Chapter 731: A Perilous Situation

"Judging by your expression, it seems you recognize this general under my command?" The Jiuyou Clan Da Luo squinted his eyes, glanced at the giant ape Han Li had transformed into, and said slowly.

"What did you do to him?" Han Li frowned and asked.

"So you do know each other... To be honest, he wasn't as lucky as those two under the bridge. When he arrived here, he had already been torn apart by spatial forces. I just picked up the corpse and made some modifications. He's been quite lonely lately, and I was planning to find him a companion!" The Jiuyou Clan Da Luo showed a helpless expression, spreading his hands as he spoke.

"So he fell..." Han Li was momentarily stunned, murmuring to himself.

"Actually, you don't need to be too sad, because soon you'll be just like him, becoming one of my subordinates! How about that? Doesn't it get you a little excited?" The Jiuyou Clan Da Luo suddenly laughed maniacally.

As soon as his words fell, a thunderous "boom" suddenly came from underground!

The black karmic fire in the fire pool surged like a tide, suddenly churning violently, then raising a huge wave of fire that engulfed most of Han Li's body.

Han Li felt a baleful aura a hundred times denser than before envelop his body. At that moment, a nearly uncontrollable impulse surged within his mind, which he had been forcibly stabilizing through the Art of Spirit Refinement. It was as if countless wild horses were galloping within his heart, assaulting his soul.

An inexplicable scorching heat wrapped around his soul and began to burn it fiercely.

Although he barely managed to maintain a sliver of clarity and continuously urged the Art of Spirit Refinement, he was still greatly alarmed.

"A mere Golden Immortal with such a powerful soul—how interesting. Let's see how long you can hold out." The Jiuyou Clan Da Luo clasped his hands behind his back, a hint of amusement in his tone.

Han Li, while fiercely guarding his mind and struggling to withstand the crushing weight of the black giant seal, had a face pale as death. On the surface of his furry arms, earthworm-like bulging veins stood out, and a cracking sound came from within his body.

But his mind raced like lightning, his eyes darting around. Suddenly, he saw two figures rushing out from the other side of the fire pool, one of whom was Mo Guang.

However, Mo Guang's situation was equally dire, and he looked quite disheveled.

He was being lifted out of the karmic fire pool by a young girl less than half his height, who had one hand locked around his throat.

Yet there was a hint of a smile on his face, whether from confidence or forced composure.

Han Li's gaze swept over and only saw the girl's back. She wore a scarlet half-cape, which stood out sharply against the gray, white, and black tones of the Jiuyou Clan people.

In the blink of an eye, just as the two had left the karmic fire pool, Mo Guang's body suddenly flashed with black light, and his form blurred slightly as he tried to disperse into black mist. But on the girl's wrist gripping his neck, a ring of dark red light patterns lit up, emitting a peculiar fluctuation that prevented him from becoming intangible.

After hovering in midair, the girl made a stiff turn and landed directly toward the bridgehead.

Mo Guang was dragged along in her hand, but his face showed little fear, still wearing an indifferent smile. The latter seemed displeased with his demeanor and swung her free hand, slapping him.

A crisp "crack" sounded.

Mo Guang's head twisted to one side, as if even his neck bones had been broken by the girl.

Seeing this, the girl casually threw him to the ground, formed a strange and obscure hand seal with both hands, and with a "slap," struck his forehead.

A wisp of green smoke rose, and immediately a crimson character "forbidden" appeared on Mo Guang's brow.

The bull-horned puppet standing behind the Jiuyou Clan Da Luo immediately stepped forward and waved its hand. The black chain coiled around its arm shot out like a spirit snake, and with a flash of black light, it bound Mo Guang as well.

"Thank you for your help, Miss Youluo." The Jiuyou Clan Da Luo's eyes flickered as he spoke to the girl.

"Yin Kuo, the Luosheng District under your guard was breached all the way here. You really are quite capable." The girl was indifferent to his thanks, speaking coldly.

The latter, upon hearing this, let out a dry chuckle but did not refute.

"Do you need me to deal with the rest?" The girl named Youluo put her hands behind her back, turned around, and sneered.

The girl looked very similar to a human, with fair skin and rather delicate features, except for a black scale like a vertical eye in the middle of her forehead and a few crimson marks below her eyelids, giving her an exotic appearance.

Han Li noticed that her pupils were not gray-white but a bluish-black very similar to humans, and he was immediately filled with doubt. Could she not be from the Grey Realm?

"How did a celestial true spirit get involved?" Youluo paused slightly upon seeing Han Li in his giant ape form, seeming somewhat surprised, and raised an eyebrow as she asked.

"Just a human with some true spirit bloodline; no need for Miss Youluo to trouble herself." Yin Kuo said flatly.

The young woman said nothing in response, appearing noncommittal.

"You humans are quite interesting, enough for me to toy with for a while." Yin Kuo paid no further attention to the woman, instead turning his gaze back to Han Li and speaking.

As he spoke, he raised his hand and waved. The black square seal that Han Li was desperately holding up flickered with black light, and the four characters "All-Encompassing" on its inscription blazed with blood-red light. Its weight increased again, pressing down heavily.

Han Li let out a muffled groan. The Truth Dharma Wheel abruptly retracted into his body as he frantically urged it to reverse its rotation, barely managing to slip out from under the strange force of the seal.

Instead of retreating toward the broken bridge entrance, he suddenly changed direction and shot with all his might toward the passage of Karmic Fire.

"How dare you! Where do you think you're going?" Yin Kuo shouted in a low voice, sweeping his sleeve abruptly.

The bottom of the Karmic Fire Pool shook violently, and then pitch-black stone pillars burst forth from it, forming a cage-like barrier before him.

In desperation, Han Li twisted his wrist. The nine Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords merged into one, and the accumulated Divine Evil Lightning surged out without reserve, slashing forward with lightning speed.

"Crackle—"

Countless golden lightning threads converged into a massive golden bolt of lightning. Amid a series of explosions, it broke through layers of karmic fire obstacles, stirring up storms of sword qi, and heavily struck the black stone pillars.

In a succession of booming explosions, the black stone pillars shattered one after another.

Han Li's figure did not pause for a moment. He shot through the still-lingering shockwaves, heading straight for the Karmic Fire passage, seemingly about to enter it.

But things did not go as planned. At that moment, a black shadow flashed past, arriving before him a step faster and blocking his way.

It was Yin Kuo!

His palm reached out, seemingly slow but actually fast, with an inexhaustible suction force in its center. It grabbed Han Li by the collar, while his other hand held the black square seal and stamped it toward Han Li's forehead like lightning.

Han Li had no time to summon the Truth Dharma Wheel again. The previous struggle had also exhausted him too much, and now he could not resist at all. The seal struck his forehead heavily.

He felt as if an electric current had passed through his body, bringing a numbing sensation. The circulation of his immortal spiritual power was sealed off, and his entire body lost all strength, unable to move at all.

Yin Kuo grabbed him and turned back. On the other side, Shi Chuankong had also been captured after exhausting his strength. Only Baili Yan remained fighting against Su Liu, who had been turned into a Taiyi puppet.

You Luo, who had been silently watching, seized the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. Baili Yan was already struggling, and with the young woman joining the fight, he fared even worse and was also captured.

Han Li's heart sank to the bottom.

Although he had already prepared for the worst, facing a Daluo-level opponent, with Mo Guang, Hu San, and Baili Yan—three Taiyi cultivators—and himself and Shi Chuankong—two Golden Immortal peak cultivators—joining forces, they couldn't even last a quarter of an hour before being completely wiped out.

He was even more puzzled: why had the Daluo cultivator guarding the Luosheng District arrived so quickly? Even if they had triggered the fire pool's restrictions, he shouldn't have been able to get there so fast, unless he had already sensed something before that.

Had their disguise been seen through long ago?

That seemed unlikely. Not only was the Jade Fox Tail genuine, but Mo Guang was originally a Taiyi Gray Immortal's body, and Baili Yan, due to the disturbance of karmic fire, was also half a Taiyi Gray Immortal. The auras of the two were enough to fool others; otherwise, Han Li wouldn't have had them impersonate Jiuyou clan members.

"Our... previous... infiltration... had hardly any... flaws. How did you... discover... us?" Han Li's whole body was numb, and even his tongue was uncooperative.

"Since you're so obedient, I'll be merciful and tell you. The ones on duty here aren't all You slaves; one of them is my puppet." Yin Kuo glanced at him, pursed his lips toward a distance, and said.

"Still too careless..." Han Li remained silent, sighing inwardly.

At that moment, Yin Kuo raised his left hand and made a patting motion toward the group in the air.

A black lightning bolt shot out from his palm, exploded with a "bang," and turned into countless black runes that swiftly burrowed into Han Li and the others' bodies.

Han Li felt a needle-like sting in his lower abdomen dantian. Alarmed, he forcibly endured it, veins bulging on his forehead, and hurriedly checked his dantian's condition.

He saw gray light flickering in his dantian, and black lightning threads materialized out of nowhere, enveloping his Nascent Soul.

These black lightning threads emitted a strange law power. After his Nascent Soul was bound by the threads, the immortal spiritual power that was already sluggish in his body completely solidified, as if frozen, unable to be used at all.

Not only that, but this law power also spread, rapidly diffusing throughout his body.

Worst of all, Han Li's physical body now became soft and weak, lacking much strength, and his divine sense was also confined within his mind, unable to extend even a bit.

Mo Guang and the others also changed expression, clearly in the same situation.