A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm

Chapter 1056: Firefly Nests

Right at this moment, a yellow figure sprang out of the ground, and it was the bearded man who had been traveling underground this entire time.

His stone armor was riddled with countless holes, but he remained unscathed. However, he was panting heavily, and it was clear that this had not been an easy journey for him.

Su Anqian took a long glance at Han Li, then declared, "The ice wall won't be able to keep out those Fire Age Fireflies for long, so we need to go deeper into the cave right away!"

Everyone hurriedly did as they were told, making their way deeper into the cave behind her, and Han Li did the same while observing the Fire Age Fireflies outside with a contemplative look in his eyes.

There had to be a reason why the Fire Age Fireflies outside had suddenly become so aggressive and agitated, it was just a pity that he didn't know enough about these creatures to guess at the reason why.

The cave was very dark, severely limiting visibility, but with the threat of the army of Fire Age Fireflies looming behind them, no one dared to delay as they forged ahead in silence.

Su Anqian and Han Li were leading the way, warding off the occasional small swarms of Fire Age Fireflies that emerged around them, and they didn't dare to travel too quickly.

Thankfully, the deeper they went into the cave, the fewer holes there were on the walls, resulting in fewer and fewer Fire Age Fireflies in the surrounding area.

Before long, everyone arrived in a massive cavern.

All of the Fire Age Fireflies that were pursuing them suddenly stopped here, and not a single one dared to enter the cavern, much to everyone's befuddlement and relief.

Han Li took a glance at the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies outside the cave, then began to inspect his surroundings.

The cave was tens of thousands of feet in size, and one half of it was a crimson lava lake that was bubbling incessantly, releasing waves of scorching heat through the air.

The molten lava in the lake illuminated the entire cave a bright crimson color.

Above the lava lake was a red platform that was connected to another path, beyond which was another dark space that had faint specks of dark red light gleaming within.

The other half of the cave was a vacant area that was riddled with sharp, crimson stone pillars that resembled a forest of stone bamboo shoots.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to those stone bamboo shoots as there were three dark red hives that were several dozen feet tall hanging from the three largest stone bamboo shoots, and all of them were giving off a fiery glow and bursts of time law power fluctuations.

The three bursts of time law power fluctuations were all extremely vast, but they weren't condensed at all, instead swirling around in the cave in a haphazard fashion.

The lava in the lake rippled in the face of the three bursts of time law power fluctuations, while the entire space was also buzzing in a rhythmic manner.

Han Li's pupils contracted slightly at the sight of the three hives.

If he wasn't mistaken, then those hives were most likely where all of the Fire Age Fireflies had been born. It seemed that the Fire Age Fireflies outside were restricted from entering this place, perhaps regarding it as some type of sacred area.

The area appeared to be quite safe and peaceful, but it definitely wasn't going to be completely unguarded.

Having already been here for countless years, the three hives had transformed into a type of extremely rare time-attribute spirit material.

While Han Li was examining the three hives, everyone else was also doing the same with greed in their eyes, but no one dared to make any rash moves.

However, it didn't take long before someone gave in to the temptation, and three figures shot forward at once, pouncing at the three hives in unison.

Two of them were from the group of itinerant Golden Immortals, namely a gray-haired young man and a black-robed young woman, and they were joined by the bearded man.

"Fellow Daoist Qi, Fellow Daoist Lu, don't be reckless!" the golden-haired young man exclaimed, but it was already too late.

The gray-haired young man and the black-robed young man each flew over to a hive before releasing a burst of light to envelop the hives and hoist them upward.

Meanwhile, the bearded man descended onto the ground close to two hundred feet away from the third hive before stomping a foot down onto the ground.

A burst of yellow light flashed over the ground, following which a crimson stone giant that was over a hundred feet tall emerged from the earth before grabbing onto the hive.

To their surprise, they were able to hoist the three hives upward without any difficulty.

Looks of surprise and elation appeared on their faces as they prepared to stow the hives away, but right at this moment, the hives began to glow with radiant crimson light, and the time law power fluctuations permeating throughout the entire cave abruptly converged around them.

In the blink of an eye, a dark red vortex of light took shape around the three hives, encompassing the trio within it.

The three of them were already prepared for this, but before they could do anything, their movements suddenly became extremely slow, as if they were moving through quicksand.

From the perspective of Han Li and the others, it appeared as if the three of them were moving in slow motion within the dark red vortex.

Right at this moment, a millstone-sized outline suddenly appeared on a previously unremarkable-looking spot on the ceiling above.

Alarmed looks appeared in the eyes of Han Li and the others as they discovered that the millstone-sized object was a giant Fire Age Firefly that was identical in bodily structure to the ones outside, except this one had some flame patterns on its exoskeleton.

Prior to this, the giant firefly seemed to have completely fused as one with this place, allowing it to escape everyone's detection.

The giant firefly opened its mouth, and three streaks of crimson fire shot out from within, hurtling toward the trio at an astonishing speed.

The gray-haired young man and the black-robed young woman didn't even have a chance to react before they were set alight by the crimson flames, and their bodies were reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.

The bearded man was far more powerful than those two, and he was able to conjure up a yellow spirit domain that was around five feet in diameter, allowing him to dart back in retreat, although he was still significantly slowed down by the surrounding time law powers.

As a result, he was unable to completely evade the streak of fire shooting at him, and his left arm was pierced through.

A ball of crimson fire appeared over his arm, instantly reducing half of the arm to ashes.

The crimson flames continued to rapidly spread, threatening to spread to the rest of his body along his arm, and his expression changed drastically upon seeing this as he continued to rush back in retreat while swinging his other hand down upon his own shoulder in a chopping motion.

However, his movements were still extremely sluggish, and it was clear that he wasn't going to be able to amputate his own arm in time.

Right at this moment, a golden flying sword flashed through the air, slicing off the rest of the bearded man's left arm cleanly at the shoulder.

As soon as the arm was amputated, it was immediately devoured by crimson flames and incinerated into ashes.

Meanwhile, Han Li slowly withdrew his finger from several thousand feet away.

A relieved look appeared on the bearded man's face as the yellow light emanating from his body brightened even further, and his speed was drastically enhanced, allowing him to instantly fly out of the dark red vortex.

He gave Han Li a grateful nod, then promptly devoured some pills, and it didn't take long before a new arm began to regrow to replace the amputated one.

The giant firefly turned to Han Li with a furious screech, then crashed down from the ceiling of the cave to land on the stone giant that had been summoned by the bearded man.

With a sweep of its front legs, several crescent-shaped blades of crimson light were released, all of which were giving off formidable time law power fluctuations, and the stone giant was instantly sliced into pieces and reduced to a large pile of rubble, while the three hives fell back to their original spots.

The giant firefly was glowering intently at Han Li while perched atop the remains of the stone giant, and Su Anqian's eyes narrowed slightly as she yelled, "That appears to be a the Fire Age Firefly Queen. It can freely wield time law powers, and it's countless times more powerful than the average Fire Age Fireflies!"

The Fire Age Firefly Queen instantly turned its gaze to Su Anqian, as if it could understand what she was saying, and it launched itself at her as a rapid crimson shadow.

At the same time, it swept its two front legs through the air, releasing two crescent-shaped streaks of red light that hurtled toward Su Anqian and Han Li.

The two streaks of light were extraordinarily fast, reaching their two targets in the blink of an eye.

Han Li immediately vanished from the spot before reappearing over a thousand feet away in the blink of an eye, leaving the Fire Age Firefly Queen momentarily stunned.

Su Anqian didn't possess the speed to match Han Li, and she was only able to fly back in retreat while sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of rippling blue light that formed a rapidly revolving blue vortex in front of her.

The streak of crimson light was momentarily stopped in its tracks by the blue vortex, but was then able to instantly slice through the vortex before continuing onward.

However, the blue vortex had managed to somewhat divert the streak of crimson light away from its original trajectory, and it glanced right past Su Anqian before slicing into the ground, creating an immeasurably deep rift.

Everyone's expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, and they all frantically rushed back in retreat to distance themselves from the Fire Age Firefly Queen.

"Everyone, attack at once!" Su Anqian yelled.

With the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies waiting outside the cave, retreat was no longer an option, so everyone immediately heeded Su Anqian's call, launching a barrage of attacks upon the Fire Age Firefly Queen.