Chapter 128: Breaking the Chains (1)
Han Li opened his eyes, then withdrew his spiritual sense from the storage treasure.
The Soulbirth Flower he had prepared had already reached 100,000 years of age, so the final soul manifestation process was completed in no more than 15 minutes. Furthermore, the outcome was close to perfect, and he was able to control the Earthly Deity Avatar as he pleased.
The reason why he had waited for over two hours was both to fool his opponents, as well as to lure them into expending more of their trump cards. Furthermore, he had expended a great deal of energy refining this Earthly Deity Avatar, and this gave him some time to recover.
Thankfully, he hadn't decided to reveal himself early. Otherwise, that bolt of Astral Yin Blood Lightning would've been nasty to run into.
Now that he had successfully attained an Earthly Deity Avatar, he had more important things to do, and those four Ancestral Gods were nothing more than small fry, so it didn't matter that he had allowed them to escape.
With that in mind, Han Li stowed away the array tools on the ground with a wave of his hand, then emerged from the sea before flying toward Dark Veil Island.
One morning, several days later.
Basked in the light of the rising sun, it was as if Dark Veil Island had been plated in a layer of gold, and the entire island was giving off a soft and warm glow.
Many residents of the island had already gathered in front of the Ancestral God statues on the island, and all of them wore solemn and reverent expressions as they clasped their hands together in front of their chests in prayer while chanting prayers incessantly.
At this moment, Luo Feng was in his usual azure scholarly robe, standing on the plaza at the center of the island as he looked up at the renovated Ancestral God statue.
Unlike the island residents behind him, he didn't participate in the prayers. Instead, his hands were hanging down by his sides, and he seemed to have fallen into deep thought.
Right at this moment, a streak of light suddenly flashed past above everyone, arriving at an incredible speed from afar before landing beside Luo Feng.
"Senior Liu!" Luo Feng greeted in a loud voice as he extended a deep bow toward the new arrival.
That person was naturally none other than Han Li, who had just returned to Dark Veil Island after successfully refining his Earthly Deity Avatar.
All of the residents of Dark Veil Island hurriedly ceased their prayers and turned to Han Li before extending respectful bows.
"Come with me," Han Li instructed in an indifferent voice, then flew up into the air again, traveling toward the courtyard that he was staying in.
Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, then also immediately followed along as a streak of light.
The two of them landed one after another in the open-air area of the courtyard, and Han Li sat down beside the stone table before waving a hand at Luo Feng, indicating for him to take a seat as well.
"Chief Luo, there's something that I've been keeping from you this entire time, but there's no need for me to keep the secret any longer. Truth be told, Ancestral God Luo Meng of your Dark Veil Island has already been dead for over 1,000 years."
Luo Feng's complexion paled slightly upon hearing this, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "Senior Liu, I had already roughly guessed that this was the case, and the other elders on the island are aware of this as well, but we've all made an unspoken agreement not to speak about this as we didn't want to spark a panic among the island's residents.
“We'll be counting on you for the continued protection of our island, Senior Liu. Words cannot begin to express my gratitude to you."
"You don't have to worry about that. I made a promise to you, and I intend to see it through. At this point, I've already successfully refined an Earthly Deity Avatar and found a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation method. Now, I need you to erect deity statues of myself on the island so I can begin to gather the power of faith," Han Li said with an indifferent expression.
Luo Feng was slightly taken aback to hear this, but he then quickly cupped his hand in a salute as he replied, "Rest assured, Senior Liu, I'll get that arranged as soon as possible."
"Here are some treasures and scriptures for you to use on nurturing the brightest talents on the island. Their growth will be the key to Dark Veil Island's future prosperity."
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and a storage bracelet flew through the air before arriving in front of Luo Feng.
Luo Feng caught the bracelet, and after only a brief inspection of its contents, a stunned look appeared on his face. The quantity and the value of the items in the storage bracelet far exceeded his imagination.
In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that just the scriptures, treasures, pills, and materials contained within this storage bracelet alone already far exceeded everything that had been accumulated on the island over the past tens of thousands of years.
Unbeknownst to him, this was only a small portion of the spoils that Han Li had obtained from his prior trip to Red Moon Island. The life savings of any True Immortal, even if they were merely a vagrant immortal, was nothing to be scoffed at.
Luo Feng held the storage bracelet with both hands, and his body was trembling uncontrollably as he knelt down and kowtowed onto the ground. "Senior Liu, our Dark Veil Island will eternally remember what you've done for us."
"There's no need for such formalities. From this point onward, I'm going to go into seclusion for a while, so don't come to find me unless something urgent comes up," Han Li said with a wave of his hand.
"Yes, Senior Liu," Luo Feng replied in a solemn voice, then departed from the courtyard.
Half a month later, all of the original deity statues on Dark Veil Island were removed and replaced by new statues, which were erected all over the island in a higher concentration.
The newly constructed deity statues still bore a slight resemblance to the former deity statues, but they represented a different person.
Every morning and night, large numbers of island residents would gather beneath Han Li's statues and pray, just as they had always done in the past.
On this night, a resounding boom suddenly rang out in the sky above Dark Veil Island, and a vast expanse of dazzling silver radiance cascaded straight down from the night sky before surging into the courtyard that Han Li was staying in like a falling galaxy.
There were seven or eight huge silver flags standing around the courtyard, and all of them began to glow brightly before quickly being enveloped in a layer of dense silver mist.
At this moment, the azure-robed Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in an empty area in his courtyard, and his Earthly Deity Avatar was also seated across from him with a solemn look on its face.
"Let's begin," Han Li declared.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately closed his eyes, and his spiritual sense descended into his dantian.
Inside his dantian, the golden nascent soul's eyes were still tightly shut, but there was no pain etched on its face.
Furthermore, it was enveloped in a layer of shimmering translucent light, and that was the spiritual sense that Han Li had left behind to conceal the black chains.
The translucent light around the nascent soul instantly brightened significantly at his behest, then surged back into his consciousness like flowing water.
Immediately thereafter, black light flashed over the body of his nascent soul, and the nine inky-black chains emerged, while a vast expanse of black mist rose up around them.
Meanwhile, the entire courtyard was basked in radiant starlight, and seven balls of dazzling blue light also appeared on Han Li's chest and abdomen. The Earthly Deity Avatar seated across from him immediately made a hand seal upon seeing this, then pointed a finger at his dantian.
As it did so, Han Li felt a burst of heat rise up within his dantian, and a surge of vast and warm magic power immediately flowed forth like a mighty river to wash through his entire body.
At the same time, the starpower within his body began to rapidly circulate, transforming into countless thin silver threads that surged through his limbs and his meridians.
As Han Li made a series of hand seals, the two bursts of power finally gathered in his dantian without any obstacle, then transformed into thin threads of bright silver light that plunged straight toward his nascent soul.
In contrast with last time, both the number of silver threads and the power of the aura imbued within them exceeded the previous batch by over a hundredfold.
In fact, Han Li could sense traces of power of laws that hadn't been present previously in this aura.
A resounding boom rang out like a rumbling thunderclap in Han Li's dantian, and the converging threads of silver light instantly surged into the vast expanse of dense black mist with unstoppable force, much like a mighty army of cavaliers.
Immediately thereafter, a loud string of cracks and pops rang out within Han Li's dantian, and the black mist was completely torn apart, quickly dissipating to reveal the black chains concealed within.
The threads of silver light showed no signs of stopping there, and they continued to converge toward the black chains.
This time, Han Li didn't try to hurry the process by distributing the threads of light onto all of the chains at once. Instead, he selected one of them and directed all of the threads of light to wrap around that single chain.
A burst of loud sizzling akin to the sound of red-hot metal being cooled in water rang out, and plumes of black smoke immediately began to rise up from the black chain. The chain began to tremble violently, and the black light glowing from its surface rapidly faded.
At the same time, countless tiny black runes also emerged from the black chain, trying to replenish the black light that was being rapidly whittled down.
All of the threads of silver light were enveloped in a layer of watery blue light that was giving off law fluctuations, and this blue light was fusing with the black runes to significantly hamper the restoration effect that the runes had on the chain. As a result, the rate at which the chain was recovering was nowhere near as fast as last time.
Han Li immediately activated his Spirit Refinement Technique upon seeing this, and the vast spiritual sense in his consciousness instantly transformed into translucent threads of spiritual sense that surged into his dantian in the blink of an eye.
The translucent threads of spiritual sense intertwined with one another at his behest to form a giant ax, which sprang up before crashing down upon the black chain.
If the threads of silver light from before could be compared with an army of cavaliers, then this ax of spiritual sense would be akin to a unit of heavy infantry, charging through the opening created by the cavaliers to deal the enemy a lethal blow.
A sharp clang rang out, and the black chain shuddered violently, while the ax of spiritual sense was sent flying back.
The clang ringing out from the clash was extremely penetrative, and even though it had originated in Han Li's dantian, it was able to resonate all the way to his consciousness, striking him with a burst of sharp pain.
However, the entirety of his attention was focused on the chain in his dantian, and he couldn't afford to get distracted.
A clear chip had appeared on the chain at the spot where it had just been struck by the ax, and Han Li was instilled with an immense sense of confidence upon seeing this.
He paid no heed to the sharp pain spearing through his consciousness as he continued to hack away at the chain with the ax.
One strike, two strikes, three strikes...
As the seventh strike was dealt, a dull thump rang out, and the black chain snapped in half before disintegrating into black light.
However, instead of dissipating into nothingness, the black light surged into the remaining eight chains, vanishing into them in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, the eight chains lit up in unison, and the number of black runes on their surfaces instantly increased, while the black light glowing from them also became denser and more substantial.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face.
If every single one of these chains was going to fuse with the other chains after being snapped, then that meant that each subsequent chain would become more difficult to sever than the previous one.
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