Chapter 1365: Curse

"This is a Heavenly Law above the Heart Devouring Law! Are you the Heavenly Demon Ancestor from ancient times?" The Demon Lord stared at Yinming Ancestor, speaking each word deliberately.

Yinming Ancestor said nothing, standing there quietly, blocking the way.

"What... the Heavenly Demon Ancestor!" The plump woman in white changed color upon hearing this.

The other three Demon Clan Ancestors were also startled, but the other Demon Clan members looked utterly bewildered.

Among the True Immortal Realm cultivators in the Jade Pool, most were equally clueless after hearing the Demon Lord's words. Only Cangwu True Lord and the other two Ancestors, along with a very few who had lived extremely long lives, changed expression and stared at Yinming Ancestor in shock.

Dream Maiden was one of them.

"Master, who is the Heavenly Demon Ancestor? Everyone seems very afraid of him," Yu Menghan asked softly, sensing the strange atmosphere.

"The Heavenly Demon Ancestor is an Ancestor from ancient times, said to have lived even longer than the Supreme Ancient Gu or Jin. The power of the Heavenly Demon Law is unfathomable... It is said that every time he goes into seclusion, his soul wanders beyond the heavens, his consciousness splitting into billions, infiltrating various realms to find suitable cultivators, infecting their minds to enhance his law... This is what many lower-realm cultivators call the Outer Realm Demon," Dream Maiden glanced at Yu Menghan and transmitted her voice, as if afraid of being overheard.

"So the Outer Realm Demons were all created by this man!" Yu Menghan was greatly shocked.

Outer Realm Demons were a worry for all cultivators who had reached the Mahayana stage and beyond. Every time one advanced in cultivation, there was a certain chance of their appearance, and countless cultivators had fallen due to demonic invasion.

"Of course, this is just a rumor, not necessarily true. But the Heavenly Demon Law is extremely terrifying; it can easily invade a cultivator's body, drive them mad, and then devour their seven emotions to replenish its power. This man was an out-and-out great demon in his time. To devour the power of the seven emotions, he directly destroyed no fewer than a thousand lower realms, and even destroyed several immortal domains in the True Immortal Realm. The then Heavenly Court Lord was enraged and sent over a dozen Ancestors to hunt him down. After that, he vanished without a trace and never reappeared. I never thought he would still be alive." A flicker of fear passed through Dream Maiden's eyes.

"That's not necessarily true. Maybe the Heavenly Demon Ancestor of old is long dead, and this person is someone else who has reached the Ancestor realm by cultivating the Heavenly Demon Law," Yu Menghan speculated, not intimidated by Dream Maiden's words.

"That's possible too. But whether this man is the original Heavenly Demon Ancestor or not, he is very dangerous. We should stay as far away as possible," Dream Maiden said.

...

Inside the Ten Directions Immortal Formation, Han Li stared at Meng Yuan, his brow slightly furrowed.

At this moment, Meng Yuan's entire body rippled with white light. His originally fair and flawless skin instantly began to shrivel and contract, and wooden grain-like patterns appeared all over his body.

At the same time, the outer robe covering him turned into a clump of withered grass within a few breaths.

The white-clad man, who had looked like a child, transformed in the blink of an eye into a scarecrow made of wood and straw.

Han Li swept his gaze over the scarecrow and, for some reason, felt a very strange sensation rise in his heart.

"What kind of law is this..." Han Li mused inwardly.

"Legend has it that ancient divine beings could speak with the authority of heaven, their words becoming reality. I wonder how that compares to my Curse Law?" The scarecrow that had been Meng Yuan suddenly spoke, his voice sounding somewhat ethereal.

As soon as he finished speaking, a blood light suddenly lit up in his left palm.

At almost the same moment, Han Li felt a sharp pain in the palms of his three left arms simultaneously.

He looked down and saw that all three palms had been pierced through, with blood gushing out.

Han Li immediately tried to use his immortal spiritual power to repair the wounds, but found that instead of healing, the blood flowed even faster.

"Don't rush. The real show is just beginning. Enjoy it," Meng Yuan's ethereal voice sounded again.

Han Li's brows twitched. On his three left arms, with a 'chi' sound, three more large holes appeared out of thin air, also bleeding profusely and completely uncontrollable.

From the moment the first wound appeared, Han Li had been secretly using the Spirit Refining Art, pushing his divine sense to the limit, concentrating all his mind to probe the surroundings for any hidden attacks, but found nothing.

"Could it really be that he can kill people with just a curse?" Han Li wondered in confusion.

"Where next? Shoulders, perhaps..." Meng Yuan's voice sounded again.

Hearing this, Han Li's mind moved like lightning. His Star Power rapidly shifted, and the acupoints on his shoulders lit up with a brilliant white light, like a layer of magical armor protecting his left and right shoulders.

"Pfft..."

But it was utterly useless. Another blood hole burst open on his left shoulder.

Han Li's expression darkened. With a flash of light, he reverted to human form.

"Your technique does have some skill. I consider myself to have a strong physique, so I shouldn't be so vulnerable. Could you enlighten me?" Han Li looked into the distance at the scarecrow and asked.

"I can... after you die, I'll tell you everything. Next up is the lower abdomen. It will hurt more than before. Bear with it, Fellow Daoist Han, haha..." Meng Yuan said, then burst into wild laughter.

Immediately after, without any warning, a sharp pain shot through Han Li's lower abdomen. A blood hole as thick as a child's arm pierced through, and the oozing blood instantly soaked his clothes.

Han Li's face only turned slightly pale as he staggered back two steps.

He tried to lift his scarred left arm, but found it as heavy as if tied with lead.

"Fellow Daoist Han, no need to put on such a show. With injuries like these, it shouldn't make your face turn pale or your steps unsteady. But don't worry, there's plenty more to come. Take your time," Meng Yuan's voice sounded, tinged with sarcasm.

"You misunderstand, Fellow Daoist. I'm just using a cheap trick to distract you," Han Li said with a smile, but his right arm, hidden in his sleeve, made a cutting motion with two fingers.

"Whoosh, whoosh." Two sounds of air being cut suddenly rang out.

Two golden sword lights, without any sound of electricity, silently shot toward the scarecrow's head and back, at extremely tricky angles and incredible speed.

In front of and behind the scarecrow, the figures of Zi Shan and Dongli Hu flashed by, each blocking one of the flying swords.

"Just as I thought. Seeing me so severely wounded, you didn't continue attacking me, but instead guarded him. It seems that once your curse technique is activated, your main body cannot move. But I'm curious: why didn't you cast it outside the formation? That would have been foolproof," Han Li said slowly.

"The Ten Directions Myriad Immortal Formation isolates heaven and earth. The technique would also be isolated outside the formation. Otherwise, how could this formation trap you?" This time, Meng Yuan gave a direct answer.

"I see." Han Li nodded, and the killing intent in his eyes surged abruptly.

The seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hovering around the three of them all flashed with sword light at once, flying toward them simultaneously.

Zi Shan and Dongli Hu, one in front and one behind, protected Meng Yuan in the center. One spread a golden light barrier, the other a purple flame barrier, merging into a huge spherical light barrier that shielded the three of them.

The seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hummed incessantly, turning into countless crisscrossing thunderous sword shadows that surrounded the entire spherical barrier, slashing at it without pause, but unable to break through with a single strike.

"Meng Yuan, stop talking nonsense and kill him quickly," Dongli Hu said with some anger in his brow.

"If you're so capable, you do it..." Meng Yuan, now a scarecrow, cursed inwardly but did not slacken his spellcasting.

The next moment, Han Li felt a burning pain in his chest, as if scorched. Another blood wound had pierced through, right along his heart meridian.

After this strike, cold sweat began to trickle down Han Li's forehead. He found that the left half of his body was starting to go numb—not the stiff numbness from blood loss, but a feeling that his flesh, blood, and bones were being sealed by the curse, making it impossible to circulate any immortal spiritual power or Star Power.

It was as if... his body was slowly turning into a scarecrow.

"This won't do..." Han Li muttered to himself, his mind stirring slightly.

The seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately stopped their continuous attacks, transforming back into the form of sword children. After a brief flight high in the sky, a majestic lightning heavenly gate emerged in the nine heavens.

"Meng Yuan, hurry up. That guy seems to have sensed something wrong," Zi Shan urged.

"Stop rushing. Once another needle pierces his dantian, he'll have no choice but to surrender and await death..."

Meng Yuan could only complain inwardly. The Curse Law was one of the laws that went against the Heavenly Dao. It was usually difficult to施展, and if one was not careful, it was more susceptible to Heavenly Dao erosion than other laws.

As he spoke, on his scarecrow body, just below the lower abdomen, a transparent needle, invisible to the naked eye, was pointing straight at the dantian, piercing into the straw inch by inch.

At the same time, Han Li also detected a faint, barely noticeable pain in his dantian.

"Rumble..."

Just then, the Heavenly Sword Formation set up by the sword child in the nine heavens opened its gate wide. A giant lightning sword formed by hundreds of golden dragons descended, heading straight for Meng Yuan.

Dongli Hu looked up, his expression suddenly changing as he saw that the sword light was heading straight for the gap between his and Zi Shan's barriers.

"That won't hold..."

He shouted, directly withdrawing his defensive barrier and flying up to meet the attack. With a clench of his hand, the image of several mountain peaks appeared in his palm, smashing toward the golden sword light.

The power of this punch was the combined force of several famous great mountains, and its terrifying might was unimaginable.

"Boom!" A loud crash!

When that earth-shattering punch struck the golden sword light, the sword light dispersed without any resistance.

A flicker of surprise passed through Dongli Hu's eyes, and he suddenly shouted, "Not good..."

The sword formation just now was merely a bluff; it had no intention of clashing head-on with him. It had dispersed on its own just before contact, so Dongli Hu's punch had actually hit nothing.

Zi Shan also sensed something wrong and hurried to intercept the scattered sword lights, but it was too late.

One of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, hidden among the sword lights, had already flown close to Meng Yuan's side.

At that moment, the transparent needle at the scarecrow's dantian was only an inch away from fully penetrating.