Chapter 586: Turning Danger into Safety

A loud rumbling sound erupted!

The golden lightning bolt exploded violently upon touching the green shadow, transforming into countless golden arcs that burst outward in all directions, like a golden sun that flashed and vanished, causing the nearby void to tremble violently.

The dense green shadow that had flown out from the giant rat skeleton was struck hard, sent flying backward more than ten zhang away.

But it was not severely damaged; it immediately steadied itself and once again pounced toward Han Li, moving even faster, disappearing from midair in a flash.

At this moment, Han Li's body blazed with golden light as he activated his cultivation technique at full speed and let out a loud shout.

A golden light flashed behind him, and the True Word Wheel emerged, emitting countless golden ripples that spread outward, forming a region of golden ripples.

Everything around instantly froze—the rolling baleful aura, the trembling void, and the green shadow that was only a zhang away from Han Li.

Han Li let out a long breath, a thin layer of cold sweat forming on his forehead.

This green shadow was terrifyingly fast; the exchange had been lightning quick. If not for his quick reflexes and his mastery of time laws, he would surely have been invaded by it.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked at the green shadow with a hint of curiosity.

But just then, the originally still green shadow suddenly rippled, emitting a bright green light that even dyed the surrounding golden ripples green.

Han Li was startled, but before he could react, a powerful law force suddenly erupted from the green shadow.

A green line shot out from the green shadow, flying swiftly toward Han Li to slash him, cutting a long gap through the golden ripples as it passed.

However, the green line clearly expended a great deal of energy breaking through the golden ripples, rapidly dimming, but it still reached Han Li.

The green shadow rippled again, its shape suddenly becoming extremely slender, like a sheet of green paper, following closely behind the green line as it flew toward Han Li, crossing the distance of a zhang in an instant.

Han Li's hand had only risen halfway when the green shadow flashed and entered his body.

Once inside, the green shadow immediately transformed into a vast and pure baleful aura, spreading rapidly through his body.

Wherever the baleful aura passed, Han Li's meridians instantly became cold and numb; he could not muster a trace of immortal spiritual power, and his body was immobilized.

The golden light on his body dissipated like snow under the scorching sun, the surrounding region of golden ripples vanished, and his entire body was enveloped in a dark green glow.

The series of changes happened so swiftly that even Han Li's usually sharp reactions were completely overwhelmed, and he was subdued.

His heart sank, but he did not panic; his mind raced, urgently thinking of a countermeasure.

At that moment, a cackling laugh suddenly echoed in his mind.

In Han Li's sea of consciousness, a dim green light appeared, taking the form of a green mouse. As soon as it appeared, it ferociously pounced toward a golden figure sitting cross-legged with eyes closed.

You're asking for death!

The golden figure suddenly opened its eyes and roared, rubbing its hands together and then pointing forward. A crystalline sword shadow materialized and slashed at the green mouse.

At this moment, although Han Li's immortal spiritual power could not circulate, the vast spiritual power in his mind was unaffected.

With a tearing sound!

The green mouse was instantly cut in two.

But the bisected green mouse seemed unaffected, transforming into two balls of green light that continued to pounce toward the golden figure.

The golden figure frowned and raised both hands again.

Two crystalline chains materialized, swiftly wrapping around the two balls of green light, but without crushing them.

The two balls of green light struggled fiercely within the crystalline chains, emitting faint squeaking sounds.

Although the green light was dim, it contained astonishing soul power. Under its fierce struggle, the two chains trembled and seemed on the verge of loosening.

The golden figure made a hand seal, and the two chains immediately intertwined, while nearby crystalline light flashed and several more crystalline chains appeared, also swiftly binding together.

Amid the crisp clinking of chains, a chain cage materialized—the "Spirit Prison" technique—and the two balls of green light were trapped inside.

The two balls of green light merged again into a green mouse, its eyes filled with fury and alarm as it slammed into the Spirit Prison and gnawed at the chains with its teeth.

The Spirit Prison shook but showed no sign of breaking open.

But before Han Li could breathe a sigh of relief, another change occurred.

With the green mouse imprisoned in the Spirit Prison, the pure baleful aura brought by the green shadow immediately lost control and became scattered.

Han Li's immortal spiritual power still could not circulate, but the baleful aura within his body sensed the pure baleful aura and emerged on its own.

A dense black mist appeared on his body, rolling turbulently.

Boom!

The baleful aura from the dense green shadow immediately merged into the black mist swirling around Han Li's body. The black mist, as if receiving a powerful tonic, swelled rapidly.

The Profound Baleful Nether Spirit Art inexplicably began to circulate wildly on its own, frantically absorbing the baleful aura from the green shadow.

In Han Li's sea of consciousness, the green mouse trapped in the Spirit Prison suddenly showed a terrified expression and let out a piercing shriek.

The green light on its body flickered violently, and as the pure baleful aura was absorbed, its body began to shrink very slowly, like a leaking balloon.

Seeing this, Han Li was momentarily stunned, then seemed to think of something, a complex expression flashing through his eyes.

In his sea of consciousness, the golden figure did nothing else but continued to maintain the technique, keeping the green mouse trapped.

As the Profound Baleful Nether Spirit Art circulated, the surrounding baleful aura also surged, flowing into his body like a tide. In particular, the dense baleful aura emanating from the giant rat skeleton formed a thick pillar of baleful aura that continuously poured into Han Li.

At this moment, the speed at which he absorbed baleful aura was more than ten times faster than when he had previously been charging his immortal apertures.

A massive amount of baleful aura surged into Han Li's body, forming a grand torrent of baleful aura that charged toward his closed immortal apertures, spontaneously beginning to break through them.

Han Li was already dumbfounded.

But he was completely unable to move, so he could only watch helplessly as all this unfolded.

Under the impact of the baleful aura torrent, his immortal apertures began to loosen rapidly, and one by one, they were forcibly opened.

In just a few moments, three immortal apertures had already been forced open!

Han Li was overjoyed.

But soon he couldn't smile anymore; a layer of blood-red appeared on his face, looking somewhat frightening.

With the immortal apertures being so brutally forced open, his meridians trembled violently, causing pain a hundred times more intense than when he had previously used baleful aura to charge his apertures.

But he could not circulate his energy to protect his body and had to grit his teeth and endure.

As time passed, the Profound Baleful Nether Spirit Art within Han Li circulated faster and faster, and the pure baleful aura from the green shadow was soon completely absorbed into his own baleful aura.

In his sea of consciousness, the green mouse, now several times smaller than before, let out a desperate shriek, then burst apart with a bang, completely annihilated.

Seeing this, Han Li relaxed and withdrew the Spirit Prison.

Without that baleful aura, control of his body returned to him.

However, the Profound Baleful Nether Spirit Art was still beyond his control, circulating wildly, frantically devouring the surrounding baleful aura and charging at his immortal apertures.

With two muffled bangs from within his body, two more immortal apertures were forced open.

His body trembled, the blood-red on his face deepened further, a trace of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, his chest heaved violently, and his breathing became somewhat erratic.

Alarmed, Han Li quickly circulated his immortal spiritual power to protect his body and meridians.

After a moment of deliberation, he did not try to stop the wildly circulating Profound Baleful Nether Spirit Art.

Time passed, and muffled sounds continuously came from within Han Li's body as immortal aperture after immortal aperture was forced open.

After an unknown period of time.

At this point, the baleful aura on Han Li's body had reached a terrifying density, not only solidifying but also leaping around him like clusters of black flames.

His face was now blood-red, almost dripping blood, with two streaks of blood at the corners of his mouth, looking somewhat ferocious and heavily injured.

However, his eyes were full of joy.

By now, 106 immortal apertures in his body had been forced open, and the Profound Baleful Nether Spirit Art was still circulating wildly, devouring the surrounding baleful aura.

A muffled bang came from within his body as another immortal aperture was forced open.

Han Li's body shook, and he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood, his eyes showing even more delight.

With 107 immortal apertures opened, his cultivation was nearly at the peak of the Golden Immortal stage; one more step would bring him to the Taiyi realm.

At that moment, the 107 immortal apertures within him seemed to resonate, trembling simultaneously and rapidly absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Torrents of spiritual energy poured into Han Li's body, transforming into streams of pure immortal spiritual power that surged through his meridians.

The Profound Baleful Nether Spirit Art seemed to have finally had its fill, slowly ceasing its circulation until it stopped completely.

Han Li collapsed to the ground, utterly drained.

After a long while, he took out a healing pill and swallowed it, sat up straight, closed his eyes, and began to regulate his breathing.

After a long time, he opened his eyes; the blood-red on his face had mostly faded, indicating that his injuries were under control.

Han Li took a deep breath and stood up, feeling the greatly increased immortal spiritual power within him. His heart surged with excitement, and he couldn't help but clench his fists.

What had just happened was extremely perilous. It seemed that a remnant soul from the giant rat skeleton, or perhaps the skeleton had developed its own consciousness after countless years, had attempted to invade his sea of consciousness using its boundless baleful aura.

For any other immortal, even a Taiyi realm cultivator, facing such a scale of baleful aura assault, unable to move their physical body, even their soul would likely have collapsed. If the enemy had succeeded, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

Fortunately, he had previously obtained from Mo Yu the Profound Baleful Nether Spirit Art, which uses baleful aura to charge immortal apertures, and had cultivated in this baleful environment for so long. Moreover, his spiritual power was exceptionally strong, allowing him to just barely turn danger into safety.

And by a twist of fate, being infused with baleful aura had caused his strength to advance by leaps and bounds once again, and now he was only a hair's breadth away from the Taiyi realm.

However, this sudden surge in cultivation was too strange, and the excessive accumulation of baleful aura within him left him somewhat worried.