Chapter 1058: Prison Tower

"Leave this to me, Fellow Daoist Shi. You go help Fairy Su and the others." A figure flew over and landed beside Han Li. It was Valley Master Fu, who placed both hands on the stone door and spoke to Han Li.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Valley Master Fu."

Han Li glanced at Valley Master Fu, removed his hands from the stone door, turned around, and lunged toward the Fire Age Insect King.

The battle against the Fire Age Insect King was not going smoothly. The attacks from the bearded man and the others were almost all blocked by the flames of time surrounding the insect king.

With a flicker, Han Li appeared above the Fire Age Insect King. He formed a hand seal with one hand, about to do something.

"Fellow Daoist Shi, let me help you!"

The bearded man shouted loudly and also charged toward the insect king, forming hand seals and chanting incantations under his breath, as if preparing some secret technique.

"Don't come over!"

But just as Han Li shouted, the flames of time on the Fire Age Insect King's body flared up, spinning rapidly to transform into a blazing sun.

The next moment, countless rays of flame shot out from it, raining down on Han Li and the bearded man.

The bearded man tried to retreat, but it was too late. His body was pierced by the flames, and with a "pfft" sound, he turned into a ball of fire.

A cold glint flashed in Han Li's eyes. Golden light flickered on his body, and his speed suddenly increased severalfold. His entire body twisted and deformed in an unimaginable way, as if it were not a physical entity. He wove through the countless flames unscathed and instantly appeared before the Fire Age Insect King.

A trace of panic flashed in the Fire Age Insect King's eyes. Just as it was about to do something, it heard a cold snort, and its mind suddenly throbbed with pain, causing its body to curl up.

At that moment, a golden light appeared in Han Li's hand—a golden longsword entwined with strands of time law crystals, exuding a terrifying aura of time law. He swung it fiercely.

The surrounding spiritual energy trembled with a hum. A golden thread swept out, instantly tearing through the flames of time around the Fire Age Insect King and slicing across its neck.

With a "pop," the Fire Age Insect King's head fell cleanly off.

Seeing the Fire Age Insect King killed, Jin Liu relaxed his expression. He immediately stopped forming seals for the Three Talents Formation, broke away, and flew toward the three beehives on the ground.

Han Li also felt relieved and put away the golden longsword with a flip of his hand. But seeing Jin Liu's movements, he flickered and also lunged toward the beehives.

With a flash, he appeared before one beehive, waved his hand to emit a golden light that enveloped it, lifted it, and stored it away.

Jin Liu also flew to another beehive, waved his hand, and collected one.

Then the light from both of them simultaneously enveloped the third beehive, but fearing damage to it, they fell into a stalemate.

"Fellow Daoist Shi, you've already taken one beehive. Wanting a second is too greedy, don't you think?" Jin Liu glanced at Han Li, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"I'll return that to you, Fellow Daoist Jin. You didn't seem to contribute much in the recent battle, yet you want to monopolize two beehives. Isn't that a bit shameless?" Han Li said expressionlessly, showing no intention of backing down.

"If not for our Tianshui Sect's secret technique to imprison the Fire Age Insect King, could a mere Golden Immortal like you have killed it? Besides, I'm collecting this second beehive for Fellow Daoist Su. Given her contributions, she deserves one beehive, doesn't she?" Jin Liu said angrily.

"Then let Fairy Su come and collect it herself. If you take it, who knows if you'll actually hand it over?" Han Li sneered, showing no respect for Jin Liu.

"What nonsense are you talking! Don't be ungrateful!" Jin Liu's face flushed red, and his eyes blazed with murderous fury.

"Fellow Daoist Jin, let Fellow Daoist Shi have the beehive." Su Qianxi's voice came from afar.

She was now standing at the entrance of the stone door, waving her hand to emit clusters of blue light that merged into the blue stone door Han Li had just created, firmly attaching it to the entrance to block the onslaught of insects outside.

"Fellow Daoist Su, what are you saying? This is..." Jin Liu frowned deeply, greatly dissatisfied.

"Fellow Daoist Shi contributed the most in this battle. I believe no one here would object to him taking two beehives. Besides, he just saved my life, so consider this my repayment of a favor." Su Qianxi continued.

Hearing this, Han Li raised an eyebrow and glanced at Su Qianxi in surprise.

"You're lucky!"

Hearing Su Qianxi's words, Jin Liu's expression shifted several times before he snorted angrily and withdrew his hand.

Han Li didn't stand on ceremony. He waved his hand to collect the third beehive, then flickered to appear before the cave entrance, forming hand seals rapidly.

Streams of golden light entered the blue stone door, forming a thick layer of golden light barrier. Soon, a sealing pattern appeared on the barrier, emitting time fluctuations twice as strong. Combined with Su Qianxi's earlier technique, the stone door stopped trembling and stood firmly in place.

"Let's go!"

Su Qianxi glanced at Han Li and flew ahead toward the passage above the lava lake.

With the Fire Age Insect King gone, the layer of fire barrier at the passage had also vanished. Su Qianxi flashed and entered it.

The others followed one after another into the passage.

After everyone was inside, Su Qianxi turned back and raised her hand.

A stream of blue light shot from her palm, forming a thick layer of blue ice that sealed the entrance of the passage.

Seeing this, the others also cast their own secret techniques or immortal artifacts, adding several more layers of restrictions behind, firmly blocking the passage before continuing forward.

The passage was not long, and the group soon reached its end.

At the end was a small stone chamber, in the center of which stood a dark red light door, identical to the previous teleportation light door.

Beside the light door stood a stone tablet inscribed with a line of ancient text.

"Prison Gate" "No Entry"

Seeing the text on the stone tablet, Han Li and the others changed expression and looked at each other.

"Prison Gate? Could it be that this Time Tower is actually a prison tower?" Valley Master Fu murmured.

"If so, then the metal beasts on the first floor and the Fire Age Fireflies on the second floor were actually prison guards? Thinking about it now, it's not impossible." Han Li said thoughtfully.

He had earlier felt that those Fire Age Fireflies resembled patrolling troops. If they were prison guards arranged by the Tai Sui Immortal Venerable, many things would make sense.

"Instead of guessing here, let's go directly to the third floor and see. Then we'll know everything." Su Qianxi said.

The others turned their gazes to the dark red light door.

The door was covered by a layer of dark red light barrier, which looked no different from an ordinary barrier, except that golden light ripples undulated on its surface.

Han Li's gaze fell on the light door, and he couldn't help but frown slightly, feeling an indescribable strange sensation. The light door barrier before him seemed somewhat unusual.

Jin Liu's gaze also fell on the light door, but he seemed not to notice anything unusual and was about to begin unsealing it.

Han Li opened his mouth to stop him but, after a moment's thought, decided against it.

"What's wrong, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Valley Master Fu seemed to notice Han Li's anomaly and asked in a low voice.

"I feel a chill down my spine for no reason. I don't know why..." Han Li, finding it inconvenient to explain, made an excuse.

Hearing this, everyone's expressions changed, and they became tense. Even Jin Liu subconsciously stopped his actions and turned to look at Han Li.

Han Li remained expressionless, showing no reaction.

"Playing tricks!"

Jin Liu muttered a curse under his breath, then turned back to the stone door. After hesitating for a moment, he began to break the restrictions.

Before long, a red light flashed on the stone door, and the golden ripples on the light barrier flickered twice before disappearing.

"Alright, the restrictions are open. You can go in now." Jin Liu glanced at Valley Master Fu and the others and said.

But they looked at each other, none willing to take the first step.

"We've come this far; you're not thinking of backing out, are you? Valley Master Fu, how about you set an example?" Jin Liu asked.

Valley Master Fu's expression tightened slightly, and he didn't immediately respond.

Su Qianxi sneered, ignored Jin Liu's obstruction, and stepped into the light door first.

Jin Liu, forgetting his grievances, immediately chased after her. The remaining people turned their gazes to Valley Master Fu.

Valley Master Fu's expression changed several times before he finally clapped his hands and said, "Fortune favors the bold. Let's go."

With that, he stepped through the light door and disappeared into the stone door's light barrier.

Han Li didn't linger and followed closely, stepping into the door, his figure vanishing.

Upon entering the light door, Han Li felt a dizzying spin, his heart tightening slightly. Fortunately, there was no other abnormality. When he steadied himself, he found himself on a vast square paved with black stone.

Above the square, leaden clouds pressed down, and a gloomy wind howled. The sky was very dim, and everywhere was filled with a decaying and sinister aura.

Han Li saw the others who had entered earlier standing still, all frowning as they looked behind him. His expression changed slightly, and his brow furrowed into a knot.

"So that's how it is..." He slowly turned around and sighed.

Behind him stood a giant stone gate over a hundred zhang high. On each side of the gateposts were carved golden-armored warriors holding battle-axes, glaring angrily. The lintel was covered with various strange runes.

"What is this? How can there be such complex restriction runes?" Su Qianxi asked, full of doubt.

"On this stone gate alone, there are thirty-six types of rune patterns, and the number of carved runes is seventy-two, seemingly corresponding to the number of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, to enhance the power of sealing and suppression." Jin Liu said with a frown.

"The restrictions when we entered weren't this strict. Why are the exit restrictions so complex? Could it be meant to trap those who enter inside?" Valley Master Fu said in astonishment.

"Fellow Daoist Fu, you're overthinking it. Perhaps this restriction gate is not meant to block us." Han Li said, looking into the distance.

Valley Master Fu followed Han Li's gaze and saw, far off on the square, a cluster of black buildings shrouded in black mist, making them hard to see clearly.