Chapter 754: The Heavenly Fox Ancestor

Above the stone door, the four lightning restrictions suddenly blazed with light, emitting a rumbling thunderous roar. A terrifying aura of destruction erupted abruptly.

In an instant, four arcs of lightning—cyan, purple, silver, and gold, each as thick as a water vat—shot out from the four lightning restrictions, striking down toward Shi Chuankong.

Each bolt of lightning exuded a fearsome law of lightning, with countless tiny lightning runes leaping around them.

Shi Chuankong, clearly not expecting this, changed expression and immediately shot backward away from the stone door. However, his speed was slightly slower than the four arcs, and he was about to be overtaken.

At that moment, a flash of emerald light appeared before him, and an emerald gourd materialized out of thin air—it was the Profound Heaven Gourd.

A stream of emerald light sprayed from the Profound Heaven Gourd, instantly wrapping around the four arcs.

The speed of the five lightning bolts immediately slowed greatly. They twisted and struggled violently within the light, but could not break free. The lightning runes rolling on the surface of the arcs were also suppressed, sinking back into the arcs.

Han Li flickered and appeared beside the Profound Heaven Gourd. He raised a hand, patted the gourd, and softly uttered the word, “Collect.”

The emerald light immediately spun rapidly. The four arcs shrank swiftly, wrapped by the surrounding emerald light, and with a whoosh, flew back into the gourd.

At this moment, inside the second space of the gourd, four clusters of lightning light hovered, each the size of a thumb, radiating powerful laws of lightning, almost comparable to a grade immortal artifact.

Han Li was secretly pleased. His previous uses of the Profound Heaven Gourd had nearly depleted the stored laws of power, so these four clusters of lightning law came just in time as a reserve.

“Brother Li, thank you!” Shi Chuankong breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Han Li in gratitude.

“Brother Shi, no need to be polite. The urgent matter now is to enter as quickly as possible.” Han Li flipped his hand and put away the Profound Heaven Gourd, saying.

“Right. Brother Hu, Daoist Ti Hun, come over here as well.” Shi Chuankong immediately nodded and shouted, turning his head.

Hu San acknowledged with a sound, flickered, and landed beside Han Li and the other.

Ti Hun also stood up and flew over.

A trace more color had returned to her pale face; she seemed much better.

Shi Chuankong's ten fingers plucked the pipa, sending out streaks of silver light that shot forth and landed around the group, quickly forming a silver spell formation.

The silver spell formation flashed brightly, and the figures of the group flickered before vanishing into thin air.

Han Li's vision was filled with dazzling silver light, and he could see nothing. However, the silver light did not last long; it quickly dissipated completely, and his sight returned to normal.

Han Li looked around. At this moment, they were all situated in a massive hall. The hall was square, and both the floor and walls were paved with a kind of white crystal, appearing quite bright.

The hall was extremely vast, spanning over ten thousand zhang in length and width, and nearly several thousand zhang in height—truly magnificent and grand.

On the floor at the center of the hall were four square pools, each a hundred zhang in size. The four pools were of different colors: cyan, purple, silver, and gold.

The four pools were not calm; they were filled with thick bolts of lightning.

These bolts of lightning also appeared in cyan, purple, silver, and gold, churning and surging within the pools like furious dragons, emitting rumbling thunderclaps, appearing extremely violent.

The ground was inscribed with extremely complex array patterns, covering the entire hall, forming an immensely intricate grand formation.

The lightning forces within the four lightning pools clashed and collided, with bolts occasionally spilling out of the pools. However, each time this happened, streams of white mist surged from the array patterns around the pools, repelling the lightning forces back.

But these were not the most astonishing. What shocked Han Li and the others the most was a huge cross-shaped wooden frame standing on the ground at the center of the four lightning pools.

Seated atop the wooden frame was a giant beast. Its entire body was covered in snow-white fur, and it was unmistakably a massive snow fox. Behind the fox trailed nine long tails, hanging down limply.

The giant snow fox was bound by four thick chains, which coiled around its body several times, firmly restraining it to the cross-shaped wooden frame.

The four chains were of different colors—cyan, purple, silver, and gold. From time to time, arcs of electricity appeared on the chains, seemingly condensed from lightning force.

One end of each chain was embedded into the snow fox's lower abdomen, at its dantian, while the other end connected to the bottom of the four lightning pools, stretched taut.

Although the giant snow fox was confined to the cross-shaped wooden frame and appeared utterly unable to move, it exuded an immense and boundless aura, as if a primordial beast was crouching before the eyes of the group.

The four people's expressions changed as they took in the scene before them.

At that moment, the giant snow fox's closed eyes slowly opened, revealing a pair of enormous pale gray eyes that gazed in the direction of Han Li and the others.

"People of the True Immortal Realm... how did you come to this place?" A hint of surprise appeared in his eyes as he slowly asked.

"May I ask who you are, sir?" Han Li looked at the giant snow fox and asked in a deep voice.

"You are... Patriarch Liuqi! I have finally found you! I, Liu Sansheng, a ninth-generation disciple of the Tianhu Clan, pay my respects to the Patriarch!" A voice suddenly rang out from the side, full of excitement—it was Hu San.

His figure blurred slightly, trailing a series of afterimages as he flew down before the giant snow fox, kneeling on the ground, his expression greatly agitated.

Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged glances, both showing surprise.

"I never expected to see a disciple of the Tianhu Clan in the Gray Realm. How is the clan faring now?" The giant snow fox looked at Hu San, his eyes flickering slightly as he asked slowly.

"Reporting to the Patriarch, the clan is still safe for now. However, after your sudden disappearance, our clan's strength greatly diminished, and our sphere of influence has shrunk considerably," Hu San said respectfully.

"Oh, how is Liu Qing now?" The giant snow fox's expression relaxed, but then his eyes flashed with inquiry.

"The clan leader has already severed two corpses and reached the late Da Luo stage." Hu San glanced at Han Li and the others, hesitated briefly, but still answered.

"Some progress, I suppose..." The giant snow fox raised an eyebrow and nodded.

Han Li listened to their conversation, his expression unchanged, but waves surged within his heart.

Now he could be almost certain that Hu San and the giant snow fox before him were likely from the Tianhu Clan, which resided in the wild borderlands between the Northern Cold Immortal Domain and the Black Mountain Immortal Domain.

And the clan leader Liu Qing they mentioned was probably the white-robed Da Luo cultivator of the fox clan he had encountered.

Liu Le'er was now training in the Tianhu Clan; he had met Hu San in the Black Mountain Immortal Domain, and now he encountered this giant snow fox in the Gray Realm—his connection with the Tianhu Clan was indeed deep.

Given the imposing aura of this Liuqi Patriarch, if he guessed correctly, he should be a Dao Ancestor.

But how could a Dao Ancestor of his stature end up in the Gray Realm, imprisoned here?

"You are not old, yet your cultivation has reached the Tai Yi stage—your talent is not bad. From what you just said, it seems you have been searching for me. Did you know I was in the Gray Realm?" Liuqi Patriarch looked at Hu San and asked.

"After your sudden disappearance, Clan Leader Liu Qing has been sending people everywhere to find your whereabouts. I was one of them. Later, by chance, I joined the Reincarnation Hall and learned from there that you might be in the Gray Realm. So I found a way to come here. I never thought I would actually meet you—truly heaven's blessing!" Hu San said with deep gratitude.

Upon hearing this, Liuqi Patriarch raised an eyebrow, a strange glint flashing in his gray pupils, but he said nothing.

Han Li noticed the change in Liuqi Patriarch's expression and felt a stir in his heart.

"Patriarch, what happened to you back then? Why are you imprisoned here?" Hu San then asked.

"We'll talk about that later. These four Purifying Evil Lightning Pools are forbidden grounds of the Netherworld Clan. How did you come to be here?" Liuqi Patriarch seemed unwilling to discuss why he was here and asked instead.

Upon hearing the words 'Purifying Evil Lightning Pool,' Han Li's heart stirred. After the series of events earlier, he had somewhat given up on this goal, but unexpectedly, he had stumbled upon it.

Shi Chuankong also showed joy upon hearing this.

"Reporting to the Patriarch, it's like this..." Hu San glanced at Han Li and the others, paused briefly, and then recounted how they had entered Asura City to find the Purifying Evil Pool, been captured, escaped with Ti Hun's help, and finally arrived here.

"The Three Domain Alliance... Kun Hou... No wonder you could find this place. But with Yin Chengquan's abilities, they will soon trace you here. The entire Asura City is now under martial law, and the city's protective array is activated. No matter how you struggle, you will not be able to escape," Liuqi Patriarch said indifferently, looking at Han Li and the others.

Han Li and Shi Chuankong's expressions darkened.

Shi Chuankong glanced at the pipa in his arms, frowning slightly.

He had already secretly tried to use a long-distance teleportation array to leave Asura City, but the city's grand protective array had spatial restrictions, and his teleportation technique could not break through.

"Patriarch, relying on our strength alone, we may not be able to escape. But if you can break free, with your immense power, we can surely leave Asura City," Hu San said.

"Heh, let me break free? Easier said than done. These four Thunder Shackle Chains were personally set by Yin Chengquan, sealing my immortal spiritual power and law power. Unless they can be severed, I cannot break free," Liuqi Patriarch said.

"Patriarch, wait a moment. Although my combat ability is mediocre, I believe I have some means. I will rescue you now," Hu San stepped forward, his expression impassioned, and spoke.

The Tianhu Dao Ancestor merely narrowed his eyes slightly but said nothing.

Han Li had initially wanted to advise Hu San to be cautious, but seeing this, he kept his mouth shut and said nothing.

Hu San stepped forward, flicked his wrist, and a bright white light shone in his palm, revealing a silver-edged long sword, its entire body glowing white and densely inscribed with runes.

As soon as the sword appeared, watery sword light arose, rippling in layers around it, accompanied by clear sword chimes. Judging from the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from it, it was at least a sixth-grade immortal artifact.