Chapter 506: Was it Really Worth it
A loud draconic roar instantly rang out across the entire palace, and a mighty black dragon flew out of the opening of the gourd.
The dragon had black flames all over its body, and it opened its mouth before biting down viciously upon Gongshu Jiu.
"Dao Lord Baili!" Luo Qinghai exclaimed upon seeing this.
A hint of enlightenment flashed through Han Li's eyes upon hearing this, and he realized that Daoist Hu Yan had most likely not been trying to secure a High Zenith Pill for himself. Instead, it was to save Baili Yan, who he had been carrying in that gourd of his this entire time.
In the wake of the internal conflict in the Blaze Dragon Dao orchestrated by Xiao Jinhan, Ouyang Kuishan and many of the other dao lords had worked with the Northern Glacial Immortal Palace to surround Baili Yan, and not only did they foil his plan for reaching the High Zenith Stage, a plan that he had been working toward for countless years, they also managed to severely wound him, but he was ultimately able to get away.
Fortunately, Daoist Hu Yan was also able to get away from the Northern Glacial Immortal Palace, and after leaving the Blaze Dragon Dao, he reunited with Baili Yan, and now, the two of them were here in the Infernal Frost Immortal Palace.
However, what Han Li wanted to know was how Daoist Hu Yan had been aware in advance that there were High Zenith Pills in the immortal manor.
As soon as Baili Yan flew out of the crimson gourd, Daoist Hu Yan had already darted back in retreat.
Scorching black flames erupted out of the black blaze dragon's mouth to instantly inundate Gongshu Jiu, and the misty figures that he was controlling instantly slowed down significantly, as if Gongshu Jiu had temporarily lost control over them.
Everyone immediately pounced on this opportunity to destroy the misty figures, following which they hurriedly gathered around Gongshu Jiu and the blaze dragon.
Close to 20 seconds later, the blaze dragon closed its cavernous mouth, and it shrank down rapidly until it was no larger than the average snake.
"The High Zenith Pill has been beneficial to my recovery and allowed me to expel the karmic fire in my body, but I need more time to refine it, so this is all I can do to help you for now," the blaze dragon said.
"That's fine. Go back into the gourd to rest," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
Baili Yan immediately flew into the gourd upon hearing this, and Daoist Hu Yan stowed the gourd back into the cloth pouch on his back.
All of this had taken place in the blink of an eye, and Luo Qinghai and the others were still reeling a little. However, thankfully, Baili Yan's attack had allowed them to get rid of those pesky misty figures while also trapping Gongshu Jiu.
"Everyone, we need to take advantage of this opportunity to refine Gongshu Jiu's physical body ,then capture his nascent soul!" Luo Qinghai urged.
Everyone immediately sprang into action upon hearing this, unleashing a barrage of attacks into the black flames around Gongshu Jiu.
Crimson flame, blue light, golden lightning... All manners of attacks surged into the black flames from all directions, compressing it into a fireball that was only around 10 feet in size.
Han Li was scrutinizing the interior of the fireball intently with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and he discovered that there was still a spherical, semi-transparent wall of qi around Gongshu Jiu's body that was keeping all of the flames and attacks at bay.
Furthermore, a layer of faint red light had appeared over the wall of qi, and it was becoming brighter and brighter.
A hint of alarm flashed through everyone's eyes upon seeing this, and they immediately attempted to take evasive measures, but it was already too late.
A burst of incredibly powerful shockwaves erupted in all directions, scattering all of the black flames and everyone's attacks before sending them flying back through the air.
The golden palace was already on the verge of collapse, and it was finally unable to hold itself together any longer, falling in a heap to be reduced to a pile of rubble.
However, before everyone had a chance to stand up from amid the rubble, Gongshu Jiu had already emerged from the wreckage, and he sighed, "I was going to invite all of you to come to our Heavenly Court to repent for your crime so that you can perhaps change your ways, but it seems that my kindness is being treated as weakness."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept his hands through the air, and five bursts of radiant light emerged over his fingertips. Five feathers from some type of unknown bird then flew out from within before hurtling toward Han Lin and the others.
The light radiating from the feathers had an illusory quality to it, and it was also giving off bursts of subtle law power fluctuations.
A sense of foreboding welled up in his heart upon seeing this, and he hurriedly raised his sword to defend himself.
With a flick of Wyrm 3's wrist, a silver bracelet that was riddled with ancient patterns slipped off her wrist, then began to revolve in front of her while radiating a vast expanse of bright silver light.
Meanwhile, Chi Lijiao raised both hands in front of himself to summon a golden badge, which transformed into a shimmering golden shield in the blink of an eye.
A string of loud clangs rang out one after another within the palace, and the sword in Han Li's hand was bent to an extreme degree, with its blade crashing heavily into his chest, sending him flying thousands of feet before crashing into a mountain face.
Luo Qinghai had summoned a jade fan treasure to protect himself, but it had been completely pulverized by one of the azure feathers, and a huge hole was punched into his chest while his entire body was slammed into the ground.
Wyrm 3's silver bracelet was shattered, and she was also sent flying through the air, but didn't appear to have sustained any injuries.
As for Chi Lijiao, his golden shield was also destroyed by an azure feather, which then pierced straight through his head, and in the blink of an eye, his nascent soul was captured by Gongshu Jiu.
In order to pick up his crimson gourd, Daoist Hu Yan was already a split second slower to react than everyone else, and by the time he looked up, one of the azure feathers was already no more than three feet away from his chest, so there was no time for him to take evasive measures.
In this dire situation, a figure suddenly shot forth from the side, then positioned themselves in front of him as a meat shield.
"Yun Ni!" both Daoist Hu Yan and Ouyang Kuishan exclaimed in unison.
The former hurriedly grabbed her by the arm in an attempt to drag her away, while the latter's body turned bright red as he unleashed a secret technique to drastically enhance his own speed, arriving in front of Yun Ni an instant before the feather reached her.
A dull thump rang out as the feather pierced through several protective light barriers before punching through Ouyang Kuishan's glabella, pulverizing both his head and his consciousness.
The three crashed heavily into one another and were sent flying together before falling to the ground.
A stunned look appeared on Yun Ni's face as she hurriedly rolled Ouyang Kuishan over, only to find that his eyes had already glazed over, but there was a satisfied smile hanging on his lips.
A complex look appeared on Daoist Hu Yan's face upon seeing this.
Yun Ni took a glance at Daoist Hu Yan, then turned her gaze back to Ouyang Kuishan, and for the first time in countless years, tears began to well up in her eyes.
She had actually met Ouyang Kuishan before Daoist Hu Yan in the Blaze Dragon Dao, and the two of them had embarked on multiple journeys together.
She had always been aware of his feelings, but she had never been able to reciprocate them.
Right at this moment, a golden nascent soul suddenly flew out of Ouyang Kuishan's dantian, and it looked as if it could fade out of existence at any moment, but it was still staring intently at Yun Ni with its tiny eyes.
"Was it really worth it?" Yun Ni asked with tear-filled eyes.
"My entire life, I've pursued greater power in the hope that I'll be able to attain freedom and do whatever I please someday, traveling this immortal region to my heart's content with my beloved dao partner. Unfortunately, the more advanced my cultivation base became, the more I was weighed down by responsibilities. For the first time, I've been able to act completely selfishly and for my own sake, so how was it not worth it?" the nascent soul replied in a feeble voice.
"You've earned my admiration, Ouyang Kuishan! Rest assured, I'll do everything in my power to resurrect you!" Daoist Hu Yan promised as he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized sandalwood box.
Ouyang Kuishan took a glance at him, then silently flew into the box.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already flown back from the mountain face and descended beside Daoist Hu Yan.
He had naturally witnessed Ouyang Kuishan sacrifice himself for Yun Ni just now, and his expression remained unchanged, but internally, his opinion of Ouyang Kuishan had been improved significantly.
Wyrm 3 took a glance at Chi Lijiao's body, then also flew over to join Han Li and the others. As for Luo Qinghai, he was laying completely still, and it was unclear whether he was dead or unconscious.
Perhaps it was because unleashing those feathers had been too taxing on him, but in any case, Gongshu Jiu didn't unleash any further attacks, instead remaining completely still on the spot.
"Why have you refrained from using your time law powers this entire time? Are you trying to save your energy so you can attempt to make an escape at the right opportunity?" Wyrm 3 asked through voice transmission as she turned to Han Li with a cold expression.
"I have a trump card ability that could perhaps kill Gongshu Jiu in a single strike, but I've expended too much of my time law powers earlier, so I have to be conservative and only strike at the right moment," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"I hope you're not lying. If we manage to get out of here alive, I'll give you the next level of the Spirit Refinement Technique. At your cultivation base, it's next to impossible to escape from a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, so don't harbor any delusions," Wyrm 3 said.
"I'd advise you to also stop holding back, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3."
As Han Li was speaking, he took a seemingly casual glance at his surroundings to discover that the fair-skinned scholar and the other Vast Flow Palace Golden Immortal had managed to destroy one of the halberd-wielding golden puppets. However, both of them had suffered severe injuries and weren't able to ensure much else aside from self-preservation.
Xue Ying had no intention of sparing them, and she immediately flew in their direction.
Nan Kemeng had also been sent flying by the earlier explosion, and it was unclear where he had fallen.
As for the Golden Immortal from the Blaze Dragon Dao, he was severely outmatched by the remaining halberd-wielding puppet without Ouyang Kuishan's assistance, and it wasn't going to take long before he crashed to a defeat.
"Fellow Daoist Hu Yan, you two should go and help out your fellow dao lord. I'll take care of things here," Han Li suddenly said.
Daoist Hu Yan was rather taken aback to hear this, and Han Li explained, "I'm sure it's already become clear to you that having a numbers advantage doesn't really help us at all against the immortal envoy. If we want to take him down, then we'll have to resort to some unconventional and risky tactics."
"Fine, we'll do as you say. You always seem to have more tricks up your sleeve, and I can never seem to get a good grasp on you. If we get out of here alive, I'll treat you to an entire jar of my finest wine!" Daoist Hu Yan replied with a smile.
"You better not forget that promise!" Han Li chuckled.
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