Chapter 62: Abnormality
At the same time, three figures were standing side by side on the peak of a certain mountain several hundred kilometers away. They were none other than the trio of Daoist Closed Mountain, Tong Ren'e, and Duan Renli, and they were all watching the phenomenon taking place on the Nine Palace Peak from afar.
All three of them were silent, and there was no sound to be heard aside from the gentle rustling of the wind and the flapping of their robes. The atmosphere was a little heavy.
A short while later, the silence was finally broken.
"So this is the plan that you propose? Let him cultivate in your sect and become even more powerful?" Duan Renli asked.
"This was an oversight from me. It seems like he's found a way to recover from his injuries," Daoist Closed Mountain sighed in a resigned manner.
"We can't delay this any longer," Tong Ren'e said in a cold voice.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Tong. The preparations were almost complete, and there were some finer details that I wanted to ponder, but it appears we really can't afford to wait any longer," Daoist Closed Mountain said in a grim voice.
"We should've done this a long time ago," Duan Renli harrumphed coldly as his hands clenched into tight fists in his sleeves, and an eager gleam appeared in his eyes.
……
The next morning.
There was a small tile courtyard concealed within the purple bamboo forest on the Holy Fire Peak of the Cold Flame Sect.
Sima Jingming was standing in front of a fragrant sandalwood table, looking at a three-foot-long portrait hanging on the wall, seemingly reporting something with a respectful expression.
A flash of light swept over the portrait, and a figure emerged from within. It was none other than Patriarch Cold Flame.
"So you're saying Han Li has already begun practicing the seventh level of the cultivation art?" Patriarch Cold Flame asked.
"Judging from the description that I received of the phenomenon that took place last night, that's almost certainly the case. Who exactly is this man, Patriarch? This rate of progress is completely unfathomable to me..." Sima Jingming replied.
"I don't know who he is, but I recently learned that a massive organization in the Immortal Realm is currently offering a reward for his capture. The reward is so handsome that even I'm slightly tempted.
“Normally, Daoist Clear Bright is constantly in seclusion, but he recently went to Black Water City to meet up with Layman Bone Flame. It looks like they're plotting something through the Heavenly Ghost Sect and the Origin Realm Temple," Patriarch Cold Flame said in an unhurried voice.
Sima Jingming's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "In that case, should we also..."
"Are you suggesting that we also join the other two sects to get a share in the spoils?" Patriarch Cold Flame interjected.
Sima Jingming knew that he had spoken out of turn, and he immediately fell silent.
"Neither Daoist Clear Bright nor Layman Bone Flame has dealt with Fellow Daoist Han in person, but I've faced him in battle before, albeit only briefly, and it's clear to me that he's definitely no ordinary person.
“The fact that he was able to master the sixth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts so quickly only serves to further confirm my suspicions. The reward is very tempting, but there's no point if you're not even alive to enjoy it," Patriarch Cold Flame said in a meaningful voice.
"Yes, Patriarch!" Sima Jingming hurriedly replied.
……
That night, on the top level of the Star Gathering Platform.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and his entire body was immersed within the silver vortex of light formed by the seven pillars of silver light around him.
Vast starpower was constantly surging into his body from all directions, refining him from the inside-out.
His body was completely still, but he was pondering some things in his mind.
The phenomena triggered during the cultivation of the Big Dipper Origin Arts were extremely spectacular, and the violent starpower sweeping down from the heavens had completely destroyed the protective restriction that once enshrouded the Star Gathering Platform.
After the four elders of the Origin Realm Temple were sent flying, they didn't reappear on the scene, and Daoist Closed Mountain also hadn't visited even once to see what was happening. It seemed that the supervision on him was a little too lax.
This wasn't a cause for alarm, but during the recent period of time, he had sensed all of the Origin Realm Temple cultivators within a radius of around 100 kilometers around the Star Gathering Platform leave their cave abodes one after another, and none of them had returned.
Initially, he didn't think much of this. After all, it was very commonplace for sect members to go out on long journeys or be sent out on missions for extended periods of time. However, once this situation continued for about half a month, it finally caught his attention, and a hint of wariness welled up in his heart.
Just now, for some reason, he had been struck by a sense of unease, and there was a hint of foreboding brewing in his heart.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li decided to withdraw his spiritual sense, which was guiding starpower toward himself from the heavens, then quickly scoured through the entire area in a radius of several hundred kilometers around him.
Right at this moment, the entire space above him suddenly blurred, following which an extremely thick and long white rift appeared. It was as if the entire sky had been torn in half, presenting an extremely peculiar sight to behold.
Countless silver runes surged out of the rift in a frenzy, and it seemed that there was no end to them in sight. As soon as the runes appeared, they immediately revolved on the spot before exploding into balls of silver light that filled virtually the entire sky.
The silver light blended into one another to form an enormous silver moon that was giving off dazzling radiance, completely outshining all of the surrounding stars and making them pale into insignificance.
All of this had taken place in the blink of an eye, and in the instant that the giant silver moon took shape, all of the starlight cascading down from the heavens completely vanished.
Han Li immediately flew back in retreat upon seeing this, leaving the Nine Palace Peak in the blink of an eye, then flying to over 10 kilometers away after just a few more flashes.
Right at this moment, a burst of loud rumbling rang out from a mountain that was several dozen kilometers away from the Nine Palace Peak. An enormous white rune that was over 1,000 feet in size appeared on the surface of the mountain, and a massive pillar of white light erupted directly up into the heavens.
Almost at the exact same moment, another mountain in another direction also trembled violently as it released a huge pillar of green light.
The same sequence took place a total of eight times, and a giant rune and an enormous pillar of light emerged from each of the eight completely unremarkable mountains around the Nine Palace Peak.
Each pillar of light was a different color from all the others, and countless runes were emerging around the pillars of light before rapidly connecting together, forming a gargantuan light barrier in the blink of an eye. The Nine Palace Peak stood at the center of the light barrier, which encompassed the entire area with a radius of over 50 kilometers around the peak.
Countless runes of different colors were surging incessantly over the light barrier, and even from extremely far away, one could still sense the astonishing spiritual power fluctuations being released by the light barrier.
Somewhere in the area encompassed within the light barrier, Han Li drew to a halt as a grim look appeared on his face.
He didn't know what the Origin Realm Temple was plotting, but it seemed that they had ultimately decided to turn on him.
He swept his gaze over his surroundings, and a layer of blue light appeared in his eyes, following which his brows furrowed slightly.
The giant restriction was far more profound than the array formed by the Heavenly Ghost Monarch Pillars in the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and even he was unable to immediately spot any weaknesses in it.
He immediately flew through the air without any hesitation, arriving in front of the light barrier in the blink of an eye. Six specks of blue light appeared on his chest and abdomen, following which he threw a vicious punch at the light barrier before him.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the surface of the light barrier quivered and flashed violently.
An enormous fist indentation appeared, and countless five-colored runes converged toward the indentation from all directions, rapidly repairing the damage that had been inflicted at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Before the light barrier had a chance to completely recover, another punch landed on the same indentation, and the entire light barrier began to tremble violently, looking as if it were about to collapse.
However, right as Han Li raised his fist for a third time, the giant silver moon in the sky suddenly brightened significantly, raining down boundless silver radiance that was interspersed with countless silver runes. All of the silver runes then converged into one place, forming an enormous pillar of light that could encompass an area with a radius of dozens of kilometers.
Blinding silver radiance flashed in front of Han Li's eyes, and in the next instant, his vision was restored, but he found himself situated in a completely alien world.
This was a vast and barren desert, and it was completely devoid of life in all directions. The ground was littered with gray rocks, as well as some massive craters that looked as if they had been left behind by asteroids.
A dense layer of gray clouds was hanging in the sky at a very low altitude, looking as if it could come crashing down at any moment, presenting a rather oppressive and ominous sight to behold.
"Is this another domain treasure?" Han Li murmured to himself before immediately releasing his spiritual sense.
However, his spiritual sense was able to detect nothing aside from the barren land, the gray rocks, and the giant craters.
After a moment of contemplation, he directed his spiritual sense up toward the gray clouds.
However, as soon as his spiritual sense entered the gray clouds, progress became extremely difficult. Even with his Spirit Refinement Technique activated, he was only just barely able to extend his spiritual sense less than 200 feet into the clouds, where there were only more gray clouds waiting for him.
Even with his formidable spiritual sense, the gray clouds were somehow able to pose a stern obstacle.
A contemplative look appeared in Han Li's eyes as he withdrew his spiritual sense, yet right as he was planning to investigate the area through other means, the gray clouds overhead suddenly began to tumble and churn violently.
In the next instant, streaks of yellow light came falling out of the sky like rain before landing on the ground.
Each streak of yellow light expanded rapidly like a balloon upon landing, then transformed into a golden figure.
These figures were around the same size as the average person, with golden skin that was radiating golden radiance. They were wielding all types of different weapons, and even though they appeared to be very similar to normal people, they were completely devoid of life with wooden expressions on their faces as if they were puppets.
Within mere moments, close to 1,000 of these puppets had appeared in the surrounding area, trapping Han Li in a watertight encirclement.
Han Li was completely caught off guard by this abrupt turn of events.
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