Chapter 1088: Drawing the Sword from the Great Wilderness

The golden ancient sword merely let out a clear chime, and then was lightly and effortlessly pulled out by Xiong Shan's right arm.

Xiong Shan held the golden ancient sword in one hand, his battered body swaying slightly as if unable to support itself, but he finally steadied himself, the corners of his mouth curling up into a strange smile.

As the golden ancient sword and golden flames simultaneously left the restriction atop the altar, the golden, shimmering array patterns on the altar instantly became dim and lusterless, while the densely packed fire sword shadows in the void trembled once and then vanished without a trace.

Just then, Hu San, Jiao San, and Lei Yuce all appeared one after another.

The white light shields around Hu San and Jiao San were no longer visible, evidently completely destroyed.

The two were now covered by a dark red circular wheel, their clothes torn and stained with blood, looking utterly disheveled.

The situation for Lei Yuce and his two companions was much better; the golden light formations around them were undamaged, though more than half of the golden sword shadows within had been severed.

Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong's faces were as pale as paper, appearing greatly depleted of vitality.

But then the two of them saw the golden flame in Han Li's hand and the ancient sword pulled out by Bear Mountain, and their faces instantly turned even paler. They were about to say something.

At that moment, a dull "crack" sounded from within the golden altar, as if something had shattered.

Hearing this, Han Li felt a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.

Before he could do anything, a great howling sound emerged from the altar, as if countless people were screaming hoarsely at the sky, filled with endless cheers.

Accompanying the howling, a blinding black light burst forth from the crack in the altar, and the entire cavern began to tremble violently, as if the earth were splitting and mountains collapsing.

The golden altar also shook violently, and several other cracks opened, from which clusters of black light erupted.

"Fellow Daoist Han, Fellow Daoist Bear, put what you hold back in their places! Quickly!" Lei Yuce exclaimed, his face ashen.

Seeing the scene before him, Han Li was already alarmed, but upon hearing these words, he hesitated.

Bear Mountain, as if not hearing Lei Yuce's words at all, swayed as he hugged the golden ancient sword to his chest, then flipped his hand to take out a blood-red pill and swallowed it on his own.

Han Li looked at the golden flame beside him, gritted his teeth slightly, and was about to wave his hand to send the golden flame back.

At that moment, a deafening explosion erupted, and the golden altar burst apart, shattering into countless fragments that flew in all directions.

Xiong Shan, who had been standing atop the altar, was immediately blasted away by the sudden explosion and, as luck would have it, flew straight toward Han Li.

Xiong Shan was in a terrible state, seemingly unable even to fly, letting the force of the explosion hurl his body through the air. However, his right hand remained firmly gripping the golden ancient sword, as if he had no intention of letting go.

Seeing this, Han Li waved his hand and sent out a stream of azure light, stopping Xiong Shan before he could crash into the cave wall behind.

"Th... thank you..."

Xiong Shan thanked Han Li, but there was little gratitude in his expression; instead, there was a hint of wariness. He clutched the golden ancient sword to his chest, as if afraid Han Li might try to snatch it away.

Han Li frowned slightly. He felt that Xiong Shan's behavior was tinged with a hint of madness, somewhat different from his original personality, but he said nothing and turned his gaze toward the altar.

Within the shattered altar, a black light gate now appeared, and torrents of black light burst forth from it.

Then the light gate flickered wildly a few times before shattering with a bang, followed by a loud whooshing sound.

Figures shot out one after another from the broken altar.

"Haha! I'm finally out, out!"

"After so many millennia, I've finally escaped this sea of suffering!"

"Where is that bastard Wen Taisui? I, Mang Qianluo, swear to cut open his belly and dig out his heart, or else this billion-year-old hatred will not be appeased!"

One by one, figures appeared in the cavern, hovering in midair. In the blink of an eye, there were as many as a hundred of them, shouting with excited cheers.

Most of these hundred-plus figures were humanoid, but some were half-human, half-beast, or directly beast-like in form. Black qi roiled around them, pure demonic energy, and they were unmistakably members of the demon race.

Han Li's expression changed slightly. His eyes flickered as he formed hand seals to retract the True Word Wheel and the Time-Fire Realm, then drifted backward, flying to the vicinity of the cave wall to avoid being surrounded on all sides.

These demons were all quite powerful, most having reached the Taiyi realm, and a few of them possessed an aura so vast that it was not inferior to his own.

Xiong Shan, having recovered a bit of his vitality, also hurriedly retreated and stood near Han Li.

A layer of blood light spread over his body. As the blood light flickered, countless blood threads emerged at the sites of his wounds, intertwining and rapidly healing them. At the broken ends of his legs and left arm, countless bloody filaments and granulation sprouted, growing wildly.

In the blink of an eye, Bear Mountain's body had recovered its original appearance on the outside, but his complexion was extremely pale.

At that moment, Lei Yuce and the others quickly retreated. Lei Yuce's trio stood together, while Fox Three and Jiao Three happened to land beside the Lan siblings, so they gathered in one spot, their expressions grave, and they glared fiercely at Han Li and Bear Mountain.

The group of demons, having vented their excitement, turned to look at Han Li and the others, a sinister grin spreading across their faces.

"Heh, it was you who broke the seal?" A tall, burly man with a robust build stepped forward and looked at Han Li and the others.

This man's skin was a bronze color, his cheeks and chin covered in a thick mane like a lion's, and his hair stood on end like iron needles. Paired with his immensely powerful muscles, he resembled a majestic lion king surveying the surroundings.

As his gaze swept over them, Han Li and the others felt a chill in their hearts.

"Indeed, we are all from the Golden Immortal Domain and stumbled upon this place by chance. May I ask who you are? Why are you here?" Han Li's eyes flickered as he cupped his hands and said.

"Is that so? Then we must thank you. As a reward, I allow you to become our blood sacrifice. Hand over your essence blood and souls!" The bearded man's eyes suddenly flashed with an eerie light, and a cruel grin curled at the corners of his mouth.

Before his voice had faded, his body flickered and suddenly elongated into a serpentine phantom, instantly pouncing before Han Li. His fists, each the size of a bowl, blazed with black light as he struck fiercely.

The bearded man seemed well-versed in the combat habits of human cultivators. His physical body was powerful, his speed extremely fast, and with the limited space here, a close-quarters assault was more effective than any immortal artifact or secret technique.

Unfortunately, this time the bearded man miscalculated. Faced with his sudden attack, Han Li's expression remained cold. His body flickered and vanished on the spot, then reappeared seventy or eighty zhang away.

The bearded man was stunned, frozen in place.

At that moment, a whistling sound arose like a thunderclap, and a golden sword light, fifty or sixty zhang long, descended from the sky, striking at the bearded man like a startled swan.

Where the golden sword rainbow passed, it carved a neat black line in the void. A biting, fierce sword intent poured down, instantly flooding the entire cave.

The bearded man's expression changed. He grabbed at the air with his right hand, and a black hammer materialized in his grasp.

With a flick of his arm, the black hammer let out a low hum, transforming into a mass of dark light that smashed toward the golden sword rainbow.

This black hammer of the bearded man was no ordinary demonic treasure. When he first achieved cultivation, he had traveled the demon realm and stumbled upon a mountain formed of Dark Nether Iron Ore. He had expended great effort to transport it to an underground fire vein.

Using the power of the underground fire vein to smelt the mountain, it took him a full hundred thousand years to burn away all impurities within the Dark Nether Iron Ore mountain, leaving behind a pure piece of Dark Nether Divine Iron.

Afterward, the bearded man gathered hundreds of top-grade metal ores from the demon realm, fused them into the Dark Nether Divine Iron, and then used demonic secret arts to refine and forge it for tens of thousands of years before finally crafting this Dark Nether Divine Hammer.

The hammer appeared ordinary but was in fact extremely heavy. Ordinary Taiyi-stage cultivators could not even lift it.

The bearded man himself possessed boundless strength. With one hammer strike, he could overpower ten thousand jun, leaving no attack unbroken.

The sword light and black hammer collided. With a soft "chi" sound, the black hammer split in two, the cut surface perfectly smooth.

The golden sword light easily cleaved through the black hammer, then continued without pause, slashing down toward the bearded man.

The bearded man's face changed drastically. He opened his mouth and spat out a black orb.

As soon as the black light left his mouth, it burst with a "bang," transforming into a black mass of light about ten zhang in size, engulfing the bearded man's figure.

The golden sword light arrived like lightning, striking the black mass.

A tearing sound!

The black mass was once again split in two. The two halves were then crushed and annihilated by the biting sword intent carried by the golden sword light, scattering into countless black specks, but the bearded man's figure was nowhere to be seen.

The golden sword light flickered and vanished, transforming into a human form—it was Bear Mountain, still holding the golden ancient sword.

His complexion was still pale, but his expression was filled with excitement. He looked at the ancient sword in his hand with delight, unable to conceal the exhilaration and fervor in his eyes.

It seemed that in his eyes, only this sword mattered most at this moment. For this sword, he would risk everything, even death itself.

Over a thousand zhang away, black light flickered in the void, and the bearded man's figure flashed into view.

His face was slightly pale now, as if the sword strike had still damaged his vitality. But he paid no heed to that; instead, he looked at the black hammer split in two, a trace of pain flashing across his face.

The Dark Nether Divine Hammer was so damaged it could no longer be used. Fortunately, the materials were not completely destroyed and could be re-smelted, though it would take who knows how many years.

"The Desolate Ancient Sword!" The bearded man turned his head to look at the ancient sword in Bear Mountain's hand, speaking coldly, his tone filled with wariness.

And Bear Mountain, having effortlessly destroyed the bearded man's black hammer with a single sword strike, raised his evaluation of the ancient sword in his hand to another level, becoming even more elated.

"Haha, demonic scum, repaying kindness with enmity! Watch my sword!" After he shouted, the Desolate Ancient Sword burst forth with dazzling sword light, enveloping his body.

With a flash of gold, Bear Mountain and the Desolate Ancient Sword vanished simultaneously, transforming into a hundred-zhang-long golden sword light that once again slashed toward the bearded man.

The sword light was like a rainbow spanning the sky, erupting with rolling sonic booms like ten thousand horses galloping, unstoppable!