Chapter 117: Landing in Trouble Again
After quickly splitting the spoils, Han Li's trio split up once again to try and find a way out.
There was simply no way that they could feel safe until they left this strange underground space.
At the moment, Han Li was situated over 1,000 feet away from the statue, carefully inspecting his surroundings with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun had also begun investigating the area after taking a short while to recover from their injuries.
As time passed, the three of them employed several methods to try and find a way out, but all to no avail. Han Li was still able to maintain his composure, but Lu Kun and Wyrm 8 were beginning to let their agitation get the better of them.
Right at this moment, the entire space suddenly shuddered before swaying violently, much to the alarm of Han Li's trio.
Before the three of them had a chance to do anything, the ground beneath their feet suddenly completely shattered with a resounding boom.
A viscous cloud of blood surged up from the shattered ground, then swelled rapidly to inundate the trio like lightning before descending back down, pulling Han Li's trio along with it.
The entire world was spinning in front of Han Li's eyes, but the surrounding cloud of blood was holding them tightly in its clutches.
By the time the world fell still around them again, they found themselves situated in a massive, unfamiliar space.
This was an underground cavern that was countless times larger than the underground palace from before, but the majority of its area was taken up by an enormous underground lake. The water in the lake was of the same color as blood, and it seemed to be very viscous, with bubbles rising up incessantly on its surface before popping one after another.
With each bubble that popped open, a burst of crimson mist would emerge, and the entire underground cavern was completely filled with this faint crimson mist.
At the center of the crimson lake was a flat island that was protruding out of the water. The island was several dozen kilometers in size, resembling a massive plaza.
At this moment, Han Li, Wyrm 8, and Lu Kun were standing on this plaza.
At the center of the plaza stood a huge palace, which was entirely enshrouded within a dense crimson cloud, through which only the indistinct outlines of the palace could be seen.
Aside from Han Li's trio, the entire underground cavern was completely empty, and it was eerily quiet, with only the sound of the popping bubbles on the surface of the lake punctuating the silence.
The two Layman Immortals who had fled earlier didn't seem to be in here, either.
After inspecting his surroundings, Han Li was just about to release his spiritual sense for a closer examination when he suddenly discovered that he was unable to release his spiritual sense out of his body due to a type of peculiar power imbued within the crimson mist in the air.
Judging from their grim expressions, Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun had clearly also noticed this, and the former immediately swept a sleeve through the air to release his Earthly Deity Avatar.
Lu Kun was just about to say something when Han Li suddenly yelled, "Look out down below!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, the ground beneath their feet suddenly split open, and several massive crimson bone claws reached out to grab at their legs.
The three of them immediately flew up into the air to avoid the grabbing bone claws.
The ground down below continued to crumble away as one massive figure after another emerged. These were all crimson skeletons that were several times as tall as the average adult human, and in the blink of an eye, several hundred of them had emerged from the ground.
Every single one of those skeletons was giving off a powerful aura comparable to that of a Body Integration cultivator.
The skeletons let loose a string of low roars, then sprang up into the air, pouncing at Han Li's trio.
At the same time, the crimson lake around the island began to tumble and churn, following which a series of crimson monsters leaped out from within.
These monsters had female human upper bodies with heads of long, crimson hair and a pair of large bat wings on each of their backs, but they possessed serpentine lower bodies.
The auras being released by these winged naga monsters weren't inferior in the slightest compared with the giant skeletons, and as soon as they flew out of the crimson lake, they immediately sped directly toward Han Li's trio as well.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li's trio found themselves surrounded by close to 1,000 skeletons and naga creatures, a development that was quite alarming to say the least.
Wyrm 8 gave a cold harrumph, and the Earthly Deity Avatar beside him began to glow with dazzling azure light at his behest, resembling an azure sun that was hanging in the sky above the crimson lake.
The Earthly Deity Avatar swept its hands through the air, and the azure light around it flew out of its body, then split up into four massive azure wind dragons that flew away in all directions.
A dozen or so of the oncoming skeletons and naga monsters were sent flying by the wind dragons, and the majority of the monsters who were directly struck instantly had their bodies destroyed.
The rest of them appeared to have sustained injuries as well, but the surrounding crimson mist seemed to have a mind of its own as it instantly surged into their bodies, healing their injuries at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye. Within the span of just a few seconds, all of them were fully healed.
Wyrm 8's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
The four wind dragons didn't appear to be very remarkable, but every single one of them had been formed by his power of laws, making each of their attacks far more formidable than even what a Grand Ascension cultivator could withstand. However, these skeletons and naga monsters were displaying extremely impressive physical resistance and self-regenerative abilities.
In contrast, Lu Kun was refraining from using his Earthly Deity Avatar, seemingly trying to conserve his power of faith. Instead, he swept a hand through the air to release eight flying daggers, which swelled rapidly to form eight giant blue blades that began to circle around in the air.
Seven or eight indistinct blade projections appeared around each of the giant blue blades, and with eight of these blades in total, dozens of blade projections were manifested before sweeping rapidly through the air in all directions amid a burst of rumbling that resembled the sound of violently crashing waves.
In the blink of an eye, the entire space within a radius of over 1,000 feet was filled with glacial blue light, and around a dozen skeletons and naga monsters were instantly struck before exploding on the spot.
In contrast with Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun, Han Li's attacks were far more mundane, and he was only throwing punches at the surrounding area.
With each punch that he threw, the surrounding space would shudder violently, and all enemies who attempted to attack him were destroyed with a single punch with no exceptions.
After just a few seconds, hundreds of skeletons and naga monsters had already been slain by the trio.
However, more and more of the creatures were emerging from the ground and the crimson lake with no end in sight, so the number of monsters that Han Li's trio was being attacked by wasn't decreasing at all.
"Fellow Daoists, we don't know where Wyrm 3 is at the moment, and there's a very good chance that Gong Shuhong is in that palace. His location is completely unknown to us, while we're exposed out in the open, so the situation is very detrimental to us," Han Li said to his two companions through voice transmission while inspecting the surrounding area with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
"Could it be that you've found a way out?" Lu Kun asked as a hopeful look appeared on his face, and Wyrm Eight directed his gaze toward Han Li as well.
This underground cavern didn't appear to be all that remarkable, but both of them could clearly sense that the entire cavern was enshrouded within a burst of immense power of laws, so getting out of this place definitely wasn't going to be an easy feat.
"I've found several conspicuous points in the cavern, but it's going to take some time for me to exploit those points, and these skeletons and naga monsters are quite annoying to deal with," Han Li replied.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Wyrm 8 said, "Leave these small fry to me. I have a way to keep them occupied for some time while you and Wyrm 9 focus on finding a way out."
"Alright, then I'll be counting on you."
Han Li threw several punches in rapid succession as he spoke, and seven or eight fist projections erupted forth before exploding violently amid a string of earth-shattering booms.
A burst of terrifying power swept through the area, tearing a hole in the encirclement formed by the surrounding skeletons and naga monsters.
At the same time, bright azure light erupted from Han Li's entire body as he flew through the hole in the encirclement, then sped toward a certain spot on the ceiling of the underground cavern.
The surrounding skeletons and naga monsters faltered momentarily, following which all of them roared in unison, and the majority of them abandoned Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun to go after Han Li.
Wyrm 8 harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and he flicked his fingers through the air in rapid succession. Azure radiance that was even more dazzling than before erupted from his Earthly Deity Avatar, and the azure light spread through the air in circles, instantly encompassing the majority of the space within the underground cavern.
All of a sudden, a burst of peculiar buzzing rang out in the air, and all of the world's origin qi in the area encompassed within the azure light began to tremble. At the same time, a series of thin azure threads appeared out of thin air to ensnare the skeletons and naga monsters, thereby significantly hampering their speed.
Meanwhile, Han Li continued onward without pause, reaching his destination in the blink of an eye before throwing a powerful punch.
Right at this moment, two humanoid figures emerged from the ceiling of the underground cavern, and they were none other than the burly man and the woman in black who had fled earlier.
As soon as he appeared, the burly man immediately threw a punch at Han Li.
The menacing bone gauntlet on his fist suddenly began to glow brightly, and a massive fist projection that resembled a malicious ghost shot forth through the air.
At the same time, black light flashed within the hand of the woman in black, and a thick black mace appeared in her grasp. As soon as the mace was swung through the air, countless black mace projections were released, forming a black mountain that came crashing down upon Han Li.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the fearsome fist projection exploded violently, as did the mountain of black mace projections.
The burly man and the woman in black were astonished to see this, and their bodies were jolted violently before being sent flying back through the air like a pair of cannonballs and crashing heavily into the ceiling of the cavern, causing the entire cavern to tremble and quiver.
Having witnessed Han Li's battle against Chou Wu, they were already aware that Han Li possessed incredible physical strength, but only after a direct clash did they come to realize that he was far stronger than they had anticipated.
Han Li also shuddered slightly, and he was forced to take two backward steps before managing to steady himself.
"Let me lend you a hand, Wyrm 15!"
A burst of blue light shot forth from behind Han Li, and from within the burst of light emerged Lu Kun and his Earthly Deity Avatar.
At the same time, Lu Kun opened his mouth to release a burst of blue light, which vanished into the body of his Earthly Deity Avatar, which instantly began to glow brightly with blue radiance as it also opened its mouth to release two balls of watery blue light.
Encompassed within the balls of light were countless shimmering blue runes, which were giving off powerful water law fluctuations.
The two balls of blue light flashed momentarily before abruptly sprouting a head and four limbs each to form a pair of watery blue figures, which sped through the air at an incredible speed toward the burly man and the woman in black.
This seemed like quite a complex sequence, but in reality, everything had taken place in the blink of an eye.
The burly man and the woman in black had only just steadied themselves when they were confronted by the pair of watery blue figures, and the burly man's pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this as he flung his gauntlet through the air. Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence, which transformed into a cloud of blood mist that seeped into the gauntlet in the blink of an eye.
The gauntlet instantly took on a crimson hue, and it blurred momentarily before transforming into a sinister crimson ghostly head the size of a pavilion.
The ghostly head opened its eyes, and bright crimson light was radiating from its pupils. It then opened its cavernous mouth, and a wave of crimson flames erupted forth from within before sweeping toward the oncoming blue figure.
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