Chapter 443: A Critical Moment

"There really is a restriction. It seems that Miss Lu's spiritual eyes are sharper." Han Li's eyes lit up as he spoke.

"Not at all. I just happened to notice a clue, but I wonder what lies behind this restriction?" Lu Yuqing was startled and forced a smile.

"We'll know once we break it open." Han Li also noticed the unnatural look on Lu Yuqing's face but paid it no mind. He waved his hand.

Hum!

A giant cyan sword materialized, radiating dazzling cyan sword light.

Golden light flickered on the giant sword, and thick golden arcs of lightning emerged, instantly transforming it into a golden thunderbolt that exuded a terrifying aura of destruction.

Han Li formed a hand seal and pointed. The golden thunderbolt, accompanied by an intense sound of wind and thunder, slashed fiercely at the mountain wall.

The restriction on the mountain wall seemed to sense the danger. It immediately emitted a vast expanse of dazzling white light, forming a thick white light screen. Clusters of white spiritual light leaped within it, as if alive, blocking the giant sword.

The golden thunder sword radiated intense light and struck the white light screen with force.

With a crisp "crack," the restriction, which appeared extremely profound, was as fragile as paper before the golden thunder sword and was easily shattered.

With a "bang," the white light screen shattered, scattering into countless white spiritual lights, revealing a small valley.

A fairly large cyan palace stood there. A plaque hung above its main gate, inscribed with three large characters: 'Flying Immortal Pavilion.'

The palace's main door was half-open, and faint white light could be seen emanating from within, mixed with faint fluctuations of spatial power.

Both Han Li and the others felt the spatial fluctuations and were overjoyed. They immediately flew into the valley, passed through the palace gate, and landed inside the hall.

The palace looked impressive from the outside, but inside it was quite empty, with only a stone platform three feet above the ground, about ten zhang in radius.

On the stone platform was a white formation emitting faint white light.

With a flicker, Han Li appeared on the stone platform.

He quickly glanced over the white formation and nodded thoughtfully.

This was indeed a teleportation formation, likely the exit of this secret realm.

Each node of the formation was embedded with a celestial stone, over two hundred in total.

Perhaps due to the passage of time, aside from a few celestial stones that still retained some celestial spiritual power, the others had become transparent.

At that moment, a series of rumbling sounds came from overhead.

Cracks had now spread across the sky. The four thick beams of light flickered once and then dissipated.

The entire secret realm finally began to truly collapse. A spatial rift spread out, precisely cutting across the top of the giant peak.

Bang!

The top of the giant peak directly burst open, countless huge rocks raining down, and the small valley was also affected, with massive stones falling like rain.

"Hurry!" Han Li shouted, waving his hand.

Seven star rings shot out, spinning swiftly like lightning, then nested and connected with each other, forming a larger ring.

Dazzling starlight radiated from the Seven Luminaries Ring, creating a starry curtain with countless star patterns flickering above the valley, blocking all falling rocks.

Han Li and Lu Yuqing immediately set to work, removing all the depleted immortal origin stones and replacing them with new ones.

With the new immortal origin stones inlaid, the white light emitted by the teleportation formation brightened severalfold, radiating rings of white light.

A hint of joy flickered in Han Li's eyes, but as he was about to step into it, his brow furrowed, and he stopped, looking at a corner of the formation.

At that moment, all the formation lines of the teleportation array were emitting dazzling white light, except for that corner, where the lines were noticeably dimmer than elsewhere.

A stream of spiritual power flowed through there, seeming somewhat strained.

Lu Yuqing also noticed the situation, her pretty face changing as she anxiously asked, "Could there be something wrong with the teleportation formation?"

Han Li did not speak; he immediately formed hand seals, and streams of spell seals sank into those dim formation lines.

The formation lines brightened slightly at first, but then immediately dimmed again, even more than before.

Seeing this, Han Li quickly stopped and said, "It seems that due to the passage of time, this teleportation formation is about to fail."

"Then what should we do, Brother Han? Can you repair it?" Lu Yuqing asked urgently.

At this moment, the entire secret realm was collapsing more and more violently, and huge cracks were appearing on the mountain below the peak, which seemed on the verge of collapse as well.

"This formation is somewhat complex; I don't have the ability to repair it. And even if I could, there's no time. But don't worry, this teleportation formation can still barely function; it should be usable one more time," Han Li said thoughtfully.

With that, he immediately stepped into the teleportation formation.

"Really? That's good." Lu Yuqing relaxed and also stepped in.

Han Li muttered incantations and waved his hand, sending out a spell seal.

Hum!

The teleportation formation immediately blazed with light, illuminating the entire hall in a bright white, and began to operate rapidly.

Dazzling light emerged above the hall, shooting straight into the sky, extremely conspicuous.

At that moment, at the entrance below the peak, the void rippled, and figures emerged one after another, precisely Xue Han and the others.

"A bunch of idiots, can't accomplish anything without me. A mere entrance took three days to find..." Xue Han said angrily, apparently scolding Gu Guyansan and the others.

But before he could finish, he saw the collapsing secret realm and his voice immediately died down.

The others were also dumbfounded, standing there in a daze.

"Quick, retreat! This space is about to collapse!" Xue Han roared, immediately turning around.

But the void fluctuations at the point where they had entered had already subsided, leaving a stable stretch of space; there was no way to return by the same path.

Xue Han's expression changed, and in an instant a layer of cold sweat as large as soybeans appeared on his forehead.

He knew all too well how terrifying the force of a spatial collapse could be; even he would find it hard to survive.

"My lord, look over there." Gu Yan Sanren pointed to the mountainside, where a bright white light flickered, quite conspicuous.

Seeing this, Xue Han immediately released his spiritual sense.

"It's them! They're about to use a teleportation array to leave. Hurry over!" Xue Han's face suddenly lit up with joy. He shouted loudly, his form transforming into a black light that shot toward the great hall.

The others immediately followed in flight.

Inside the great hall, Han Li formed hand seals with both hands, activating the array, which emitted an increasingly bright light.

Because the array patterns at one corner were on the verge of collapse, he dared not activate it too quickly.

Time passed bit by bit.

As the teleportation array operated intensely, the array patterns at the corner rapidly grew dimmer.

Han Li's eyelids twitched, and beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

Lu Yuqing also looked at the array patterns there, her pretty face taut with tension.

Suddenly, her delicate body trembled, and she turned her head to look down the mountain. There, a black light led the way, followed by several other streaks of flying light, speeding toward them with incredible swiftness.

"Not good, it's Xue Han and his group catching up!" Lu Yuqing's expression changed abruptly, and she exclaimed in a low voice.

Han Li, fully focused on activating the array, had not noticed the surroundings. At her words, he abruptly looked up.

The black light that was Xue Han had now flown to outside the great hall and was rushing toward the array like lightning.

Han Li's pupils contracted. With lightning speed, he formed a hand seal with one hand and pointed.

The starry light curtain above the valley suddenly vanished. Seven star rings materialized, radiating dazzling starlight, and then all disappeared into thin air.

The next moment, the seven star rings appeared out of nowhere in front of the great hall, blurred, and sank into the black light that was Xue Han.

With an angry roar, Xue Han's form materialized at the entrance of the great hall.

His limbs, chest, lower abdomen, and neck were each encircled by a star ring, deeply embedded into his flesh.

"What the hell is this!" Xue Han bellowed, black light roiling over his body as he struggled violently.

The black light, like thick ink, rapidly stained the seven star rings. The starlight they emitted quickly dimmed, but they still firmly imprisoned Xue Han's body.

Han Li opened his mouth and spat out a mass of green light that merged into the array. He then fiercely urged the hand seal.

Hum!

The white light emitted by the teleportation array flared up sharply, finally reaching a critical point.

Waves of spatial force surged from the array, enveloping the two of them.

Han Li and Lu Yuqing's figures flickered and vanished from the array without a trace.

But almost at the same time, the array patterns at the corner of the teleportation array also reached their limit.

With a soft "crack," several cracks appeared at the corner of the array, and the array patterns there turned completely gray.

Then, after a final bright flash, the white light emitted by the entire teleportation array also disappeared completely.

Outside the great hall, Xue Han's body now radiated black light. He rapidly chanted incantations, his body swelling up a full size.

Bang!

The seven star rings binding him exploded into countless fragments, shooting outward in all directions.

With a flash of black light, Xue Han's figure appeared inside the great hall.

Looking at the teleportation array, now completely devoid of light and with a shattered corner, his face instantly turned ashen, extremely ugly.

Gu Yan Sanren and the others also flew in at that moment. Seeing the state of the teleportation array, their faces all turned deathly pale.

Rumble!

At that moment, the secret realm finally collapsed completely. Vast torrents of spatial turbulence gushed out from the spatial rifts.

The entire giant peak collapsed with a roar, countless huge boulders tumbling down, burying the small valley.

...

In a dim space, below stretched an endless black Gobi desert. The ground was covered with black stones of all sizes, with only an occasional tuft of wild grass growing in the crevices of rocks, giving it an extremely desolate appearance.

The sky was a murky yellow, giving a feeling of gloom and heaviness.

In the grayish midair, a low rumbling sound of thunder suddenly arose.

Then streaks of pitch-black light materialized, forming a black sphere several zhang in size. Black lightning bolts crackled across the sphere, emitting a sizzling, strange sound.

The black sphere twisted and changed, suddenly transforming into a spatial rift several zhang in size.

Then two streaks of light shot out from within, revealing the figures of a man and a woman.

The two were unsteady on their feet, staggering before regaining their balance.

The man was a middle-aged man of large build, with a dark, ordinary face, but a pair of bright, piercing eyes.

The woman had white teeth and starry eyes, with a beautiful countenance; she was a rare beauty.

Both wore grim expressions, especially the woman, whose face was as pale as paper, with faint traces of blood at the corners of her mouth.

These two were none other than Han Li and Lu Yuqing, who had left that space via the teleportation array.