“Drink…”

A moment later, Qin Yuan let out a long shout, his face flushed, eyes wide, filled with a sense of pleasure. He was nothing like the sickly, consumptive ghost he used to be.

His clothes billowed without wind, sleeves fluttering, and countless tiny white dots appeared on his body. Among them, over two hundred shone with solid light, while the rest were mostly illusory.

Just as this anomaly appeared, another arose.

Chen Yang's entire body also lit up with dense light spots, with only two hundred or so solidified ones, and many more虚光 (Xu Guang, illusory light).

Afterward, Fu Jian and Sun Tu showed similar phenomena. Only Er Kui, whose anomaly appeared last, was different. Although his body also had both solid and illusory light spots, the solidified ones numbered over eight hundred.

“This is…” Xuan Yuanxing's eyes widened as he muttered to himself.

Han Li also raised his eyebrows slightly, already having a guess, but still feeling somewhat strange.

“Brother Li, the light spots on these people's bodies seem to be in harmony with the Xuan Apertures. Could these all be Xuan Apertures they've opened?” Shi Chuankong suddenly asked through voice transmission.

“There are too many to be all Xuan Apertures… However, if I had to guess, the solidified light spots should be the Xuan Apertures they've already opened, while the illusory light spots are those that haven't been opened yet. But…” Here, Han Li paused and pondered.

“But what?” Shi Chuankong asked, puzzled.

“Don't you remember, Brother Shi? When we first met Chen Yang, he mentioned that Er Kui had opened over a thousand Xuan Apertures, but we can only see about eight hundred here. That's a bit odd…” Han Li replied after a moment of thought.

“Could it be that he intentionally deceived us back then, trying to intimidate us?” Shi Chuankong seemed to have thought of something.

“I'm not sure about that. We'll ask Chen Yang later.” Han Li focused his gaze on Chen Yang and slowly transmitted his voice.

While the two were talking, the five people in the great array simultaneously let out a loud roar. The crimson light emanating from the pentagram formation beneath them suddenly intensified. Enveloped within it, they seemed to be enduring immense pain, their faces contorted with狰狞 (Zheng Ning, ferocious) expressions.

Upon seeing this, everyone's expressions changed, and they looked toward their respective city lords.

Han Li's gaze shifted between Chen Yang and Er Kui, his eyes twitching involuntarily, filled with surprise and doubt.

He saw that some of the Xuan Apertures on those two that were previously in an illusory state had begun to be occupied by blood-colored light, and the light was solidifying at a rate visible to the naked eye.

At the same time, the aura on these people was also clearly climbing, as if they were truly gaining great benefits.

The surrounding crowd exclaimed in surprise, and Xuan Yuanxing and the others' eyes revealed undisguised envy.

“Rumble…”

Within the sacrificial blood pool, the blood seemed to boil, churning even more violently. Large amounts of blood turned into mist and were absorbed by the five statues. The liquid level in the pool also began to slowly recede, and a large number of shimmering white bones, previously submerged within, began to be revealed.

Looking at it this way, it was indeed only a matter of time before the corpse submerged beneath the blood pool surfaced.

“Could it be that I'm really overthinking things…” Han Li muttered to himself.

He scanned the five people in the blood sacrifice formation several times and found nothing amiss. He began to wonder if he was being overly cautious.

“Brother Shi, I'm going to take a look at the back hall. You stay here for now and keep an eye on these people's movements. If anything changes here, try to stay out of it as much as possible and wait for me to return.” Han Li transmitted his voice after a moment of consideration.

Shi Chuankong was stunned upon hearing this and asked through voice transmission, “Brother Li, since you think something might change here, why not let me come with you?”

“We don't know what the situation is like in the back hall yet. There's no need for you to risk your life with me. Besides, I do need you to keep an eye on this place. I said something might change here, but that's just in case, not necessarily. Moreover, it's obvious that we two are close. If we both leave at the same time, it would arouse too much suspicion and cause unnecessary trouble.” Han Li knew Shi Chuankong's concerns and said this.

Although Shi Chuankong didn't fully agree, he ultimately nodded in agreement.

Han Li nodded at him, turned around, bypassed the light screen outside the blood pool, and walked toward the three stone arch bridges leading to the back hall.

“Fellow Daoist Li, where are you going?”

Han Li had only taken a dozen steps when Shao Ying blocked his path with a blur.

Shi Chuankong was about to step forward but was stopped by Han Li's voice transmission.

“The five city lords are all here activating the blood sacrifice formation. I can't help with anything, so I'm just taking a walk. Is there a problem with that?” Han Li raised an eyebrow and asked.

“This is a crucial time for the formation's operation, and there can't be any mistakes. In my opinion, Fellow Daoist Li should安心 (An Xin, be at ease) and protect your city lord. It's best not to wander around.” Shao Ying's face was already阴枭 (Yin Xiao, sinister). Speaking with a forced smile now made him even more repulsive.

“Our city lord has Fellow Daoist Xuan Yuan and Fellow Daoist Shi protecting him together, so there's no need for Elder Shao to worry.” Han Li said patiently.

“You still can't wander around. What if you accidentally trigger some mechanism and affect the operation of the formation? Wouldn't you deserve ten thousand deaths?” Shao Ying still refused to budge and said.

“Shao Ying, don't go looking for trouble. Others may fear you, but I don't. At worst, we can have a life-or-death battle here and see if the light screen outside the blood formation is sturdy enough.” Han Li sneered, glanced at the blood pool, and asked in a low voice.

Shao Ying wasn't afraid to fight Han Li, of course, but if he made a move, Xuan Yuanxing and Shi Chuankong would definitely come to help. Zhu Ziyuan and his sister would certainly not stand idly by. The people from the other three cities might watch from the sidelines or get involved. That would really turn into a chaotic battle.

He wasn't too worried about that outcome. In a fit of anger, he could kill all those little杂碎 (Za Sui, rabble) from the other cities. He was confident he could do it. He was only afraid that if he affected the operation of the blood formation, he wouldn't be able to bear the consequences when the city lord held him accountable.

“You better not cause trouble, otherwise…”

Before Shao Ying could finish his threat, Han Li lightly tossed out a sentence, "晓得了 (Xiao De Le, Got it)," and flashed past him.

The speed was so fast that Shao Ying didn't even have time to react. He quickly flashed away, widened the distance between them, and looked at Han Li's back with a more solemn expression.

Han Li ignored Shao Ying and walked toward the three stone arch bridges.

This small conflict didn't attract too much attention, as most people's attention was focused on the blood formation and the five city lords within it.

Zhu Ziqing stood beside Zhu Ziyuan, her beautiful eyes looking over here, filled with curiosity.

Not far away, Madam Six Flowers was also watching Han Li's departing figure, a thoughtful expression on her face, muttering to herself, “What on earth is this kid up to…”

However, while she was puzzled, she still had to observe the changes in the blood formation here, so naturally, she wouldn't follow.

…

The three stone arch bridges behind were exactly the same as the previous three in terms of materials and style.

Han Li still walked on the central stone arch bridge and soon arrived on the other side.

The other side of the stone bridge was also a flat plaza, not too large. In front of him were two huge stone doors.

There was no firelight here, and the light was very dim. Han Li, relying on his powerful vision, could see that the stone doors were carved with a lion-like head with pointed horns and scales on its face.

It was divided in half from the center along the line from the eyebrow between the horns to the animal's mouth, with each door occupying one half.

Han Li frowned slightly, stood in place and pondered for a long time, carefully recalling the contents recorded on the jade slip that Crablord had given him back then.

Finally, his gaze narrowed slightly, and he muttered, “Lin Hou guards the door, so it seems like this is the place the jade slip was talking about…”

With that said, Han Li walked forward and didn't directly push the door. Instead, he raised his hand and pressed the two outward-facing fangs of the Lin Hou statue.

A slight “click” sound was heard.

The four animal teeth in the center of the Lin Hou statue's bloody mouth simultaneously retracted, revealing a dark hole.

Han Li looked around, flashed, and entered it.

Immediately afterward, another soft sound came from behind him, and the four animal teeth returned to their original positions at the same time, sealing the hole.

Inside, it was pitch black, with no light at all. Even with Han Li's vision, he couldn't see anything.

“Drip”

The sound of a drop of water falling came from directly in front of him. Although it was faint, it was clearly audible.

Han Li's mind stirred, and he silently activated the Great Vajra Art. The Xuan Apertures on his arms lit up, emitting a faint white light that shone around.

Only then could he see clearly that he was standing on a stone step.

Due to the limited light from the Xuan Apertures, Han Li could only see the distance of five or six steps in front of him. He couldn't see further away.

Han Li hesitated slightly and continued to walk down the steps one by one.

After walking down more than a dozen steps, the ground in front of him became flat, as if he had arrived on a platform. The "drip" sound he had heard earlier became even closer.

After taking a few steps forward, Han Li saw a three-foot-tall stone pillar in front of him, with a stone basin about a foot in diameter embedded in it. The basin was filled with an unknown black liquid that smelled faintly of fishiness, seemingly the grease of some strange beast.

“Drip”

Another soft sound!

A drop of liquid fell from above and landed in the stone basin, creating small ripples.

Han Li's mind stirred, and he rubbed his fingers together. A stream of Stellar Force flowed from his fingertips and landed in the stone basin with a "crackle."

With a soft “boom,” a团 (Tuan, ball) of fire suddenly rose up within the stone basin, burning fiercely.

Immediately afterward, two lines of fire flowed out from the stone basin, extending along the grooves on both sides of the stone pillar, all the way to the extremely distant sides.