Chapter 684: Loss of Contact

"This is great! This place has been perfectly preserved!" Immortal Lord Hot Flame exclaimed in a celebratory voice.

"The surroundings of this palace have been tampered with, so I don't think it'll be easy to enter the palace," Han Li mused as he inspected the area around the palace with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.

"Indeed, our sect's Heaven and Earth Dust Array has been set up around the True Mantra Palace. It's one of our sect's most powerful concealed arrays, and even High Zenith Stage beings struggle to detect it, so it's very impressive that you were able to see it right away!" Immortal Lord Hot Flame said in a surprised voice as he took an extra glance at Han Li's glowing purple eyes.

"You sound very confident, Fellow Daoist Hot Flame. Could it be that you already have a way to bypass the array?" Han Li asked as the purple light in his eyes faded.

"For an outsider, bypassing the array would be near impossible, but you can count on me to get us through, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot Flame assured with a smile.

Immediately thereafter, he flipped a hand over to produce a silver jade plate before tossing it upward, and at the same time, he cast an incantation seal into the jade plate with his other hand.

Bright silver light instantly rose up from the surface of the jade plate, and it transformed into a ball of silver light that descended to encompass Han Li's duo.

Immortal Lord Hot Flame then began to chant an incantation before pointing at the palace up ahead from afar, and the ball of silver light instantly flew away in that direction at a rather lethargic pace.

After flying for a short distance, the space around the ball of silver light suddenly began to buzz, following which a series of criss-crossing streaks of white light emerged.

These streaks of white light varied in length and size, and they were distributed throughout an area in a radius of close to ten kilometers around the True Mantra Palace, taking on all types of different permutations.

Han Li observed the white light with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and he discovered that this was only the very surface of the array, while the permutations deeper inside were eevn more complex.

Through the use of his Infernal Devilish Eyes, he was able to see countless specks of white light of different sizes in the surrounding space, presenting a resplendent sight to behold.

However, if he were to focus his gaze on any individual speck of light, then he would discover that it encompassed a tiny, independent world that contained all types of living creatures, the sky, the sea... It was all extremely realistic and profound.

Han Li was surprised to discover that the array was even more profound than he imagined.

These specks of light appeared to all be independent, but some type of connection existed between all of them, and if any of them were to clash against each other, then the entire array would instantly be activated to eradicate the intruder.

Despite the confidence with which Immortal Lord Hot Flame had spoken with earlier, he was proceeding with extreme caution, meticulously controlling the ball of silver light as it weaved through the specks of white light.

After close to two hours, the two of them had only covered about half the distance through the array.

All of a sudden, the array up ahead changed once again, and a series of balls of black light emerged before revolving on the spot while releasing waves of black ripples.

As these ripples gradually expanded outward, the scene up ahead gradually took on an indistinct appearance, and a menacing atmosphere arose in the air.

"The second half of this array is even more difficult to deal with. I'll need to be fully focused, so make sure that you absolutely do not distract me, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot Flame warned.

Han Li nodded in response, and Immortal Lord Hot Flame knew that Han Li was a reliable person, so he had only issued this warning as a safety precaution.

He took a deep breath, yet right as he was about to direct the ball of silver light onward, the black ripples up ahead were suddenly thrown into complete disarray before rapidly fading away.

The balls of black light also shrank down significantly, and the space up ahead was instantly cleared, allowing Han Li's duo to see the gates of the True Mantra Palace.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

In the array behind them, all of the white light also quickly faded, and it was as if the array had somehow been suddenly deactivated.

Both Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot Flame were quite taken aback to see this, but the latter reacted very quickly, pouncing on this opportunity to accelerate the ball of silver light drastically.

In the span of just a few seconds, it passed through the rest of the array before arriving at the gates of the True Mantra Palace.

"What happened just now?" Immortal Lord Hot Flame asked.

"I'm assuming the core of this array must be in the True Mantra Palace, so I can only assume that something's happened in there," Han Li speculated.

"Could it be that someone has already gotten here before us?" Immortal Lord Hot Flame asked as he also hurriedly cast his gaze toward the palace.

From afar, the gates of the True Mantra Palace hadn't appeared all that large, but only now that they were standing directly before them did he truly come to realize just how enormous they were.

Standing in front of the palace gates, the two of them were made to look like a pair of tiny ants, and they could see a long passageway beyond the entrance of the palace, but for some reason,the passageway was very dimly lit.

Even with his exceptional eyesight, Han Li was only able to see just over a hundred feet into the palace from the entrance, and the darkness inside struck him with a peculiar sense of foreboding.

He attempted to extend his spiritual sense into the passageway, only for it to be instantly repelled by a burst of invisible force.

His brows furrowed slightly as he turned to Immortal Lord Hot Flame with an inquisitive expression.

"Don't look at me, Fellow Daoist Li, this is my first time here as well. I only know the way to traverse through the Heaven and Earth Dust Array outside as I just so happened to see the array diagram once," Immortal Lord Hot Flame said with a shrug.

"Well, we certainly can't turn back at this point, so let's go in," Han Li said, then stepped into the palace, and Immortal Lord Hot Flame hurriedly followed along.

There seemed to be some type of special restriction set up within the passageway, and no matter what light sources Han Li's duo tried to use to illuminate the path ahead, they were only able to see less than two hundred feet up ahead at most.

Beyond that point, everything was enshrouded in darkness.

The area was deathly silent with the exception of their footsteps, and even after they had been walking for fifteen minutes, there was still no sign that they were approaching the end of the passageway.

As a safety precaution, neither of them dared to speed up, and they continued at a slow and steady pace.

The complete silence and suffocating darkness culminated in a very unsettling environment, and before long, Immortal Lord Hot Flame's breathing was beginning to become a little labored.

Even Han Li was gradually becoming more and more flustered as they continued down the seemingly never-ending path.

Right at this moment, the sound of faint sobbing rang out up ahead.

Han Li immediately stopped cold in his tracks as he channeled his immortal spiritual power, but the sound up ahead abruptly faded as if it had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination.

"Did you hear that, Fellow Daoist Hot Flame?" Han Li asked as he turned to Immortal Lord Hot Flame, only to discover that he was no longer there.

"Fellow Daoist Hot Flame!" Han Li called out as he injected some of his immortal spiritual power into his voice, causing the nearby ground and walls to tremble violently.

However, there was still no response, and it was as if Immortal Lord Hot Flame had truly vanished.

Have I fallen into an illusion?

Han Li's expression darkened slightly as he channeled the immense spiritual power in his mind, but he couldn't sense anything to indicate that he had fallen prey to an illusion.

"Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, can you..."

All of a sudden, his voice trailed off there as he discovered that his connection with Mo Guang had completely faded.

It seemed that his spiritual sense had been sealed by some type of mysterious power, restricting it strictly to the confines of his mind.

Not only had his connection with the Flower Branch domain been severed, the same applied to all of his other storage tools as well.

It wasn't clear whether he had fallen under any illusion, but at this point, Han Li knew that he had to have triggered some type of restriction in the passageway.

He looked forward and back with a hesitant expression for a moment, then suddenly quickened his pace as he continued onward.

He had already been walking down the passageway for a long time, so turning back now would be a huge waste. On top of that, he didn't know if he would be able to turn back and leave even if he wanted to.

A short while later, a burst of black light suddenly emerged up ahead. It was an arrow of black light that was racing through the air at an astonishing speed, hurtling directly toward his chest.

He only had less than two hundred feet of visibility, but his reactions were extremely sharp, and he was able to sidestep the arrow with ease.

The arrow continued to pierce into the darkness behind him, quickly vanishing out of sight.

"Who's there?" Han Li roared as he stopped in his tracks.

The entire passageway rumbled violently for a long while before settling down again, and no response rang out from up ahead.

Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he continued onward, but he had only taken a few more steps when another arrow of black light shot out of the darkness, hurtling toward him at the same speed as the previous one.

A perplexed look flashed through his eyes upon seeing this. No matter how many more of these arrows were sent flying at him, they were simply not fast or powerful enough to pose a threat, so what was the point?

With that in mind, he was just about to dodge to the side when all of a sudden, the only remaining light in the surrounding area abruptly faded, plunging him into complete darkness.

A piercing shriek rang out, and Han Li gave a muffled groan as he stumbled a couple of steps backward.

Due to the sudden onset of darkness, he had been a split second too slow to react, and as a result, the second arrow had managed to glance his shoulder.

Even though it was only a glancing blow, Han Li felt as if someone had pierced a red-hot dagger viciously into his soul, inflicting excruciating pain.

Han Li suppressed the frustration in his heart as he hurriedly channeled his immortal spiritual power to try and conjure up some azure light to illuminate the darkness, but no matter what light sources he tried to summon, the surrounding darkness refused to fade, leaving him unable to see or sense anything.