Chapter 1000: A Trap
The air around him constricted, and he felt as if his body were about to be torn apart at the seams. Even his enormous spiritual sense had become rather scattered, making it impossible for him to focus his attention.
A resounding boom rang out, and the entire Space Passage Pagoda shuddered violently as a streak of silver light erupted into the heavens from the tip of the pagoda.
At the same time, a burst of silver light erupted out of the rhomboid crystals embedded into the outer walls of the pagoda before sweeping through the air in all directions.
All of the silver light lingered for a few seconds before abruptly fading away, and most of the rhomboid crystals on the outer wall of the pagoda had been ruined, while the rest had become completely dull and devoid of luster, indicating that they had been almost entirely drained of energy.
Moments later, Shi Pokong emerged from the pagoda with his entourage, and his brows were still tightly furrowed in contemplation, but he was looking a bit more relaxed than before.
......
There was an antiquated daoist temple that was surrounded by lush mountains somewhere in the Immortal Realm.
The temple had been constructed along the mountain, and it stretched for dozens of kilometers.In a small col near the temple was a white stone array that was no more than a thousand feet in radius, and it was surrounded by stone pillars that were riddled with dense clusters of runes.
At this moment, there were close to a hundred cultivators dressed in two types of different attire gathered around the array, and all of them were looking on with solemn expressions.
The group seemed to have two leaders, one of whom was a white-robed middle-aged man who wasn\'t particularly tall or imposing, but was giving off a vast and authoritative aura.
He was accompanied by a tall and thin elderly man with sunken cheeks and withered skin, giving him a very wizened appearance.
"Where did you get this information from, Brother Tao Ji? Is that man really going to be appearing here today?" the elderly man suddenly asked.
"I\'ll admit that I can\'t be certain, Fellow Daoist Jin Chuan. I received an interrealm message last night, claiming that the culprit who killed Yu\'er will be appearing on this Returning Dragon Temple teleportation platform today. There wasn\'t enough time for me to verify the message, and I came here with all of the people that I could gather. I knew that you were nearby, so I decided to ask for your help as well," the man by the name of Tao Ji replied.
"It\'s fine. If I recall correctly, Yu\'er\'s killer was only a mere True Immortal. Was there really a need to gather so many people just to have him killed?" Jin Chuan asked.
"The message claimed that Yu\'er\'s killer has become far more powerful than he was back then, and that I should regard him as a High Zenith cultivator," Tao Ji replied in a hesitant manner.
"How is that possible? There\'s no way anyone could possibly go from the True Immortal Stage to the High Zenith Stage in such a short time! If you ask me, this is most likely a trap. You\'ve made a lot of enemies over the years, so you have to be on your guard," Jin Chuan said in a disbelieving manner.
"That may be the case, but I don\'t want to pass up any opportunity of hunting down Yu\'er\'s killer, no matter how slim. Besides, even if this is a trap, I have you to help me, so what do I have to fear?" Tao Ji replied.
"I suppose that\'s true. I\'d say this lineup that you\'ve assembled would be enough to give even a Great Encompassment cultivator a huge headache," Jin Chuan chuckled.
"I was only able to assemble five peak-Golden Immortal cultivators and fewer than fifty cultivators of the mid and late-Golden Immortal Stages, so if it wasn\'t for the people that you had brought with you, there\'s no way I would be able to unleash the full power of this Bipolar Yin Yang Array," Tao Ji said.
"You mentioned that this man is cultivating the laws of time, right? It sounds like he has a real death wish," Jin Chuan harrumphed coldly.
"He\'s most likely just some hillbilly that stumbled onto this path without knowing secrets involved. Having said that, the fact that he was able to kill Yu\'er as a mere True Immortal and also kill Gongshu Jiu after that indicates that he must\'ve made some decent strides in his cultivation of time law powers," Tao Ji mused.
"So what? As soon as he enters this Bipolar Yin Yang Array, he\'ll be completely at our mercy. Rest assured, as long as he shows up today, there\'s no way he\'ll be leaving this place alive," Jin Chuan said with a cold smile.
Tao Ji\'s tense expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he was just about to say something when his expression suddenly changed slightly.
"Here he comes!" Jin Chuan said as his eyes lit up with excitement.
As soon as his voice trailed off, all of the nearby clouds abruptly began to churn violently before converging over the col to conceal the entire sky.
"Set up the array!" Tao Ji commanded in a serious manner, and the nine peak-Golden Immortal cultivators present gave a collective affirmative response, then positioned themselves evenly around the teleportation platform with nine cultivators of the mid and late-Golden Immortal Stages behind each of them.
Together, the ninety cultivators made a string of hand seals while chanting an incantation, and countless array patterns on the ground and the surrounding stone pillars lit up, releasing a layer of black and white light that folded inward from all directions like a giant pocket.
All of a sudden, there was a flash of lightning in the dark clouds above, following which a burst of incredibly powerful spatial fluctuations erupted forth, and a pillar of silver light came crashing down from above.
The teleportation platform shuddered violently, and Han Li appeared at the base of the pillar of silver light.
In the instant that he appeared, the vast pocket of black and white light instantly closed itself over the teleportation platform.
Immense spatial tearing force was generated during interrealm teleportations, so if anyone below the High Zenith Stage were to attempt teleportation over such a vast distance, there was a very good chance that they would be torn apart and killed on the spot.
Han Li\'s tremendous physical constitution ensured that he remained unscathed, but even so, he was feeling very light-headed, and his entire body was throbbing with pain, making it difficult just to remain standing.
The light-headed sensation was quickly quelled by his Spirit Refinement Technique, while a small jade pendant fell down by his feet with a faint crack.
He bent down to pick up the jade pendant, then looked around to discover that half of the people around the teleportation platform were dressed in Immortal Palace robes, and he couldn\'t help but heave a faint sigh.
You sure are persistent, Shi Pokong...
From Jin Chuan\'s perspective, Han Li was very unremarkable in appearance, and a hesitant look appeared on his face as he asked, "Is that him?"
"It certainly is," Tao Ji replied as he glowered intently at Han Li.
Even though he had never seen Han Li before, for some reason, from the instant that he laid eyes upon him, his intuition told him that this was undoubtedly the man who had killed his son.
"Should I call you Li Feiyu or Han Li?" Tao Ji asked in a cold voice.
"Have we met before?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"No, but you\'ve met my son, Tao Yu. Not only that, you also killed him!" Tao Ji replied in a cold voice.
Only upon hearing this did it occur to Han Li that this middle-aged man bore some resemblance to Tao Yu, and a look of realization appeared in his eyes.
"It\'s time for you to finally pay for what you\'ve done! Activate the array!" Tao Ji commanded, and as soon as the order was issued, the teleportation platform shuddered, following which all of the surrounding air constricted around Han Li.
His brows furrowed slightly as he discovered that all of the world\'s origin qi in the surrounding area had suddenly vanished without a trace, and it was as if he had returned to the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
A smile of amusement and exasperation appeared on Han Li\'s face at this thought.
Tao Ji\'s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of Han Li\'s unfazed reaction, and he commanded, "Activate the Bipolar Yin Yang Stones!"
All of the Golden Immortal cultivators immediately switched to a different hand seal upon hearing this, and a series of circles of strange runes appeared around the array, causing the black and white light in the array to separate down the middle.
The white light went to the left, while the black light went to the right, and they gradually took on a substantial form, transforming into a pair of enormous millstones, one black and one white, both of which were revolving rapidly as they compressed toward the center.
Han Li was standing between the pair of millstones, and he could feel tremendous pressure sweeping toward him from both sides, locking him firmly into place and completely immobilizing him.