Chapter 601: A Matter of Expediency

The immortal spiritual power within Han Li's body immediately surged up and was drawn into these immortal apertures, while the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from outside also came rolling in like a swarm of bees, entering the immortal apertures.

A series of strange gurgling sounds came from within these immortal apertures. Accompanied by these sounds, streams of pitch-black baleful qi surged out from the apertures and once again invaded his body.

This pitch-black baleful qi was so dark that it seemed capable of absorbing all light, even more intense than the baleful qi that had previously been on Han Li's body.

Not only that, but the black thread-like baleful qi within his immortal apertures also spread out, extending toward the other immortal apertures that had no baleful qi.

"What is going on?"

Han Li's expression changed, and he hastily activated the power of the Time Law to resist.

However, this eruption of baleful qi was even more violent than before, and the power of the Time Law seemed somewhat unable to withstand it. A gray glint occasionally flashed in his reddened eyes.

His expression changed again. With one hand forming a hand seal, he fully activated the True Word Wheel Scripture to try to withstand the impact of the baleful qi. At the same time, a white light flashed in his other hand, and a white jade box appeared. When opened, it contained a single Taiyi Pill.

Unlike the two Taiyi Pills just now, this pill had silver patterns on it that combined to form the pattern of a three-legged Golden Crow. The medicinal aura it emitted was much stronger than that of the other two Taiyi Pills.

Han Li carefully picked up this Taiyi Pill with two fair fingers and brought it to his mouth, but then suddenly stopped.

He looked at the pill in his hand, his eyes flickering.

The onset of the Baleful Tribulation was far more rapid than he had anticipated.

Although the quality of this last Taiyi Pill was superior to the previous two, he had no confidence at all that it could dispel the black thread-like baleful qi in his immortal apertures.

Based on the previous situation, it seemed more likely to fail.

He even speculated that for an ordinary late-Golden Immortal cultivator, although killing was inevitable in cultivation, the accumulated baleful qi was not as exaggerated as his own, which came from directly cultivating with baleful qi to impact the immortal apertures. An ordinary Taiyi Pill would probably be enough to resolve it, but his current condition was already not much different from half a Gray Immortal.

Swallowing the Taiyi Pill would likely be useless, unless he could find a way to solve the baleful qi problem in his immortal apertures and restore himself to a normal state.

Han Li's gaze suddenly focused. He put down the Taiyi Pill, turned his hand to put it away, and looked into the distance, sending a telepathic message.

In a hidden valley not far from the cave where Han Li was, Mo Guang and the others were sitting cross-legged in various places. The emerald flying carriage from before was parked in a corner of the valley, with golden light flickering above it. The Golden Child inside still showed no signs of awakening.

Suddenly, Mo Guang's expression moved, and he stood up.

"What are you going to do?" The Pixiu Xiao Bai suddenly jumped up on all fours, blocking the front of the carriage, and said warily.

"Your master asked me to come over."

Mo Guang didn't even glance at the Pixiu. After saying this indifferently, his form flickered and turned into a black light that shot out.

Before long, his figure appeared in front of the cave where Han Li was.

The restrictions inside the cave automatically opened, revealing a passage. Mo Guang stepped inside, and immediately a dense, extreme baleful qi rushed toward him, chilling to the bone.

Mo Guang's form did not pause at all; he slowly walked forward. Before long, a blurry figure mixed with black qi and golden light appeared before him, with only a pair of red-glowing eyes exceptionally bright.

"Fellow Daoist Han." Mo Guang's expression remained unchanged as he spoke slowly.

"Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, I asked you to come because I want you to lend me a hand." Han Li said to Mo Guang while fully operating the Time Law, his speech slow, as if even speaking was quite difficult.

"I understand. This action poses no risk to me; on the contrary, it will be beneficial." Mo Guang nodded, seeming to understand what Han Li meant, and sat down cross-legged beside Han Li.

Han Li didn't say anything more and immediately set to work.

He flicked his sleeve, and hundreds of black formation flags shot out, landing in various places around the cave.

His hands quickly formed hand seals. The black formation flags flashed with black light, and black formation patterns rapidly emerged, quickly forming a black formation several zhang in size.

Han Li muttered incantations, then suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a ball of essence blood, which sank into the formation.

The black formation immediately lit up, and then the formation around him made a "puff" sound as several arm-thick beams of black light emerged and pierced into his body.

The violently rolling black baleful qi on Han Li's body immediately paused, then flowed along these black beams into the black formation.

Each formation pattern of the formation emitted a faint black light, and the dense baleful qi flowed rapidly along these patterns.

In just a few breaths, the entire black formation was filled with dense baleful qi.

At that moment, the formation patterns around Mo Guang also suddenly brightened, and several beams of black light emerged from them, piercing into his body.

The dense baleful qi in the formation seemed to find an outlet and surged into Mo Guang's body.

Mo Guang's body trembled slightly but immediately returned to calm. Instead of being alarmed, he was delighted. After closing his eyes, black light emanated from his body, rapidly devouring the surging baleful qi.

For a time, about thirty percent of the baleful qi within Han Li's body was transferred to Mo Guang through the formation.

Mo Guang was surrounded by baleful qi, his eyes tightly shut, seemingly refining this dense baleful qi.

Han Li's expression relaxed. He chanted incantations again, and with his right hand forming a hand seal, he clenched his fist.

With a "whoosh" sound,

golden light flickered in his palm, and a golden jade bottle condensed out of the golden light. The bottle was engraved with six Time Dao patterns, gently flickering, emitting a very mysterious aura. It was the "Time Vial."

Inside the jade bottle lay a drop of translucent golden liquid, shimmering with a faint spiritual light.

Apart from the color difference, this liquid was very similar to the green liquid condensed by the Gourd Vine.

It wouldn't be accurate to say that Han Li had made no preparations for the Baleful Tribulation over the years. During his years of fleeing in the wilderness, whenever he had free time, he would use the Time Vial's ability to absorb the essence of heaven and earth, sun and moon, to condense Time Water Droplets.

After persisting for so many years, he had finally managed to condense one drop.

Han Li formed a hand seal and pointed at the Time Vial in the void. A beam of golden light immediately shot out from his palm and entered the Time Vial.

The Time Dao patterns on the bottle immediately brightened, and golden runes emerged inside the bottle. The Time Water Droplet also slowly floated up from the bottom of the bottle.

The nearby golden runes converged toward the Time Water Droplet and rapidly merged into it.

The golden spiritual light on the surface of the Time Water Droplet immediately intensified, and it began to spin rapidly.

The nearby spiritual energy of heaven and earth suddenly churned. Countless five-colored spiritual lights appeared within a radius of several thousand li, then rapidly converged and merged into the Time Water Droplet.

Han Li continuously formed hand seals, and beams of golden light entered the Time Vial.

The golden light emitted by the Time Water Droplet grew brighter and brighter, gradually solidifying and slowly extending toward both ends.

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

By now, the Time Water Droplet had disappeared from within the bottle, transformed into a golden crystal thread the length of a finger.

A strong power of the Time Law emanated from the golden crystal thread. Although it was also the Time Law, it was clearly different from the Time Law of Han Li's True Word Wheel.

At this moment, most of Han Li's body had turned black, and his eyes flickered with blood light, but he still retained a trace of clarity, though he was at the most critical juncture.

A flash of joy appeared in his eyes, and he immediately formed a hand seal and pointed.

The surface of the golden crystal thread flashed with light, shot out from the bottle, and then flashed as it sank into Han Li's chest.

Boom!

A large expanse of golden spiritual light suddenly burst forth from Han Li's body. Golden halos emerged, continuously spreading outward.

Waves of the power of the Time Law rippled within the golden light. The nearby void suddenly became blurry, as if separated by a layer of mist, and Han Li's figure also became indistinct.

The black formation also suddenly stopped operating. Mo Guang opened his eyes and stood up, looking at Han Li, who was enveloped in golden light. A gray light flickered in his eyes.

At this moment, his aura seemed to have grown slightly stronger than before.

The golden light flashed wildly for a full quarter of an hour, then rapidly thinned and finally disappeared completely, revealing Han Li's figure.

The black spots all over his body had vanished without a trace, and the red light in his eyes was also gone. His body had returned to its normal state.

The scene of him being invaded by baleful qi and on the verge of collapse just moments ago seemed like nothing but a dream.

"Fellow Daoist Han, congratulations." Mo Guang said slowly, seeing Han Li's current state.

"It's just a temporary measure. Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang." Han Li glanced at Mo Guang and said with a faint smile.

"It's just a small matter. You're too kind, Fellow Daoist Han." Mo Guang shook his head and said.

Han Li withdrew his gaze from Mo Guang, took a deep breath, and sensed his current internal condition. His expression remained unchanged, but inwardly he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

That golden crystal thread was the Time Thread condensed by the Time Vial, which had the effect of delaying the Five Declines of Heaven and Man, temporarily suppressing and postponing the Baleful Tribulation.

This was his first time using the Time Thread. He couldn't be sure how long it could delay the Baleful Tribulation, but based on his feeling, it should be safe for a few hundred years.

Han Li adjusted his mood, then flicked his sleeve. The black formation flags in the cave, along with the restriction artifacts arranged around, all flew back and disappeared into his sleeve.

After doing this, his form turned into a beam of green light. Before long, he arrived at the valley where Crab Daoist and the Pixiu were, with Mo Guang following closely behind.

"Master, you... you're okay?" The Pixiu, who had been guarding the carriage, saw Han Li and greeted him with a beaming smile. Noticing Han Li's unusual expression, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Not far away, Crab Daoist also stood up, but only cupped his hands toward Han Li without speaking.

"I'm fine." Han Li nodded at Crab Daoist, patted Xiao Bai on the head, and said with a smile.

He then turned his gaze to the white cloud mass and asked, "The Golden Child still hasn't shown any signs of awakening?"

"There has been no movement in these two years. Master, will the boss be alright?" The Pixiu shook his head and said.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine." Han Li said.

"That's good. Master, where are we going now?" The Pixiu sighed in relief and asked again.