Chapter 1357: Trapped

"Was I using the Five Lightning True Mantra in my dreams again?" Yu Menghan asked in a surprised manner.

"What am I ever going to do with you..." the elderly woman sighed, but there was a look of doting affection in her eyes.

It had been over ten million years since she had founded the Dream Cloud Sect, but she hadn't been able to find a disciple capable of fully harnessing her teachings. She had stumbled upon Yu Menghan by chance, drawn to her in a dream, and she knew from that moment onward that fate had finally brought her a worthy heir.

Over the course of her extensive cultivation journey, she had managed to reach the pinnacle of the Great Encompassment Stage, and she had always yearned to make the final breakthrough to become the Dream Dao Ancestor, but her hope had waned over time.

Her fated encounter with Yu Menghan had given her another option, and she had placed all over her hope upon her prized disciple.

As it turned out, she did indeed possess exceptional aptitude when it came to cultivating the laws of dreams, and as long as she was willing to work hard in her cultivation, she had a bright future ahead with such a capable mistress to guide her.

However, what was rather exasperating to the elderly woman was that Yu Menghan seemed to have rather stubborn ties to the past, and she was unable to set aside the Five Lightning True Mantra. Whenever she entered a state of slumber to cultivate the Fantastical Dream Mantra, she would always involuntarily cultivate the Five Lightning True Mantra on the side.

The elderly woman simply couldn't bring herself to scold her prized disciple, so in the end, she could only relent as she said, "The Bodhi Banquet is about to begin soon. Once you receive your Bodhi Dao Fruit, make sure to cherish it. It's something that could have life-altering consequences for your cultivation."

"I get one as well?" Yu Menghan asked as her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Of course not. Only those who were officially invited by the Heavenly Court or possess Bodhi Tokens are granted Bodhi Dao Fruits. However, at this stage in my cultivation, the benefits of consuming a Bodhi Dao Fruit are very limited for me, so you can have mine," the elderly woman replied with a smile.

"No, I can't do that! It's yours, Mistress!" Yu Menghan hurriedly protested.

"You don't know how precious these Bodhi Dao Fruits are, you silly girl. They're greatly cherished even by Dao Ancestors, let alone High Zenith and Great Encompassment cultivators. Of course, these dao fruits are split into different grades, and they're assigned in accordance with one's cultivation base and ties to the Heavenly Court," the elderly woman explained.

"What's the grade of your..."

Yu Menghan's voice trailed off here as she felt like this was a rather inappropriate question to ask.

"I'm entitled to a dao fruit of the highest grade, of course. Once you receive it, don't consume it right away. I'll preserve it using a secret technique, and after we return to the Dream Cloud Sect, I'll feed the fruit to you one slice at a time so you're not overwhelmed by its power," the elderly woman said with a doting smile.

Right at this moment, a male voice rang out from nearby.

"How generous of you, Fellow Daoist Meng Po. These Bodhi Dao Fruits were refined by Gu Huojin himself over extensive periods of time while incorporating many types of law powers. Just as you said, they're highly sought after even among Dao Ancestors, yet you're giving yours to your disciple?"

The elderly woman didn't even bother turning to see who it was that had spoken as she snapped, "I'll give my dao fruit to whoever I want. Mind your own business, you old fart!"

Yu Menghan turned to discover that the one who had spoken was a tall, gray-robed elderly man.

His rather ragged gray robe presented a stark contrast with the opulent attire worn by everyone else, and despite Meng Po's abrasive response, the man remained unbothered as he smiled and said, "For those who have yet to attain the Great Dao, consuming the Bodhi Dao Fruit will help them under the Great Dao, while for those who have already reached the pinnacle, consuming the Bodhi Dao Fruit will help them stave off the assimilation of the Heavenly Dao..."

"Shut your mouth, Cang Wu! I told you to mind your own business!" Meng Po snapped in a disgruntled manner, and the gray-robed elderly man immediately fell into a sheepish silence.

"Is this senior telling the truth, Mistress?" Yu Menghan asked.

Since becoming Meng Po's disciple, she had accrued an immense amount of knowledge and experience and even become privy to some of the secrets of the True Immortal Realm. Hence, after hearing what True Lord Cang Wu had to say, she quickly came to realize that these Bodhi Dao Fruits were even more precious than she had imagined.

"Of course he's telling the truth. Otherwise, why would a Dao Ancestor like him have pledged his subordination to the Heavenly Court? Of course, everyone is fearful of Gu Huojin, but ultimately, he was roped in by the benefits offered to him by the Heavenly Court," Meng Po replied through voice transmission.

Upon hearing confirmation from Meng Po, Yu Menghan decided there and then that she was absolutely not going to consume this Bodhi Dao Fruit.

At the same time, she knew that True Lord Cang Wu had intentionally revealed this to her in the hopes that Meng Po would consume her dao fruit, and with that in mind, she communicated to him through voice transmission, "Thank you for revealing this to me, Senior."

True Lord Cang Wu faltered slightly upon hearing this, then turned to Meng Po with a smile as he remarked, "You've found yourself a fine disciple, Meng Po."

He then strode over to a table not far away from Meng Po's before sitting down with hsi eyes closed.

Yu Menghan swept her gaze over the lively and bustling scenes around her, and for som reason, a hint of sorrow welled up in her heart as the image of Han Li surfaced in her mind.

I wonder where he is right now...

......

Inside the Ubiquitous Myriad Immortal Array.

Han Li was hovering in the pitch-black space with seventy-two sword spirit children flying around him, forming the Almighty Sword Array.

Golden lightning was flashing incessantly as the seventy-two children reverted back into golden flying swords, and the sword qi emanating from the flying swords combined to form a golden heavenly gate.

Compared with the normal heavenly gate conjured up by the Almighty Sword Array, this one was far less impressive and had a rather illusory appearance, but the lightning law powers that it contained were still extremely formidable, much to the astonishment of the four Dao Ancestors looking on from outside the array.

"How is this possible? He's clearly a cultivator of the laws of time, yet his bonded flying swords are imbued with incredibly fearsome lightning law powers!" Zhu Ya exclaimed.

Her three companions exchanged a bewildered glance with one another, and none of them were able to give her an answer.

Right at this moment, the heavenly gate in the Ubiquitous Myriad Immortal Array suddenly sprang open, and countless golden lightning wyrms came flooding out from within, rushing toward the edge of the array in a frenzy.

A resounding explosion rang out as the mighty flight of golden lightning wyrms crashed into the array before exploding like balls of golden fire.

Incredibly fearsome shockwaves swept through the entire space encompassed within the array, while arcs of golden lightning sprang through the air in all directions.

Han Li flashed rapidly through the air, evading the shockwaves that were sweeping through the space around him while looking on with tightly furrowed brows.

Not only had this array completely sealed this space away, trapping himself and Jin Tong within it, even the shockwaves from their attacks weren't able to escape, instead bouncing back and forth within this space until they dissipated on their own.

Hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, Jin Tong was lashing out repeatedly at another section of the spatial barrier with her fists, causing the nearby space to rumble like thunder.

At the same time, dozens of mountain ranges within the ten immortal regions connected to the Ubiquitous Myriad Immortal Array were trembling violently, while dozens of volcanoes were erupting in unison, and waves of unprecedented magnitudes were sweeping over vast sections of the sea.

All of the cultivators in the ten arrays were also having to bear the power of Han Li and Jin Tong's attacks, and the Great Encompassment cultivators were able to hold their own just fine, while the High Zenith cultivators were clearly struggling.

As for the Golden Immortals, they were faring even worse, and many of them had fallen unconscious to the ground with blood trickling out of all of these orifices.

However, as soon as someone collapsed, they would immediately be replaced, so the Ubiquitous Myriad Immortal Array remained as steady and resilient as ever, much to the relief of the four Dao Ancestors.

"If that's all they've got, then we can easily trap them in here for months!" Meng Yuan said.

"Don't get complacent. Make sure to keep a close eye on everything and immediately address any holes that appear," Zi Shan said in a cautious manner, and her three companions immediately gave a collective, affirmative response.

Inside the array, Han Li had already withdrawn his flying swords and was hovering in mid-air in a contemplative silence.

A streak of golden light flew over to his side from the distance, then faded away to reveal Jin Tong.

"I can't do anything to this array," she grumbled as she crossed her arms in a frustrated manner.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"This area has been completely sealed away, so my Almighty Sword Array is unable to connect with heaven and earth. As a result, it's nowhere near as powerful as it normally is, and it was also unable to break this array," Han Li said.

All of a sudden, an idea seemed to have occurred to Jin Tong, and he proposed, "How about instead of attacking the spatial barrier, we each unleash an attack at each other and see if the power generated by the clash can tear this space apart? If we can do that, then we'll be able to escape into the Extraheavensphere through the resulting spatial rift!"

Han Li considered the idea for a moment, then decided that it was worth a try.

Thus, the two of them quickly flew back until there was a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers between them, following which they engaged in a clash between fist and sword.

A deafening boom rang out as bursts of shockwaves swept through the surrounding space, rebounding back and forth against the spatial barrier.

Jin Tong flew back to Han Li's side, dodging the oncoming shockwaves along the way, and the two of them exchanged a disappointed glance with one another.

The clash between their attacks had caused the space to tremble violently, but not even the tiniest of spatial rifts had appeared.