Chapter 576: Karmic Obsession

With a tearing sound!

The Taiyi-stage Devouring Gold Beetle opened its mouth and spat out a thick beam of golden light, which streaked across the sky like a bolt of lightning.

This golden light was dazzling, with faint golden crystalline threads visible within, exuding a terrifying aura of destruction.

In the next moment, with a thunderous roar, the golden light split apart like a living thing, transforming into over a dozen smaller beams of golden light, each chasing after a green phoenix phantom.

These golden beams were extremely fast, and since the green phoenix phantoms had greatly slowed down, they caught up with the green shadows in a flash.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

With a series of muffled thunderclaps, the golden beams suddenly exploded, turning into rounds of golden suns that radiated a rolling aura of destruction. Wherever they passed, the void buzzed and trembled, torn apart into spatial cracks.

The green shadows were engulfed and devoured by the golden suns, instantly obliterated as if swept away with irresistible force.

In a flash of the void within the golden light, the green phoenix's true body emerged, its feathers in disarray, the wound on its chest and abdomen split open again, blood gushing out, appearing severely injured.

Jin Tong stood on the green phoenix's back, also covered in wounds, with countless fine cracks on her golden carapace.

As for the Pixiu and Crab Daoist, they were nowhere to be seen, though faint white and golden fragments could be seen in the surrounding void.

The green phoenix spat out a mouthful of blood, but its gaze did not lose its luster. Golden light blazed from its body, and the True Word Wheel of Dharma reappeared, as if about to do something.

But at that moment, golden light flickered in the void beneath the green phoenix, and dozens of golden crystalline threads suddenly emerged, swiftly piercing into the green phoenix's body and exiting through its back.

The green phoenix's form suddenly halted, and the golden light on its body also froze.

These golden crystalline threads suddenly tightened, and the green phoenix's body instantly turned into hundreds of pieces of flesh, falling downward.

Jin Tong on the green phoenix's back was not pierced by these crystalline threads. Seeing this, her expression changed drastically, and her body immediately turned into a ball of golden light, fleeing forward.

But the golden crystalline threads interwove like lightning, forming a golden net that instantly trapped Jin Tong's body, binding it tightly.

Then, golden light flashed ahead, and the Taiyi-stage Devouring Gold Beetle materialized out of thin air. It opened its mouth and sprayed out a patch of golden mist, wrapping around Jin Tong's body.

Jin Tong's face showed terror as she struggled fiercely, shooting countless golden beams from her body, transforming into various attacks that struck at the surrounding golden mist.

But no matter what attack she launched, as soon as it touched the golden mist, it vanished like water entering the sea, disappearing without a trace.

The Taiyi-stage Devouring Gold Beetle smiled contemptuously and opened its mouth wide.

A stream of golden mist rolled out, wrapping around Jin Tong and pulling her toward its mouth.

Jin Tong's body rapidly shrank within the mist, soon disappearing into the Taiyi-stage Devouring Gold Beetle's mouth, and her cries abruptly ceased.

The Taiyi-stage Devouring Gold Beetle hovered in midair, its eyes tightly shut, golden light churning on its body. The surrounding golden spirit domain rippled, then like a whale drinking water, it was absorbed into its body and vanished.

After a moment, the golden light on the Devouring Gold Beetle suddenly blazed, forming wave after wave of substantial golden light waves that swept outward.

An immensely powerful aura emanated from the Devouring Gold Beetle, rising bit by bit.

"Finally found another completed form... One day, I will return..."

The Devouring Gold Beetle murmured to itself, then raised its head and let out a long howl before slowly closing its eyes.

...

At the edge of the ten-thousand-mile forest.

A low gray-brown cliff stood there, covered with jagged rocks and grotesque boulders. A jade-green flying carriage flashed down from high altitude, plummeting like a meteor and crashing to the ground with a roar.

The cliff shook violently, sending rocks tumbling down, raising trails of gray-yellow dust on the slope.

On the flying carriage, Han Li felt a surge of blood in his chest. He grunted and swallowed the sweet, bloody taste that rose to his throat.

"Uncle..." Jin Tong called out worriedly.

Han Li waved his hand, signaling that he was fine.

After releasing his spiritual sense to probe for a while, he frowned slightly, then asked, "Jin Tong, try to sense where that Devouring Gold Beetle is now."

Hearing this, she quickly closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Eh... Uncle, how strange... It seems to have stopped moving, staying in its previous position without any sign of movement." Jin Tong suddenly opened her eyes, greatly puzzled.

"It didn't pursue us?" Han Li said as he took out a pill and swallowed it.

"No, but..." Jin Tong nodded and said.

"But what?" Han Li raised an eyebrow and immediately asked.

"Its soul and mana fluctuations are abnormal. They surge violently, as if in the midst of intense consumption, but in reality it hasn't moved even an inch. What's going on?" Gold Boy scratched the back of his head, greatly puzzled.

"Based on what you've described... it seems to be trapped in some powerful illusion..." Han Li said slowly after a moment's thought.

"Illusion? Why would it suddenly fall into an illusion?" Gold Boy exclaimed in surprise.

"I don't know either... Regardless of the reason, it's a good thing for us. Alright, let's not delay and continue on our way." Han Li shook his head and said.

Gold Boy immediately nodded.

Just as the jade flying carriage's light reignited and was about to shoot into the sky, Han Li suddenly felt a wave of dizziness, and a voice like a warning bell rang out in his sea of consciousness:

"Human boy, I've temporarily detained that Devouring Gold Immortal for you, but you only have twenty years. With your current strength, continuing forward is no different from seeking death. I advise you to turn back and go back to where you came from."

Han Li was greatly alarmed. He silently activated his Soul Refining Art to stabilize his sea of consciousness and asked with his mind: "May I ask who you are, sir? Why are you helping me?"

As soon as he asked, the violent churning in his sea of consciousness disappeared, and naturally no voice answered.

Han Li frowned deeply, suddenly releasing his divine sense to its maximum and probing the surrounding world, but found nothing.

"What's wrong, Uncle?" Gold Boy, seeing Han Li's strange behavior, quickly asked.

Han Li seemed not to hear. He stood frozen for a long while, frowning deeply and looking down in silence, as if weighing something.

After a moment, he sighed softly, shook his head, and drove the jade flying carriage straight into the sky, vanishing as a streak of light.

...

Far away, countless miles distant, there was a vast peach orchard in full bloom.

Beneath an enormous ancient peach tree in the grove lay a massive bed carriage, on which sprawled a huge snow-white fox. Between its brows grew a tuft of golden fur, resembling a heavenly eye.

The snow-white fox's eyes were half-closed, looking as if it were half-asleep. Its body was shrouded in a lustrous sheen, making it appear like a divine creature, inspiring solemn reverence.

Not far in front of the snow-white fox, a young girl in a short white dress, with a light and graceful figure and a flawless, enchanting face, wore a look of deep worry. After hesitating for a long while, she finally spoke:

"Ancestor, since you can trap that Devouring Gold Immortal, why not help him further and simply eliminate this worry for him?"

"Le'er, I have no good feelings toward the human race. If it weren't for the kindness he showed in protecting you back in the Spirit Realm, given his audacity in trespassing into our Spirit Fox territory, I would have already swatted him dead with a single slap." The snow-white fox did not open its eyes, still feigning sleep as it spoke slowly.

The pretty young girl called "Le'er" was none other than Liu Le'er, who had once depended on Han Li for survival in the Spirit Realm.

"Ancestor..."

Liu Le'er was about to plead further when the snow-white fox she called "Ancestor" suddenly opened its eyes wide and barked:

"My intervention this time is partly to repay your old debt of gratitude, but also to sever the karmic ties between you and him. This matter concerns your future path of cultivation. Though I dote on you, I won't let you act recklessly. If it comes to it, I'll just go and swat him dead, cutting off the karma at its root."

"Ancestor, no! Le'er knows she was wrong..." Liu Le'er was startled and quickly said.

Seeing her like this, the White Fox Ancestor spoke with some pity:

"That Gold Devouring Immortal is no small matter. Even I would rather not get involved, let alone kill it outright. I don't know how that brat managed to attract it. But don't worry too much. As long as the kid is smart enough to back off when he sees the difficulty, it's not impossible for him to flee back to that damned Immortal Domain of his within twenty years."

"Stone Brother..." Liu Le'er felt no comfort from these words; instead, her eyes grew more worried.

...

In the blink of an eye, more than half a year had passed.

Han Li, accompanied by the Gold Devouring Beetle, had been pressing deeper into the Barbarian Wilderness, with hardly any rest along the way.

But as they ventured further, the savage beasts they encountered grew increasingly powerful, some even rivaling the Gold Devouring Beetle in strength, forcing them to slow down and proceed with caution.

Even so, they still inadvertently provoked several beasts and were chased in desperate flight.

Fortunately, these creatures were not the Gold Devouring Beetle; at most, they would pursue for a few days and nights, and when they saw no immediate success, they would voluntarily give up, not truly hounding them to the death.

Half a month earlier, while fleeing from a Taiyi-level savage beast, Han Li had charged headlong into a valley.

The valley was vast, filled with dense ancient trees and exuded a profound tranquility.

However, upon entering, Han Li discovered that the valley was littered with the carcasses of savage beasts, the stench of blood overwhelming.

Realizing something was amiss, he tried to retreat, but before he could, countless vines and branches surrounded him, forming a massive cage of tree vines that imprisoned him.

It turned out that the trees in the valley, seemingly a dense forest, were in fact a single immensely powerful tree demon.

In the end, Han Li had no choice but to use the Evil-Crushing Divine Lightning from his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, unleashing a lightning array technique, to teleport out of there.