Xie Lian and Patriarch Greenstone couldn't help but exchange glances.
"Fellow Daoist Xie Lian, what should we do? Should we follow after them too?" Patriarch Greenstone said, a note of unease in his voice.
"Brother Han has a point. Since the situation has changed, remaining here to guard the area is no longer the wisest course. Let's go see what's happening and take it from there." After her expression shifted several times in rapid succession, Xie Lian set her jaw and spoke decisively.
With a flick of her sleeve, a shadow flashed behind her, and she transformed into a blur of light that shot away.
Patriarch Greenstone sighed softly at the sight. He formed a single-handed seal, and green mist rolled across the surface of his body as he soared into the air and followed.
By now, Han Li was already rushing through a narrow corridor with Crab Daoist in tow, heading toward the direction where the violent tremors were strongest.
Although the ancient seal's power still maintained the flight-restriction in place, when Mahayana cultivators like Han Li expended their Magical Power without restraint, their travel speed was naturally far from slow.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense left and right through the corridor, and his brow furrowed involuntarily.
The corridor appeared smooth on the surface, but within, it was riddled with hairline fractures that were visibly multiplying at an alarming rate.
This underground palace would likely not hold together much longer.
After his heart sank, Han Li made a swift judgment.
The tremors from ahead were growing ever more violent, as though the entire underground palace might collapse at any moment.
Suddenly, a fork appeared ahead. Without a moment's hesitation, Han Li turned, and his streak of light vanished into a new corridor.
But a gust of malicious wind surged forward, and two dark shapes hurtled straight at them — two human-faced insects, their bodies entirely pitch-black.
The two ferocious creatures seemed as though they had been lying in wait at the entrance of this new corridor for some time.
Cold light flashed in Han Li's eyes as he gave a snort. A verdant sword shadow flickered past his arm, and a dark-green sword three feet long materialized in his hand. With a single swing, he slashed at the two insects bearing down on him.
With a thunderous boom, the ambient spiritual energy around them boiled over, and an immense, overwhelming power of law descended into the corridor.
The two human-faced insects felt a bizarre fluctuation ripple through their surroundings, and their bodies went numb and immobile. Then a flash of green light passed before their eyes, followed by a chill — and they lost all consciousness.
Han Li shifted, and his figure flickered, appearing in a blur behind the two insects. With a flick of his wrist, the dark-green sword vanished.
Only then did two muffled sounds come from the insects' bodies as they split in half at the waist simultaneously, immediately consumed by a swirl of light and reduced to ash.
Unwilling to waste time with further entanglement, Han hadn't even asked Crab Daoist for assistance. He had simply drawn the Mystic Heaven Spirit-Slaying Sword and dispatched the two insects in one stroke.
With his current cultivation, he could wield a portion of this Mystic Heaven treasure's power without even activating his Nirvana Body. Dealing with two insects that hadn't even reached the Mahayana stage was naturally effortless.
Crab Daoist watched this with a slight flicker of expression, but without a word, he closely followed in Han Li's streak of light.
After eliminating the two human-faced insects, the pair encountered no other hostile creatures in the corridor.
After an indeterminate time, the view before them suddenly opened up, and they emerged from the corridor into a cavern of staggering proportions.
The cavern floor was covered in pale silver sand, while the ceiling was studded with stalactite-like pointed stones. Not far from the corridor's exit, billowing gray-white mist rolled through the air, carrying with it a faint sandalwood fragrance.
Before this sea of mist, several figures hovered low in the air. Behind one of them, a massive illusory pink blossom slowly revolved — none other than Bao.
The woman's beautiful face was fixed coldly on the gray-white mist, though a hint of alarm flickered in her gaze.
Across the mist, a hazy, indistinct face of gray-white vapor floated in the air, its lips moving soundlessly — it seemed to be communicating with her through secret transmission.
Behind Bao, Black Crocodile stood guard with a face full of wariness, while the remaining several figures were familiar-looking Mahayana cultivators from other realms.