Chapter 972: Personal Grudge

Han Li's eyes flickered as he looked around, a contemplative expression on his face.

Although he had found the array diagram of the Blood Weeping Grand Formation in the rear hall, he still had no idea why this formation appeared here or where the blood qi force within the crimson light door came from.

Judging by Elixir's demeanor, he probably knew something about it.

Han Li looked up at the sky, his thoughts churning incessantly.

Elixir and Sha Xin had both left without hesitation, indicating that the sacred corpse was definitely not here and was most likely hidden deeper within the Great Ruin.

However, in order to pursue Zi Ling and to leave this Scale Sky Prison, he could not retreat no matter how dangerous it was.

Han Li let out a long breath, as if expelling all the worries in his heart, and his expression returned to calm.

He held his hands loosely, and a bright white light radiated from his body, with dense acupoint light spots appearing all over him, numbering as many as four hundred and seventy-five.

Although Zhuo Ge had been a hindrance just now, he had still managed to complete the cultivation of the first three layers of the Heavenly Fiend Prison Suppression Art with the help of the Blood Weeping Grand Formation before it collapsed.

Moreover, the Heaven-holding Vase within his body had absorbed most of the power of the Blood Weeping Grand Formation, which he could later draw upon to continue opening other mysterious apertures.

With his current physical cultivation, although he was still no match for E Kuai and Sha Xin, aside from those two, no one else from the Xuan City and Puppet City factions could rival him.

And with his movement speed, even against E Kuai and Sha Xin, he had some confidence in escaping.

Han Li quickly retracted the white light from his body and leaped back to the ground.

He turned his gaze toward the other side of the blood pool.

Chen Yang and Xuan Yuan Xing were still standing there, motionless.

He made a hand seal and pointed, and a crystalline light flashed on their heads as several crystalline chains shot out.

Chen Yang and the other man stirred and immediately recovered.

They looked around, seeing the hall in a mess, more damaged than before, and with no one else in sight except Han Li, their expressions shifted repeatedly.

"Brother Li, you... I..." Chen Yang looked at Han Li, a trace of embarrassment flashing across his face, and his speech became hesitant.

"The people of Puppet City have all left. If you wish to pursue them, go ahead." Han Li said indifferently, then paid them no further heed.

His form flickered, transforming into a wisp of green smoke that shot out through the large hole in the wall.

Once outside, Han Li swept his gaze around and couldn't help but furrow his brow slightly.

Within this Great Ruins secret realm, his spiritual sense was of little use, so he could only carefully examine the residual fluctuations left in the surrounding space to determine where Sha Xin and the others had gone.

However, too much time had passed, and the traces remaining in the void were already too scattered and sparse. He could only roughly pick a direction, leap up, and give chase.

Now, his body seemed filled with an inexhaustible strength, but his movements were still somewhat unaccustomed to it, and he couldn't yet control his power freely, often inadvertently causing bursts of crackling sounds.

In a few quick bounds, his figure had already vanished into the distance.

Along the way, all he saw were vast stretches of architectural ruins, broken walls, and desolation everywhere.

Han Li, preoccupied with the black-veiled woman called "Little Zi," had no time to investigate these places and simply pursued relentlessly.

Three days later.

Han Li arrived at an abandoned garden, surrounded by winding corridors and dotted with rockeries of various shapes and sizes, covering a vast area.

As he hurried along the garden's winding corridor, he suddenly heard sounds of weapons clashing from the left front, mixed with some familiar sharp cries.

Han Li frowned, suppressed the fluctuations of his star power, and instead of leaping up, cautiously crept forward.

Leaving the garden and advancing another dozen li, after passing through a crowded ruin, he arrived at the edge of a massive sinkhole tens of thousands of zhang in diameter.

He hid behind a collapsed green stone screen wall and peered down.

In the pit, the sound of rumbling continued unabated.

A white-clad woman in bone armor, holding a white bone whip in one hand and a white bone spear in the other, was leaping up and down at the bottom of the pit. As she twisted her wrist, the bone whip writhed like a living thing, constantly lashing out at a black-armored man wielding a battle blade.

Where the whip's shadow fell, white light flashed, and thunderclaps exploded, shaking the void.

"It really is her..." Han Li muttered to himself.

That white-clad woman was none other than Gu Qianxun, and the man fighting her was none other than the Great Prince, Shi Zhanfeng.

At some unknown point, he had changed into a suit of purple demon armor, which radiated a brilliant purple light. The armor clashed against Gu Qianxun's long whip, fully withstanding its attacks. In his hand, he held a white bone war blade, steadily advancing toward Gu Qianxun.

Gu Qianxun had three bloody holes in her lower abdomen, and blood had stained her skirt with mottled traces, like plum blossoms blooming on snow. It was clear that she was at a distinct disadvantage, and defeat was only a matter of time.

Han Li shifted his gaze and noticed a woman's corpse lying on the ground not far from the two. She was petite and graceful, with a bloody hole blasted through her chest. It was the seductive woman who had been following Shi Zhanfeng earlier.

A clattering sound rang out!

Gu Qianxun's long whip coiled around the long blade in Shi Zhanfeng's hand, its tip darting toward his face like a snake's tongue.

Shi Zhanfeng stepped back, yanking the blade hard, and the bone whip tightened around it.

"Break!" he roared. The star apertures on his blade blazed with light, and an overwhelmingly powerful star force erupted.

Bang, bang, bang...

A series of explosions followed as the white bone whip shattered inch by inch, scattering in all directions.

Gu Qianxun was struck by the resulting shockwave, worsening the injury on her abdomen, and she staggered back a step.

Shi Zhanfeng had already closed in with his blade, bringing it down in a heavy vertical slash.

Pale-faced, Gu Qianxun held her bone spear horizontally to block, and it clashed against the war blade.

A tremendous force bore down, shattering the black stone pavement. Gu Qianxun's legs sank below her knees, and she coughed up another mouthful of blood, her face ashen and her body trembling.

Shi Zhanfeng knocked away her bone spear with a flick of his blade, then held the blade to her neck, snarling, "Who sent you to ambush me?"

Gu Qianxun's gaze was dazed. She glanced at the corpse in the distance, feeling a pang of regret.

If not for that woman sacrificing her life to block that blow for Shi Zhanfeng, she would have had a chance to kill him.

"If you want to kill me, then kill me. Why ask more?" Gu Qianxun took a deep breath and said slowly.

"I still have business at the Thousand Mechanisms Hall. I don't have time to waste with you here. Since you're so eager to die, I'll oblige you." Shi Zhanfeng sneered, raising his blade as if to strike her head.

Just then, a sharp whoosh sounded.

A fireball shot over, striking Shi Zhanfeng's long blade with a clang. The force was astonishing, sending him stumbling.

Shi Zhanfeng glanced at the mark on his bone blade and saw it was a red-hot, molten stone, slowly trickling down the blade.

He quickly looked into the distance and saw a tall figure holding three or four walnut-sized stones, tossing and catching them as he walked slowly toward them.

"It's you!" After recognizing the face, Shi Zhanfeng's expression changed in surprise.

"Fellow Daoist Li..." Gu Qianxun murmured, her expression complex.

"Great Prince, long time no see," Han Li said with a hint of a smile.

Shi Zhanfeng looked at Han Li before him, his eyes narrowing slightly. A strange feeling arose in his heart, as if the man before him was somehow different from the one in his memory.

"What, Fellow Daoist Li intends to meddle in my personal grudge with her?" Shi Zhanfeng frowned and asked.

"I don't know if you have a personal grudge with her, but I have matters to discuss with her. Please, Great Prince, step aside for a moment," Han Li said calmly, not slowing his pace.

"First come, first served! Let me finish settling my grudge with her, then you can have your talk." Shi Zhanfeng sneered, twisting his wrist, and with even greater ferocity, he slashed at the back of Gu Qianxun's head.

Han Li's eyes flickered. A brilliant white light shone in his palm, and as he rubbed his fingers together, the ordinary stones in his hand instantly turned fiery red.

He flicked his wrist, and a faint thunderclap sounded from his palm, followed by a long, drawn-out whoosh.

Four red-hot stones flew from his hand, turning into four intertwining fiery arcs that instantly reached Shi Zhanfeng. Two struck directly at his war blade, while the other two flew toward his dantian and heart.

Shi Zhanfeng was startled. He quickly raised his long blade to protect himself.

The two stones aimed at the blade missed, but the two aimed at his body struck the blade.

Clang!

Two explosions rang out. The white bone blade shuddered violently and slammed into Shi Zhanfeng's chest, sending him and his blade flying back nearly a hundred zhang. His legs plowed two deep furrows in the ground.

After steadying himself, Shi Zhanfeng glanced at the two obvious cracks on the blade and frowned deeply.

"It seems Fellow Daoist Li has encountered another stroke of fortune in the Great Ruins. How enviable! Well, well, since you insist on saving her, I'll give you face," Shi Zhanfeng said after a pause, his expression returning to normal as he smiled slightly.

As soon as he finished speaking, his white bone war blade snapped in two with a crack.

Unperturbed, he casually tossed away the hilt and said, "The mountains are high and the rivers long. We'll meet again." Then he leaped into the distance and soon disappeared from sight.

Han Li let him go without stopping him. He turned and walked slowly toward Gu Qianxun.