Chapter 463: Underground Palace
"Looks like not only has the core of the dream concealment restriction been revealed, even all of the array's hidden points have surfaced as well," Daoist Xie said as it looked at the radiantly glowing stone platform.
"In that case, can you see if you can break the restriction now, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"Judging from the repaired stamen, this should be a Nine Nightmares Restriction, the most special type of all dream concealment restrictions. It's a good thing that we did try to break it by brute force. Otherwise, if we had activated this entire array, then this secret area would've been turned on its head! Having said that, now that all of the points of the array have been revealed, it'll be far easier to unravel," Daoist Xie replied.
With that established, Daoist Xie borrowed some array flags and array tools from Han Li, then began to fly back and forth through the secret area, making the required preparations to break the restriction.
Meanwhile, Han Li remained still on the spot as he waited patiently.
Around 15 minutes later, Daoist Xie returned to the stone platform while holding a white jade plate with complex patterns engraved onto its surface.
Han Li was rather perplexed to see this, but he didn't ask any questions.
Daoist Xie paused momentarily in front of the stone platform, then stepped onto it and placed the jade plate at the center of the platform. The jade plate was just the right size to slot into the empty area where the stamen of the restriction was supposed to be.
"I'm using this jade plate as a substitute for the damaged part of the array. I hope it'll work," Daoist Xie explained.
It then made a hand seal while chanting an incantation before pressing its palm down onto the center of the stone platform.
A beam of golden light surged out of the palm of its hand before passing through the jade plate and into the stone platform, and the entire platform instantly shuddered violently before lighting up with blinding golden radiance.
All of the patterns on the stone platform glowed radiantly as a shimmering golden projection rose up into the sky.
The higher the projection ascended, the more it expanded, and in the end, it formed an enormous flower projection that encompassed the entire secret area.
The points at which the golden lines on the nine flower petals met each corresponded with an important point in the array, and Daoist Xie had also already set up array flags at those points.
All of a sudden, hundreds of threads of golden light rained down from the dream flower projection to connect with these array flags, while a pillar of golden light erupted out of the floral projection's stamen to strike the center of the stone platform down below.
A burst of rumbling rang out as a system of cobweb-like golden patterns instantly began to spread across the ground at the foot of the stone platform, but these patterns only lingered for a few moments before fading on their own.
Immediately thereafter, the sound of rock grinding on rock rang out as the entire stone platform split apart into two down the center to reveal a hole that had a diameter or around five feet.
Han Li approached the hole for a closer inspection to find that there was nothing but inky darkness inside, but he could hear the sound of wind ringing out deep within the darkness.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he casually swept a sleeve through the air to summon seven or eight crimson fireballs, each of which was around the size of a human head. All of the fireballs descended into the hole, and it didn't take long before they struck the ground, then bounced a few times before rolling deeper into the hole.
Thanks to the light radiating from the fireballs, Han Li was able to see that the hole was only several hundred feet deep, and that its bottom was paved with stone slabs. It seemed to be a passageway, but it was clear that this wasn't the exit of this secret area.
"It looks like we won't be able to leave this place just yet," Han Li remarked with a forlorn sigh.
"The fact that this place was concealed under the dream concealment restriction indicates that it must be a special place. Perhaps there's a major opportunity waiting for us in there," Daoist Xie said.
"I don't really care about that, all I want is to be able to get out of this place as soon as possible," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"I didn't have to expend much energy while keeping a lookout for you, but I've had to remain in the outside world for over 10 years, so I'll need some time to rest and recuperate. You can call upon me if you need me," Daoist Xie said.
"Thank you, Brother Xie," Han Li said in a heartfelt manner.
Daoist Xie merely gave a dismissive wave of its hand, then flew into Han Li's sleeve as a streak of golden light and vanished in a flash.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Han Li leaped into the hole in the ground.
Upon making a landing at the bottom of the hole, he quickly discovered that the ground beneath his feet and the walls beside him were all very even and uniform. Directly in front of him was a passageway that led deeper into the darkness, and it was over 20 feet tall and around six feet wide.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes while simultaneously releasing his spiritual sense, attempting to examine the depths of the passageway, and only then did he discover that he was situated in a massive underground palace, one that was no smaller than the city on the surface.
The underground palace was completely undetectable to him due to the dream concealment restriction, but he was able to see in its full glory now.
Han Li made his way several hundred meters down the passageway before reaching its conclusion, and a bare stone wall appeared in front of him.
He laid a palm flat against the stone wall before pushing it forcefully, and a burst of rumbling rang out as the entire stone wall slowly slid back several feet to reveal a horizontal passageway.
Han Li stood at the center of the passageway, and he took a glance in either direction before making his way down the right.
The passageway down the right hand side wasn't very long either, and he reached the end after traveling for less than 200 meters. However, there was no crossroads here. Instead, there was a room that was comparable in size to a normal lounge.
Han Li pushed the door of the room open before making his way inside.
In contrast with the dark passageway outside, there were around a dozen palm-sized luminescent rocks embedded into the ceiling, and they were giving off a cold white glow that illuminated the entire room.
With just a single glance, Han Li was able to see the entirety of the room before him.
In a corner of the room was a black wooden shelf that had already decayed into an almost unrecognizable state. The vials and containers previously placed on the shelf were strewn over the ground, and their contents were mixed together with the wood scraps on the ground to produce an indescribable odor.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li drew a black porcelain vial out of the putrid rotten wood, and the vial drew to a halt in mid-air in front of him.
The stopper of the vial flew out at Han Li's behest, and a peculiar medicinal aroma instantly wafted out from within.
Han Li took a whiff of the aroma, then heaved a faint sigh as he lowered his hand, allowing the black vial to fall to the ground before rolling away to the side.
The vial once contained a type of pill that would've been useful even to True Immortals, but their medicinal effects had completely faded after such an extended period of time spent in storage.
Han Li carefully inspected the rest of the room, but was unable to find anything useful, so he promptly departed and made his way toward the left branch of the passageway.
After walking for a few minutes, he arrived in front of another stone door, this one riddled with a series of antiquated sealing runes.
After a brief hesitation, he raised a hand, and five balls of light lit up over his fingertips as he pressed them into the stone door.
As soon as the five bursts of spiritual light entered the stone door, all of the complex runes spread across the entire door began to converge toward the center to form a strange circular pattern.
Han Li pressed the palm of his hand against the circular pattern, and the stone door began to rise up on its own amid a burst of dull rumbling.
As the stone door was raised up, a glimmer of light began to pass through it.
Almost as an instinctive reaction, Han Li summoned Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword into his own grasp with a flick of his wrist.
After the stone door was completely raised, Han Li discovered that there was another passageway beyond it. The walls of this passageway were lined with a series of slots, within which some type of oil was slowly burning to give off a faint glow.
The oil seemed to be some type of fish fat, as evidenced by the fishy odor in the air, and Han Li took a quick whiff of the odor in the air before continuing onward.
From this point onward, the number of crossroads that he encountered began to increase, and there were also more rooms to explore, but barely any of them held anything important.
Initially, Han Li would enter those rooms to conduct an examination, but after a while, he began to inspect the rooms using his spiritual sense only, and he wouldn't bother to enter the room at all if he couldn't sense any special energy fluctuations inside.
Several hours later, Han Li emerged through a stone door and arrived in a straight passageway that was around 30 feet wide.
At the conclusion of the passageway was a pair of gates that were around 10 feet tall, both of which were tightly shut. Each gate had half of a fierce-looking beast's head engraved upon it, and a series of twisted patterns spread out to cover the entirety of the gates from the beastly head at the center.
Han Li wasn't able to identify the beast, but he could tell that this was a very complex restriction.
Hence, he made a hand seal and began to examine the gates through the use of his Eye of Truth.
Moments later, he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, and his brows furrowed slightly in contemplation as he began attempting to unravel the restriction.
A string of incantation seals flew into the stone gates, and the runes engraved upon them began to give off a dull yellow glow, while the eyes of the beastly head also lit up like a pair of jewels.
A faint roar rang out as a beastly projection pounced out of the stone gates, and Han Li hurriedly took evasive measures by dodging to the side.
The beastly projection was only able to make it several feet out of the stone gates before vanishing in a flash, following which light glowing from the runes on the gates and the eyes of the beastly head also faded.
Han Li strode over to the gates before pressing a palm against one of them, then exerted force through his hand to push the gate inward, opening up a gap that was several feet wide.
Through this gap, Han Li was able to see a dim light source within the hall beyond it, and a series of indistinct humanoid shadows were being cast onto the ground in front of him.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he released his spiritual sense into the hall for a careful examination, but he didn't discover anything abnormal.
However, upon entering the hall, he was instantly taken aback by what he saw.
There was a series of white stone statues around the same height as grown men spread throughout the hall, and thanks to the faint light emanating from the braziers hanging from the walls, Han Li was able to see that there were seven or eight of these statues in total.
The shadows that he had seen just now had been cast by the two stone statues closest to the gates.
Han Li made his way toward the center of the hall while carefully examining these stone statues, and in doing so, he discovered that they seemed to be acting as pillars that supported this underground hall.
The statues didn't depict any formidable warriors or ferocious beasts. Instead, they were extremely lifelike statues of a collection of male and female figures, all of which were standing straight with their arms hanging down by their sides.
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