Chapter 729: Springing Into Action

At this point, the karmic fire had already reached Mo Guang, and he casually bent down before making a grabbing motion, drawing the karmic fire into his hand as if it were a ball of putty.

After playing with it for a moment, he tossed it back into the giant furnace.

The Infernal Servant faltered slightly upon seeing this, then extended an apologetic salute toward Mo Guang before lashing out with his whip again, winding it around the Dwarf being's neck this time.

The Dwarf being's complexion had already turned extremely pale, and a pained look appeared on his face as he struggled against the whip around his neck.

The Dwarf being that had led Han Li's group here was also looking on with a pained and sorrowful expression, but he didn't dare to say anything.

"That's enough. Bring me the finished product," Baili Yan instructed.

The Infernal Servant's cold expression remained unchanged, but he retracted his whip from around the Dwarf being's neck, and the spared Dwarf being immediately fell to his knees and began kowtowing in gratitude.

The Dwarf being that had led Han Li's group here hurriedly brought over the dozen or so balls of Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning that had already been refined, and Baili Yan picked one up for a brief inspection, following which a perplexed look appeared on his face as he said to Han Li through voice transmission, "There appears to be some fire law powers intermingled with the baleful lightning."

"Perhaps that has something to do with the two people from the Immortal Realm that he spoke of earlier. Perhaps this baleful lightning is only as powerful as it is thanks to the infusion of fire law powers. In any case, you should take these," Han Li replied.

"Should we go and see those two Immortal Realm cultivators?" Baili Yan asked.

"Let's go to the karmic fire crater first and see if we can get to the Soul Cleansing Area through it. I don't think a detour would be wise," Han Li replied.

Baili Yan stowed the dozen or so balls of Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning away, then turned to Mo Guang as he said, "We're already here anyway, so we may as well take a look at the karmic fire crater, right?"

"I suppose," Mo Guang replied with a nod.

"Please come this way," the Infernal Servant said as he drifted over to Han Li's group.

After that, he led the group out of the hall, and as they were leaving, Han Li turned back to take a glance at the toiling Dwarf beings, just in time to see the Dwarf being that had led them here glowering at him with a resentful look in his eyes.

As soon as their eyes met, the resentment on the Dwarf being's face instantly turned to horror, but Han Li merely departed without doing anything.

The Dwarf being heaved a long sigh of relief, but was also rather perplexed about why he had been spared.

The passageway stretched on for close to ten kilometers before finally reaching an enormous underground cave.

There was a giant black fiery pit up ahead the size of an average lake, and inside it were churning black flames and baleful qi, making it difficult just to draw breath.

The path beneath everyone's feet gradually narrowed above the fiery crater, tapering to a bridge that was several dozen feet wide before coming to an abrupt end at the center of the crater.

On the other side of the fiery crater was a black rock wall with a giant hole that was several hundred feet tall on it, and the karmic fire was pouring out of the hole before flowing into the fiery crater down below.

"It's just as you speculated, Fellow Daoist Li, the Rashom Area's karmic fire comes from the Soul Cleansing Area!" Shi Chuankong said through voice transmission.

"Don't celebrate just yet, we have to hurry up. The more abundant the baleful qi in a place is, the faster the spiritual qi in a Heavenly Jade Fox Tail will be worn down, so we'll revert back to our true forms soon," Fox 3 suddenly cautioned.

Han Li was just about to respond when something suddenly caught his attention.

Standing on the bridge up ahead were around a dozen armorclad Infernal Servants, all of whom were holding weapons with cold looks on their faces, and they were displaying no reaction to Han Li's group.

Dangling down from the end of the bridge was a square black cage that was swaying incessantly above the karmic fire, constantly being eroded by the flames and baleful qi.

There were two figures in the cage, each leaning against a corner with disheveled hair, looking very frail and defeated.

The one on the left was the larger of the two figures, and his face was concealed by his head of messy red hair, but there was a nose resembling a rhinoceros horn protruding out from his tangled locks.

On the other side of the cage was a man with a head of white hair and many gashes on his face, making him barely recognizable, but Han Li was immediately able to identify him as none other than Immortal Lord Hot Flame.

His heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, but he didn't do anything.

At this point, Fox 3 had also identified them, and he exclaimed through voice transmission, "Those two seem to be Chi Rong and Fellow Daoist Hot Flame!"

"It looks like they were far less fortunate than us," Shi Chuankong remarked.

Baili Yan didn't know them, and he asked, "Are they acquaintances of yours? Should we save them?"

Han Li's brows were tightly furrowed, and after a brief moment of hesitation, he said, "Restrictions have been planted in their bodies, so it'll most likely be very difficult to free them in a short time. Let's find the Baleful Cleansing Pond first, then save them later."

"Should we make our move now?" Mo Guang asked.

"Yes," Han Li replied.

A cold smirk instantly appeared on Mo Guang's face upon hearing this, and he raised a hand to make a grabbing motion, releasing bursts of black mist out of his sleeve that hurtled toward the Infernal Servant who was acting as their guide like five ferocious black dragons.

Before the Infernal Servant had a chance to say anything, he was already inundated by dense baleful qi, and at the same time, a vast expanse of black mist surged forth to encompass the entire bridge, as well as the dozen or so Infernal Servants on it.

Baili Yan had already vanished into the baleful qi, and a string of dull thumps rang out, while Mo Guang lifted up the Infernal Servant who was acting as their guide with one hand.

No more than a few seconds later, all of the baleful qi had returned to Mo Guang's body, while the Infernal Servant fell like a sack of skin and bones, having been completely sucked dry of all blood and vitality.

The karmic fire down below churned momentarily and swallowed up the Infernal Servant’s body in the blink of an eye, while Baili Yan was kicking the rest of the lifeless Infernal Servants into the fiery crater.

After that, everyone descended back down onto the ground instead of continuing to hover above it, then removed their Heavenly Jade Fox Tails before returning them to Fox 3.

"Let's go," Han Li said, and the group hurriedly made their way to the end of the bridge.

While passing by the metal cage, Han Li hesitated momentarily, but then quickly made his way past it.

Inside the cage, Immortal Lord Hot Flame seemed to be completely oblivious to what had happened up above. He displayed no reaction to the commotion, and his eyes were gray and dull.

"Aren't you supposed to be allies of my senior martial brother? Are you not going to save him?" Chi Rong chuckled in a gravelly voice.

Fox 3's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he stopped in his tracks.

"We don't have time, we'll save them when we come back," Shi Chuankong said in a low voice as he passed him by, and Fox 3 quickly continued onward.

At the end of the bridge, the environment had become extremely hostile from the scorching heat of the karmic fire and the vast abundance of baleful qi, to the point that even Han Li was struggling to suppress his discomfort. Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 were beginning to feel a little lightheaded, and violent impulses were welling up in their hearts.

Han Li immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique while pointing a finger at his own glabella, upon which the Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman in his consciousness instantly released a burst of formidable spiritual sense.

"Protect your physical bodies and inject your spiritual sense into the talisman, we're setting off right away," Han Li said.

Everyone did as they were told, with Baili Yan summoning a suit of black armor that looked as if it had been refined from dragon scales, and it was clear at a glance that it was a graded immortal treasure.

Fox 3 opened his mouth to release a green jewel that embedded itself into the crown on his head, and the two treasures instantly released a burst of dazzling green light that encompassed his entire body, turning his skin a bright green color.

Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong had summoned his silver lute and was strumming its strings to release bursts of invisible ripples that formed a spatial barrier around him.

As for Mo Guang, he took a glance down at the karmic fire below, then decided that he didn't even need to do anything to protect himself.

At the same time, a layer of golden scales appeared over Han Li's body alongside a suit of dark green turtle shell armor, and everyone began to inject their spiritual sense into the Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman.

With their injections of spiritual sense, the rune on Han Li's glabella became clearer and clearer, releasing a snowy mountain projection that was over a hundred feet tall, encompassing the entire group within it.

Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong's expressions instantly eased slightly, and their discomfort instantly faded away.

Han Li could sense that the two of them had relaxed a little, and he immediately cautioned, "Don't let your guards down. Karmic fire is a lot more invasive than baleful qi, so even the slightest lapse in concentration could have catastrophic circumstances."

Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 hurriedly nodded in response as they retightened their focus.

"Let's go," Han Li declared, and the group leaped down from the bridge toward the giant hole up ahead where the karmic flames were flowing out of.

However, they had only just flown down from the bridge when the karmic fire up ahead suddenly began to flicker and rumble incessantly.

"There's a restriction in the fire crater!" Han Li exclaimed.

As soon as his voice trailed off, the karmic fire down below instantly began to churn violently, following which millstone-sized balls of black flames shot up toward them in a frenzy, filling the air with a noxious miasma.