"Fellow Daoist Lu Ji, I'm afraid there's no need to try again. Let's leave first." He darkened his gaze and transmitted his voice to the sword-carrying man.

"My sword has already been drawn a few inches. There's no way I'm sheathing it just like that," Lu Ji snorted coldly, replying decisively.

As soon as he said that, the long sword in his hand was drawn with a "clang" sound, and an incomparably huge snow-white sword qi immediately pointed upwards, piercing through the nine heavens.

"Well done!" Daoist Hu Yan said with a loud laugh upon seeing this, raising one hand.

Behind him, in the void, a loud phoenix cry rang out, and a scarlet long sword emerged out of thin air, suspended in mid-air.

Golden spiritual patterns on the sword body shone brightly, reflecting a huge sword shadow more than a thousand feet long. Scarlet flames gushed out from both sides of the sword shadow, like two giant wings of fire, spread out in the sky.

In an instant, the temperature within a radius of nearly a thousand miles around the main island of the Holy Puppet Sect soared, and everywhere was filled with a scorching heat.

Accompanying this, the black giant axes in the hands of the nearly thousand black-clothed bean soldiers also had their spiritual patterns light up, burning with raging flames, and they hacked towards the blue-armored soldiers and the Ten Directions Tower cultivators.

The Holy Puppet Sect members, who had originally resigned themselves to certain death, suddenly rekindled their hopes of survival. They were overjoyed and cried. Someone raised their arms and shouted, and everyone began to frantically attack the Ten Directions Tower crowd.

Upon seeing this, the scarred man could only sigh. He flew up and was about to fly towards Lu Ji, but Yun Ni and Bai Fengyi had already moved ahead of him, their figures flashing past, blocking his path.

The entire plaza was once again in chaos, with chaotic fighting breaking out.

...

The Thunderstorm Ocean, a sea area hundreds of thousands of miles away from the Holy Puppet Sect.

Han Li, wearing an ox-headed mask, faced Chong Luan from afar, suspended in the void.

Before, he had used the thunder formation teleportation several times, but he had never been able to shake off Chong Luan, who followed him like a maggot clinging to bone.

"Han Li, even if you can escape to the ends of the earth, don't even think about escaping from my palm!" Chong Luan opened his palm and clenched it into a fist in front of him, a mocking smile appearing in his eyes as he spoke.

"You're just spouting wild words after comprehending a little bit of baleful aura law. It seems you're not much stronger than that good-for-nothing junior brother of yours, Fang Pan," Han Li retorted.

"I didn't expect you to be able to see through the baleful aura law. I underestimated you," Chong Luan's voice turned cold.

"You were able to track me so easily and launch several surprise attacks silently. I'm afraid you were also using the baleful aura, right?" Han Li chuckled softly.

"That's right. In fact, you were the one leading me away all these times. I didn't have to do anything at all," Chong Luan admitted directly, with a hint of playfulness on his face.

Han Li's expression did not change upon hearing this, but his heart stirred.

In fact, he didn't know much about the baleful aura law. This law was a rare one, and he wasn't clear about its specific characteristics.

The black crystalline thread that Chong Luan had previously injected into his body was the condensed thread of the baleful aura law. The other party seemed to be able to lock onto his position with it, and use it to etherealize his body, performing some teleportation-like actions.

Besides that, although there were no obvious abnormalities, he could clearly feel that the fierce and baleful aura in his heart was gradually increasing. Even with the strength of his spiritual sense, he couldn't forcibly suppress it. On the contrary, the more he suppressed it, the faster it grew.

Han Li vaguely felt that when this fierce and baleful aura reached a certain level, it would probably be when that gaunt-faced man would suddenly attack him.

The longer he delayed, the more variables there would be. It was better to make a quick decision.

Once Han Li made up his mind, he summoned with one hand, and a dark light appeared behind him. The Heavy Water True Wheel emerged and spun rapidly, shooting towards Chong Luan.

The latter's lips curled into a smile, and he actually didn't dodge or avoid it, charging straight towards it.

At the moment when the Heavy Water True Wheel crashed into him, his body etherealized again, turning into black mist, and the True Wheel passed straight through it.

Upon seeing this, Han Li pinched a magic seal with his hand and shouted in a low voice, "Hurry."

The Water Dao rune on the Heavy Water True Wheel suddenly shone brightly, and the wheel body instantly doubled in size and began to spin violently.

Driven by the True Wheel, the water attribute spiritual energy in the void immediately circulated rapidly, and a vast and unparalleled tearing force emanated from it. Soon, a huge water vortex thousands of feet high formed on the surface of the sea.

Chong Luan's body, which had turned into black mist, had not yet dispersed when it was pulled into the vortex by this force. Only a faint cry was heard, and he quickly disappeared into it.

Seeing this scene, Han Li did not feel relieved at all. He summoned with his wrist, and the rapidly spinning Heavy Water True Wheel immediately stagnated, flying back and hovering in front of him.

The water vortex that rushed into the high sky lost its power and fell down, stirring up turbulent waves on the sea.

The spray on the sea subsided, but there was nothing there. There was no sign of Chong Luan at all.

Han Li frowned. Just now, he felt a sudden surge of baleful aura in his heart, and faint strands of black mist condensed on his brow under the mask.

At this moment, a shadow suddenly appeared in the sea beneath him, like ink squirted by an octopus. It quickly spread out, dyeing the seawater within a radius of thousands of feet black.

On the surface of the sea, the black, oily waves rolled like boiling water, and black mist surged out from above.

With a "splash" sound.

A huge wave of water suddenly rolled up from all directions, like a huge black man-eating flower. It opened its huge mouth and closed around Han Li.

Han Li raised an eyebrow, and his body shone brightly, about to dodge.

But at this moment, the black mist on his brow suddenly shone with a dark light. He felt a sharp pain in his sea of consciousness, and his body stagnated involuntarily. He failed to avoid it and, together with the Heavy Water True Wheel, was wrapped in the black water wave.

Han Li looked around, but he could only see a deep, inky black void.

Blue light lit up in his eyes, and he saw strands of black mist suspended in the surrounding void, occupying an area of ​​hundreds of feet, but he couldn't see through it.

He turned around and found that his spiritual sense seemed to be greatly limited. At this moment, all he could perceive was the baleful aura that filled the surroundings.

Han Li took a deep breath and summoned with one hand. The Heavy Water True Wheel immediately spun rapidly and shot forward.

There was a "poof" sound.

The Heavy Water True Wheel slammed into a water wall. After shaking violently a few times, it was actually entangled by strands of black mist, and it couldn't move for a while.

The more he urged his immortal spiritual power to control the True Wheel, the more violently the surrounding black mist surged, and the tighter it entangled the Heavy Water True Wheel.

Han Li frowned slightly, pinched a sword seal with one hand, and a cyan long sword shot out from his sleeve. The surrounding spiritual patterns shone, and cyan light bloomed. It instantly split into seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which shot out in all directions.

The flying swords were extremely sharp, and layers of cyan light rippled on the sword bodies. Several cyan sword shadows split out again, densely packed with thousands of them, filling the surrounding space.

At this moment, if someone was outside this dark space, they could see a black sphere with a diameter of hundreds of feet, suspended on the surface of the sea, constantly absorbing the black seawater that was as thick as ink.

On the surface of the black sphere, bags with pointed tops constantly emerged, stretching the entire sphere and deforming it, looking like a dark, prickly ball.

Not far from the prickly ball, a black crane with black iron feathers and a golden crown-like top hovered in mid-air. The feathers on its body vaguely flickered with black fire, which looked quite extraordinary.

On the back of the black crane, a gaunt-faced man wearing a black cloak sat cross-legged, holding a black knife in both hands, staring at the black sphere.

Circles of spiritual patterns on the surface of the black knife flickered strangely, and black air shrouded it, with faint howls of ghosts and wolves coming from it.

This person was none other than Chong Luan.

"Master, this guy is quite capable of making trouble!" The black giant crane suddenly bent its slender neck and turned back to say to Chong Luan, its voice extremely sharp.

"It doesn't matter. The more trouble he makes, the faster the baleful water condenses, and the more severe my baleful essence corrodes him. When he can't make trouble anymore, it will be time for us to finish him off," Chong Luan said with a smile.

"If it weren't to figure out the secret hidden on his body, where would you need to use such a slow method? Attacking head-on with the Immortal Slaying Blade, he would never be your opponent," the black crane continued.

"The secret that has troubled Fang Pan for hundreds of years is really curious. If I can dig it all out, it will be worth the time and effort I spent," Chong Luan said with a slightly narrowed gaze.

While the man and the crane were talking to each other, the movement on the black sphere indeed became smaller and smaller, and finally completely calmed down. The black liquid in the surrounding seawater had all merged into the black sphere.

However, what was a little strange was that the size of the black sphere not only did not increase, but shrank a lot. The light on it solidified, like a huge black crystal.

"It looks like it's almost done..." Chong Luan said, standing up from the back of the black crane. He leaped forward, carrying the knife in one hand, and flew to the front of the black sphere, raising his palm and gently stroking the sphere.

He saw black light suddenly light up in his palm, and a black vortex emerged from it. A cloud of black smoke immediately surged on the black sphere, rolling into the vortex and being absorbed into Chong Luan's body.

As large swaths of black smoke separated from the sphere, the volume of the black sphere became smaller and smaller, and Han Li's figure was revealed from it.

At this moment, he was stiff all over, his eyes tightly closed. The black mist on his brow had disappeared, leaving only a black "Baleful" character written on his brow. It looked as if it had seeped into his skin and merged with him.

Around him, the seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and the Heavy Water True Wheel were all wrapped in a thin layer of black crystals, their light dim, trembling slightly, but unable to break free.

Chong Luan nodded in satisfaction upon seeing this. He raised two fingers and pointed them towards the "Baleful" character on Han Li's brow.

As long as his fingertips touched it, all the secrets hidden in Han Li's mind would open the door to him completely without any obstacles, and he would know them all.

But at this moment, a sudden change occurred.

Han Li's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, blue light flashed in his eyes, and a "chi chi" sound rang between his eyebrows. A crystalline thread shot out, directly shattering the baleful character, and shot towards Chong Luan's brow.