Chapter 128: Breaking the Chains (Part 1)

Han Li opened his eyes and withdrew his divine sense from the storage法器.

In fact, the Birth Soul Flowers he had prepared were already of a hundred thousand years in age, and the final step of condensing the split soul took less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick to complete successfully, nearly perfect and fully controllable.

The reason he waited over an hour was, on one hand, to avoid attracting attention, and on the other, to make the other party expend more effort. After all, the energy spent refining the Earth Deity Incarnation over these days was considerable, and he could use the time to recover a bit.

It was fortunate that he hadn't shown himself earlier; otherwise, taking that Blood Gang Yin Thunder head-on without preparation would have caused him no small amount of trouble.

Now that he had cultivated the Earth Deity Incarnation, he had more important matters to attend to. Those four Ancestral Gods were mere minor characters; letting them escape was of no consequence.

Thinking thus, Han Li waved his hand to collect the array tools on the ground, then shot out of the sea and flew toward Wumeng Island.

A few days later, at dawn.

Wumeng Island, bathed in the morning sunlight, seemed coated with a layer of gleaming gold leaf, the entire island radiating a warm and gentle glow.

Before the statues of the Ancestral God scattered across the island, many islanders had already gathered, all with solemn expressions, full of piety, hands clasped before their chests in prayer, and lips murmuring invocations.

Luofeng, dressed in a blue Confucian robe, stood in the central square of the island, gazing up at the newly restored statue of the Ancestral God.

Unlike the other islanders behind him, he did not perform the rituals of worship and prayer; instead, his hands hung at his sides, as if lost in thought.

Just then, a streak of light shot down from above the crowd, arriving from afar and landing beside him.

Senior Liu!” Luofeng immediately bowed and greeted him loudly.

The person was naturally Han Li, who had just completed the Earth Deity Incarnation and returned to Wumeng Island.

Seeing this, the other Wumeng Islanders stopped their prayers and respectfully saluted Han Li.

“Follow me.”

After speaking calmly, Han Li soared into the air again and flew toward his courtyard residence.

Luofeng was slightly startled, then immediately rose on his own light and followed.

The two figures, one after the other, arrived at the courtyard's open space.

After Han Li sat down at the stone table in the courtyard, he beckoned to Luofeng, signaling him to sit opposite him, and then said bluntly:

“Chief Luofeng, there is something I have been keeping from you until now, but it is no longer necessary. I will tell you now. Your Wumeng Island's Ancestral God, Luomeng, actually perished a thousand years ago.”

“Even if you hadn't said it, I had already roughly guessed. The other elders on the island also have some inkling, but for the sake of stability, we all tacitly avoid the topic. However… I hope that in the future, Senior Liu can continue to protect Wumeng Island. I would be deeply grateful.” Luofeng's face turned slightly pale, and he gave a bitter smile as he spoke.

“You can rest assured on that. Since I promised you, I will not break my word. Now that I have successfully refined the Earth Deity Incarnation and found a high-level Earth Immortal cultivation technique, I need you to set up statues of my incarnation on the island to begin collecting faith power.” Han Li said calmly.

“Rest assured, Senior. I will see to it as soon as possible.” Luofeng was slightly surprised at first, then cupped his hands in acknowledgment.

“Here are some treasures and scriptures for you to keep, to cultivate the talented younger generation on the island. That is the true foundation for Wumeng Island's future prosperity.”

With that, Han Li flicked his sleeve, and a storage bracelet flew out, landing before Luofeng.

The latter took it in hand, glanced at it, and immediately showed a look of shock. The contents of the storage bracelet were far more numerous and valuable than he could have imagined.

In fact, the scriptures, treasures, elixirs, and spiritual materials in this single storage bracelet far exceeded the accumulated wealth of Wumeng Island over tens of thousands of years.

What he didn't know was that this was only a small part of the spoils Han Li had obtained from his trip to Red Moon Island. After all, the lifetime savings of any True Immortal, even a mere loose immortal, were no small amount.

“Senior Liu's great kindness, Wumeng Island will never forget…” Luofeng held the storage bracelet in both hands, trembling slightly, and finally knelt down, speaking from the heart.

“No need for that. I will now prepare to go into seclusion for a while. If there is nothing urgent, do not come looking for me.” Han Li waved his hand and said.

“Yes.”

Luofeng solemnly acknowledged, then withdrew from the courtyard to carry out the orders.

Half a month later, all the original statues on Wumeng Island had been completely dismantled, replaced by new ones standing more densely in various parts of the island.

The newly built statues still bore a three-tenths resemblance to the original Ancestral God statues, but they no longer represented the same person.

Every morning and evening, large numbers of islanders gathered beneath these statues of Han Li, and as before, the sounds of prayer rose up.

One night, a loud “boom” suddenly came from above Wumeng Island. A brilliant silver light fell straight down from the night sky, like a Milky Way cascading, crashing into the courtyard residence on the island.

Around the courtyard stood seven or eight large silver banners, radiating intense light, enveloping the entire area in a hazy silver mist.

At this moment, Han Li, dressed in blue robes, was sitting cross-legged in the open space of the courtyard, and his Earthly Immortal incarnation was also sitting opposite him with a solemn expression.

"Let's begin." Han Li said, his eyes flickering slightly.

With that, he closed his eyes, and his divine sense sank into his dantian.

Inside his dantian, the golden Nascent Soul figure still sat with eyes closed, showing no signs of pain on its face.

Around it was wrapped a layer of bright crystalline light, which was the power of divine sense Han Li had left behind to shield the black chains.

As he willed it, the crystalline light on the Nascent Soul's surface suddenly brightened and flowed back like water into his sea of consciousness.

Immediately after, black light flashed on the surface of his Nascent Soul, and nine pitch-black chains emerged, accompanied by a large amount of black mist rising around them.

The small courtyard suddenly became brilliant with starlight, and seven clusters of dazzling blue light lit up in Han Li's chest and abdomen. Seeing this, the Earthly Immortal incarnation opposite him immediately formed a hand seal with one hand and pointed at his dantian.

As his two fingers descended, Han Li felt a warmth in his dantian, and a gentle yet vast torrent of mana warmth, like a great river, surged in and continuously rushed into his body.

At the same time, the power of the stars within his body began to operate rapidly, transforming into countless silver threads that traveled through his limbs and meridians.

As Han Li formed hand seals, the two forces finally merged without hindrance in his dantian, then turned into strands of bright silver, lightning-like fine threads that rushed straight toward the Nascent Soul.

Unlike the previous situation, this time the silver threads were not only a hundred times more numerous but also a hundred times stronger in aura.

Han Li even sensed traces of law power from the original aura that had not been present before.

With a thunderous roar like a clap of thunder, it exploded in Han Li's dantian.

The silver threads that flew over immediately, like cavalry charging into formation, crashed into the thick black mist with overwhelming force.

Then, a crackling sound erupted in Han Li's dantian.

The black mist was directly torn apart and soon dissipated completely, revealing the black chains hidden within.

But the silver threads did not stop; they continued to rush forward.

This time, Han Li was not impatient. Instead of dispersing the threads among all the chains, he selected one and wrapped all the silver threads around it.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle"

A sound like a red-hot iron being thrown into a bucket of water arose. Black smoke billowed from the black chain, and under intense trembling, the black light on its surface quickly faded.

At the same time, countless tiny black runes emerged from the black chain, trying to replenish the rapidly consumed black light on its surface.

But within the silver threads, a layer of water-blue light radiating law power also coiled up and merged with the black runes, making their repair of the chain far less effective and much slower than before.

Seeing this, Han Li willed it and immediately activated the Art of Refining the Spirit.

The vast power of divine sense, already prepared in his sea of consciousness, instantly transformed into strands of crystalline threads of divine thought and arrived in his dantian in just an instant.

Under Han Li's mental urging, the crystalline threads of divine thought intertwined and condensed into a translucent giant axe of divine thought, which leaped up and chopped down at the chain whose black light had dimmed.

If the earlier silver threads were heavy cavalry breaking formation, then the giant axe of divine thought was undoubtedly heavy infantry breaking through, delivering a fatal blow to the weak point opened by the cavalry.

With a sharp clang, the black chain shook violently, and the crystalline giant axe flew back.

A piercing sound of metal striking stone, with strong penetrating power, rang out from Han Li's dantian but reached his sea of consciousness, causing a sharp pain in his divine sense.

However, he paid no attention to it at the moment, focusing all his attention on the chain in his dantian.

In the middle of the chain, where the giant axe had struck, a clear cut mark was visible.

Seeing this, Han Li's confidence soared. Ignoring the sharp pain in his divine sense, he continued to chop at the chain with the giant axe.

"Clang... clang..."

Once, twice, three times...

When Han Li struck the seventh time, a dull thud sounded, and the black chain snapped directly, turning into a shower of black crystalline light.

A bizarre scene appeared!

This crystalline light did not dissipate but instead flowed toward the remaining eight chains and merged into them in a flash.

As soon as the black crystalline light disappeared, the eight chains immediately brightened, the black runes on their surface increased, and the black light became more solid.

Han Li was momentarily stunned, then gave a wry smile.

If every broken chain merged into the others, it meant that the later chains would be stronger and harder to cut.