Han Li raised a hand, and the crimson ball of light immediately whizzed through the air toward him before landing obediently in the center of his palm.
Han Li raised his other than, and a spluttering sound erupted as purple flames instantly surfaced along his entire arm, quickly encompassing his whole body.
Thus, a massive purple fireball came tumbling down directly from above.
The fireball that Han Li had transformed into was able to completely disregard the scorching crimson lava down below, landing with a loud thump before disappearing into the lava lake. A massive splash erupted over the surface of the lake, but it soon reverted back to its peaceful and tranquil state, as if nothing had ever happened.
At this point, Han Li had already reached a depth of over 100 feet down into the lava, and he continued to descend even further.
Even though he had been completely submerged in lava, his Purple Apex Flames, which were a glacial flame, were able to easily keep the scorching temperatures at bay.
After diving down for over 2,000 feet, Han Li finally reached the lakebed, and his feet landed on the ground, which was lined with solid black rocks.
He looked around and was unable to see anything aside from vast expanses of crimson in all directions.
Han Li's brows furrowed as he injected his spiritual power into his eyes, upon which a blue light flashed within the depths of his pupils. He had unleashed his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
After surveying his surroundings once again, Han Li raised the crimson jade plate in his hand. The jade plate swayed before rattling incessantly toward a certain direction, as if it were attempting to break free from his grasp.
Han Li immediately flew toward that direction, and after flying for a certain distance, the jade plate suddenly stopped rattling, abruptly plummeting downward instead.
Han Li was able to react in time and caught the jade plate again. Only then was he able to prevent it from escaping the protective cocoon formed by the purple flames. At the same time, he also cast his gaze directly below himself.
His expression changed slightly as he raised a hand, upon which a piercing burst of golden light shot forth, heading directly toward the lakebed.
Following a resounding boom, a massive rift around 70 to 80 feet in length was sliced into the seemingly normal lakebed.
Blue light immediately radiated from within the rift, warding off all of the scorching lava.
There was a light barrier restriction beneath this lakebed.
Han Li was ecstatic upon seeing this, and he immediately dove toward the light barrier without any hesitation.
The blue light barrier clearly wasn't an extremely sophisticated restriction as his Purple Apex Flames were able to easily burn a large hole of around 10 feet in diameter into its surface.
Han Li immediately flashed through that hole and appeared on the other side of the light barrier.
The blue light barrier immediately sealed over, keeping the lava at bay again.
Han Li paid this no heed as he began to survey his surroundings again.
At this moment, he found himself in a secret underground tunnel. The ground and all of the walls were extremely bumpy and uneven, making it appear as if it were a naturally-forming tunnel rather than one that had been artificially created.
Han Li immediately tossed out his jade plate again.
The jade plate revolved in the air before transforming into a crimson moon again and hurtling deeper into the tunnel.
Han Li rose up into the air expressionlessly and followed closely behind the blood moon.
After flying for around two to three kilometers, the tunnel began to gradually slope upward. After advancing for a further 1,000 feet or so, Han Li finally saw light up ahead, indicating that he had arrived at the exit.
The blood moon immediately flew toward the light without any hesitation.
However, Han Li wore a rather wary expression as he flapped his sleeve soundlessly to summon a ball of three-colored flames. This was none other than his Triflame Fan.
Han Li grasped the fan in his hand and his body swayed, taking him to the exit of the tunnel in the next instant, where he stood, examining his surroundings cautiously.
His surroundings were very dark and dim, yet everything was extremely clear to his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
This was a natural underground cave, and it appeared to be completely devoid of human presence.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as his gaze fell upon an exit at the end of the cave, which seemed to be leading to another cave.
At this moment, the blood moon was flying directly toward that exit. However, its momentum was arrested as soon as it reached the opening, and it began to emit a sharp buzzing sound.
A crisp crack then rang out and a dozen or so thin black cracks appeared over the surface of the blood moon. Following one final flash, the crimson moon disintegrated into specks of light.
As opposed to being alarmed upon seeing this, Han Li was, instead, ecstatic.
It only took him a few steps to reach the other cave connected to this one, and he found himself situated within an even larger cave than the previous one.
However, when he focused his gaze and looked around him, he faltered slightly at the sight that he beheld.
The entire cave was filled with tumbling pitch-black mist that encompassed almost every single inch of space within the area. However, as soon as some of this mist reached the exit of the cave, they were completely unable to progress any further, seemingly having been halted by an invisible barrier.
With his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to enhance his vision, the pitch-black cave that would render normal cultivators completely blind was as clear as air to Han Li. Thus, he was able to immediately catch sight of the three women lying completely stationary at the center of the cave.
They were none other than Mu Peiling's trio!
Beneath the three of them, there was a strange formation spell that was shimmering with faint spiritual light, and the black mist was being expelled incessantly from that formation.
Han Li didn't immediately rush in to save the three women. Instead, he examined every single inch of the cave with his spiritual sense and after verifying that his second Nascent Soul wasn't lurking in the shadows somewhere, he decisively feigned a grabbing motion toward the air at the opening of the cave.
Golden light flashed and the sound of something being ruptured rang out. The dense black mist immediately came surging out from within the other cave and tumbling straight toward Han Li.
However, Han Li merely made a hand seal, and a loud thunderclap erupted as a layer of golden lightning arcs surfaced over his body.
All of the black mist that came into contact with the arcs of lightning were immediately reduced to nothingness.
Han Li strode forward and waded directly into the black mist.
The golden arcs of lightning danced around him amid bursts fo erratic crackling, keeping all of the black mist firmly at bay. However, the black mist seemingly possessed intelligence as it converged to form a dozen or so black snakes of different sizes in the blink of an eye. The snakes circled around Han Li in a menacing manner, wanting to throw themselves at him, but not daring to do so.
Han Li's expression darkened upon seeing this, and the Triflame Fan in his hand disappeared in a flash. At the same time, the arcs of lightning that had surfaced over his body became even more dazzling.
He swept his sleeves through the air and two golden lightning wyrms shot forth, tearing through the black snakes with ease and reducing them to nothingness in the blink of an eye.
The two lightning wyrms then continued their assault, sweeping through the surrounding black mist with reckless abandon. Amid a series of rumbling booms, the black mist was completely eradicated, and Han Li was able to access the formation without any further impediment.
After taking just cursory glance at this formation, Han Li could already tell that this was merely an extremely simple illusionary formation.
It appeared that the three women's magic power must've been restricted. Otherwise, a formation of this caliber was nowhere near sufficient to trap three Core Formation cultivators.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately flicked his 10 fingers toward the formation in quick succession. A dozen or so burst of golden sword Qi struck the formation almost with complete synchronicity.
The formation was immediately destroyed as a result.
Almost at the exact same moment, within the Myriad Depth Devilish Abyss on the Seven Spirit Islands, a tall and broad shadowy humanoid figure abruptly opened its eyes. The humanoid figure was seated on the platform that Han Li had used many years ago, and its entire body was enshrouded under devilish Qi as an extremely surprised look surfaced on its face.
It suddenly thrust its hand into its sleeve, and a blue bead immediately appeared over his palm.
However, there was a clear crack running right down the center of the bead’s smooth surface.
"Impossible! The restriction was broken; how did that man manage to find that palace so quickly? If I were in his shoes, I would be completely powerless to do anything," the humanoid figure murmured in a coarse voice that was tinged with incredulity and a hint of dejection.
"So be it. I wasn't counting on those three to do much for me anyway. However, I can't stay in this place for much longer. I have to complete this process of injecting devilish Qi into my body, then find another obscure location to cultivate in," the humanoid figure murmured to itself before closing its eyes again, seemingly having managed to quickly compose itself.
At this moment, Han Li had already pulled out a green jade vial from his storage pouch and poured three fragrant pills out onto his palm. He fed the three women a pill each before standing silently off to the side with his hands clasped behind his back.
Only roughly 10 minutes had passed before Song Yu awakened first.
"Looks like your cultivation base has improved quite significantly, Martial Niece Song; you managed to wake up sooner than I expected." Before she had completely regained her consciousness, a familiar male voice suddenly sounded in her ears.
Song Yu shuddered as she immediately came to her senses. She opened her eyes, and the first thing that she saw was Han Li appraising her with a hint of a smile on his face.
"Martial Uncle Han! Wait, no, are you really Martial Uncle Han?" Song Yu exclaimed.
"Hehe, you're pretty alert, aren't you, Martial Niece Song. I had to go through quite a bit of trouble to find this place. As for whether I'm the real Han Li or not, do you think I'm an imposter?" Han Li chuckled calmly.
"So you really are Martial Uncle Han!" Song Yu was still slightly conflicted. She was around 70% sure that this was indeed the real Han Li, but she still didn't dare to completely trust her judgment.
Han Li smiled and didn't say anything. Instead, he merely waved a hand toward Song Yu.
A dozen of so silver needles suddenly shot forth from various locations all over Song Yu's body, and the needles all flew into Han Li's grasp.
Almost at the exact same moment, Song Yu could feel the magic power in her body resume free circulation.
An ecstatic expression immediately appeared on her face.
Right at this moment, Mu Peiling and Liu Yu also woke up one after the other.
They were also startled by the sight of Han Li.
However, Mu Peiling was able to immediately verify Han Li's identity through the use of the restriction in her spiritual sense, and she hurriedly rose to her feet before extending an elated curtsey toward Han Li.
Upon seeing this, Liu Yu and Song Yu were convinced that this was the real Han Li, and they also rose to their feet to extend respectful curtseys.
"Was it my missing second Nascent Soul who captured the three of you?" Han Li asked.
"Master, have you already encountered the Nascent Soul?" Liu Yu blurted out upon hearing this.
"If I'd encountered it already, would I still be asking you this question?" Han Li said in a calm voice as he also extracted the silver needles from Liu Yu and Mu Peiling's bodies.
