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Chapter 578: Descent
Chapter 578: Descent
Chapter 578: Descent
Around 15 minutes later, Han Li descended onto one of the stone platforms protruding out of the cliff face, and he swept a sleeve through the air to scatter the dozens of skeletons on the platform, sending them plunging down deeper into the ravine.
Han Li briefly inspected his surroundings, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon Daoist Xie, Jin Tong, and Xiao Bai amid three streaks of light, two golden and one white.
As soon as Jin Tong appeared, she was immediately struck by a sense of discomfort, and she hurriedly asked, "Where are we, Uncle?"
"There's an extreme abundance of baleful qi here," Daoist Xie remarked with tightly furrowed brows.
"We're already deep within the ravine right now. This amount of baleful qi should still be tolerable for all of you, but if we go any deeper, you run the risk of suffering baleful qi contamination, so I'll leave all of you to stay here for now while I continue my descent," Han Li said.
"Just focus on your cultivation and don't worry about anything else, Uncle," Jin Tong declared with a reassuring nod.
Han Li patted Jin Tong on the head, then turned to Daoist Xie as he said, "brother Xie, as a safety precaution, I'll have to trouble you to set up an array with me."
Daoist Xie nodded in response.
"Master, this feels like such an eerie place... Is it really alright to stay here?" Xiao Bai suddenly asked in a concerned manner.
"Just as the baleful qi in here is unbearable for all of you, I'm sure the same applies to other primordial beasts as well. On top of that, my spiritual sense wasn't able to detect any living beings in here, so there shouldn't be any problems," Han Li replied.
Xiao Bai nodded silently in response.
"Jin Tong, even though that person told us that the Gold Devouring Immortal will be trapped for 20 years, we can't just take their word for it. Make sure to keep constant tabs on the Gold Devouring Immortal, and if it begins moving, notify me right away," Han Li instructed.
"You can count on me, Uncle," Jin Tong replied with a serious look on her little face.
After that, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce an array plate, following which he and Daoist Xie sprang into action, flying over the cliff faces of the ravine to set up an array.
"Back when I was with Qu Ling, I was always the one doing the hunting, but now that I'm back with Uncle, I've suddenly become the one being hunted," Jin Tong suddenly remarked.
"Are you regretting returning to Master's side?" Xiao Bai asked.
Jin Tong slapped it on the head as she smiled and said, "How could I possibly regret it when being with Uncle is so exciting? Besides, Uncle will definitely find a way out of this predicament, I'm sure of it!"
A faint smile appeared on Xiao Bai's face upon hearing this.
......
A few minutes later, Han Li parted ways with Daoist Xie and Jin Tong, then continued his descent deeper into the ravine.
As he did so, the gusts of wind were sweeping through the air beside him, picking up specks of fluorescent flames from the nearby skeletons before blowing them in different directions.
These specks of green flames resembled stars in the night sky, except they were far more eerie and unsettling to behold.
The deeper Han Li descended into the ravine, the more perplexed he became.
He had thought that there would be an even distribution of baleful qi throughout the entire ravine, but as it turned out, the deeper he went, the denser the surrounding baleful qi became, and strangely enough, the number of skeletal carcasses on the cliff faces on either side were also becoming fewer and fewer.
After descending for about 30 kilometers, all traces of light ceased to exist, and the baleful qi in the surrounding area was so dense that it felt like a suffocating blanket.
At this point, even Han Li was beginning to feel very uncomfortable, despite the fact that he had previously used baleful qi to open up some of his immortal acupoints.
His brows furrowed slightly as he fought through the discomfort and continued his descent.
As he descended, the surrounding baleful qi only continued to grow denser and denser, and even the protective spiritual light around him wasn't able to completely keep it at bay.
As he neared the 50-kilometer mark, the surrounding baleful qi suddenly began to churn violently, and gusts of howling yin wind swept through the air.
The nearby air temperature also plummeted drastically, and a layer of black ice crystals appeared over the cliff faces, while some sections had been so badly frozen that the rock had cracked and split apart.
Han Li was caught completely off guard, and a thick layer of black ice emerged over his body, while all types of violent and aggressive thoughts forced their way into his mind.
All of a sudden, he found himself seeing red, and he felt as if he had been transported to a battlefield riddled with vast mountains of demon beast carcasses and rivers of blood.
At the same time, a chorus of ghostly howls rang out beside his ears.
Before he had a chance to do anything, countless crimson ghostly hands extended out of the mountains of carcasses and rivers of blood, attempting to tear away his sanity.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he remained in a state of lucidity.
He was aware of the detrimental effects that baleful qi contamination could have on one's spiritual sense, and he had already channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to protect his own mind.
He closed his eyes while focusing on channeling the Spirit Refinement Arts, and a cool and refreshing sensation welled up in his mind, while the horrific illusion of the battlefield began to fade.
However, gusts of yin wind were still sweeping incessantly through the area, and while the illusion was fading, it refused to disappear altogether.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique several more times, and the illusion was finally completely dispeled.
With that, he gently exhaled, following which the layer of black ice crystals around him was shattered amid a flash of azure light. However, instead of continuing his descent from there, he peered down into the ravine with a wary look in his eyes.
The baleful qi here was far more formidable than he had anticipated, and if any other mid-Golden Immortal cultivator who hadn't cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique had been in his place, they would've most likely already been driven insane by the illusion from just now.
Gusts of yin wind were howling incessantly down below alongside clouds of churning black mist, and it was clear that he was far from reaching the bottom of the ravine.
On top of that, the boundless baleful qi and yin wind here severely obstructed his spiritual sense, thereby restricting his spiritual sensory range.
He was originally planning to reach the bottom of the ravine to take advantage of the more abundant baleful qi there to assist in his cultivation, but at this point, he had already reached his limits, and descending any further could result in a complete loss of his sanity.
If the same illusion from before were to present itself to him again in an even stronger form, then he wasn't confident that he would be able to overcome it.
Right as he was hesitating about how to proceed, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as a hint of elation appeared in his eyes.
He had discovered that by overcoming the earlier illusion through channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique, he had made some significant progress in his Spirit Refinement Technique, equivalent to the progress that he had made over the past few years of cultivation!
In this environment, his spiritual sense was constantly on the verge of collapse, and it seemed that this was greatly beneficial for the cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
His original plan was only to take advantage of the baleful qi in this place to open up more immortal acupoints, so this discovery was certainly a pleasant surprise.
It was extremely rare to see such a vast abundance of baleful qi in any place, and this only made him even more curious about what was at the bottom.
Moments later, Han Li decided to continue in his descent.
This time, he was only able to descend a few more kilometers before the effects of baleful qi contamination began to rear their ugly heads again, and he immediately drew to a halt while simultaneously channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique.
The same illusion of the horrific battlefield had surfaced in his mind, and this one was even stronger than the one from before.
Han Li was channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might to withstand the illusion, and only after close to an entire day had passed did he finally exhale before opening his eyes.
Just as he had anticipated, he had made significant progress in the Spirit Refinement Technique once again.
A hint of elation surfaced in his eyes, and at this rate, it wasn't going to take long before he fully mastered the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
After taking a brief rest, he continued his descent.
The more he descended, the more formidable the surrounding baleful qi and yin wind became, and it was as if this ravine were connected directly to the depths of hell.
Just like before, Han Li would periodically stop at certain points, using the yin wind and baleful qi to assist him in his cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and using this method, he was able to make rapid progress.
Several months later, Han Li had already reached the pinnacle of the fourth level of the cultivation art, he was only one step away from full mastery.
At this moment, he was standing on a giant rock protruding out of the cliff face, looking down into the ravine below.
By his estimates, he had already descended close to 500 kilometers into the ravine, yet he still didn't appear to be close to the bottom.
He briefly inspected his surroundings, and after some contemplation, he began to descend again.
A short while later, he stopped in his tracks with a surprised expression.
At this point, the ravine had become very narrow, and gusts of yin wind were sweeping through the area, stirring up the nearby baleful qi to form a series of vortexes of different sizes.
The baleful qi here was several times more formidable than before, and the gusts of yin wind were also blowing with increased ferocity.
Bursts of violent intent forced their way into Han Li's mind, and even though he was constantly channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique, he was struggling to retain his sanity.
Before he had a chance to do anything else, an incredibly thick pillar of yin wind suddenly erupted out of the ravine down below before sweeping up his entire body.
A burst of extremely formidable baleful qi surged out of the pillar of yin wind, instantly shattering the defenses of the Spirit Refinement Technique in his mind.