Chapter 442: Collapse
There were some mixed emotions in Han Li's eyes as he looked on in silence.
After unleashing that slash, all of the golden lightning around the giant sword dissipated as if it had exhausted all of its power.
That power of that slash was approaching the level of an all-out attack unleashed by Han Li's Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword in the past, and this was only the power of a single sword, so it was difficult to imagine just how powerful all 72 swords combined would be.
With that in mind, a surge of excitement welled up in Han Li's heart.
However, the problem was that it was taking virtually all of his immortal spiritual power and spiritual sense to control this single flying sword, rendering him unable to do much else.
With that in mind, much of Han Li's enthusiasm was instantly dampened.
A thought then suddenly sprang into his mind, and he raised an eyebrow as he thought back to how the flying swords had just flown into his dantian on their own.
Perhaps the situation wasn't what he imagined it to be.
With that in mind, Han Li enveloped the 71 flying swords in his dantian with his spiritual sense before attempting to draw upon them, but the only response that he received was a faint flash of azure light.
He then channeled all of his immortal spiritual power before attempting the same thing, but all of the flying swords remained completely still and unmoved.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh upon seeing this.
In their current form, the flying swords in his dantian had become incredibly heavy, and attempting to move them with his current level of immortal spiritual power was no different from an ant attempting to move a mountain.
Thankfully, his spiritual connection with the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords still remained, so he should be able to use them once he attained sufficient power.
After heaving another faint sigh, he made no further attempt to summon all of the remaining flying swords at once, instead focusing his spiritual sense on summoning just a single additional sword.
A second azure flying sword emerged in front of him at his behest, and Han Li took a deep breath before channeling all of his immortal spiritual power and spiritual sense before making a hand seal.
Bright azure light flashed over the surface of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword a few times, but it remained completely still.
Meanwhile, Han Li was feeling a little dizzy from overexertion of immortal spiritual power and spiritual sense, and he hurriedly stopped what he was doing.
After that, he stowed the flying sword away as a contemplative look appeared on his face.
It seemed that at his current level of power, controlling a single Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword was already his limit.
The giant azure sword slowly flew through the air, and even though all of the formidable arcs of golden lightning on its surface had already faded, it was still giving off mountainous pressure.
Han Li made a beckoning motion, and the giant azure sword flew down while rapidly shrinking before vanishing up his sleeve as a miniature azure sword, following which he drifted back down onto the ground, where he was greeted by Lu Yuqing.
"Congratulations, Brother Han. I can see that your flying swords have become far more formidable," Lu Yuqing congratulated with a beaming smile.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he asked, "The fact that you're here must mean that all of the puppets from before have been taken care of, right?"
Lu Yuqing nodded in response.
At this point, the phenomena in the sky had completely faded, and the entire secret area was restored to its original state, while the clouds that had been scattered by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword were also slowly recovering.
"It doesn't look like there are any other treasures in here, and we've already been here for a very long time. The entrance of this secret area is quite difficult to access, but there's no guarantee that Xue Han and the others won't be able to follow us into this place, so it's best for us to leave as quickly as possible," Han Li said.
Lu Yuqing faltered slightly upon hearing this, and a slightly hesitant look appeared on her face.
"Is there something else that you have to do here?" Han Li asked upon noticing her expression.
"No. You're right, Brother Han, it's best for us to leave this place as quickly as possible, but before that, please wait for me for a moment," Lu Yuqing said, then flew toward the ancestral hall of the daoist temple in the distance, where she swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that swept up all of the memorial tablets inside before stowing them away.
After that, she flew back to Han Li's side and said, "I'm ready to go."
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, but he didn't ask any questions, and he began to fly down the mountain, followed closely by Lu Yuqing.
Perhaps it was due to the destruction of the white altar in the sky or the disappearance of all of the flying swords on the meadow. In any case, the boundless sword qi in the air had completely faded, allowing them to fly without any obstruction.
The two of them had only just risen up into the air when a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly rang out, following which the entire secret area began to tremble violently.
"What's going on?"
Han Li's expression instantly changed slightly as he stopped in his tracks.
All of a sudden, a pillar of white light had erupted into the heavens in the distance behind him.
The pillar of white light was incredibly thick, with a diameter of at least several hundred feet, and it was giving off tremendous spiritual power fluctuations that were quite alarming even to Han Li.
Lu Yuqing was also staring at the pillar of white light in the distance with an astonished look on her face, and right at this moment, another rumbling boom rang out in another direction as the entire secret area shuddered violently once again.
A second pillar of white light had appeared there, and it was also extending directly up into the sky.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing were even more alarmed upon seeing this.
The two pillars of light seemed to be resonating with one another, and the trembling of the entire secret area was becoming more and more violent, presenting a doomsday-like scene to behold.
"This secret area is about to collapse! We have to get out of here!" Han Li exclaimed in an urgent voice as he flew down the mountain as a streak of azure light, and Lu Yuqing hurriedly followed along.
As he was flying down the mountain, Han Li's mind was racing as he tried to pinpoint a reason for the collapse of the secret area.
Could it be that the destruction of the white altar had triggered the secret area's demise, or could it be that the sword strike that he had just unleashed had damaged some important point in the secret area?
However, he then quickly shook his head to rid himself of that thought. There was no point in pondering this matter, and his top priority now was to get out of this place as quickly as possible.
With that in mind, he accelerated even further, and the two of them arrived at the foot of the mountain in the blink of an eye, returning to the place where they had first entered the secret area.
Meanwhile, a third pillar of white light had risen up elsewhere in the secret area, and the tremors running through the entire secret area had become even more severe.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense through the nearby area, upon which his expression instantly darkened slightly.
The space here was extremely stable with no spatial passageways or teleportation arrays to facilitate their escape.
He had always thought that this place served as both the entrance and the exit of the secret area, but it seemed that he was incorrect in that assumption.
Lu Yuqing had sensed the exact same thing, and a grim look had appeared on her face as well.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, I noticed that you've been exploring this secret area over the course of the past three days. Have you discovered any exits or any abnormal places?" Han Li asked as he turned to Lu Yuqing.
"I'm afraid not. The entire secret area seems to have already been ransacked by Xiong Shan, and all I stumbled upon were some damaged buildings and destroyed restrictions," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head.
Han Li cast his gaze forward once again upon hearing this.
At his current level of power, it was not very feasible for him to forcibly tear open a spatial passageway.
After all, the space in the Immortal Realm was far more stable than that of lower realms like the Spirit Domain Realm.
Furthermore, even if he could tear open the space here, there was no guarantee that the resulting spatial passageway would lead to anywhere safe, and there was a very good chance that he would be swept up by the boundless spatial currents and killed.
Right at this moment, a fourth pillar of white light emerged in the secret area with another resounding boom, and the entire secret area was swaying extremely violently at this point.
A string of loud cracks rang out overhead as a series of white rifts appeared up above, and they quickly spread in all directions like cracks on the surface of a mirror.
Lu Yuqing's face instantly turned deathly pale upon seeing this.
"There's no time to waste, let's split up and try to search for an exit," Han Li said in an urgent voice, then immediately flew away in a certain direction.
Lu Yuqing nodded in response before flying away in another direction, but she had only flown a short distance away when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, and a slightly befuddled look appeared on her face as she cast her gaze toward a spot halfway up the mountain.
After a brief moment of hesitation, she flew in that direction as a streak of azure light.
Meanwhile, Han Li was flying back up toward the mountain summit while scouring his surroundings with all his might using his spiritual sense and his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, as well as his Eye of Truth.
At his speed, he was quickly able to scour the majority of the entire mountain, and right at this moment, he suddenly stopped cold in his tracks.
All of the greenery further up the mountain had already been completely uprooted to reveal the bare mountain face, and he could see that there was nothing up there.
No additional pillars of white light had appeared after the fourth one, but the spatial rifts in the sky were rapidly spreading and expanding.
The tremors running through the entire secret area were becoming more and more violent, and an agitated look flashed through Han Li's eyes as he hurriedly flew away in another direction.
Right at this moment, Lu Yuqing's voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Brother Han, come to me! Hurry!"
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then cast his gaze in a certain direction before flying away as a streak of azure light.
At this moment, Lu Yuqing was standing somewhere halfway up the mountain, scrutinizing a section of the mountain face with black light shimmering in her eyes.
Han Li arrived by her side amid a flash of azure light, then cast his gaze toward the same spot with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, but failed to discover anything.
"Have you found something, Fellow Daoist Lu?"
He summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis as he spoke, then began to observe the mountain face through his Eye of Truth, upon which an elated look instantly appeared on his face.
He flicked a finger through the air, releasing a streak of azure sword qi that struck the mountain face, and the streak of sword qi instantly vanished in a flash, while the mountain face rippled slightly before returning to its original state.
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