Close to twenty seconds later, a resounding boom rang out in the hearts of Han Li and the others as Yin Xu and Gui Mu broke through the array outside.

"Just a bit more! Hurry!" Shi Chuankong urged through gritted teeth as sweat poured down his forehead.

"We don't have time. Keep going, I'll find a way to buy us some time," Baili Yan declared as he rose to his feet.

"Master, I can't really help out much here, so I'll go with Fellow Daoist Baili," Weeping Soul volunteered.

"It's too dangerous for the two of you to go like this. We're dealing with two Great Encompassment cultivators that can probably kill both of you just by lifting a finger!" Han Li said with tightly furrowed brows while continuing to work without pause.

"But if we don't go, they'll get in here before we can release that thing, and if that happens, all of us will truly be doomed. Back when the Blaze Dragon Dao was destroyed by Xiao Jinhan, I almost succumbed to baleful qi backlash, and it was only thanks to the High Zenith Pill that you secured that I was able to survive.

“This time, we were captured, only to be saved by Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul, so I should've already died twice anyway, why not keep pushing my luck?" Baili Yan said with a faint smile.

"Rest assured, Master. I'm a prized disciple of the Infernal Regional Monarch, so I'm sure they wouldn't dare to kill me. If I accompany Fellow Daoist Baili, we should be able to buy some time," Weeping Soul said.

"Alright, then be careful, and try to avoid direct confrontation," Han Li sighed with a conflicted look in his eyes.

Baili Yan and Weeping Soul exchanged a glance with each other, following which both of them flew out of the hall.

Meanwhile, Gui Mu and Yin Xu had only just rushed onto the small plaza outside the hall when they ran headfirst into a massive black fireball.

The giant fireball exploded violently, sending flames erupting in all directions like shooting stars.

Amid the storm of fire, a huge dark green shield split up into countless ghost vines, all of which were quickly retracted back into Gui Mu's sleeves.

"You fools! Do you know what this place is? You have no idea what you're getting yourselves into!" Gui Mu yelled in a cold voice as he cast his gaze toward Weeping Soul and Baili Yan, who were on the other side of the plaza.

"Don't waste any more time, we have to end this quick," Yin Xu urged as he took a quick glance at his surroundings.

Baili Yan wasted no time with words as he made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, then suddenly pointed a finger at his own dantian.

A heart-wrenching roar rang out as a burst of bright red light that resembled the radiance of molten lava emerged from his dantian, and a series of bright red cracks branched out of the burst of red light, rapidly spreading over his entire body.

Immediately thereafter, black flames began to erupt out of the cracks, releasing plumes of thick black smoke that quickly encompassed the entire plaza.

Weeping Soul also sprang into action upon seeing this, darting away to the side before clenching her fists as she took a step forward while letting loose a feral roar that completely belied her feminine appearance.

Black light surged rapidly over her body while her eyes turned bright red, and she swelled rapidly in size, quickly transforming into a giant black ape that was over a thousand feet tall.The ape's fur was as hard as steel needles, and there was a strange horn on its head, while its sharp fangs were fully bared. Furthermore, a third crimson demonic eye had appeared on its glabella, and three black bone spikes were protruding out of its back.

"You Luo, you traitor! Is this how you plan to repay our regional monarch's kindness? You're going as far as to reveal your Xing Beast form for the sake of these outsiders! This is unforgivable!" Gui Mu yelled in a furious voice.

As soon as his voice trailed off, a string of resounding booms suddenly rang out from above him, and it seemed as if there were countless arcs of lightning clashing against one another deep within the dense black smoke.

A giant black dragon could just barely be made out within the smoke and lightning. There was karmic fire swirling around its entire body, and it was slowly twisting around in mid-air, blocking the way to the hall behind it.

Due to the enormity of its frame, the dragon's back was scraping violently against flight restrictions up above, sending sparks flying in all directions.

"They only dare to oppose us like this because they're convinced that we don't dare to go all-out against them for fear of damaging the restrictions here. Elder Gui Mu, go and open all of the restrictions here," Yin Xu said with a cold sneer.

"What? No, we can't do that!" Gui Mu hurriedly refused in an alarmed voice.

"They've already made it in here, so what's the point in keeping the restrictions outside active? They'll only act as a hindrance to us. If we damage the restrictions, that could trigger a chain reaction that directly destroys the seal inside, so we may as well open all of the restrictions and aim to put an end to this battle as quickly as possible," Yin Xu said with a dark expression.

"But..."

Gui Mu was still a little hesitant.

"You're familiar with the layout of this place, take the infernal badge and go right now. This is no longer just a matter of whether we'll be punished or not. If we delay the regional monarch's plans, both of us will be killed!" Yin Xu urged.

A decisive look appeared on Gui Mu's face upon hearing this, and he immediately rushed away without any further hesitation.

"You've pushed your luck one too many times, you insolent scoundrels!" Yin Xu roared, and his aura instantly swelled by severalfold.A vast expanse of black light emerged beneath his feet, then quickly proliferated outward like a rapidly spreading puddle of black ink. The black light then rose up into the air toe encompass the entire plaza and the air above it before closing like a giant mouth.

All of a sudden, it was as if Baili Yan and Weeping Soul had been sucked into another dimension, one in which all of their senses were stripped, and they couldn't even sense the aura of the world around them anymore.

Moments later, the light barriers outside the palace faded away, and an incredibly dense shadow began to rapidly expand amid a burst of violent rumbling.

......

Meanwhile, a faint crack rang out within the hall, immediately followed by the sound of turning mechanical parts ringing out from all directions.

Han Li's trio were standing around the ceremonial pit while looking up with bated breath.

The circular patterns on the ceiling began to glow with black light, then began to turn, while the stone pillar at the very center began to slowly descend.

A faint clang rang out as the stone pillar slotted seamlessly into the ceremonial pit down below.As the sound of more turning mechanical parts rang out, a burst of incredibly dense black baleful qi rose up from the ground, inundating the entire hall.

Han Li's trio reflexively sprang back upon seeing this, and in the next instant, the entire stone chamber began to tremble violently, while all of the Baleful Inkstones embedded into the ground and the ceiling lit up to illuminate the hall, as did all of the patterns on the ground.

Right at this moment, a sound akin to that of a panting wild animal rang out from somewhere within the hall.

"Something doesn't seem right," Han Li said as a hint of foreboding welled up in his heart, while Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 were also looking on with tense expressions.

All of a sudden, Han Li spotted a flash of light from the relief of the Kun Hou engraved onto the wall behind Fox 3. It was as if a flash of crimson flame had swept over its surface, and a layer of murky mist had emerged over it, giving it an indistinct appearance.

Immediately thereafter, all of the fearsome beasts engraved onto the walls began to shudder, as if they were about to spring to life, and the reliefs also seemed to have become more vibrant and lifelike. The mountainous piles of skeletons were also trembling incessantly, as if they were about to roll into the hall at any moment.

Right as he was about to say something, the eyes of the Kun Hou relief on the wall suddenly lit up.

"Get out of the way, Fox 3!" Han Li yelled.

Fox 3 immediately acted without hesitation, darting away to the side as quickly as he could, right as something flashed past his ear.

Two fist-sized fireballs, one crimson and one black, flew out of the relief's eye sockets while intertwining with one another, then struck the stone pillar that was descending out of the ceiling.

Flurries of sparks erupted out of both fireballs in unison, following which they began to rise up along the black stone pillar in a revolving fashion, much like a pair of winding fiery snakes. One of them climbed to the ceiling of the hall, while the other descended toward the altar, lighting up all of the array patterns in their wake, while Han Li and the others looked on in bewilderment.

The bright black light up above was resonating with the crimson light down below, as if a flame had been lit under the night sky.

Bursts of rumbling were ringing out underground, and the crimson light on the ground grew brighter and brighter while releasing waves of scorching heat.

All of a sudden, a loud crack rang out, and the altar connected to the stone pillar shuddered violently. Cracks instantly began to appear on the surrounding ground, which then began to fall away entirely.

"Look out!" Han Li warned as he immediately rose up into the air, as did Shi Chuankong and Fox 3.

The three of them looked down with tightly furrowed brows to discover that the entire ground below was beginning to split up into countless fragments before tumbling down into a giant underground crater, one that was unfathomably deep.

Within the crater were crimson and black flames that were burning ferociously, and beneath the stone pillar connected to the altar was another pillar that extended deep into the ground.

This stone pillar was riddled with ancient runes, and it was bright red from being scorched by the intense flames underground.

Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he cast his gaze downward, and he could sense traces of fire law auras within the crimson and black flames.

On top of that, he could sense tremendous karmic fire and baleful qi, and there seemed to be a series of intertwining red chains wrapped around the stone pillar deep within the crater.Furthermore, he could see an indistinct shadow that was constantly flashing beneath the masses of chains.

Right at this moment, Han Li's pupils suddenly contracted drastically, and he reflexively shot up into the air, crashing straight into the ceiling of the hall up above.

At almost the exact same moment, a tremendous wave of fire came erupting out of the underground crater, accompanied by an earth-shattering roar.

A gargantuan hand then reached out of the flames before swatting through the air right where Han Li had been just a moment ago, and after missing Han Li, the hand fell onto the edge of the crater.

The hand was several thousand feet in length and looked as if it had been chiseled out of rock. It was riddled with angular chunks of black rocks, as well as sharp, thorn-like spikes, swirling over which was a layer of incredibly dense black flames.