The Minor Teleportation Talisman's light enveloped Han Li, tearing a fissure through the turbulent currents of spacetime. The talisman was of exceptional quality and could have transported him a thousand li toward a chosen destination, but the chaotic spacetime structure within the Heavenly Star Ruins, compounded by the energy storm unleashed when the Ancient God True Body collapsed, made the teleportation wildly unstable.
Agonizing pain! That was Han Li's first sensation when he regained consciousness. Every meridian in his body felt as though thousands upon thousands of steel needles were piercing it over and over. The Nascent Soul in his dantian was listless and dim, shrunk to almost half its former size, its surface covered in fine cracks.
He had forcibly fused great void qi, star-magnetic qi, and even the battlefield's blood fiend qi to unleash a sword strike beyond his limits, then endured the energy shock waves from the Ancient God's collapse. Even with the teleportation talisman's protective barrier, his condition had hit rock bottom. Less than a tenth of his spiritual power remained, his divine soul was grievously wounded, and his consciousness was clouded.
Thud!
He crashed heavily onto a cold, hard floor, sending up a faint puff of dust. A metallic sweetness rose in his throat, and he coughed up another mouthful of dark, clotted blood, flecked with tiny fragments of his internal organs. The teleportation talisman's light faded completely, and it crumbled to ash.
Fighting the dizziness and excruciating pain, Han Li barely managed to lift his heavy eyelids. Instead of the ruined walls or perilous wasteland he had expected, he saw the forecourt of an enormous, empty hall, its silence so profound it set his heart trembling. The floor was made of a silvery-gray substance that was neither metal nor jade, smooth as a mirror