A resounding boom rang out, and all of the devilish Qi that had poured out of the coffin instantly swept back into it. Thus, all of the black Qi permeating throughout the entire hall vanished in the blink of an eye.
As a result, the patterns on the surface of the coffin began to radiate dazzling white light, creating an unsettling contrast with the inky-black body of the coffin.
However, the white light only flashed for the span of a few breaths before it immediately dimmed.
Right at this moment, bursts of buzzing rang out from within the coffin, and hundreds of ancient silver runes shot forth before forming six ma.s.sive s.h.i.+mmering silver projections up above.
These were all projections of humanoid devilish beings of different physical descriptions.
These silver projections only appeared for an instant before they also disintegrated into specks of silver light.
In the next instant, a faint moan rang out from within the coffin, and an arm that was encased in black armor emerged. Immediately thereafter, a slender black-armored warrior slowly rose to her feet from within the coffin.
Not only was this armored warrior wearing a suit of antiquated black armor, she was also wearing a menacing visor that concealed everything aside from her clear blue eyes.
"Sister Liu Ji, how much of your power can you channel through this clone?" Yuan Cha asked with a concerned look in her eyes as soon as the armored warrior emerged.
"It"ll still be somewhat restricted in this realm, but I"ll be able to channel around 20% of my power through it, which will be enough to handle all enemies below the Grand Ascension Stage," the armored warrior replied.
"I see, 20% of your power will indeed be enough to dominate the human race. You awakened at just the right time, Sister; I"ve encountered a problem that I"ll require your a.s.sistance with," Yuan Cha said as the concern in her eyes gave way to elation.
"Oh? What"s the issue? Hold on, you don"t seem to be alone here; who"s in that All-encompa.s.sing Plate? Could it be that Du Long descended into the Spirit Realm as well?" the armored warrior asked in a slightly surprised manner as she caught sight of the giant jade plate beside the stone hall.
"No, it"s Xue Guang"s clones who are currently using the treasure. We"re currently pursuing a human cultivator who possesses the Devil Sealing Lock, Purple Word Cauldron, and Chaotic Yin Yang Qi!" Yuan Cha revealed.
A hint of surprise appeared in the armored warrior"s eyes upon hearing this, but her voice remained quite calm as she said, "Devil Sealing Lock and Chaotic Yin Yang Qi? That"s rather interesting. Give me a detailed recount of what happened."
Yuan Cha nodded before explaining the situation. "So this is what happened; I originally descended into this realm at your behest to prevent a plot hatched by the humans that"ll be of detriment to our holy race. However, during that process..."
It took Yuan Cha around 10 minutes to finally tell the full story, following which a wry smile appeared on her face as she sighed, "Thus, we can only keep chasing that human brat like this. That Xue Guang clearly isn"t to be trusted; it"s most likely the case that he"ll turn on me once we chase down that human cultivator."
"It sounds like Xue Guang has some other measures prepared. Otherwise, he wouldn"t dare to plot against you like this, considering how this clone of yours is far more powerful than those three clones of his. However, there"s no need to be concerned. Now that I"ve awakened, I"m naturally not going to just stand by idly and watch. Chaotic Yin Yang Qi is extremely useful for us Sacred Ancestors; it would be a pity if it were to fall into the hands of Xue Guang. This clone of mine is carrying many devilish crystals, and they should be enough for you to replenish your magic power," the armored warrior said.
"That would be great! With your a.s.sistance, I"ll have nothing to worry about," Yuan Cha replied in an elated manner.
...
A month later, a giant mountain range that was enshrouded in a vast expanse of murky grey mist appeared ahead of Han Li.
Not only was this mist extremely dense, it seemed to stretch indefinitely up into the heavens with no end in sight.
Han Li was currently seated in a triangular azure flying carriage with his eyes closed, meditating while holding a top-grade spirit stone in each hand.
As the flying carriage was approaching the mountain range, Han Li seemed to have sensed something, and he slowly opened his eyes.
"I"m finally here; this should be the legendary End of the Southern Sky. As expected of a super formation that has protected the human race for so many years; if it weren"t for the fact that the restriction’s been severely weakened by the merging of the two realms, it would most likely be very difficult to pa.s.s through this place," Han Li murmured to himself before closing his eyes again.
All the while, his flying carriage continued onward, plunging into the mist without any hesitation.
Half a day later, the stone hall and giant jade plate also arrived at this place.
Yuan Cha and Xue Guang held a brief discussion before also entering the mist.
Han Li had already been forced to such an extent that he was venturing into the perilous primordial world, so there was naturally no reason to give up on this chase.
...
Three months later, Han Li appeared in the air above a swamp. He swept a sleeve through the air to release countless streaks of azure sword Qi, slicing a giant purple lion that had been trapped in a golden lightning net into countless pieces.
He made a grabbing motion, and a ball of purple light flew out from the lion"s dismembered corpse. The ball of light flew into his hand in a flash, revealing itself to be a translucent egg-sized demon core.
Han Li"s face was rather pale, but a faint smile appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "With the demon core of this late-Spatial Tempering Stage Bright Purple Lion, I should be able to refine a batch of Spirit Conservation Pills, which will replenish my magic power for some time to come."
He was carrying a large supply of magic power regeneration pills, but he had been constantly consuming them during the past year, so his supply was naturally beginning to wear thin. The supply of spirit stones that he had also wouldn"t be sufficient to recover his magic power, so he took a risk and sought out several high-grade ancient beasts, quickly slaying them using powerful techniques to obtain their demon cores.
Using the demon cores and some other ingredients, he would be able to refine a batch of magic power regeneration pills in a short time.
With the limited time that he had, he wouldn"t be able to maximize the efficacy of these pills, but he couldn"t afford to worry about these minor details at a time like this.
This came as quite a relief to Han Li. As long as he could continue to hunt down ancient beasts and secure pill refinement ingredients, he should be able to outlast his pursuers.
A day later, Xue Guang and Yuan Cha also arrived at the swamp, and all four of them were appraising the remains of the Bright Purple Lion with dark expressions. They had clearly already guessed Han Li"s intentions.
They couldn"t think of a good way to counter this course of action, but they had come too far to turn back now, so they could only continue.
Thankfully, both of them were carrying large supplies of devilish crystals, so they weren"t concerned about running out of magic power for now.
Thus, Han Li continued to flee while slaying ancient beasts to refine pills, and he led his pursuers deeper and deeper into the primordial world.
During the periods of time that Han Li failed to encounter ancient beasts that he could slay for pill refinement ingredients, he would consume some of the spirit plants he obtained from the Vast Glacial Realm.
These spirit medicines each had different effects, but they all contained extremely pure spiritual Qi. Direct consumption was quite a waste, but they still served to replenish some of his magic power.
However, doing this resulted in a myriad of different medicinal effects acc.u.mulating within his body, which was quite harmful. Under normal circ.u.mstances, he could just spend some time to use his magic power to expel or refine these medicinal effects, but in this situation, he didn"t have any time or magic power to spare. As such, he could only temporarily repress these medicinal effects and address them later.
With Han Li"s current level of powers, there naturally wouldn"t be any issues in the short term, but if he had to continue to consume spirit medicines directly without properly addressing their medicinal effects, then he would land himself in hot water sooner or later.
Han Li was well aware of this, but he had no choice but to continue in this fas.h.i.+on.
Thus, another half a year pa.s.sed by.
On this day, Han Li was meditating on his flying carriage with his eyes closed, while a woman in a white dress was controlling the flying treasure in his stead.
The woman was none other than his sentient puppet, Doll.
Doll"s magic power was far inferior to Han Li"s, so the flying carriage was traveling at a far slower speed, but it was still better than having to stop whenever Han Li needed some time to rest and recuperate.
This afforded Han Li some breathing room from time to time. Otherwise, even with his supply of pills and spirit stones, he wouldn"t have been able to last this long.
Even so, his complexion had clearly paled significantly compared to half a year ago, and his aura had also become extremely feeble.
All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly, and he abruptly opened his eyes.
Almost at the exact same moment, a loud thunderclap rang out several kilometers away, and a giant silver lightning formation emerged out of thin air.
A burly figured then stumbled out of the center of the formation amid a resounding boom.