Chapter 989: Heavenly Dao Tribulation

With Daoist Xie's departure, the radiant golden light in the crystal palace also faded away.

Han Li felt the circulation of immortal spiritual power in his dantian slowing down again, but it didn't completely stagnate as the previously ever-present spatial pressure had disappeared.

After taking a moment to compose himself, he used his spiritual sense to track down Daoist Xie, then drew upon his own sluggish immortal spiritual power to unleash a movement technique to arrive outside the palace in the blink of an eye.

As he became basked in the golden light again, the circulation of his immortal spiritual power returned to normal.

At this moment, Daoist Xie was standing with his hands by his sides, looking up at the heavens with excitement and anticipation in his eyes.

Han Li followed his gaze and also looked up at the sky, upon which he discovered that the previously clear skies had become very dark, and the yellow clouds above were also rapidly turning black.

At the same time, a burst of tremendous pressure was quickly building in the air, and Han Li was forced to plummet back down onto the ground, as if a massive mountain had fallen upon him.

This is the aura of a major tribulation!

The aura of this imminent tribulation was countless times more powerful than any tribulation that Han Li had faced in the past, the pressure was only continuing to mount further and further.

Hei Da and Hei Er were standing on the ground, so they were subjected to far less pressure than Han Li, but even so, their legs were still trembling incessantly, while their complexions had turned very pale.

"Get away from here! This is not something that you can withstand," Daoist Xie commanded in an authoritative voice, and Hei Da and Hei Er immediately fled into the distance.

Meanwhile, Han Li had already vanished from the spot amid a flash of golden lightning even before receiving this verbal warning from Daoist Xie, and he reappeared several hundred kilometers away turning his gaze back to Daoist Xie.

At this point, he was already too far away for the golden light radiating from Daoist Xie's body to reach him, and he only took a quick glance back at Daoist Xie before continuing to flee into the distance, covering another several hundred kilometers in the blink of an eye.

Even after getting this far away, the sky up above was still inky black, and more dark clouds were continuing to rapidly converge from all directions, clearly indicating that he still hadn't flown out of the area encompassed under the tribulation yet.

The sky was looking even darker than before, and even the ground below had been plunged into complete darkness.

Han Li was stunned to see this, and he hurriedly continued flying away into the distance.

Right at this moment, all of the dark clouds in the sky suddenly began to revolve rapidly in a certain direction while simultaneously converging toward the center, forming an enormous vortex that stretched as far as the eyes could see.

Bolts of black lightning were flashing incessantly throughout the vortex, illuminating the ground below like fireworks.

A black hole quickly appeared at the center of the vortex, and it was releasing a faint glow, seemingly leading to an unknown place.

A burst of pressure that was countless times more formidable than before erupted out of the vortex, causing the nearby space to tremble and warp violently, and the pressure came crashing down directly upon Han Li.

Even though he had already opened over nine hundred profound acupoints, he was still completely powerless to resist the unfathomable pressure, and he quickly lost consciousness.

However, prior to falling unconscious, he caught sight of a vast gray cloud flying out of the center of the massive vortex before making its way toward Daoist Xie.

The cloud was very normal in appearance, but it was giving off a devastating aura, and it was precisely this aura that had knocked Han Li unconscious.

......

Inside a black palace in Night Sun City.

The Devilish Monarch was enshrouded in a layer of soft silver light, forming a large ball of silver light that was slowly revolving around him, and the space around the ball of light was rippling visibly as it revolved.

All of a sudden, his eyes sprang open, and the silver light around him instantly faded as he cast his gaze out of the palace, and a cold look flashed through his eyes as he slowly rose to his feet.

......

Inside the Balance Fall Duke's manor, Shi Pokong was standing in a courtyard, looking into the distant sky with a contemplative look on his face.

......

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Han Li had fallen into a terrifying nightmare. He felt as if his body had been submerged at the bottom of a boundless glacial sea, and tiny bursts of glacial power were seeping into his body, putting him in excruciating pain.

After what seemed like an eternity, the surrounding glacial power gradually faded away, following which a burst of warmth injected itself into his body, filling him with a blissful sensation.

Han Li slowly awakened, and he discovered that he was laying on the ground.

The sky above had turned purple, and there was a warm and gentle aura in the air.

All of a sudden, he recalled what had happened prior to him falling unconscious, and he hurriedly turned his gaze toward the Myriad Opportunity Palace.

Daoist Xie was still standing in mid-air, and his entire body was charred black and riddled with massive wounds, giving him the appearance of a tree that had been struck by lightning.

A vibrant, purple cloud was gradually taking shape at the center of the vortex above him, and it slowly descended to encompass him before rapidly seeping into his body.

As a result, his injuries began to heal at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, and he was fully healed in the blink of an eye.

All of the purple light in the sky quickly converged to form a single band of purple radiance, and a burst of translucent light abruptly shot out of Daoist Xie's body to fuse as one with the purple light.

A burst of rumbling rang out as the band of purple light instantly swelled to several times its original size, then began circling around Daoist Xie like a roaming dragon.

Countless translucent threads could be seen within the purple light, giving off tremendous law power fluctuations.

Han Li was enveloped by these law power fluctuations, and his body began to move involuntarily like a puppet on strings.

The nearby ground was also beginning to tremble violently, but thankfully, the band of purple light only revolved around Daoist Xie for a short while before vanishing into his body, and the tremendous law power fluctuations that it was giving off faded along with it.

At this moment, Daoist Xie's entire body was shrouded in purple light, and his eyes were tightly shut, seemingly inspecting his own internal condition.

Moments later, all of the purple light faded away to reveal Daoist Xie.

A purple robe had appeared over his body, and he didn't appear to be any different from before, but every single movement of his now seemed to be imbued with power that could move the very world around him.

However, in the next instant, the unfathomable power emanating from his body faded away, as did the purple clouds in the sky.

All of a sudden, everything had returned to normal.

Han Li slowly rose to his feet, still feeling a little lightheaded.

Hei Da and Hei Er were currently lying on the ground close to a hundred kilometers, and they seemed to be in worse condition than Han Li. Both of them were still unconscious at the moment, but thankfully, they had fled in a timely manner, so they most likely weren't in any life-threatening danger.

Daoist Xie turned his gaze to Han Li, and with just a single step, he appeared directly beside Han Li as if by instantaneous teleportation.

"I didn't anticipate that my Heavenly Dao Tribulation would arrive so soon and encompass such a large area. If I had known this would happen, I would've told all of you to get away earlier," Daoist Xie said, then swept a sleeve through the air, and the lightheaded sensation that Han Li was feeling was instantly erased.

Hei Da and Hei Er also shuddered slightly, and even though they were still unconscious, they were gradually beginning to recover from their injuries.

"That was a Heavenly Dao Tribulation? Could it be that you've already become a Dao Ancestor?" Han Li exclaimed with a stunned expression.

"Indeed. After countless years of arduous cultivation, I've finally managed to ascend to the peak," Daoist Xie confirmed with a smile.

"Congratulations."

Even though Han Li had already guessed that this was the case, he still couldn't help but be a little stunned to hear this, and he cupped his fist in a congratulatory salute.

"Please allow me to thank you, Fellow Daoist Han. It was only with your help that I was able to get to this point," Daoist Xie replied as he returned Han Li's salute.

"You're far too kind, Senior, and Han Li is fine. I wouldn't dare to be referred to as a fellow daoist by a Dao Ancestor," Han Li hurriedly said.

"We've been together for many years, and I trust you more than anyone, so there's no need to observe such dogmatic formalities, Fellow Daoist Han. My surname is Shi, but you can continue calling me Daoist Xie," Daoist Xie said with a dismissive wave.

"In that case, I'll oblige. By the way, did you just say that your surname is Shi?" Han Li asked.

"That's right. My name is Shi Kongjie. I didn't intentionally hide this from you, I simply failed to recall my name this entire time, and many things happened after we entered the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so I didn't get a chance to tell you," Daoist Xie confirmed with a nod.

"Shi Kongjie... Could it be that you have some ties with the Night Sun Empire?" Han Li asked.

Daoist Xie looked up into the sky and offered no response.

"If you don't want to answer the question, then just pretend like I never asked," Han Li said.

Now that Daoist Xie was a Dao Ancestor, Han Li couldn't help but feel a little cautious and apprehensive around him.

"No, it's fine, Fellow Daoist Han, I was simply reminiscing about the past. It's only thanks to you that I was able to reach this place, so you deserve to know the truth. On top of that, I have another request for you, and in order to fulfill this request of mine, you'll need to know these things anyway," Shi Kongjie replied with a faint smile.

"What do you need me to do?" Han Li asked.