Chapter 53: Scorched By Devilish Flames

As soon as his voice trailed off, Han Li's body blurred before vanishing on the spot.

"Look out!" the black-robed elderly man hurriedly yelled in an urgent voice.

However, before he had a chance to do anything else, he felt a blur flash past his eyes, following which he was sent flying back like a ragdoll as if a giant mountain had just crashed into him. He flew all the way to a mountain outside of the plaza before crashing into the mountain with such force that his body was completely embedded into the mountain face, and it was unclear whether he had survived the attack.

The white-haired elderly man and the dark-skinned man looked on as the black-robed elderly was sent flying, and before they even had a chance to make sense of the situation, two more dull thumps rang out as the two of them were also sent flying away in different directions before crashing heavily into the mountain face.

The entire plaza had fallen completely silent.

Liu Le'er was staring at all of the unconscious bodies and treasures littered all over the plaza, and her jaw had completely fallen onto the ground.

She had always known that Han Li was extremely powerful, but this still went far beyond her imagination, and she felt as if she were in a dream.

While she was still looking on with a dazed expression, Han Li arrived by her side as he asked with a concerned expression, "Are you alright, Le'er?"

"I'm fine, Brother Rock. It's all thanks to those treasures and pills that you gave me. That Qi Xuan was a really insidious bastard! Not only did he want to take your spirit flame for himself, he used me as bait to lure you here. Thankfully, he didn't do anything to me aside from keeping me prisoner," Liu Le'er replied with a hint of lingering fear in her eyes.

Han Li nodded in response, then sat down with his legs crossed before producing a white pill that he placed into his own mouth.

Even though he had intentionally held back on the spiritual sense attack he had unleashed earlier, his current meager reserves of magic power had still almost completely run dry.

Liu Le'er faltered slightly upon seeing this, then looked around with a concerned expression as she asked, "Shouldn't we be leaving this place before other people get here, Brother Rock?"

The massive commotion that Han Li had caused here had naturally attracted the attention of the entire Heavenly Ghost Sect, and many streaks of light were converging toward the plaza.

"There's no hurry to leave," Han Li replied with a nonchalant smile.

Mere moments later, several particularly large streaks of light arrived on the scene, revealing six figures that were giving off auras that weren't inferior to those of the three Spatial Tempering Stage elders from earlier.

The six of them were greatly alarmed to see the situation down below, and they all focused their eyes on Han Li.

The six of them were rather hesitant about how to proceed, and they quickly released their spiritual sense to inspect Han Li's cultivation base, then exchanged a glance with one another before retreating to open up some distance, and only then did they release their treasures.

Six treasures of different colors descended from the heavens, screeching through the air as they hurtled directly toward Han Li with devastating might.

Han Li didn't even bother to stand up, remaining in a seated position as he lashed out with his fists, throwing punches in six different directions to oppose the oncoming treasures.

Powerful shockwaves rippled through the air, proliferating in all directions.

A string of deafening booms rang out, and it was as if all of the treasures had crashed into invisible walls. Six enormous bursts of spiritual light erupted forth, and the entire space seemed to be trembling violently.

By the time the light faded, Han Li was already nowhere to be seen.

The six figures in the air faltered slightly upon seeing this, immediately following which Han Li appeared in front of a middle-aged man with a pair of narrow eyes before throwing a punch without any hesitation.

The middle-aged man didn't get a chance to react at all before he was sent flying back by a burst of tremendous force.

Five resounding booms rang out in quick succession, followed by the sound of a heavy impact, and the middle-aged man slumped down onto the ground, having fallen completely unconscious.

Han Li then sent the five remaining Spatial Tempering cultivators flying with a punch each, then returned to Liu Le'er's side, where he stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

The Heavenly Ghost Sect cultivators that were approaching from all directions were just in time to witness this astonishing scene, and they hurriedly stopped cold in their tracks with alarmed expressions, exchanging bewildered glances as they pondered how to proceed.

All of these high and mighty Spatial Tempering Stage elders were getting swatted away like flies by a completely unremarkable-looking Nascent Soul cultivator. Some had smashed deep craters into the plaza, some had been entombed in the nearby mountain face, and some had crashed through and toppled nearby buildings.

In particular, the hundreds of unconscious disciples and the treasures littered all over the ground around the plaza presented a harrowing sight to behold.

Right at this moment, a streak of white light shot forth from the distance, arriving in the sky above the Heavenly Ghost Hall, most of which had already collapsed at this point.

The light then faded to reveal a burly man in a silken robe who appeared to be no more than 30 to 40 years of age. He had a square face with a short purple beard, and he was giving off a formidable aura.

"Grand Elder Lu!"

"It's Grand Elder Lu! Thank heavens..."

All of the disciples around the plaza were ecstatic to see the arrival of the purple-bearded man, and they all called out in elation as if they had found a life raft to cling onto.

The man's gaze fell upon Han Li, and he wore a cautious expression as he quickly made a series of hand seals.

"So a Body Integration cultivator has finally shown up," Han Li mused to himself with a faint smile, then flipped a hand over to produce a miniature mountain amid a flash of black light.

The mountain flew out of his grasp with a swipe of his arm, rapidly swelling to several hundred feet tall mid-flight as it hurtled directly toward the purple-bearded man.

Even before the mountain arrived, a burst of astonishing force surged through the air.

The purple-bearded man remained calm and collected, and he was making hand seals at such an incredible speed that his hands had turned into an untraceable blur.

At this point, the black mountain had already swelled to over 1,000 feet in height, yet right when it was about to crash into the purple-bearded man, he suddenly stopped what he was doing.

A burst of dark purple light appeared beneath his feet, following which a hidden array that was riddled with runes abruptly emerged, swallowing him up in an instant.

The mountain missed its target as a result, continuing to crash toward the wreckage of the Heavenly Ghost Hall down below.

At the same time, identical purple arrays appeared beneath Han Li and Liu Le'er's feet as well, releasing a burst of purple light that enveloped the two of them in an instant.

……

Inside a secluded valley in the Yin Necropolis Mountain Range.

The space here was very confined, and there was barely any natural light. The entire valley was filled with dense black mist, and on either side of the valley were rock faces that stood at over 1,000 feet tall, upon which were engraved some strange patterns and complex ghostly runes.

Situated at each of the four corners of the valley was a large bluestone pillar, all four of which were riddled with runes and quite archaic in appearance.

Right at this moment, purple light suddenly flashed from the ground, and both Han Li and Liu Le'er appeared in the valley at the same time.

Liu Le'er was still under the protection of the fiery net formed by the silver fire raven, and she was swaying slightly from the rush of dizziness brought on by the sudden teleportation, but aside from that, she was completely fine.

As soon as Han Li arrived in the valley, he immediately raised his head to inspect his surroundings.

The purple-bearded man from before had already appeared on one of the bluestone pillars, and two male cultivators and one female cultivator were seated atop the other three pillars, seemingly meditating with their eyes closed.

The woman had a voluptuous figure and a set of beautiful features that were complemented by a red dress. She didn't appear to be very old, but she was giving off a mature charm.

The other two cultivators consisted of a giant of a man with only a single eye, and a hunch-backed elderly man.

Judging from their auras, all three of them were also Body Integration cultivators.

The three of them opened their eyes in unison upon sensing the disturbance in the valley, and they took a bewildered glance at Han Li's duo before turning to the purple-bearded man.

"Didn't you go to the Heavenly Ghost Plaza to take care of some intruders, Elder Lu? Why are you back so soon, and why did you bring these two outsiders into this forbidden zone?" the woman asked with a displeased look on her face.

"There's no time to explain! Hurry up and activate the Earthly Ghost Soul Suppression Array! That man is a Body Integration Stage body cultivator!" the purple-bearded man said in an urgent voice with a grim look on his face.

The other three cultivators were all quite surprised to hear this, but each of them instantly summoned a black badge without any hesitation.

The four of them then tossed their badges through the air in unison with a flick of their wrists.

Four metallic clangs rang out as the badges flew directly downward, instantly burrowing into the ground around Han Li.

Immediately thereafter, the ground beneath Han Li's feet began to tremble violently, and a string of thunderous rumbling rang out from beneath the ground.

The soil around him churned violently while the rocks crumbled away, and four peculiar archways erupted out of the ground, surrounding Han Li and Liu Le'er.

Each of the archways was around 500 to 600 feet tall with four pillars that were riddled with human and beast bones. A crimson skull was hanging from each corner of the archways' eaves, and they were swaying incessantly in the wind like red windchimes.

A giant ghostly head was engraved into the very center of each archway, and each of them was different in appearance from the others.

Before Han Li had a chance to do anything, the four ghostly heads on the archways seemed to have suddenly sprung to life, and their eyes swiveled toward him in unison.

A vast expanse of crimson light erupted out all of their eyes, then intertwined to form a projection of a sea of churning blood that encompassed the entire area around Han Li and Liu Le'er in a radius of several thousand feet.

Situated within the sea of blood, Han Li could feel an immense weight forcing down upon his shoulders. His robes were pressed tightly against his body, and all of his movements had become slightly slow and sluggish.

Blue light flashed through his eyes, and a string of loud cracks and pops rang out from within his body in quick succession. However, he only swayed slightly under the tremendous force weighing down on him before steadying himself again, seemingly completely unfazed.

The silver net above Liu Le'er was beginning to warp under the enormous pressure, and the uppermost section of the net had caved in significantly, but it was able to hold its shape once Han Li cast a string of incantation seals into it, much to Liu Le'er's relief.

The woman in red was staring at Han Li and Liu Le'er with an incredulous expression. "How is this possible?"

"Looks like we've still underestimated him. At the very most, this array will only be able to temporarily trap him. However, now that I've brought them into the Devilish Flame Valley, I can use the Ninth Heaven Devilish Flames left behind in the valley by Patriarch Bone Flame to refine them," the purple-bearded man said as a fierce look appeared in his eyes.

The one-eyed man and the hunch-backed elderly man exchanged a quick glance, and both of them nodded in agreement with this course of action.

Thus, the four of them immediately began to make a rapid series of hand seals, and the sound of their collective chanting rang out within the valley.

At the same time, a faint buzzing sound appeared in the valley before quickly becoming louder and louder, causing the entire valley to tremble and buzz.

Small rocks began to roll down from the cliff faces on either side of the valley, and the ghostly runes engraved upon them were radiating dazzling light.

The previously rather indistinct patterns suddenly became extremely vibrant and life-like, and they quickly joined together to form a series of black fire lotus flowers.

The lotus flowers swayed as bursts of black flames were released from their petals, surging incessantly into the valley. Before long, the entire valley had been filled with a sea of black flames that completely inundated Han Li and Liu Le'er.