Chapter 957: Scale-Hou Guards the Door

"Ha..."

After a moment, Qin Yuan let out a long shout, his face flushed red, eyes wide open, and his expression one of utter exhilaration, with no trace of the sickly, consumptive look he had before.

His clothes billowed without wind, sleeves rustling, and dense white light spots emerged on his body surface. Among them, only a little over two hundred were solid and condensed, while the rest were mostly illusory and faint.

As this anomaly arose on one side, another began on the other.

Chen Yang's entire body also lit up with dense light spots, similarly only a little over two hundred were solid, with the majority being illusory light.

Afterward, Fu Jian and Sun Tu showed a similar scene, only the last to manifest anomalies, E Kuai, was quite different. Although his body also had both solid and illusory light spots, the solid ones numbered over eight hundred.

"This is..." Xuan Yuan Xing's eyes widened as he murmured to himself.

Han Li also raised an eyebrow slightly, already having a guess, but still found it somewhat strange.

"Brother Li, the light spots on these people seem to correspond to mysterious apertures. Are these all the mysterious apertures they have opened?" Shi Chuankong suddenly transmitted his voice.

"With such a large number, they can't all be mysterious apertures... However, if I were to guess, the solid light spots should be the mysterious apertures they have already opened, while the illusory ones are those yet to be opened. But..." Han Li paused here, falling into contemplation.

"But what?" Shi Chuankong asked in confusion.

"I wonder if Brother Shi still remembers? When we first met Chen Yang, he mentioned that E Kuai had already opened over a thousand mysterious apertures, but here we can only see over eight hundred. That's somewhat strange..." Han Li replied after a long deliberation.

"Could it be that he deliberately deceived us back then to intimidate us?" Shi Chuankong seemed to think of something.

"That's unclear. We'll ask Chen Yang later." Han Li's gaze fell on Chen Yang as he slowly transmitted.

As the two were speaking, the five people in the great formation simultaneously let out a fierce shout. The blood-colored light emanating from the five-pointed star array beneath them suddenly blazed brightly. Enveloped within, they seemed to endure even greater pain, their faces contorted with ferocity.

Seeing this, everyone's expressions changed as they looked toward their respective city lords.

Han Li's gaze shifted between Chen Yang and E Kuai, his eyes twitching, his heart filled with doubt and astonishment.

On those two, some of the previously illusory mysterious apertures began to gather blood light, and the light visibly transformed from illusory to solid bit by bit.

At the same time, the auras of these people also rose noticeably, seemingly having gained great benefits.

The surrounding crowd exclaimed repeatedly, and Xuan Yuan Xing and others openly showed envy in their eyes.

"Splash, splash..."

Inside the sacrificial blood pool, the blood seemed to boil, churning more violently. Large amounts of blood vaporized and were absorbed by the five statues. The liquid level in the pool began to slowly drop, revealing the large amount of gleaming white bones previously buried beneath.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the corpse sunk at the bottom of the blood pool surfaced.

"Could it be that I'm really overthinking things..." Han Li mused to himself.

He swept his gaze over the five people in the blood sacrifice formation several times, finding nothing amiss, and began to doubt if he was being overly cautious.

"Brother Shi, I need to go to the rear hall. You stay here for now and keep an eye on these people. If something changes here, try not to get involved and wait for me to return." Han Li transmitted after a moment of thought.

Shi Chuankong was taken aback and transmitted back, "Brother Li, since you think something might happen here, why not let me go with you?"

"We don't know what's in the rear hall yet. There's no need for you to take risks with me. Besides, I do need you to keep watch here. My saying something might happen is just a precaution, not a certainty. Moreover, it's obvious that you and I are close. If we both leave at the same time, it would attract too much speculation and cause unnecessary trouble." Han Li explained, knowing Shi Chuankong's concerns.

Shi Chuankong, though not entirely convinced, eventually nodded in agreement.

Han Li nodded to him, turned around, bypassed the light curtain outside the blood pool, and walked toward the three stone arch bridges leading to the rear hall.

"Fellow Daoist Li, where are you going?"

Han Li had only taken a dozen steps when Shao Ying's figure blurred and blocked his path.

Shi Chuankong was about to step forward but was stopped by Han Li's transmission.

"The five city lords are all activating the blood sacrifice formation here, and I can't help. I just want to take a walk. Is there a problem?" Han Li raised an eyebrow and asked.

"This is a critical moment for the formation's operation; no mistakes are allowed. In my opinion, Fellow Daoist Li should focus on protecting your city lord and not wander around." Shao Ying's face was already sinister, and his forced smile made him even more repulsive.

"Our city lord has Fellow Daoist Xuan Yuan and Fellow Daoist Shi to protect him. Elder Shao need not worry." Han Li said patiently.

"Still, you can't wander around. If you accidentally trigger some mechanism and affect the formation, you would be guilty beyond redemption." Shao Ying remained unyielding.

"Shao Ying, don't look for trouble. Others may fear you, but I don't. If you want, we can settle this here with life and death, and see if the light curtain outside the blood formation is strong enough?" Han Li sneered, glancing at the blood pool, and asked in a low voice.

Shao Ying was not afraid to fight Han Li, but if he made a move, Xuan Yuan Xing and Shi Chuankong would surely join in, and Zhu Ziyuan and his sister would not stand idly by. The other three cities might watch from the sidelines or get involved, turning it into a full-blown melee.

He wasn't too worried about such an outcome; in a fit of rage, he could even kill all the small fry from the other cities, and he believed he could do it. But he feared that if it affected the blood formation's operation, the city lord's subsequent reprimand would be unbearable.

"You'd better not cause trouble, or else..."

Before Shao Ying could finish his threat, Han Li lightly dropped the words "I understand" and flashed past him.

His speed was so fast that Shao Ying couldn't react in time. He quickly blurred and distanced himself from Han Li, looking at his retreating figure with a hint of seriousness in his eyes.

Han Li ignored Shao Ying and walked toward the three stone arch bridges.

This minor conflict didn't attract much attention, as most people were focused on the blood formation and the five city lords within it.

Zhu Ziqing stood beside Zhu Ziyuan, her beautiful eyes looking over with curiosity.

Not far away, Madame Liuhua was also gazing at Han Li's retreating figure, a contemplative look in her eyes as she murmured, "What is that kid up to..."

But despite her curiosity, she had to observe the blood formation's changes here and naturally wouldn't follow.

...

The three stone arch bridges at the rear were identical in material and style to the front three.

Han Li again took the middle bridge and quickly reached the other side.

On the other side of the bridge was another flat plaza, not very large, with two huge stone doors ahead.

There was no firelight here, and the light was very dim. With his powerful eyesight, Han Li could see a carved head of a beast on the stone doors, resembling a lion but with a sharp horn on its head and scales on its face.

The carving was split in two along the line from the horn's center to the bridge of the nose and the beast's mouth, with each half occupying one door leaf.

Han Li frowned slightly, standing still for a long time, carefully recalling the contents of the jade slip given to him by the Crab Immortal back then.

Finally, his gaze focused, and he murmured, "Scale-Hou guards the door. It seems this is the place mentioned in the jade slip..."

With that, Han Li stepped forward. Instead of pushing the door directly, he raised his hand and pressed twice on the two outward-curving fangs of the Scale-Hou statue.

A slight "click" sound was heard.

At the center of the Scale-Hou's gaping maw, four beast teeth retracted simultaneously, revealing a dark, pitch-black hole.

Han Li looked around, then flashed and entered it.

Immediately after, another soft sound came from behind him as the four beast teeth returned to their original positions, sealing the hole.

Inside, it was pitch black with no light at all. Even with Han Li's eyesight, he couldn't see anything.

"Drip"

The sound of a water droplet falling came from directly ahead, faint but clearly audible.

With a thought, Han Li silently activated the Vajra Art. The mysterious apertures on both his arms lit up, emitting a hazy white light that illuminated the surroundings.

He then saw that he was standing on a stone step.

Due to the limited light from the apertures, Han Li could only see five or six steps ahead; beyond that, he couldn't make out anything.

After a moment's hesitation, Han Li began to descend step by step.

After descending a dozen or so steps, the ground ahead became flat, as if he had reached a platform. The "drip" sound he had heard earlier grew closer.

Following the sound a few steps forward, Han Li saw a stone pillar about three feet high, with a stone basin about a foot in diameter embedded on top. It was filled to the brim with an unknown black liquid, which emitted a faint fishy smell, as if it were the fat of some strange beast.

"Drip"

Another soft sound!

A drop of liquid fell from above into the stone basin, creating tiny ripples.

With a thought, Han Li rubbed his fingers, and a stream of star power flowed from his fingertips. With a "crackle," it turned into a white light that fell into the stone basin.

With a soft "whoosh," a ball of flame erupted in the stone basin, burning fiercely.

Immediately after, two lines of fire flowed out from the stone basin, following grooves on both sides of the stone pillar and extending far into the distance on either side.