Chapter 820: Why Is It You Again?

Just then, the divine thought miniature of Bone Illuminating真人 flicked his sleeves, and immediately, specks of white fluorescent light drifted up from below the sea of consciousness, like countless fireflies surrounding him.

Beneath those firefly-like specks of light, a massive runic array engraved deep within the sea of consciousness revealed itself.

Bone Illuminating真人 had never imagined that this soul formation, implanted into his sea of consciousness at an unimaginable cost to deal with a mortal enemy, would actually come in handy at this moment.

Forced by the current situation, he had no room for other thoughts.

Below the runic array, the white fluorescent light grew increasingly intense, coalescing into a colossal phantom of a beast resembling a fierce tiger. With its mouth wide open, it lunged upward from the depths of the sea of consciousness, charging straight at the giant divine thought sword.

A thunderous boom erupted within Bone Illuminating真人's sea of consciousness.

The giant divine thought sword struck down upon the head of the white beast, bursting into a dazzling display of five-colored crystalline light. After a brief stalemate, the white beast's head was torn apart.

The giant divine thought sword then cleaved downward, slashing toward the soul miniature below.

However, although the white beast was torn apart, the white fluorescent light dispersing from its body transformed into crystalline threads, linking its two halves together like broken lotus roots still connected by fibers.

Those crystalline threads formed by the white fluorescent light were like iron chains spanning a river, constantly obstructing the descent of the giant divine thought sword while also consuming its formidable power.

Even so, the translucent giant sword, condensed from nearly all of Han Li's divine thought power, continued to cut down unimpeded, completely tearing apart the white beast and striking the soul miniature of Bone Illuminating真人.

"Ah..." A piercing scream rang out.

Bone Illuminating真人 felt as if his head were about to explode. He clutched his head with both hands, his body trembling violently, and plummeted straight down toward the sea below.

The Bone Domain he had maintained also dissipated as its light faded and vanished.

Han Li and the other felt their bodies relax, the strange condition on their bones disappeared, and they regained their freedom.

At the same time, Han Li felt a sudden emptiness in his sea of consciousness, darkness flashed before his eyes, and his body could no longer hold up, falling downward.

Seeing this, Shi Chuankong, clutching his right side with one hand and enduring the pain, flashed over, grabbed Han Li's arm, and propped him up. He cast a deep glance at the dark sea below, then his body lit up with a streak of遁光 and vanished in a flash.

The Crab Daoist below slapped his gourd, retracting all the Dao soldiers, then retrieved Han Li's eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. His body also lit up with遁光, and he pursued the two of them.

……

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.

A pitch-black flying shuttle sped across a pitch-black sea. Shi Chuankong had already returned to his original appearance, standing at the bow, his silver hair fluttering in the wind, looking dashing and spirited.

Behind him, at the stern of the shuttle, Han Li lay quietly, his eyes tightly shut, still in a coma. A palm-sized piece of Ziyang Warm Jade hovered above his head, emitting a hazy purple glow.

Around his body, a spatial barrier enveloped him, blocking out the dense demonic energy of the surrounding world.

At the stern, the Daoist-robed Crab Immortal sat upright, his eyes slightly closed, breathing and regulating his energy.

Just then, as if sensing something, his eyes suddenly opened. He saw Han Li, who lay before him, furrow his brow, his eyelashes flutter a few times, and then slowly open his eyes.

"Fellow Daoist Li..." he called out.

A trace of bewilderment flashed in Han Li's eyes. After a moment's pause, clarity finally returned.

Rubbing his temples with both hands, he slowly sat up and, raising a hand, took down the Ziyang Warm Jade that had been suspended above his head.

"Brother Li, you're finally awake. How do you feel now?" Shi Chuankong turned around and asked.

"How long have I been unconscious?" Han Li's voice was a bit hoarse as he asked.

"Almost half a month," Shi Chuankong said after a slight hesitation.

"What about Skeleton True Man?" Han Li asked.

"I don't know. He seemed to be severely injured and fell into the sea. You were also unconscious, so I had to get you to safety first. I really couldn't attend to anything else," Shi Chuankong shook his head and said.

"Struck by my full-force divine sense sword, his soul is likely heavily damaged. He won't trouble us for now. But the closer we get to Yeyang City, the more unexpected events may occur. It's hard to say if others will target us," Han Li said, gently stroking the Ziyang Warm Jade.

"I had the same concern, which is why I didn't dare rush back to Yeyang City directly. I've been wandering around the Ink Sea, planning to wait until you woke up to decide our next move," Shi Chuankong sighed and said.

"My divine sense was severely depleted earlier. Although my soul isn't as damaged as Skeleton's, it still suffered considerable shock. If you hadn't used the Ziyang Warm Jade to nurture my soul, I might have slept for many more days," Han Li nodded and said.

"In that case, let's wait until you recover before setting out," Shi Chuankong said after a moment's thought.

"Recovering from a soul shock is not easy, and replenishing divine sense power takes a long time. Waiting for my recovery will only lead to more complications. It's better to return to Yeyang City as soon as possible," Han Li frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and shook his head.

"That's fine too," Shi Chuankong said.

With that, he steered the flying shuttle and sped away.

...

Another half month passed in a hurry.

Han Li and his companion flew the shuttle swiftly over the pitch-black sea.

At the edge of their vision, a massive black structure could be faintly seen suspended high in the air.

"Brother Li, we're almost at Yeyang City," Shi Chuankong said, unable to hide the joy in his smile.

Han Li's eyes flickered with purple light as he looked at the black structure, finding its shape rather peculiar.

It was an irregular polyhedron, somewhat resembling a piece of ancient black wood with many branches, but its surface shimmered with the luster of black crystal. Each protruding branch varied in length, and their cross-sections faced different directions.

It was only a few hundred zhang tall, with few traces of artificial carving on its surface, appearing as if naturally formed. Waves of time law fluctuations emanated from it.

For some reason, as Han Li gazed at the strange structure, he felt a sense of dizziness, as if the object stood clearly before him in the void, yet seemed far away—so distant that it didn't belong to this space.

The purple light in his eyes brightened as he was about to examine it more closely, but Shi Chuankong reached out to stop him.

"This is the supreme divine object of our holy domain. Brother Li must not be rash," Shi Chuankong said with a hint of apology.

"A divine object? Why does it seem abandoned, placed here above the sea?" Han Li raised an eyebrow and asked.

"Haha, even if a Dao Ancestor came, they might not be able to move it an inch," Shi Chuankong laughed heartily.

"What exactly is this..."

Han Li stopped mid-sentence, his expression suddenly changing as he turned his gaze into the distance.

Shi Chuankong noticed the anomaly a moment later, and his face also changed color.

After a moment, a streak of light shot rapidly from the distant horizon, stopping a few hundred zhang away from them.

A dark green figure emerged from the遁光, none other than True Being Zhaogu!

But at this moment, True Being Zhaogu's face was unusually pale, his eyes deeply sunken with a somewhat sluggish gaze, his white hair utterly disheveled, strands falling from his temples. He no longer had any trace of an immortal demeanor, looking truly bedraggled.

Compared to Han Li and the other's grave expressions, True Being Zhaogu's face showed even more panic.

His eyes wide open, one hand trembling as he raised it, pointing at Han Li, he stammered, "How... how is it you again? Impossible, this is impossible... How could you recover so quickly?"

"What is he talking about?" Shi Chuankong turned his head to look at Han Li, puzzled.

But he saw Han Li also frowning, with a look of utter bewilderment.

"Could it be that last time he was struck by the Divine Thought Sword, his soul was severely damaged, leaving him mentally unstable?" Shi Chuankong's expression slightly tightened as he speculated.

"Unlikely. I know the power of the Divine Thought Sword well. Zhaogu's sea of consciousness is also protected by a powerful formation, so the injury I could inflict on him at that time was absolutely not to this extent. Something must have happened to him after we left, but his words are truly baffling." Han Li shook his head, rejecting Shi Chuankong's guess.

"It must be an illusion, this must be an illusion, it must be... No, I must kill you, I must kill you!" True Being Zhaogu's gaze fixed solely on Han Li, his expression suddenly turning ferocious.

His figure flickered, and his palm reached forward, his entire arm instantly extending over ten feet, transforming into a white bone scythe that rapidly flew toward Han Li.

Although Han Li sensed something unusual in his divine sense, he dared not relax in the slightest. His Time Domain instantly expanded.

Seeing this, Shi Chuankong also hurriedly expanded his Space Domain.

As True Being Zhaogu flew into the two's domains, his movement was immediately obstructed, and his speed plummeted.

With a fierce shout, his bone-scythe arm swung violently in the void. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth within the two domains was instantly shredded by a violent force, becoming chaotic, and a decaying aura began to permeate.

Within this chaotic space, True Being Zhaogu's speed surged again, and he charged straight at Han Li.

Seeing this, Han Li neither dodged nor evaded. With a single hand, he summoned the eighteen Green Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which merged into one. The True Word Wheel within him spun rapidly in reverse as he took the initiative to meet the attack.

As they approached, Han Li suddenly halted. A blinding golden light flared up as the True Word Wheel spun out, releasing countless golden threads that enveloped the oncoming True Being Zhaogu.

Seeing this, True Being Zhaogu spread his other hand, opening five fingers to block in front, transforming into a huge, strange bone shield.

Dense runes were inscribed on it, emitting waves of decaying bone law power that blocked all the incoming golden threads, gradually corroding them away.

At the same time, his figure circled around from behind the bone shield, swinging the huge white bone scythe with a surging aura of slaughter, sweeping toward Han Li's waist, as if intending to cleave Han Li in two.