Chapter 1075: Black Hole

**Volume Six: Sky-Reaching Spirit Treasure**

At this moment, the Reverse Star Plate, controlled by Ling Meng, was the first to unleash its power.

A flash of starlight appeared in the center, and countless fist-sized light clusters surged out, as if thousands of stars were pouring forth. They instantly tore through space, leaving streaks of golden afterimages. The sight was like a waterfall reversing or the Milky Way flowing backward, even giving observers a feeling of enchantment and intoxication.

The two-headed monstrous wolf, located at the center of the vortex, paid no attention to this attack. It merely furiously urged the black vortex, causing it to absorb even more white light and electricity and accelerate its own compression.

But the next moment, the black wolf was taken aback.

The golden starlight filling the sky grazed past the top of the vortex, but did not directly strike it.

"A miss? What a joke. With divine sense as a guide, how could such an absurd thing happen?" The two-headed giant wolf was surprised, but suddenly, it sensed something. One of its heads turned back to look and was instantly startled.

Suddenly, its other head quickly uttered a series of incantations. The five-colored mist erupting from the vortex instantly coiled up, forcefully cutting off the streaking golden starlight in the middle.

But a cold voice came from Ling Long:

"Too late to realize now! He has already been released by me."

As her voice fell, dozens of feet behind the black vortex, a large cluster of starlight converged. Immediately after, a figure flickered within it, then solidified and appeared. After a slight sway, this person floated out of the starlight, looking around with a puzzled and suspicious expression, appearing rather shifty.

Han Li, who had just retreated to the edge, happened to look back. Seeing this person, he was greatly startled.

"It's him? How could this person be here!" Han Li felt a bit confused.

This seemingly smooth-faced elder was none other than Xiang Zhili. Upon his entry into Mount Kunwu, he was banished into the 'Illusory Celestial Phenomenon' by the new spirit formed from the fusion of Demonic Soul and Ling Meng. The new spirit formed at that time using the Spirit Fusion Great Technique, supported by the silver wolf's body and proficient in various secret arts of both ancient demons and the Spirit Realm, possessed powers far exceeding those of the current Demonic Soul and Ling Long. Its strength was almost several times greater than their combined power at their peak, even reaching a terrifying cultivation level close to the early Void Refinement stage.

Only then could it, despite being within the seal, transmit spiritual power through the air beyond the seal, directly sealing Xiang Zhili temporarily.

This 'Illusory Celestial Phenomenon' is an ancient secret art long lost in the human world. In essence, it merely seals a person within a temporary spatial rift formed by immense divine power. This rift cannot exist for too long, and the caster themselves cannot enter it. Due to the nature of the spatial rift formed, it also has many different names, such as "Immortal Cage," "Nightmare Pavilion," and so on.

Of course, its effectiveness against enemies depends on the cultivation levels of both the opponent and the caster.

However, if a low-level cultivator is trapped by a high-level cultivator using this spell, they will most likely suffer greatly. Unless they wait for the spatial rift to disappear on its own or possess some powerful magic treasure to forcibly break through the spatial barrier, they can only remain trapped inside, quietly waiting for the spell to be dispelled.

However, except in some special circumstances, the practicality of this spell is not significant. After all, if high-level cultivators want to deal with cultivators weaker than themselves, they have many other divine abilities they can easily employ; why bother using such a secret art that consumes a lot of spiritual power and divine sense? If low-level cultivators use it against high-level cultivators, the latter can easily break through the spatial barrier with their own divine abilities.

Therefore, it is more often used among cultivators of the same level. However, if the timing and situation are not precise, it is difficult to accurately draw the opponent into the rift. Furthermore, to cast this spell, one must at least be at the Mid-Spirit Transformation stage.

These numerous restrictions are probably one of the reasons why this secret art was lost in the human world.

On the other hand, dispelling this spell does not require much divine sense or spiritual power. With the power of the Reverse Star Plate, Ling Long could just barely dispel it.

Although Xiang Zhili did not understand this secret art, he had heard some related rumors. Therefore, during the days he was trapped in the 'Illusory Celestial Phenomenon', he had honestly remained still, sitting quietly within the rift. If he moved, he would most likely fall into illusions. However, he had just been in a state of gloomy daze, and the next moment he suddenly appeared in this place. Besides making him overjoyed, it also left him somewhat bewildered.

At this moment, Xiang Zhili blinked his small eyes and somewhat confusedly glanced around.

But at this moment, the two-headed giant wolf's four eyes flashed with fierceness. Without hesitation, both mouths opened simultaneously. Immediately, two black light beams struck the Black Wind Banner in front of it. The banner instantly shook, suddenly releasing countless black filaments of light that surged outwards from the center of the vortex in all directions.

The black vortex, which had already shrunk to about ten feet in size, paused entirely. Then it rapidly contracted towards its center, transforming in an instant into a hole about a foot in diameter.

The center of this hole was pitch black, as if nothingness itself, allowing no light to escape. Instead, its surroundings pulsed, expanding and contracting erratically, constantly devouring everything. The already severely distorted space nearby immediately showed signs of being torn apart and pulled in.

Such a strange sight was truly terrifying! Perhaps only a spirit treasure with spatial abilities like the Black Wind Banner could accomplish such an incredible feat.

Xiang Zhili's gaze was naturally immediately drawn to the bizarre state of the black hole. His face immediately changed drastically as he cried out, "Not good!"

In a hurry, he opened his mouth, and a triangular crimson command arrow shot out from his body. With a flash, the treasure glowed with golden flames all over, then burst forth with brilliant golden light, transforming into a golden fire beast.

This beast was fully armored, had two horns on its head, and was enveloped in layers of golden flames. It looked neither entirely like an ox nor a tiger. But as soon as it appeared, it leaped without hesitation, transforming into a golden rainbow, and shot directly towards the black hole.

At the same time, the seemingly inconspicuous long robe on Xiang Zhili's body glowed brightly with spiritual light. A hazy purple protective barrier instantly emerged from it, and only then did he nervously gaze at the black hole.

As a result, what he saw was that the fire wolf had not yet pounced on its target when the crazy laughter of the black-armored woman echoed from within the black hole. Immediately, the hole suddenly sank downward, bizarrely teleporting to a low altitude above the altar. Then it expanded and contracted once, and exploded.

In Han Li's eyes, as the black hole on the altar exploded, countless black cracks, ranging from several feet thick to mere inches thin, instantly appeared in the distance, emitting a piercing cacophony like ten thousand birds screeching simultaneously, and extended outwards in all directions with lightning speed.

From a distance, it looked as if a giant mirror had shattered, a truly shocking sight.

Han Li's face turned pale. Was he about to experience another spatial collapse?

However, the spatial collapse on the eighth level was merely triggered by ancient cultivators' existing restrictions, and thus was alarming but not truly dangerous. But this time was clearly different. The appearance of these cracks followed no discernible pattern. Not only did they vary in size, but with black light flickering, they looked extremely unstable. Even if one were lucky enough to be sucked into a large crack, it would most likely be a dead end.

Unless, like last time, the cracks coincidentally led to a small pocket dimension, there would be no escaping death.

And as he watched, True Master Qimiao, who was too close to the altar, was sliced through by seven or eight cracks about a foot thick. His body and protective treasures were instantly cut into seven or eight pieces. His fragmented corpse and the nascent soul that had just flown out, attempting to escape, were then engulfed by an even larger crack, disappearing from this world without a trace, without even uttering a scream.

But what made Han Li secretly groan was that several cracks of varying sizes simultaneously reached his position in the blink of an eye, trapping him precisely from all directions, making escape impossible. At this moment, another miserable scream seemed to ring out. From its sound, it seemed to be Gui Ling's voice.

However, Han Li was preoccupied with his own safety at the moment and had no time to investigate further. He immediately gritted his teeth, and in a flash of inspiration, summoned his escape light. He actively rushed towards a crack only a few inches thick, while the Void Heaven Cauldron suspended in front of him flew out first, directly meeting the crack.

With no other option, Han Li could only bet that this cauldron, also a Sky-Reaching Spirit Treasure, would be able to withstand the cutting power of the crack.

A scene that greatly pleased Han Li appeared: The slender crack struck the Void Heaven Cauldron, and with a flash of green light, the small cauldron emitted a muffled hum. The crack actually paused and stopped.

Without thinking, his escape light flashed, bypassing the crack. Then, glancing back briefly, he saw that his previous location had been simultaneously cut through by several black cracks, turning into a blackened void.

Cold sweat immediately broke out on his back!

However, immediately after, these black cracks suddenly trembled, and black light burst forth from within them. This made Han Li's expression turn grim, and his heart, which had just settled, instantly tensed up again.

But what happened next left Han Li stunned!

After these cracks flickered with black light, they surprisingly began to shrink and recede, just as they had appeared, as if time itself was twisting, rapidly contracting backward.

In a blink of an eye, the cracks near Han Li vanished completely, as if the previous scene had been nothing but an illusion.

Han Li breathed a sigh of relief. He then remembered the scream from earlier and hurriedly looked towards Gui Ling's location.

He saw that everything at her previous standing spot was as it had been. Only the ugly woman was nowhere to be found.

Han Li's heart sank. He used his divine sense to check the demonic beast's life plaque. Sure enough, the plaque had vanished into thin air. This demonic beast had indeed been swallowed by the crack.

Han Li secretly sighed, and without lingering on sentiment, quickly scanned the entire space to see what the situation was now.

As a result, he found that Lin Yinping and the Corpse Bear, although they had not escaped to the edge like he had, were completely unharmed.

The Corpse Bear was completely enveloped in a blinding blood-red light, and its expression remained relatively calm. However, Lin Yinping's face was extremely pale. Several cracks had just grazed past her, so her survival was truly a matter of extreme luck.

It was unknown whether the rumored Celestial Azure Sacred Beast was truly immensely powerful, to be able to secretly protect this Saintess.