Chapter 161: Trapped in a Struggle

"If Fellow Daoist Gan trusts me, I can give it a try." Han Li replied without hesitation this time.

Gan Jiuzhen said nothing more, only quickening her hand seals, causing the flames around her to surge.

Han Li immediately noticed that the line of fire connecting them had thickened abruptly, and the crimson flames enveloping him blazed up, growing fiercer, further reducing the encroaching chill.

With a flicker of blue light in his eyes, he swept a quick glance across the surrounding crystal walls, then suddenly burst into motion, darting forward. Protected by the crimson flames, the pervasive cold had little effect on him.

He abruptly halted before a certain crystal wall, raised a single hand, golden scales rippling up his arm, and punched toward the void ahead.

A thunderous boom rang out!

Han Li's fist, wrapped in flames, struck the crystal wall heavily.

A violent tremor followed, shaking the entire wall, which emitted a dazzling white light but did not shatter, not even a single crack appearing.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

A streak of silver light shot out from the crystal wall, rapidly expanding, and swallowed Han Li whole, freezing him along with the crimson flames.

"Just as I thought..."

Gan Jiuzhen's face showed little surprise at Han Li's frozen form; instead, she murmured thoughtfully.

She seemed to have anticipated this, deliberately using Han Li as a pawn to test the crystal wall's cold.

But before her words faded, another explosive sound rang out.

Han Li's body blazed with golden light, shattering the ice around him and breaking free.

"Fellow Daoist Liu's physical strength is formidable; you must be a dual cultivator of body and magic. I underestimated you earlier." Gan Jiuzhen seemed slightly startled, then offered sincere praise.

"If there's a next time, don't blame me for turning hostile." Han Li replied coldly.

The red-robed woman looked unperturbed, nodding slightly, as if she saw nothing wrong with her actions.

"Once frozen by the Ronghuo Cold, the dantian's magic power freezes. How could he..." Outside the crystal wall, the effeminate man frowned, exclaiming in disbelief.

"If I'm not mistaken, he's likely a Mystic Immortal. Had I known, I wouldn't have provoked him. But since we've done it, let's go all out and try that move." The bloated ugly man's eyes flashed with murderous intent as he mused.

With that, he moved, drifting to the crystal wall, placing a palm upon it.

As his hand touched the wall, a dense chant issued from his mouth.

A strange hum sounded.

The ugly man's body lit up with vast cyan light, extending from his sides like countless cyan wings, dazzling to behold.

Seeing this from within the crystal trap, Han Li felt a pang of unease, and Gan Jiuzhen's brows furrowed slightly.

Then, the crystal wall blazed with silver light, interweaving with the cyan glow, as millstone-sized circular array patterns began to appear on its surface.

"Activate!"

The bloated ugly man intoned a command.

The circular patterns flared brightly, and the cold within the crystal wall condensed instantly, forming countless ten-foot-long sharp ice spears that shot toward Han Li and the other like a storm.

Puff puff puff!

The air within the crystal wall tore sharply as hundreds of ice spears flew toward them in an instant.

Han Li swung his fists repeatedly, conjuring hundreds of golden fist shadows that densely emerged, colliding with the ice spears.

On the other side, Gan Jiuzhen flicked her wrist, and a crimson greatsword appeared in her palm.

With one hand forming seals and the other wielding the sword, she created a vast expanse of crimson sword shadows, like a blazing red sun in the sky, from which clusters of red flames danced forth to meet the ice spears.

Boom boom boom!

The air thundered incessantly; golden fist shadows crumbled, red flames exploded, but the ice spears did not shatter, merely being knocked back, pausing briefly in midair before swooping down again.

Han Li continued pounding his fists, blocking the ice spears while his eyes, enhanced by the Bright Spirit Gaze, scanned around.

He noticed that each ice spear seemed to bear an extremely fine Law Thread, making them far tougher and more piercing than ordinary ones. Even his Mystic Immortal body would suffer if directly hit.

What puzzled him was how these two, clearly only at the early True Immortal stage, could use so many Law Threads at once.

Moreover, the crimson greatsword in Gan Jiuzhen's hand made his eyes flicker with surprise.

After a moment's thought, a special name—or rather, a special code—flashed through his mind: "Jiao San."

"This woman... could she be Jiao San?"

He was startled, not expecting that the leader who had led a group of True Immortals to destroy Red Moon Island was a woman.

Meanwhile, under the effeminate man's continuous maintenance, the crystal wall grew thicker, and the cold inside intensified, pressing Han Li and Gan Jiuzhen into a shrinking space.

"Fellow Daoist Liu, if this continues, we'll have no room to retreat. Even if the ice spears don't drain our magic and pierce us, the cold will invade and freeze our life force." Gan Jiuzhen's beautiful eyes showed gravity as she transmitted to Han Li.

"Does Fellow Daoist Gan have a plan?" Han Li's heart stirred as he asked.

He was well aware of this and had already had the Essence Fire Bird guard his vital points internally to prevent cold invasion, though it hadn't manifested externally. For now, he was safe, but if they couldn't break out soon, the situation would turn dire.

"I have a method to break this formation, but I need you to protect me." Gan Jiuzhen said.

"Alright." Han Li replied succinctly.

Having suspected that Gan Jiuzhen might be Jiao San, he was already inclined to hide his true strength and avoid further action, so he readily agreed.

With that, he punched aside an incoming ice spear, leaped to Gan Jiuzhen's side, and waved his hands before him, producing several sharp whistles.

Nine white flying swords flew from his sleeve, shimmering as they traced dazzling white sword shadows in the air.

Han Li's gaze sharpened as he formed several sword seals. The flying swords hummed, transforming into countless white sword threads that crisscrossed to form a white sword net, dozens of feet in radius, enclosing him and Gan Jiuzhen.

Seeing this, Gan Jiuzhen put away her crimson greatsword with a flip of her hand and sat cross-legged.

She turned her wrist, revealing a dark red square jade pendant covered with grooves and scale patterns, seemingly carved with several ferocious beasts, exuding an indescribable primeval aura.

Outside the crystal wall, the bloated ugly man's eyes flashed coldly, then he whispered a transmission to the effeminate man, who replied in kind.

Both of them changed their hand seals simultaneously.

The six white snow toads surrounding them cried out incessantly, their bodies blazing with light as the frost on their surfaces melted, revealing pitch-black, translucent crystalline bodies.

At the same time, the bloated ugly man's body also radiated intense light. His two hands on the crystal wall turned pitch-black, extending black veins that instantly covered the entire wall.

Han Li's senses tingled with alarm. He flicked his wrist within his sleeve, and several black Heavy Water Ripple Thunder Pearls appeared.

But before he could deploy them, his entire body stiffened, and he found himself completely immobilized.

On the other side, Gan Jiuzhen's dark red jade pendant glowed with blood-red light, clearly at a critical point of activation, but she too was frozen in place.

"This is gravity law... no, still ice law!"

Han Li realized instantly that he had been frozen by this suddenly intensified law force.

His mind raced as he tried to mentally command the Essence Fire Bird to help him regain movement.

But his sea of consciousness echoed with the bird's mournful cries; it too was locked down by the law force and could not assist him.

Meanwhile, the countless ice spears around them had turned black, carrying stronger law fluctuations as they thrust toward Han Li and Gan Jiuzhen.

Han Li's eyes showed gravity.

With his Mystic Immortal body, he might hold out for a while, but Gan Jiuzhen was in grave danger.

If she were killed, he would face a bitter battle, which was ultimately not worth it.

A sharp glint flashed in Han Li's eyes. He spared no effort in burning his essence blood to mobilize his immortal spiritual power, but only a fraction—less than a thousandth—flowed into the hand hidden in his sleeve.

A Heavy Water Ripple Thunder Pearl, activated by that wisp of immortal spiritual power, suddenly lit up with a spark, fell from Han Li's sleeve, and as it dropped, its surface flashed with spiritual light.

A thunderous boom rang out!

A black sun blazed into existence less than a foot from Han Li, reflecting a vast expanse of silver light, engulfing him entirely.

Not far away, Gan Jiuzhen was also swallowed by the chaotic black light a moment later.

Rumble...

A continuous roar of thunder and lightning echoed as countless black dust particles surged in all directions, forming a spherical shockwave that rolled outward, pressing and shaking the very void.

Under the crushing force of this狂暴 power, the dense ice spears finally shattered one after another, plunging the entire space into utter chaos.