Chapter 758: No Break, No Establishment

Compared to Hu San, whose eyes were tightly shut, Shi Chuankong kept his eyes wide open, staring at Han Li across the Cleansing Pool.

At this moment, Han Li's skin was already blood-red, and his eyes were even more crimson. His entire body was covered not only with continuously seeping black fiendish energy but also with a hazy white steam, making him look as if he were about to be steamed alive.

As the black and white mists intermingled and rose, streaks of azure lightning crisscrossed, striking his body like giant whips of lightning, producing a series of terrifying thunderclaps.

Although the three of them had stepped into the Cleansing Pool almost simultaneously, it was clear that Han Li, due to the densest fiendish energy within him, stimulated the violent currents in the pool the most, thus suffering the most intense impact, and the scene of lightning surrounding him was naturally the most terrifying.

Compared to the grand spectacle outside, the scene inside Han Li's body was equally alarming.

At this moment, every acupoint in his body was like a beacon tower under constant assault by the azure lightning from the pool, causing intense pain. In his sea of consciousness, violent winds and huge waves arose, with lightning and thunder roaring incessantly, shaking his divine soul and causing it to tremble in fear.

If his willpower were not far beyond that of ordinary people, his divine soul would have collapsed before his physical body could no longer hold out.

Liuqi Patriarch narrowed his long eyes, looking at Han Li's current state, a hint of admiration flashing in his gaze.

But just then, Han Li suddenly couldn't help but cough violently, his body trembling violently. The fiendish energy that had been slowly seeping from his acupoints suddenly became as thick as ink, then flowed out several times faster than before, rapidly spreading in all directions.

Stimulated by this suddenly thickened fiendish energy, the surrounding azure lightning became even more violent, enveloping the area with a denser net of lightning, quickly dispersing the fiendish energy that had spread around Han Li.

Although the fiendish energy had dispersed, the aura emanating from Han Li became even more turbid. His gray-white eyes began to rapidly fill with blood, and a crimson light gathered from the edges toward the center, soon about to occupy the entire pupil.

"Master!" cried Ti Hun upon seeing this.

"Tsk tsk, what bad luck, to have a fiendish decline outbreak at this time..." Liuqi Patriarch frowned and said.

"Uh... uh..."

A suppressed roar came from deep in Han Li's throat, his body shook violently, and then a series of cracking sounds came from his bones.

On his body surface, a golden light flickered on and off, and a layer of fine golden scales continuously emerged and then receded, repeating endlessly.

"The fiendish energy hidden deep within this kid is gradually gaining the upper hand, controlling him to resist the impact of the azure lightning from the Cleansing Pool. If he loses his mind and is truly controlled by the fiendish energy into a frenzy, it will be troublesome. In his current state, there is no possibility of recovery." Liuqi Patriarch raised his huge head and said in a grave tone.

Hearing this, Ti Hun's expression became even more grim. After hesitating for a moment, she still raised her hand and wiped it across her brow, where the skin parted left and right, revealing a dark red demonic eye.

"Hmph! I advise you not to do anything unnecessary. Cleansing fiendish energy in the lightning pool is somewhat similar to undergoing a heavenly tribulation; it's best for others not to interfere. Otherwise, if you provoke a violent attack of azure lightning, not only will you perish, but your master will also fail in cleansing his fiendish energy. Even if he survives by luck, he will lose his original mind and completely degenerate into a Gray Immortal." Liuqi Patriarch snorted and said.

Ti Hun's expression changed repeatedly, but in the end, she lowered her hand that had formed a hand seal, bowed to the nine-tailed giant fox, and said, "Please... please help my master..."

"Didn't I say it's best for others not to interfere? Unless you want his fiendish cleansing to fail at the last moment?" Liuqi Patriarch glanced at Ti Hun and said coldly.

"But..." Ti Hun hesitated.

"I could forcibly remove him from the lightning pool right now. But that is certainly not what he wishes. As the saying goes, in the path of cultivation, opportunities coexist with risks. Only by facing them head-on, with the determination to burn one's boats and the belief that without breaking, there is no establishing, can one become the one in ten thousand. Although I have only met your master once, I can see that his will is firm, beyond that of ordinary people." Liuqi Patriarch said slowly.

Ti Hun bit her lip tightly, forced herself to sit back down, but her eyes remained fixed on the figure in the lightning pool.

"I hope this kid succeeds. I've waited so many years for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If I miss it, heh, I'm afraid there's no hope in this life." Liuqi Patriarch withdrew his gaze and muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear.

Just then, with a dull "boom," rubble continuously fell from the surrounding walls, raising wisps of dust.

The Cleansing Pool was relatively isolated from the outside world, so the sounds from outside had not been very audible before, but now bursts of rumbling could be heard continuously coming in.

"Hmm, could it be that the Netherworld Clan has sent reinforcements? Or has that 'old neighbor' I've never met finally fully escaped... Why is the commotion growing louder? If these youngsters don't hurry up, we'll be in real trouble. I'll have to lend them more help..." Patriarch Liuqi mused for a moment, then sighed and said.

With that, he opened his massive mouth wide, and a beam of black light shot out, instantly striking the green orb.

The orb trembled violently, and the light radiating from it suddenly swelled several times, immediately drawing more violent bombardment from the cyan lightning. He diverted more lightning from the thunder pool, significantly reducing the pressure on the three within.

Hu San, who had the least accumulated baleful aura among them, felt his pain immediately lessen, and his aura gradually stabilized. It seemed that expelling the baleful aura from his body was only a matter of time.

Although Shi Chuankong could clearly feel the pressure on him decrease, he dared not relax his mind at all. The baleful decline within him, though not as violent as Han Li's, was equally perilous.

Though Patriarch Liuqi had diverted more lightning, it only alleviated a small part of Han Li's external suffering. His condition remained grim.

"Roar..."

Han Li let out a furious roar, as streams of red-gold, cyan, and silver light flashed around him. Vast, hazy phantoms began to emerge on his body's surface—a mountain giant ape, a silver-winged roc, a five-colored phoenix, a five-colored peacock—each appearing vividly in turn.

"So many true spirit bloodlines mixed within his body, yet he still survives unscathed. This human lad is quite interesting... But such a mixture of bloodlines may not be a good thing." Patriarch Liuqi frowned, muttering to himself as he watched the numerous true spirit phantoms flash by.

Han Li, of course, could not hear his words. Within his sea of consciousness, it was as if heaven and earth had turned upside down. Towering waves crashed relentlessly against the majestic white snow peak manifested by the Peak-Suppressing Divine Talisman.

The snow peak trembled violently, emitting circles of gentle white light in an attempt to calm Han Li's turbulent sea of consciousness.

However, the white light scattered upon impact with the massive waves, proving largely ineffective. Meanwhile, dark clouds gathered above the sea of consciousness, pressing down with rolling black aura, presenting a dangerous scene of baleful qi forcefully invading.

Outside the sea of consciousness, Han Li's body shimmered with flowing light. True spirit phantoms appeared at an increasing frequency. His muscles began to bulge involuntarily; golden scales emerged on his arms as if to transform into a mountain giant ape, cyan light swirled on his chest forming a Xuanwu tortoise shell, and five-colored light flashed behind him, nearly sprouting a peacock's tail...

Seeing this, Patriarch Liuqi's expression finally changed.

Based on his judgment as a Dao Ancestor, Han Li was now at the end of his rope, both physically and spiritually, on the verge of collapse.

He feared that if this continued, this fellow who wielded the Heavenly Fox Blood-Transforming Blade might lose his sanity, or even explode and die—or both could happen simultaneously.

If that happened, the chance to use him to escape confinement would be completely ruined.

Just as the old fox hesitated, wondering whether to endure the punishment of all four thunder pools at once to forcibly pull Han Li out and find another way to secure his help, an unusual fluctuation suddenly arose from Han Li's body.

Within his sea of consciousness, a small golden infant sat cross-legged with eyes closed, forming a strange hand seal as if in cultivation.

Though the infant did not open its mouth, a faint yet clear chanting sound echoed through the sea of consciousness. The sound was penetrating, impossible to drown out even amidst the violent winds and waves.

The content of the sound was none other than the cultivation mantra for the fifth layer of the Divine Refining Art.

Word by word, phrase by phrase, it began extremely slowly, seemingly without much power. But as the intonation quickened and the sound grew more urgent, it became as if imbued with magic, stirring up waves of sound.

Han Li himself did not know why, but at this critical moment, the bottleneck he had encountered while cultivating the fifth layer of the Divine Refining Art suddenly broke through naturally. Surges of powerful divine sense emerged from all corners of his sea of consciousness, beginning to suppress the turmoil within.

The baleful qi that had invaded his sea of consciousness was gradually forced back by this newfound power, ceasing its erosion.

Gradually, the redness in Han Li's eyes began to fade, the storm in his sea of consciousness slowly subsided, and his mind gradually regained clarity.

After an unknown period, he exhaled a long breath of turbid air. With a slight circulation of his immortal spiritual power, he retracted all the manifestations of his true spirit bloodlines, though he couldn't help but feel a sense of exhaustion.

Nevertheless, this outbreak of baleful decline had been temporarily suppressed.

Patriarch Liuqi, who had been in inner turmoil, was first startled, then his expression shifted to one of awe and shock.