Chapter 1183: Opening the Three Gates

Liu Le'er was enveloped in gray-white light, her delicate body trembling, and a pained expression appeared on her face.

The gray-white patterns on her body flickered violently, rapidly growing thicker and more complex, spreading to all parts of her body, and in the blink of an eye, they covered her entirely.

Behind her, the celestial fox phantom also brightened rapidly, and at the same time, the tails behind it increased swiftly amid the flickering light.

Seven tails, eight tails... finally becoming a nine-tailed celestial fox.

After the celestial fox phantom became nine-tailed, the pain on Liu Le'er's face lessened slightly. She took a deep breath, sat down cross-legged, and the gray-white light on her body flashed wildly as she fully accepted the transmitted immortal fox bloodline.

Han Li's eyes showed a hint of joy, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Qing and the other members of the celestial fox clan, seeing this, were overjoyed and burst into cheers.

The other clans also showed delight and nodded approvingly.

Compared to the mysterious Liu Tianhao, they also hoped from the bottom of their hearts that Liu Le'er would inherit the nine-tailed immortal fox bloodline, because in their eyes, Liu Le'er was trustworthy, while the former could not earn their trust.

Although Bai Ze's expression revealed nothing, deep in his eyes there was a faint flicker, as if he too was pleased to see this.

Liu Tianhao stood frozen to the side, his face extremely ugly, a trace of unwillingness flashing in his eyes, but with Bai Ze standing nearby, he dared not make any move.

Seeing Liu Le'er beginning to inherit the Nine-tailed Immortal Fox bloodline, the celebration, the Little White Ape, the white-haired youth of the Zouwu clan, and Xiao Bai also started to receive their respective True Spirit King bloodlines.

At that moment, a sudden change occurred!

The blood-colored stone pillar of the Thunder Roc clan suddenly shook, and then the Primordial Fire on it abruptly expanded several times, leaping violently.

The blood-colored space suddenly trembled violently, and a deafening roar came from outside.

The expressions of everyone present changed drastically; regardless of their cultivation level, their minds trembled violently, and they could not stand steadily, staggering backward.

However, the five True Spirit King bloodlines, including the Nine-tailed Immortal Fox, shone brightly, protecting Liu Le'er and the others who were absorbing them, so they were unaffected.

Han Li's mind also trembled wildly; he quickly activated his Spirit Refining Art, striving to stabilize his mind, and looked outside.

At this moment, above the Eight Desolations Mountain, winds and clouds surged, countless black clouds appeared out of nowhere, carrying thick bolts of lightning that flashed and rumbled, and countless black tornadoes descended from the clouds, like pillars connecting the earth and sky, as if the end of the world had come, far more grand than the celestial phenomenon caused by Han Li's activation of the Heavenly Sword Formation years ago.

The entire Eight Desolations Mountain trembled, as if it might be swallowed at any moment by the churning black clouds in the sky.

The people of all tribes on Eight Desolations Mountain turned pale with terror, panicking as they hastily activated the local prohibitions, which burst forth with soaring light. Yet compared to the spectacle of the rolling black clouds in the sky, they were like fireflies competing with the bright moon—utterly insignificant.

Deep within the black clouds, a colossal shadow that blotted out the sky could be faintly seen, slowly drifting. It seemed to be a giant beast that propped up the heavens, filling the entire firmament, inconceivably vast.

Occasionally, a scale or a claw would be revealed from the clouds, only to horrify onlookers with its sheer size. It was impossible to determine the creature's full dimensions or even what kind of giant beast it was; only a series of tremendous roars could be heard emanating from the clouds.

Within the blood-colored space, Bai Ze's face lit up with joy, and two strange beams shot from his eyes as he gazed outward.

Seeing this, Liu Tianhao's figure suddenly flickered and vanished. The next moment, he appeared out of thin air beside the phantom of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, and his large hand swept down to grab it.

An immensely powerful force erupted from Liu Tianhao's hand, enveloping the bloodline phantom of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, intending to forcibly seize it.

“How dare you!” Bai Ze whirled around and let out a cold shout.

The voice was not loud, yet everything within the blood-colored space instantly froze.

The force Liu Tianhao had unleashed also came to an abrupt halt. No matter how he urged it, it could not advance an inch.

Terror seized his heart, and he tried to flee, only to find that his body was also trapped by this invisible force. No matter how he activated his earth-shattering divine abilities, he could not move a single muscle.

Liu Tianhao's heart skipped a beat, sinking like a stone.

“Daring to act violently before me—it seems you have grown tired of living.” Bai Ze's expression was stern as he pointed a finger.

A thick finger shadow materialized before Liu Tianhao and struck him in the chest.

With a “pfft,” a large hole was blasted through Liu Tianhao's chest. Blood gushed out, and his body was nearly severed in two.

Liu Tianhao spat out a torrent of blood, but a gray-white light flashed over his body, and he rapidly turned transparent before dissolving into nothingness.

“Illusory Dream Realm? Hmph!”

Bai Ze raised an eyebrow, then flicked his sleeve. A surge of invisible potential erupted, instantly sweeping through the entire blood-colored space.

With a hum, a clump of gray-white light burst apart in the void several hundred zhang away, and Liu Tianhao's figure emerged, sent flying as he spat out another mouthful of blood.

“Sen Luo Wan Xiang”

Liu Tianhao forced himself to take a breath, his hands spinning like wheels as he formed hand seals, conjuring a dense array of finger shadows.

A blinding gray-white light burst from his body, then exploded violently, transforming into countless phantoms—sun and moon, stars, mountain peaks, boulders, flowers and grass, trees, cities, palaces, thunder, flames, crowds of people, tigers and leopards, and so on.

Everything imaginable in the vast world appeared, filling the entire blood-colored space, flickering and jumping like a kaleidoscope, making one's mind unable to resist sinking into it, unable to extricate oneself.

Everyone in the space had a dazed look in their eyes, and the light in their eyes quickly dimmed, as if the soul power of all was being devoured by the illusionary world before them.

Bai Ze's face darkened, and the white light at the tips of his five fingers flared up as he waved them in the air.

With a tearing sound, all the illusions vanished completely.

Liu Tianhao's figure was now nowhere to be seen, having disappeared to some unknown place.

The consciousness of everyone present instantly recovered, and they all gasped for breath incessantly.

Han Li breathed heavily, a trace of fear showing in his eyes.

He had just felt as if his soul was about to leave his body, to be taken away by someone.

Bai Ze paid no attention to Han Li and the others; his right hand grabbed at a spot in the blood-colored space, and a white light palm shot out.

With a tearing sound, that space shattered like paper, and a figure fell out from within—it was Liu Tianhao, about to fall into the white light palm.

At that moment, the shattered void trembled violently, and a tremendous force seeped out from within, blocking Bai Ze's white light palm.

Then Liu Tianhao's figure flickered and vanished into thin air.

The force in the void also receded abruptly, disappearing without a trace, and the ripples it caused dissipated as well.

"So there was someone backing him up..." Bai Ze frowned and muttered to himself.

Liu Zizai and the others looked at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what was going on.

Seeing this, Liu Qing opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, but before he could speak, Bai Ze turned his gaze to Liu Le'er and said:

"I will continue investigating this matter later. For now, the bloodline inheritance is the most important. Don't let this affect you; focus on what you should be doing."

Liu Le'er let out a light breath and nodded.

Bai Ze turned to look at the tops of the eight stone pillars. With a wave of his hands, eight clusters of golden flame flew down from the pillars, coalescing into one in midair, burning fiercely.

Then, he waved his hands to form several hand seals and pushed his palms flat toward the void behind the pillars.

That cluster of golden flame shot out, landing behind the stone pillar plaza. With a burst, it exploded into countless golden flames, instantly igniting that stretch of void.

Next, on the eight stone pillars, the blood-colored light flared up, and one after another, true spirit projections shot out, appearing in the void in a wild gallop, charging into the blood clouds above, lighting up with bright flashes.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Accompanied by the sound of flames rising, the blood clouds gathered in the void began to churn, and large swaths of blood-colored light cascaded down from within, connecting with the golden flames below.

Then a powerful fluctuation began to emerge in the void, containing a primitive and wild aura.

"Rumble"

As the void trembled, within the golden flames and blood light, three enormous gates, each over a hundred zhang tall, materialized.

These three gates stood side by side, spaced several tens of zhang apart, their lower parts baked by the blazing golden flames, appearing golden-yellow, while their upper parts seemed cast from red copper, gleaming with a metallic luster.

Seeing this, everyone was deeply shocked. Even Han Li, a human, felt a sincere sense of awe when he saw the three red copper gates appear.

Many members of the barbarian tribes even felt an impulse to prostrate themselves in worship.

Han Li's eyes focused, and he looked from the first gate on the far left to the right, examining each one.

The first gate, though exuding an extremely ancient aura, appeared to be artificially carved, with eight true spirit reliefs of various majestic postures floating on it, exactly the true forms of the eight True Spirit Kings.

Unlike those seen elsewhere before, the statues of the eight True Spirit Kings on this gate contained such powerful true spirit aura that Han Li felt a suffocating pressure just by looking at them, forcing him to immediately avert his eyes.

As for the second gate, although it also bore carving marks, the patterns on it were very rough, consisting only of some bold lines outlining a desolate scene of a primitive world.

When Han Li's gaze fell upon it, a strange sensation occurred.

He felt as if the scenery on the gate suddenly writhed, transforming into a sky full of blood light that enveloped him entirely, as if the scenes had come to life and pulled him into that world.

And Han Li, standing within it, immediately felt as if his body was being scorched by flames and boiled in hot oil, unbearably painful, yet the true spirit bloodline within him seemed to have finally found a paradise, racing wildly inside him, appearing extremely joyful.

Han Li suddenly felt hot all over, a flush of red spreading from his cheeks to his neck.

Everyone else was captivated by the giant gates; only Bai Ze sensed something and glanced at Han Li.

His eyes then flickered, a hint of incredulity appearing in them.

However, he made no move—neither offering help nor intervening—allowing Han Li to remain in this strange state, instead observing carefully, as if to see when Han Li would break free from this condition.