Teleportation

Chapter 368: Teleportation

It wasn't long before Han Li emerged from the tree hollow and took to the air on his tool once more.

This time on his return journey, he was even more cautious.

He kept his spiritual sense fully extended almost constantly, and at the slightest irregularity, he would immediately conceal himself.

After all, at his current level of cultivation, running into practically any other cultivator would be an extremely dangerous affair.

Thus, jumping at every shadow, Han Li took nearly half again as long to return to the underground cavern as he had to leave it.

It was only when he stepped into the Reversed Five Elements Formation that he finally let out a true sigh of relief.

Qu Hun, as ever, was sitting cross-legged beside the teleportation formation, completely motionless, his posture exactly the same as when Han Li had left. Seeing this, Han Li couldn’t help but let out a faint smile.

Han Li knew that fully restoring his cultivation base wasn’t something that could be accomplished in just three or four years, so he wasn’t in a rush to take his medicine and go into secluded meditation.

Instead, in the days that followed, he continued to focus all his energy on repairing the ancient teleportation formation.

Given his current circumstances, trying to travel a long distance to another country amidst the chaos of the cultivation world was simply too great a risk. His only hope was that, once repaired, this ancient formation would actually be usable.

Although his cultivation had fallen dramatically, this did not hinder his repair work.

After six or seven days of non-stop labor, day and night, all the repairs were finally complete.

Gazing upon the intact ancient teleportation formation, even someone as composed as Han Li felt a stir of excitement deep within his heart.

What he had to do next was the most critical step, the one upon which success or failure hinged.

He had to test whether the corresponding teleportation formation on the other end still existed. If the formation on the opposite side had also been damaged or had long since ceased to exist, then this ancient teleportation formation would naturally remain unusable. And he would have to abandon any hope of using it to teleport and seek out another path.

Thinking this, Han Li installed several low-grade spirit stones, one by one, into the sockets around the formation.

When the last spirit stone was firmly in place, Han Li hastily stepped back a few paces, unconsciously holding his breath.

The ancient formation, built who knows how many years ago, suddenly let out a low droning hum. A flash of yellow light flickered over its surface, but it was ephemeral, vanishing in an instant, and the formation returned to silence.

Han Li’s heart sank along with it.

Could it be that the other end of the ancient formation had truly been abandoned? Was everything he had done up to this point all for nothing?

A look of profound disappointment spread across Han Li’s face.

Still unwilling to give up, he clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace in a circle around the formation, a contemplative expression flickering across his face from time to time.

Suddenly, he stopped. His brows were tightly furrowed, as if he had remembered something.

Then, bending over, he pulled one of the low-grade spirit stones he had just placed out of its socket.

When he saw what he held, Han Li drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

The spirit stone was completely white, utterly devoid of any spiritual energy.

A thoughtful look appeared on Han Li’s face, which was quickly replaced by a flicker of joy.

Without any hesitation, he pulled several gleaming medium-grade spirit stones from his storage pouch and swapped out each of the low-grade stones, one by one.

If his guess was correct, the problem wasn’t that the formation was unusable. Rather, the low-grade stones lacked sufficient spiritual power to drive this ancient magical formation.

The moment the last spirit stone was replaced, the teleportation formation immediately let out a deep, rumbling hum. A massive surge of spiritual power erupted from it, and a dazzling beam of yellow light shot out from the center of the formation, piercing straight through the roof of the cavern. The restrictive barrier of the Reversed Five Elements Formation was unable to obstruct it in the slightest.

Seeing this, Han Li was momentarily stunned. But then, realizing something, his face turned deathly pale in an instant.

Almost simultaneously, a thunderous crash echoed from above the cavern. Even protected by his grand formation, Han Li could feel the very earth and stone around him shaking.

Han Li’s expression grew even more tense. He hurriedly beckoned for Qu Hun, who was standing off to the side, and stepped up to the edge of the teleportation formation.

But at this moment, a hint of hesitation appeared on his face. He truly did not know what awaited him on the other side of the formation. His original plan had been to first scout the destination to see what kind of place it was, and whether it was safe, before deciding whether to actually stay there.

But now that the ancient teleportation formation had been exposed, leaving here was something he could never return from.

Just as Han Li was hesitating, a thunderous crash sounded from what seemed like right beside him. Startled, he looked up.

The entire roof of the cavern had been completely torn off, apparently by some magical tool. Harsh, glaring sunlight poured in unceremoniously, illuminating every detail of the cavern with perfect clarity.

Hovering in the air outside the now-exposed cavern was a large group of demonic-path cultivators, who were staring down with equal surprise at Han Li and the yellow-light-emanating ancient teleportation formation.

“You again?” a voice, trembling with both shock and anger, came from among the demonic cultivators.

Then the crowd parted, and three figures flew out from within their ranks.

The one in the center wore a silver mask—it was none other than Wang Chan, the Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect. Behind him were two strange-looking cultivators, one old and one young. The old man was white-haired and deeply wrinkled, while the young man had baby-white teeth and red lips, looking like a small child. They were the Li brothers who had appeared at Yanling Fort.

“An ancient teleportation formation!”

The moment the Li brothers saw the object glowing with yellow light, they glanced at each other and cried out in surprised delight.

Wang Chan, hearing this, was momentarily taken aback, but quickly asked, his voice filled with manic joy:

“Elders, are you certain you’re not mistaken? Is it really that thing?” Wang Chan’s voice trembled slightly. He was all too aware of what a complete ancient teleportation formation meant for a sect.

The older of the Li brothers gave a sly chuckle, just about to say something, but then his expression changed drastically and he cried out in alarm:

“Not good! The boy is about to use the formation! Seize him immediately!”

As he spoke, he opened his mouth and a streak of black light shot straight for Han Li.

He knew there was a brief delay between a teleportation formation’s activation and the actual teleportation. This brief window was more than enough time for him to wipe out this insignificant junior several times over.

But as soon as his magic treasure entered the cavern, it exploded with brilliant light. A five-colored light barrier had stopped the black streak dead in its tracks.

Seeing this, the old man was stunned for a moment, but then his face twisted with fury and he bellowed:

“Everyone attack together! This brat has set up a formation! We must break it immediately! Or it will be too late.”

Hearing the command from their sect’s elder, the demonic cultivators behind him snapped out of their daze. A hail of magical tools was instantly summoned. Even the younger Li brother and Wang Chan did not remain idle, simultaneously releasing their own magic treasures and tools to viciously strike downward.

Han Li’s “Reversed Five Elements Formation” was only a simplified temporary array. Under this combined assault from two Core Formation cultivators and so many others, the five-colored light barrier immediately began to waver, clearly on the verge of collapse.

At this moment, Han Li was already pulling Qu Hun into the center of the formation.

He was holding a token-like magic artifact aloft, his eyes tightly shut, a ceaseless incantation flowing from his lips. He paid no attention whatsoever to the attacks of the demonic path assembly.

“The Great Teleportation Token! The boy actually has that artifact?” the old man roared in frustrated fury after getting a clear look at the shape of the token in Han Li’s hand.

With that, he violently rubbed his hands together, and a massive torrent of black light threads surged forth from his palms, spraying down toward the light barrier below.

After issuing a few mournful groans, the grand formation finally collapsed under the overwhelming pressure of this final straw.

The five-colored light barrier shattered!

With nothing left to block them, all manner of varicolored light streams poured down unhindered, rushing towards Han Li with overwhelming force!

It was at this moment that Han Li opened his tightly shut eyes. Two ice-cold words emerged from his lips:

“Teleportation.”

In an instant, the yellow light surged. The figures of Han Li and Qu Hun vanished abruptly from within the blinding radiance.

All manner of attacks struck nothing but empty space.

Above the exposed cavern, the demonic path cultivators stood dumbfounded, like wooden statues.

Wang Chan and the Li brothers’ faces were a mask of livid fury. None of them possessed a Great Teleportation Token, so there was naturally no way for them to pursue Han Li.

A few moments later, the yellow light on the teleportation formation flickered and vanished, disappearing without a trace.

Seeing this, Wang Chan and the others, who had been lingering nearby, were absolutely livid with rage!

They knew perfectly well what this meant. The Han Li who had teleported away had destroyed the formation on the other end. Even if they were to find another Great Teleportation Token, they would no longer be able to use this ancient teleportation formation.

But Wang Chan, nursing a bitter grudge, was still unwilling to let things rest.

Using his status as the Young Sect Master, he dispatched several cultivators to stand guard on this spot day and night. He was terrified that the escaped Han Li might repair the formation and teleport back.

When that day came, he swore he would capture Han Li alive and repay him handsomely for the great favor of repeatedly sabotaging his good fortune.

But not long after, as the demonic path’s expansion moved forward once more, this Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect once again threw himself into a life of ceaseless campaigns and conquests, and he soon forgot all about the matter.

As for the Tian Nan cultivation world, now lacking Han Li, it remained lost in chaos for a long time to come.

A year or two later, in order to resist the growing power of the demonic path and the Righteous Alliance, the remaining nations finally united, forming the “Heavenly Dao Society,” creating a tripartite stalemate.

All three forces were roughly equal in power, and of course, they warred endlessly. It seemed unlikely that a decisive victory would be reached anytime soon.

The cultivators of the six sects who had fled to foreign lands finally settled within the Nine Nations Alliance. And because of issues with resources like spirit veins and spirit mines, they became embroiled in new conflicts with some local sects, all in an effort to carve out a territory for themselves to live in peace. Of course, whenever the Moulan Dharma Warriors invaded the Nine Nations, they had no choice but to contribute both manpower and resources. They could no longer be as carefree and at ease as they had been back in Yue Country.

In the end, a good number of the six sects’ Foundation Establishment cultivators, and even some Core Formation experts, fell in battle against the “Dharma Warriors.” Han Li’s master, Li Huayuan, was one of them, killed in a particularly fierce battle over a decade later.

But a new generation of cultivators from the six sects also rose up rapidly. Among the Foundation Establishment cultivators, some finally managed to break through to the Core Formation stage...

(The End of this Chapter)