Chapter 743: Hot Pursuit

"Fellow Daoist Baili, please hold off from killing Infernal beings unless it's absolutely necessary," Han Li sighed.

"I understand. My apologies, Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul," Baili Yan said as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute toward Weeping Soul, in response to which she merely gave a silent nod.

"What should we do with these two?" Fox 3 asked as he hoisted the two unconscious Infernal children up from the ground.

Weeping Soul was just about to respond when Han Li replied, "I'll keep them in my domain treasure for now. The fact that a peak-High Zenith Stage elder was assigned to protect them indicates that they're no ordinary children, so perhaps we can use them as leverage at some point."

He swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light as he spoke, and Fox 3 tossed the two children into the bamboo building.

However, before Han Li had a chance to close the Flower Branch domain, his expression abruptly changed slightly as he declared in an urgent voice, "Gui Mu's coming!"

He immediately closed the door of silver light as he spoke, and Weeping Soul led everyone down deeper into the cave that they had previously been hiding in.

As they advanced through the cave, the terrain gradually began to elevate, and at the end of the path was a crossroads.

Weeping Soul took a moment to ascertain the right way to go, then led everyone down the left crossroad.

No more than a few seconds after their departure, a cloud of dense baleful qi surged out of another cave on the bank of the karmic fire lake, and it drew to a halt on the embankment before converging to form none other than Gui Mu.

No non-Infernal beings were permitted to enter the Soul Cleansing Area without permission, so he had to leave the puppets and Infernal Servants behind before entering the Soul Cleansing Area, accompanied only by the furry white beast.

As soon as he reached the embankment, he spotted the headless Yin Xiao, and a look of stunned fury instantly appeared on his face.

A tremendous aura erupted out of his body in all directions, causing the karmic fire lake to rumble violently, and thick pillars of fire rose up all the way to the roof above.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"How dare they! They've killed Yin Xiao and abducted our ceremonial children! I'm going to crush them and use their bodies to fertilize my ghost vines! Find them!" Gui Mu spat through gritted teeth as he threw the furry white beast down from his shoulder.

In his fit of rage, he had been quite forceful, and the furry white beast grimaced in pain as it fell to the ground, but its eyes were full of fear, and it didn't even dare to utter a single sound as it began meekly sniffing along the ground.

All of a sudden, its eyes lit up as a burst of white ripples surged out of them before rapidly spreading in all directions, and shortly thereafter, it began yelling in excitement as it pointed its two front paws directly at the cave that Han Li's group had fled into.

"Well done!" Gui Mu praised with a pleased smile, following which a sympathetic look appeared on his face as he gently smoothed down the little beast's fur, seemingly feeling rather guilty about handling it in such a rough manner.

After that, he sprang forward and transformed into a cloud of black mist that poured into the passageway.

......

Han Li and the others were racing onward under Weeping Soul's guidance, twisting and turning left and right.

The underground tunnels in the Soul Cleansing Area were extremely complex, with countless branching paths, and the terrain also undulated in a completely chaotic and haphazard fashion.

After rounding a corner and rushing downhill for several thousand feet, a mountain face suddenly appeared in front of the group.

"What's going on? Why have we hit a dead-end?" Shi Chuankong hurriedly asked with an anxious expression.

"Don't be fooled, it's just a false wall," Weeping Soul explained, then crashed straight into the mountain face up ahead without pause.

As soon as she crashed into the mountain face, it immediately slid back several feet to reveal an opening that was around three feet wide, and everyone hurriedly rushed into it.

Behind the mountain face was a spacious underground hall, and they had only just set foot into it when they heard a loud yell.

"There they are, Elder Yin Fu!"

Immediately thereafter, Han Li and the others were confronted by a group of Infernal Tribe cultivators, led by a peak-High Zenith Stage elder.

"We can't afford to get caught up here with Gui Mu hot on our heels!" Han Li yelled, then darted directly toward an opening on the other side of the hall, followed closely by everyone else.

The Infernal Tribe cultivators immediately set off in pursuit, but right at this moment, a sly grin appeared on Baili Yan's face as he casually tossed something behind him.

It was a collection of black balls, and as soon as they landed on the ground, they immediately began to glow with black light.

Immediately thereafter, a string of deafening explosions rang out as enormous bursts of black flames erupted out of the black balls, forming a violent sea of fire that proliferated outward in all directions.

At this point, Han Li and the others were already very far away, but they were still struck by the powerful shockwaves from the explosion, striking them with a dull and nauseating sensation in their chests.

The pursuing Infernal beings naturally fared even worse. They still hadn't even had a chance to use the Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning, yet it was now being used on them in a rather ironic twist.

Bursts of rumbling reverberated incessantly within the underground hall, and the shockwaves from the explosion lingered for an extended period of time.

Han Li and the others had only just flown out of the hall when another figure flew in from a passageway to the left.

It was a thin black-robed man who appeared to be quite advanced in age, looking much like an elderly scribe, and it was incredible to think that someone so unremarkable in appearance could be a mid-Great Encompassment cultivator, but the reality was that he was none other than Yin Xu, the Great Encompassment cultivator stationed in the Soul Cleansing Area.

At this moment, he was also alone as he hovered in mid-air, and his eyes were seething with fury as he looked down at the Infernal beings that had just been ravaged by the Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning explosion

Right at this moment, Gui Mu flew out of the tunnel that Han Li and the others had just emerged from, and he hurriedly asked, "Did you manage to intercept them, Elder Yin Xu?"

"No, I was too late," Yin Xu harrumphed coldly with a dark expression.

Gui Mu knew that he was to blame for allowing Han Li and the others to escape from the Hundred Treasure Area, so he felt in no position to reprimand Yin Xu.

"I didn't get a chance to tell you this earlier, but these people killed Yin XXiao by the karmic fire lake and also abducted two ceremonial children," Gui Mu said.

"What? Just how incompetent can you and Yin Gua be? How did you let them get away with the ceremonial children?" Yin Xu exclaimed as his expression darkened even further.

"Elder Yin Gua had originally already captured them, and it was only because of You Luo's sudden betrayal that they were able to escape from the infernal prison," Gui Mu explained.

"You Luo betrayed us? How is all of this happening at once? Where is Yin Gua right now?" Yin Xu asked.

"Elder Yin Gua is currently resting in seclusion to recover from the strain of manifesting some Infernal Soul Bugs, but I've already sent someone to notify him of the situation, so I'm sure he'll be here soon as well," Gui Mu replied.

"He's still in the mood to be resting in seclusion? Right now, we're at a vital stage in the Three Region Conference. If the regional monarch finds out about the ceremonial children, all of us will be in huge trouble!" Yin Xu grumbled.

"We absolutely cannot report this matter to the regional monarch, Elder Yin Xu! You and Elder Yin Gua will perhaps be able to get away with just some physical punishment, but I'll have my organs gouged out and be refined into a puppet!" Gui Mu hurriedly pleaded in a fearful voice.

"Let's catch them before anyone finds out then," Yin Xu said with tightly furrowed brows.

"Thank you, Elder Yin Xu," Gui Mu replied in a grateful voice, and the two of them sped away as two streaks of light, instantly vanishing from the spot.

Meanwhile, Weeping Soul was leading everyone toward a wide tunnel that sloped downward, when Han Li abruptly took a glance behind them with an alarmed expression.

Everything behind them had been plunged into complete darkness, and the parts of the tunnel that they had just passed through had completely vanished.

He immediately activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes, upon which he discovered that there was an enormous black shadow that was rolling toward them, filling up the entire tunnel.

Everything that was encompassed within the shadow was plunged into complete darkness, and an Weeping Soul exclaimed in an alarmed voice, "This is bad! Elder Yin Xu is coming after us as well!"

As if in response to her voice, the black shadow instantly sped up by twofold, and it wouldn't be long before it caught up to them.

Han Li could sense the terrifying aura emanating out of the black shadow, and he knew that this definitely wasn't something that they could deal with.

He gritted his teeth as he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to propel himself forward at an extraordinary speed.

At the same time, two bursts of azure light erupted out of his sleeves, sweeping up everyone and pulling them along with him.

Moments later, Han Li's group flew into another tunnel, and even before landing on the ground, Han Li took a glance at his surroundings to discover that he had arrived in an enormous underground cave.

The cave was over a hundred thousand feet wide, and the terrain was very flat. There was a large white plaza nearby, and beyond the plaza was a cluster of strange-looking palaces with dome ceilings.

Outside the cluster of palaces was a red light barrier with black runes flashing over it, forming a sealing array.

"What is this place, and why has it been sealed away?" Han Li asked.

"It's a place that I saw in Yin Xiao's memories. All I managed to find out is that this is an extremely important place that's taken very seriously even by the regional monarch. Entry is normally strictly prohibited, and battles are forbidden in the nearby vicinity," Weeping Soul replied.