Chapter 1240: The Corpse-Slaying Immortal Talisman

"Under the power of such divine thunder, there should be no chance of survival." Faced with Lan Yan's hesitant question, Han Li said gravely.

Having said that, he struggled to stand up, but as soon as he rose, he felt a wave of exhaustion throughout his body, his legs gave way, and he fell back down.

Seeing this, Lan Yan hurried forward to help him, but Han Li waved her off.

"I've overexerted myself a bit. I'll just meditate for a moment; don't worry about me," Han Li said slowly.

With that, he sat down cross-legged again and closed his eyes to meditate.

Seeing that he was truly fine, Lan Yan breathed a sigh of relief. She stood to the side and looked up, where the light from the sun streamed through the completely collapsed top of the underground space, shining directly on her, somewhat dazzling.

In the sunlight, her shadow stretched long, extending all the way to Han Li's side.

Ti Hun's battle was also nearing its end. After absorbing the last trace of residual yin-sha energy into her abdomen, she let out a satisfied burp and reverted to human form.

Seeing Han Li meditating there, she didn't disturb him but instead walked over to the thick ancient tome and began examining it.

Lan Yan, seeing this, was about to go over and say something to her.

But as soon as she took a step, her body suddenly stiffened, and a look of disbelief flashed in her eyes.

It turned out that her body had moved, but her shadow remained in place.

Suddenly, a change occurred.

From the shadow left behind, a patch of black light suddenly flared up, and a figure emerged from it, holding a ghost-headed short dagger, thrusting straight at Han Li's vital chest point.

With a gaunt face and an extremely cold gaze, who else could it be but Gui Lingzi?

This turn of events was so shocking that neither Lan Yan nor Ti Hun had time to react before the ghost-headed short dagger in Gui Lingzi's hand was just a few inches from Han Li's chest.

Yet Han Li seemed oblivious, still sitting with his eyes closed, meditating.

The previous battle had exhausted him too much.

Gui Lingzi's eyes bulged, and a flush rose on his already pale face, as if he was excited at the prospect of succeeding.

But at that moment, Han Li, who appeared too exhausted to fight back, suddenly opened his eyes. His gaze was like lightning, sharp and bright, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"I knew you wouldn't give up. I've been waiting for you..."

With these mocking words, his hand shot out like lightning, his palm wreathed in golden electric light, and he grabbed Gui Lingzi's throat before the dagger could reach him.

"How... how is this possible?" Gui Lingzi murmured in disbelief, the ghost-headed short dagger already pressed against Han Li's chest but unable to advance another inch.

"I didn't have enough power built up before, so I knew that strike couldn't kill you. I thought if you were smart enough to flee, I'd let you go. But you couldn't resist when I pretended to be weak. You're truly asking for death," Han Li sneered.

"This is the Nine Yuan Temple. Do you dare kill me?" Gui Lingzi said in shock and anger.

"Since I came, I've already made all kinds of preparations. Your cultivation is now less than a tenth of its peak. Killing you would be easy, but I'll have to wait until after I search your soul," Han Li said with a smile.

With that, a light flashed on his brow, and a crystalline thread extended out, heading straight for Gui Lingzi's brow.

Han Li activated the Art of Soul Refinement in his mind, intending to break through the禁制 in Gui Lingzi's sea of consciousness.

"Haha, you want to search my soul? Wishful thinking. Since you've come uninvited, I'll give you a generous gift." Before Han Li's divine sense could enter Gui Lingzi's sea of consciousness, Gui Lingzi's voice rang out in his own sea of consciousness.

Han Li thought, "Not good," and abruptly withdrew the crystalline thread from his brow, opening his eyes.

But in the moment he opened his eyes, he saw a strange purple talisman float out from Gui Lingzi's brow. It burned with a "whoosh" and turned into a purple talisman pattern that directly struck his own brow.

Then, an unprecedented, excruciating pain that felt like his head was being torn apart swept over him.

Even Han Li, who had endured countless torments, found it hard to bear. His hand involuntarily loosened, and he fell to the ground, clutching his head and rolling around.

After freeing himself, Gui Lingzi immediately distanced himself from him.

"What did you do?" Ti Hun roared in fury.

"Didn't I say? I gave him a generous gift. That was the Corpse-Slaying Immortal Talisman I prepared for myself to break through a bottleneck. If used at the late Great Luo stage, it would have infinite effects, surpassing thousands of Dao pills. But on a mere early Great Luo stage... haha, haha..." Gui Lingzi said with a ferocious grin, laughing loudly.

"Remove it from him now!" Ti Hun shouted, charging at him.

But Gui Lingzi simply dispersed his form into a cloud of ghostly mist and vanished.

His injuries from the battle with Han Li were extremely severe. Even if he could maintain his current realm without falling, advancing further to the late Great Luo stage in the future would likely become a奢望.

If not for that, he wouldn't have been willing to use the "Corpse-Slaying Immortal Talisman," one of the top three immortal talismans in the immortal realm, on Han Li.

"Ah..."

A heart-wrenching scream rang out. Han Li, who had been rolling on the ground, suddenly sprang up like a carp, standing upright like a spear, motionless.

"Don't go over yet. Look at him..." Ti Hun was about to approach when Lan Yan stopped her.

Ti Hun looked closely and saw that Han Li, standing there, was very strange.

On his unremarkable face, two expressions appeared simultaneously, extremely eerie.

On the left side of his face, his brows were furrowed, his eyes wide, his nose wrinkled, and a sinister smile hung at the corner of his mouth. On the right side, his expression was much more normal, but his eyes were full of struggle.

"Master, what's wrong with you?" Ti Hun cried out in alarm.

Han Li slowly raised his head, as if he heard Ti Hun's words. The corner of his mouth on the right side twitched, as if he wanted to answer, but the left side wouldn't allow it, grinning fiercely, pulling the right side so that he couldn't speak.

"This is really bad..." Lan Yan muttered to herself, her expression grim.

Han Li let out a painful roar, then suddenly lunged forward, as if charging at Ti Hun and Lan Yan.

A look of terror flashed in Lan Yan's eyes, and she stumbled back a few steps.

But the next moment, Han Li's steps stopped abruptly. He clutched his head in pain and fell to the ground, rolling wildly.

"What technique did he use? The master's soul is becoming unstable!" Ti Hun sensed the fluctuation in Han Li's soul and exclaimed in shock.

"It's the Corpse-Slaying Talisman," Lan Yan said gravely.

"Corpse-Slaying Talisman... what is that?" Ti Hun asked anxiously.

"The Corpse-Slaying Immortal Talisman is one of the most precious immortal talismans in the entire True Immortal Realm. It is one of the few known methods to assist a Great Luo cultivator in slaying their corpse," Lan Yan explained.

"Slaying the corpse? Isn't that the bottleneck that appears at the peak of each of the three stages of the Great Luo realm?" Ti Hun asked in confusion.

"You're right. That's the problem. Fellow Daoist Han is only at the early Great Luo stage, far from reaching the mid Great Luo stage. He doesn't qualify to slay his corpse at all. But now he's been forcibly subjected to the Corpse-Slaying Immortal Talisman..." Lan Yan continued.

Hearing this, Ti Hun immediately understood, and her face grew even more grim.

She knew Han Li's situation better than Lan Yan. After breaking through to the Great Luo stage, although he had made rapid progress in seclusion, opening many immortal apertures in one go, he was still far from the peak of the early Great Luo stage, let alone the bottleneck where the first corpse-slaying was needed.

Moreover, when a Great Luo cultivator reaches a bottleneck and needs to slay their corpse to advance, they invariably prepare various methods and find a secluded place to go into seclusion. They are thoroughly prepared, but for various reasons, they may still fail to successfully slay their corpse. Even if successful, there is a great risk of backlash, which could at best result in a drop in cultivation, and at worst, the danger of falling.

For Han Li, the Corpse-Slaying Immortal Talisman was undoubtedly an extreme form of forcing growth, prompting him to prematurely split off his first corpse under conditions where he was not prepared in terms of realm.

Given Han Li's current state, it was naturally impossible for him to successfully slay his corpse. The only outcome awaiting him was destruction.

"Is there any way to stop it?" Ti Hun asked, her eyes fixed on Han Li.

"When Gui Lingzi released the Corpse-Slaying Talisman, it was already activated. There's no way for us to stop it... We can only see if Fellow Daoist Han can suppress the talisman's effect himself," Lan Yan said helplessly.

In her heart, she knew that once such an immortal talisman's power was unleashed, how could an early Great Luo cultivator suppress it?

Just then, Han Li, who had been rolling on the ground clutching his head, suddenly stopped. He rolled over and, with a flash, disappeared from his spot, instantly appearing before Ti Hun.

Caught off guard, Ti Hun could only instinctively cross her arms in front of her. The next moment, Han Li's hand, shaped like a claw, slammed toward her.

Through the gap between her arms, Ti Hun saw Han Li's face, which had completely twisted into a ferocious, vicious visage. From his exaggeratedly grinning mouth, even some transparent saliva dripped.

"Hehe, you seem to have a very close connection with him..." Han Li said menacingly.

The next instant, Ti Hun felt a overwhelming force strike her. Her arms felt as if they were about to break. She tumbled, crashing through the ruins of broken walls, carving a deep trench on the ground.

She finally stopped only after slamming into a huge stone wall. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, but still couldn't help vomiting a mouthful of blood with a "wa."