Chapter 1203: The Great Luo Struggle

Qu Lin was struck in the shoulder by the sword, blood faintly splattering from the wound, and he knelt on one knee.

He let out a muffled grunt, and the golden light around his body suddenly surged. Under the pressure of the giant sword, he stood up again, the wound on his shoulder already beginning to heal.

The one controlling the giant sword was a short, black-robed man. Seeing this, he snorted coldly, formed a sword seal with his hand, and pulled heavily downward. The golden giant sword then plunged sharply down.

Qu Lin's body trembled under the pressure, but he did not kneel again, remaining firmly in place.

"Haha, is that all you've got?" he laughed loudly, taunting.

"I've long heard that the physique of a Metal Devouring Immortal is indestructible, but seeing it today... it's nothing special," Chi Meng said with a cold laugh.

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a swarm of fire ants crawled onto Qu Lin's body.

Wherever they passed, they left traces of sulfur burns, creating black marks on Qu Lin's skin.

Qu Lin merely glanced at them and then looked away. He shook his arms, and the golden light around him flared, radiating layers of strange ripples.

All the fire ants were shaken off, and the giant sword on his shoulder also trembled violently, forced back by the golden light.

He stomped his foot hard on the ground, sending a circle of golden ripples spreading outward. Like an arrow, he shot up into the air, attempting to escape from this place.

However, just as he reached midair, the sky above suddenly darkened. A giant ghost formed of black mist leaned out from the clouds and opened its mouth to swallow him.

Once inside the giant ghost's mouth, Qu Lin felt his sea of consciousness grow drowsy. Before he could react, gray, semi-transparent chains shot toward him from all directions, piercing straight through his body.

Gray mist swirled around the chains, entering Qu Lin's body and chilling him to the bone. His immortal spiritual power seemed to freeze, and for a moment, he could not break free.

The attacks of the others followed closely, with flames, green light, sword beams, and fist shadows all raining down on Qu Lin.

Although Qu Lin's expression changed slightly, he withstood all these attacks, still appearing largely unharmed.

"This bug's physique is indeed tough. Let me destroy his divine sense. Even if he becomes an idiot, bringing him back will still be useful," said the tall man who cultivated the law of Silver Yin Soul, his voice hoarse.

As he spoke, he twisted his wrist, took out a black short flute, and placed it to his lips.

Han Li, watching from afar, thought to himself, "Not good."

The next instant, a sharp flute sound rang out from afar.

The runes on the short flute lit up, and circles of strange sound waves, barely discernible to the eye, rippled outward, sweeping in all directions.

Qu Lin, who had been calm until then, suddenly changed expression the moment the sound waves arose, his brows furrowing and his face turning ferocious.

He felt as if an invisible serrated saw had suddenly appeared in his sea of consciousness, rapidly pulling back and forth, trying to cleave his soul and sea of consciousness in two.

Qu Lin considered himself a seasoned cultivator, his soul strength among the top even among Great Luo cultivators, yet he never expected it to be so fragile and vulnerable under the flute sound.

As the tall man's tone shifted, the pitch of the sound waves grew even sharper. The serrated saw vanished, replaced by countless sharp drills boring into his soul.

"Ah..." A heart-wrenching scream immediately rang out.

Although Han Li had been on guard, the three of them also suffered the attack when the flute sound arrived.

Among them, Ti Hun, who cultivated the same Dao law, had the strongest resistance; Han Li, with his Divine Refining Art, possessed an unusually powerful soul and could naturally withstand it to some extent.

Only Xiao Bai, who had inherited the power of the Mo Yan Pi Xiu for a short time, could not resist. Though he held back from crying out, his body was already trembling.

Seeing this, Ti Hun's brow flashed red and split open.

A vertical eye appeared within, emitting two dark red beams that struck Han Li and Xiao Bai's brows respectively.

Han Li's divine sense immediately cleared, and Xiao Bai also felt less tormented than before.

"Heh, you search high and low but find nothing, yet get it without effort. Han Li, I have been seeking you to no avail, but today you deliver yourself to my doorstep." At this moment, Chi Meng's voice suddenly rang out.

Her figure had already shot over, hovering above the three of them.

Seeing that they could no longer conceal themselves, Han Li revealed himself with Xiao Bai and Ti Hun, hovering in midair.

Ti Hun had already released a layer of dark red domain, enveloping the three of them.

"That must have been quite an effort for Fairy Chi Meng..." Han Li said with a carefree smile, showing no fear.

"Fellow Daoist Han..." Lan Yan, who had been standing by without fighting, looked over from afar, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.

Chi Meng looked Han Li up and down, noticing the change in his aura, and felt a slight shock inwardly.

How much time had passed since her failed pursuit of Han Li? This fellow had actually reached the Great Luo stage.

However, she quickly regained her composure.

"So what if you're at the Great Luo stage? You're just a fledgling who hasn't even beheaded the Three Corpses. This time, I will absolutely not let you slip through my fingers again." Chi Meng chuckled lightly.

Unlike other realms, after the initial Great Luo stage, each beheading of a corpse advances one level. Once all three corpses are beheaded, one can cross that insurmountable chasm and attain the Dao Ancestor realm.

Each beheading of a corpse is also extremely perilous, but once successful, the improvement in strength is remarkable. The difference between each minor realm is no less than that of a previous major realm.

Coupled with her numerical advantage, Chi Meng naturally had full confidence in capturing Han Li. The only thing she needed to guard against was his strange secret technique for sudden escape that he had used before.

With a sharp cry, she waved her hand, and a burst of crimson light arose, expanding into a huge spherical light barrier that soon enveloped an area hundreds of miles in radius.

Han Li and the others felt the surrounding air instantly become scorching hot, and they were already trapped within Chi Meng's spirit domain.

All around, flames soared into the sky. Eight fiery waterfalls cascaded down from the surrounding heavens, and the ground transformed into a lake of magma.

The air around seemed to boil. Within a thousand miles, all surface lakes and water systems evaporated, leaving behind thousands of miles of ravines and cracks everywhere on the ground.

Xiao Bai felt his mouth and tongue go dry, as if the spiritual energy of the surrounding world had been scorched away by the blazing power of the spirit domain.

"This woman doesn't seem like a pushover," Xiao Bai couldn't help saying.

"It seems she didn't go all out in our last encounter," Han Li said with a frown.

"Elder Xitang, leave the Devouring Golden Immortal to you and Elder Jianqiu. The rest of you, join me in capturing this man," Chi Meng commanded.

The tall man who cultivated the Yin Soul law and the short man controlling the golden sword acknowledged simultaneously.

The other two black-robed figures flickered and appeared beside Chi Meng.

"Ti Hun, go rescue Qu Lin first," Han Li instructed Ti Hun.

"Alright," Ti Hun nodded and was about to leave.

"In my spirit domain, do you think you can come and go as you please?" Chi Meng raised an eyebrow angrily.

With that, she waved her hand, and the magma lake below churned violently. A hundred-zhang-tall flame giant slowly rose from it, holding a huge flaming sword, blocking Ti Hun's path.

Ti Hun snorted coldly.

With a thought, a black ghost claw appeared in her palm, and she swung it forward with her divine power.

Several black claw marks appeared out of thin air, directly tearing the void apart and slicing the flame giant into several segments along with it.

She glanced at the Nether Ghost Claw she had just obtained not long ago and nodded with considerable satisfaction.

The severed flame giant reverted to magma and flowed back into the magma lake.

"I can have as many such fire spirits as I want within my spirit domain," Chi Meng said with a sneer.

Before her words faded, the magma lake below churned even more violently as one flame giant after another rose from it, brandishing giant flame swords and hacking toward Han Li and the others.

Han Li gently turned his palm, and a layer of golden light spread out, forming a pale golden spirit domain that overlapped with Chi Meng's flame spirit domain.

Within the spirit domain, the flow of time instantly changed, and the speed at which the several flame giants swung their swords slowed down.

Ti Hun flew out and swung the Nether Ghost Claw again, producing dozens of black claw marks that appeared out of thin air and severed all the flame giants once more.

Her figure darted through and headed toward Qu Lin.

But at that moment, from a magma waterfall cascading from the sky, the liquid suddenly surged, and a magma flood dragon flew out, opening its gaping maw to bite down at Ti Hun's head.

Soul-Devourer was naturally unafraid; the ghostly claws in her hand once again displayed their great power, tearing apart the lava dragon as well.

However, this lava dragon did not directly melt away like the previous flame giant; the torn gaps instantly fused together in a red glow and continued to bite down at Soul-Devourer.

"Don't worry about it; just go straight ahead," Han Li's voice suddenly sounded in her ear.

Hearing this, Soul-Devourer stopped attacking and charged straight forward.

Just as her figure was about to be swallowed by the dragon's huge mouth, a sound of splashing water suddenly arose, and a golden river burst forth from underground, rushing directly into the lava dragon's mouth.

The lava dragon's body instantly froze in place, emitting white smoke.

Soul-Devourer rode the water wave, charging straight through the dragon's body and flying out, arriving before Qu Lin.

Qu Lin looked at Soul-Devourer, who had come to rescue him, and at Han Li in the distance, a complex expression flashing in his eyes.

Seeing this, Elder Xitang blew his short flute again; the sound waves it emitted condensed without dispersing, and instead of spreading outward, they gathered together and shot straight toward Soul-Devourer.

A smile curled at the corner of Soul-Devourer's mouth; far from being afraid, she was instead calculating how much her strength would increase if she ate the fellow before her.

Elder Xitang saw the corner of her mouth curl up, revealing a row of white teeth, and for some reason, felt an inexplicable palpitation.