Tang Dynasty Demon Suppression Division

"Now we have no choice but to keep going." Han Kuo gritted his teeth. "We have no way out. Maybe we'll run into them when we reach the central area."

"That's all we can do."

Ji Fanghua nodded helplessly and, relying on her spatial intuition, headed towards the center of the mine.

Unbeknownst to them, in a hidden spatial layer, Li Yuan and his group were engaged in a fierce battle.

The number of vengeful spirits in this side passage far exceeded their expectations; there were not only a large number of miners' souls, but also many vengeful spirits dressed in monk's robes.

Judging from their clothing, there are not only people from ancient times, but also cultivators from modern times. They are very likely explorers who have strayed into the secret realm in recent years and eventually died here.

They possessed cultivation, and the vengeful spirits they transformed into after death were even more powerful, some even retaining their fighting spirit from their previous lives.

Countless vengeful spirits surged towards them, filling the narrow mine shaft and completely blocking their way.

Li Yuan charged ahead, brandishing his sword and unleashing a bloodbath. Each strike took away a vengeful spirit, but the number of vengeful spirits seemed endless; as one batch was killed, another surged forward.

Wu Yu followed behind him, the long sword in his hand was already chipped, and he had several wounds on his body.

Lei Lie was in no better condition; his short axe was covered in black remnants of vengeful spirits, and his breathing had become heavy and rapid.

"Brother Li, this can't go on... We need to think of a solution quickly," Lei Lie shouted as he parried the attack.

Li Yuan looked up ahead and could feel that the nameless blade's desire was growing stronger, which meant that they were very close to that thing.

"Hold on!" Li Yuan said in a deep voice, "It's just ahead."

At this moment, in the valley outside the secret realm, a tall, slender white figure stood quietly on the rock.

The man's face was obscured by a hazy halo, making it difficult to see clearly. He stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the entrance to the secret realm, a playful smile on his lips.

"Li Yuan, Leng Ningshuang, Ji Fanghua..." He murmured the three names, a hint of pleasure in his voice, "You're all finally here, very good."

With a flick of his sleeve, he transformed into a streak of white light and disappeared into the entrance to the secret realm.

Deep within the mine, Li Yuan finally broke through the last wave of vengeful spirits and stepped into a vast underground space.

This space is vast, with a ceiling tens of meters high, covered with luminous crystals that illuminate the entire space as if it were daytime.

In the center, a huge spherical object was rolling and twisting. Upon closer inspection, it was found to be formed from countless black vengeful spirits, with a diameter of three zhang (approximately 10 meters). Its surface was constantly writhing, like a deformed heart beating incessantly.

Black tentacles hung down from the sphere, connecting to the surrounding cave walls, as if drawing energy from the entire mine.

On the surface of the sphere, distorted faces would occasionally appear, emitting silent wails.

"Waaaaah..."

The wailing and howling of ghosts instantly filled the eardrums, causing an extreme sense of irritation to rise in people's hearts. Those with weaker cultivation immediately covered their heads, suffering unbearable pain.

Li Yuan's gaze sharpened; it seemed this was the source of the chaos in the entire mine.

Sensing the sudden appearance of living beings, the writhing on the surface of the Wraith Orb intensified abruptly, and countless black tentacles shot out from the orb, sweeping towards the group like a storm.

"Be careful!"

Li Yuan shouted, and his blade flashed like a curtain, severing all the tentacles that were shooting at him.

A strange thing happened: the tentacles, once severed, immediately grew back, as if they could never be killed off.

Worse still, as the vengeful spirit spheres wriggled, the surrounding space began to distort and deform. The ground beneath their feet tilted, rose, and cracked open with bottomless fissures.

The surrounding cave walls began to move, unknowingly separating them.

"Wu Yu!"

"Lei Lie!"

Li Yuan turned around abruptly, only to find that there was no one behind him; he had been squeezed into a separate spatial fragment.

All around him was endless darkness, with only the enormous sphere of vengeful spirits, like a deformed sun, hovering above his head, radiating a suffocating sense of oppression.

Li Yuan gripped the nameless sword in his hand, and a scorching red light began to slowly illuminate the blade.

The red light on the nameless sword grew stronger and stronger, as if a small sun was burning in Li Yuan's hand.

Yan Ji's will awakened within the blade, surging into Li Yuan's body with a scorching fighting spirit.

This power intertwined with the stellar power within him, forming a strange balance. The starlight was cool and clear, while the flames were blazing hot. The two powers coexisted harmoniously within Li Yuan, allowing his aura to rise to a whole new level in a short period of time.

"ah--!"

The vengeful monster seemed to sense the dangerous aura emanating from Li Yuan and let out a deafening shriek.

The shrieks were like steel needles piercing his soul. Li Yuan felt a sharp mental shock surge into his sea of ​​consciousness, but his soul, forged by the River of Stars, was so powerful that this slight tremor dissolved these attacks into nothingness.

His gaze remained clear, and even the hand holding the knife did not tremble in the slightest.

However, Wu Yu and the others in the outer passage were not so lucky. Several members of the Demon Suppression Division and disciples of Taixu were the first to be hit. They felt as if their heads were about to explode. They clutched their heads in pain, rolled on the ground, and groaned in suppressed pain.

Lei Lie, though more powerful, was also pale-faced with bulging veins on his forehead, clearly struggling to hold on.

He glanced at his companions lying on the ground and knew he couldn't delay any longer; the longer it dragged on, the greater the damage they would suffer.

But when she turned around, she found that Li Yuan was gone, and she couldn't help but exclaim, "Li Yuan!"

At this moment, Li Yuan was also feeling anxious, and he shouted at the blade.

"Flame Silence!"

The scorching sword intent was poured into its master's body without reservation.

"Cough~~"

The blade emitted a clear, resonant hum, and a burst of red light erupted. A condensed, crimson blade aura extended from the blade, carrying an unstoppable momentum towards the enormous sphere of vengeful spirits.

One slash and it's gone!

The moment the blade's energy pierced the sphere of vengeful spirits, time seemed to freeze for a split second.

"boom!"

The next moment, a blinding white light burst forth from the point of impact, illuminating the entire underground space as bright as day.

"ah--!"

The sphere of vengeful spirits let out an extremely piercing shriek, and was neatly split in two from the middle, with countless black fragments of vengeful spirits flying in all directions.

Before Li Yuan could escape, a powerful suction force erupted from inside the sphere, pulling him in completely.

His vision suddenly went black, then brightened again.

Li Yuan found himself standing in a long mine tunnel. Every few steps along the rock walls on both sides, a torch was stuck in the ground, illuminating the tunnel.

The air was filled with the smell of mineral dust, and the sound of clanging and knocking filled the air.

A group of miners dressed in coarse cloth and shorts passed by him, pushing wheelbarrows full of ore.

Someone glanced at him blankly, but no one stopped to ask him why he was there, as if he was meant to be there.

Li Yuan looked around. A guard walked over and frowned as he sized him up.