Chapter 993 - Astral Teleportation Array

The blood runes lingered for about a minute before they faded away.

Yet, Liu Wuxie couldn't calm himself. He felt certain Han Feizi had created the blood runes as a beacon to guide him home.

......

The moment the blood runes dissipated, Han Feizi collapsed backward. His body shriveled and curled into a barely recognizable form.

Han Shanzi rushed to Han Feizi's side and caught him just in time. He placed a pill into Han Feizi's mouth to guard his heart meridian and slow the drain on his lifespan.

"Father, I am unfilial. I can no longer stay by your side to fulfill my duty as your son," Han Feizi whispered weakly, his complexion growing paler by the second.

"Don't speak. Adjust your breathing!" Han Shanzi said, cradling his son in his arms.

"Patriarch, the pill can only maintain his life for two hours. We must think of something fast," said one of the elders in an anxious tone.

Logically speaking, Han Feizi should have burned his entire lifespan to activate the Celestial Astral Stage. But an invisible will refused to let him die just yet.

"Second Brother, have you found it?" Han Shanzi shouted. He clutched his dying son in his embrace, overwhelmed with grief.

Even though he had braced himself, seeing Han Feizi in this state still tore his heart apart.

"Found it!" Han Long stepped forward and presented a crystal pearl. The moment the pearl appeared, the surrounding trees began to grow wildly.

"The Heavenly Fate Soul!" the Han Clan's elders exclaimed in unison.

Han Shanzi had given Feizi three days to reconsider because he needed time for Han Long to find the Heavenly Fate Soul.

Over the past three days, Han Long had mobilized the entire Thousand Divination Court and finally found one Heavenly Fate Soul. He had rushed back just in time to deliver it.

"Fei'er, I won't let you die!" Han Shanzi received the Heavenly Fate Soul and placed it into Han Feizi's mouth.

The next moment, Han Feizi's hair turned from white to grey. Even the wrinkles on his face faded slightly, but he remained unconscious with no signs of waking.

"The Heavenly Fate Soul can only preserve his life for three years. If we can't find a way to extend his life after that, he'll die," said the Grand Elder, shaking his head.

Han Feizi had sacrificed his entire lifespan to activate the Celestial Astral Stage. The Heavenly Fate Soul sealed his soul inside his body, buying him three more years.

Moreover, he would need constant energy daily for three years to maintain his life.

Ignoring everyone, Han Shanzi carried Han Feizi down from the Celestial Astral Stage. He ventured into the depths of the Han Clan, into a frost-covered underground chamber.

A giant ice bed was positioned at the center, giving off terrifying chills that caused the chamber's temperature to plummet.

Han Shanzi gently laid Han Feizi on the ice bed, which could slow down the loss of his lifespan.

He had spent a fortune to acquire this thousand-year-old ice from the outside world.

Han Feizi lay motionless on the ice bed, looking as if asleep, his face pale. Only Han Long stood beside the bed; the other elders hadn't followed them into the chamber.

"Big Brother... you have my condolences," Han Long said as he patted Han Shanzi's shoulder.

Deep down, they knew the odds of saving Han Feizi's life were slim, even with the Heavenly Fate Soul. They would have to open the Astral Domain Path to find a life-extending pill.

"Leave me. I want some time alone," Han Shanzi said. He wanted some time to accompany his son.

Han Long let out a long sigh before he left the chamber, shutting the stone gate as he went.

Now that they were alone, tears slid down Han Shanzi's cheeks.

He whispered, "Was it worth it...?"

All humans had emotions, even if they had reached the Heaven Profound Realm. They would feel the pain of losing their loved one.

However, Han Feizi could no longer hear him.

......

Liu Wuxie sat atop the stone pillar, a foreboding feeling gnawing at his chest. He couldn't explain its origin but knew something terrible had happened.

"I must leave this place!" Liu Wuxie roared as he shot to his feet.

Only by leaving the void realm could he uncover the mystery, reunite with his loved ones, and see his companions again.

He had memorized the blood runes and spent the next several days deciphering them. With the Heavenly Dao Book, the analysis process was faster than ordinary cultivators.

After running countless analyses through the book and adding his insights, Liu Wuxie finally saw hope in the blood runes.

Liu Wuxie rejoiced after understanding the blood runes' origin.

"It's the Astral Domain! Wait, there's also a coordinate! If I can inscribe it, I can construct a teleportation array and leave this place!"

Liu Wuxie's pupils contracted. "Using blood as the guide and life as the array... Whoever inscribed these runes had to burn their lifespan to do it."

He finally realized where the pain in his chest came from.

Inscribing the spiritual array required the sacrifice of life.

"Could it be... Brother Han?" Liu Wuxie didn't dare to think any further.

However, who else but Han Feizi could give his life for him?

He remembered the moment he had fallen into the Heaven-Curtaining Red Luan. Despair had gripped everyone... yet only Han Feizi had silently watched, saying nothing.

Han Feizi had likely resolved to sacrifice his life at that time.

"I hope it's not what I'm thinking," Liu Wuxie muttered, comforting himself. He forced himself to focus on deciphering the blood runes.

Six months had passed since the news of Liu Wuxie's supposed death.

Life continued in the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy, and new prodigies began to rise. Liu Wuxie's name remained only in books, and his legend slowly faded from memory.

No one remembered a dead prodigy as more prodigies would emerge daily.

Liu Wuxie stood on the stone pillar, tirelessly engraving into it with the Heretic Blade.

He would have to keep the Heretic Blade inside the cauldron every few minutes. Without laws in the void, the Heretic Blade couldn't remain outside for long, or the void would gradually erode it.

Only the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron could shield it from corrosion.

Liu Wuxie inscribed runes across the stone pillar as he neared completion of the teleportation array. He only had one shot. If he failed, all his efforts would go down the drain.

Another half month later, Liu Wuxie finally carved the last rune on the pillar.

Once he was done, he exhaled deeply. But he couldn't rely on spirit stones to activate it; he would have to use his blood.

Since the void realm lacked laws, spirit stones disintegrated when exposed.

Time was short. Liu Wuxie could feel his lifespan draining for every moment he stayed in the void realm.

Summoning the Heretic Blade, Liu Wuxie cut his wrist and let his blood flow into the blood runes. It didn't take long before he had lost a tremendous amount of blood.

Despite his growing weakness, Liu Wuxie forced himself to stay focused, with the Heavenly Dao Book shielding his primordial spirit.

An astral teleportation array was much more potent than the ordinary version, and the power could even tear his body apart. Beyond the searing pain of his flesh being ripped to shreds, there was an even graver danger: the power could rupture his primordial spirit, scattering it into nothingness.

The blood runes expanded and wove themselves into a crimson web above his head. He sensed the fluctuations around him as a gray vortex appeared overhead.

A powerful suction force came from the vortex. It tried to drag Liu Wuxie into it, lifting him off the ground. But it was weak to pull him into the astral teleportation array by force.

He continued bleeding from his wrist. If an ordinary person had lost this much blood, they would have died long ago.

As a cultivator, Liu Wuxie could hold on if he had a breath left.

Liu Wuxie roared, "Invert yin and yang, sun and moon, life and death!"

The world turned upside down in an instant, his head pointed to the ground, and his feet to the sky. A powerful suction force engulfed him, dragging him into the blood runes, and he slowly vanished to an unknown destination.

The blood runes continued to hover above the stone pillar and didn't dissipate immediately.

The astral teleportation array could be used only once, and Liu Wuxie had no second chance. He entered an extradimensional space where pitch-black darkness surrounded him. Only cold wind brushed against his skin.

Liu Wuxie summoned the Divine Glazed Cloth and shielded himself from the wind. However, he couldn't control his movement as he spiraled wildly through space, crashing back and forth.

His primordial spirit would have been shredded to pieces long ago if not for the Heavenly Dao Book's protection. He also felt space contract painfully around him, and cracks appeared on the Divine Glazed Cloth.

The pressure signaled that he had entered a region governed by laws—a sign he had finally left the void realm.

After all, the void realm had no laws, and no changes in space.

Time continued to flow. Liu Wuxie didn't know how long he had been inside the teleportation array. His consciousness gradually faded. He would be lost in the infinite cosmos if he fell unconscious and would die even if he had escaped the void realm.

"I have to hold on!" Liu Wuxie growled, biting his tongue to stay awake.

The pressure gradually eased after he had adjusted himself to the astral teleportation array.

He realized the astral array's compression had doubled his primordial spirit's purity.

A faint glimmer finally appeared ahead, a sign he was nearing the other end of the teleportation array. The array only allowed one-way travel, leaving no path for return.

Conventional teleportation arrays allowed two-way travel, but blood rune inscriptions limited this array to a single use. Once the blood runes lost their energy, the spiritual array would vanish.

Sounds of space fracturing came from the surroundings under the pressure, and Liu Wuxie's speed accelerated. His aura began to climb as laws were released from the supreme-grade spiritual vein buried in the depths of the desolate world.

He had reached the second-level Spirit Profound Realm long ago, but the lawless void had suppressed his cultivation. Now that he had finally made a breakthrough in his cultivation, he knew he had escaped the void realm.