Chapter 598 Severing Karma

The phantom transformed from the Gold Boy radiated brilliant light, and spiritual light circulated over its surface. Its massive body immediately became much more solid and slowly began to change, soon turning into a tall, thin, blurry figure.

An immense pressure emanated from the blurry figure. This pressure was different from spiritual pressure; it was a vast oppression nearly at the level of life itself, like the feeling of a mortal facing an immortal.

Han Li and the others stood in the distance, and caught off guard, they were instantly enveloped by this pressure.

The Pixiu fared the worst. Traces of blood seeped from its seven orifices, and it let out a miserable cry. Its form immediately turned into a white light, flew to Han Li's waist, and became a white jade pendant.

Han Li's vision also went dark, his chest felt as if struck by a heavy hammer, and he staggered back more than ten steps before barely steadying himself.

The Crab Immortal saw the trouble and quickly turned into a yellow light, flying into Han Li's body.

Only Mo Guang, though heavily injured, had greatly increased his cultivation after possessing the Gray Immortal's shell. He merely swayed a few times before stabilizing himself again.

The golden figure existed for only a few breaths, then turned into a golden light and vanished into the golden mass.

The golden vortex suddenly expanded again, as if a golden mouth took a huge inhale.

A tremendous suction force surged out, and the five-colored spiritual clouds in midair all rolled down, vanishing into the golden vortex.

The golden vortex, like a bottomless pit, continuously devoured the spiritual clouds in the sky while slowly growing larger itself.

After devouring for a full quarter of an hour, all the spiritual clouds in the sky disappeared without a trace. Only then did the golden vortex slowly stop, and then it began to shrink rapidly.

After a few breaths, the golden vortex vanished completely, and the sky returned to calm. Only a golden ball about ten feet in size floated quietly there, like a golden egg.

Seeing this, Han Li breathed a sigh of relief, but the terrifying golden figure from before kept replaying in his mind, impossible to shake off.

The golden sphere floated in midair, occasionally flashing with dazzling golden light.

From time to time, waves of heart-stopping aura fluctuations emanated from within the golden sphere, as if it were gestating some terrifying existence.

After a moment's hesitation, Han Li's form flickered, and the next moment he appeared near the golden sphere.

A white light shot out from his sleeve, spun around, and turned into a small white flag—the immortal artifact obtained from Gongsun Jiu.

He cast a spell, and the small white flag immediately unfurled in the wind, becoming a snow-white banner several hundred feet in size, fluttering in the breeze.

As the banner fluttered, countless white mists surged forth, quickly forming a white cloud several acres in size that submerged the golden sphere.

The cloud seemed to have the effect of concealing aura fluctuations; the astonishing aura emanating from the golden sphere was mostly blocked, becoming less alarming.

"Let's leave this place first." Han Li formed a hand seal and was about to urge the cloud to wrap around the golden sphere and fly away with him.

But the next moment, his expression changed, and he stopped.

Not far ahead, a man in white robes had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

This man appeared to be around thirty or forty years old, with extremely handsome features. Amidst his flowing black hair was a small tuft of golden hair that shimmered faintly.

Han Li's expression turned grave. This white-robed man had appeared silently and without any warning; even with his powerful divine sense, he had detected nothing at all.

Mo Guang was also startled, clearly having noticed nothing beforehand either.

It was as if the other party had materialized out of thin air.

Moreover, although this person did not emit a powerful aura, Han Li's intuition told him that the man before him was by no means simple.

The white-robed man looked Han Li up and down, then glanced at Mo Guang, seemingly in no hurry to speak.

"May I ask, senior, who are you?" Han Li's mind raced as he slowly spoke.

"You are quite good; you've surprised me a bit." The white-robed man did not answer Han Li's question, but spoke with a smile.

Han Li was startled upon hearing this.

From the seemingly random remark, he could tell that the other party might have arrived nearby long ago, perhaps even witnessing his battle against the Devouring Gold Immortal.

"Eh, your voice... Was it you, senior, who imprisoned that Devouring Gold Immortal for twenty years and sent me a message not to proceed?" Han Li seemed to recall something and asked with a cupped-fist salute.

"That's right, it was me." The white-robed man said calmly.

"Thank you, senior, for your assistance!" Han Li straightened his expression and bowed deeply.

If not for the Devouring Gold Immortal being trapped for twenty years, he and the Gold Boy would likely have perished by now, and would most likely have been swallowed into its belly.

This white-robed man had essentially saved his life.

"I was merely acting on someone else's behalf." The white-robed man said indifferently.

Han Li was taken aback; this answer was unexpected.

"I helped you escape danger to repay the debt of your saving Le'er back then. From now on, there will be no more karma between you and her." The white-robed man said calmly.

"Le'er... Liu Le'er? Is she with you, senior? How is she doing now?" Han Li's face showed surprise, and he immediately pressed for an answer.

"Le'er is doing very well now. Although you two had a past in the Spirit Realm, as I just said, the karma between you is over. There's no need to meet again in the future." The white-robed man's expression turned slightly cold as he spoke.

"Yes." Han Li was silent for a moment before agreeing.

Although the white-clad man had not revealed his cultivation level, Han Li guessed that he was likely a Daluo realm powerhouse.

Faced with such a powerful existence, even though he was reluctant in his heart, he could only nod, and as long as Liu Le'er was well, that was enough.

"Also, you must not tell anyone about what happened here." Seeing Han Li agree, the white-clad man's expression softened and he said.

Hearing this, Han Li felt a flicker of surprise inwardly, but did not show it on his face, and nodded again in agreement.

Seeing this, the white-clad man nodded slightly, turned his hand and produced an object—a green jade slip—and tossed it over.

Han Li instinctively reached out and caught it.

"This is a map. Leave this place quickly and never return." After saying this, the white-clad man swept his gaze around, pausing briefly on Mo Guang.

A strange glint seemed to flash in his eyes, and then his figure flickered, vanishing from the spot entirely.

Han Li raised an eyebrow and gave a wry smile.

It seemed that human cultivators were truly unwelcome in this barbaric borderland. If not for Liu Le'er's sake, that white-clad man probably wouldn't have said a word to him, and might even have attacked him directly.

"Huh, this person gives me a feeling even more terrifying than that Taiyi stage Metal Devouring Immortal. Could he be a Daluo existence?" Mo Guang seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as he slowly spoke, a gray glint flickering in his eyes as he glanced at Han Li.

Han Li said nothing. After a moment of silence, he took a deep breath to calm his mind, then extended a wisp of his recovered divine sense into the green jade slip.

His heart immediately rejoiced—the map given by the white-clad man was quite detailed.

Moreover, the map clearly marked four vast territories, with explicit annotations stating that these four regions belonged to four major clans, and that strangers were forbidden to enter on pain of death.

One area he had passed through earlier belonged to the Tianhu Clan, and it seemed that the patriarch of this clan was the white-robed man from before.

Liu Le'er had said she was borrowed by a fellow clan member; now it appeared that this was most likely the Tianhu Clan.

If so, he need not worry too much about her.

Outside these four regions, a relatively safe route was marked, leading all the way to the Black Mountain Immortal Domain.

Han Li looked at the map for a moment, then withdrew his divine sense.

"Daoist Han, what are your plans now?" Mo Guang asked upon seeing this.

"Since that person has given us the order to leave, we should depart to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings." Han Li said no more, waved his hand to summon the green flying carriage, and then formed a hand seal to guide it.

The white cloud rapidly shrank into a dense white mist ball, enveloping the golden sphere containing Jintong and landing on the flying carriage.

"Daoist Han, do you have a yin-attribute spirit beast pouch on you?" Mo Guang suddenly spoke.

Han Li was taken aback, searched himself, and produced a black spirit beast pouch, handing it over.

This item was a yin-attribute spirit beast pouch obtained from Qu Ling, with considerable space inside.

"Thank you. Please wait a moment, Daoist."

Mo Guang expressed his thanks, then flew down toward the abyss below, soon landing at its bottom.

The abyss was riddled with holes and had turned into a large deep pit. The originally dense baleful qi had mostly leaked out, leaving only a small amount.

Mo Guang waved his hand and cast a spell, and the spirit beast pouch shot out, its opening widening as it emitted a powerful suction force.

The remaining baleful qi at the bottom of the abyss immediately surged in, forming a black pillar of qi that poured into the spirit beast pouch.

The residual baleful qi here was not much, and in just a few moments, all of it was collected into the pouch.

The flattened spirit beast pouch swelled up, and as it swayed, a sound like liquid colliding came from within.

The pouch, once light as a feather, now felt heavy, weighing two to three hundred jin. Even through the pouch, one could sense the dense yin-sha aura inside.

A hint of joy appeared on Mo Guang's face as he put away the spirit beast pouch, then shot upward and landed on the green flying carriage.

Han Li glanced at Mo Guang but said nothing, raising his hand and waving it.

A flash of golden lightning, and the figure of Crab Daoist appeared.

"Follow this route. You control the flying carriage." Han Li handed the jade slip to Crab Daoist and instructed.

Crab Daoist took the jade slip, examined it briefly, and then waved his hand to cast a spell.

The green flying carriage shone brightly, transforming into a green rainbow that shot into the distance, heading backward.

Han Li walked to one side of the flying carriage, closed his eyes, and concentrated, sensing the immortal apertures within his body.

At this moment, among the one hundred and seven immortal apertures, most had been broken through using the Profound Sha Nether Spirit Art, and each aperture contained a mass of black baleful qi slowly rotating.

Especially in the apertures broken through in the abyss, the black baleful qi was even denser.

Han Li sighed inwardly. Although relying on the Profound Sha Nether Spirit Art had greatly increased his cultivation speed, it felt somewhat like drinking poison to quench thirst. Advancing to the Taiyi stage in the future would likely be difficult.

After all, breaking through to the Taiyi stage would require facing the fifth decline of the Heavenly Human Five Declines, and this baleful qi was itself a great enemy.

He was silent for a moment, then shook his head, putting aside such thoughts, and slowly circulated his technique to recover from the lingering injuries of the previous battle.