Chapter 1236: Ghost Array

Seeing Qu Lin escape, Gui Lingzi's eyes flickered for a moment, but in the end he did not give chase.

Compared to a Metal Devouring Immortal, what attracted him more at the moment was Han Li.

After all, from the various messages sent back earlier, it could basically be confirmed that the Vial Gourd was on Han Li.

At this moment, the most awkward position was Lan Yan's.

As a disciple of the Nine Yuan Temple, she was helping outsiders invade her own sect, and Han Li was the only hope to revive Lan Yuanzi, so she had no choice but to help.

"Tsk tsk, biting the hand that feeds you is even more damnable than an external thief." Gui Lingzi's gaze fell on Lan Yan, and he said sinisterly.

Lan Yan had no defense, only biting her lower lip, remaining silent.

At this point, she had no other choice but to follow Han Li down this dark path to the end.

Facing a mid-stage Daluo cultivator, Han Li naturally did not dare to be overconfident. After a moment's hesitation, he cupped his fist and said:

"Senior, I have come to your sect not to cause trouble, but only to retrieve my spirit pet. Now that your sect is under attack, it is the time when Senior needs to step in and turn the tide. Why not let me go and catch those big fish that truly threaten your sect? At the Golden Jade Pass I passed through earlier, there were many people from the Reincarnation Palace."

Gui Lingzi upon hearing this only gave him a cold glance, showing no interest in replying, as if considering how to deal with the two intruders trapped here.

Han Li naturally did not think a few words would send him away. While speaking, a purple-gleam light lit up in his eyes as he surveyed his surroundings, and he secretly accumulated immortal spiritual power, trying to find a way to escape.

A full sweep revealed that the stone chamber was pitch black all around. Under the dim firelight, the walls were faintly visible, covered with strange patterns like ghostly talismans, looking like deep blood grooves embedded in the wall.

Gui Lingzi, after circling outside the array, suddenly raised both hands, forming hand seals, and began to chant under his breath. An ethereal sound echoed through the stone chamber.

As his voice sounded, a sharp ring suddenly echoed in Han Li's mind, and then he began to feel drowsy.

The sound of flowing water arose around the stone chamber, and a thick bloody smell immediately filled the surroundings.

"Soul law?" Han Li was surprised, but felt something was off.

He quickly activated the Spirit Refining Art, and at the same time, a crackling sound erupted all over his body. A robe of lightning formed from golden electric light enveloped him, and the black light strands binding him melted away upon contact with the golden lightning.

But beside him, Lan Yan's eyes became vacant and dazed, her face full of pain and ferocity.

Han Li frowned, let out a sharp shout at Lan Yan, and a crystalline light shot from his brow, striking Lan Yan's forehead. At the same time, several golden lightning snakes shot from his body, wrapping around her and dissolving all the black light strands on her.

"Ah..." She let out a painful moan, collapsed to the ground, and then woke up.

"Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning... and the Spirit Refining Art. Are the Celestial Court's supervisory envoys eating shit? They actually let you cultivate the Spirit Refining Art to such a level. But it's fine; meeting me today is a rare fate." Gui Lingzi seemed to be talking to Han Li or muttering to himself, with a strange smile occasionally appearing in his eyes.

After speaking, he nodded to himself, as if he had made a decision in his mind.

Han Li did not know how Gui Lingzi understood the word 'fate,' but from his expression, he knew it was definitely different from his own. He did not want such an ill-fated encounter.

Just then, he suddenly noticed that although Gui Lingzi had stopped chanting, the ethereal sound still echoed all around, overlapping and pressing together, growing louder and louder.

The bloody smell around did not diminish at all; instead, it became even stronger.

"Fellow Daoist Han, it's over... We've entered Saint Envoy Gui Lingzi's Myriad Spirits Trapping Immortal Array. We're doomed this time." Lan Yan said with a pale face after waking up.

"Myriad Spirits Trapping Immortal Array... This place is full of ghostly aura, with hardly any spiritual energy. I'd call it a Myriad Ghost Array instead." Han Li thought to himself, frowning.

He turned his gaze and looked around intently. He saw that on the black crystal pillars standing around, countless ferocious and strange ghost faces had appeared, densely packed together, making one's scalp tingle.

Some looked like humans, some like demons, all with wide eyes and roaring mouths, looking hideous and terrifying.

The overlapping sounds, like a woman whispering plaintively in one's ear, came from the mouths of these ghostly, terrifying faces.

A thought suddenly occurred to Han Li, and he felt something was wrong.

Each of these sobbing sounds was like a snowflake, accumulating bit by bit, like snow on a mountain peak. Once they formed a force, it would be like an avalanche, and even the Spirit Refining Art might not be effective then.

"Seal your hearing immediately and smash these crystal pillars!" He frowned and shouted.

Lan Yan, upon hearing this, did not hesitate and immediately did as told.

But when she sealed her ear canals with immortal spiritual power, she found that the sound lingering in her ears did not diminish at all; instead, it seemed to ring directly in her heart lake, becoming even clearer.

Startled, she ignored everything else, gripped a blue longsword, and swung it vertically at a black crystal pillar ahead.

Gui Lingzi saw their actions but showed no intention of stopping them, merely watching coldly.

Lan Yan's heart skipped a beat. The longsword in her hand had already flashed with sharpness, turning into hundreds of sharp blue sword lights that struck the black crystal pillar.

There was no expected explosion. Lan Yan's sword light hit the crystal pillar like a knife cutting into cotton, sinking directly in and being swallowed by the dark light shimmering on the pillar.

Before Lan Yan could finish being surprised, a rumbling sound came from not far away.

She quickly turned to look and saw Han Li forming sword seals with his hands, directing dozens of flying swords entwined with golden lightning, transforming into tens of thousands of golden sword lights that struck dozens of black crystal pillars ahead.

The golden lightning reflected each other, with loud thunder rolling within, the momentum astonishing, as if a heavenly tribulation lightning pool had been captured from the ninth heaven, ready to blast this void into dust.

Gui Lingzi outside the array saw this and his expression changed, clearly not expecting this turn of events.

"Rumble..."

The next moment, a booming sound that made Lan Yan's ears ache rang out.

The dark stone chamber seemed to rise a golden sun, flooded by a sea of golden lightning.

Unlike where Lan Yan's sword light fell, wherever Han Li's seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords passed, the black crystal pillars collapsed and shattered into pieces.

But surprisingly, no crystal debris flew out from the shattered pillars; instead, they turned into a ghostly mist that spread instantly.

Within the ghostly mist, shrieks continued, like ten thousand ghosts wailing. Countless ghost figures shot out from it, densely packed, seemingly endless.

Contrary to Lan Yan's expression upon seeing the endless ghosts, Han Li's eyes showed surprise and delight.

He waved his hands, changing his hand seals, and a crackling sound immediately rang out again.

A golden electric light swept through the ghostly mist, like golden spiders extending lightning spears in all directions, instantly turning countless ghosts into green smoke that dissipated.

The low moans of the ghosts were also disrupted by the thunder.

"Isn't this a bit wasteful..." Han Li frowned and muttered to himself.

As soon as he spoke, a sudden change occurred.

On the wall directly ahead, blood light suddenly flared up. A huge ghost face formed from blood streaks appeared, opening a bloody mouth and sucking forward.

A huge blood-colored vortex then appeared, and the golden lightning released from the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords surged into it, being absorbed completely.

The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, fused with various types of supreme yang lightning, should have been the bane of all ghosts, but now the situation was reversed.

Startled, Han Li quickly raised his hand to recall the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

But from the vortex in the giant mouth, a blood-red tongue shot out like a snake's tongue, wrapping around most of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and pulling them into the blood-colored vortex.

Han Li only managed to recall a small portion of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, merging them into one in his hand, while the rest flew uncontrollably into the blood-colored vortex, becoming unresponsive.

After the golden lightning of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords disappeared, the ghosts emerging from the crystal pillars lost their bane and immediately surged toward Han Li and Lan Yan like a ghost tide.

Seeing this, Lan Yan waved her hand, and a blue spherical light curtain expanded, turning into a water-attribute spirit domain covering a thousand zhang in radius.

As soon as the ghosts entered the spirit domain, they seemed to fall into a vast ocean, constantly battered by blue waves surging like tides, blocked ahead.

But before long, more and more ghosts poured out from all the black crystal pillars, the ghost tide growing stronger, pressing in on Han Li and Lan Yan from all directions.

Finally, Lan Yan could not hold out; her spirit domain was broken through, and all the ghosts rushed in, overwhelming them.

Just then, a pale golden light suddenly lit up. Han Li's time spirit domain spread out abruptly, enveloping all the incoming ghosts.

If the ghosts could still rely on their numerical advantage to charge forward in Lan Yan's domain, in Han Li's domain they seemed frozen in place, unable to move at all.