Chapter 987: Rapid Progress

Han Li gazed at the four statues before him, his eyes flickering slightly.

Among them, the one on the far left was obtained from Du Qingyang and had already been cultivated in the blood array earlier; the two beside it were both recently acquired from E Kuai.

The last one was taken out from the Flower Branch Space by Han Li using the last bit of his immortal spiritual power.

According to E Kuai, there should be a total of four such statues, and these before him should be all of them.

At this thought, a shadow of gloom involuntarily rose in Han Li's heart.

At that time, his immortal spiritual power was nearly depleted, barely enough to retrieve just this one statue; he couldn't even take another look into the Flower Branch Space.

He had thought he could return from the Scale Abyss soon, but unexpectedly, he had been delayed for so long. Ti Hun was still asleep on the second floor of the bamboo building—how was she doing?

But worry as he might, there was nothing else he could do for now.

Third Prince Shi Pokong harbored ulterior motives, and his so-called method of returning to the Demon Realm was utterly unusable. The only way to leave the Scale Abyss was to wait for the Crab Immortal to recover.

Now that First Prince Shi Zhanfeng had fallen, even if Han Li returned to the Demon Realm, he probably couldn't force him to keep his promise and have the High Priest treat Ti Hun.

Moreover, chaos had already erupted in the Demon Realm, and the struggle for succession would only intensify. Han Li no longer wished to be involved.

Putting aside his turbulent thoughts, Han Li raised his hand and picked up the second statue. Taking a deep breath, a flash of light shone from between his brows, and a crystalline beam shot out like lightning, plunging into the black statue.

Immediately after, the statue, like the first one, began to gesticulate wildly, performing all sorts of bizarre movements. Its back also became covered with dense mysterious scripts, which naturally contained the content of the "Heavenly Fiend Prison Suppression Art."

Han Li fixed his gaze on the statue's movements and began to imitate them.

...

On a continent separated by an unknown distance, within a majestic city, blades and halberds stood like a forest, and defenses were tight.

Inside a grand hall at the city's center, a seductive woman sat high on a bright hall, leaning against a large white jade chair, listening with a relaxed expression to the report of a handsome man below.

If Han Li were here, he would recognize at a glance that the woman was Sha Xin, the master of Puppet City, and the man reporting to her was Zhuo Ge.

"Reporting to City Lord, the situation in Xuan City has basically stabilized. Although the five major cities and some subsidiary towns offered minor resistance, they were quickly suppressed. By the way, Gu Qianxun contributed significantly in this process," Zhuo Ge said respectfully.

"I heard that in Xuanzhi City, the elders who originally followed Qin Yuan and their clans, even those who surrendered and pledged loyalty first, were all slaughtered?" Sha Xin asked casually, her tone unreadable.

"This... it was done by Gu Qianxun, but with the approval of Madame Liuhua. He said he would explain it to you himself," Zhuo Ge hesitated slightly before replying.

"It's just some old grudges between them. No matter, let them be," Sha Xin said indifferently.

"Gu Qianxun handled this matter cleanly. He didn't rely on his power to kill but fought in the city's Xuan Dou Arena for seven days and seven nights, a total of eighty-one matches, slaying those people one by one. Instead of inciting public outrage in Xuanzhi City, he won over many people's hearts," Zhuo Ge said cautiously.

"Since she is willing to pledge allegiance to our master, let her be the city lord of Xuanzhi City. Have the city lords of the other cities been decided?" Sha Xin nodded and asked.

"Xuan City is temporarily under the control of Madame Liuhua. Zhu Ziyuan and his sister came to pledge allegiance voluntarily and assist in managing Xuan City. It has been the smoothest transition. The other cities saw many deaths, but the city lord candidates have been decided," Zhuo Ge reported.

"Xuan City, as a major city comparable to Puppet City, must be strictly supervised. Overt and covert surveillance is absolutely necessary," Sha Xin instructed.

"As you command, City Lord," Zhuo Ge replied.

"These are trivial matters; handle them as you see fit. Regarding the ruins I ordered you to excavate earlier, how many have been found?" Sha Xin waved her sleeve lightly and asked.

"So far, only twenty-one have been found. The remaining eighty-seven are still being searched for," Zhuo Ge replied.

"These ruins are scattered throughout the Scale Abyss, some in remote and dangerous places. Finding twenty-one is not slow. But there's no need to rush; as long as all of them can be excavated within the next thousand years, that will suffice," Sha Xin nodded and said.

"Yes!" Zhuo Ge cupped his fists in acknowledgment.

"This matter concerns our master's ability to retake control of the Scale Abyss after emerging from seclusion. Remember, no mistakes are allowed. Alright, you may leave," Sha Xin finished, waving her hand in dismissal.

Zhuo Ge bowed in response and turned to leave.

...

In the western district of Puppet City, within a deep mansion compound, all was silent.

In an underground chamber within the compound, a white-haired man, completely naked, was immersed in an octagonal blood pool. Eight blood-crystal chains bound his body, connected to eight blood-colored stone pillars around the pool.

His features were handsome, his eyes a deep purple—he was Shi Chuankong.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

The chains clattered incessantly, causing the eight blood-colored stone pillars to tremble violently. The entire blood pool seemed to boil, churning with waves of blood and emitting rolling waves of scorching heat.

Shi Chuankong, however, seemed oblivious, his body not even trembling excessively. Only his furrowed brows and the grinding of his teeth revealed the unimaginable pain he was enduring.

Yet all this was voluntary, even obtained through a deal with Sha Xin.

"Fellow Daoist Li, being left so far behind by you is truly unpleasant..." After gritting out these words, a point of light suddenly flared on his chest—he had unexpectedly opened a mysterious acupoint.

...

As the saying goes, cultivation knows no time. In the blink of an eye, another eight hundred years had passed.

In the crystal palace beneath the blood lake of the Great Ruins, the star formation was still in operation. From a side hall nearby came rumbling sounds.

Inside the side hall, a humanoid monster covered in golden fur, with lightning wings on its back, bulging eyes, and cyan tortoise-shell arms, was wildly pounding the walls.

Fortunately, the runes on the crystal walls shimmered with light, releasing immense star power that forcefully blocked the monster's heavy blows, preventing the entire crystal palace from being reduced to ruins.

After three full hours of pounding, the monster's momentum gradually waned, and it slowly stopped.

As its movements slowed, its silver wings faded first, followed by the cyan tortoise shell peeling off piece by piece, and finally, all the golden fur disappeared without a trace.

When all the abnormalities vanished, it finally returned to human form—it was Han Li.

His eyes were sunken, and he looked noticeably thinner. He supported himself on the ground with his hands, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath. The sweat on his body evaporated into mist as soon as it emerged, heated by the high temperature radiating from his skin.

He seemed shrouded in a layer of mist, hazy and indistinct.

After a long while, he slumped against the wall and sat down, the frenzied true spirit bloodline within him finally calming.

"The true spirit bloodline is ultimately not star power. With just this Star Essence Blood Refining Art, I can no longer suppress the bloodline's rampage. If this happens a few more times, I'm afraid I'll burn through all my essence blood," Han Li frowned and sighed.

He had flipped through all the books in the other side hall at least ten times. None of the body-refining techniques for Xuan cultivators offered any solution to this situation. Only a text on puppet arts mentioned a method.

But Han Li had deep reservations about this method and was unwilling to try it.

The method described refining a powerful puppet, channeling the true spirit bloodline into it, and then drawing blood from others into his own body to save his life.

However, following this method would greatly damage his original strength. The puppet might possess formidable combat power for a short time, but once its essence blood was depleted, it would become useless.

Despite his reluctance, Han Li knew that if it came to that point, life was naturally more important than anything else.

During this time, the Crab Immortal had awakened several times. Han Li took the opportunity to borrow a bit of his original immortal spiritual power to open the Flower Branch Space and check on Ti Hun's condition.

He found that although the Purple Sun Warm Jade had been exhausted, for some reason, Ti Hun's condition had not worsened. So, following the puppet secret technique taught by the Crab Immortal, he temporarily sealed Ti Hun away, planning to deal with it later.

Additionally, Han Li had asked the Crab Immortal about the backlash of the true spirit bloodline.

After all, it was the Crab Immortal who had initially guided him to cultivate the Heavenly Fiend Prison Suppression Art. After he used the advanced refinement method recorded in this art to refine the true spirit bloodline, the backlash began.

After some thought, the Crab Immortal could only offer the answer: "Perhaps after completely refining the true spirit bloodline, the bloodline's power was amplified invisibly, leading to the backlash."

Unfortunately, he couldn't provide a solution either, only saying that he would deal with it after emerging from seclusion, and then fell asleep again.

Han Li felt helpless but had no other choice.

For now, as long as he continued cultivating the Heavenly Fiend Prison Suppression Art to strengthen his physique, and used star power to suppress the true spirit bloodline's eruption without activating this art, it could still have some effect.

Thus, he intensified his cultivation of the Heavenly Fiend Prison Suppression Art.

Currently, Han Li had completed the cultivation of the second statue, opening over nine hundred mysterious acupoints on his body, and his strength could rival that of E Kuai in his prime.

His rapid progress was due partly to the exquisite nature of the Heavenly Fiend Prison Suppression Art, partly to the vast amount of blood energy stored in the Vial of Time, and of course, this crystal palace also played a crucial role.