Chapter 972: Private Conflict

Han Li swept his gaze over the surrounding area with a contemplative look on his face.

Even though he had found a diagram of the Weeping Blood Array in the back of the hall, he still had no idea why the array was here and where the bloodline power surging out of the crimson gate of light had come from.

It seemed that E Kuai still knew a bit more than he did.

The fact that both E Kuai and Sha Xin had left this place without any hesitation indicated that the holy remains definitely weren't here.

In that case, he had no choice but to follow them deeper into the Scalptia Spatial Domain, both to pursue Violet Spirit and to find a way to leave this place.

With that in mind, a decisive look appeared on his face, and dense clusters of profound acupoints lit up over his body, amounting to a total of 475.

Even with Zhuo Fa's interference, Han Li was still able to master the first three levels of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts before the Weeping Blood Array collapsed.

On top of that, the Heaven Controlling Vial had absorbed the majority of the array's power, so he could draw upon it to continue breaking more profound acupoints in the future.

Even though he was still currently no match for E Kuai and Sha Xin, he was confident that he could crush any of the other cultivators from the two cities.

Furthermore, with his speed and movement techniques, he was somewhat confident in his ability to escape from E Kuai and Sha Xin should a conflict arise.

Han Li quickly concealed his profound acupoints again before turning his gaze to the other side of the blood pond, where Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing were still rooted to the spot.

Several translucent chains flew out of their heads at Han Li's behest, instantly restoring their mobility.

The two of them looked around to discover that the hall was even more severely ravaged than before, and on top of that, there was no one else here aside from Han Li.

An awkward look appeared on Chen Yang's face as he stuttered, "Fellow Daoist Li, you... I..."

"The Puppet City cultivators have already left. If you want to go after them, then go ahead," Han Li said in an indifferent manner, then flew out of one of the holes in the walls.

Upon arriving outside the hall, Han Li swept his gaze over his surroundings with slightly furrowed brows.

His spiritual sense was next to useless in the Great Ruins, so he could only carefully examine the residual energy fluctuations in the air to try and determine where Sha Xin and the others had gone.

However, too much time had passed, and the residual energy fluctuations in the air had become far too scattered. Hence, he could only decide on a rough direction to set off in.

At this moment, he felt as if his own body were filled with inexhaustible power that he was still rather unaccustomed to, and he would often find himself overbalancing slightly from exerting too much force while racing along the ground.

As he sped over the horizon, he encountered many sets of ruins, but he was too fixated on his goal of pursuing that woman by the name of Xiao Zi to examine any of those places.

Three days later.

Han Li arrived in a large, abandoned garden with a series of fake mountains of different shapes and sizes littered throughout.

As he was passing through the garden, he suddenly heard the sound of a battle ringing out up ahead to his left, alongside a rather familiar voice.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he suppressed his own starpower fluctuations before continuing onward in a cautious manner.

After emerging from the garden and traveling for close to another ten kilometers, he arrived at an enormous basin that was hundreds of thousands of feet in diameter.

From there, he hid behind a semi-collapsed stone wall before looking into the basin.

A woman clad in a suit of bone armor was wielding a bone whip in one hand and a bone spear in the other, clashing against a saber-wielding man in a suit of black armor.

It really is her...

The woman was none other than Gu Qianxun, and she was currently locked in battle against Shi Zhanfeng, who had put on a suit of purple devilish armor that was able to withstand all of Gu Qianxun's attacks.

At the same time, he was wielding a white bone saber, with which he was exerting tremendous pressure upon Gu Qianxun.

Gu Qianxun already had three profusely bleeding holes pierced into her lower abdomen, and at this rate, it was only going to be a matter of time before she was defeated.

Han Li also noticed that there was a female body lying lifelessly on the ground not far away from them. It was the petite woman who had been accompanying Shi Zhanfeng earlier, and there was a large hole in her chest.

A loud clang rang out as Gu Qianxun's whip wrapped itself around Shi Zhanfeng's saber, following which its sharp tip pierced directly at his face like a springing viper.

Shi Zhanfeng sprang back in retreat while tugging on his saber, and the bone whip wrapped around it was instantly stretched taut.

At the same time, all of the star acupoints on the saber began to glow radiantly, releasing a burst of tremendous starpower that instantly snapped the bone whip into pieces.

Gu Qianxun was also struck by this formidable wave of starpower, exacerbating the injuries in her lower abdomen even further, and she involuntarily stumbled back a step.

Before she had a chance to steady herself, Shi Zhanfeng's saber was already swinging down upon her with tremendous power, and she had no choice but to raise her bone spear to defend herself.

The ground beneath her feet was instantly shattered from the force of the clash, and her legs sank down into the ground up to her knees as she threw up a mouthful of blood while trembling uncontrollably.

Shi Zhanfeng flicked her spear away with his saber, then rested the blade of the saber against her neck as he interrogated with a threatening expression, "Who instructed you to attack me?"

Gu Qianxun took a glance at the body of the petite woman on the ground with a wistful look in her eyes.

If that woman hadn't shielded Shi Zhanfeng from a lethal blow at the cost of her own life, there was a chance that Shi Zhanfeng could already be dead by now.

"If you're going to kill me, then go ahead," Gu Qianxun said in a composed manner.

"The Myriad Opportunity Palace is still waiting for me, so I have no time to waste with you here. If you insist on falling by my blade, then I'll grant you that wish!" Shi Zhanfeng sneered as he raised his saber to decapitate her.

Right at this moment, a ball of fire shot forth through the air, striking Shi Zhanfeng's saber with such incredible power that he was sent stumbling away to the side.

Shi Zhanfeng took a glance at his own saber to discover that a red-hot, molten rock was currently slowly sliding down the blade of the saber.

He hurriedly turned around to find a tall figure in the distance, casually approaching the scene while tossing a few walnut-sized rocks up and down in his hands.

A stunned look appeared on Shi Zhanfeng's face as he identified Han Li, and mixed emotions surfaced in Gu Qianxun's eyes as well.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Long time no see, Your Highness," Han Li said with a faint smile.

Shi Zhanfeng's eyes narrowed slightly as he sized up Han Li from afar. For some reason, he couldn't help but feel as if there were something different about him.

"Are you going to get involved in our private conflict, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Zhanfeng asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"I don't know what bad blood exists between you two, but I have some things to discuss with her, so I'll have to ask you to leave, Your Highness," Han Li said as he stopped in his tracks.

"You can have a chat with her after we've settled our differences!" Shi Zhanfeng sneered as he swung his saber at the back of Gu Qianxun's head with incredible speed.

A burst of radiant starlight erupted out of the palm of Han Li's hand, instantly burning the rocks that he was holding into a red-hot state, and with a flick of his wrist, four semi-molten rocks were sent flying out of his grasp, reaching Shi Zhanfeng in the blink of an eye, with two of them aimed at his saber and the other two aimed at his heart and his dantian.

Shi Zhanfeng hurriedly withdrew his saber to defend himself, and the two rocks aimed at his saber missed their target, while the rocks aimed at his body were kept out by the saber.

The saber shuddered violently as the flat of its blade crashed into his chest, sending him flying back close to a thousand feet, and his legs were like a pair of plows, leaving a pair of deep trenches in the ground.

After steadying himself, Shi Zhanfeng looked down at the pair of cracks that had appeared on the blade of his saber with tightly furrowed brows, then quickly composed himself again as he smiled and said, "Looks like you've found more fated opportunities in these Great Ruins, Fellow Daoist Li. If you insist on saving her, then you can have her."

As soon as his voice trailed off, the white saber in his hand snapped into three pieces.

Despite this, he remained composed as he tossed the hilt of the saber aside, then bade farewell to Han Li before departing, quickly vanishing into the distance.

Han Li made no attempt to stop him as he strode over to Gu Qianxun.