Chapter 223: The Mark

After leaving Baijiu Manor, Han Li returned directly to the secret chamber of his cave dwelling.

After activating all the restrictions within the cave, he sat down cross-legged on the spot.

Having just completed two stewardship tasks in succession, although the process had not been overly difficult, he had been rushing about nonstop and was thoroughly exhausted. Now that he had three days of free time, he could take the opportunity to refine the immortal wine he had drunk at Old Man Huyan's place and also rest a bit.

But no sooner had Han Li closed his eyes than he suddenly opened them wide, his expression changing slightly.

The storage bracelet on his hand began to tremble violently without any warning.

Before he could do anything, a flash of black light shot out, and the black long blade flew out of it on its own, instantly transforming into a black shadow that shot into the distance like lightning at an astonishing speed.

Since everything happened too suddenly, Han Li did not stop the blade the moment it flew out, but after quickly recovering, he formed a hand seal with both hands.

Immediately, streaks of azure light appeared in the secret chamber, blocking the path of the black long blade.

With a whoosh!

The surface of the black long blade blazed with black light, emitting a sound like a beast's roar. The dark blade light flickered unsteadily, easily cutting through the streaks of azure light, but its speed also slowed slightly.

Han Li's body blazed with golden light, and the Truthful Word Wheel instantly materialized. Golden ripples spread out, instantly covering an area of ten zhang around him and enveloping the black long blade.

The blade's speed slowed again, this time by more than three times. Then, caught by an invisible pulling force, it flew back and landed in Han Li's hand.

Buzz! Buzz!

The black long blade emitted a humming sound, trembling and struggling incessantly, but under Han Li's iron-like grip, it could not break free at all.

"What is going on?" Han Li frowned at the sight.

Fang Pan was dead, and this black long blade, originally belonging to him, had been carefully refined by Han Li over the years. How could such an anomaly occur today?

As thoughts raced through his mind, his vast divine sense had already probed into the black blade.

The next moment, his expression darkened again.

The black long blade had completely slipped out of his control. Waves of invisible force surged within it, blocking his divine sense from further penetration.

"Hmph!" Han Li snorted coldly. A crystal light flashed between his brows.

An even more immense surge of divine sense power gushed out, transforming into a foot-long, semi-transparent sword shadow. After a blur, it slashed into the black blade.

With a tearing sound, the sword shadow easily cut through the invisible force.

This invisible sword shadow was precisely the Mind Sword Art technique.

Han Li's divine sense entered the black long blade, passing through layer after layer of restrictions within the blade, and soon reached the deepest part of the restrictions. His vision blurred, and he found himself in a black space.

This place was covered with countless black lines of varying thickness, like numerous dense spider webs, forming a huge and complex formation. At the center of the formation was a black altar.

A twisted mass of black light floated within the altar, flickering incessantly. The surrounding formation lines seemed to respond, also flickering without pause.

Seeing this, Han Li's heart trembled.

After obtaining the black blade, he had carefully refined it, and his divine sense had reached this place before.

But at that time, the formation lines here were not this complex, only about a third of the current number, and nowhere near the present spectacle. The current situation was probably the true form of the black blade's core restrictions.

He shifted his gaze to the mass of black light.

As if sensing his attention, the black light flashed, and a somewhat blurry face emerged, looking toward Han Li.

The face's features were indistinct, except for a pair of eyes that were slightly clearer—narrow and long, shaped like blades, exuding anger and arrogance.

Seeing this, Han Li's mind stirred.

Although the face was not very clear, it was definitely not Fang Pan.

After a moment of thought, he suddenly understood. It seemed that the owner of this black blade was not Fang Pan; Fang Pan had probably borrowed it from that person.

Although he had carefully refined the blade, if the original owner had hidden some means, he naturally would not have sensed it.

"Not good!" Han Li's expression suddenly changed.

The owner of the black long blade had suddenly activated the mark within the blade at this moment, probably to sense the exact location of the black blade in order to retrieve it.

If that person really came looking for him, it would be a huge trouble.

With this thought, Han Li let out a long cry.

The next moment, a crystal light flashed above the black altar, and a huge semi-transparent sword shadow appeared, slashing fiercely at the mass of black light.

The blurry face also roared, and with a flash, transformed into a crystalline black chain, somewhat similar to the隔元法链, which lashed out at the sword shadow.

The two collided violently!

With a crack, the black chain was cut in two by the sword shadow, then burst into countless black specks of light and scattered.

All the formation lines in the black space immediately stopped flickering and returned to calm.

At the same time, the black long blade also stopped trembling. Its surface light completely dissipated, and it appeared docile, as if it had been completely refined.

However, Han Li did not show much joy. Instead, he turned his divine sense toward the black altar.

Inside the altar was engraved a mark that was neither writing nor painting, emitting a faint spiritual light.

"A lifebound mark!"

He snorted coldly, and with a thought, a transparent sword shadow appeared above the altar once more, slashing heavily at the mark.

Bang!

The transparent sword shadow rebounded as if striking iron or stone.

The lifebound mark only trembled slightly, then immediately returned to its original state, as stable as a rock, indestructible.

Han Li's expression darkened. His eyes flickered uncertainly. He did not continue attacking but instead withdrew all his divine sense.

He looked at the black long blade in his hand, his expression shifting between gloom and uncertainty.

At the same time that Han Li's divine sense invaded the black long blade in an attempt to erase the mark within, countless billions of miles away from Guyun Continent, a black crane several hundred zhang in size was flying forward, its wings flapping up and down.

The crane was covered in pitch-black iron feathers, but the feathers on its head were golden, like a golden crown. Black flames flickered faintly on the surface of its feathers, especially on its wings, where the black flames were dense, forming two larger black fire wings around them.

The giant crane's wings flapped rapidly, each flap teleporting it hundreds of li forward at an astonishing speed.

A burly man nearly a zhang tall, with a sallow face and a bronze headband, sat cross-legged on the back of the black crane.

Around the man floated over a hundred yellow formation flags, each emitting a hazy yellow light, forming a yellow formation several tens of zhang in size that flickered on and off, slowly operating.

He formed hand seals with both hands, and countless yellow runes flew out from his hands in an endless stream. After circling in the air for a while, they all sank into the formation around him, as if he were performing some secret technique.

With a bang!

The yellow formation trembled violently, then disintegrated and shattered. The formation flags scattered in all directions.

The sallow-faced man's complexion paled slightly, and he opened his eyes.

"Damn it!" The man narrowed his eyes, shooting out two cold beams, and said in a low voice.

With a wave of his hand, all the scattered formation flags swirled back together and sank into his crown, disappearing without a trace.

"Master, were you unable to lock onto that person's location?" The black crane suddenly spoke, its voice sharp.

"Hmph! I was close, but I roughly sensed the direction of that brat's position. That waste Fang Pan died, and he even lost my Black Emperor Immortal-Slaying Blade." The sallow-faced man snorted coldly.

"Fang Pan was just a dandy relying on his sect; how could he compare to you, Master?" The crane said with some disdain.

"Regardless, the Black Emperor Immortal-Slaying Blade is my lifebound immortal artifact. I cannot afford to lose it. I should not have listened to Fang Pan's one-sided story back then and lent him this treasure." The sallow-faced man said somewhat regretfully.

"Speaking of which, this Han Li is really lucky. Not only did he not die back then, but now he has turned around and killed Fang Pan. But now that you, Master, have taken action, once you find that brat, you can crush him as easily as an ant." The black crane flattered with a laugh.

"I wonder what secrets this brat is hiding that made Fang Pan so obsessed. I am very curious! In any case, I cannot let that old ghost know, or else there will be nothing left for me." The sallow-faced man said coldly. His yellow robe swelled, and a vast aura radiated from him.

The air nearby trembled with a buzzing sound, producing a series of crackling noises.

Sensing the terrifying aura emanating from the man, the black crane lowered its head, its body trembling slightly, and its speed increased a bit more.

...

Han Li looked at the black long blade in his hand. As thoughts turned in his mind, he suddenly moved all ten fingers simultaneously, quickly forming hand seals.

Dazzling azure light burst from his hands, transforming into large azure runes that landed on the black blade.

The surface of the black blade immediately became covered with azure rune patterns, more and more, until they spread over every part of the blade.

The black long blade had now turned into an azure long blade, emitting not a single trace of aura.

This was a treasure-sealing technique he had learned before, specifically used to seal magic tools.

After doing this, Han Li took out a black long box. This item was clearly also a treasure, its surface flickering with spiritual light, faintly emitting an inexplicable aura.

He put the black long blade inside, then flipped his hand and took out several sealing talismans, pasting them all over the black box.

Han Li looked at the black box in his hand, frowning slightly.

Although he had applied so many seals, he was still not confident that he could completely isolate the original owner's perception of the blade.

In other words, if he kept this item by his side, there was still the risk of someone tracking him down.

Although he did not know the relationship between the blade's owner and Fang Pan, it was certainly hostile, not friendly.

He also did not know what special methods that person had used when refining the blade, making the mark so stubborn.

According to Han Li's estimation, with his current cultivation and means, to completely erase it, he would need at least a hundred years, using true fire to slowly refine it.

Unfortunately, the time cost was too great, leaving him in a dilemma.