Chapter 1384: Anomaly

The outcome of the half-divination that Chen Tuan had previously conducted surfaced in Gu Huojin's mind, and a dark look appeared in his eyes.

"Chen Tuan was right, you really are the biggest anomaly standing in my way! You've been lucky to survive to this point, but that ends now!" Gu Huojin roared, and as soon as his voice trailed off, a massive ball of gray light emerged from the chaotic vortex around him before hurtling toward Han Li at an astonishing speed.

Han Li was already prepared, and he thrust both palms forward at once, sending countless specks of golden light surging toward the ball of gray light.

As the specks of golden light converged, the outlines of a river of time gradually began to take shape, and it crashed into the ball of gray light like a turbulent wave.

The ball of gray light began devouring the rays of golden light around it, expanding further and further in the process, but also becoming more slow and sluggish.

By the time it swelled to over a hundred thousand feet in size, it had virtually come to a complete halt.

Right at this moment, an explosive thunderclap rang out as a line of dazzling, golden radiance appeared down the center of the ball of gray light, and it was split into two before exploding with almighty power.

All of the space within a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers expanded rapidly, and light, debris, and the world's origin qi in the area were erased from existence.

Immediately thereafter, all of the shockwaves from the explosion began to rapidly contract, ultimately collapsing the space at the epicenter to form an all-devouring black hole.

Gu Huojin's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.

Right at this moment, a river of time abruptly appeared before him hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, and Han Li was walking over it as if he were treading a line between illusion and reality, and in the blink of an eye, he was no more than several thousand kilometers away from Gu Huojin.

Before Gu Huojin had a chance to do anything, Han Li threw a punch his way, and the five time law treasures around him instantly vanished into the river of time down beneath him.

The turbulent river of time instantly transformed into a gargantuan, golden fist projection that hurtled directly toward Gu Huojin, and it was uninhibited by the space before it, striking Gu Huojin in the same instant that it took shape.

An earth-shattering boom rang out as the golden fist projection exploded to fill the entire space with blinding, golden light, and the shockwaves from the explosion obliterated the two giant arms extending out of the chaotic vortex.

As a result, the pressure on the Devilish Monarch and the Reincarnation Palace Master was significantly lessened, and the two of them immediately retreated to close to a hundred thousand kilometers away.

"He's using his time law powers way too aggressively! Is he not afraid of being assimilated by the Heavenly Dao?" the Devilish Monarch asked through voice transmission, and the Reincarnation Palace Master merely shook his head in response.

Moments later, the golden light from the fist projection finally dissipated, and the five time law treasures flew back to Han Li before vanishing into his body.

However, much to Han Li's concern and dismay, not only was Gu Huojin completely unscathed from the attack, his aura had only become more formidable.

"The laws of chaos can devour all things, so I am already invincible. How much more time law power do you have? Send it all my way!" Gu Huojin chortled with glee.

Right at this moment, Han Li felt a burst of searing pain in front of his chest, and he looked down to discover that the Heaven Controlling Vial was glowing red, a color that it had never displayed before.

Immediately thereafter, the voice of the vial spirit rang out in his mind.

"Now that you've become a Dao Ancestor, you can attempt to refine the Heaven Controlling Vial. Hurry, there's no time to waste!"

"What do you mean, Senior Vial Spirit?" Heaven Controlling Vial asked.

"The Heaven Controlling Vial was the first-ever Profound Heavenly Item, and it was born alongside the Heavenly Dao, so it contains not just all of the laws under the heavens, but also some residual chaos law powers. In Gu Huojin's current state, you stand no chance of defeating him unless you refine this vial!" the vial spirit explained in an urgent manner.

"Why are you only telling me this now?" Han Li asked.

"There's no time for questions! I was only born when your previous incarnation, the Reincarnation Palace Master, injected all of his time law powers into the Heaven Controlling Vial, so even though I'm the vial spirit, my knowledge of the Heaven Controlling Vial's properties is far from comprehensive, and I've constantly been cultivating to try and unravel more of the vial's secrets," the vial spirit explained.

"Does that mean you were cultivating on all of those occasions that I called upon you, but received no response?" Han Li exclaimed.

"That's right. The Heaven Controlling Vial was born alongside heaven and earth, and it's only revealed all of its secrets to me after sensing Gu Huojin's plans to destroy this world in order to create a new one. Now hurry up and refine the vial! I'll lend you my assistance," the vial spirit urged.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Before Han Li had a chance to respond, a rumbling thunderclap suddenly rang out up above, and a pillar of chaotic lightning came crashing down upon him.

His seventy-two sword spirit children immediately flew out of his body on their own, then quickly arranged themselves into a massive sword array, which released countless arcs of Cardinal Heavenly Lightning to oppose the pillar of chaotic lightning.

The two types of lightning exploded in unison, sending ferocious shockwaves sweeping through the entire surrounding area in a radius of millions of kilometers. All of the surrounding space was torn to shreds, releasing all types of violent spatial storms as most of the Middle Earth Immortal Region was destroyed in mere seconds.

The sword array formed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also fell apart, and they reverted back into sword spirit children that returned to Han Li's side.

"Fellow Daoist Shi, Palace Master, I'll have to trouble the two of you to hold off Gu Huojin for a while. I may have a way to turn the tables, but it's going to require some preparation," Han Li said through voice transmission.

The Devilish Monarch was rather hesitant, while the Reincarnation Palace Master immediately agreed.

"If you don't have a way to stop Gu Huojin, then I suggest you place your trust in him," the Reincarnation Palace Master said to the Devilish Monarch, then flew over to Han Li's side.

The Devilish Monarch's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he ultimately obliged, and he and the Reincarnation Palace Master situated themselves in front of Han Li like a pair of guardians.

Meanwhile, Han Li sat down in mid-air, then removed the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck before cupping it in his hands.

All of a sudden, a burst of bright, crimson light suddenly began emanating from the vial, and it seemed to be able to seep into his body, illuminating his tendons, bones, and meridians the same crimson color.

Both the Reincarnation Palace Master and the Devilish Monarch turned back to take a surprised glance at Han Li upon sensing what was happening behind them.

The Heaven Controlling Vial had once been under the ownership of the Reincarnation Palace Master, and he had used it in countless battles, but never had he felt the vial giving off an aura like this.

Gu Huojin had also noticed that Han Li was preparing something, and he roared, "Han Li, I won't let you get in my way!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, he clasped his hands together in a seal before thrusting them toward Han Li in unison, and a pillar of blinding, white light erupted out of the center of the chaotic vortex, forming a vast sea of light that swept directly toward Han Li's trio.

All of the space in the wake of the sea of light was completely annihilated, leaving behind a widening chasm of complete nothingness.

A look of resolve appeared on the Reincarnation Palace Master's face as he stepped forward and swept a sleeve through the air, and the Six Paths Reincarnation Plate flew to around a thousand feet in front of him, following which it began to swell rapidly in size.

In the blink of an eye, it had already swelled to over a million feet in size, standing before Han Li's trio like a gargantuan wall.

At the same time, it began revolving rapidly, and the almighty sea of black light was kept at bay by the Six Paths Reincarnation Plate.

However, the sections of the sea of white light that swept past on either side of the reincarnation plate continued onward further into the distance, annihilating what little remained of the Middle Earth Immortal Region.

Han Li paid no heed to all of this as he focused the entirety of his attention on channeling his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.

His time law powers had taken on the form of countless strands of light, which were connected to the Heaven Controlling Vial, and for the first time, he had truly entered the vial's internal space.

The vial seemed to have been harboring an infinitely large space, within which Han Li was smaller than even the tiniest speck of dust.

He was surrounded by a boundless expanse of darkness, within which balls of light of different colors could be seen, some of which appeared as massive as planets, while others were as small as bonfires, and all of them were giving off different law power fluctuations.