Published at 19th of March 2025 5:10 pm

Chapter 1237: Arduous Battle

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Lan Yan was quite relieved to see this, but Han Li's brows remained tightly furrowed as he swung his sword through the air.

A pillar of golden lightning erupted out of his sword with a rumbling thunderclap, blasting a huge passageway with a diameter of several hundred feet through the immobilized ghostly creatures, and through this opening, Han Li had a direct view of the massive, ghostly face on the wall.

Upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that the face was very similar to that of a human, but the degree to which its mouth was opened was extremely exaggerated, causing the rest of its facial features to be squashed together.

There was a strange mianguan sitting atop its head, giving it the appearance of an authoritative ruler.

Within its cavernous mouth were two rows of sharp, canine teeth, and specks of golden light could be seen in the gaps between those teeth.

To Han Li's surprise, he discovered that those specks of golden light were a series of miniature golden swords, and they were none other than his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

Upon making this discovery, he immediately shot through the passageway toward the ghostly face, only for a cold, mocking voice to ring out from outside the array.

"I was waiting for you to make a move!"

All of a sudden, Gui Lingzi made a hand seal before casting an incantation seal into the array, and all of the ghostly creatures that had been immobilized by Han Li's spirit domain instantly sprang into action again.

The hordes of ghostly beings converged toward Han Li from all directions, inundating him in a ghostly sea.

Han Li let loose a thunderous roar as he swept his longsword through the air like a windmill, releasing countless arcs of golden lightning that eradicated any ghostly creature that dared to get close to him.

However, right as he was about to rush out of the encirclement, the ghostly creatures up ahead suddenly parted on their own.

A sense of foreboding instantly welled up in Han Li's heart upon seeing this, but it was already too late.

Right as the horde of ghostly creatures parted, a long, crimson tongue came spearing directly toward Han Li, who reacted extremely quickly, stopping cold in his tracks before thrusting his sword forward to unleash a bolt of golden lightning to oppose the oncoming tongue.

However, to his astonishment, a series of golden lightning patterns suddenly appeared over the tongue, following which a huge pillar of golden lightning erupted out of it, forcing its way through the golden lightning released by his sword before striking his body.

A jolt of numbness instantly ran through his entire body, stopping him cold in his tracks, and even his immortal spiritual power circulation had become a little stagnant.

The lightning that the tongue had just released was none other than his Cardinal Heavenly Lightning. It wasn't as powerful as the original, but it was still very formidable, nonetheless.

Before he had a chance to make sense of what had just happened, the tongue came hurtling toward him once again, but this time, it attempted to wrap itself around his body instead of releasing more lightning.

Han Li immediately shot back in retreat, only to crash into a horde of ghostly creatures behind him.

These ghostly creatures weren't particularly powerful, but there was virtually no end to their numbers, making them very troublesome to deal with even with his entire body cloaked in golden lightning.

After a brief hesitation, he swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light.

All of the converging ghostly creatures stopped in their tracks momentarily upon seeing this, then began to surge into the door of light in a frenzy.

"That's a domain treasure! How kind of you to offer up such a precious gift to me!" Gui Lingzi exclaimed in an ecstatic fashion.

However, in the next instant, all of the ghostly creatures that had just surged into the door of light suddenly turned tail and began to frantically flee as if they had just encountered the bane of their existence.

Unfortunately, the entrance to the door of light was currently blocked by countless more ghostly creatures, so the ones that were already inside were trapped, and a chorus of horrific howls and shrieks began ringing out from within.

Before long, the chorus of ghastly sounds subsided, and the ghostly creatures finally scattered, trembling in fear as they stared at the door of light.

A young woman in a green dress emerged from the door of light, and Gui Lingzi's brows furrowed slightly at the sight of her.

As soon as the young woman appeared, she gave a loud burp, then turned to Han Li with an embarrassed expression.

"This man is also a ghostly cultivator, but there's something strange about his powers. I originally intended to gather more information on the nature of his powers before I called upon you, but he's forced my hand a little here," Han Li said.

"It's alright, leave him to me," Weeping Soul replied with a smile, then scoured her gaze over the countless ghostly creatures up ahead as if she were a predator staring down her prey.

A thunderous roar erupted out of her mouth as her eyes turned crimson, and her body swelled rapidly in size as she transformed into a giant, black ape that was over a thousand feet tall in the blink of an eye.

Her black fur was as hard as steel needles, and a strange horn had appeared on her head, while a third crimson, demonic eye had surfaced over her glabella. Additionally, three black bone spikes had emerged from her back, and all of the ghostly creatures frantically flew back in retreat at the sight of her horrific new form.

"A Xing Beast!" Gui Lingzi exclaimed as his eyes widened in shock, but it was difficult to tell whether he was excited or horrified.

In contrast, the expression of horror that had appeared on Lan Yan's face was much more clear-cut. Weeping Soul had always appeared to her as an elegant young woman, and she had never imagined that the latter would possess such a terrifying true form.

With such a delectable smorgasbord laid out before her, Weeping Soul naturally wasn't going to hold back. A vast expanse of black light surged out of her nostrils, and all of the ghostly creatures that came into contact with it instantly disintegrated into black smoke that was sucked into her belly.

A deafening chorus of ghostly shrieks and howls instantly rang out, but Gui Lingzi was observing all of this with a sinister grin.

A sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li's heart upon seeing this, and he hurriedly warned through voice transmission, "Be careful, Weeping Soul. Something doesn't seem right."

Before Weeping Soul had a chance to respond, Gui Lingzi's body suddenly disintegrated into a plume of ghostly mist, and the foreboding in Han Li's heart was only further compounded upon seeing this.

All of a sudden, the entire stone hall shuddered violently, and a series of ring-shaped crimson patterns lit up over the ground, illuminating the surrounding walls and the ceiling above.

All of a sudden, Han Li discovered that the stone pillars were nowhere to be seen, and it seemed that he had been transported into another space.

All of the ghostly creatures had also vanished, leaving Weeping Soul with nothing to feed on.

It was a murky, crimson space with no direction or landmarks, and Lan Yan had already flown to Han Li's side with an alarmed look on her face.

"It's rumored that Holy Envoy Gui Lingzi's spirit domain has already reached the Oneness Tier. We are most likely in his spirit domain right now, the space referred to as the Ghost Realm," Lan Yan warned.

"Shut your mouth, you shameless traitor! I'll claim your head first!"

A cold voice rang out from an indeterminate direction, and even with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, Han Li was unable to find any trace of Gui Lingzi in this crimson space.

Right at this moment, he suddenly detected something, and he grabbed onto Lan Yan's shoulder before dragging her closer to his side.

Immediately thereafter, a crimson vortex abruptly emerged without any warning from the very spot where she had just been standing, and countless bloodstained, ghostly arms reached out from within to flail and grab at the air above.

Han Li lashed out with his sword, sending a bolt of golden lightning crashing into the crimson vortex, and it instantly vanished amid a flash of crimson light.

Right at this moment, a dark shadow suddenly appeared over Han Li's trio.

Han Li looked up to discover a mountainous figure looming over them, and it was currently stomping down upon them with one of its enormous feet.

The figure was dressed in a black official robe embroidered with a dragon and a phoenix. It had a set of unsightly facial features, and there was a mianguan perched atop its head. It was identical in appearance to the ghostly face that had appeared on the wall of the stone hall.

The giant figure was holding a thick, black book in one hand and a crimson brush in the other, and it was a spitting image of an underworld magistrate.

Han Li could clearly see circles of runes lighting up over the underside of its giant official boot, forming some type of array.

Is this thing a domain spirit? Han Li wondered to himself as he sprang away to the side to take evasive measures.

Even though Weeping Soul had revealed her true form, she was still completely dwarfed by the gargantuan underworld magistrate.

However, seeing as this was a ghostly entity, Weeping Soul had nothing to fear, and a layer of white light appeared over the bone spikes on her back as she launched herself directly up toward the underside of the underworld magistrate's boot.

"Don't..." Han Li called out frantically as his expression changed drastically, but it was already too late, and the bone spikes on Weeping Soul's back had already made contact with the array on the underside of the underworld magistrate's boot.

Rings of crimson light instantly surfaced over the underside of the boot, forming a series of walls of crimson light that came crashing down with such tremendous force that even Weeping Soul was forced to her knees.

Han Li immediately sprang forward to assist her, but the underworld magistrate's head suddenly swiveled around to an impossible degree to face him, following which it opened its enormous mouth in an expressionless manner.

A long tongue shot out of its mouth like a red python, and it was hurtling directly toward his forehead at an incredible speed.

Even before the tongue was fully upon him, Han Li was already inundated by a suffocating stench.

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