Chapter 50: Breaking Out of the Pagoda
Half a month later, in the Yin Necropolis Mountain Range.
There was a layer of dark clouds in the sky above a tall and steep mountain, and even though it was currently noon, not much sunlight was able to filter down from the sky. It seemed that a storm was afoot.
The mountain was riddled with trees, but these trees weren't of the normal bright green variety. Instead, these trees were of a much darker green color, making the entire mountain appear as if it had come straight out of an ink painting.
Right at this moment, a rift was suddenly opened up in the dark clouds in the sky, and a streak of light shot out, revealing a tall and broad azure-robed young man.
It was none other than Han Li, and he hovered in mid-air as he briefly inspected his surroundings, then closed his eyes to release his spiritual sense over the entire mountain.
Moments later, his eyes sprang open, and a peculiar look appeared on his face. He then continued to fly through the air before descending toward a misty forest.
After landing on the ground, he made his way forward and skirted around an ancient tree, upon which he caught sight of a petite figure in the mist, laying diagonally against a dead tree in a completely still manner.
"Le'er," he called out as his brows furrowed slightly.
The petite figure stirred slightly upon hearing his voice, and her eyelashes fluttered, following which her eyes slowly opened.
In the instant that she caught sight of Han Li, an elated look appeared on her pale face, and despite her condition, she still put on a feeble smile. She then opened her mouth to say something, but a restriction seemed to have been placed upon her mouth, making her unable to utter any intelligible words.
"It's alright, I'm here now," Han Li consoled as he slowly made his way toward her.
A thought seemed to have suddenly occurred to Liu Le'er upon seeing this, and a horrified look appeared in her eyes as she frantically shook her head at Han Li.
However, Han Li paid no heed to this and continued to advance toward her. In her desperation, she tried to struggle into an upright position, but a burst of loud crackling suddenly rang out around her.
A series of chains that were flashing with arcs of black electricity appeared over her body, binding her from head to toe. As soon as she made even the slightest move, the chains would release bursts of black electricity to torment her.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged at the sight of the agonized look on Liu Le'er's face, but a hint of cold killing intent flashed through his eyes as he continued to advance.
Right as he took another step forward, an unexpected turn of events abruptly unfolded.
The white mist in the forest suddenly turned as dark as ink, and it began to churn violently. Immediately thereafter, a gust of fierce wind swept into the forest, and all of the black mist instantly transformed into a giant vortex.
The surrounding temperatures plummeted drastically, and ghastly howling rang out in all directions.
Han Li was situated at the center of the vortex, and everything suddenly turned dark around him, while a burst of suction force erupted from the vortex, trying to drag him downward.
He gave a cold harrumph as he continued to approach Liu Le'er, seemingly completely unaffected by the vortex.
Right at this moment, a burst of loud rumbling rang out from underground, and the ground on either side of him quaked violently before shattering with explosive force.
A pair of giant ghostly hands that were riddled with sharp spikes erupted out of the ground before grabbing tightly onto Han Li's legs.
Almost at the exact same moment, the black mist above his head scattered in all directions, and a burst of immense pressure came crashing down upon him from above.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as a dark purple octagonal pagoda descended from the heavens like an immovable mountain, trapping Han Li within.
The pagoda was around 500 to 600 feet tall with purple spirit patterns all over its surface, and it was giving off an indescribably sinister aura.
All of this had taken place in the blink of an eye, and it seemed that Han Li had fallen into the trap before he even had a chance to react.
A string of panicked, muffled sounds instantly rang out from Liu Le'er's mouth upon seeing this, and she began to struggle violently.
However, the more she struggled, the tighter the chains on her body constricted around her, and the arcs of black electricity surging along the lengths of those chains were inflicting such severe agony upon her that cold sweat was pouring down her forehead.
The ghostly mist around the pagoda surged, and four figures emerged around the pagoda in a flash.
One of the four figures was none other than Qi Xuan, and directly across from him was a well-built yellow-robed man, while the remaining two figures consisted of a thin middle-aged man in a silver robe and a red-robed middle-aged woman.
All four of them were Deity Transformation cultivators, and they were all making the same hand seal, which they only withdrew once they had reached the pagoda.
"It's all thanks to this Purple Nether Pagoda of yours that we were able to capture that Han brat in one fell swoop, Elder Tian," Qi Xuan said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute toward the yellow-robed man.
A pleased look appeared on the yellow-robed man's face, and he glanced at the pagoda as he replied, "You're far too kind, Elder Qi. Speaking of which, you had to pay quite a heavy price for me to borrow this powerful treasure from my master, yet you're using it to target a mere Nascent Soul cultivator? Don't you think this is overkill?"
"I did this as a safety precaution. After all, Elder Lu Ya perished by his hands, and for that, I received quite a severe punishment from the Enforcement Hall," Qi Xuan sighed with a shake of his head.
"In any case, now that we've helped you capture him, don't forget about the things that you promised us, Brother Qi," the red-robed woman said with a faint smile.
"Of course. Rest assured..."
Before Qi Xuan had a chance to finish his sentence, the giant pagoda suddenly shuddered violently along with the earth around it. As a result, he was distracted from what he was saying, and his voice trailed off mid-sentence.
"What's going on here?" the red-robed woman asked with a surprised look in her eyes.
The silver-robed man standing across from her chuckled in a nonchalant manner as he replied, "There's no need to be alarmed. My Rot Brute Ghost is in there with that Han brat. It seems like he's trying to resist and break out, but I'm afraid things won't end so well for him."
"I didn't think that your Rot Brute Ghost would already be powerful enough to shake the Purple Nether Tower," the red-robed woman said in a relieved voice as she patted her own voluptuous chest.
As soon as her voice trailed off, another rumbling boom rang out from within the purple pagoda, and this one was even louder than the last one.
The earth quaked violently beneath the feet of the four Deity Transformation cultivators, and they were struggling to keep their balance.
At the same time, a series of deep rifts had appeared on the ground, and the rifts were only continuing to expand like a system of cobwebs.
The red-robed woman's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and she turned to the silver-robed man as she asked, "Is this your Rot Brute Ghost's doing as well, Brother Luo?"
The silver-robed man was just about to open his mouth to say something when he involuntarily threw up a mouthful of blood.
"Impossible! My Rot Brute Ghost has been killed..." the silver-robed man exclaimed with a stunned expression as he wiped the blood from the corners of his lips.
Qi Xuan and the red-robed women were shocked to hear this.
"It seems that Elder Qi was correct. This Han brat really does possess an incredibly formidable physical body. Having said that, there's no need to be alarmed. This Purple Nether Pagoda is a Divine Spirit Treasure. Even a Spatial Tempering cultivator would struggle to break free from it, how could a mere Nascent Soul cultivator possibly do anything?" the yellow-robed man said in a confident manner.
"That may be true, but this treasure is something that can only be used by Body Integration cultivators. With our combined powers, we're just barely able to use it, but it's still significantly less effective than it otherwise would be. If you ask me, we should go all-out right now and use the pagoda to kill him as soon as possible," Qi Xuan suggested with tightly furrowed brows, clearly still rather concerned.
"I concur with Brother Qi's proposal. We should kill that Han brat as soon as possible to avoid any unforeseen circumstances. Once his physical body is destroyed, his nascent soul will be completely at our mercy," the silver-robed man chimed in with a vicious expression.
With the decision made, the four Deity Transformation cultivators adopted the same hand seal once again as they began to chant an incantation.
All of the purple patterns on the giant pagoda immediately lit up, and countless profound runes emerged in a flash. Wisps of dense purple qi began to emanate from the pagoda, causing the surrounding air temperature to plummet even further, so much so that large patches of frost were beginning to appear in the nearby area.
At the same time, the entire pagoda seemed to have become heavier, and it embedded itself deep into the ground.
However, before the four Deity Transformation cultivators had a chance to do anything else, the giant pagoda shuddered violently once again, and the spirit patterns on its surface began to flash erratically.
The yellow-robed man's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and in the next instant, a series of massive cracks appeared on the surface of the pagoda, running down its entire length from top to bottom.
Immediately thereafter, the giant pagoda exploded violently right before the astonished eyes of the four Deity Transformation cultivators, and a huge cloud of purple mist rose up into the air.
A burst of incredibly powerful shockwaves spread through the surrounding area, and even though the four Deity Transformation cultivators were doing their best to hold their ground, they still couldn't help but be forced back. Meanwhile, Liu Le'er was also picked up by the shockwaves and sent flying back through the air.
The shattered remains of the pagoda clattered down onto the ground, and as the dust slowly settled, a fearsome giant ghost was revealed. The ghostly creature was around 50 to 60 feet in size, and it was laying flat on its back with a huge hole punched through its chest, out of which putrid black blood was flowing incessantly.
Han Li stood atop the head of the giant ghost, and he took a glance at Liu Le'er to ensure that she was unharmed, then directed a cold gaze toward the four Deity Transformation cultivators around him.
The four Deity Transformation cultivators were astonished, and the prospect of a Nascent Soul cultivator destroying the Purple Nether Pagoda from the inside was downright preposterous to them, but it seemed that there was no other possible explanation for this situation.
In the next instant, Han Li threw a pair of punches through the air, the first of which was directed toward the silver-robed man, while the second one was aimed at the red-robed woman.
Both of them felt a burst of enormous force surging toward them, and by the time they reacted to the attack, it was already too late to take evasive measures.
The silver-robed man hurriedly raised his hands, and his sleeves flared up as wide as they would go as two plumes of dense black qi came surging out.
Within the black qi were five bloodstained ghostly heads, and they opened their gruesome mouths up wide as they sped toward the oncoming shockwave.
Immediately after the five ghostly heads came a crimson ghostly seal that was riddled with Yin runes, and the seal rapidly swelled to the size of a house before positioning itself in front of the silver-robed man.
Meanwhile, the red-robed woman wore a horrified expression as she flicked her wrists in a blind panic, releasing 13 bone flying bone swords that hurtled directly forward amid a burst of ghastly howling.
She then curled the fingers of one hand into a claw before digging her nails viciously into her other forearm, tearing several horrific gashes onto her own body. Countless red blood insects that were each around the size of a grain of rice came crawling out of those gashes, instantly forming a crimson shield in front of her.
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