Chapter 1062: Walking into the Trap

The Nest Ghost King, dressed as a scholar, held one hand in a claw-like grip, with a palm-sized black cage floating in his palm, inside which lightning flickered and crackled.

The thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were now imprisoned in this cage, struggling madly and charging about, but no matter how hard they tried, they could not break through the cage's restraints.

“You are truly patient, sir; you only deigned to appear after being invited for so long,” Han Li said, without looking at the flying swords.

“Earlier, I kept sensing a presence that I detest but also find quite formidable, yet I couldn't determine what it was. I thought it might be on those two, but now it seems it should be on you, right? Not bad, not bad!” The Nest Ghost King glanced at Han Li and chuckled.

“Are you referring to my Bixie Divine Lightning, sir? Isn't it all in your hands now?” Han Li feigned surprise and retorted.

“This bit of lightning power is indeed troublesome... but not enough to make me wary. I have cultivated for so long and weathered many storms; I have killed countless Inspection Immortal Envoys.” The Nest Ghost King raised an eyebrow and said.

As soon as he finished speaking, an anomaly occurred behind Han Li.

A narrow slit suddenly tore open in the void behind him, and a mass of thick black mist surged out. Countless ghostly tentacles and狰狞 ghost claws shot out from it, instantly sealing off all of Han Li's escape routes and reaching for him.

Han Li remained motionless, but with a strange crackling sound, countless golden electric threads burst forth, covering him like a suit of golden armor.

The ghostly tentacles, upon touching the golden electric threads, immediately emitted black smoke and recoiled.

Han Li turned around, raised a fist, and punched toward the mass of black mist.

Light flickered from his acupoints, and a brilliant starlight burst forth from his fist, illuminating the entire black mist. The dense tentacles, as if scorched by the starlight, retreated back into the mist.

Seeing this, the Nest Ghost King smiled, controlling the still-struggling Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords with one hand while curving the fingers of his other hand into a claw and grasping the void.

Han Li saw the narrow slit suddenly tear open, and the black mist inside spread out like a tide. At the same time, the Nest Ghost King's figure suddenly blurred and vanished from the spot.

The thick mist merged with the sky, and Han Li felt the surroundings darken, as if night had fallen in an instant. All the scenery disappeared, and even the sounds of the battle between the Tianshui Sect members and the ten red-robed ghost generals could no longer be heard.

He frowned and quickly activated the Spirit Refining Art, releasing his spiritual sense to probe.

“Eh, how strange! You, young man, possess divine lightning and have also cultivated the Spirit Refining Art to a high level, but it's useless against me... Speaking of which, I am becoming more and more interested in you.” At that moment, the Nest Ghost King's voice drifted over from all around, sounding ethereal and illusory.

“How can this be?” Han Li frowned, shocked.

Even with the power of the Spirit Refining Art, he could not pinpoint the exact location of the Nest Ghost King.

Just then, a strange fluctuation appeared in the void around Han Li, and streaks of blood-red light emerged. Each beam of light condensed into a scholar's figure, all of which turned out to be the Nest Ghost King.

Han Li's gaze sharpened as he swept over these Nest Ghost Kings, finding that their auras were identical, and even the cultivation fluctuations they emitted were all at the Da Luo level.

The dozens of Nest Ghost Kings moved simultaneously, scattering like heavenly maidens scattering flowers, completely surrounding Han Li from all directions.

Blood light flickered on their bodies as they formed hand seals, and incantations sounded from their mouths.

As the incantations continued, clusters of blood-colored radiance began to appear in the void around Han Li, each condensing into strange symbols that looked like both patterns and characters.

After these symbols appeared, they surrounded Han Li from all sides.

Blood light surged on each cluster of symbols, condensing into a ghost head, which opened its gaping maw and silently roared at Han Li.

From each ghost's mouth, a dark red light shot out, wrapping around Han Li from all directions and enveloping him in the center.

Han Li immediately felt his entire body stiffen, as if his blood had suddenly frozen, and the flow of all his immortal spiritual power and star power came to a halt.

At the same time, a wave of blood surged in his sea of consciousness, and a scholar's figure formed of blood light walked atop the waves, strolling slowly toward the depths of his sea of consciousness.

Wherever it passed, the sea of consciousness was stained by the blood water, turning completely blood-red.

Han Li was deeply shocked. Since he had cultivated the Spirit Refining Art to success, when had he ever been so easily breached through his sea of consciousness defenses and intruded into its depths?

His divine soul manifested within the sea of consciousness, fully activating the Spirit Refining Art, standing opposite the blood-shadow scholar. Between them, a towering fortress wall condensed, resisting his relentless erosion.

"Stop your futile resistance. Even ordinary Great Luo realm cultivators cannot withstand my soul-reaping technique. Why torment yourself? Since death is inevitable, wouldn't it be better to die a happy ghost?" the blood-shadow scholar said, his hoarse voice echoing continuously in Han Li's sea of consciousness.

"Ghost King of Crow's Nest, there is one thing I do not understand. Could you enlighten me, so that I may die with clarity?" Han Li's divine soul did not answer directly but asked instead.

"If it were anyone else, I would not deign to reply. But considering your divine soul is so powerful that it can help me break through in cultivation, I will make an exception and allow you to die with understanding." The blood-shadow scholar stopped and replied.

"It is said that the Ghost King of Crow's Nest has been suppressed in the Heavenly Court's Immortal Prison. Why are you here?" Han Li asked.

"I thought you would ask why your Spirit Refining Art couldn't withstand my soul-reaping technique. Unexpectedly, you ask this instead. Truly gossipy... Well, it doesn't hurt to tell you. The former master of the Immortal Prison was the Tai Sui Immortal Venerable, who guarded it for millions of years. Later, for some reason, he betrayed the Heavenly Court and fled. Before leaving, he deceived me with promises of freedom and imprisoned me here." The Ghost King of Crow's Nest replied with a hint of reminiscence.

"So you have such a history. No wonder the Tower of Time is fraught with danger. It seems we are not treasure hunting but walking into a trap..." Han Li said with a bitter smile, while his hands hidden in his sleeves continuously formed hand seals.

"You thought you were exploring a secret realm, unaware that you had entered a place of death. Otherwise, why would I be willing to linger here for so many years? Even if I don't kill you, you will never escape this tower. So let me help you find release; at least you may enter reincarnation. In a way, I am too merciful—having read many sage books, my conscience is not entirely lost." The Ghost King of Crow's Nest sighed lightly.

"I have one more question: Can your divine soul withstand the Evil-Cleansing Divine Lightning?" At this moment, a smile curled at the corner of Han Li's mouth as he asked.

As his words fell, golden light surged around the entire sea of consciousness. Countless golden lightning bolts erupted from all sides, instantly flooding his entire sea of consciousness.

"Crackle..."

A series of explosive thunderclaps resounded through Han Li's sea of consciousness. The blood-shadow scholar was engulfed by the tidal wave of lightning, vanishing instantly. The surrounding blood-red color also receded and dissipated.

Accompanying this was a violent tremor in Han Li's sea of consciousness, as if it were boiling. Even he felt a tearing, sharp pain when his divine sense was struck by the Evil-Cleansing Divine Lightning, and his divine soul suffered considerable damage.

"Crack, crack, crack"

The evil ghost heads surrounding him cracked and shattered one after another.

Enduring the intense pain in his mind, Han Li swept his gaze forward and saw that among the dozens of figures of the Ghost King of Crow's Nest, one had streaks of golden light shining in the center of its palm.

He quickly raised his hand and waved in that direction. A silver light flashed, and the figure of Ti Hun emerged from the silver light, charging straight over.

After its figure shot out, without any hesitation, black light rapidly swirled around its body, and it directly manifested its true form as the Punishment Beast.

Its eyes turned blood-red, and its body rapidly expanded, soon transforming into a black giant ape over a hundred zhang tall.

Its jet-black fur stood on end like steel needles, with strange horns on its head, fangs bared, and a third blood-red demonic eye splitting open on its forehead. Behind it, three pitch-black bone spurs protruded, exuding a chilling yin aura.

The Ghost King, whose divine sense had been severely struck by Han Li's Evil-Cleansing Divine Lightning, was both shocked and enraged. He had never expected Han Li to possess such powerful Evil-Cleansing Divine Lightning, nor that he would unleash its power so recklessly within his own sea of consciousness.

Having barely stabilized his divine sense, he saw his natural nemesis suddenly appear before him, and for a moment, he was somewhat flustered.

Han Li seized this opportunity to form a sword seal with both hands and summoned with all his might.

With a thunderous roar, the thirty-six Green Bamboo蜂 Cloud Swords, which had been restrained in the Ghost King's hands, let out a joyful sword cry and shot out, crossing the sky in a blaze of golden light before returning to Han Li's side.

Han Li looked at the flying swords, now somewhat dim in golden light, and quickly stored them into the Xuan Tian Gourd for proper nurturing.

He glanced at Ti Hun, who was already locked in battle with the Ghost King in the distance. Feeling his vision blur and his body stagger, he hurriedly sat down cross-legged.

"It seems the damage is more severe than I thought..."

Han Li sighed inwardly, flipped his hand to produce a pill for repairing the divine soul, swallowed it, and quickly formed hand seals to regulate his breathing.

Currently, Ti Hun's strength had not fully recovered. Facing the Great Luo-level Ghost King, although it had a natural suppression ability, the gap in strength was too great, and the outcome was uncertain.

Moreover, the space they were in was likely the Ghost King's spiritual domain, giving him the advantage of terrain. Han Li had to stabilize his divine soul as quickly as possible to help Ti Hun; only then would they have a better chance of victory.

With this thought, Han Li focused all his energy on absorbing the pill, calming his mind, and regulating his breathing.