Chapter 678: Baleful Embryo

Han Li took a moment to regain his bearings, then glanced at Immortal Lord Hot Flame before casting his gaze forward.

The underground palace was completely dark and silent, and it was impossible to tell what laid ahead.

"Let's go, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot Flame said as he led the way from the front, flipping a hand over to summon a bright, walnut-sized jewel, which he tossed upward to send it burrowing its way into the ceiling above.

The jewel was giving off radiant white light that illuminated the entire underground palace, and it was revealed that there was a strange wooden chair up ahead.

The chair seemed to have been interwoven out of the branches of a pair of short trees, and half of it was a dark green color, while the other half had a withered yellow hue.

"I thought this would be where Senior Martial Uncle Mu Yan stored his spirit pills and immortal plants, but it appears that there's nothing here," Immortal Lord Hot Flame said as a hint of disappointment flashed through his eyes.

"Given how secretive this place is, I'm sure there's more to it than meets the eye. Perhaps there's something hidden here, and we just need to look a little harder," Han Li said as his gaze fell upon the wooden chair.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame nodded in response, and he strode forward until he reached the wooden chair. After that, he gently set Mu Yan's body down onto the chair so that it was in an upright seated posture, then extended a respectful bow toward the body.

Meanwhile, Han Li waited for Immortal Lord Hot Flame to pay his final respects to Mu Yan, and only after that did they begin to search through the palace together.

Some time later, the two of them met back up at the center of the palace, and they exchanged a glance to discover their own disappointment mirrored in each other's eyes.

"I wasn't able to find any concealed mechanisms or restrictions here," Immortal Lord Hot Flame said.

"It looks like whatever was in here has most likely already been taken," Han Li sighed in response.

All of a sudden, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Mu Yan's body seemed to have moved ever so slightly.

He immediately turned his gaze to Mu Yan's body, only to find that it remained seated in a completely still manner on the strange wooden chair, but he was certain that he hadn't just imagined the movement.

"I don't think so. I doubt anyone else aside from myself would've been aware of the existence of this underground palace," Immortal Lord Hot Flame mused, clearly having failed to detect what Han Li had just seen.

"Perhaps the True Mantra Sect was already looted when it was destroyed all those years ago..."

All of a sudden, Han Li's voice trailed off as his expression changed drastically, and he yelled, "Look out, Fellow Daoist Hot Flame!"

At the same time, a layer of peculiar green light emerged over Mu Yan's body, and black baleful qi was gathering within the large wound on its abdomen, forming a grape-sized bead in the blink of an eye.

There was black qi swirling incessantly around the bead, presenting a strange sight to behold.

Immediately thereafter, the branches on the wooden chair beneath Mu Yan's body suddenly parted as if they had sprung to life, then swept toward Immortal Lord Hot Flame like masses of vines.

All of this had taken place in an instant, and even though Immortal Lord Hot Flame had been alerted by Han Li, he was still just a little too late to react, and he had only just sprung into action when several of the vines wrapped themselves around his arm.

He immediately let loose an agonized howl as the sleeve around his arm was instantly reduced to ashes, and a series of black char marks appeared over the exposed skin of his arm. At the same time, his arm was being rapidly drained of its vitality, and his skin was becoming as wizened as tree bark.

He immediately opened his mouth to release a burst of scorching crimson flames, which flowed along the vines ensnared around his arm toward the wooden chair.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

However, these incredibly formidable flames simply slipped off the vines like rain, and the vines were left completely unharmed.

Right at this moment, a streak of azure swordlight shot forth through the air, swooping down with arcs of golden lightning flashing around it.

A loud snap rang out as the vines were severed, dark green liquid came gushing out alongside bursts of baleful black smoke.

As soon as Immortal Lord Hot Flame was freed, he immediately rushed over to Han Li's side, then summoned a golden talisman that he pressed onto his arm with his uninjured hand.

A faint sizzling sound rang out as plumes of pungent white smoke began to rise up from the talisman.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame was sweating profusely from the intense agony, but he had no time to dwell on his own pain as he hurriedly asked, "What's going on, Fellow Daoist Li?"

"I'm not sure, but it looks like Senior Mu Yan is about to transform into a baleful entity," Han Li replied with tightly furrowed brows.

At the same time, he was staring intently at the strange wooden chair. At this point, all of its vines had shrunk back and were waving incessantly like a head of devilish hair, but they were no longer lashing out at Han Li's duo.

"How is that possible? It's already been countless years, how could it possibly be that this just so happens to be the exact moment that he transforms into a baleful entity?" Immortal Lord Hot Flame asked with an incredulous expression.

"I don't have an answer to that, but I feel like it most likely has something to do with that wooden chair," Han Li speculated.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he hurriedly yelled, "That's not a wooden chair, that's a..."

Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, Han Li interjected in an urgent voice, "He's about to form a baleful embryo! Fellow Daoist Hot Flame, help me ward off those vines!"

At this moment, Mu Yan's body had begun trembling violently, and his eyes were darting around back and forth beneath his eyelids, looking as if they could spring open at any moment.

Han Li immediately sprang forward while summoning nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, then combined them into a single sword before piercing it directly toward Mu Yan's abdomen, where the baleful embryo was taking shape.

As soon as he reached within several hundred feet of the body, the nearby vines instantly erupted into a frenzy, lashing out at him from all directions.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame hurriedly summoned his golden mirror upon seeing this, then tossed it forward before making a hand seal.

The mirror shuddered violently as a complex rune appeared on its surface, and it released countless rays of golden light that encompassed the entire space around Han Li.

A burst of formidable time law power fluctuations surged through the golden light, and all of the vines that were sweeping toward Han Li instantly became extremely slow and sluggish.

At the same time, Han Li channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to drastically enhance his own speed while a ball of Divine Devilbane Lightning was conjured up at the tip of his azure longsword using his Lightningwield Technique.

The sword was able to pierce straight through the barrier formed by interwoven vines before plunging into the hole in Mu Yan's abdomen, and a resounding thunderclap rang out as the ball of golden lightning exploded in all directions as countless tiny arcs of golden lightning, instantly tearing the baleful embryo to shreds.

The destroyed baleful embryo reverted back into baleful qi that was completely eradicated, but right at this moment, Han Li saw Mu Yan's body open its eyes.

However, the figure that was reflected in the pupils of Mu Yan's eyes was Qi Mozi instead of Han Li.

In the next instant, countless bursts of formidable sword qi erupted in all directions, tearing Mu Yan's body to shreds along with the two trees beneath it.

"No!"

An anguished cry rang out, followed by a forlorn sigh, and the former had come from Immortal Lord Hot Flame's, while the sigh had been heaved by Mo Guang.

As soon as Han Li landed on the ground, Mo Guang's voice rang out in his mind.

"What a pity... If only I hadn't been so engrossed in my cultivation just now..."

Han Li was naturally aware of what Mo Guang was referring to. If he could've devoured that baleful embryo, then his cultivation base would've definitely advanced even further, but deep down, that wasn't what Han Li wanted to see.

An early-High Zenith Stage Mo Guang was already rather difficult to control, if he allowed Mo Guang to become even more powerful, then there was no telling what could happen.

"My apologies, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang. The situation was very urgent, so I had to act," Han Li said, communicating internally with Mo Guang.

"It's fine, it simply wasn't meant to be," Mo Guang sighed.

Han Li turned to Immortal Lord Hot Flame, then asked, "Why did you call out to stop me just now, Fellow Daoist Hot Flame?"

At this point, Immortal Lord Hot Flame had already stowed his golden mirror away, and he stormed over to Han Li, then looked down at the charred wooden chair with a forlorn expression as he sighed, "You went too far overboard, Fellow Daoist Li."

"What's the problem?" Han Li asked with furrowed brows.

"This thing is not some wooden chair. Instead, it's an immortal plant by the name of Twin Birth Tree. I recall that this was the thing that Senior Martial Uncle Mu Yan used to overcome his baleful decay," Immortal Lord Hot Flame explained.

An intense pang of remorse instantly welled up in Han Li's heart upon hearing this, but there was nothing that he could do.

He leaned down to examine if there was any chance that the tree could be saved, and in doing so, he noticed a green branch among all of the charred branches. Only after plucking out that particular branch did he discover that it was actually a branch-shaped jade slip.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame's expression instantly changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Could this be the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra?"

"Why don't you find out?" Han Li asked as he handed the jade slip over to Immortal Lord Hot Flame without any hesitation.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame was rather embarrassed by Han Li's forthright attitude, and he said, "To think that I still harbored some reservations about you, even after you saved my life so many times. I'm truly ashamed. Regardless of whether the jade slip contains the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, you can examine its contents. But after that..."