A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm

Chapter 1088: Claiming the Sword

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the ancient sword was easily pulled out of the altar by Xiong Shan, who swayed unsteadily for a moment before steadying him, following which he looked down at the golden sword in his hand with a slightly demented smile on his face.

With both the ancient sword and the golden flame gone from the altar, the golden array instantly dimmed, and all of the fiery sword qi in the surrounding area faded away as well.

Right at this moment, Fox 3, Wyrm 3, and Lei Yuce's trio were all revealed.

The white light barrier around Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 was nowhere to be seen, clearly having already been destroyed, and the two of them were currently enshrouded under a dark red wheel.

Their clothes were in tatters and stained with blood, giving them a very sorry and disheveled appearance.

In contrast, Lei Yuce's trio appeared to be faring much better. The golden array around them was still intact, but less than half of the golden sword projection inside still remained.

Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong were both looking deathly pale, clearly having severely overexerted themselves.

Their faces paled even further at the sight of the golden flame in Han Li's hand and the ancient sword that had been pulled out by Xiong Shan, but before they had a chance to say anything, a faint crack suddenly rang out from within the golden altar, as if something had just shattered.

A sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Han Li's heart upon hearing this sound.

All of a sudden, a chorus of elated cheers rang out from within the altar, followed by an eruption of blinding, black light, and the entire cave began to quiver and rumble violently.

The golden altar also began to tremble violently, and several more black rifts appeared around it in rapid succession.

"Fellow Daoist Han, Fellow Daoist Xiong, place those things back on the altar! Hurry!" Lei Yuce yelled with a horrified expression, and a hesitant look appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this.

Meanwhile, Xiong Shan was holding the ancient sword tightly to himself, and he completely ignored Lei Yuce as he flipped a hand over to produce a crimson pill, which he promptly devoured.

After a brief moment of internal conflict, Han Li made up his mind, gritting his teeth as he prepared to return the golden flame to its original spot, but right at this moment, an earth-shattering boom rang out as the golden altar exploded into countless pieces.

Standing at the top of the altar, Xiong Shan was instantly sent flying by the explosion, and he just so happened to be flung directly toward Han Li.

He was in such terrible condition that he didn't even seem to be capable of flight, so he was unable to control his own body as the shockwaves sent him flying through the air, but his right hand remained firmly clutched onto the golden sword as if it were even more important than his own life.

Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light upon seeing this, catching Xiong Shan to prevent him from crashing into the cave wall behind him.

"Thank you, Brother Han," Xiong Shan said, but there wasn't any gratitude in his expression.

Instead, he was looking at Han Li with a very wary expression, as if he were afraid that Han Li would try to take his sword from him.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he couldn't help but feel as if Xiong Shan's sanity were currently a little compromised. However, he didn't say anything as he turned his gaze to where the altar once stood.

A door of black light had appeared from the wreckage of the altar, and large bursts of black light were surging out from within.

The door of light flashed erratically for a brief moment before abruptly shattering, and in the blink of an eye, over a hundred figures appeared in the cave, all of whom were yelling in excitement and exultation.

"Finally! I'm free!"

"How long has it been? I can barely recall a time when I wasn't trapped in this godforsaken place!"

"Where is Tai Sui? I'm going to skin him alive!"

Most of these figures were humanoid in form, while some were half-human, half-beast, and some of them were entirely beastly in appearance. All of them had devilish qi swirling around them, indicating that they were all devilish beings.

Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis and Time Severing Fire Domain as he drifted back in retreat until his back was against the cave wall behind him so that there was no way for him to be surrounded.

Most of these devilish beings were at the High Zenith Stage, and in particular, several of them possessed tremendous auras that weren't inferior to his own.

Xiong Shan had also recovered somewhat at this point, and he hurriedly flew back in retreat as well, situating himself near Han Li.

At this moment, there was a layer of crimson light glowing over his body, and countless fibers of flesh were sprouting from his wounds before intertwining with one another to rapidly heal his injuries and regenerate his lost limbs.

Before long, his body was back to normal, but his complexion was still deathly pale.

At this point, Lei Yuce and the others had also drifted back in retreat. Lei Yuce's trio was standing together, while Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 had been joined by the Lan siblings, all of whom were glowering at Han Li and Xiong Shan for putting them in this situation.

After taking a moment to revel in their excitement, all of the devilish beings turned to Han Li and the others with sinister grins on their faces.

A particularly muscular and imposing man emerged from the ranks of the devilish beings, then asked, "Were you the ones who opened the seal?"

The man had bronze skin over his incredibly well developed muscles, as well as a majestic lion's mane around his head, giving him the appearance of an almighty feline deity.

"That's right. We are from the Golden Origin Immortal Region, and we stumbled upon this place by chance. Who are all of you, and why are you here?" Han Li asked.

"I really must thank you for freeing all of us. As compensation, I'm going to allow all of you to become our food! Hand over your blood and souls!" the maned devilish man cackled as a cruel smile appeared on his face.

As soon as his voice trailed off, he launched himself at Han Li with incredible speed and power before swinging his giant fists down upon Han Li.

The man seemed to be very familiar with fighting human cultivators, and he knew that the right strategy to adopt was to use his superior physical properties to crush the enemy. Here in this confined space, his physical attacks were going to be faster and more effective than any immortal treasure or secret technique.

Unfortunately, he was gravely mistaken on this occasion. In the face of his sudden attack, Han Li abruptly vanished from the spot, then reappeared several hundred feet away.

The man immediately stopped in his tracks with a surprised expression upon seeing this, and right at this moment, a streak of golden sword light that was five hundred to six hundred feet in length came crashing down from the heavens amid a rumbling thunderclap.

The streak of golden swordlight left a uniform spatial rift in its wake, and its fearsome sword intent instantly filled the entire cave.

The devilish man's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he made a grabbing motion with his right hand to summon a huge, black hammer.

With a swing of his arm, the hammer was sent flying toward the streak of golden swordlight as a ball of black light.

This hammer was far more powerful than the average devilish treasure. During his travels in the devilish realm, he had stumbled upon a mountain formed by Profound Infernal Iron by chance, and he had gone to great lengths to transport the mountain into an underground fire vein.

Using the power of the underground fire vein, he refined the mountain over the course of a hundred thousand years, at which point he had finally eradicated all of the impurities in the mountain to convert it into a chunk of pure Profound Infernal Divine Iron.

After that, he gathered hundreds of types of premium metal-attribute ore, which he infused into the Profound Infernal Divine Iron, then forged it using a devilish secret technique for tens of thousands of years to produce this Profound Infernal Divine Hammer.

The hammer didn't look very remarkable, but it was so incredibly heavy that even the average High Zenith cultivator wouldn't be able to lift it.

The devilish man possessed incredible strength, allowing him to hurl the hammer through the air like a flying juggernaut.

The streak of swordlight collided with the black hammer, and the latter was instantly sliced into two with an extremely smooth cross-section.

After slicing through the hammer, the golden swordlight continued to descend upon the devilish man's whose expression changed drastically as he opened his mouth to release a black bead.

The black bead immediately exploded upon flying out of his mouth, forming a ball of black light that was over a hundred feet in size around him.

The streak of golden swordlight crashed down onto the ball of black light like a bolt of lightning, and once again, the ball of black light was torn apart with ease.

The two halves of the ball of black light were instantly eradicated by the sword intent erupting out of the golden swordlight, but the devilish man was nowhere to be seen.

The streak of golden swordlight then faded away to reveal Xiong Shan, and he was still holding firmly onto the ancient sword in his hand.

His complexion hadn't improved much, but there was a look of excitement and elation on his face as he stared at the ancient sword in his hand with a fervent expression.

It was as if the sword had become the center of his universe, something that he would gladly lady down his own life for.

The devilish man reappeared over ten thousand feet away amid a flash of black light, and his complexion was a little pale as he looked down at the destroyed black hammer in his hand with a lamenting look in his eyes.

The Profound Infernal Divine Hammer was no longer usable, but thankfully, its materials hadn't been destroyed, so he could forge it again, but he had no idea how long that was going to take.

"That's the Primordial Ancient Sword!" the devilish man exclaimed in a wary voice upon catching sight of the ancient sword in Xiong Shan's hand.

After destroying the Profound Infernal Divine Hammer so easily, Xiong Shan's appraisal of the ancient sword had been elevated even further, and his eyes were glowing with excitement as he roared, "We are the ones who freed you, yet you've immediately turned to bite the hand that fed you! You're going to pay for your ingratitude!"

The Primordial Ancient Sword released a burst of bright swordlight that encompassed his entire body once again as he spoke.

Immediately thereafter, both Xiong Shan and the Primordial Ancient Sword vanished in unison amid a flash of golden light, transforming into a streak of golden swordlight that was over a thousand feet in length that hurtled directly toward the devilish man with unstoppable might.