Published at 19th of March 2025 5:10 pm

Chapter 1242: Stalling for Time

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

After entering the area of lightning, Han Li raised both hands in unison before making a beckoning motion, and countless arcs of lightning instantly came converging from all directions within the lightning clouds below.

Right as all of the arcs of lightning came together, a pillar of white lightning erupted out of the lightning clouds and into the heavens.

Han Li was situated right at the center of the pillar of lightning, and he let loose a horrific roar of agony that rang out for close to twenty seconds.

Weeping Soul was doing her best to peer into the pillar of lightning, but it was far too bright for her to see anything within it.

A long while later, the pillar of lightning gradually subsided, becoming thinner and thinner, and the blinding light finally began to dim.

Standing atop the lightning clouds were two Han Lis, one of which was looking himself up and down with a twisted look of elation on his face, while the other was looking on with tightly furrowed brows.

They're both the same person, how could they be so different? Weeping Soul thought to herself in a concerned manner.

The wicked corpse soul's aura was clearly far more powerful than Han Li's.

"Finally! I'm finally free! Do you know how painful it's been to have constantly been suppressed and stifled by you? Now that I'm free, I'll be sure to return the favor!" the wicked corpse soul roared with a look of intense resentment on its face.

Han Li's consciousness had only just settled down slightly, but it was instantly riled up once again by the wicked corpse soul's vengeful fury.

In the left half of the world, the inky-black lightning clouds gradually took on a crimson coloration, while the lightning clouds in the right half of the world turned an even darker shade of black, with lightning constantly flashing within it.

"It's time for you to relinquish control of this world to me!" the wicked corpse soul roared as it reached out with one hand to make a grabbing motion toward Han Li, and the entire world behind him instantly began sweeping toward the other side.

Han Li naturally wasn't just going to surrender and accept his fate, and he drew upon the power of his half of the world to oppose the power of the wicked corpse soul.

The two seas of clouds clashed against one another, instantly splitting the entire world into two halves, with neither side able to get the better of the other.

"Right now, you're essentially nothing more than a soul fragment. How could you possibly hope to stand up to me?" the wicked corpse soul harrumphed coldly as it rushed forward and pounced directly at Han Li.

"You're just a manifestation of my wicked thoughts, so perhaps you should keep your mouth shut," Han Li sneered as he rushed forward to meet it.

With that, his consciousness was transformed into a battlefield between the two spiritual sense bodies.

Both of them resembled physical entities, but given that they were manifested from spiritual sense, neither of them were able to use any of the cultivation arts that Han Li had mastered, and they were only able to strike at each other with the soul power that they had seized.

The wicked corpse soul's spiritual sense was more powerful to begin with, and it didn't take long before Han Li's soul was forced onto the back foot.

As the wicked corpse soul reached out to close its hand around Han Li's throat, Weeping Soul knew that she couldn't just stand by and watch any longer, and she arrived behind the wicked corpse soul in a flash before thrusting a palm toward its back.

All of a sudden, the wicked corpse soul's head swiveled around to face her, while its body remained completely unmoved, and it snarled, "I was waiting for you!"

A hint of alarm surfaced in Weeping Soul's eyes upon seeing this, and she immediately tried to spring back in retreat, but it was already too late, and her hand had already made contact with the wicked corpse soul's back.

A burst of tremendous devouring force surged out of the wicked corpse soul's body, and Weeping Soul could feel her own spiritual sense being sucked into its body.

Weeping Soul was kicking herself for falling for such an obvious ploy. It was clear that the wicked corpse soul had baited her into attacking, and not only had her intervention not been helpful to Han Li at all, if this spiritual sense body of hers was to be devoured by the wicked corpse soul, then there would be no way that Han Li would ever be able to defeat it.

Right at this moment, a giant, white sword formed by spiritual sense abruptly took shape in Han Li's consciousness, then came crashing down upon the wicked corpse soul.

It was a manifestation of Han Li's Spiritstun Thorn ability, and an alarmed look appeared on the wicked corpse soul's face upon seeing this, following which it released Han Li and shot back in retreat.

However, it was too late for Han Li to take evasive measures, and he let loose an agonized roar as he was struck by the sword of white light.

Even as the wicked corpse soul sprang back over a thousand feet, Weeping Soul's hand was still firmly glued to his back, and he sneered, "Look at this fool! Don't you feel ashamed following such an incompetent master, Weeping Soul?"

"Master is no fool, you're just unable to fathom his wisdom," Weeping Soul countered as a peculiar grin suddenly appeared on her face, and as soon as her voice trailed off, she made a hand seal with her spare hand before thrusting it into the wicked corpse soul's back as well.

A burst of dark red light emerged over the palm of her hand, instantly forming a spherical light barrier around the wicked corpse soul, who was initially rather taken aback by this, only to then immediately burst into laughter.

"This restriction of yours won't even be able to trap me for half a minute! Once I'm freed, I'll make sure that you suffer for your disobedience!" the wicked corpse soul sneered in a menacing manner.

Right at this moment, Han Li's voice suddenly rang out from afar.

"Well done, Weeping Soul."

With the wicked corpse soul temporarily sealed away, Han Li regained control of the entirety of his consciousness, and he sat down with his legs crossed, quickly quelling the unrest in his consciousness.

Meanwhile, in the underground space.

Lan Yan was staring at Han Li and Weeping Soul with a concerned look on her face.

In addition to the blood trickling out of her mouth and nostrils, blood had begun to seep out of Weeping Soul's ears as well, while Han Li was in an even more sorry state, with black, tar-like blood flowing out of all of his orifices.

Right at this moment, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and they were bright red in color.

Startled by this harrowing sight, Lan Yan shuddered as she reflexively sprang back in retreat.

Han Li paid no heed to her as he flipped a hand over, and a series of translucent, black chains emerged from the palm of his hand.

He slapped his hand to his own forehead, and the black chains instantly vanished into his glabella.

Immediately thereafter, he closed his eyes again, leaving Lan Yan to look on in confusion and bewilderment.

At the same time, thirty-six black chains appeared in Han Li's consciousness, and they pierced into the sea of clouds like a flight of mighty, black dragons, racing directly toward the sealed wicked corpse soul.

"Those are the Origin Separation Law Chains!" Weeping Soul exclaimed, and she finally understood why Han Li had insisted on splitting from the wicked corpse soul.

As long as their spiritual senses remained intertwined, he would be unable to communicate with Weeping Soul in secret, and he wouldn't have been able to instruct her to temporarily seal the wicked corpse soul away, nor would he have been able to gain control over his own body use his Origin Separation Law Chains.

"You think those things will do anything to me?" the wicked corpse soul scoffed, but despite his derisive demeanor, he was very quick to react, and a burst of crimson light erupted out of his body before sweeping toward Weeping Soul like an almighty whirlwind.

This body of Weeping Soul's was nothing more than a manifestation of a wisp of her spiritual sense, and it was already on the verge of fading away. Hence, it was unable to pose any resistance as it was eradicated by the burst of crimson light, evicting her from Han Li's consciousness at once, while the spherical light barrier was also eradicated.

However, before the wicked corpse soul had a chance to do anything else, Han Li let loose a loud roar, and a series of radiant, golden runes suddenly appeared over the thirty-six Origin Separation Law Chains.

"You've integrated the Spirit Refinement Technique into those chains!" the wicked corpse soul exclaimed in a stunned manner, then raised its hands to conjure up a wall of lightning in front of itself.

However, the Origin Separation Law Chains were able to pass straight through the wall of lightning with ease before piercing through the wicked corpse soul's body and into the sea of clouds below, sealing that entire area.

"No!" the wicked corpse soul roared in a furious voice, but it was already too late.

It could feel its own power being slowly sealed away, and its indignant cries gradually faded into silence.

As it turned out, Han Li had already integrated his Spirit Refinement Technique into his Origin Separation Law Chains quite some time ago, and he was planning to use it in battle as a trump card. Never had he thought that he would be forced to use it on himself.

......

Inside the underground space, Weeping Soul was seated not far away from Han Li with her eyes, doing her best to rest and recuperate.

Meanwhile, Lan Yan was constantly pacing back and forth beside them like a cat on a hot tin roof.

"Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul, why has Fellow Daoist Han still not awakened?" she asked in an agitated manner.

"Master has suffered some rather severe damage to his soul, so it'll take some time for him to reawaken," Weeping Soul replied as she opened her eyes.

"What do we do? The commotion from the battle against Holy Envoy Gui Lingzi is sure to have already drawn the attention of others. Even with the state of chaos that the temple is currently in, there will surely be more Great Encompassment cultivators arriving on the scene soon, so we have to go!" Lan Yan said in an urgent voice.

Weeping Soul was just about to respond when she heard a faint sound, and she hurriedly turned to discover Han Li exhaling as his eyelids fluttered open.

The crimson coloration in his eyes had faded away, but they were still looking a little different from before somehow.

"Master!" Weeping Soul exclaimed as she hurriedly rose to her feet.

Han Li gave her a reassuring look to indicate that he was fine.

"I knew you would overcome this ordeal, Fellow Daoist Han!" Lan Yan said in an elated manner.

"How did it go, Master? Did you manage to seal away that wicked corpse soul?" Weeping Soul asked through voice transmission.

"For now, but this is only a temporary solution, and it won't remain sealed for long. I have to advance my cultivation base and open more immortal acupoints as quickly as possible. Otherwise, a successful corpse soul severance will remain a virtually impossible feat for me to complete," Han Li replied with a wry smile.

Now that the wicked corpse soul had been separated from his soul, the longer it remained in his consciousness, the more powerful it would become, thereby making severance more and more difficult.

"At the very least, we've managed to buy ourselves some time," Weeping Soul said with a sigh of relief.

"In any case, let's focus on the task at hand first," Han Li said as he rose to his feet after taking a pill.

Share