Chapter 1073: Soaring

As golden shadows flickered around Han Li, the True Word Wheel, the Vial of Time, the Hourglass of Illusions, the Divine Wood of the East, and the Torch of Time Severance—five tangible objects—emerged one by one, slowly revolving around his body.

Threads of time law crystals surged from the True Word Wheel and other objects, intertwining to form a golden vortex that spun rapidly.

Han Li took a deep breath, chanted an incantation, and changed his hand seals again. The golden vortex immediately contracted inward sharply in response.

An intense fluctuation of time law principles passed through. With a crackling sound, all the golden light and law crystal threads collapsed inward, transforming into a golden ring.

Han Li had formed such golden rings with the power of time law many times before, but this time seemed different.

During the formation of the golden ring, the text of the Great Five Elements Illusion World Technique flowed through his mind like water, clearer than ever.

In that instant, he gained a deeper understanding of the profound meaning of time law as expounded by this technique.

The power of time law within Han Li stirred restlessly, as if about to undergo some change, but the sudden enlightenment in his mind vanished, and the change in the law power ceased.

"What's going on?"

Surprised, he pondered deeply but could not grasp the key, so he stopped thinking about it and pushed forward with his hand in the air.

The golden ring shot out, suddenly expanded several times, and with a soft click, encircled one of the insect nests.

The ring spun rapidly, emitting a low sound like a divine demon's whisper, while radiating dazzling golden crystal light like a golden flame.

Inside the ring, a powerful suction force emerged, enveloping the insect nest.

The Fire-Year Insect Nest, wrapped in golden flames, emitted crackling sounds as if burning. Clumps of golden light flew out from the nest and merged into the golden ring.

The ring trembled slightly, spitting out a golden crystal thread that spiraled around Han Li's body a few times before shooting out and winding around the Torch of Time Severance.

Seeing this, Han Li accelerated his activation of the technique.

The golden crystal light emitted by the ring grew denser, drawing time law power from the insect nest more quickly and converting it into time law crystal threads.

One after another, time law crystal threads shot out from the golden ring and flew to the Torch of Time Severance, while the Fire-Year Insect Nest shrank rapidly and disappeared completely after a moment.

Fifty-two time law crystal threads swirled around the Torch of Time Severance, emitting powerful and condensed fluctuations of time law principles.

Han Li felt somewhat reassured at the sight.

His estimation had been correct: the time law power contained in the insect nests was not inferior to his own, and they had condensed so many strands of time law crystal threads.

With the sudden doubling of law crystal threads, he felt a surge of time law power throughout his body, a sensation completely different from before.

Han Li even felt that now he had enough time power within him to execute that particular divine ability of the Grand Five Elements Illusion World Technique.

The True Word Wheel and other items had fallen silent due to the earlier incident; although they had recovered somewhat over the past two days, they were still somewhat dim. But now, with the great increase in law crystal threads and the abundance of time power, the True Word Wheel and other items fully recovered, becoming even brighter than before.

Especially the Time Severing Torch—not only was its golden light dazzling, but it also seemed to have grown considerably larger.

Han Li suppressed his somewhat excited emotions, then formed a hand seal and pointed.

The golden ring shot out again, encircling another insect nest.

Dazzling golden light radiated from the ring, enveloping the nest and drawing out the time law power within it.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, half an hour had gone by.

The other two insect nests were also completely absorbed by the golden ring, transforming into over a hundred strands of time law crystal threads.

At this moment, the Time Severing Torch was entwined with a full one hundred and sixty strands of time law crystal threads.

The Time Severing Torch had now grown by about thirty percent, and its entire body seemed to have taken on a tangible, solid form.

A surging tide of time law power flowed within Han Li, three or four times stronger than before.

The sudden increase in time law power within his body made him feel somewhat unaccustomed to controlling it.

The overflowing time law power churned inside Han Li, but it was not uncomfortable; rather, it made him almost unable to resist letting out a long roar to the sky.

He barely managed to suppress this impulse, put away the True Word Wheel and other items, sat cross-legged, and began to circulate the Grand Five Elements Illusion World Technique to gather the time law power within his body.

After about two or three hours, Han Li finally stood up again. The overflowing time law power within him had been completely gathered and was now under his control, flowing freely.

Although he had not attempted it, the abundant time law power within him was definitely enough to support him in executing that divine ability.

"By the way, I wonder how things are outside. Have they broken the restrictions?" Han Li murmured to himself, glancing over at the Vile Soul.

The Vile Soul was still refining ghostly power, so Han Li did not disturb it. He shot up into the air and quickly left the Flower Branch Space, arriving in the side hall outside.

He waved his hand, sending out a beam of green light that swept across the side hall. The array tools scattered around flew back, turning into a stack of array flags and plates that floated before him.

Han Li flicked his sleeve, put away the array flags and plates, and pushed open the door to enter the main hall outside.

As soon as he entered the hall, dazzling blue and red light rushed toward his face, accompanied by a rumbling roar that shook the soul.

He was slightly startled, then took in the scene inside the hall.

On the floor of the main hall, a huge square blue formation was drawn, within which seven ring-shaped rune arrays were distributed in an arc.

At this moment, aside from Lan Yuanzi and Su Qianxi, who had not yet recovered, the other seven—Lan Yan, Lei Yuce, Wen Zhong, the black-clad man and woman, Jin Liu, and Xiong Shan—were seated in the ring-shaped rune arrays inside the formation, forming hand seals to activate the blue formation.

Lan Yuanzi and Su Qianxi stood outside the blue formation, warily scanning their surroundings as if guarding against a sudden enemy attack.

"Fellow Daoist Shi, you're out..." Su Qianxi said, a hint of joy appearing on her face as she saw Han Li emerge.

But she stopped mid-sentence, scrutinizing Han Li from head to toe, a trace of surprise in her beautiful eyes.

In just half a day, Han Li seemed to have undergone some great change, though she could not discern what it was.

Lan Yuanzi, on the other hand, showed a hint of unease when he saw Han Li.

Han Li nodded to the two, then looked toward the blue formation.

Lan Yan and the others rapidly formed hand seals, and blue light as dazzling as the sun surged from the formation, shooting toward the blood-colored light screen deep in the hall.

Within the light, countless blue runes emerged, and strands of water law principles swirled within, rolling into the blood-colored light screen.

A series of low, muffled sounds rang out, like the roar of a tidal wave, and the blood-colored light screen flickered violently.

"Roar!"

From within the light screen, sharp howls sounded, and seven clusters of dazzling blood light appeared. The seven evil god figures materialized simultaneously, raising their hands to emit sticky blood light filled with ferocious aura, which struck the blue light and immediately held it at bay.

Not only that, but the blood light also tore through the blue light and struck the blue formation itself.

Yet Lan Yan did not change expression at this sight, as if everything was within her expectations.

The woman chanted incantations, rapidly changing her hand seals seven or eight times, then drew her finger across her wrist.

With a "hiss," two streams of blood shot from her wrist and merged into the blue formation.

Thus, the color of the blue formation suddenly changed, turning blood-red in an instant, and the law fluctuations it emitted also shifted abruptly, from water law principles to blood law principles.

"Oh?" Han Li let out a soft exclamation at this sight.

This was the first time he had seen such a change in law principles.

The attacks from the seven evil gods struck the blood-colored formation but caused no harm, instead merging into it.

At the same time, tendrils of blood light shot out from the formation like lightning, instantly entangling the seven evil gods.

Lan Yan and the other six abruptly changed their hand seals, and the blood-colored formation flared up. With a "whoosh," the blood tendrils transformed into seven blood-colored rings, slipping over the seven evil gods.

Layers of blood-red light waves appeared on the rings, within which dense blood-colored runes emerged. A powerful binding force emanated from the rings, firmly restraining the seven evil gods, rendering them completely immobile.

Seeing this, Lan Yan's face lit up with joy. She flipped her hand and waved it vigorously.

A blood-colored token appeared before her. As it spun rapidly, a cluster of blood-colored light threads shot out from the token—these were blood law crystal threads, over fifty of them—and merged into the blood-colored formation.

The blood-colored formation rumbled loudly again, and giant blood-colored runes over a zhang in diameter flew out from the formation, striking the blood-colored light screen where the evil gods were.

The light screen immediately trembled with a rumble, as if exploding from within, rapidly thinning out.

Roar! Roar!

The seven evil gods seemed to sense the threat and roared at the sky simultaneously, their bodies emitting a liquid-like blood light.

A violent, evil, and savage aura erupted from the seven evil gods, more than ten times stronger than when the evil god's head had appeared. It was mixed with an evil law force that directly invaded the minds of everyone present, bypassing their protective laws entirely.

Han Li was also invaded by this evil aura. His vision turned red, and he seemed to see an endless sea of blood, mountains of corpses, and bones covering the fields...

But at that moment, the time law force within him activated automatically, expelling the evil law force from his body, and his eyes immediately cleared.

Although he recovered instantly, the others present could not.

Xiong Shan's eyes were now blood-red, his whole body trembling uncontrollably, emitting a powerful killing intent, as if his mind had been seized by the evil aura.

Jin Liu, Wen Zhong, and even the still-injured Lan Yuanzi had a tinge of red in their eyes, letting out low beast-like growls, though a trace of clarity remained in their eyes; they were not completely controlled.

Lan Yan, Su Qianxi, and Lei Yuce, being stronger, were the least affected. The three had already begun to emit their own law forces internally to expel the evil aura.

Han Li ignored the others but raised an eyebrow and looked toward the black-robed man and woman inside the formation.