Chapter 1298: Bone Emperor

"Xueli, how dare you..." Ghost Shaman only had time to shout once, but could not stop Xueli's action.

A flash of talisman light flickered on the giant axe, followed by a sudden burst of red light and a loud tearing sound!

A blood-colored axe shadow, thousands of feet in size, descended from the sky with a sky-covering momentum, directly slicing open hundred-foot-long black fissures in the void as it rolled down toward Han Li.

As the axe shadow descended, everything within sight was bathed in red light, as if trapping those below in a world of blood, leaving no escape.

Han Li, however, did not even glance at it. He merely waved his sleeve, and as the sleeve billowed, a large swath of golden light rolled out, transforming into a golden palm imprint that directly met the axe shadow.

In fact, his gaze had been fixed on the white bone skeleton from the start, because he could see through the auras of everyone on the giant turtle—except for this one.

The golden palm imprint, originally only about ten feet in size, had swelled to nearly a thousand feet before touching the axe shadow, yet it still seemed minuscule compared to the sky-covering giant axe shadow.

A thunderous boom rang out.

The enormous blood-colored axe shadow shattered with a bang, but the golden palm imprint, undiminished in power, shot straight up into the sky, disappearing into the clouds thousands of miles away. Even as a tiny golden dot at the edge of the sky, it remained dazzling.

Xueli landed back on the giant turtle, turned to look at the trail left by the palm imprint in the high sky, his eyes narrowing sharply, his abdomen heaving as he murmured:

"How... how is this possible?"

The white bone skeleton twisted its neck, emitting a series of "clacking" sounds. It seemed to glance at the high sky, then turned its head to sweep over Han Li's direction. Two faint glows flickered in its eye sockets, like leaping ghost flames.

"Xueli, you damn fool! You have no brains! How could you attack without distinguishing right from wrong? Didn't you see that I and the Nether King are also on the boat?" Ghost Shaman finally had a chance to shout loudly.

"Eh, Ghost Shaman, you're not dead yet?" Xueli said in surprise, his voice unusually high-pitched.

Ghost Shaman, however, ignored him. His body blazed with green light as he drifted up leisurely, his remnant-soul form swelling several times in size. He clasped his hands and bowed from a distance toward the white bone skeleton on the giant turtle.

"Junior Ghost Shaman pays respects to Senior Bone Emperor." His junior's courtesy was meticulous, bending almost to ninety degrees.

The white bone skeleton, addressed as Bone Emperor, merely nodded, then opened its mouth and asked: "Since you are from the Netherworld, why are you mixed up with a True Immortal Realm cultivator?"

Its voice was hoarse and ethereal, as if layered with multiple echoes, making it impossible to tell where it came from.

"The only one who could disturb Senior Bone Emperor is probably that scourge, King Yanluo, right? Coincidentally, this Fellow Daoist Han shares our goal. May I request that Senior allow us to join and campaign against King Yanluo together?" Ghost Shaman hurriedly said.

Hearing this, Han Li frowned slightly. He had never said he wanted to campaign against King Yanluo with them. The only reason he had agreed to come with Ghost Shaman was for the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk.

He just didn't know who this 'Bone Emperor' really was, so it was not appropriate to act rashly.

After all, judging from the current situation, this person's status in the Netherworld should far exceed that of Ghost Shaman, Xueli, and others who claimed to be the leaders of the three Netherworld domains.

"Oh... since it's against King Yanluo, I'll overlook the previous grievances for now. But I wonder what Senior Bone Emperor thinks?" Xueli hesitated for a moment, then actually took the initiative to speak to the white bone skeleton.

"One more, one less, no matter." The white bone skeleton seemed indifferent to this, not even bothering to look directly at Han Li.

Clearly, in its eyes, Han Li and the others were insignificant.

"Fellow Daoist Ghost Shaman, this is not quite what we agreed upon earlier, is it?" Han Li said with a cold expression.

"Fellow Daoist Han, the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk is occupied by King Yanluo. To use it, you must contend with him—it's unavoidable. I guarantee that once we defeat King Yanluo, you will be able to use the Reincarnation Disk smoothly." Ghost Shaman tried to persuade him.

Han Li was silent for a moment, still intending to refuse.

With Gold Boy and Zi Ling in tow, he absolutely did not want to get involved in these meaningless conflicts in the Netherworld, especially without knowing the background of his cooperation partners—that was a major taboo.

"Fellow Daoist Han, you may not know this, but Senior Bone Emperor is one of the true great powers of our Netherworld, a genuine Dao Ancestor, far beyond the likes of me, Xueli, and the other two! His temperament is extremely eccentric—he kills immortals, demons, humans, and ghosts alike, acting entirely on whim. You must not oppose him... I suggested traveling together for your sake. When we arrive, with Senior Bone Emperor present, there's no need for us to act." Before Han Li could speak, Ghost Shaman transmitted his persuasion.

"Master, if we start a conflict with them here, it will only cause more trouble. It's better to follow them and achieve our goal when they are locked in a stalemate." Ti Hun also transmitted her thoughts.

Han Li was silent for a moment, then finally nodded.

"Good, it's settled then." Ghost Shaman was overjoyed.

Afterward, they put away the bamboo boat and flew onto the giant turtle's back, joining Xueli and the others as they headed toward the center of the lake.

Before long, the group arrived near the solitary island at the center of the Yellow Spring Great Marsh, but a wall of blood clouds surrounded the island, blocking their way.

"Lord Bone Emperor, let me break through this obstructive wall." A dark-faced man behind Bone Emperor stepped forward and said.

Han Li glanced at this man, his eyes flickering slightly.

Apart from Xueli, the remaining six attendants behind Bone Emperor were all at the Great Luo realm, with this dark-faced man having the highest cultivation—mid-stage Great Luo, and like Han Li, at the peak of mid-stage Great Luo.

Among the remaining five, one ghostly black-robed figure was also at mid-stage Great Luo, while the others were at early-stage Great Luo.

Seeing that Bone Emperor did not object, the dark-faced man clasped his hands together in front of him and formed a mysterious hand seal.

With a dull thud, a huge, dark, blurry phantom with two heads and four arms appeared behind the dark-faced man.

A black crystalline light flowed over the phantom's surface, turning it from virtual to solid, forming a ferocious ghostly creature clad in black armor.

The black armor shimmered with crystalline light, inscribed with layers of complex patterns, looking extremely extraordinary. It covered the ghost's entire body, including its two heads, so its true face could not be seen.

Nevertheless, a fierce and powerful aura emanated from the ghostly creature, far stronger than the dark-faced man himself.

The black-armored ghost raised its head and roared, releasing a surge of black light that formed a violent black storm, pushing back the nearby positive and negative whirlwinds.

Zi Ling, being weaker in cultivation, was almost thrown away by the storm.

An arm reached out from beside her and grabbed her—it was Han Li.

"Thank you, Brother Han." Zi Ling breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Han Li gratefully.

Han Li waved his hand, looked at the black-armored ghost, then glanced at the blood-red wall, shaking his head slightly.

As the black-armored ghost roared skyward, its four thick arms punched out simultaneously, each fist surrounded by a vortex of black light that emitted a piercing screech, striking the blood-cloud wall.

A dull boom sounded!

The blood-cloud wall merely trembled, ripples spreading across it like water, with no sign of breaking.

Seeing this, the dark-faced man was stunned.

At that moment, blood light flashed within the ripples on the blood-red wall, and more than a dozen thick blood-colored lightning bolts shot out without warning, striking the black-armored ghost.

The ghost's body was easily pierced with more than a dozen large holes, and its exquisite black armor shattered. The ghost let out a scream, and its massive body turned into black smoke and dissipated.

The dark-faced man's body shook violently, stumbling back more than ten steps before barely steadying himself. He fell to one knee and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Useless!" Bone Emperor snorted coldly at this scene.

The dark-faced man trembled in fear, hastily kowtowing to beg forgiveness, inwardly regretting his eagerness to show off by striking first—only to lose more than he gained.

"The natural defense formed by controlling the positive and negative whirlwinds through the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk can naturally block you. But in the face of absolute power, everything is futile." Bone Emperor glanced at the blood-red wall, snorted again, and reached out to grab the void.

A thunderous boom!

The entire void seemed to collapse violently as a sky-covering giant white bone hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the blood-red wall.

Then, with a tearing sound, the seemingly indestructible blood-red wall suddenly became as fragile as paper before Bone Emperor, tearing open a large hole.

"Senior Bone Emperor's divine powers are boundless!" Xueli praised.

"With Senior Bone Emperor taking action, it seems King Yanluo is doomed!" Ghost Shaman also laughed heartily.

He knew well how formidable King Yanluo was and had been somewhat worried, but witnessing Bone Emperor's earth-shattering strike, his heart finally relaxed completely.

Han Li looked at Bone Emperor, a hint of wariness flashing in his eyes.

Although he had witnessed Dao Ancestors in action several times before, his cultivation was too weak at the time to truly appreciate their power. Now that he had considerable achievements in both cultivation and law principles, he could truly understand the terror of a Dao Ancestor.

Every move Bone Emperor made seemed to resonate with the great Dao of heaven and earth, as if he were the embodiment of the Dao itself. Such heaven-reaching power was truly beyond what a Great Luo cultivator could contend with.

Hearing the praises from Xueli and Ghost Shaman, a hint of pride flickered in Bone Emperor's eyes. He raised his hand and waved forward.

The giant turtle beneath them immediately flew forward, entering through the hole in the wall.

"Who dares to trespass?"

The guards on the island had already noticed the anomaly when the dark-faced man attacked, and now seeing Bone Emperor and his group, they immediately rushed over.

At the same time, alarm sirens sounded across the island, and guards from other areas quickly converged.

"Leave these minor soldiers to us." Xueli let out a long howl, shot forward, and swung his giant axe, turning it into a blood-colored ribbon that swept across.

With a swoosh, dozens of ghost soldiers were cut in half at the waist.

The seven attendants behind Bone Emperor also shot forward, attacking the ghost soldiers.

Han Li and his group could not stand idly by either; they offered up their immortal artifacts and joined the fray.

The ghost soldiers on the island were all very powerful. Although no Great Luo beings appeared, there were many at the Tai Yi realm, and they were numerous. Although Han Li and the others had the upper hand, they could not kill them all quickly and were held back, unable to advance.

"All of you, fall back!" Bone Emperor's eyes showed impatience. He waved for everyone to retreat, and a bone-white light flashed on his body.

A wave of bone-white light flew out from his body, spreading outward in a fan shape, instantly sweeping across the entire island.

As soon as the ghost soldier guards on the island touched the bone-white light wave, their skin and flesh split open, blood splattered, and their skeletons automatically jumped out of their bodies before exploding with a bang, killing them.

For a time, dull thuds echoed everywhere on the island, with limbs flying everywhere—a scene of extreme bloodshed.

Almost all the guards on the entire island died instantly, except for a few ghost soldiers near the gray stone hall who survived.

At that moment, a hemispherical dark red light shield appeared over the stone hall, covering it entirely and blocking the bone-white light wave.

"Senior Bone Emperor's divine powers are vast and profound—truly awe-inspiring!" Xueli praised again.

The others also offered sincere praise.

The two ghost generals, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, who had been standing motionless at the entrance of the stone hall, finally showed expression on their ferocious faces upon seeing this. They gathered the remaining ghost soldiers to guard the entrance while sending someone inside to report.