Breaking out

Half a month later.

Fengyin Mountains.

Even though it was noon, a layer of dark clouds above a steep and tall mountain peak barely allowed any sunlight to pass through. It gave the mountain ranges a gloomy and depressive feeling, as if it were going to rain at any moment.

Trees covered the mountain peak, but they were not the usual dark-green color. They were greenish-black instead and made the entire mountain peak look like it was covered in dark ink painted with a thick brush.

The dark clouds suddenly broke apart and a bright ray of light flew in, the shadow of a tall and young figure wearing a green robe appeared.

It was Han Li.

He floated in the air as he glanced around before he closed his eyes. He slowly let his consciousness out and scanned the entire mountain range.

After a few seconds, he suddenly opened his eyes, a weird expression on his face. With that, his body shook and with several flashes, he landed in a nearby forest covered in a thick mist.

He landed softly and cautiously walked forward. As he passed an old tree, the thick mist revealed a small figure resting against a half-cut grayish tree.

"Le'er."

He furrowed his eyebrows and called out.

Hearing the familiar voice, the small figure's shoulders shook, her eyelashes trembled and she slowly opened her eyes.

The moment she saw Han Li, the girl's pale face immediately flushed with happiness. She even forced out a smile as well. However, when she wanted to speak, she could only cry out simply.

"I'm here. Don't be afraid." Comforting her, Han Li slowly stepped forward.

Seeing this, Liu Le'er seemed to have thought of something and panic flashed in her pretty eyes. She hurriedly shook her head at Han Li.

Seeing Han Li continuing to walk towards her, she struggled a little and wanted to sit up when a crack sounded from around her.

Several black sparkling chains appeared around her and tied her up from head to toe. As long as she moved a little, black lightning would flash from the chains and hit her ruthlessly.

Seeing the pain surface on Liu Le'er's face, Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but a flash of murderous intent appeared in his eyes. He continued to walk forward.

Just as he was about to take another step forward, something happened before he could put his foot down!

The originally calm and white mist in the woods suddenly turned completely black. It started to boil tremendously and a crazy storm started to blow, causing the black mist to turn into a giant wormhole.

The temperature around them dropped drastically. Terrible cries and howling started to surround them!

Being in the center of the wormhole, Han Li felt his vision turn black and an invisible force appeared from the bottom of the wormhole, as if wanting to pull him downwards.

Han Li hummed coldly and with a stomp, he continued to walk towards Liu Le'er with large strides like he was not affected at all.

Right at this moment, a loud thunder boomed from the ground!

The ground around him trembled before they shattered and a pair of ghostly claws covered with sharp pricks suddenly broke out of the ground. With one on the left and one on the right, they grabbed both of Han Li's legs.

Almost at the same time, the black mist above his head spread out crazily. An invisible force appeared out of nowhere and pressed down towards him at a crazy speed.

Another earth-shattering thunder rang!

A dark-purple eight-sided giant pagoda fell from the skies like a mountain and trapped Han Li within.

The giant pagoda was about sixty yards tall and was covered with purple runes, exuding an indescribable eeriness.

Everything happened in a flash, as if Han Li was trapped before he could even react.

"Hm…"

Liu Le'er could only watch everything unfold in front of her. She immediately called out in panic as her body subconsciously struggled.

However, the more she struggled, the tighter the chains were bound around her. Black lightning flowed across the chains like spirit snakes and caused the teenage girl's forehead to be covered in a cold sweat from the pain she was experiencing.

A strong surge occurred in the ghostly mist around the giant pagoda and four separate figures appeared in a flash from different directions.

One of them was wearing a black robe, their figure thin and skeletal with a head of white hair and a black beard. It was Qi Xuan.

The person opposite of him was wearing a yellow long robe. The person was a man with a squarish face and was rather buff and muscular. As for the other two other people who came from the remaining directions, they were a thin and skeletal middle-aged man with silver hair and a beautiful middle-aged woman wearing a bright red long robe.

Without exceptions, these four people were all Deity Transformation priests. They all made the same hand gestures to show the same hand seals and continued to move their hands until they had walked to the sides of the pagoda.

"Haha, Elder Tian, it's a good thing you managed to borrow this Purple Dark Pagoda. We finally caught this thief!" Qi Xuan chuckled as he waved his cupped fists towards the man with the squarish face.

"Elder Qi is being too modest. However, in other words, you asked me to borrow this well-known secret treasure from Master without care of any costs just to deal with a Nascent Soul cultivator? Aren't you blowing things out of proportion?" The square-faced man looked a little proud, before he asked with a glance at the giant pagoda.

"I was being extra careful, just in case. After all, Elder Lu Ya died because of him and because of that, I suffered quite a bit from the Execution Sanctuary." Qi Xuan sighed as he shook his head lightly.

"No matter what, since Brother Qi has caught this person alive, don't forget what you promised me earlier." The red-robed woman placed a hand in front of her mouth as she chuckled.

"Haha, of course. Please rest assured…"

Before Qi Xuan could finish speaking, the giant pagoda in front of them trembled and caused all of the ground to shake as well. Qi Xuan immediately froze and he immediately swallowed back his unspoken words.

"This is…" The red-robed woman asked with surprise, as she raised an eyebrow.

The silver haired middle-aged man opposite to her chuckled instead, as he casually said, "You don't have to be so concerned. It's my corrupted ghost. It seems like that boy is too restless inside, so he will definitely suffer a little."

"I didn't think that the ghost Brother Luo owns is able to make the Purple Dark Pagoda tremble as well, so I'm a little surprised." The red-robed woman said as she pressed a hand against her voluminous chest and sighed in relief.

In the end, the moment the woman finished speaking, another dark hum boomed from the giant purple pagoda and the force was stronger than before.

This time, as the ground loudly trembled, the four people actually felt like they could not stand properly anymore.

Glancing below their feet again, depthless and narrow cracks suddenly appeared within a hundred foot radius under the giant pagoda, crawling across the ground like spiderwebs.

"Brother Luo, is this caused by your ghost as well?" The red-robed woman's expression changed slightly as she hurriedly turned to question the silver haired middle-aged man.

The latter was about to speak when he let out a moan and blood seeped out from the corners of his mouth.

"How is it possible… My corrupted ghost h-has been killed…" The middle-aged man whose surname was Luo wiped the blood by the corner of his lips, his expression extremely shocked.

The moment he said so, both Qi Xuan and the red-robed woman were equally as shocked.

"It seems like Elder Qi was right. This Thief Han's body is indeed not something we can underestimate. However, you don't have to panic. The Purple Dark Pagoda is a spiritual treasure that is connected to the skies. Even a Spatial Tempering cultivator would have quite some difficulty breaking out and with his inferior cultivation base, can he change the skies?" The square-faced man recollected his emotions as he said very confidently.

"Despite that, this treasure is still an object that an Integration level mighty figure can tame. We only managed to use it with our combined strength, so the effect would definitely be lessened. From what I see, how about we use all of our strength now and get the treasure to kill the person?" On the other hand, Qi Xuan suggested with furrowed eyebrows, still a little uneasy and worried.

"Brother Qi makes sense. We should kill him immediately, in case anything unexpected happens. When that time comes and the thief leaves his Nascent Soul, I will be able to do whatever I want to him." The middle-aged man whose surname was Luo added with a cruel expression.

With that decision, the four of them made a hand seal once more, as chants sounded from them simultaneously.

All of the purple runes on the giant purple pagoda started to glow ring after ring. Countless runes and emblems appeared from the pagoda and a thick purplish aura surged from the pagoda. The coldness surrounding them grew, causing the temperature around them to drop even more drastically. A loud crack rang in the air and patches of ice materialized.

At the same time, the entire pagoda seemed to become heavier and sank deeper into the ground.

However, something happened before the four of them could sigh in relief.

A loud thunder boomed from the giant pagoda once more. The runes on its surface flashed crazily and grew in size.

"Not good!"

The square-faced man's expression changed completely. However, before they could do anything, loud cracks sounded from the pagoda and several giant cracks surfaced from the top to the bottom.

Following that, a loud thunderous sound rumbled from the giant pagoda. Under the shocked eyes of the four people, the giant pagoda suddenly cracked apart and large patches of purple mist started to filter out.

An immensely strong force surged and surrounded them. Although they used their magic to support themselves, they were still forced backwards one after another. Liu Le'er, who was further away was also blown back from the accompanying wind.

The giant pagoda shattered into pieces. The smoke slowly dissipated and a disgusting-looking giant ghost who was completely black and was about six yards tall, was lying on the ground with its limbs facing upwards. There was a large hole in its chest, as black and smelly blood flowed from it.

Stood on top of the giant ghost's head, Han Li glanced towards Liu Le'er with his indifferent expression. Seeing that the girl was alright, he finally glanced at the four people surrounding him.

"Are you…"

The four of them were extremely shocked and disbelief surged in their hearts at the same time.

However, in the next moment, Han Li punched twice without another word.

One of his punches landed at the silver haired middle-aged man who was closest to him, while the other punch flew towards the red-robed woman who was not too far from him either.

The two of them only felt an overwhelming pressure surge over them. The air around them tightened and their bodies felt heavier. It was too late for them to want to avoid it at all.

In his panic, the robe of the silver haired middle-aged man inflated and his sleeves flared open like trumpets as thick boiling black gas surged out.

In the black gas, five bloody evil ghost skulls were carried along by the gas with their bloody mouths wide open.

Right after that, a bloody red ghost seal carved with runes appeared and grew until it was the size of a house and stood in front of him.

On the other hand, the red-robed woman's face was already completely pale. In her panic, she hurriedly waved her wrists several times and thirteen white bone flying swords flew out and attacked in front of her accompanied by the cries and howling of devil ghosts.

She curled her fingers and scratched ruthlessly at her arm. Instantly, several scary and bloody marks broke on her skin. Small and dense red bugs the size of rice grains crawled out from her and instantly morphed into a bloody shield in front of her.