Chapter 117: Trapped Again

After quickly dividing the spoils, Han Li and the other two began searching for an exit once more.

After all, they could not rest easy without leaving this eerie underground space.

Han Li stood on an open area over a hundred zhang from the statue, using his Bright Spirit Clear Eye to carefully examine every part of the space.

Meanwhile, Jiao Ba and Lu Kun, after a brief recovery, each employed secret techniques to investigate.

As time passed, the three used several methods but still found no clue to escape. Han Li managed to remain somewhat calm, but Lu Kun and the other gradually grew impatient.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

The entire space trembled and shook violently.

The three were startled.

But before they could react, the ground beneath them suddenly shattered with a loud bang.

Gurgle!

A mass of viscous blood cloud surged from the broken ground, swelled abruptly, and in a flash completely engulfed the three. Then it contracted sharply, dragging them down into the shattered ground.

Han Li's vision spun, but the blood cloud around them tightly bound their bodies.

When they steadied themselves, they found themselves in another strange, vast space.

This place appeared to be an underground cavern many times larger than the previous one, but most of it was a huge underground lake. The lake water was blood-red, looked very viscous, and constantly bubbled, popping with a crackling sound.

Each time a bubble burst, a puff of blood-red mist rose, filling the entire cavern with a faint bloody haze.

In the center of the blood lake was a flat island protruding from the water, about a hundred li in size, like a giant plaza.

Han Li, Jiao Ba, and Lu Kun now stood on this plaza.

In the middle of the plaza stood a huge palace, shrouded in thick blood clouds, its outline barely visible from outside.

The vast underground cavern was empty, without a single figure, eerily silent except for the popping sounds of bubbles in the lake rising and falling.

The two loose immortals who had fled earlier were nowhere to be seen.

After taking in the surroundings, Han Li was about to release his divine sense to probe the area when he let out a soft exclamation.

The surrounding blood mist contained a strange power that prevented his divine sense from leaving his body at all.

Jiao Ba and Lu Kun's expressions also darkened, clearly noticing the same. The former raised a hand and released his Earth Deity incarnation.

Lu Kun's lips moved as if to speak.

“Watch out below!” Han Li suddenly shouted.

Before his words faded, the ground beneath them cracked open, and several huge bloody bone claws reached out, grabbing at their feet.

The three leaped into the air, and the bone claws grabbed nothing.

Puff puff puff!

The ground continued to crack, and massive figures emerged—blood-red skeletons several zhang tall. In an instant, hundreds appeared.

Each skeleton exuded a powerful aura, no less than that of a Combined Movement cultivator.

With a low roar, the skeletons shot into the air, charging at Han Li and the others.

At the same time, the blood lake around the island churned, and blood-red monsters leaped out from it.

These monsters had female faces, long blood-red hair, and broad bat-like wings on their backs, but their lower bodies were serpentine.

These half-human, half-serpent monsters emitted auras no weaker than the skeletons. Once out of the blood lake, they turned into blood shadows and pounced on Han Li and the others from the air.

In an instant, nearly a thousand skeletons and snake-women surrounded the three, leaving no gap.

Seeing this, the three's expressions changed slightly.

Jiao Ba snorted coldly. Without any visible movement, his Earth Deity incarnation radiated dazzling green light, as bright as the sun. With a wave of its hands, the green light shot out, split into four, and instantly transformed into four giant green wind dragons, charging in all directions.

Boom boom!

A dozen skeletons and snake-women that were charging were struck by the wind dragons and sent flying.

Most of the monsters directly hit were torn apart and exploded.

However, a small number, though seemingly damaged, had the surrounding blood mist, as if sentient, immediately surge into their bodies. Their injuries healed at a visible rate, fully recovering in a few breaths.

Seeing this, Jiao Ba frowned.

These four wind dragons seemed ordinary, but each was condensed from his law power. A single strike was far beyond what a Mahayana cultivator could withstand. Yet these skeletons and snake-women were so resilient and possessed such strong regenerative abilities.

Lu Kun still did not activate the Earth Deity incarnation, seemingly wanting to conserve the power of faith. But with a wave of his hand, he summoned eight blue flying knives, which swelled in the wind and transformed into eight giant blue blades, spinning and dancing in the air.

Around each giant blue blade, seven or eight blurry blade shadows emerged. In an instant, the eight giant blades conjured dozens of enormous blue blade shadows, which slashed in all directions as fast as thunder, emitting a rumbling sound like raging waves.

In the blink of an eye, within a hundred zhang, everything was filled with dazzling blade light, cold and imposing, with overwhelming momentum.

Immediately, over a dozen skeletons and snake-women were struck, their bodies exploding directly.

Compared to Jiao Ba and Lu Kun, Han Li's methods were unremarkable—he simply punched one fist after another toward his surroundings.

With each punch, the surrounding void trembled violently.

Any enemy that tried to attack him was shattered with a single punch, without exception.

In just a few breaths, hundreds of skeletons and snake-women had been killed by the three of them.

But new ones continuously emerged from the ground and the blood lake, and the number of monsters besieging them showed no sign of decreasing.

"Two fellow Daoists, with Jiao San's whereabouts unknown and Gongshu Hong likely inside that blood-colored palace, the enemy is hidden while we are exposed. Continuing like this is no long-term solution," Han Li said, scanning the area with his Mingqing Spiritual Eyes while transmitting his voice through the mask to the other two.

"Have you found a way to escape?" Lu Kun's face lit up with joy.

Jiao Ba also looked over.

This underground cavern seemed ordinary, but both could clearly sense that the entire cavern was shrouded by a powerful law force, making escape no easy task.

"I've found a few suspicious spots, but breaking through will take some time. These skeletons and snake-women are quite troublesome," Han Li transmitted.

"I'll handle these minor foes. I have a way to trap them for a moment. You take Jiao Jiu and find an exit as quickly as possible," Jiao Ba said after a moment's deliberation.

"Alright, then I'll leave it to you."

As Han Li spoke, he rapidly punched several times, sending seven or eight invisible fist shadows flying out, which then exploded violently.

Boom! A deafening explosion erupted!

A terrifying force burst forth, tearing a gap in the encirclement of skeletons and snake-women.

Han Li's entire body blazed with intense green light. Taking advantage of the gap, he shot out of the encirclement and flew toward a certain spot on the cavern ceiling.

The surrounding skeletons and snake-women paused, then suddenly let out a collective roar. Most of them abandoned Jiao Ba and Lu Kun and lunged at Han Li.

Jiao Ba snorted coldly, his fingers flicking repeatedly. The Earth Deity incarnation once again emitted an even more dazzling green light than before, spreading outward in rings, instantly covering most of the space.

Buzz!

Suddenly, a strange trembling sound echoed through the void. Where the green light shone, the primordial qi of heaven and earth quivered, and in the void, countless green threads materialized, entangling the skeletons and snake-women, causing their speed to momentarily stall.

Seeing this, Han Li did not slow down at all. In the blink of an eye, he flew to a spot near the top of the cave and punched out.

At that moment, two figures flickered into view at the cave ceiling, emerging from within. They were the bearded man and the ugly woman in black who had fled earlier.

Without a word, the bearded man punched fiercely at Han Li.

On his fist, a ferocious-looking bone gauntlet suddenly blazed with light, and a massive fist shadow, shaped like a demon, shot forth.

In the ugly woman's hand, a black light flashed, and a thick black spiked club appeared. With a shake, it transformed into layers of black club shadows, forming a mountain of black clubs that crashed down toward Han Li.

With a thunderous roar like the sky collapsing and the earth splitting!

The demon fist shadow shattered with a bang, and the mountain of black clubs also halted abruptly before exploding.

The bearded man and the ugly woman were jolted violently, sent flying backward, and slammed hard into the cave ceiling wall. The entire cavern rumbled and shook, and their faces were filled with shock.

Having witnessed Han Li's battle with Chou Wu earlier, they knew his physical strength was extraordinary, but only after engaging him did they realize that his power far exceeded their expectations.

Han Li's body also swayed, and he staggered back two steps before steadying himself.

"Jiao Fifteen, let me lend you a hand!"

A blue light shot out from behind, and with a flash, two figures appeared—it was Lu Kun, who had somehow summoned his Earthly Deity incarnation.

He gave a light shout, opened his mouth, and spat out a stream of blue light that vanished into the incarnation beside him.

The Earthly Deity incarnation immediately blazed with intense blue light, opened its mouth, and spat.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Two clusters of water-blue light shot forth, within which countless blue runes flickered, emitting powerful fluctuations of the Water Law force.

With a flash, the water-blue light clusters suddenly grew heads and limbs, transforming into two blue water-men, who flew out with extreme speed, lunging toward the bearded man and the black-dressed ugly woman respectively.

The series of changes seemed complex but were completed in an instant.

The two burly men with curly beards had just steadied themselves when they saw the blue water figure flying towards them. The former's pupils contracted, and flipping his hand, he tossed his glove into the air. Opening his mouth wide, he spat out a mass of essence blood, which flashed and transformed into a cloud of blood mist that merged into the glove.

A layer of blood color immediately appeared on the glove, and with a loud buzzing sound, after a blur, it transformed into a ferocious blood-red ghost head the size of a pavilion.

The ghost head's tightly closed eyes snapped open, blood light blazing from them. Its blood mouth suddenly opened wide, and rolling blood flames shot out from within, sweeping towards the blue figure approaching head-on.