Chapter 204

The place Han Li was heading to was located within a small basin somewhere in the ring-shaped mountains. It was surrounded on all sides by tall, strangely shaped rocks, enclosed so tightly that not even wind or rain could penetrate. In the very center of the basin stood an ancient, massive bluestone hall. Although the stone hall was enormous, the hall door was pitifully small, only wide enough for two people to pass through side-by-side. This gave Han Li, who was standing on the mountain rocks and gazing toward the spot, an extremely discordant and strange feeling.

Han Li frowned, jumped down from the rocks, and then walked slowly to the vicinity of the hall door, raising his head to look up at the stone hall for a while.

As he watched, the look of doubt on Han Li's face grew even more intense.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that on the surface of this stone hall, faint green light occasionally flowed. Yet, when he tried to focus his eyes to look closely, he couldn't see the slightest abnormality. After several times in a row, he muttered to himself, could it be that someone had cast some kind of prohibition here?

Han Li lowered his head and scanned the nearby ground, not seeing the slightest trace of anyone having been there, which made him narrow his eyes.

"There is definitely something strange! Although this basin is a bit remote, with such a large stone hall, it shouldn't be that no one has discovered it. Moreover, the information was given by that fellow Zhong Wu; how could he have never been here!" In an instant, countless thoughts raced through Han Li's mind, and he subconsciously felt that this place was not right.

But to just leave this place like this, he was still somewhat unwilling.

So he stepped back a few paces, reached into his storage pouch, and a golden blade appeared in his hand. He then tossed it into the air, where it transformed into a streak of golden light and struck fiercely against a certain bluestone on the hall door. With a "puchi" sound, green light surged on the bluestone, leaving it completely unharmed, while the golden blade tumbled through a series of somersaults and was bounced several feet away.

Han Li shook his head, turned around, and was about to leave the place.

"Avoiding unnecessary danger and walking out of the Forbidden Land alive is his greatest goal. This stone hall is so strange, it would be better not to enter," Han Li thought, his expression unmoved.

But just after taking two steps, Han Li's expression suddenly changed drastically. His figure flashed and disappeared into the air. Then, Han Li's figure appeared inside the hall door, but immediately disappeared into the stone hall again.

At this moment, on the rocks on one side of the basin, a large group of Yanyue Sect disciples suddenly appeared. Leading them was the elfin girl who looked young but was actually an ancestor of the Yanyue Sect.

At this time, the girl looked with a trace of doubt at the place where Han Li had disappeared in front of the hall door. She seemed to have sensed that someone was right here, but now, looking at it, there was no one. Could it be that she had sensed it wrong?

The girl stood still, unwilling to believe it. She closed her eyes slightly and released her vast spiritual sense all at once. As a result, in the vicinity of the basin, apart from their group, she indeed did not sense the existence of any other cultivators. But when her spiritual sense swept over the stone hall, it was repelled to the outside by some kind of force. This startled the girl, but she was immediately overjoyed, and a smile hung on her face.

At the first glance just now, she had discovered that this stone hall had been placed under a prohibition, which did not surprise her. Because the dozen or so monster dens that had been swept through earlier also had several places that had been placed under prohibitions; this was nothing! But the prohibition here was something even her spiritual sense could not penetrate. This was the first time she had encountered such a thing; it was definitely not comparable to the shallow prohibitions of the previous places.

The elfin girl was excited for a moment and was unwilling to pursue the matter from just now. She believed that even if there were one or two disciples from other sects peeking nearby, they would definitely not have any impact on so many people from the Yanyue Sect! Thus, she took the lead and brought people toward the stone hall.

Han Li was currently standing in the main hall of the stone hall, spinning around in a panic!

He had been about to leave just now! And out of habit, he had first released his spiritual sense to sense the situation in the surroundings, and then he was prepared to slip away.

But he never expected that the moment his spiritual sense was released, he would immediately sense a large group of cultivators so close to him. Startled to the point where his blood felt like it was about to freeze, he flashed into the stone hall without a second thought. Regardless of which of the other six sects the people outside belonged to, if they saw him here, the outcome didn't need much thought to know.

Actually, if it weren't for the fact that his physical strength had been consumed too severely over these two days, he could have completely used his high-speed movement technique to swaggeringly shake off those cultivators and leave. But unfortunately, in his current state, this kind of movement technique couldn't be used many times, and even if he wanted to run, he definitely wouldn't be able to run far.

Now that he was hiding in the stone hall, he was temporarily safe! But at the same time, he was also blocked in this place by that group of cultivators and could not leave.

And this stone hall was built too simply! After entering the hall door and walking through a winding corridor, it was this empty main hall before his eyes. The entire vast main hall didn't even have a place to hide. And looking at the posture of that group of people outside, they were definitely coming for this stone hall. To hope that they wouldn't enter this place was purely wishful thinking!

Actually, to say there was absolutely no place to go was not entirely true.

Before Han Li's eyes, in the center of the main hall, there was a pitch-black tunnel surrounded by jade railings. At the entrance of the tunnel, there was a row of stone steps that slanted directly into the ground from the entrance, and it kept blowing out hot, humid wind. It was truly hard to imagine where it led.

However, Han Li didn't need to think to guess that this tunnel definitely didn't lead to a good place; it must be extremely dangerous inside, which was why he had hesitated and hadn't gone down yet. But this main hall really had no other place to hide! This made the cold sweat on Han Li's forehead surge out all at once.

And at this moment, a burst of chaotic footsteps came from the hall entrance. It seemed that the group of cultivators had already entered the stone hall and would enter this hall in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this, Han Li sighed bitterly in his heart. Gritting his teeth, he floated lightly over the railing and drilled into the tunnel.

After entering the tunnel, Han Li's eyes were pitch black. He reached into his storage pouch with his hand, took out a moonstone, and the surroundings finally brightened.

The entire passage was not large and was built entirely of bluestone, only wide enough for one person to barely pass through. Han Li also reached out and touched the stone wall, which felt somewhat damp and slippery.

He didn't dare to delay in the slightest, fearing that the people behind would catch up to him, so he walked downward carefully.

After walking down several hundred steps along the stone stairs under his feet, the originally narrow passage gradually widened, and it was no problem for two people to walk side-by-side. But the humid wind blowing toward his face became even more scorching, making Han Li drenched in sweat in just a short while, and his entire body was already soaked through.

After walking down nearly a hundred more steps, Han Li estimated that he was already over a hundred feet below the surface, and the bluestone passage finally disappeared. When he walked out of the tunnel entrance, what appeared before his eyes was actually a strange swamp world.

This underground world was only over thirty feet high, but it reached several miles in circumference. Looking at it, everywhere was muddy land bubbling with black water. And that scorching humid wind was generated out of thin air above the swamp, flowing out rapidly along the passage behind Han Li, and then bringing in fresher air from outside the passage, actually forming a balanced state of convection.

Around the swamp were tall piles of black soil, and on the other side, there were dozens of strange flowers and spirit herbs of different colors growing. Several kinds of heaven and earth spirit herbs that Han Li needed were also among them, and the quantity was actually quite large.

But none of this attracted Han Li's heart and mind more than a small white jade pavilion located in the middle of the swamp. Because inside the pavilion, a huge golden box was floating in mid-air. The box was twelve feet long and five feet wide, with its lid tightly closed. The box body had golden light flowing on it, and one look told him it was definitely not a common item.

Han Li only took a few looks before immediately moving his gaze away. It wasn't that Han Li wasn't tempted by the treasures in the golden box, but rather that a large group of fierce stars would be arriving behind him immediately. Finding a hiding place quickly was the truly urgent matter! Otherwise, if his life was gone, what use would treasures be!

Han Li's figure swayed a few times, and he had already darted behind a certain pile of soil far from the tunnel entrance. Then, he cast his Qi-restraining and concealment techniques all at once. Following that, he lay on the pile of soil without moving. After the concealment, Han Li had already merged with the nearby black soil, and looking from afar, it was impossible to easily discover his tracks.

Han Li had only just finished all this when the figure of the elfin girl appeared on the steps of the tunnel entrance.

As soon as she appeared, she looked at the situation here indifferently. When she saw the huge golden box in the white jade pavilion, her originally calm face finally moved, and a fiery look gradually appeared in her eyes. Although she had heard her disciples describe the golden box here, it was far from shocking as seeing it in person.

The girl walked down the steps in a few paces and stood beautifully in front of the swamp. The other male and female Yanyue Sect disciples who followed closely behind her all surged out with a "hula" sound and stood in a row behind the girl.

Han Li, not far away, saw all this clearly and couldn't help but feel secretly startled. At the same time, he felt great curiosity about the identity of the young girl leading them.

"Is that Black-Scaled Python hiding here?" the girl's delicate voice rang out, but it was filled with an indescribable sense of majesty.

"Reporting to Ancestor, that giant python is hiding in the swamp. It has successively swallowed more than a dozen disciples from various sects who wanted to take the treasure box. It can be called fierce and famous, and has already made this place a forbidden land that disciples of various sects dare not come to. However, this monster is indeed far stronger than ordinary top-tier monsters. I hope Ancestor will be careful!" a female disciple replied with her head lowered and in a respectful voice.

"Hmph! Do you think I can't even deal with a Rank 1 monster?" The girl's fair, tender face sank, putting on a ridiculous look of being old and experienced, but it made the white-clothed woman who replied change her expression drastically and repeatedly say "I dare not"!

"You go down! Everyone, act according to the original plan. No matter how fierce this Black-Scaled Python is, it will definitely not be a match for the 'Yin-Yang Attraction Technique'! No matter how fierce it is, it is still a Rank 1 monster after all!" the girl said in an unquestionable tone, which made the disciples behind her feel refreshed.

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