Chapter 678: The Malformed Fetus

Han Li steadied himself, glanced at the Flame Immortal who carried Mu Yan's remains on his back, and then swept his gaze forward.

The underground hall was dim and silent, with darkness stretching ahead, its destination unknown.

"Brother Li, let's go."

The Flame Immortal said as he stepped forward, taking out a walnut-sized bright pearl and tossing it casually.

A white arc of light flew up to the ceiling and embedded itself there.

The pearl released white light above their heads, illuminating the entire underground hall.

Han Li's pupils contracted. The hall was empty, except for a strange wooden chair in the center, shaped like two intertwined矮 tree branches, half cyan-black and half withered yellow.

"I thought this was where Uncle Mu Yan stored his elixirs and immortal herbs, but it turns out there's nothing," the Flame Immortal said with a hint of regret.

"Since this secret place was established independently, it must have its unique purpose. Perhaps something else is hidden here," Han Li said, withdrawing his gaze from the wooden chair.

"Indeed."

The Flame Immortal nodded, continued forward carrying Mu Yan's corpse, stopped beside the cyan-black chair, and used his immortal power to bend its limbs, seating it upright on the chair behind the table.

Then he bowed respectfully to the corpse.

Han Li did not rush to search but waited for the Flame Immortal to finish before they searched the hall together.

After a while, they approached from opposite sides of the hall, exchanged glances, and both shook their heads with disappointment.

"From the looks of it, there are no hidden compartments or secret restrictions," the Flame Immortal said.

"It seems this place has already been looted," Han Li sighed.

As he spoke, his gaze suddenly jumped, catching a glimpse of Mu Yan's corpse seeming to move.

Han Li's heart tightened. He quickly turned to look, but Mu Yan's remains sat quietly on the strange wooden chair, without any unusual movement. Yet that instant clearly hadn't been an illusion.

"It shouldn't be. I only tried by chance; others would be even less likely to know about this underground palace..." the Flame Immortal continued, apparently unaware of any disturbance.

"Perhaps it was already ransacked during the destruction of the True Word Sect..."

Han Li stopped mid-sentence, his expression suddenly changing. He cried out in alarm, "Brother Flame, be careful!"

As his words rang out, Mu Yan's corpse suddenly emitted an eerie green light. From the massive wound on its abdomen, black baleful qi condensed, forming a grape-sized black pearl in an instant.

The pearl's surface swirled with black qi, looking quite sinister.

Then, the strange wooden chair beneath Mu Yan's corpse seemed to come alive. Its branches suddenly spread out, wildly expanding like vines, sweeping toward the Flame Immortal.

All this seemed lengthy but happened in an instant.

Although warned by Han Li, the Flame Immortal reacted a beat too slow. As he dodged, several withered yellow vines struck him, instantly entangling his arm.

"Ah..."

He cried out in pain. The robe on his arm turned to ash, revealing black scorch marks on his skin. The flesh instantly withered, becoming as dry and ugly as tree bark.

The Flame Immortal opened his mouth wide, spewing a torrent of blazing flames that spread along the withered yellow vines toward the wooden chair.

Yet, strangely, these seemingly intense flames only dripped off the vines like dew, failing to ignite them.

Just then, a sound of breaking air rang out. A cyan sword light suddenly flared, carrying strands of golden lightning as it slashed down.

"Rip!"

The withered yellow vine snapped, spewing thick dark green liquid and billowing baleful black smoke.

Freed, the Flame Immortal immediately retreated, standing beside Han Li. He raised his other hand, took out a golden talisman with cyan patterns, and pressed it onto his wounded arm.

"Sss..."

With faint sounds, the talisman emitted streams of foul-smelling white vapor.

"Brother Li, what's happening?" The piercing pain made the Flame Immortal's forehead bead with cold sweat, but he had no time to attend to it, asking urgently.

"I'm not sure either, but it seems your Uncle Mu Yan is turning into a baleful entity..." Han Li said with a frown.

He stared at the strange wooden chair, watching its vines retract and tremble like a demon's disheveled hair, but they no longer actively struck at them.

"This... how is it possible? It's been tens of millions of years. Why now, of all times?" The Flame Immortal's face showed disbelief.

"I don't know the specifics, but it likely has to do with that strange wooden chair beneath him..." Han Li said thoughtfully, his gaze fixed on the chair.

The Flame Immortal was momentarily stunned.

After a moment, his eyes flickered as if suddenly realizing something. He shouted, "That's not a chair; it's..."

Before he could finish, Han Li's cry interrupted him:

"Not good! He's about to form a malformed fetus... Brother Flame, help me block those strange vines!"

Mu Yan, seated on the wooden chair, trembled violently. Beneath his eyelids, his decayed eyeballs quaked rapidly, moving as if in a nightmare, as if about to open at any moment.

At the same time, Han Li dashed forward, summoning nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, merging them into one, and thrusting straight at the baleful qi congealing in Mu Yan's abdominal wound.

As soon as he entered the area within dozens of feet of the corpse, the cyan-black and withered yellow vines writhed madly, converging from all directions to whip and entangle him.

Seeing this, the Flame Immortal summoned the golden ancient mirror, tossed it forward, formed a hand seal, and shouted:

"Freeze!"

With the shout, the golden mirror trembled violently, a complex rune appearing on its surface. The mirror released countless golden rays, enveloping the space around Han Li.

Under the dazzling golden light, a distinct fluctuation of time law spread, and the vines shooting toward Han Li instantly slowed as if stuck in mud.

Han Li's Wheel of Time reversed instantly, his speed abruptly increasing. He flashed through the dense vines, the cyan sword gleaming with gold. Using the Thunder Sacrifice Art, he formed a thunderball of evil-repelling lightning, directly breaking through the barrier of interwoven cyan-black vines and stabbing into the hollow in Mu Yan's abdomen.

"Boom!" A thunderclap exploded.

Dazzling golden lightning burst forth, turning into countless tiny golden serpentine bolts that shot in all directions, tearing the barely formed malformed fetus into shreds.

The shattered malformed fetus turned into dense baleful qi, evaporating strand by strand in the evil-repelling divine lightning, completely dissipating.

Yet Han Li seemed to see, in the brilliant golden lightning, Mu Yan's corpse open its eyes. In the pupils was reflected a figure—not Han Li, but Qimozi.

An instant later, the golden lightning, carried by ten thousand sword energies, surged again, not only tearing Mu Yan's corpse to pieces but also blasting apart the Two-Life Tree beneath.

"No..."

"Alas..."

A cry and a sigh sounded in Han Li's ears and heart, coming from the Flame Immortal and Mo Guang respectively.

Han Li landed, sheathing his sword, and heard Mo Guang's sigh in his mind: "Brother Han, what a pity... I was only in seclusion for a moment, alas..."

Han Li knew that what he regretted was the nearly formed malformed fetus. If Mo Guang could devour and absorb it, his cultivation would surely surge again. But Han Li didn't wish for that.

A Taiyi Initial Stage Mo Guang was already hard to control; if he let him widen the gap, who knew what complications might arise.

"Brother Mo Guang, the situation was urgent; I had to act expediently," Han Li replied mentally.

"Opportunity missed, fate not yet..." Mo Guang sighed faintly.

Han Li said no more, temporarily cutting off contact between the Flower Branch Space and the outside, then asked the Flame Immortal:

"What is it, Brother Flame? Why did you try to stop me?"

The Flame Immortal had put away the mirror and hurried over. Looking at the charred strange wooden chair, he said with regret, "Brother Li, you... alas..."

"What happened?" Han Li frowned.

"This thing isn't a wooden chair; it's a type of immortal plant called the 'Two-Life Tree.' I heard that Uncle Mu Yan used it to survive the Baleful Tribulation," the Flame Immortal said, pointing at the half-charred trunk of the 'chair.'

"What..." Han Li felt a pang of regret but could do nothing.

He bent down to examine whether the Two-Life Tree could be saved, only to find a green branch inside the charred trunk. When he pulled it out with two fingers, he discovered it was a branch-shaped jade slip.

"Could this be..." The Flame Immortal raised an eyebrow, asking eagerly.

"Whether it's the 'Grand Five Elements Illusory World Art,' you can check for yourself," Han Li said generously, handing over the jade slip.

The Flame Immortal hesitated, feeling embarrassed to take it. After a moment's thought, he said:

"Forget it. Brother Li has saved my life repeatedly, yet I've clung to sect prejudices... Whether this contains the 'Grand Five Elements Illusory World Art' or not, let Brother Li examine it. But afterward, this thing..."