with all his might.

The golden moon above his head was giving off dazzling radiance, while the stars formed by his Time Severing Torch were also eager not to be outshone.

The river of time formed by the Clear Time Vial began to swirl around him, and the mountain range of Illusory Dawn Sand expanded rapidly while the lush forest formed by the Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree grew in a frenzy.

The flow of time within Han Li's spirit domain was instantly accelerated by a hundredfold, and as a result, the rate at which earth law powers were surging into Xuanyuan Jie's body from the surrounding space also sped up drastically.

Bursts of dull rumbling began to ring out incessantly from down below, and Han Li looked down to discover that a continent from some immortal region had risen up into the air, passing through the Ethersphere, the Astralsphere, and the Extraheavensphere as it ascended toward Xuanyuan Jie.

As the continent passed through the Ethersphere, countless streaks of light could be seen fleeing from it, but by the time it entered the Astralsphere, those streaks of light had become far sparser and fewer in number.

By the time it entered the Extraheavensphere, the entire continent began to disintegrate just like the floating continent from earlier, leaving behind only a vast body of earth law powers that converged toward Xuanyuan Jie.

As more and more earth law powers gathered around him, his aura became purer and purer, and he strayed further and further away from humanity and closer and closer to the Heavenly Dao.

He began to instinctively resist this influx of power, but his affinity with earth law powers had become so great that it continued to surge into his body irrespective of his wishes.

"Here, have some more!" Han Li roared as he injected his time law powers into his spirit domain with no reservation.

One time law thread after another vanished into thin air, disintegrating into pure time law powers that fused into the surrounding space.

The flow of time was accelerated drastically once again, and in the blink of an eye, all of the earth law powers that had entered Han Li's spirit domain were devoured by Xuanyuan Jie.

Even the countless asteroids within the Extraheavensphere had begun to disintegrate, further contributing to the influx of earth law powers surging into Xuanyuan Jie's body.

Finally, the moment that Han Li had been waiting for arrived.

An all-encompassing vortex with its boundaries completely out of sight appeared behind Xuanyuan Jie. It represented the most essential power of the earth under the heavens, and it flowed out like a hot spring to envelop Xuanyuan Jie.

A hint of clarity finally returned to Xuanyuan Jie's hollow eyes, but it was already too late, and the Heavenly Dao had already begun claiming him.

"Stop!" he yelled in a desperate voice as he tried to struggle free from the gargantuan vortex, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, Han Li was also suffering immensely. He was burning through his time law powers at an alarming rate, and he was already beginning to feel symptoms of severe overexertion.

However, his resolve didn't waver in the slightest.

He knew that this still wasn't enough for Xuanyuan Jie to be assimilated by the Heavenly Dao.

Only by continuing to accelerate the flow of time and exhausting every last ounce of his time law powers was there a sliver of a chance that he could support the Heavenly Dao assimilation process to completion.

"Han Li, your Great Dao conflicts with that of the Time Dao Ancestor, so a showdown between the two of you is inevitable. If you stop now, I can help you!" Xuanyuan Jie desperately implored as a sense of despair began to set in.

"You think I'd believe you?" Han Li scoffed in an emotionless manner.

"No! I can swear an unbreakable vow!" Xuanyuan Jie yelled as the desperation in his voice crescendoed to a peak.

Han Li's resolve wavered for a split second upon hearing this.

If he could have one of the essential five elemental Dao Ancestors on his side, then he would be much better equipped to oppose the Heavenly Court. However, he quickly abandoned this thought as he had no confidence that a vow would be enough to control Dao Ancestor.

Thus, he continued to burn through his own time law powers in order to accelerate Xuanyuan Jie's demise.

Once it became clear to Xuanyuan Jie that Han Li wasn't going to be convinced, his desperate pleas turned to vicious curses, and his despair turned to vindictive joy once he realized that Han Li didn't possess sufficient time law powers to drive him to his doom.

"You can't keep this up for long, Han Li! I'll remain alive as long as I'm not completely assimilated by the Heavenly Dao, and once you've exhausted all of your power, I'll grind your body down bit by bit in the most torturous fashion possible, then use your nascent soul to ignite a soul lamp!"

His deranged voice was echoing throughout the entire Extraheavensphere, but Han Li wasn't even able to make out what he was saying anymore.

He had overexerted himself to such an extent that his vision had turned into a complete blur, and his Five Elemental Illusory World was also on the verge of collapse.

Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out within Han Li's consciousness.

"Should I lend you some power?"

"Senior Vial Spirit? No, who are you?" Han Li asked in an alarmed manner.

"I am you, and you are me," the voice replied.

"You're my self corpse soul!" Han Li exclaimed in realization.

Ever since he had reached the pinnacle of the Great Encompassment Stage, he had been searching extensively for his self corpse soul, and with his body pushed to the extreme, it had finally been awakened.

"Are you going to try and claim my body now? Given the current circumstances, even if you manage to take over, you and I will die here anyway," Han Li sighed.

"I have no such intentions. As your self corpse soul, I am more similar to you than any other entity in this world, and your thoughts and intentions mirror my own," the self corpse soul replied.

In the next instant, Han Li felt his completely depleted law power reserves beginning to regenerate, and the self corpse soul really was lending him its power.

In the blink of an eye, Han Li had recovered close to half of his time law powers, but by then, Xuanyuan Jie had already been given a window of respite, during which he was able to forcibly sever his connection with the Heavenly Dao.

At this point, half of his body had already vanished, while the remaining half was beginning to display signs of petrification, leaving him in a state that was only slightly better than that of the Clairvoyance Dao Ancestor, Chen Tuan.

"Han Li!" Xuanyuan Jie roared with intense fury and resentment brewing in his voice.

However, before he had a chance to do anything, a streak of golden light suddenly appeared behind him without any warning.

Within the streak of golden light was Jin Tong's enormous Gold Devouring Beetle form, and she opened her mouth to reveal a huge, golden vortex, emanating from within which were bursts of extremely formidable law power fluctuations.

Xuanyuan Jie immediately attempted to flee in an alarmed manner, but Han Li beat him to the punch, flying over to his side in a flash before slamming a palm down onto the top of his head.

Rays of golden light that were imbued with time law powers surged out of the palm of his hand, instantly stopping Xuanyuan Jie cold in his tracks.

The palm strike itself posed no threat to Xuanyuan Jie, but this split second of immobilization made it impossible for him to escape from Jin Tong, and he was devoured whole in a flash.

"No!"

A thunderous, indignant cry rang out, only to be abruptly cut off as Jin Tong closed her mouth.

A burst of thunderous rumbling then rang out from within her belly, and it seemed as if Xuanyuan Jie were desperately attempting to force his way out, but she remained unfazed as she quickly reverted back to her human form.

She had undergone another drastic transformation since Han Li last saw her, and both her body and aura had become far more mature than before.

There was a calm and composed look on her face, and it was as if there were a pair of swirling vortexes in her eyes, giving off a transcendent aura.

"Your aura..." Han Li began in a concerned manner.

"It's still yet to be consolidated, but it'll stabilize over time," Jin Tong reassured.

"I thought that your ascension to become a Dao Ancestor would be accompanied by some spectacular phenomena, but it's surprisingly peaceful," Han Li remarked.

"Right now, I should be devouring this part of the Extraheavensphere, but I've just devoured Xuanyuan Jie instead, and it's going to take me quite some time to digest his power," Jin Tong explained.

After a brief silence, she continued, "You saved me again."

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he reprimanded, "Why didn't you tell me that you were preparing for a breakthrough? How could you be so reckless?"

Yi Jiao's trio had just arrived on the scene, and they were all stunned to hear this. Never had they heard anyone dare to speak to their Insect Ancestor in such a reprimanding tone.

However, it was clear that the two of them shared quite a close bond, so Yi Jiao's trio decided not to interrupt their reunion, instead sitting down in mid-air with their legs crossed to rest and recuperate.

Jin Tong's brows furrowed slightly as she opened her mouth to say something, but remained silent in the end.

Right at this moment, her expression suddenly changed slightly as she pressed a hand over her own abdomen.

"What's wrong?" Han Li hurriedly asked.

"Xuanyuan Jie is fighting the devouring law powers in my body," Jin Tong replied.

"Do you need my help?" Han Li asked.

"If he were still outside, then perhaps I would struggle a little to deal with him, but now that he's already in my stomach, his demise is only a matter of time. It's just that his essential earth law powers will be a little difficult to deal with," Jin Tong relied.

Han Li took a glance at their surroundings, then said, "Our battle against Xuanyuan Jie has to have already attracted a great deal of attention, so we can't stay here for much longer. Suppress him for now, and I'll take you somewhere else for your seclusion."

Jin Tong hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then nodded in response.

Han Li flew over to Yi Jiao's trio as he said, "You three can leave as well. I'm going to take Jin Tong somewhere safe to cultivate in seclusion."

Yi Jiao's trio turned to Jin Tong in an inquisitive manner, and only after receiving confirmation that they were to leave did they reluctantly do so.

After that, Han Li recovered his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, then sat down with his legs crossed before taking several pills to aid in his recovery.