Chapter 332

Chapter 332: Meridian Ancient Tomb

The Haotu Sect has nine ancient tombs, of which seven are sealed year-round, leaving only two open to the public.

Li Hui understood that the secret realm was not enough to stop the Ghost Fox; only the ancient tomb could provide a chance for survival. He chose the Meridian Ancient Tomb, where true disciples would undergo trials before leaving the sect for their journeys, to confirm their skills and abilities.

As evening approached, Li Hui had just stepped onto the teleportation array when he saw a streak of dark light zooming toward him from afar.

"Hmph, the Ghost Fox actually has the audacity to move freely in the air of the Haotu Sect, so brazenly! If there is no one in the sect to cover for you, then even ghosts won’t believe it!"

As the dark light drew closer, Li Hui’s eyes widened.

He had just shattered one of the Ghost Fox’s bodies with the fierce backlash of the Golden Silk Ring Knife in the Azure Sky Meteorite Realm. To his surprise, the opponent had demonstrated an astonishing method, merging into a two-headed Ghost Fox. Its body had expanded significantly, indicating it was much stronger than before.

The teleportation array flickered rapidly and transported Li Hui away just before the Ghost Fox arrived.

“Damn it, I will kill him, peel his skin and pull out his bones, whip his soul and gnaw at his essence…”

“Calm down! Were you not embarrassed enough after having your soul body cut by a little brat?”

“Bull, if it weren’t for the demonic energy turning me weak, even with that blade’s edge, I wouldn’t be so helpless. Hmph, hurry up and channel energy to activate the teleportation array, what are you waiting for?”

“Old man, are you ordering me around?”

“Hahaha, not at all, but the soul body belongs to you, and I need two hours to recover.”

Moments later, the Ghost Fox stepped onto the teleportation array and entered the ancient tomb. No sooner had it emerged than it faced a blade strike, causing the Male Fox to spit out a black lotus seed in anger.

“Bang!” The blade light shattered, proving it had no real power; it was nothing but a feint. However, the black lotus seed was real, and flames of black fire erupted in the passage, blocking the way.

“Fool, you are as dumb as they come!” the Female Fox scolded.

“You little brat,” the Male Fox nearly burst with anger, flames of fury igniting in his heart.

At this moment, Li Hui had already entered the second layer of the ancient tomb.

The Meridian Ancient Tomb was impressive because each layer doubled in difficulty. The first three layers were filled with restrictions and formations, which were precisely Li Hui’s strengths. He quickly passed through the second layer and into the third, with the golden Ideal Body revealing a golden dragon behind him, beginning to fully sense the path ahead.

The Haotu Sect was not renowned for its formations and restrictions, so the trials for ordinary practitioners at the Bosa stage were not particularly difficult. Starting from the fourth layer, Dao soldiers appeared, which posed a true challenge.

“Formless transformation!” The Ghost Fox transformed into a flickering shadow, swiftly passing through the restrictions and formations, arriving almost simultaneously as Li Hui at the fourth layer.

The fourth layer housed spiritual ape Dao soldiers. These spiritual apes practiced formations, with keen eyes and wooden staffs ready to attack intruders. In fact, when Li Hui activated the teleportation array, it awakened the ancient tomb like a giant coming to life. The restrictions and formations from the earlier layers were not ineffective; it was just that the Ideal Body and the Ghost Fox’s form were too overpowering to be hindered.

“Bang, bang, bang…” The spiritual apes stood over ten feet tall, wielding their staffs with incredible ferocity, yet they all struck empty air, unable to stop Li Hui from invading. They angrily pounded their chests and roared, ejecting gusts of hot air.

“Crack!” The hot air made strange sounds as it rapidly pursued Li Hui, who gasped in shock at how troublesome these spiritual apes were.

“Accelerate!” He increased his speed to twenty-two times, escaping the range of the hot air’s pursuit, and moved toward the fifth layer.

The two-headed Ghost Fox flew in, and the spiritual apes were highly sensitive to ghostly beings. This time, they didn’t even need their staffs; they simply opened their mouths to howl, summoning even more spiritual apes that bombarded Li Hui.

“Damn it, these spiritual apes have the bloodline of the Violent Primordial Ape.” The Ghost Fox cursed her bad luck and spat out two lotus seeds to save time.

The black lotus seeds, from the Demon Fury Black Lotus, were meant to counteract violence. With a thunderous roar, black fire surged, causing the spiritual apes to roll around in agony, howling loudly, which attracted a raging ape that stood nearly two yards tall.

“Damn, there’s such a big fellow hiding here.” The Male Fox was extremely frustrated. Without hesitation, he spat out three more lotus seeds, causing an even more terrifying explosion as black fire rampaged.

Li Hui reached the fifth layer, accelerating madly past the crowd of puppets. Just as these puppets were about to unleash a terrifying attack, his figure suddenly disappeared.

The Dao soldiers of the Haotu Sect were well known. Li Hui had previously encountered them at the Dragon Pavilion of the thirty-six mansions, and the puppets in the fifth layer of the Meridian Ancient Tomb were called the Overlord Carrying Soldiers. They had no other abilities except for incredible strength.

How great was their strength? The puppets could shoot a wind-thundering short spear every three breaths, effortlessly repelling Dao arts as if they were everyday occurrences, and shattering magic artifacts without surprise.

Even these terrifying Dao soldiers posed a threat. No matter how confident Li Hui was in his speed, as long as he was locked on, he would inevitably feel like he was in deep trouble.

Thus, after passing through the majority of the puppets, he swiftly entered the Mysterious Pearl and made it roll into a corner, quietly waiting for the right moment.

This was the benefit of heaven-sent treasures; they could conceal one’s actions in times of crisis. Dao soldiers had no spiritual sense and could not adapt randomly. When they lost track of their enemy, they would immediately cease movement, lowering their arms slowly. In the end, they did not use the short spears that had been embedded in their legs.

“Good, move!” Li Hui suddenly left the Mysterious Pearl, darting out with a flicker. Nearly a hundred Dao soldiers turned around but had already lost the chance to attack.

The sixth layer of the ancient tomb was still filled with Dao soldiers, more formidable than the spiritual apes and Overlord Carrying Soldiers, known as the Charming Serpents, who wielded sharp swords and moved gracefully.

The Charming Serpents had beautiful faces and clawed arms. It was said that they were descendants of ancient shape-shifters, and no one knew where the Haotu Sect had sourced so many of them. Their physiques were comparable to those in the Initial Condense Essence Stage and they were quite intelligent, knowing how to practice sword formations and wear armor.

“Clang, clang, clang, clang…” Sword shadows danced, glinting coldly. Li Hui flicked his hand and released a mass of spirit talismans to create chaos.

Previously, to help the demon plants face tribulation, he had exhausted his stock of defensive spirit talismans, and although he was left with many offensive spirit talismans, crafting artifacts consumed a huge amount of resources. Now, he had only a few thousand left.

As light and shadows shot out, blood energy talismans and damage-dealing talismans mixed in.

These Charming Serpents were indeed formidable, managing to nullify most elemental magic spells. However, they had no way to counter the combination of blood energy talismans and damage-dealing talismans. Their vitality surged and plummeted rapidly, causing them to momentarily daze.

A gentle breeze swept by as Li Hui passed.

He activated the offensive spirit talismans, continuing to scatter blood energy talismans and damage-dealing talismans. The sixth layer of the ancient tomb was wider than expected. Perhaps the Charming Serpents weren’t as powerful as the Overlord Carrying Soldiers, but their numbers absolutely compensated. The abilities of the ordinary practitioners at the Bosa stage from the Haotu Sect were evident.

After much difficulty, he finally passed the sixth layer. It was said that upon reaching the seventh layer, he would receive treasures from the sect. However, Li Hui was not interested in treasures; preserving his life was the priority.

At this moment, on the fifth layer of the ancient tomb, all the puppets raised their arms to shoot their short spears.

A gray-white barrier expanded as the Male and Female Fox lost all patience and, with overwhelming power, charged forward. All the short spears they threw against the gray-white barrier became frozen in place.

“Break!” The howling winds blew as the Overlord Carrying Soldiers became decayed, as if they had sunk into a swamp for thousands of years, their movements slowing down until they lowered their arms and became utterly useless.

The Male and Female Fox entered the sixth layer, laughing heartily, releasing skeletal hands that gently hooked the souls of the Charming Serpents away.

“Serpent demons are nothing but weaklings before us.”

At this moment, Li Hui was covered in Spirit Concealment Talismans, pressing against the wall as he moved forward little by little. In the distance, he saw massive flaming dogs lurking on the rocky hills. They were the Dao soldiers guarding the seventh layer of the ancient tomb.