A Record Of A Mortal's Journey To Immortality

by S.H.A aifu

A poor and ordinary boy from a village joins a minor sect in Jiang Hu and becomes an Unofficial Disciple by chance. How will Han Li, a commoner by birth, establish a foothold for himself in his sect? With his mediocre aptitude, how will he successfully traverse the path of cultivation and become an immortal? This is a story of an ordinary mortal who, against all odds, clashes with

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"If a corpse puppet won't do, then how about me?" Suddenly, the air above the corpse fluctuated, igniting a ball of black flames. It then condensed into a young palace-robed woman with a cold expression.

As soon as she appeared, she glared at Han Li. When she recognized him to only be a mortal, her mouth curled in disdain and slowly lifted her hand at him.

Han Li's spiritual sense hadn't detected anything, but from the link with the worldly essence Qi from his current cultivations stage, he was able to sense a kind of indescribable danger.

In the instant the woman appeared, he stopped in his tracts and his expression vastly changed.

As soon as the woman pointed her hand at him, Han Li shivered as he sensed all the hair on his body stand straight.

Ever since he entered the path of cultivation, he hadn't sensed such immense danger approaching him until now.

As if out of reflex, Han Li shook his sleeve, tossing out two round objects into his palm. He quickly held them in front of him and wordlessly stared at the woman.

They were two fist-sized balls, one black and one red. Their surface flowed with twinkling light.

"Immortal Vanquishing Beads! And two at that! Who are you!? How do you have those treasures?!" The woman's face vastly changed upon seeing the two beads. The thread of black flame that rose from her bracelet abruptly disappeared and she shouted out with furious alarm.

When Han Li saw the woman recognize the beads and reacted with fear at the sight of them, he felt a wave of relief.

"Hehe, it's good that you recognize them," he said with a calm tone, despite the cold sweat that lined his body, fearing the woman's cultivation was far beyond what he expected. If the Immortal Vanquishing Beads didn't threaten her, he would be completely out of luck. But even in this case, he was still inwardly cursing.

He believed he would only be dealing with meager demon beast soul thread controlling a corpse puppet, not a Deity Transformation-level demon cultivator.

Why would such a high-grade demon appear outside inside the human city?

Although the Immortal Vanquishing Beads kept her at bay, the slightest carelessness would mean death for him. As someone previously possessing Deity Transformation cultivation, he understood just how powerful she was.

As the palace-robed woman's expression wavered, she stared at Han Li with a penetrating sword-sharp gaze. She didn't conceal any of her killing intent.

Eventually, the woman imposingly asked, "Do you truly believe that you'll be able to kill me with those Immortal Vanquishing Beads?"

Han Li remained calm, "I might not be able to, but with these two beads, I have a very high chance of gravely injuring you."

"Is that so? But a trifling body refiner like you wouldn't be able to escape the blast from using those beads. Do you plan on killing yourself?" The young woman sneered.

"If I don't use it, I won't be able to protect myself either. I may as well use it." Han Li nonchalantly replied.

Rather than show her anger, the woman smiled and said, "Even so, do you truly believe I wouldn't risk a few injuries to deal with a dog like you?"

Han Li dryly chuckled and narrowed his eyes, "Of course you wouldn't dare. You are in human territories. After you are injured, you won't be able to conceal your demonic Qi. When you flee, you will be pursued by other high-grade cultivators. If I recall correctly, the presence of metamorphosed demon cultivators in human territories is a violation of the agreement. Humans will be able to kill you."

"A trifling mortal dares to threaten me? You are quite courageous." The woman's voice warped as if the air was shaking and her eyes grew a sparkling violet. A strange devilish energy then wrapped around his mind.

As Han Li stared at the woman, he felt his gaze absorbed by her eyes and his sharp eyes became vacant.

When the palace-robed woman saw this, her heart was overjoyed and she moved her arm to attack.

But at that moment, Han Li's blank face turned into a mocking sneer and blue light brightly shined from his eyes.

A wave of dizziness overtook her sight and huge trembles shook her mind, causing her to stumble and nearly fall to the ground.

"Grand bewitchment techniques! Y-you know them!" Even as powerful as the woman's spiritual sense may be, she received backlash from Han Li's spiritual eyes during a moment of carelessness, but she quickly recovered. But at that moment, she looked at Han Li as if she had seen a ghost.

In her astonishment, Han Li gave her a mysterious smile and stood motionlessly in place.

The woman quickly hid the shock on her face and couldn't help but look at Han Li with bewilderment.

Even as arrogant as the woman may be, she realized that Han Li was by no means the simple body refiner that he appeared to be.

The woman looked at the two Immortal Vanquishing and then turned to look at the helpless girl on the ground. With an icy voice, she said, "What are you thinking? We've found ourselves in a deadlock."

After a moment of thought, Han Li said, "If you let go of that girl, Fellow Daoist may leave."

"Impossible. Dai'er carries the direct bloodline of our Black Phoenix Clan. I must bring her back." The woman rejected him immediately.

When Han Li heard her resolute reply, his heart sank and he became silent.

The young woman also kept silent and the two sides found themselves in a deadlock for a time.

After several gusts of wind rustle past them, only silence filled the air.

Still held by the purple-robed corpse, Dai'er broke the silence with her soft voice, "Uncle Han, please don't fight with Auntie Xiao. I am following her because I want to."

When Han Li heard this, he frowned. As for the woman, she remained expressionless, unsurprised by her words.

Alarmed, Han Li asked with a calm voice, "Dai'er, what are you saying? Do you know who she is?"

"I know. Auntie Gu used a technique to teach me." The girl raised her small face to reveal a determination that contrasted her age.

As someone with great experience, Han Li found this odd and harshly shouted, "A technique? What did you do to her?"

The woman brushed back some of her hair and indifferently said, "I didn't do anything. There is simply had the Black Phoenix Clan's legacy pearl enter her body. A bit of information regarding the Black Phoenix Clan was passed down to her. Of course, there wasn't enough time for her to digest it completely, but she clearly understands her identity as a half-demon."

When Han Li heard this, he suddenly came to a realization.

Although he didn't know the details, a so-called legacy pearl was a treasure refined to contain the experience, techniques, and even soul fragments of past generations.

These items did exist in some capacity in the mortal realm. But the conditions for inheriting such a treasure was extremely demanding. If one wasn't careful, they could perish. But even worse was that the inheritance often failed to completely impart its contents, passing only a tenth of its legacy.

The Black Phoenix Clan's legacy pearl must be wondrous in a way he didn't understand to surpass the previously mentioned flaws.

And when the girl fully absorbs the legacy pearl, she will no longer truly be herself.

After a moment of silence, Han Li said to the girl, "Think carefully! If you enter the demon clans, you will need to forfeit your identity as a human. In the future, he won't be able to see your family on this side."

The girl shook her head and sadly said, "Apart from my grandfather, I have no family. Now that grandfather is like this, there is no point for me staying here any longer. I want to live together with my father."

"In that case, I won't force you. Go with her." Han Li sighed and turned around, walking away in large steps, but still holding the beads in his hand.

When the woman saw how quickly Han Li ran off, the woman was startled. As for the girl, she bit her lips to say nothing else as she was still reluctant to part with him.

Han Li appeared as if he was walking, but he traveled at an astonishing speed. In only a moment, he turned into a black dot on the horizon.

The young woman glared at Han Li with resentment for a long while before eventually deciding not to attack. Then with an unsightly expression, she looked at the girl below and said, "Dai'er, let's go. If that person informs high-grade cultivators about our presence, it will be troublesome."

An odd expression contrasting Dai'er's young age appeared on her face and she softly said,

"He won't do such a thing."

The woman shook her head, "No human can be trusted. Let's go." With that said, the woman reached out for Dai'er and summoned her into the air.

With the girl at her side, she commanded the purple-robed corpse to form an incantation gesture and it promptly combusted into black flame and turned to ash. A moment later, the black flame condensed into a ball and was absorbed into the woman's body.

The woman raised her hand and a scarf appeared above her head.

It wrapped around them, flashing with black light until the two disappeared into a trail of smoke.

Two days later, in the human camp fifty kilometers away, several streaks of light flew out on their magic tools.

They were the Gold Jade Sect cultivators and Han Li.

They traveled together and would not be returning. But oddly enough Mistress Fang, Zhang Kui, and the others in the Heavenly East Enterprise turned a blind eye to this and made no further mention of Han Li.

It was as if Deputy Leader Han was never a part of the Heavenly East Enterprise.

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Forty years is enough time for a soft baby to turn into a strong man, and for a child with spirit roots to become a low or mid-grade cultivator. But in the scope of an ancient city that existed for over a million years, it may as well happen over the blink of an eye.

When the three human territories were formed, Yu Yang City was the first founded in the Heavenly Origin Region.

Although it was only a medium-grade city and the city lords had no plan for expansion, it repelled every beast torrent easily. Never once did it encounter great danger.

This was because Yu Yang City was one of the most populated cities with body refiners. It carried this reputation throughout the Heavenly Origin City.

It was said that the current Heavenly Origin Sage had cultivated the body refinement technique to perfection in the city, leaving behind a grand history there.

The city housed countless body refinement sects and schools. High-grade body refiners rare in other areas were present in the city in large numbers. At the heart of the city, there was even a 'sacred tower' that stored the collections and experiences of body refinement sects. The collection was so expansive and detailed that it was renowned as one of the best in the region.

With such things located in the city, it attracted more low and mid-grade body refiners each year. Against such a formidable fighting force, a trifling beast torrent posed no threat.

Apart from this, Yu Yang City had a reputation for creating spirit tools on par with Heavenly Origin City. Each year a large number of spirit tools were refined there and purchased by merchants and body refiners alike.

Several auction houses greatly profited in selling rare spirit tools.

These auction houses more or less held a large number of spirit tool master smiths.

The so-called spirit tool masters were akin to pill refinement masters and spell formation masters as a master of their craft.

However, these people were peculiar where they needed to refine body refinement techniques to a certain extent and acquire some understanding of spell formations as well. Furthermore, they also required a naturally powerful spiritual sense.

With these conditions, one can become a spirit tool master. Those who wish to become one would need immense amounts of practice in addition to their natural talents.

The spirit tool masters held by the auction houses were all excellent and produced spirit tools with great power and inconceivable abilities.

Of course, these spirit tools were also meticulously forged. It commonly took several months to refine one, and when their extraordinary abilities were displayed in an auction house, they were sold at sky-high prices.

The Long Xing Auction House was one of the largest in Yu Yang City. They abruptly emerged and created a reputation that rivaled long-established auction houses.

The master of this auction house quickly became someone of considerable status in the city.

But one day in the Long Xing Auction House, a fat man wearing extravagant robes was pacing back and forth in the main hall.

He occasionally looked in the direction of the entrance with worry.

Another moment later, the fat man came to stop and loudly yelled, "Feng Er! Go take another look outside and see if Grandmaster Han has arrived."

"Yes, milord!"

A young man hastily acknowledged his order and ran off, his footsteps quickly becoming faint.

The fat man paced for a moment more. Then, he seemed to tire and sat down, the chain creeping from his weight.

The fat man didn't fear that that chair would collapse. Rather, he simply took a teapot from the table and poured himself a few cups in an easy manner.

"Could it be Brother Fan's temper is a result of illness?" A clear voice sounded from the direction of the door, followed by the owner's appearance.

When the fat man saw the newly arrived man, he immediately stood up, and the rolls of fat underneath his chin shook from his laughter, "Brother Han, you've finally arrived. Feng Er, that idiot didn't inform me of your arrival."

"Don't blame him, I had him keep watch outside."

The person who arrived appeared to be a common middle-aged man. He had creases on his brow and long black facial hair. As he carried a long bundle in his arms, he looked at the fat man with a mysterious smile.

It appeared the two were quite familiar with one another.

"Haha, although I know Brother Han never missed an appointment, this matter is quite important. This is related to my efforts in the city for the last several tens of years, so I was quite worried. This is the item that Brother Han personally forged?" The fat man looked at the middle-aged man's bundle with excitement.

"That's right. Old Brother Fan should take a look at it. The middle-aged man smiled and handed over the bundle. Then he took a seat at a nearby chair.

The old fat man took the long bundle and began to quickly tear off the cover, revealing a meter-long sword covered in a faint golden sheath. The sword was embedded with three spirit stones of various colors. At a glance, one could tell it was an unordinary spirit tool.

When the fat man saw this, he grasped the sword handle carefully and slowly took it out of the sheath.

A ring akin to the dragon's cry sounded and a ball of golden light appeared before the fat man. It turned into a small golden wyrm that twirled in front of him.

The fat man glanced at the light and shook the sword sheath. As soon as the wyrm vanished, a glistening golden sword with a wyrm pattern appeared in his hand.

"Marvelous, marvelous! This is the sole top-grade spirit tool that emerged within Yu Yang City within the last hundred years. It possesses the inconceivable ability to take another form. Hehe, with this word, the others won't dare to compete with me. Big Brother Han, you've helped this little brother tremendously." The fat man sheathed the sword and broke out into bellowing laughter.

The middle-aged man sipped on the tea, revealing not a trace of excitement, "It was nothing. I was only able to refine the spirit tool because of the materials you've supplied me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to refine it no matter the skill."

"Hehe, that is so, Big Brother! Those with empty reputations can't hope to compare with you," The fat man laughed.

"There is no need to flatter me. That sword is the last spirit tool I'll make for you. In a moment, I will depart from the city. I reckon I won't return." The middle-aged man spoke with a smile.

The fat man woke up from his glee and hastily said, "Big Brother, what are you saying? Why do you want to leave the city? Could it be the subordinates I've assigned to you? Give the word and I will immediately cut them off and assign you better ones."

The middle-aged man slowly said, "In the past, I made an error in my cultivation and you happened to pass by and lend me a hand. I was also unable to safely break through my bottleneck at the time. Now that several decades have passed and I forged all these spirit tools for you while hiding my identity, I have fully paid back your kindness. Now, the Long Xing Auction House has become one of the largest in the city. After you present that sword to the city lord, I'm sure it will be the largest for sure. I wasn't able to fully teach my techniques to the apprentices you gave to me, but they know enough to continue your auction house. You should know I fully intend to cultivating body refinement techniques. Forging spirit tools was something I only did in passing. I won't gain anything else from staying here."

"Could it be Brother Han's cultivation has reached another bottleneck?" When the fat man's heart jumped when he heard Han Li's final sentence.

The middle-aged man simply replied with a silent smile.

The fat man was stunned.

While others might now know of this person's formidable power, the fat man clearly understood it.

Ten years ago, he came across danger and this good friend of his saved him. In a single breath, he killed a dozen low-grade body refiners that invaded his mansion. He displayed fearsome cultivation that was no weaker than a high-grade body refiner. Now that he has encountered another bottleneck, his cultivation will greatly progress after he breaks through it. At that moment, Brother Han's cultivation will reach an inconceivable stage.

"Old Brother Fan, it is good that you know. I must thank you for keeping quiet about me and purchasing large quantities of techniques and medicine pills on my behalf. However, we must now part. I can only bid you farewell!" With that said, the middle-aged man stood up and saluted him, walking out without turning back.

The fat man's lips quivered, but eventually, he couldn't come up with any words to convince him to stay. He could only watch the middle-aged man walk away with a dim face.

When the fat man saved Brother Han, it was the biggest turning point in his life. With all his power, Brother Han supported the nameless merchant until he became one of the leading figures in Yu Yang City. But now that Brother Han felt that he paid back his kindness in full, he walked away without any hesitation.

Naturally, he couldn't tell him to stay.

Outside the Long Xing Auction House, the middle-aged man saddled on a deer-like mount and made his way to the city exit.

Several hours later, the middle-aged man appeared on a cliff many kilometers away from the city. He looked at the tremendous city in the distance and leaped off the deer, sweeping his sleeve past his face.

An inconceivable event occurred.

After his sleeve fell, his facial hair disappeared and his middle-aged face turned young, turning into a youth that appeared to be in his late teens.

He was Han Li, who was last seen with the Gold Jade Sect Cultivators to seize the treasure.

Han Li indifferently glanced at the city walls from a distance and he suddenly turned around. Leaving behind the deer, the strode in the distance.

Not long after, he turned into a black dot on the horizon and disappeared into the wilderness.

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Yu Yang City was quite a distance away from An Yuan City.

But with the speed of flight on foot, Han Li only needed a year before he arrived near the ruins of An Yuan City.

The journey was quite dangerous, and he even went out of his way to travel through inhabited areas, but the distance between cities was truly far.

Along the way, he had no choice but to kill many wild beasts and a few low-grade demon beasts as well.

Of course, this was because he was travelling alone in the wilderness.

If he were travelling in a group, a few low-grade demon beasts wouldn't dare to attack him.

Although it had been many years since he had been to the ruins of An Yuan City, it hadn't changed by much.

He couldn't see the end to its ruined walls, but it was covered in layers of dust.

Han Li stood in place for a long while as his mind wandered.

He already cultivated the Vajra Arts to the peak of the seventh layer. So long as he breaks through this bottleneck, his cultivation will reach grand completion.

To tell the truth, the speed of his cultivation was far faster than he anticipated.

Since the spirit realm's spiritual Qi was far greater than that of the mortal realm, it was already an ideal place for cultivation and with his body altered by many medicines and odd fruits, his body's potential was at the peak of humankind.

In the past when he left An Yuan City with the Gold Jade Sect cultivators, they entered a demon beast nest. With his abilities, they were able to easily acquire the medicinal plant they were looking for.

In their joy, the cultivators gave Han Li a document guaranteeing his entrance to the Nine Profound Brightjade Pond. After they took back the jade medallions they entrusted to Han Li, they happily returned to their sect.

After they split up, he didn't return the Mistress Fang or the Heavenly East Enterprise as he felt he had become too prominent. Instead, he chose to sneak into other human cities.

Furthermore, the blood curse contract had no effect on him.

His objective was Yu Yang City, one of the closer cities and a holy land for body refiners, as it would prove very useful to his cultivation. As for the short sword that was given to Han Li by the corpse puppet of the city lord, Han Li didn't trust it at all; he immediately destroyed it after his encounter with the demon cultivator.

When he was halfway to Yu Yang City, he was at a crucial point in the consolidation of the Vajra Art's fifth layer. Unfortunately, that was also when he was ambushed by several demon beasts.

Although he managed to kill them, he soon encountered backlash from the Vajra Arts and his cultivation sharply dropped by nearly an entire level.

During his moment of peril, he came across a young merchant named Fatty Fan that happened to carry a few suitable rare medicines.

Since Han Li was saved by these medicines, he felt grateful to the merchant, but he also wanted someone that could help conceal his existence. As such, he followed the Fatty Fan to Yu Yang City and helped him out in secret, expanding his auction house until it was one of the greatest in the city.

And as a spell formation master and possessor of immensely strong spiritual sense, a bit of practice was all he needed to become a spirit tool master.

He continued to stay at Yu Yuan City for several decades.

During this period, he reached the peak of the sixth layer and decided to make a journey away from the city.

In that year, he found out that the Gold Jade Sect's brocade-robed man had already entered Core Formation-stage.

When the man surnamed Qin saw that Han Li had already completed the fifth layer of the Vajra Arts, a level that could compete with Core Formation cultivators, he was completely astonished. Nevertheless, he kept his promise and made arrangements for Han Li to use the Nine Profound Brightjade Pool.

By drawing the support of the pond's extraordinary power, he was able to breakthrough the sixth layer bottleneck in a few short days, saving him at least a dozen years of bitter cultivation.

When he returned to Yu Yang City for his next decades of hidden cultivation, he eventually reached the bottleneck at the seventh layer.

To breakthrough the last bottleneck, he couldn't stay in the city and continue the slow method of bitter cultivation. He planned on using the most common method of body refiners to breakthrough a bottleneck.

That was to leave civilization and enter the savage wilderness, breaking through the bottleneck by force by hunting powerful demon beasts.

However, he would need to travel far away and it was likely he wouldn't be returning to the region. As such, it'd be best for him to retrieve his treasures at the Azure Sifting Desert.

With his current achievements in body refinement, he could protect himself well enough, not to mention the various treasures he carried on him.

After he rested at An Yuan City's ruins for half a day, he set forth towards the Azure Sifting Desert.

After a month, Han Li found azure sand and began to tread deeper in the area.

But soon, his face changed and alarm rang through his mind.

The desert was too quiet.

Apart from the rustling of desert winds, there was no other sound that could be heard. There should've been many beasts present in the desert. Even the few insects on the ground disappeared.

It was as if the Azure Sifting Desert turned into a dead land.

With faint shock on his face, his awareness became heightened to its utmost extent as he tread in the direction that he buried his treasures,

Although the sands frequently shifted in a desert, Han Li had done a bit of a trick when he buried his treasures. He used a particular method of searching for the treasure without using any magic power.

Over ten days later, Han Li arrived at some point in the desert and was dumbstruck when he saw a large white object not far away.

It appeared to be a shed crystalline shell of a large insect.

The shell had six three-meter-long wings and appeared to belong to a huge centipede.

As Han Li looked at the enormous centipede shell, he muttered in shock, "The Six-winged Frost Centipede? How was it possible? How could it evolve so quickly?"

When he took several steps forward and the centipede shell began to turn in the sand, he shook his sleeve and released a silver flash.

A light bang sounded out.

The silver light struck the crystalline shell and was repelled. It was a rope that sparkled with silver light.

It was the wyrm tendon that Han Li had someone refine before the beast torrent at An Yuan City. Over the past few decades, he used it considerably to much effect in killing many beasts and enemies. Later on when Han Li grasped spirit tool refinement, he hadn't made any changes to it. At his stage of body refinement, ordinary spirit tools had little benefit to him, and he saw no use in changing it as it was easy for him to use.

In any case, under his control, the rope contained the force comparable to a magic tool. As the shell didn't suffer the slightest damage, one could imagine how durable it was.

It was worthy of belonging to a Six-winged Frost Centipede that finally grew six wings.

Han Li swept his gaze past it and then he felt a wave of bewilderment.

He had twelve centipedes, but now there was only one. Where were the other eleven?

"Could it be..." A thought flashed through Han Li's mind as he considered the possibilities and his face faintly changed.

At that moment, an odd shriek sounded from a distance, followed by rolls of thunder. A roiling black cloud rolled past the sky with flashing lightning and harsh winds.

When Han Li saw this, his lip twitched. When he saw the weather was changing, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

Although he wasn't able to release his spiritual sense, the connection he felt in his mind couldn't be mistaken. In the distance, there was a Six-winged Frost Centipede hidden in the changing weather.

However, in the blink of an eye, the connection to his mind became somewhat unfamiliar.

After the Six-winged Frost Centipedes fully matured, they unexpectedly gained the heavenly power of calling upon wind and rain, much to Han Li's astonishment.

The Six-winged Frost Centipede familiarity with manipulating the worldly origin Qi was an entire stage higher than when Han Li still possessed his cultivation. They were on the verge of Deity Transformation power.

Just as Han Li felt astonishment, he suddenly ring a loud buzzing in the air. From the other end of the sky, a large rainbow cloud swiftly rushed toward the black cloud.

Under close examination, his face turned pale.

Within the rainbow cloud were groups of winged scorpions. They were the size of a palm and were stained with all sorts of colors.

As Han Li felt his mouth grow dry, he saw a sixty-meter-long scorpion king in the middle of the swarm.

The scorpion didn't have any wings, but it managed to suspend its huge body in the air with a poisonous mist. It had a thirty-meter-tall tail raised in the air that glowed green.

Han Li felt a chill run down his body.

But under closer inspection, he found out that the so-called scorpion king was actually condensed from countless small scorpions.

The other surrounding scorpions had done the same and wriggled together, converging onto the huge scorpion king.

Before Han Li realized what was happening, a fierce hiss sounded from a distance and the black cloud roiled to reveal a frost centipede that was over thirty meters long. It stretched its hideous head forward.

In that same instant, Han Li felt a faint connection to his mind and heart stirred, realizing what it was. "So that was it!"

The giant Six-winged Frost Centipede possessed the soul markers of a dozen of the four-winged centipedes. They either somehow fused together, or one of them ate the rest.

Under these circumstances, it created a fully mature Six-winged Frost Centipede.

However, where did these scorpions come from? When he crossed the desert with the Heavenly East Enterprise caravan, they would've definitely met their end if they came across the scorpions.

Just as Han Li mulled over his gloomy thoughts, the black cloud and rainbow mist struck one another.

Hissing filled the air and intermittent buzzing. Countless flying scorpions dropped to the ground, frozen by the icy winds that flew out of the black cloud.

However, balls of rainbow poison spat out from the flying scorpions soon consumed a portion of the black cloud, causing the cloud to violently roil.

In the blink of an eye, the black cloud grew sparse, revealing the lower half of the Six-winged Frost Centipede.

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The Six-winged Frost Centipede was slightly smaller than the scorpion king, but it was colossal compared to ordinary demon beasts.

When it stretched its ugly head out from the black cloud, it opened its mouth and launched a dense beam of ice.

As the icy light brushed past the air, the sound of tearing space sounded. When the attack struck the huge scorpion, it left a hole three-meters-wide.

The huge scorpion was the result of countless winged scorpions condensed together. Even as powerful as the strike may be, it didn't truly hurt it. The huge scorpion simply let out a piercing shriek and raised its tail to strike at the frost centipede.

A green light shot out and the scorpion tail seemed to stretch a hundred meters forward as if it were an illusion. It arrived above the centipede's head and swung down.

Meanwhile, the huge hole in the scorpion abdomen stirred and it quickly mended.

The Six-winged Frost Centipede didn't appear to mind the attack from the huge tail. The centipede's wings grew transparent for a moment before the entire centipede disappeared.

The scorpion tale shrieked but it only landed past the air.

In a short moment, the air above the huge scorpion warped to reveal giant winged centipede.

Its wings shook once more and its entire body blurred, charging into the huge scorpion and sinking its fangs deep inside.

A ball of icy light blossomed from the huge scorpion, quickly expanding until it covered most of the scorpion's body, turning it crystalline.

But then, the light stopped and the huge scorpion's body crumbled. Countless scorpions rained down from the sky.

The remnants of the giant scorpion no longer condensed back together. Rather, they scattered in every direction.

In the blink of an eye, the rainbow poison cloud completely dissipated.

When the Six-winged Frost Centipede saw this, it didn't bother to pursue them. It simply opened its mouth and spat out an icy wind. It swept up all the frozen scorpions nearby and brought them to its mouth.

Han Li watched this from a distance, feeling calmer.

He finally realized why the Six-winged Frost Centipede had evolved so quickly. During the time he was away, they devoured countless winged insects. As for those winged scorpions, they seemed to have a history with the centipedes and weren't ordinary demon insects by any means. They must've served as a catalyst after being consumed.

That must've been why he hadn't seen any other insects after he entered the desert. It appeared that they had cleanly devoured by either the scorpions or the centipedes.

Just as Han Li's thoughts continued, the huge centipede finally finished cleaning off the scorpions and looked down in Han Li's direction with a cold glint shining from its eye.

When Han Li met its gaze, his heart thumped and he faintly felt the thing he worried the most was about to happen.

Suddenly, the Six-winged Frost Centipede let out a hiss and flapped its wings, arriving in front of Han Li above the blink of an eye.

It coldly looked down at Han Li with a hostile gaze.

Its fangs were clearly gnawing against each other.

Han Li wore an odd expression and stared at the insect without blinking. However, he shook his sleeve behind his back and summoned two Immortal Vanquishing Beads into his palm.

The white centipede simply let out a hiss and turned around, suddenly flying off in the distance and disappearing.

The insect treated Han Li as a mere passerby and went off of its own accord.

Han Li sighed in relief and his stiff face finally loosened. He soon let out a bitter laugh.

The insect's shocking growth and evolution from four wings to six greatly went against Han Li's expectations.

Although ancient exotic insects weren't able to take human form like demon beasts, they were able to develop a level of intelligence.

With such harsh magic power, it naturally thought to sever its spiritual sense connection.

If he still had magic power, he could easily suppress the insect with the restrictions he originally placed on it. But now that he lacked the slightest magic power, all his secret techniques were unusable.

Under these circumstances, it wouldn't be rare for the centipede to turn on him.

As such, Han Li prepared for the worse and fetched his Immortal Vanquishing Beads with cold sweat lining his palms.

To tell the truth, it was fortunate that Han Li had meticulously nurtured the dozen centipedes since they were larva.

The mental connection between the two had become remarkably stable over the past hundreds of years and now that the dozen centipedes fused together, the connection was a dozen times stronger as well. They were unable to easily shake it off.

Just then, the centipedes struggled to break free for a time before eventually deciding to abandon any hostile intent towards Han Li and go on its own way.

Of course, Han Li made no attempt to stop them.

In his current state, he could only watch them while feeling at a loss of whether he should laugh or cry.

Back in the mortal realm, he spared no effort and even used the small mysterious bottle to nurture the insects. Now that they have matured, he could no longer control them.

He felt somewhat depressed over his loss.

However, Han Li took a breath and soon calmed himself.

Although the insect broke free from his control for the time being, when he recovered his magic power, he could make it yield to him once again.

The only problem was in a place as vast as the spirit realm, he might never see it again, or with so many cultivators present, it could've been captured by someone else of considerable power.

Han Li stood in place lost in his thoughts before eventually shaking his head. Eventually, he turned his mind to the Gold Devouring Beetles and the Weeping Soul Beast.

His face sank as he quickened his steps to a place a few hundred meters away.

He took a look down and wordlessly made a fist. With light shining from it, he struck the ground.

A large boom shook the air, scattering the sand as if a top-grade magic treasure struck it.

A large cloud of dust rose into the air, leaving a large crater beneath it. It was over ten meters deep and over thirty-meters wide.

At the heart of the crater were a storage pouch and three spirit beast pouches.

When Han Li saw the storage pouch was intact, he felt relief. Then he walked over to the three spirit beast pouches.

He grabbed them and wore a pensive expression.

Although he wasn't able to examine them with his spiritual sense, they appeared sealed as he left them. After he weighed it in his hand, he knew nothing was missing from them, apart from the empty pouch that contained the Six-winged Frost Centipedes.

The other two pouches were slightly open. Without looking at them, Han Li could sense the presence of the Gold Devouring Beetles and the Weeping Soul Beast. He could even sense that the Weeping Soul Beast was still soundly asleep.

Han Li's faintly smiled. The last of his worries were gone.

He promptly put away his pouches deep in his robes.

As they all appeared exquisite, they would contrast with Han Li's unremarkable appearance.

However, the shed shell the Six-winged Frost Centipede left behind would be somewhat troublesome.

He frowned and simply punched down to make an even larger hole. Then he tossed the shell into the hole and buried it.

Han Li circled around the area several more times and found no other signs, much to his satisfaction.

Then, he looked in the direction that the black cloud disappeared and wore a gloomy expression. Eventually, he gathered himself and walked off.

Now that he completed his first objective, he needed to journey far away to an area filled with demon beasts.

His goal was the border between a demon land and the Heavenly Origin Region.

The border area was a harsh place belonging slightly to both the demon beasts and the Heavenly Origin Region. It was extremely wide and lawless, acting as a buffer between the regions.

Furthermore, demon beasts, savage ancient beasts, and even half-demons on occasion freely roamed the area. The closer one was to the central, the more dangerous it would be.

It was said that mysterious spirit clans made of Deity Transformation individuals or giants that were over a hundred meters tall were seen there. Some even heard the cries of true dragons there as well.

With so many strange rumors, the area was shrouded in a layer of mystery. However, most people didn't take these rumors to heart.

But, it was true that Deity Transformation-level cultivators and demon cultivators did appear here. This inspired fears in the higher echelons of the demon and human clans. If a fight broke out at that level, it could inspire a war between humans and demons. As a result, such fights were prohibited.

These fights could disturb the origin Qi of heaven and earth, causing rivers to flow backward and mountains to collapse.

Even existences on the level of the three human sovereigns and the seven demon kings opposed such a thing from happening.

If something that dangerous were to happen, the area would truly be too dangerous to tread.

As it so happened, the area was never officially developed or claimed by humans or demons. But the border region contained extremely precious spirit veins and medicines. There were even once of a kind spiritual objects that sovereigns and kings would pay a hefty price for.

As a result, large quantities of cultivators and body refiners would gather there.

They wished to test their luck and acquire a few spirit medicines. Some wished to use the slaughter in the area as a means to break through their cultivation bottlenecks. To tell the truth, this served a similar purpose to beast torrents.

However, low-grade cultivators and body refiners didn't dare to tread here as it would only mean death. Most of the life in these areas were vastly demons after all.

Under such circumstances, Han Li eventually made his way there after several years of hard travel.

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"The Setting Sun Tomb!"

Demon and human alike called this place by that name.

To tell the truth, during ancient times, there weren't seven suns, but nine. But when the human and demon clans had first arrived in the spirit realm, an enormous battle swept through most of the races in the spirit realm.

Hundreds of characters with cultivation comparable to those in the Immortal realm battled throughout the spirit realm for an unknown reason.

As a result, not only did the weak perish, but vast lands, mountains, and seas underwent amazing changes, splitting the earth itself and destroying two of the suns.

It was said that one of the suns descended here, resulting in an enormous depression in the ground.

However, flying across this so-called depression would take a high-grade cultivator at least a year to fly through, even by using the full power of their magic treasures. The depressing itself contained countless mountain ranges and tens of giant lakes that spanned myriads of kilometers, not to mention anything of the forests and plains it contained.

It is said that even if ten million cultivators were to enter the Setting Sun Tomb, they would only amount to a drop in a vast ocean.

Such a large region naturally had a few human settlements on its border. One of the more well-known settlements was the cultivator controlled giant scale city "Setting Sun City".

The city was constructed close to the Setting Sun Tomb. Although it was about the same in size to other cultivator cities, many mid and high-grade cultivators appeared there, ranking it among the top three cities in the Heavenly Origin Region. In addition to the cultivators there, there were also a large number of high-grade body refiners.

The body refiners possessed strength that was equivalent to the power of Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators, but their number was at least ten times greater.

If it weren't for the pitifully few numbers of peak grade body refiners and the Deity Transformation-stage cultivators present in the city, it would be difficult to call it a cultivator city.

But funnily enough, on the other side of the Setting Sun City in the demon lands, there was a city by the same name that was established by demon cultivators.

It was said the demon city was even larger than the human's Setting Sun City.

High-grade demon cultivators gathered there in droves. There were even powerful human cultivators that went over to observe the city from a distance and gave honest descriptions of it.

However, Han Li held little interest towards the demon city.

At that moment, he was walking down one of the streets in the human Setting Sun City and was looking at the tidy tall stores to either side of him with an odd expression on his face.

This was just a common street in the city and the shopkeepers of these stores weren't Qi Condensation cultivators, but low-grade body refiners.

The items being sold in this store ranged from demon beast materials to magic and spirit tools. There was a wide assortment of items, but there were no stores that specialized in selling common mortal items.

Not long after Han Li entered the gates of Setting Sun City, he walked down several streets and found a different scene each time.

This city was enormous. Even with a vast number of cultivators and body refiners, a majority of the people in the city were mortals. In fact, they lined the streets and could be spotted everywhere. However, they were all robust men and were exceptionally busy, running errands for cultivators and body refiners alike.

When Han Li turned a corner, he swept his gaze and suddenly found himself looking at a skinny man letting loose spittle on a group of people.

The man was a Qi Condensation cultivator and he was talking down to a group of common mortals. They looked miserable in the face of the cultivator's torrent of words.

"Do you not know that this fanged beast pounced at my head as soon as it saw me. I, an Immortal master, with a mere sweep of his hand, released my Black Cloud Sword and easily lopped off its two claws. My magic tool can be exchanged for ten mid-grade spirit stones. Although it is only a low-grade magic tool, its might... Huh, who are you?" When a hand pressed on the skinny man's shoulder, he hastily yelped and turned around, discovering a young man looking at him with a beaming smile.

Just as the skinny man thought to rebuke him, he noticed that the golden sparkling ring on Han Li's finger. He then wore a forced smile and asked, "My name is Tiang Xing. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Body refiners that could wear spirit rings weren't ordinary folk. They possessed power at mid-grade or higher. They weren't someone that a trifling Qi Condensation cultivator could provoke.

"My name is Han," Han Li calmly said, "I just saw how happy you were chatting and it seemed that you know much about the city. I hoped you could answer a few of my questions or even be my guide for a few days if that's possible."

The skinny man's face lit up and he said, "So it turned out that Brother Han has just arrived in this city. Well, you found the right person! While I won't say that I know everything about this city, I did live here for a few decades. But might I ask how you plan on employing me?"

Han Li rubbed his chin and bluntly proposed, "I'll give you ten spirit stones for each day."

The skinny man took a close look at Han Li and then smiled, saying, "That is too little. Please give me a bit more. I am a cultivator too. I can get that number of spirit stones by fetching spirit medicines outside."

Han Li snorted. Although he disliked fussing over little matters, he didn't want the skinny man to be greedy and bluntly said, "Ten spirit stones is already much. Let's see you find some spirit medicines outside and not be afraid of being a demon beast's dinner. I'll give you twenty spirit stones and that will be all."

"Alright, I agree! You lot can continue talking. This Immortal master and I will be heading out first." Seeing that Han Li was unhappy, the skinny man quickly agreed and waved his hand to the others behind him.

When the mortals heard this, they immediately dispersed.

"May I ask where you wish to go?" The skinny man cautiously asked while attempting to guess Han Li's strength.

Body refiners and cultivators differed. A body refiner's cultivation depended on the hardiness of their body. It couldn't be determined with spiritual sense.

Han Li turned around and spoke without looking at him. "First bring me to the nearby spirit tool and materials shops. Give me an introduction to the city as well."

The skinny man quickly followed after Han Li and eloquently spoke, "That will be no problem. Setting Sun City has eight main districts. Three of them are occupied by ordinary people. Five of them are the shops and quarters for body refiners and cultivators. However, there are a few differences in these five districts.

In four of them, including this one, everyone can sell and buy as they please. But in the fifth district, everyone must pay a spirit stone to be present there. It is the center of Setting Sun City.

Be it quality spirit tools or top-grade treasures, they are all exchanged in the heart of the city. Most of the large businesses in the Heavenly Origin Region are also gathered there. I heard even spirit treasures are sold there."

"Spirit treasures?" Han Li's heart stirred, but he maintained a calm expression, "I don't care about those. Tell me about other things."

"That is so. Information on spirit treasures won't do much for you. On the other hand, these businesses will have many top-grade spirit tools for sale. Ah yes, there is some information you might be interested in, Brother Han. I heard that one of the auction houses acquired a set of martial tools that the Heavenly Origin Sage used back when, calling them the Heavenly Origin Martial Equipment. They are preparing to bid them off.

The set has five items, each a top-grade article equivalent to a cultivator's magic treasure. It is said that these spirit tools can be used to cultivate a body refiner's body with a different, more powerful strength. This was before the Heavenly Origin Sage cultivated spirit roots and still managed to slay many formidable enemies. When this information spread out, many high-grade body refiners stayed in the city, preparing to join in the auction." The skinny's man's words caused Han Li to stop in his tracks.

"The Heavenly Origin Martial Equipment! It truly has such wondrous abilities?" Han Li finally showed his interest.

"It should prove true. These are words that the auction released." The skinny man pledged, slapping his chest.

After a moment of silence, Han Li asked, "When does the auction start?"

"Although they didn't give any concrete dates, it should be in four months at the latest. The auction doesn't dare to keep so many high-grade body refiners waiting." When the skinny man heard this, his heart trembled. Could it be he came across a stroke of luck? The person before him was a high-grade body refiner. Although he possessed a young face, he might have preserved his appearance with a medicine pill.

As Han Li thought of this, Tian Xing became unconsciously reserved.

In the following moment, Han Li asked a few more questions about the Heavenly Origin Martial Equipment. Furthermore, he also inquired about other areas in the city.

Although feeling somewhat bewildered, the skinny man answered all of Han Li's questions and led Han Li down several streets until they arrived at a store specialized in spirit tools and their materials.

Although he heard that the top-grade items were being sold in the heart of the city, he didn't plan to immediately head there.

Although spirit tools and their materials were considered rare, they were still far more common than materials needed for magic and ancient treasures. It was also possible he wouldn't be able to find suitable spirit tool materials if he looked at a place specializing in selling higher quality goods.

Of course, they would have top-grade spirit tools without a doubt.

When Han Li walked into the store, he felt his spirits roused.

Although he thought about using the dangers of the Setting Sun Tomb to see if he could break through the bottleneck of the final stage, he would need to make preparations or his life would be in danger.

He first planned on refining two top-grade spirit tools that were to his satisfaction, giving him a greater chance of victory in high battles.

But from what he heard about the Heavenly Origin Martial Equipment, he feared it would be difficult to acquire. He had many spirit stones, but he might not have an opportunity to bid on the items.

It would also attract too much attention to himself. After some further thought, he abandoned the idea of bidding for it and planned on refining his own spirit tools.

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Han Li examined the spirit tools materials in various stores, passing through at least eight of them but finding nothing to his liking. He let out an inward sigh.

The materials in these stores weren't bad, some could definitely be considered high quality. But with Han Li's Vajra Arts about to reach its peak, these materials wouldn't prove very useful to him. If he used them to refine a spirit tool, they would only amount to the level of the golden wyrm sword he made for the fat merchant.

It just wouldn't be useful for him.

Looking at Han Li with a probing gaze, the skinny man Tian Xing quickly asked, "What? Were those materials not good enough for Brother Han?"

"I have no use for those materials." Han Li shook his head, making no effort to hide his disappointment.

"If they aren't good enough for you, then I will bring you to another place. There are a few peculiar items there. However, I won't guarantee it will have what you want." Worthy of being a local, Tian Xing immediately thought of another place.

"Oh? Go ahead." When Han Li heard this, his interest was piqued.

The two left the street and fetched a beast carriage.

But just as Han Li set foot on it, he suddenly heard a dragon's roar in the sky, followed by a tiger's cry.

Those two sounds overlapped and spread through the nearby air, causing an uproar amongst mortals and cultivators alike.

Han Li's attention also turned to the source of the sound.

Han Li quickly saw a black dot shooting around in the air, quickly arriving above him.

It was a strange three-headed beast with one tiger and one dragon head. It pulled a faint azure carriage quickly through the air. The sounds of the beast quickly faded into the distance.

"Spirit Lord Huang Liang left his cave residence. How is that possible?" Tian Xing cried out.

"Who is that person?" Han Li asked.

Tian Xing was startled by Han Li's question and couldn't help but examine Han Li with an odd gaze.

Han Li blinked and chuckled, "What? Could it be a flower bloomed on my face?"

"It appears that Brother Han has come from a place far away."

"You mean to say this person is quite famous in Setting Sun City?" Han Li frowned.

Tian Xing excitedly explained, "Although the city master is a mid Deity Transformation-stage cultivator, the strongest cultivator isn't him, but rather, Spirit Lord Huang Liang who lived in a nearby mountain for over ten thousand years. It is said that he is at the stage where he merged five elements, an early Void Refinement-stage cultivator."

"Void Refinement stage!" Han Li's heart trembled.

When he became a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator, Han Li came to understand the huge gap between Deity Transformation-stage and Void Refinement-stage. In the past few decades in the spirit realm, the high grade of cultivation he heard of was the Integration stage. The three human sovereigns were examples that completed that realm of cultivation.

From what he heard from mortals and other cultivators, he never heard any rumors of Great Ascension or ascension tribulation.

It was as if the highest grade existences in the spirit realm never made an appearance.

Of course, it was possible, he was interacting with the lower rungs of society where such information was sparse.

After they boarded the beast carriage, Tian Xing excitedly gave Han Li some information regarding Spirit Lord Huang Liang, but most of it was regarding his grand reputation.

Han Li listened to it with a smile but said nothing in response.

As a result, the carriage rushed through the city for several hours before suddenly stopping at the end of an unfamiliar street.

Han Li leaped off the carriage and looked around him to find a large store.

The store appeared uncommon.

The door was rather tall and was decorated with provocative gold colors. The words Sky World Pavilion was written on its sign.

The sides of the door were two three-meter-tall iron pillars. There were silver chains that chained red lizard-like creatures to the pillars.

The two creatures immediately stood up when they saw Han Li descend from the carriage and they looked at him with a hostile gaze.

"Let's go!" Tian Xing looked at the beasts without much care, and fished out a yellow tile, waving it at the two beasts.

The two lizards then let out a strange roar and lazily crouched back on the ground, allowing the two to pass.

When Han Li arrived inside, he unconsciously frowned.

There was only a simple room that spanned over two hundred meters side. Although a few goods were on display, most of the place was empty.

At the corner of the room, there was a staircase with a chair next to it. A sickly old man with a drooping nose sat on it, half asleep as if he weren't expecting any guests.

"Old Xu, wake up! I brought a customer!" Tian Xing bluntly walked several steps forward and shook the old man's shoulder.

"A customer? Where?" The old man lazily opened his eyes, appearing only half-awake.

Han Li examined the old shopkeeper and calmly said, "I heard this store had a few peculiar items so I thought to take a look."

The shopkeeper's gaze focused on Han Li for a long while before he broke out in a smile, "The customer wants peculiar items? That will be easy. This shop specializes in unordinary items, selling them to those who need them. What are you looking for?"

"Spirit tool materials!" Han Li calmly said.

"Yi! We don't get many of those. However, I do have two such items. Do you want me to fetch them?" The shopkeeper smiled and then walked up the staircase.

When Han Li looked at the shopkeeper's back, Han Li narrowed his eyes and said, "This person seems to be a body refiner and an accomplished one at that!"

Tian Xing explained, "Of course. Old Xu was a famous high-grade body refiner in the past. But a few decades ago, he encountered mishaps in the Setting Sun Tomb. There was a ferocious poison that sapped away all the strength in his body. All he could do was open this shop."

"So it was like that!" Han Li nodded in recognition.

Tian Xing smiled and thought to ask Han Li about what he thought of the old man when suddenly they heard a beast snarl, followed by a shout, "Beasts! You're courting death!"

Two muffled thuds sounded as if something heavy landed.

Han Li and Tian Xing astonishedly turned around to find a man and a woman standing outside. The two beasts standing guard were lying motionlessly on their backs.

Tian Xing yelled out in alarm, but when he heard the beasts whimper, he sighed in relief.

Han Li glanced at the pair that arrived.

Both the man and the woman appeared young. The man was handsome and dignified, while the woman was gorgeous; together they appeared to be a lovely couple. And, they released a spiritual pressure that was quite powerful, signifying that the two were Core Formation-stage cultivators.

With Han Li's sight, he was able to tell at a glance that they were about as young as they looked.

With such dense spiritual Qi in the spirit realm and the addition of large quantities of treasures and high-grade spirit stones, it was far easier to achieve Foundation Establishment and Core Formation than it was in the mortal realm. However, it was still astonishing that such young people could possess that level of cultivation.

When the man saw Han Li and Tian Xing, he swept his spiritual sense past them to find one of them a Qi Condensation cultivator. He harshly yelled, "Are you the shop attendants?" His words and face contained obvious pride.

As for the ring Han Li wore on his finger, it revealed he was a body refiner, but the youth was disinclined to speak with a body refiner that associated with a Qi Condensation cultivator.

Tian Xing sensed the two were Core Formation cultivators and hastily wore an ingratiating smile, "No. This Junior is only a guest that has come on business."

"You're customers? Then where is the shopkeeper!" The youth asked with a snort.

"Old Xu is upstairs fetching something. He will attend to you in a moment." Tian Xing carefully replied.

The youth paid no heed Tian Xing and turned to the young woman at his side. He said with a warm tone, "Junior Martial Sister Lu, we'll have to wait for a moment. Is that fine?"

"It is no problem. I reckon that my grandfather is currently speaking with the master. There is no need to rush and bother them. However, does this place truly possess what we want?" The gorgeous woman looked around, curious about the empty shelves on display.

"This is also my first time coming to this shop. According to my friend, this shop truly has rare and fantastical items. Even if we can't find what you're looking for, we may see something interesting." The young man spoke to her with a fawning tone.

"Since Senior Martial Brother Qian said that, I will definitely take a look." The young woman chuckled.

At that moment, footsteps sounded from above. The old man slowly descended while holding two decorated boxes.

"Oh? More customers have come." The old man was surprised to see the two, but when he looked outside, his face sank, "Yi! It seems you've injured my guard beasts."

"Don't worry! I've only taught them a lesson. There is no risk to their life. Junior Martial Sister Lu is a descendant of Senior Huang Liang. Your guard beasts truly alarmed her, so I had no choice." The youth seemed to know the shopkeeper's origins, but his body remained still and his face still calm.

"So she's a descendant of the Spirit Lord. I will overlook this only once!" The old man's expression faintly changed and his expression remained normal.

Soon after, he was disinterested in continuing to speak with the two and he walked towards Han Li and presented the boxes to him.

Without reaching for the boxes, a glint flashed from Han Li's eyes and he asked, "How about Shopkeeper Xu give me an introduction to these two items. They appear quite odd."

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"One is called the Silver Wick Stone. The other is something that I don't know. You'll just have to take a look at it for yourself. The old man opened one of the boxes to reveal a silver fist-sized rock.

He then closed the box and tossed the box in Han Li's direction.

When the beautiful woman heard that name, she cried out in delight. As for the youth, he immediately shouted, "Wait, we want that stone!" He quickly reached out for it.

An azure mist shot out towards the embroidered box.

When Han Li heard the name of the stone, his expression also stirred, but when the youth made an effort to take ahold of it, his face sank.

With a wave of his hand, a crack sounded and his arm burst forward, extending a meter in length and grabbing ahold of the two boxes.

At that moment, the azure mist continued to pull, dragging Han Li as it attempted to take the box by force.

Han Li coldly snorted and shook his shoulder. Like a spring, his body flew three meters forward and struck the azure mist with his other hand in the form of a golden palm.

In a gust of wind, the golden palm tore through the mist like paper and scattered it.

"A high-grade body refiner!" The youth had formed an incantation gesture to launch that mist. But after seeing Han Li act, his face changed and he became hesitant.

"Senior Martial Brother Qian, please wait," the woman surnamed Lu called out, "Let's have a proper talk about it. There is no need to take action. Shopkeeper, this Silver Wick Stone hasn't been sold yet. No matter the price, I am willing to pay double. What do you think?"

"That won't do. Even if Fairy Lu is a descendent of Senior Huang Liang, you cannot break the rules of my Sky World Pavilion. This isn't an auction house where you can claim things with a higher price. Furthermore, I will be serving those who arrive first. Unless this Fellow Daoist truly doesn't want it, I will not be selling the Silver Wick Stone to someone else." It was unknown whether there were truly rules in place, or if the old man was making things difficult.

Cultivator Lu couldn't help but turn to look at Han Li.

However, Han Li didn't pay her any attention. He was currently opening the other box to reveal a grey rectangular ore. Its surface was as glossy as polished jade, but its dark color also gave a strange sensation.

The youth surnamed Qian looked at Han Li and slowly said, "My master is Honored Monk Qiu Long. If you let Junior Martial Sister Lu take that Silver Wick Stone, I will pay you double the price. Let it go." His words were polite, but his voice was harsh as if he thought little of him.

Han Li looked at the grey stone and stroked it with his finger. Without raising his eyes, he said, "I will not."

"What did you say?" The youth's expression turned exceptionally unsightly. He didn't think for a second that Han Li would refuse.

Han Li glanced at the youth and calmly said, "This item might be precious to your companion, but did you not think I might need it too?"

"I already said that I am willing to double the price." The youth icily glared at Han Li, his words containing a thinly veiled threat.

Cultivator Lu frowned, but she made no attempt to stop him.

Han Li sighed and muttered, "I am not lacking spirit stones. If you are willing to turn away from the matter, I am willing to give you a sum of spirit stones."

Although the two seemed to have much backing and support, Han Li was a solitary figure and was about to head into the Setting Sun Tomb. If he couldn't make a breakthrough and recover his magic power, he reckoned he wouldn't come back. Naturally, how could he care about two Core Formation cultivators? If he restored his magic power and their supporters came after him, he might not be able to win, but he was confident he could escape them.

However, his relentless reply not only turned Tian Xing's face pale, but the old man also couldn't hide his astonishment.

'Could it be Han Li was someone of great origins?' Old Xu thought, 'After all, he didn't shy away from dealing with the direct disciples of Spirit Lord Huang Liang and Monk Qiu Long.'

When the youth heard Han Li's reply, his expression turned hazy.

The woman surnamed Lu had about the same idea as the old man and examined Han Li several times before eventually saying, "May I ask for your esteemed name? Who is your master? Perhaps they might know my grandfather!"

Han Li smiled and nonchalantly said, "I am a traveller with no master or sect. As for my name, I will not speak it."

Cultivator Lu hesitated before taking out a green medicine bottle. She calmly said, "Is that so? If you won't tell me, then so be it. However, I have a bottle of Heaven Heart Pills you might want to trade for the stone. The medicine can temporarily expand your spiritual sense. It can make up for your weak point as a body refiner. It'll be useful when making a breakthrough."

When Youth Qian saw this, he hastily shouted in alarm, "The Heaven Heart Pills? This is a secret medicine exclusive to Senior Huang Liang. It is too much of a waste to trade it for a trifling Silver Wick STone."

As for Old Xu, his face couldn't help but stir upon hearing this.

As for Tian Xing, he was somewhat at a loss as he hadn't heard of the medicine name before.

Han Li's heart stirred as well and he asked, "A temporary increase in spiritual sense? Is that effective to cultivators as well?"

Despite her surprise, Cultivator Lu explained, "As a cultivator possesses powerful spiritual sense to begin with, its effects are minimal on a cultivator."

Han Li shook his head. "In that case, please put the bottle away. I won't be making the trade."

This time Cultivator Lu's expression turned unsightly.

Old Xu wore an amazed expression.

The well-known Heaven Heart Pill was no only a superb medicine for breaking through bottlenecks, but it was refused for a trifling spirit tool material. Were it not for the fact the poison in the old man's body rendered the pill useless to him, he might've broken his own rules and traded with the woman at that moment.

The woman casually put away the bottle. It was clear to see that Spirit Lord Huang Liang doted on her greatly.

In the old man's astonishment, Han Li began to ask the price for the two items.

Feeling somewhat apprehensive over what just happened, the old man had no intention of being too greedy, but he still uttered a price that would be astronomical to a common cultivator.

When Han Li heard this, he nodded and took out a storage bracelet. He swiped his spirit ring over the bracelet and produced a pile of high-grade spirit stones, a sum more than enough for the two items.

These high-grade spirit stones were exchanged for large quantities of low and mid-grade spirit stones he brought along from the mortal realm.

In the spirit realm, low and mid-grade spirit stones held little use towards Han Li's cultivation, so he exchanged them for high-grade spirit stones.

Without saying a word, the shopkeeper received the spirit stones in his bracelet and concluded the trade.

With the two boxes in hand, Han Li made his way to the exit. In his alarm, Tian Xing quickly followed after him.

The youth's face wavered for a while, unable to determine Han Li's true identity, he made no effort to block him. However, he had already resolved himself to immediately send men to investigate his identity and see if he was anybody of status.

Cultivator Lu looked at Han Li's back and bit her lip, feeling somewhat gloomy.

As Han Li walked out of the store, he was in a rather good mood, satisfied he could acquire these two items.

Of the two items, the grey stone was considerably more valuable to him.

It was a variant spirit tool material that was incredibly rare.

If Han Li wasn't well learned in spirit tool techniques or if he hadn't read through most of Yu Yang City's record archives, he feared he might've not recognized the item.

But to normal spirit tool masters, this material couldn't be considered particularly good. Rather it was inferior to other quality materials. However, it was a wondrous material for the refinement of particular magic tools and treasures.

To a strange character such as Han Li, it was a material with countless optimal uses.

In the following days, Han Li followed Tian Xing through many of the other material shops in the city and collected various other materials before dismissing him. He then sought out an unremarkable spirit tool refinement and rented a forging room before secluding himself in it.

A month later, Han Li calmly departed from Setting Sun City and walked for nearly a month before arriving at a huge canyon.

It was the entrance to the Setting Sun Tomb.

The entire valley was several kilometers wide, but the stone and earth within and surrounding the valley was a striking crimson.

There were a few cultivators standing nearby the entrance of the huge valley as well as small groups of body refiners. A few of them were whispering to one another while others quietly meditated. Most of these people were mid-grade cultivators and body refiners. They would only dare to enter the valley after forming a temporary group.

Of course, there would be a few already formed groups that entered the valley as soon as they arrived.

There were also a few high-grade cultivators and body refiners that boldly entered the valley alone.

But regardless of whether one was a body refiner or a cultivator, none dared to venture too high in the air and kept their travel at low altitudes.

If one wasn't stupid, they would know that flying too high into the air would mark yourself as a target, either to demon cultivators or humans harboring malicious thoughts. In addition, there were countless ancient bird-type beasts that lived in the Setting Sun Tomb, turning the sky into a forbidden area.

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Han Li stopped at the outskirts of the valley entrance, sensing a dozen threads of spiritual sense repeatedly brush past him.

Han Li calmly waited for a short while and refused invitations from those that recognized him as a high-grade body refiner.

This valley was only one of several entrances from the human side of the Setting Sun Tomb.

Other entrances were sealed by several strange formations by human cultivators. This was the sole entrance nearby and was naturally guarded by a few cultivators from Setting Sun City to make sure nothing happened.

Of the cultivators secretly guarding the entrance, the weakest of them possessed Core Formation cultivation while the strongest of them was at Deity Transformation stage.

As Han Li began to slowly make his way into the valley, he began to recall the information he gathered about the Setting Sun Tomb over the past few days.

At that moment, he was wearing unremarkable grey battle armor underneath his robes. He also carried a covered long spear on his back.

The spear pole was pitch-black, but it was embedded with several azure crystals that sparkled with light.

The head of the spear was a faint silver, but it was unclear what material it was refined from. As for the earth wyrm tendon, it was wrapped around his arm and remained hidden underneath his robes.

Of course, the trump card Han Li relied on the most were the two Immortal Vanquishing Beads he possessed in his storage bracelet. With those two peak treasures in hand, he could protect himself against even Deity Transformation-stage threats.

The valley was incredibly wide. When Han Li walked for over fifty kilometers, the last of the road disappeared.

Han Li stood in place and looked around him with a sigh.

It was incredibly inconvenient for him to be unable to release his spiritual sense. He couldn't determine his direction and could only venture off in a random direction.

In the first few days, he encountered nothing apart from a few small beasts and serpents.

In an area this large, it wasn't particularly odd that he didn't encounter any demon beasts or people.

But five days later, Han Li found himself in front of a dense jungle with no end in sight.

The threes were over a hundred meters tall with dense leaves and branches. It was incredibly dark with beast roars that would occasionally sound in the distance.

Han Li narrowed his eyes for a moment before treading forward. Then after he blurred several times, he appeared behind a large tree.

With the power of Han Li's current body, the Shifting Smoke Steps he cultivated during his time was a mortal allowed him to move as if he was a bodiless ghost, even in a place with such dense vegetation.

If any others were to see this, they absolutely wouldn't dare to provoke Han Li in this place.

As Han Li traveled forward, a silver line shot out with a flash and flicked around a nearby giant tree before returning.

A miserable scream then sounded and the stench of blood filled the air. A six-meter-tall yellow horned bear then emerged from behind the tree and changed at Han Li with a roar.

Han Li's body blurred several times and arrived ten meters away. He continued forward as if he hadn't noticed the bear.

Then with a crack, the huge bear suddenly burst with blood. It had been split into two in the middle of its charge.

The huge tree the bear was hiding behind soon let out a muffled groan before falling to the ground.

Han Li's attack split both the huge tree and the bear. Even now, the silver whip refined from the earth wyrm tendon was still as sharp as ever.

As of current, Han Li had already treaded deeper into the jungle.

Thus began Han Li's path of carnage into the Setting Sun Tomb.

Three months later, sharp cries and beastly roars sounded from deep within a mountain range. Following the echo of one giant roar, the entire area became silent.

At the source of the sounds stood Han Li with his arms behind his back. He stood on top of a tree that was over thirty meters tall and wore an exceptionally calm expression.

His surroundings were littered by the shredded bodies of azure apes. There were at least twenty corpses.

The apes all appeared burly and had exceptionally dense fur. They also had fangs that were several inches long, giving them a savage appearance.

However, these ape corpses were either dismembered or had bloody holes pierced in their throats and stomachs.

But what was most astonishing was giant red three-headed demon ape at the top of the tree. A black spear pierced through its abdomen and nailed it to the tree.

Blood flowed from every one of its orifices and its body was riddled with scars. It had only recently died.

Han Li examined the huge ape corpse for a long white and muttered, "I haven't been here before. The rumors of the Setting Sun Tomb are true. To think I would encounter a Core Formation-level demon beast." He then held his hand out to the spear.

With azure light glinting from his ring, the black spear trembled and flew into his hand.

The huge ape then dropped down from the tree.

With the spear in hand, Han Li blurred as he headed deeper into the forest.

A moment later, silence returned to the area.

A long while later, azure light flashed from a nearby tree to reveal a ball of green light. Past the light was the form of an inch-large person.

This small person wore a long green robe, a curved body, and a picturesque face. This miniature person was clearly a beautiful woman.

She looked in the direction that Han Li left and frowned.

A yellow light slowly rose from one of the bushes to reveal an old man the same size as the green light. As he held a white crutch in his hand, he turned to the woman and grumbled, "Tian Ying, why did you attack. He was only a high-grade human body refiner. He should be easy for the two of us to take on."

The green-robed woman glanced at the old man and indifferent answered, "Huang Shi, we didn't come here to kill humans and demons. We came here to hunt the rebel and take back their divine blood. We'd best not occupy ourselves with other matters.

The old man shook his head and said, "That person has the power of a Nascent Soul-stage cultivator at most. If we attacked him together, it shouldn't take much trouble to deal with him. Our spirit clans are great enemies with humans and demons. We should take all measures to weaken human forces when we can."

After a moment of silence, the woman explained, "If I was certain we could kill that person, I wouldn't have hesitated. But there was something odd about him, so I thought it'd be best to avoid provoking anything hidden."

"Something odd? Tian Ying, what did you discover?" Huang Shi hastily asked.

The woman's gaze flickered and she asked, "Do you think that person is truly a body refiner?"

Slight confusion appeared on his face. "What do you mean? That person used spirit tools to kill a Core Formation-level demon beast, but I still wasn't able to sense any spiritual power from him. What is he if not a body refiner?"

The woman slowly said, "As you should know, I am a tree spirit. I am able to see through things that others cannot. This person's spiritual sense was immensely powerful, about the same level as ours. According to my knowledge, body refiners can't possess spiritual sense of that level. It is possible he is a Deity Transformation cultivator."

Huang Shi wore an expression of astonishment, "An immensely strong spiritual sense? You mean to say that person isn't a body refiner, but a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator?"

The woman solemnly said, "I didn't say that. I can't sense the existence of spiritual power in his body, but that doesn't rule out the possibility. After all, human techniques are no less inferior than spirits like us. It isn't rare for there to truly be such a secret technique. Our objective this journey is to hunt down the rebel and retrieve their divine blood. We don't want to do anything dangerous and mistakenly arouse trouble."

"That is reasonable. If he truly was a Deity Transformation cultivator, we definitely wouldn't be able to kill him. And even if we were to run away, it would still be considered a loss. In that case, humans are actually quite sly. High-grade demons that come across that human will encounter great misfortune. Who would think that a Deity Transformation cultivator was disguising himself as a body refiner. Even similar-grade existences would suffer from being caught off guard." The yellow-robed old man spoke with a trace of schadenfreude.

After a moment of thought, the woman thought of something and asked, "Ah yes, Tie Li and Chi Mie should've already entered this place. If something happened to them, our elemental spirit clans should've sent more people. Do you think they sent a spirit from the water clan?"

"That is unclear. The water spirit clan is the most mysterious of the five elements, and divine blood is the most important to them. It wouldn't be odd for them to send someone." Huang shi chuckled.

"That is so. However, I heard that the artifact spirit clan is sending men to meddle with this matter." The woman said with a hesitant expression.

Anger suddenly welled on Huang Shi's face. "The artifact spirit clan?" They have the face to send men? The rebel were originally from their clan."

"If those words are true, then the tool spirit clan believes that have a greater responsibility to kill the rebel." The woman gently replied.

Huang Shi coldly snorted and angrily said, "That is nice to hear, but they're really just after the divine blood."

"Enough. Regardless of what is said, the artifact spirit clan understands humans and demons the most. They will be useful in killing the rebel. I reckon that dared to come here because of some relation they have with the humans. I reckon that the human clan have sent men to receive them. We must retrieve the divine blood before they meet." The woman solemnly said.

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"That's true. We've already heavily injured the rebels and have their tracks. So long as we guard the entrance to the human realm, they won't be able to escape. When reinforcements come, it will be impossible for them to escape." Huang Shi said.

The green-robed woman nodded in agreement.

The two spirits continued their discussion for a moment more and their lights flickered before they disappeared from the tree.

At that same moment in a hidden room in Setting Sun City, there were several people of unordinary bearing sitting around a table.

A skinny monk wearing a necklace of black prayer beads turned to the white-robed middle-aged man and asked, "City Lord Lan. You say that these spirit clan men are trapped in the Setting Sun Tomb and that we must recuse them?"

The white-robed man sullenly said, "That's right. I just received this information. As they fled, they were heavily injured by pursuers from the spirit clan. With more spirit clan pursuers close on their tail and their grave injuries, they won't be able to make it to the city. We will need to receive them."

A dark-skinned man built like iron suddenly asked, "Brother Lan, what are these spirit clan men carrying? Now that matters are so close, tell us the truth. Not only did you call for us, but you also invited Senior Huang Liang out from seclusion. You would only do this for something of grave importance."

The last of them, a pale man wearing wide yellow robes heard his name mentioned and said, "Fellow Daoist Jin is right. I rushed over here at the city lord's request while my recent efforts still remain unstable. I am also quite interested in what the spirit clan men are carrying. Can City Lord Lan shed some light on this?"

The pale man was the renowned Spirit Lord Huang Liang, and the white-robed man was the Setting Sun City Lord!

The city lord wryly laughed and said, "Senior Lu, Fellow Daoist Jin, if I knew what they were carrying, I wouldn't have kept silent. However, I have received orders from the Sage Sovereign's palace to receive them."

"Orders from the Sage Sovereign?" The monk and the large man revealed alarm, and a glint lit up from the city lord's eyes.

The monk said with a doubtful tone, "Then this matter must be personally related to the sovereign."

City Lord Lan respectfully said, "I don't know, but even if the sovereign didn't personally issue the command, it still came from the palace, so there may as well be no difference. Furthermore, when the palace issued the order, they sent a special envoy to our city. Considering the vast distance from Heavenly Origin City and the many lands with unstable spatial tears in between, it should take them quite some time to arrive. We will need to protect the spirit clan men and ensure they aren't harmed, so the envoy can see them."

Huang Liang smiled and said, "Since they are orders from the sovereign's palace, there is nothing to discuss. However, I am quite interested in what those spirit clan fellows are carrying."

The monk and the large man exchanged a glance but kept silent.

"Since Senior Lu and you Fellow Daoists have no objections, let's head into the Setting Sun Tomb within two days and find those spirit clan members. They have concealed themselves..."

"Who is there!" When City Lord Lan was about to speak of the spirit clan rebels' location, Huang Liang yelled and swept at a wall.

Boom. A yellow crystalline hand appeared outside and flew out.

In a flash of grey light, something was caught from the outside. Soon after, the object in the crystalline hand exploded into countless grey strands, scattering off in every direction.

"Not good! Myriad Ghost Threads!" Huang Liang shouted out. He waved his sleeve and released a yellow mist concealing his body.

When the others heard this, they were also vastly alarmed.

The monk quickly grabbed the prayer beads on his neck and turned them into black clouds that covered his body. As for the large dark-skinned man, he snorted, taking out a black iron shield to block his front.

The city lord spat out a crystalline ice lotus. In a flare of blue light, he disappeared from sight.

Just as the men were preparing to deal with this surprise attack, the overflowing threads suddenly flashed and disappeared.

The men were stunned in the following moment.

"An illusion!"

Spirit Lord Huang Liang was the first to react and he waved his arm.

The yellow crystalline hand flew back to him.

Under closer inspection, the hand held a trace of silver dust that faintly sparkled.

Huang Liang extended his finger and rubbed it on before bringing it to his eye.

A short moment later, the silver dust turned red, then yellow, and eventually disappeared.

Huang Liang wore an icy expression and said, "It was a mature Illusion Flame Moth doppelganger that detonated. The spirit insect was able to turn its body formless for a short time and sneak into this place, and a trace of its spiritual sense should've been able to escape during the distraction. I am certain its true body must be near Setting Sun City. I suppose it heard much of our conversation. Ah yes, the moth dust possessed the Qi of other demons. The insect should've been nurtured by the demon clan."

When City Lord Lan heard this, his expression turned unsightly.

Without hesitation, the city lord announced. "We will head out tomorrow. We cannot allow the demons to seize them first."

Two hours later, on a small nameless mountain fifty kilometers away from Setting Sun City, a delicate youth sat cross-legged on a boulder, meditating with his eyes shut. On his head sat a fist-sized colorful moth. It was fluttering its wings and releasing gorgeous specks of light.

There was a slender palace-robed woman that stood behind the youth. She had sharp eyes, thick eyebrows and carried a baleful aura. She was the black phoenix demon cultivator that Han Li encountered outside Yu Yuan City.

This proud woman was now obediently standing behind the youth and was respectfully waiting in silence.

When the sound of tearing air whistled, a thin grey strand returned to them and disappeared into the moth on the youth's head.

The youth then opened his eyes to reveal a clear intelligence.

He waved his arm above him and extended a fair white finger.

The moth gracefully flew off and landed on the youth's finger.

Soon after, light began to pulse from the moth's body as it intermittently changed color.

After the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the moth's light abruptly stopped and it returned to normal.

With an odd expression on his face, the youth muttered, "Old Huang Liang's emergence to the city was related to a matter involving the spirit clan. In addition, a person has been sent by the Sage Sovereign. It appears those spirit clan rebels are carrying something important. It seems that I haven't spent my Illusion Flame Moth's doppelganger in vain."

After a moment more of silence, he had the moth fly back onto his head before being climbed off the boulder.

"Niece Xiao, I heard the young girl you brought back to the Black Phoenix Clan possesses a variant of the True Phoenix Clan's blood, an astonishing talent. I heard she's already broken through to be a grade five demon. Is this true?" The youth asked the woman behind him.

"It is true, Senior Huan. That young girl Dai'er possesses some talent!" The young woman respectfully replied.

"Hehe, as it so happens, our Jasper Mouse Clan also acquired a talented youngster. Wouldn't it be fine for the two of them to marry?"

The woman was momentarily stunned before replying with a smile, "This... I would agree to Senior's deeply favorable suggestion, but Dai'er is the granddaughter of a clan elder. She is not someone I can make a decision for."

"Of course, I am simply asking you to relay the message to Brother Gongsun. The youth I mentioned possesses an equivalent status, so I had made the suggestion." The youth said.

The woman let out an inward sigh of relief and immediately said, "Yes, I will be sure to send the message."

"Good. So long as Brother Gongsun agrees, I'll send over people to your clan when the time comes to officialize the marriage. You should've heard me mention that a spirit is seeking shelter from the humans. It seems they carry a precious treasure that even stirs the Sage Sovereign.

While I don't know the details, I cannot allow those humans to acquire this item. With your phoenix clan's spatial abilities, you should be able to conceal yourself in the Setting Sun Tomb. Gather our fellow demons and inform them that they must find this spirit before the humans get their hands on them. I will secretly follow old Huang Liang."

"Yes, I follow your orders!" The woman said with a respectful tone.

Soon after, she waved her hand in front of her and a white arc flashed in front of her.

The woman blurred, then disappearing from sight.

The youth stood in his original place and muttered to himself for a long while. Then, yellow light lit up from his body and he slowly sank to the ground, the mouth still on him.

Soon, those of the demon and human clans received orders from the higher echelons to find the spirit hidden inside the Setting Sun Tomb no matter what the cost.

Both sides were dumbstruck by the reward that was offered. They included spirit pills that massively raised one's cultivation as well as an astronomical number of spirit stones. They even included a bottle of Huang Liang's precious Heaven Heart Pills.

As the Setting Sun Tomb became restless from the heavy reward, everyone began to frantically search for the spirit.

Originally, when the humans and demons encountered one another and felt their strength was too similar, they would peacefully go on their own way out of fear.

Now with heavy rewards being offered, battles began to erupt between both sides.

But there was one person that was completely ignorant of this, Han Li.

At that moment, he found himself in his first dangerous battle since entering the Setting Sun Tomb.

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When Han Li looked at the small beast over a hundred meters away, he let out a deep sigh. He panted for a short moment before his breath returned to normal.

However, his eyes didn't leave the beast for a moment.

The leopard was the same size as a common cat, but it possessed a shocking speed.

Even Han Li's Shifting Smoke Steps still paled in speed.

As a result, a few swipes managed to land on his azure robes during the battle, revealing the grey armor and golden flesh underneath.

Not only was the beast's speed astonishing, but its claws were incredibly sharp as well.

There were varying degrees of scars on his armor. Even his cultivated hardy body had blood drawn from the feline's claws.

Fortunately, under the effects of various medicines, fruits, and treasures, his flesh had become as hardy as an ordinary magic treasure and possessed shocking regenerative abilities. In a short moment, Han Li was able to heal his wounds.

Even so, Han Li still felt quite gloomy.

When he first encountered the leopard, it appeared soundly sleep on top of a nearby tree and appeared harmless.

At that time, Han Li's mind welled with a child-like curiosity and thought to pet the small beast.

But he hadn't expected at all that he would startle the beast and send it flying into a ferocious rage.

In a few leaps, it would surround him with a dozen after images attacking him.

As he was unable to release his spiritual sense, he was unable to grasp its location even with his spirit eyes and suffered much from it.

Eventually, the small beast was forced to retreat with minute scars covering its body.

Helpless, Han Li could only use the Smoke Sifting Steps to its maximum level and circulate the enormous power of his body into his arms, flicking his spear until it became a cloud of black light.

As the spear shadow whistled, it inspired fear in the beast, stalling off its attacks.

But no matter how powerful Han Li may be, he couldn't sustain his attack for long.

As the spear in his hand somewhat slowed, the leopard swept through spear mist and swiped at Han Li's throat.

In Han Li's furious alarm, he desperately exerted a speed greater than before and quickly turned the spear to block the leopard's claw.

The small beast was greatly alarmed and jumped ten meters away. Then it cautiously stared at Han Li with a pair of green eyes.

Han Li and the leopard found themselves in a deadlock.

The beast was extremely gloomy to find a strange character such as Han Li who possessed immense strength and impenetrable flesh.

With the formation of the stalemate, Han Li used this opportunity to thoroughly examine the leopard with narrowed eyes.

Soon, Han Li let out a sigh.

Apart from its small size, it appeared to be an ordinary leopard. After searching through his memories of the records he read in Setting Sun City, he wasn't able to think of what this ferocious ancient beast could be.

It was also impossible for it to be a demon beast.

This small beast was fighting solely with the strength and abilities of its body. It didn't possess any demonic power.

This should be a beast variant.

After a long while, that was the only conclusion Han Li could think of.

Eventually, the small beast lost its patience and an ominous light flashed in its eye. It crouched in preparation for another attack.

Han Li's mind trembled and he tightened his grasp on the spear, assuming a defensive stance.

But white light lit up from his other hand as it grasped a spirit beast pouch.

The pouch contained his myriad of Gold Devouring Beetles.

Han Li made the decision that if the beast pounced on top of him, he would open the bag with his spirit ring.

Although he had no magic power and couldn't control the beetles, he could still rely on its ability to dispose of the small beast. The only trouble would be for him to take them back. Without his spiritual sense, he would have to waste them.

However, Han Li was left with no choice.

The small beast let out a snarl and its body blurred, turning to two, then four...

In the blink of an eye, over thirty identical small beasts appeared on top of the trees with their fangs bared and ready to pounce.

In Han Li's alarm, he realized that the beast hadn't made use of its full strength. He immediately brought the back in front of him and was about to toss it.

But then in that crucial moment, a strange bird's cry sounded from a distance. It sounded like a crow, but it was far harsher.

When the leopard heard this, its face froze and its afterimages disappeared. In the blink of an eye, only one of them remained.

The feline took a deep glance at Han Li before turning its head and shooting deep into the forest.

A short moment later, it disappeared from sight.

Han Li relaxed and retrieved his spirit beast pouch.

Although he didn't know what was going on, he had no interest in pursuing the cat. He needed to find someplace where he could comprehend what just happened.

In the last battle, there were exceptional developments and he came to a faint realization of something. This was a possibility for him to make a breakthrough.

With a flip of his hand, he took out an azure robe from his storage bracelet and replaced the torn clothes on his body. Then, he head off in a direction away from the leopard.

Because Han Li feared that this feeling of revelation would soon disappear, Han Li didn't walk far away. Rather, he quickly ran fifty kilometers away to a small valley and struck open a rough cave in a stone wall.

He immediately entered it and sat down cross-legged.

Comprehending his recent flash of enlightenment took him three entire days.

When Han Li opened his eyes once more, he wore a disappointed face.

Although he made some gains from that battle, it wasn't enough for him to break past his current bottleneck.

But he wasn't too saddened.

Although he didn't succeed this time, this illustrated life and death battles would be of great assistance in making a breakthrough. If he experienced several more desperate battles, he was bound to succeed.

After calming his heart, he arranged his belongings and left the cave.

Standing outside the cave, he paused in thought for a long while. He felt that the small beast was the ideal opponent for him. If he could fight it several more times, he may succeed in obtaining an epiphany.

Although he knew it would be dangerous, the restoration of his magic power was far more important.

His expression wavered for a long while before resolving himself to seek out that dangerous leopard.

When he left the valley, Han Li headed in the direction where the leopard is last seen, but he ended up greatly disappointed.

In a single breath, he swept through hundreds of kilometers in the surrounding mountain range, but he found no trace of the beast.

Helpless, Han Li could only depart from the mountains and find another suitable objective.

Over ten days later at the edge of a huge lake, there were a dozen variously dressed body refiners. They were surrounded by crimson snakes with a crest on their heads. The body refiners were using their spirit tools to their utmost extent while attacking the serpents.

The serpent's attacks were separated into two types. There were those shooting a crimson venom mist, while the others were pouncing at the body refiners like darts.

The venom was tolerable enough as they had swallowed an antivenom beforehand, but they weren't able to block the serpents' direct attacks.

The serpents weren't very large, but their bodies possessed considerable power. Despite the powerful spirit tools the body refiners wielded, they weren't able to injure the serpents when they struck them.

As a result, the body refiners defended against the serpents many times before they felt their limbs grow heavy and slow.

In addition to these few serpents, there was also a giant serpent behind them.

The serpent appeared to be the group's king. When it saw that its party had the advantage, it let out several hisses as if it were expressing satisfaction.

But suddenly, booms of lightning sounded from below the lake. Before the humans or the serpents could react, a large silver light flashed from below and countless arrows of light burst forth, felting the humans and serpents on the shore without discrimination.

"AH!" The body refiners could only cream, but they weren't able to dodge, and the serpents were no better. The lot of them were turned into pincushions by the ice spikes.

Only the huge serpent at the back was quick enough to react. It suddenly bent its body and pounced thirty meters away, narrowly dodging the ice arrows.

But before the serpent landed, the earth beneath it burst. A silver hand shot out from the soil and grabbed the serpent by the neck.

In the serpent's alarm, it turned like a spring and wound its head around to bite down on the hand.

But a clear ring sounded after the strike. The hand was unharmed and the serpent was in pain, blood trailing from its mouth.

The huge serpent's teeth were completely shattered by the silver hand's exceptional hardiness.

In pain, the serpent could only relax its mouth let go.

Another silver hand then strangely appeared nearby. It grabbed ahold of the serpents head and both hands exerted their stretch, pulling them apart. Left headless, the serpent's body spouted in a fountain of blood.

The serpent corpse was then tossed to the ground.

At that moment, the dust eventually cleared and a silver man appeared, hidden by flickering sliver lights around his body.

At that moment, the ice from the lake moved, suddenly merging into a crystalline person a foot tall. It didn't have any features of a man or a woman.

"Water Wraith! It's you!" When the silver silhouette saw the ice woman, he suddenly spoke with a thunderous voice.

The ice person stirred and expressionlessly said, "What? Tie Ren, didn't you come here to find me? Chi Mie should've come too. Call him out."

"Hehe, there is no need to call for me. I'll show myself.."

An unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded and a ball of scarlet flame appeared near the silver silhouette. In the blink of an eye, he took the form of a man half a foot tall.

Flames still roiled from his entire body.

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"If I recall correctly, I don't share any ties with you two. The reason you two are seeking me out now must have something to do with that traitor, right?" the water man asked without making any effort to dabble in pleasantries.

"That's right. The two of us have already discovered where that traitor is hiding," the silver humanoid figure replied. Silver light flashed over his body, and he shrank drastically, reducing himself down to the same size as the fire man in the blink of an eye.

Ripples ran through the body of the water man as he stirred upon hearing this. "If you've already discovered his location, then why haven't you captured him? Could it be that you've encountered some issues?"

"When we got there, it was already too late. That traitor really is extremely alert; as soon as he sensed that something was amiss, he entered the Chaotic Vally before we could get to him and dove into the Scorching Light Pond within the valley. I'm sure there's no need for me to elaborate on how fearsome that pond is. You're the only one among use who possesses water-attribute abilities, Brother Water Wraith, so only you can enter the pond and capture the traitor," the fire man said in a solemn voice.

"The Scorching Light Pond? Why did you let him escape into that pond? Even I can't ensure that I won't be harmed after entering that pond." The water man's voice suddenly raised a few octaves, indicating that he was quite enraged by how things had played out.

"We didn't think that he would dive in there, either. We had a chance to cut him off before he could enter the pond, but a few beings from the demon race stepped in to obstruct us, and there was even a Black Phoenix Race cultivator among them," the silver humanoid figure replied in a rather gloomy voice.

"How did the demon race learn about the traitor?" The water man was growing even more displeased.

"We're not sure about that, but the information was most likely leaked by the humans. In any case, we don't have the time to be bickering here. News of the battle that took place between us and those demons is definitely going to spread really quickly, and even human cultivators will most likely come here soon. At the moment, Tian Ying and Huang Shi are the only two stationed at the Chaotic Valley. If a few more Deity Transformation cultivators from the human and demon races arrive on the scene, they won't be able to hold on for much longer," the fire man urged.

"There's nothing to worry about; the Scorching Light Pond is an extremely perilous place, even for me, and I possess the water spirit body. Those demons and humans wouldn't dare to enter the pond." The water man suddenly adopted a calm and collected demeanor again.

"But this place is the territory of the human and demon races, after all. If they take control over the Chaotic Valley, there would be no chance for us to recover the divine blood." The fire man shook his head vehemently in response.

"Looks like you two are still unaware of this; the reinforcements from the Artifact Spirit Tribe will get here in a few days, and the leader of their group is none other than one of the eight profound spirits of the Artifact Spirit Tribe, Xu Tian," the water man explained in a calm voice.

"Profound Spirit Xu Tian?!" Both the silver humanoid figure and the fire man exclaimed in unison.

"That's right. You two know what I'm getting at now, right? As soon as the reinforcements from the Artifact Spirit Tribe arrive, there will be no way that the traitor can escape. All we have to do is wait patiently for a few days," the water man continued.

"But in that case, won't the drop of divine blood fall into the hands of the Artifact Spirit Tribe?" the silver humanoid figure asked in an indignant voice.

"It's better for the Artifact Spirit Tribe to get their hands on the divine blood rather than have it taken by the human and demon races. Otherwise, if they can decipher the secret of the divine blood, our Spirit Tribe would incur heavy losses. It's a pity that these spirit warriors are the extent of what our Spirit Tribe can currently deploy. All of the beings above the Profound Spirit level are busy combating those bastards from the other side, so there's no way that they'll be able to reinforce us," Water Wraith heaved a forlorn sigh.

At the mentions of "those bastards", the spiritual light on the bodies of the fire man and the silver humanoid figure flickered erratically, clearly indicating their turbulent emotions.

"If I recall correctly, you only just came back from that side not long ago. How are things going over there?" the fire man asked.

Water Wraith hesitated momentarily before replying with a resigned sigh, "Very badly! Even though all of the Holy Spirit level seniors have been deployed, the Yaksha Tribe has also deployed several Yaksha Monarchs, and we're only able to barely hold on in the face of their attacks. These Yaksha Tribe beings have a natural liking for consuming heavenly spirits, and they have answers for many of our abilities. They are the true nemeses of our Spirit Tribe. As for the human and demon races, it naturally won't be an issue if we kill some low-grade beings among them, but it's best not to stir up too much trouble. Otherwise, we'll be plunged into a dire situation if we get attacked from both sides. Our Spirit Tribe has always been the weakest race among all of the races in the Spirit Realm, so we have to exercise caution."

Both the fire man and the silver humanoid figure also fell silent with heavy hearts upon hearing this.

Meanwhile, atop a certain barren hill, the young woman from the Black Phoenix Race was looking on at the entrance to a murky grey valley up ahead. She was surrounded by several metamorphosis stage demonic cultivators, and she wore a dark expression on her face.

"Are we still unable to get into contact with Senior Huan?" the young woman suddenly asked.

"We've already sent out many messengers who're very proficient in movement techniques, so we'll definitely be able to find Senior Huan," a green-faced brawny man replied in a coarse voice.

"That would be best. All of you, make sure to keep a close eye on the entrance to this valley so no one from the Spirit Tribe can get away. Once Senior Huan gets here, he'll definitely be able to make short work of those two Spirit Tribe cultivators. When that time comes, you'll all receive a handsome reward for your efforts."

The demonic cultivators were ecstatic to hear this and gleefully accepted this task.

The Black Phoenix Race was one of the seven master sub-races of the demon race, so a reward from them was sure to be quite a lavish one. As such, the promise that she had made boosted their morale significantly.

On a lush set of plains, a dozen or so cultivators were quickly flying through the air at altitudes of around 100 feet.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang and the lord of Setting Sun City were both among the group, while the rest of the group also consisted entirely of Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators. This was quite a formidable lineup.

The brawny man with the Jin surname turned to City Lord Lan, and asked, "Brother Lan, are you sure those Spirit Tribe cultivators are in the Chaotic Valley?"

"I'm 100% certain of this. More than a handful of people have relayed this message to me, and many people were witnesses to the battle between the high-grade cultivators of the demon race and the Spirit Tribe. It's just that the battle was of far too high a caliber for them to intervene in, so they could only spectate from afar. The Chaotic Valley isn't far away from us; we should be able to get there in a few day," City Lord Lan replied with an excited look on his face.

"I've heard that the Chaotic Valley is a rather strange place and many people have mysteriously disappeared in there. Didn't they say that even sightings of primordial giants had been made in there?" the brawny man asked with furrowed brows.

"I've also heard those rumors before, and I've even ventured into the valley myself to verify those claims. I can tell you now that there isn't even half a giant in there! They're all just tall tales spread by conspiracy theorists. As for the cultivators and body refinement warriors who have disappeared in the valley, most of them are low-grade and mid-grade beings. There are some places in the Chaotic Valley that are indeed quite treacherous, so it's no surprise that some weaker cultivators would go missing in there. However, it's best to be wary of the Scorching Light Pond in the valley. I've never ventured deep into it, but I can tell that it's a very formidable place," City Lord Lan said with a solemn expression.

"Hehe, even if there actually are giants in there, we have nothing to fear with Senior Huang Liang by our side." Tou Tuo turned to Spirit Lord Huang Liang with a fawning smile.

"Hehe, I wouldn't be too confident about that. I heard that the primordial giant race is filled with immensely powerful beings; I'm only a mere Spatial Tempering cultivator, and I certainly wouldn't proclaim myself to be invincible. However, it's indeed true that it's rather unlikely for giants to be present in the Chaotic Valley. All primordial giants possess very low-level intelligence and are extremely violent and territorial. If there really were giants in there, they would've eradicated all of the humans and demons in the Setting Sun Tomb long ago. Even ancient beasts wouldn't dare to venture into that valley if giants were present," Spirit Lord Huang Liang analyzed with a faint smile.

Everyone else nodded emphatically in agreement.

After that, not much else was discussed as everyone flew directly toward the Chaotic Valley.

A short while later, they had disappeared into the distance as black spots on the horizon.

However, around 15 minutes later, white light flashed on the plains that they had just passed through, and a humanoid figure slowly emerged.

It was none other than that young man from the demon race.

He cast his gaze toward the distance in the direction where Spirit Lord Huang Liang had disappeared, and a cold smile appeared on his face.

The Illusionary Flame Moth was sitting obediently on his shoulder, gently flapping its little wings.

The young man looked on into the distance with narrowed eyes for a long while before sinking back into the ground again.

Han Li let loose an almighty roar and thrust his spear forward violently, puncturing the body of a winged flying wolf.

Right at this moment, several tens of wind blades converged, enshrouding his body under a lethal net. There were still seven or eight flying wolf demon beasts identical to the one that Han Li had just slain.

Han Li completely disregarded the wind blades as spiritual light flashed from the crystal on the tip of his spear before he flung the spear through the air like a javelin.

With Han Li's current level of immense strength, he was able to hurl the spirit tool in his hand with devastating force. The spear flew through the air like lightning and punctured the body of another flying wolf in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, Han Li pointed a finger at the spear from down below, and it swiveled around before flying toward another winged wolf.

A panicked expression appeared on the winged wolf's face as it opened its mouth to blast forth a string of wind blades. However, the blades of wind were unable to impede the spear in the slightest, and it was also slain following a howl of anguish.

At this moment, all of the oncoming wind blades also struck Han Li's body.

However, Han Li didn't even bat an eyelid as golden light flashed from his body, allowing him to withstand these attacks with ease.

His clothes were in tatters in the aftermath of the assault, but he wasn't missing so much as a single hair from his body.

After that, Han Li was able to manipulate his spear to kill the remaining few flying wolves with ease.

In the end, he waved a hand, and the spear flew back toward him before returning to his grasp.

Han Li glanced at the tip of the spear to find that he azure spirit stones embedded into its surface as turned dull and devoid of luster.

He heaved a faint sigh and shook his head before abruptly slamming the heel of his hand into the shaft of the spear.

All of the spirit stones detached themselves from the force of the impact and fell to the ground.

Han Li then pulled out a few more azure spirit stones from his storage bracelet to replace the spent ones before stowing the spear away.

He took one final glance at the wolf carcasses on the ground before making his way over to a large tree.

There, a peculiar spirit herb that was several inches tall could be seen. It was shimmering with silver light, but was enshrouded under a layer of white mist, and it was emanating an alluring fragrance.

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"As expected of the Spirit Realm; this Great Yi Silver Essence Zoysia only exists in legends in the human world, yet it really can be found in this realm. Apparently, anyone who consumes this thing will be able to grow a layer of silver scales that have amazing defensive properties. No wonder those beasts were risking their lives to secure it. However, in terms of defensive prowess, it's nowhere near as effective as the Vajra Arts, so it's kind of useless to me. I should be able to sell it to a mid-grade body refinement warrior for a good price though," Han Li murmured to himself before flipping a hand over to produce a palm-sized green jade shovel.

He crouched down and dug the silver zoysia out of the ground, inspecting it with a hint of awe and appreciation in his eyes before stowing it away into a jade box.

Ever since he had entered the Setting Sun Tomb, Han Li had discovered many spirit medicines like this one that were long extinct in the human world.

It was just a pity that very few of them would actually be useful to him at his current power level. But then again, that made sense; if these things really could provide substantial benefits to Deity Transformation cultivators like him, they would've been taken long ago. As for the items that were exclusively found in the Setting Sun Tomb, those things were extremely rare and only grew in extremely obscure locations. As such, searching for them was akin to seeking out a needle in a haystack. These factors meant that very few Deity Transformation cultivators would bother to explore this place, and the most powerful visitors this tomb received were eighth grade metamorphosis stage demon beasts and Nascent Soul human cultivators.

Outside of the three regions and the seven demon territories, there were countless heavenly materials and earthly treasures to be found in the true primordial world. The range of materials and treasures that could be found there was also unimaginable vast and diverse. There were even spirit medicines that could completely defy the natural order and manifest a spiritual root in a mortal, thereby instantly transforming them into low-grade cultivators overnight.

These treasures were extremely tempting, but it would be extremely unwise to venture out of the human and demon territories unless one had reached the Nascent Soul or above.

This was because the primordial world was rife with beings as powerful as Spatial Tempering cultivators. There were also all manners of doomsday like natural disasters that frequently struck, making it an extremely perilous place to explore.

Nascent Soul cultivators only possessed the most basic ability to survive in the primordial world. As for whether they'd be able to find the treasures they yearned for, that was a matter of luck and skill.

However, after reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, a cultivator's rate of progression would suffer a drastic decline.

If they didn't venture into the primordial world to find something useful to them, they would most likely be stuck at the Nascent Soul Stage until their final moment in this world.

As such, a vast number of high-grade beings depart from the territories of the human and demon races, traveling into the primordial world in search of the catalyst for their next breakthrough. However, less than a third of those beings managed to return, so it was indeed an extremely perilous undertaking.

However, in order to maintain the number of top-grade powerful beings within their respective races, the higher-ups of the human and demons had no choice but to allow this to happen.

Han Li was also aware of these matters, so he was very curious about and intrigued by the primordial world that lay beyond the three human regions. If it weren't for the fact that he had nowhere near the height of his powers, he may have ventured out into the primordial world already.

Just as Han Li stretched lazily and was about to depart, a burst of rustling suddenly erupted from within one of the nearby bushes. A yellow shadow then flashed through the air before appearing over 100 feet away from Han Li.

Han Li was initially given a fright, thinking that he was under attack again, but upon closer inspection, an ecstatic look appeared on his face. The petite yellow figure was none other than the little beast that had provided him with that catalyst for enlightenment earlier! However, the little beast currently wore a panicked look on its face, and its fur was quite dirty and scruffy, giving it a very disheveled appearance.

The little beast seemed to have recognized Han Li, and it also faltered slightly upon seeing him.

However, it then immediately ran off in the opposite direction, completely disregarding Han Li.

Han Li was obviously not willing to let the little beast get away. As such, he immediately rustled a sleeve and a length of silver rope shot forth, binding toward the little beast like a silver snake. The little beast was furious upon seeing this, but it could only continue to flee as it swayed through the air, evading the silver rope while leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake.

However, in doing so, it was forced to decelerate slightly, and in that split-second delay, a small white sword suddenly flew through the air amid a flash of white light. As it traveled through the air, the white sword transformed int a streak of white light that appeared directly in front of the fleeing little beast.

Brilliant white light radiated forth before abruptly transforming into a miniature white-robed humanoid figure who was only several inches in size with a set of remarkably pale features. It was impossible to decipher the gender of this humanoid figure, and it was appraising the little beast with a cold expression.

In response to the emergence of this miniature humanoid figure, the little beast shuddered before its four paws immediately landed on the ground. At the same time, it lowered its center of gravity and all the hackles on its back stood up on end, as if it were facing a formidable foe.

Han Li's pupils contracted drastically at the sight of this humanoid figure, and he immediately retreated without a second thought.

During the several decades that Han Li had been in the Spirit Realm, he had developed a good gauge on the neighboring races that harbored enmity toward the human race.

Spirit Tribe cultivators who could take on human forms were Spirit General level beings, and they possessed power comparable to Deity Transformation cultivators of the human race.

If Han Li was at the height of his powers, then he would perhaps consider lingering on the scene to assess the situation. However, in his current state, it was clearly much wider for him to get away as quickly as possible.

Han Li's frenzied retreat immediately drew the attention of the miniature white humanoid figure.

At the same time, it swept its spiritual sense toward Han Li before letting loose a cold disdainful harrumph after discovering that he was merely a human body refinement warrior. It spread open the five fingers on one of its hands, then flicked them toward Han Li in a nonchalant manner.

Five thin white threads immediately shot forth before abruptly vanishing.

"Sword threads!" Han Li was able to immediately identify what those thin threads were, and his heart jolted as he summoned his black spear.

Following a loud roar, he injected all of his power into the spear before thrusting it forward in a violent motion. A strange cry erupted as a ball of black light exploded before him, shielding his body from the oncoming white threads.

Almost at the exact same moment, the five sword threads appeared before Han Li as if by instantaneous teleportation, and crashed directly into the black light.

The fearsome-looking swath of black light immediately began to crumble in the face of the sword threads, and following a flash of white light, the sword threads sliced through the black light like hot knives through butter, while the black spear in Han Li's hand was shattered into several segments.

Having barely been impeded by the black light at all, the five sword threads continued to fly toward Han Li, much to his dismay. He raised a hand and half of the spear's shaft shot forth as a streak of black light. At the same time, he let loose an almighty roar as spiritual light flashed form the suit of grey armor that he was wearing. The armor then transformed into a ball of grey cloud and mist that sped directly toward the sword threads.

Immediately thereafter, he clenched his fists, and piercing golden light erupted from his body as he unleashed the power of the Vajra Arts' seventh layer to its maximal extent.

Han Li's arms transformed into a blur as his fists shot forth at an unimaginable speed, appearing as if they were threatening to tear through space itself. Two gusts of golden winds were swept up before howling through the air. As soon as the segment of the spear shaft came into contact with the sword threads, it was sliced into over 10 smaller segments following a flash of white light.

The sword threads continued onward into the swath of grey mist, followed by the two golden gusts of wind. The sharp screech of metal grating on metal erupted as the grey mist suddenly expanded, but it was still able to trap the sword threads for the time being.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Han Li's body swayed several times in quick succession, taking him to over 200 feet away. At the end of this sequence, he leaped into the air and disappeared into a set of bushes.

At this moment, the cloud of grey mist explode, and the suit of armor it had been manifested from was shattered, with the resulting fingernail-sized shards flying through the air as shrapnel in all directions.

Only then were the five sword threads revealed, but their target had already disappeared.

The miniature white humanoid figure faltered upon seeing this, following which a dark expression appeared on its face. However, just as it was about to unleash another attack, the little beast standing before it suddenly manifested several tens of identical projections, each of which fled toward a different direction.

As such, the white humanoid figure was no longer able to pursue Han Li, and was forced to turn its attention back to the little beast. It let loose an almighty roar as countless streaks of white sword Qi shot forth from its body, flying toward the fleeing beast projections.

Following the devastating assault, only one of the little beasts remained after evading several streaks of sword Qi while the other projections had all been destroyed.

The white humanoid figure seemed to be intending to capture the little beast alive as it suddenly raised a hand, upon which all of the remaining sword Qi raining down from above abruptly vanished. The humanoid figure chuckled coldly as it swooped down toward the little beast as a streak of silver light. The little beast seemed to be aware that it was no match for the miniature humanoid figure, and it didn't dare to engage it in a direct confrontation. As such, it could only switch directions and continue to flee, traveling at almost twice as fast as Han Li's current speed.

The white humanoid figure was intent on capturing the little beast, so it continued to give chase, and it was able to keep up with the little beast despite the latter's incredible speed.

Thus, the little beast and the miniature humanoid figure disappeared into the distance in the blink of an eye.

A long while later, another humanoid figure suddenly emerged from behind a massive tree. It was none other than Han Li.

Even though Han Li's Shifting Smoke Steps were quite mysterious and unpredictable, it was simply didn't allow him to travel fast enough to escape from that Spirit Tribe cultivator. As such, he took a risk and used a concealment technique he had learned in the human world to hide nearby.

He was taking a gamble that the little beast would take this opportunity to run away, and the Spirit Tribe cultivator would set off in pursuit rather than continue his hunt for Han Li.

Of course, he was holding an Immortal Vanquishing Bead tightly in his hand in case things didn't progress as planned.

Thankfully, his gamble had paid off in the end. The Spirit Tribe cultivator was far more intent on capturing this little beast than killing a mere body refinement warrior.

Han Li cast his gaze toward the direction that the little beast and the Spirit Tribe cultivator had disappeared in, and a sense of unease welled up in his heart. Why was it that a Spirit General level cultivator had appeared here? Could it be that something big was about to happen?

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Han Li's body swayed a few times, and he arrived back at the spot where the clash had just taken place. He looked at the shattered spirit tool fragments strewn all over the ground, and he couldn't help but heave a forlorn sigh.

However, he had refined those spirit tools to save his life in dire situations anyway, so they had certainly served their purpose.

Han Li didn't dare to remain in this place for any longer, and just as he was about to depart in the opposite directions from where the little beast and the miniature humanoid had disappeared when a male voice sounded over 100 feet in the air above.

"Not bad at all! To think that you were able to escape with your life right under Hua Guang's nose; looks like you're no ordinary body refinement warrior."

Han Li's face immediately paled upon hearing this, and he was completely rooted to the spot.

At the same time, several streaks of spiritual light flashed in the air, and three miniature humanoid figures appeared at once, each of which was several feet in size.

One of the miniature humanoid figures wore a set of azure robes with a sharp light glimmering in its eyes, and it seemed to be applauding Han Li with a smile on its face. However, its eyes were icy cold and completely devoid of any amusement or benevolence.

That humanoid figure was flying through the air atop a crimson cloud, while its two companions were a brawny man who was shimmering with red light, and a young woman with a set of cold features, as well as a layer of white glacial mist enshrouding her body.

These three were also Spirit Tribe cultivators.

Han Li took a deep breath and forcibly repressed the shock in his heart. In this dire situation, he made the counterintuitive decision of stowing away his Immortal Vanquishing Beads again.

In the face of three Spirit Tribe cultivators, it would be impossible for him to wound all three at once even if he were to use his Immortal Vanquishing Bead. Furthermore, the three of them hadn't immediately attacked him as soon as they had appeared, so perhaps there was a chance for him to survive this ordeal without a fight.

As such, Han Li's expression eased as he looked up at the three miniature humanoid figures in the sky.

The shimmering red man carefully inspected Han Li before suddenly turning to the man on the crimson cloud in a respectful manner. "Master Xu Tian, he's perfect for our needs. He's a high-grade body refinement warrior, and he should know the location of the Chaotic Valley. On top of that, he doesn't have any magic power, so he fits all of our criteria."

"Alright, well take him then." The man on the crimson cloud nodded indifferently in response.

The red man was ecstatic upon hearing this before turning to Han Li with a sinister smile. All of sudden, his body transformed into a fire wyrm that was around a foot in size as he shot forth toward Han Li.

Han Li's heart jolted with shock upon seeing this. Could it be that he was wrong and these three were aiming to kill him all along?

In the face of the oncoming attack, Han Li certainly wasn't going to resign himself to his face. As such, brilliant golden light flashed from his body as he activated his Vajra Arts to their maximal extent.

At the same time, he produced the two Immortal Vanquishing Beads again, and prepared to hurl them toward the fire wyrm.

Right at this moment, the man on the crimson cloud could see that Han Li was able to retaliate, so he pointed a finger toward Han Li, seemingly in a nonchalant and unhurried manner.

Han Li suddenly felt the air tighten around him as a burst of immense invisible power abruptly descended upon him, trying to crush him to the ground.

Han Li immediately refrained from using his Immortal Vanquishing Beads as this immense power weighed down upon him. If he were to try and hurl the beads through the air right now, they wouldn't be able to travel very far, and he would most likely be caught up in the resulting explosion of power.

As such, he could only inject more power into his Vajra Arts, further enhancing his strength to resist the unfathomable pressure crashing down from above.

However, this burst of power was simply too immense. Even though he was able to maintain a standing position, Han Li's body sunk into the ground like a nail that had been firmly hammered into the soil, sinking all the way down to his knees.

At the same time, Han Li was struck by a numbing sensation and was rendered completely immobilized thereafter.

The man on the crimson cloud faltered upon seeing this, as if he was rather surprised by Han Li's enormous strength.

A mixture of shock and fury surged through Han Li's heart. For this Spirit Tribe cultivator to be able to unleash such devastating power with just a point of his finger indicated that he stood above the Deity Transformation Stage.

Could it be that he was a Profound Spirit level cultivator in the Spirit Tribe.

Red light flashed, and the miniature fire wyrm was already upon Han Li. Taking advantage of his immobility, it dove down without any hesitation before disappearing into Han Li's head.

Han Li let loose a thunderous roar of rage as his face became twisted with pain, seemingly indicating that he was in excruciating agony.

The man on the crimson cloud merely smiled and withdrew his extended finger upon seeing this.

The enormous power weighing down on Han Li abruptly disappeared, and due to the fact that he had been counteracting this force the entire time, its sudden absence made him leap straight out of the ground and several tens of feet into the air.

Blinding golden light then radiated from his body he clenched his fists tightly. He rushed into the nearby forest like a gust of maddened gale-force wind, swinging his fists wildly into the nearby trees.

All of the trees that were struck by him were felled amid resounding booms without any exception, creating an extremely loud commotion.

In the beginning, the man on the crimson cloud merely looked on with a calm smile. However, as Han Li's frenzied tirade continued without displaying any sign of stopping, the smile on his face gradually faded as a hint of bewilderment surfaced in his eyes.

"Master Xu Tian! Could Shi Yan be encountering any difficulties?" The young woman standing beside him was also starting to grow rather concerned.

The man on the crimson cloud paused to consider this notion before shaking his head. "He should be fine. Shi Yan's true form is a Flame Devouring Bead, so it should be simple for him to devour the spiritual sense of a body refinement warrior. Besides, the aura of the bead itself hasn't diminished at all."

The young woman from the Spirit Tribe was quite relieved to hear this.

All of a sudden, the rumbling commotion in the forest came to an abrupt halt.

A hint of elation appeared on the young woman's face, yet the man on the crimson cloud narrowed his eyes as he peered into the forest.

Moments later, Han Li re-emerged from the forest. However, he was completely expressionless, and his eyes were slightly glazed over.

The man on the crimson cloud stared at Han Li for a moment before asking, "How do you feel, Shi Yan?"

"Han Li" twisted his neck around from side to side and replied in the voice of that burly man from the Spirit Tribe, "Not bad. This human's body really is quite powerful; it's just that his spiritual sense was slightly more powerful than the average mortal, so it took me a bit of work to subdue him."

"That's good to hear. This is no ordinary body refinement warrior, and I was afraid that you would encounter some difficulties." The man on the crimson cloud smiled in response.

"How is he any different from the average body refinement warrior? Isn't he just a little more powerful than normal? Master Xu Tian, I've already discovered the location of the Chaotic Valley, but it's a little far away from where we are right now. Should we head over there now?" "Han Li" asked.

"There's no need to hurry. Hua Guang is chasing down that mutated Leopard Kirin Beast, and he should be back soon. Let's wait for a while longer," the man on the crimson cloud replied.

"Han Li" nodded upon hearing this and fell silent as he stood on the spot.

After over an hour had passed, a streak of white light flew through the air and appeared before the trio in the blink of an eye.

The light faded to reveal that miniature humanoid figure, who was holding an azure chain of light. On the other side of the chain, the little beast had been tightly bound and was hovering directly behind him.

"Huh? This human..." The white humanoid figure was slightly surprised to see "Han Li" here.

"Don't worry, the spiritual sense of that human has already been devoured by Shi Yan, so he's controlling this man now," the man on the crimson cloud explained.

"I see. That's rather convenient; I didn't bring a Spirit Beast Ring with me, so it's rather inconvenient for me to carry this Leopard Kirin Beast around. You look after it for me for now." The white humanoid figure was elated to hear this, and he immediately tossed the bound little beast "Han Li".

"Han Li" didn't say anything in reply, but he caught the little beast, and light flashed from his spirit ring, upon which the little beast abruptly disappeared.

"Alright, Shi Yan, seeing as you know the location of the Chaotic Valley, we'll get you to lead the way. We don't have much time now, so we can't afford to delay any further. This is the perfect opportunity for our tribe to secure the divine blood. Otherwise, the Five-Elemental Spirit Tribe wouldn't be willing to offer the divine blood to us. With this drop of divine blood, we'll be able to produce a large number of brethren, so failure is not an option. Hua Guang, you go and meet up with the cultivators from the Five-Elemental Spirit Tribe. Tell them that we're going directly to the Chaotic Valley. Shi Yan, when we get there, you go in there first and mingle infiltrate the humans there, then act according to the demands of the situation." Xu Tian calmly delivered a series of instructions.

"Yes!" "Han Li" replied as everyone else also nodded with solemn expressions.

"Let's go."

The man on the crimson cloud issued one final instruction, and their group disappeared into the forest.

Six days later, Han Li appeared on a small hill outside the Chaotic Valley. There were seven or eight other human cultivators and body refinement warriors with him, all of whom were Core Formation cultivators or high-grade body refinement warriors.

Everyone in their group was looking on in silence at the entrance to the Chaotic Valley in the extremely far distance.

A grey-robed middle-aged man suddenly turned to an elderly man holding a palm-leaf fan, and asked, "Brother Sun, will Senior Huang Liang and City Lord Lan really appear today to battle the Spirit Tribe cultivators?"

"There's no doubting that; I only came here after receiving a letter directly from City Lord Lan himself. Aside from our group, there are also other people waiting nearby. It appears that our seniors are intent on winning this battle. They only asked us to come here in order to hold off any demon race cultivators who might seek to benefit from the turmoil," the elderly man replied in a voice that was filled with conviction.

The elderly man glanced at a scholar in their group before asking with a faint smile, "Seeing as Senior Huang Liang and City Lord Lan issued direct instructions to us, we are naturally obligated to come here. However, why are you two also willing to participate in this, Brother Li, Brother Han?"

"I came to the Setting Sun Tomb in order to find a way to make a breakthrough, so there's no way I'm going to miss out on spectating a battle between beings above the Deity Transformation Stage. Perhaps I'll be struck by some kind of inspiration in the process. Besides, City Lord Lan and the others have also offered handsome rewards," Han Li replied calmly.

The reply given by the scholar was much the same.

The elderly man nodded upon hearing this, and was no longer suspicious toward the two. After all, most of the people gathered here were taking this risk for roughly the same reason.

Right at this moment, a long cry suddenly erupted from near the Chaotic Valley.

Immediately thereafter, countless bursts of demonic Qi rose up into the air, combining to form clouds of greyish-white demonic mist that enshrouded the entire sky.

Beastly roars erupted, seemingly from all directions, amid gust of fierce putrid winds.

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The immense burst of demonic Qi surged toward the entrance to the Chaotic Valley as soon as it appeared, startling Han Li and all of the other humans who were situated nearby.

There were some cultivators conducting surveillance of this place, and they had only just witnessed two Spirit Tribe cultivators crushing the demon race beings present not too long ago. There were even several metamorphosis stage high-grade demon beasts that had been killed during that battle, so it was quite clear that those two Spirit Tribe cultivators were immensely powerful beings.

However, the demon beasts were suddenly stirring up such a massive commotion; were they planning to force their way into the Chaotic Valley?

Just as all of the humans hiding nearby were looking on in bewilderment, a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly erupted from the direction of the Chaotic Valley. Immediately thereafter, and vast hordes of beings emerged from the ground below as well as the sky above.

All of the creatures in the sky were green wooden birds, each of which was around 10 feet in size, while the beings emerging from the ground were massive stone giants that were around 60 to 70 feet tall.

All of the wooden bird puppets were extremely life-like and agile, and from afar, it was impossible to identify whether they were real birds or not.

In contrast, the stone giants possessed extremely crude bodies with only a pair of white eyes on each of their massive faces. On top of that, they came in all types of different forms, as if they had all been haphazardously thrown together.

The emergence of so many wood and stone puppets made everyone draw sharp breaths in unison.

Han Li's expression also changed slightly at the sight of the countless puppets that had just appeared.

Right at this moment, a green wooden phoenix and a stone giant with an entirely greyish-white body emerged at the same time.

Spiritual light flashed above the wooden phoenix's head, and a ball of green light surfaced, revealing a woman in a green dress who was only around a foot in size. Meanwhile, the massive stone giant extended a huge hand, and an elderly man of roughly the same size appeared over its palm. The elderly man was holding a white stone cane and was looking on with a cold expression at the enormous bursts of oncoming demonic Qi.

"Is Fellow Daoist Xiao there? Come out and meet me if you are," the elderly man suddenly said. Even though his voice wasn't very loud, it was clearly audible to all of humans and demons within a radius of over five kilometers.

The vast expanse of greyish-white demonic Qi in the distance suddenly began to tumble and surge, following which the clear cry of a phoenix rang out from within. Immediately thereafter, a black fireballs shot forth before transforming into a young woman in a palatial dress with a cold expression on her face.

"What are you calling me for, Huang Shi? Are you perhaps vacating yourselves from the Chaotic Valley?" the young woman asked in a cold and forbidding manner.

"Vacating the Chaotic Valley? You sure dare to dream big, Fellow Daoist Xiao. Who was it that was almost hunted to death by the two of us just half a month ago? You're just an early-Deity Transformation demonic cultivator; how do you plan on combating two mid-Divine Generals at once? I'm only advising you to retreat rather than killing you on the spot so those human cultivators don't benefit from our battle," the young woman standing atop the wooden phoenix said in an extremely delightful and heavenly voice.

"Oh? Looks like they don't respect you at all, do they, Lass Xiao?" The demonic Qi overhead surged once again as another demonic cultivator emerged from within.

This was a short and thin demonic cultivator with a shimmering moth sitting on his shoulder; it was none other than that young man with the Huan surname.

Huang Shi and Tian Ying's expressions both changed drastically upon seeing this young man, and the former exclaimed, "Huan Cangqi? Why are you here?"

"Tsk tsk, I see you two still recognize me. During our last battle, I was able to hold my own against you two even prior to reaching the Spatial Tempering Stage. Over 10,000 years have passed since then, and I've already forged a Five-Elemental Body for myself long ago, yet you two are still only a pair of lowly Spirit Generals. It seems that aside from your lengthy lifespans, you Spirit Tribe cultivators can't compare with demon and human race cultivators in any other aspect. Your Spirit Tribe will most likely be wiped off the face of the Spirit Realm eventually, just like all of those other weak races. If you ask me, you should pledge your allegiance to us while you still can. After all, some of your skills are quite useful to our two races, so at the very least, we'll ensure that you don't go completely extinct," the young demonic cultivator said in a calm voice.

"Hmph, you sure dare to talk, Fellow Daoist Huan. Our Spirit Tribe may not be very powerful, but it has existed in the Spirit Realm for all this time, and there must be a reason for this. You're just an elder of the demon race; what right do you have to foretell the fall of our Spirit Tribe?" Huang Shi was furious upon hearing the young man's bold declaration, and the wariness in his heart was completely washed away by his rage.

The young man wasn't enraged in the slightest by Huang Shi's barbed response. Instead, he burst into laughter as he said, "It's indeed true that I have no right to speak about your Spirit Tribe, but those words were spoken by the patriarch of our demon race, and I'm merely relaying his message word for word."

"You should stop dreaming! So long as our Holy Spirits continue to exist, we'll never bow to any other race!" Tian Ying retorted coldly.

"If that's the case, then there's nothing for me to say. Fellow Daoist Huang Liang, City Lord Lan, you should show yourselves as well. I know that you two already arrived here yesterday. Are you really planning to watch from the sidelines and swoop in to take all the spoils of war?" A cold smile appeared on the young man's face as abruptly turned around before pointing toward a certain spot in the air.

The two Spirit Generals and all of the humans lurking nearby were stunned to hear this.

Faint white light flashed, and a jade ark was revealed as if an invisible veil had been lifted. The massive arc was 300 feet long and 40 to 50 feet wide, housing Spirit Lord Huang Liang and his group of cultivators as it hovered stealthily in mid-air.

All of the human cultivators on the ark wore surprised expressions, as if they were quite stunned that their cover had been blown.

"That's an Illusionary Flame Moth! So you were the one eavesdropping on our conversation at Setting Sun City!" Spirit Lord Huang Liang's expression darkened as he cast a glance toward the young man's shoulder.

"Did you only just realize that, Brother Huang Liang? I had thought that you'd figured it out a long time ago." The young man pursed his lips in response.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang seemed to be familiar with this young man, and a hint of a deriding sneer appeared on his face as he asked, "Haven't you been in hiding all these years like a cowardly rat, trying to transcend your next heavenly tribulation? Why have you come here? "

"Hmph! If I had confidence in transcending my heavenly tribulations that strike once every 3,000 years, why would I come here? I've been struck at the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage for over 10,000 years, and my last tribulation was already very difficult for me to transcend. There's no chance that I'll be able to withstand my next one, so my only option is to come out and search for some opportunities. In contrast, you've only reached the Spatial Tempering Stage not long ago, Fellow Daoist Huang Liang, so you've only had to withstand one heavenly tribulation. You have a long road ahead of you," the young man sighed in response.

At the mention of heavenly tribulations, Spirit Lord Huang Liang's expression immediately became quite strained.

The scenes during his first heavenly tribulation were still very much clear in his mind, and that was such a fearsome experience that he couldn't help but shudder upon its recollection.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang's lips twitched as he transmitted his voice to the young man, "Hmph, if you're trying to search for an opportunity to make a breakthrough, then wouldn't it be much better for you to go to the world? What are you doing here in human territory? If you want to fabricate an excuse for picking a fight, then at least come up with a plausible one."

"I'm afraid those are false accusations that you've aimed against me, Fellow Daoist Huang Liang. The reason I appeared in Setting Sun City is precisely because I wanted to invite you on another trip to the primordial. However, I then stumbled upon this Spirit Tribe incident, and I had no choice but to step in as an elder of the demon race," the young man chuckled as he transmitted his voice in response.

"You're inviting me to the primordial world?" Spirit Lord Huang Liang faltered upon hearing this.

"That's right. Even though humans and demons are completely different creatures, our individual abilities will definitely be able to help one another in the primordial world, making it a much safer trip. We made a very bountiful foray into the primordial world together several thousand years ago, didn't we? I'm very confident in your abilities, Fellow Daoist Huang Liang, even more so than the abilities of my fellow elders. You're close to your second heavenly tribulation, right? If you don't find some treasures that can help you transcend the tribulation, perhaps your chances of withstanding the tribulation. After all, the tribulations will only continue to grow more powerful with each successive occurrence, even if your cultivation base doesn't change," the young man asked in a calm voice.

A contemplative look appeared on Spirit Lord Huang Liang's face as he stood on the jade ark, and only after a long while did he slowly reply, "Seeing as you're being so open and honest, I'll reveal the truth to you as well, Brother Huan. In my current state, I estimate that I only have a 50% chance of transcending my second tribulation. During my first and previous tribulation transcendence, a lot of my treasures had been destroyed."

"In all honesty, I have less than a 25% chance of transcending my next heavenly tribulation. So how about it? Are you willing to take a trip to the primordial world with me?" the young man transmitted his voice with a serious expression on his face.

An indecisive look appeared on Spirit Lord Huang Liang's face upon receiving an official invitation. Only after a long while did he ask, "If you're planning to go to the primordial world with me, how do you suggest we resolve this Spirit Tribe incident here?"

The young man seemed to have already considered this issue, and he immediately replied, "That's simple; you and I can join forces to capture these Spirit Tribe cultivators, then detain that Spirit Tribe traitor. As for the things he's carrying, if there are many of them, then we'll split them evenly between our two races. If there's only one, then we'll have a friendly sparring match to determine who gets to take it."

"You sure are a sly old fox; you've been at the Spatial Tempering Stage for several thousand years longer than me. How could I possibly gain the upper hand against you?" Spirit Lord Huang Liang immediately shook his head without any hesitation.

The young man wasn't surprised by this reaction at all. Instead, he calmly asked, "Then what do you propose, Brother Huang."

"We'll see what the items are first, and we'll have to give something of a similar value to take the items," Spirit Lord Huang Liang replied with a stroke of his beard.

"No problem, we'll do as you say. Let's join forces and take care of these two Spirit Tribe cultivators first," the young man suggested as a cold look appeared on his face.

"Hehe, sure!" Spirit Lord Huang Liang nodded in response before explaining the situation to City Lord Lan and the others through voice transmission.

Seeing as their plan to lurk in the shadows before swooping in to take the spoils of war had been exposed, everyone naturally had no choice but to agree to this arrangement.

As such, City Lord Lan immediately rubbed his hands together before raising them into the air, upon which a massive shimmering blue fireball erupted into the sky and exploded at high altitudes.

All of a sudden, lights of all types of colors flashed as a series of human cultivators and body refinement warriors revealed themselves from within the forest.

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Under the loud orders of Spirit Lord Huang Liang, all of the humans present were made aware of the fact that they were joining forces with the demon race to bring down the Spirit Tribe cultivators. Even though they were slightly surprised by this arrangement, none of them stated any objections.

All of a sudden, the demonic Qi up above tumbled and surged, following which a large horde of sinister-looking demon beasts as well as a dozen or so metamorphosis stage demonic cultivators revealed themselves one after the other.

Meanwhile, all of the humans had summoned their treasures and spirit tools, sending vast swaths of light rising up into the sky. Tian Ying and Huang Shi had been struck by a sense of foreboding as soon as the young man from the demon race had begun to communicate with Spirit Lord Huang Liang through voice transmission. After witnessing the events that had unfolded since then, it was quite clear to them that the humans and the demons had formed a temporary alliance.

Their expressions darkened in unison as they glanced at one another before immediately staging a retreat.

The wooden birds and massive stone giants behind them also retreated rapidly toward the entrance to the valley.

The Spirit Tribe cultivators were retreating without even putting up a fight.

This was a rather surprising turn of events for both the humans and the demons present. However, they naturally arrived at the conclusion that the Spirit Tribe cultivators had to be retreating as they knew that they were no match for their foes.

As such, their morale was instantly given a significant boost as they quickly gave chase. In the blink of an eye, the slower wooden and stone puppets that were lagging behind had been destroyed, and some of the humans and demons who had led the way from the front had already entered the valley.

They had encountered no resistance whatsoever!

The young man from the demon race and Spirit Lord Huang Liang were both rather bewildered by what they were seeing.

They had all waged battle against Spirit Tribe cultivators in the past, and they were well aware of just how resilient the Spirit Tribe cultivators were.

However, these two were simply retreating without offering up any resistance, and that was far too abnormal.

The young man's expression darkened as he hurriedly turned to Spirit Lord Huang Liang, and said, "Tell them to stop! Something's definitely wrong here!"

"Something is indeed amiss!" Spirit Lord Huang Liang nodded before taking a deep breath, then letting loose a long cry to signal a retreat.

However, right at this moment, a vast expanse of crimson light abruptly appeared over the entrance to the valley. Loud thunderclaps then erupted as a crimson lotus that was several tens of feet in size materialized amid the crimson light.

The lotus' petals were as crimson as blood, and it was rapidly rotating in the air. As soon as the young man from the demon race caught sight of the lotus flower, he exclaimed, "This is bad; it's Profound Spirit Xu Tian!"

Even though Spirit Lord Huang Liang had never seen this crimson lotus before, he had naturally heard of the eight Profound Spirits of the Artifact Spirit Tribe, so he was also quite startled upon hearing this.

However, before the two of them could do anything, the crimson lotus suddenly transformed into a massive crimson waterfall, crashing down directly from above.

Any human or demon who came into contact with the crimson waterfall was instantly reduced to plumes of smoke.

Regardless of whether it was protective demonic Qi or defensive treasures; nothing could withstand the power of this waterfall.

In the blink of an eye, less than half of the humans and demons remained, all of whom had yet to rush into the valley. All of those who were fortunate enough to have survived wore expressions of shock and horror, and all of them had fled in retreat before Spirit Lord Huang Liang even had to let loose than long cry.

After engulfing so many humans and demons, the crimson waterfall seemed to still be dissatisfied. It came sweeping out of the valley and flooding straight toward the fleeing humans and demons.

The young man and Spirit Lord Huang Liang naturally couldn't just stand by idly and watch any longer. Both of them were furious as they sprang into action at the same time.

The young man opened his mouth, and a gust of violent grey demonic winds erupted from within. The grey winds transformed into a grey wind wyrm, flying directly toward the crimson waterfall.

Meanwhile, Spirit Lord Huang Liang harrumphed coldly as he rustled his sleeve, producing a golden Yin-Yang mirror that hovered in front of his chest. He then made a hand seal, and a pillar of golden light as thick as the diameter of a large bowl shot forth through the air.

Following bursts of resounding booms, the wind wyrm and the pillars of light struck the crimson waterfall, resulting in a massive explosion that managed to arrest its momentum.

"Haha, I didn't think I'd encounter two beings of the same level as I am in such a secluded and rural place. My apologies for not coming out to greet you two sooner. The crimson waterfall flowed backward and materialized into a crimson lotus flower again."

A humanoid figure flashed, and a Spirit Tribe man in a set of long azure robes appeared atop the lotus flower with a sharp look in his eyes.

He was none other than Xu Tian of the Artifact Spirit Tribe.

After he withdrew the crimson waterfall, the young man and Spirit Lord Huang Liang glanced at one another before also withdrawing their abilities.

Thus, the grey winds and golden pillars of light immediately disappeared. However, both of them were appraising Xu Tian with dark expressions.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang cast his gaze toward the 100 or so humans who had managed to escape that ordeal, and he discovered that even the two Nascent Soul cultivators who had accompanied him here were missing. An enraged look appeared on his face upon making this observation as he roared, "Xu Tian, how dare you attack those juniors with such reckless abandon as a Profound Spirit? Aren't you afraid that we'll do the same to the juniors of your Spirit Tribe?"

"They're just a few beings below the Nascent Soul Stage; their lives are inconsequential. Is your human race going to declare war on our Spirit Tribe over such a small matter? Besides, weren't you two about to do the same to our two Spirit Generals?" Xu Tian was not fazed by Spirit Lord Huang Liang's vehement accusations in the slightest.

At the same time, spiritual light flashed behind him and a series of other miniature humanoid figures appeared, among which included the likes of Tie Ren and Hua Guang.

The young man from the demon race and Spirit Lord Huang Liang were both surprised by their emergence, and both of them immediately began to calculate the chances of victory for their joint human and demon army.

After a short while, both of them were relieved to find that even though they had suffered severe losses at the hands of Xu Tian earlier, their combined forces still held a slight upper hand.

Spirit Lord Huang chuckled coldly, and he was just about to say something, when the young man beside him noticed that something was amiss.

"Wait, the Water Tribe cultivator from the Five-Elemental Spirit Tribe is missing! They're trying to stall for time here!"

Spirit Lord Huang Liang was immediately enlightened upon hearing this, and the veins on his forehead bulged with fury as he waved a hand through the air. Pillars of golden light shot forth once again from the mirror hovering in front of his chest, and the young man from the demon race also unleashed his grey demonic winds in unison.

As for the other demons and humans, all of them were being led on a collective assault by the young woman in palatial robes and City Lord Lan.

They were not fearful of their Spirit Tribe foes in the slightest.

Spiritual light and sword Qi streaked through the air as those stone giants and green wooden birds rushed out of the valley once again.

The wooden birds flapped their wings and countless green arrows shot forth. Meanwhile, the massive stone giants raised their hands, and balls of light as large as water tanks came crashing down from above.

A fierce battle immediately ensued.

At this moment, the crimson lotus up head transformed into a river of blood once against as it surged into the sky. Spirit Lord Huang Liang and the young man also rose into the air as they hurriedly unleashed their abilities.

In terms of cultivation base, all three were at a comparable level.

However, Xu Tian was a Profound Spirit who had existed in the Spirit Realm for countless years. As such, both his battle experience and abilities were far superior to those of his opponents.

In a one-on-one battle, neither Spirit Lord Huang Liang nor the young man from the demon race would be a match for Xu Tian.

However, both of them were also well aware of this, so they immediately teamed up to combat Xu Tian together. In doing so, they managed to gain a slight upper hand over their opponent. All of a sudden, a crimson river intertwined with grey winds and golden light up above, while incessant explosions rang out on the battlefield down below.

A blue streak of light flashed through the air as a massive sword of light came crashing down, destroying a dozen or so massive stone giants in one fell swoop.

Meanwhile, a massive crimson hand appeared among the Spirit Tribe forces, descending toward the humans and demons with devastating might. Several human cultivators didn't have enough time to evade and fell into the grasp of the crimson hand, where they were incinerated into ashes.

One of the humans in the battle flew into a thunderous rage upon seeing this. He made a hand seal and his body swelled drastically, transforming him into a giant that was over 100 feet tall. He brandished a pair of glistening black iron fists before swinging them viciously through the air.

This was none other than the brawny man with the Jin surname, and as a top-grade body refinement warrior, he had unleashed a secret technique to drastically increase his own size and strength.

Several gusts of black wind erupted from his fist like giant black pythons, howling through the air with immense power. All of the wooden birds and stone giants were forced to take evasive measures in the face of his brutal attacks.

However, at the same time, a loud roar erupted from among the ranks of the Spirit Tribe, and a silver humanoid figure suddenly began to expand at an alarming rate.

Soon, a silver humanoid figure that was even bigger than the black giant had appeared among the Spirit Tribe Army.

This was none other than Tie Ren from the Metal Spirit Tribe.

The ground tremored violently as the silver humanoid figure rushed over to the black giant before swinging his gargantuan silver fists wildly through the air.

The black giant was unwilling to back down, and he retaliated with his own fists.

A series of earthshattering booms immediately erupted as a result of their exchanges of blows. All of the humans and demons nearby felt as if they were being deafened by the commotion, and all of them hurriedly sped away from the battlefield between the two giants.

All of the other Spirit Tribe cultivators and demonic cultivators were also beginning to reveal their abilities.

A black flaming phoenix suddenly shot forth from within the demon beasts, sending black flames sweeping through the air that incinerated over 100 wooden birds into ashes.

The black phoenix then swayed as it abruptly disappeared. However, in the next instant, it re-emerged at the entrance to the Chaotic Valley before revealing itself to be the young woman in palatial robes amid a loud phoenix cry.

As soon as she reappeared, she immediately flew into the valley as a streak of black light without any hesitation.

City Lord Lan was struck by an overwhelming sense of urgency upon seeing this.

He took a deep breath and the seven shimmering blue flying swords around him suddenly unleashed over 100 streaks of sword Qi toward the stone giants that were attempting to keep him at bay. Thus, he managed to carve out a path for himself, and he also flew into the Chaotic Valley as a streak of blue light.

The seven or eight humans and demons nearby also took advantage of this opportunity to fly into the valley after them.

The last of them to enter the valley was a young man whose entire body was enshrouded by red light; it was none other than Han Li.

Even though he possessed no magic power in his current state, he was somehow able to summon powerful fire spiritual Qi that allowed him to fly into the valley at an alarming speed.

As soon as Han Li entered the valley, he immediately discovered why this place was known as the Chaotic Valley.

The sky up above, the ground down below, and all of the mountains were of a murky grey color, as if a permanent grey veil had enshrouded the entire valley.

Han Li abruptly came to a halt.

He looked on at the humans and demons flying deeper into the valley, and he narrowed his eyes as he abruptly made a hand seal. Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to blast forth a ball of silver flames.

A crisp cry erupted from within the fireball before it transformed into a Fire Raven that was roughly a foot in size, circling around Han Li's body in an agile manner.

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A peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face as he looked at the silver Fire Raven, and he murmured to himself, "Should I call you Shi Yan or should I call you the Greatyin True Flame? You've already absorbed the Puresun Flame Essence, and now, you've devoured the soul of that Spirit Tribe cultivator named Shi Yao. So be it, I'll call you the Heavenly Spirit Devouring Flame. I'm lucky I converted all of my Purple Apex Flames into Greatyin True Flames while I was still in the human world. Otherwise, I would've been in a lot of trouble there."

It turned out that after Shi Yan had infiltrated Han Li's body, he was unable to devour Han Li's spiritual sense. Instead, as soon as he entered Han Li's body, the massive influx of fire spiritual power immediately awakened the Greatyin True Flame, which had temporarily gone dormant within Han Li's body due to the lack of magic power.

The flame possessed the ability to devour all things, so it immediately engaged Shi Yan in battle within Han Li's body without even necessitating an instruction from Han Li himself.

If it was just this Fire Raven alone, then it naturally wouldn't be a match for Shi Yan, who was comparable in power to a Deity Transformation cultivator.

Unfortunately for Shi Yan, Han Li was also a Deity Transformation cultivator. On top of that, he had cultivated the Great Development Technique, which made his spiritual sense even more powerful than the average mid-Deity Transformation cultivator.

As such, Shi Yan naturally stood no chance after entering Han Li's body.

Just as Shi Yan was engaged in a fierce battle with the Greatyin Fire Raven, Han Li unleashed his spiritual sense to forcibly bind Shi Yan's spiritual sense, thereby allowing the Greatyin Fire Raven to devour him alive. Even the crimson bead treasure that was his true body had been absorbed into the Greatyin Fire Raven.

This was engulfment in every sense of the world. Not only had his soul been absorbed, even his memories had been completely taken by the Fire Raven, thereby allowing it to become the Heavenly Spirit Devouring Flame that it currently was.

As such, Han Li was able to use the Fire Raven to imitate Shi Yan's aura and voice to perfection after the Spirit General's soul was devoured.

Of course, through absorbing Shi Yan's memories, Han Li also learned about the Spirit Tribe's objective for coming to the Setting Sun tomb, as well as the existence of that Spirit Tribe traitor and the drop of divine blood.

He was ecstatic upon making this discovery.

He couldn't care less about that Spirit Tribe traitor, but the so-called Spirit Tribe divine blood was something that he was very interested in.

This blood was a type of mysterious liquid that would be produced by the soul of a Holy Spirit level Spirit Tribe cultivator following death by natural causes.

If the blood were to be dripped onto any sentient object, the latter would develop intelligence and evolve to become a low-grade spirit.

Of course, the Spirit Tribe wasn't entirely created by such a method; most of them evolved on their own to become low-level spirits.

However, this divine blood was still an extremely important tool for the Spirit Tribe in their quest to maintain their population. As such, it was something that they guarded as secret treasures.

However, on this occasion, an Artifact Spirit Tribe being somehow managed to steal a vial of divine blood right under the noses of the guards before immediately contacting the human race, seemingly to offer an exchange.

If that was the extent of the story, then Han Li would be rather surprised, but he wouldn't pay much heed to it. What was tempting to him was that aside from its miraculous ability to create low-grade spirits, it also possessed many beneficial effects for human cultivators and body refinement warriors.

Cultivators could use this divine blood as an ingredient to create a type of spirit medicine known as the Blood Yang Pill. Consumption of this pill could enhance one's cultivation base to the same extent as what could be achieved by a Nascent Soul cultivator through over 100 years of arduous cultivation. For body refinement warriors, smearing this blood all over one's body could allow one to attain a secret technique known as Blood Crystal Armor.

It was said that this secret technique could enhance one's body even to an even greater extent than complete mastery of the Vajra Arts could, allowing a body refinement warrior to take no damage from any attacks below the Spatial Tempering Stage for a period of time.

However, this armor was a disposable tool that would disappear once its energy was completely exhausted.

Furthermore, if this divine blood were to be consumed by a high-grade body refinement warrior, it would be able to stimulate their spiritual sense, giving them a very high chance of immediately breaking through a cultivation bottleneck.

Of course, directly consuming divine blood was a rather risky endeavor. The lower the level of a body refinement warrior and the weaker their spiritual sense was, the greater the chance of death due to backlash from the power within the divine blood. If a body refinement warrior intended to consume this blood in order to facilitate a breakthrough, they would normally find pills like the Heavenly Heart Pill to bolster their spiritual sense before daring to ingest the blood.

Even so, it was still quite a dangerous affair. However, Han Li was ecstatic after discovering this information from Shi Yan's memories. He possessed Deity Transformation Stage spiritual sense, yet he was cultivating as a body refinement warrior, so the divine blood was perfect for him.

Han Li was confident that he would be able to eventually master the last layer of the Vajra Arts on his own, but he had no idea how long it was going to take.

Furthermore, he didn't know when his minor heavenly tribulation was going to strike, so it was naturally best for him to recover his magic power as quickly as possible.

The other reason why he decided to venture into the Chaotic Valley was because he had temporarily recovered his ability to use magic power.

Even though it was only around 60% to 70% of the magic power he had in the past, the density of the magic power he had at the height of his powers meant that this was still comparable to the magic power of the average Deity Transformation cultivator.

After the Greatyin Fire Raven had devoured Shi Yan, his pure fire-attribute spiritual power had temporarily been stored within the Fire Raven's body.

Han Li was currently spreading this spiritual power within his body and using it as his own.

It was just that this spiritual power had been attained through cultivation and was an exhaustible resource that would run out eventually. Due to the fact that it was all fire-attribute spiritual power, he was unable to utilize it as well as he would like. However, his abilities and treasures still placed him above cultivators of the same cultivation base.

Furthermore, even if he didn't use this fire-attribute spiritual power now, it would slowly seep away and disappear over time anyway. By his estimations, he would likely revert back to being a mortal within a month.

Han Li didn't want to squander this opportunity. As such, he decided to take a risk, posing as Shi Yan and following the instructions assigned to him to mingle himself with the humans in the Chaotic Valley.

Now, he had finally made it into the Chaotic Valley, and it was time for him to enact his plan.

Moments later, Han Li pointed a finger toward the Spirit Devouring Fire Raven, upon which the latter spread its wings and disappeared into a nearby rock face.

Meanwhile, Han Li flipped a hand over, and a faint yellow talisman immediately appeared between his fingers. He slapped the talisman onto himself, and brilliant yellow light erupted from his entire body. He made a hand seal, and his body swayed as he prepared to unleash his earth movement technique to burrow into the ground. However, things didn't progress as Han Li had planned.

After sinking around a foot or so into the ground, he was unable to burrow down any further. It was as if there was an invisible resistant force that prevented him from being able to descend any further.

Han Li's heart jolted upon encountering this obstacle.

It appeared that there were some peculiar features in this Chaotic Valley that he had to be wary of.

With that in mind, he hesitated momentarily before pulling out a purple talisman from his storage bracelet. There were a few silver runes shimmering on the talisman, and they were inscribed in none other than the beveled silver text that was rarely seen even in the Spirit Realm.

After assessing the copy of the Endless Sky Beast's insights and observations derived from the half-page of the Golden Jade Tome, then drawing upon his own observations, Han Li had finally managed to create this semi-immortal talisman in the human world after countless failures.

Even though this was only the simplest among the few talisman refinement methods recorded on the half-page of the tome, the materials required were still very difficult to gather in the human world.

Only after many attempts was Han Li able to find some substitute materials, thereby allowing him to refine this semi-completed talisman.

This was a concealment talisman known as the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, and due to the fact that it was a disposable talisman, Han Li had never tried to use it before.

Now, Han Li was planning to steal the divine blood, and at his current drastically impaired cultivation base, there was no way that he would be able to hide himself effectively using his other concealment techniques. As such, he naturally immediately thought of this talisman.

After pulling out the talisman, Han Li released it from his fingertips and allowed it to flutter in the air before him without any hesitation.

The purple talisman abruptly exploded and several beveled silver text runes surfaced before dancing around Han Li.

The runes then disintegrated into clouds of silver mist that inundated Han Li in the blink of an eye.

The silver mist dissipated moments later, and Han Li had completely disappeared.

Right at this moment, several more streaks of light flew into the valley, heading directly toward Han Li. However, none of them were able to detect Han Li's presence, flying past him in a flash as if he actually didn't exist. Han Li was ecstatic to see this!

He hadn't moved a single step from his original spot, and nor had he taken any extra measures to conceal himself. However, this group of humans and demons were completely oblivious to his presence, and there was even a Deity Transformation cultivator among them. However, his current situation was rather peculiar. His entire body seemed to have transformed into some kind of transparent mist-like substance. It was as if his body had become completely formless and could be blown away by a gentle breeze. He then conducted some experiments to find that he was unable to use any secret techniques or treasures that consumed a lot of spiritual power.

That was rather disappointing to him, but it didn't matter.

He was content as long as he could conceal himself from fellow Deity Transformation cultivators.

After all, due to material constraints, this wasn't even the fully refined version of the High Zenith Invisibility Talismans, so he was already overjoyed by its miraculous abilities.

After completely mastering the content on that half-page and truly refining this talisman, such drawbacks could be avoided.

At the thought of the other types of immortal talisman refinement methods recorded on that half-page, Han Li was struck by a sense of eagerness and excitement.

However, all that would have to wait until he recovered his magic power and transcended his first minor heavenly tribulation in the Spirit Realm.

Hence, Han Li quickly focused his attention back on the task at hand and hovered into the Chaotic Valley, which was only under 100 kilometers in size. The Scorching Light Pond was the center of the entire valley, and its surroundings were completely enshrouded under grey mist. Han Li was aware of the pond's approximate location, but he didn't dare to use his spiritual sense to survey his surroundings in fear of blowing his cover.

After finally arriving at the pond, the discovered that there were already a dozen or so human and demon high-grade beings present, facing off against one another on either side of the pond.

The humans were naturally led by City Lord Lan and Tou Tuo, both of whom wore dark expressions on their faces, while the demons were led by the young woman from the Black Phoenix Race, as well as three completley identical thin young men who appeared to be triplets.

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Upon seeing this, Han Li cast his gaze toward the surface of the pond.

Aside from the fact that the water in the pond was remarkably clear, it was completely mundane and nondescript otherwise.

Just as Han Li was feeling rather surprised and perplexed about this, City Lord Lan appraised the three identical young men, and he suddenly asked, "I heard that there's a mutated wolf demon in the Silvermoon Wolf Race that was able to cultivate its three heads into three different avatars with the assistance of an immensely powerful being. Each and every one of those avatars possesses a cultivation base at the pinnacle of the Nascent Soul Stage, and when all three join forces, they're capable of taking on a Deity Transformation being. Could you three be those very same avatars?"

The three young men chuckled in unison upon hearing this. One of them immediately said, "I didn't think us three brothers would be so widely-renowned. That's ready we are that Cerberus Moon Wolf. We've also heard much about you, City Lord Lan; care for a spar?"

"Hmph, I have no time for such activities. Fellow Daoist Xiao, what are you planning by entering the valley alone?" City Lord Lan disregarded the challenge being direct at him, turning toward the young woman instead with an interrogative gaze.

"What am I planning? Didn't Senior Huan say that there are Spirit Tribe cultivators trying to capture this s-called Spirit Tribe traitor in the pond? I came to stop them, of course," the young woman replied with a dainty smile.

City Lord Lan looked at the young woman for a while, then glanced at the pond before asking, "Is that so? I'm glad you have such intentions, Fellow Daoist Xiao. Please continue; I will guard the pond in the meantime to prevent any Spirit Tribe beings from entering the pond, how about that?"

The young woman faltered slightly upon hearing this before chuckling at the sight of Tou Tuo and the several other Nascent Soul cultivators beside City Lord Lan.

"If you hadn't come here, then perhaps I would indeed be venturing into the pond. However, seeing as you're here, I'll leave this opportunity to you, Brother Lan. You're not going to make a frail woman like me enter the pond in your stead, are you? I heard that you have a Water Warding Jade Rhinoceros Horn treasure; that thing will surely be very useful for when you enter the pond."

"I can enter the pond, but you have to take your forces and exit the Chaotic Valley first." City Lord Lan's expression suddenly darkened as his voice became cold and uncompromising.

Seeing as City Lord Lan had cast aside all semblance of pleasantries, the young woman's expression also changed slightly, and she gave a cold harrumph before falling silent.

Neither side was willing to back down at this critical juncture.

Meanwhile, City Lord Lan's lips were twitching as he discussed something with Tou Tuo through voice transmission. As he did so, a hint of malicious intent surfaced in his eyes.

Aside from the young woman and the three identical young men, there were only three other metamorphosis stage demonic cultivators present.

In contrast, aside from City Lord Lan and Tou Tuo, there were still seven or eight other Nascent Soul cultivators among the human forces, so they held a clear upper hand.

No one else had managed to arrive at this pond after all this time, clearly indicating that they were being held off by the Spirit Tribe beings. As such, neither side was going to receive additional reinforcements in a short time period.

If one side could take the divine blood first, there was no way they'd actually be willing to split the divine blood evenly between both sides.

Everyone knew that the prior agreement they had made was only for show, and it was merely an empty promise made so that a temporary alliance could be facilitated.

The young woman could sense the aggressive intentions from the humans, and her brows furrowed slightly as she unleashed a secret technique to caution her own troops. At the same time, she rustled a sleeve and an object fell into her hand.

The atmosphere became extremely tense, and a physical altercation appeared to be imminent. All of a sudden, the ground near the pond suddenly tremored violently, and the peaceful water within the pond abruptly began to tumble and surge. Immediately thereafter, strands of white light shot forth from within, some of which rose directly into the sky while others descended toward the nearby demons and humans.

Upon being struck by these strands of light, countless needle-sized holes were instantly punctured into the nearby rocks.

The beings from the two races were greatly startled upon seeing this, and all of them hurriedly unleashed their abilities or treasures to defend themselves.

Right at this moment, a layer of blinding light suddenly appeared within the transparent water of the pond, as if an incandescent sun was rising up from down below. Just as the water in the pond was churning and bubbling, a scorching burst of heat suddenly erupted from the white light within.

"What's going on? Are the Spirit Tribe beings down there doing this?" Han Li was hiding in the air up above, and had also been forced to take evasive measures in the face of the strands of light. Looking at the bizarre phenomenon taking place in the pond now, he was given a massive surprise.

He wasn't the only one; the young woman, City Lord Lan, and everyone was also quite bewildered and perplexed.

"Something's not right! Isn't the scorching light only able to hide within the pond? How is it able to leave the water? Could it be..." City Lord Lan was clearly rather familiar with this pond, yet before he could finish his analysis, a dozen or so pillars of white light that were as thick as water tanks rose into the air. As soon as they left the surface of the pond, they immediately changed directions, hurtling directly toward the humans and demons nearby at an astonishing speed.

This unprecedented surprise attack had caught the beings from the two races completely off guard.

The powerful beings like the young woman and City Lord Lan were immediately able to unleash a secret technique to flee the scene, while the three identical young men managed to also unleash some kind of secret technique that made them disappear without a trace right before the pillars of light struck them.No one had any time to activate any protective techniques or defensive treasures.

Everyone was beset with shock and rage upon seeing this. Before they had even had a chance to figure out what was happening, five pillars of yellow light suddenly erupted from the soil around the pond, and there was a series of indiscernible patterns carved onto the surfaces of these pillars.

The humans present had the largest number of Nascent Soul cultivators among them, but they also suffered the most casualties.

Most of these people were City Lord Lan's trust subordinates and disciples, and he was naturally furious that they had perished in a place like this. At the sight of the yellow pillars of light erupting from the soil down below, he immediately roared, "Who dares to attack us?"

Immediately thereafter, he laid a hand over the top of his own head, and five small blue swords immediately shot forth before transforming into massive swords that were several tens of feet in size.

"Slash!" City Lord Lan commanded in a cold voice.

The five massive swords immediately flashed through the air, flying toward the five yellow pillars before rapidly flying in several circles around the bases of these pillars.

A string of resounding booms erupted, but the pillars remained intact, with only a series of sword indentations left on their surfaces.

City Lord Lan's pupils contracted as he hurriedly made a hand seal to summon the five giant swords back to him.

Right at this moment, a green viscous liquid suddenly seeped out from the sword indentations on the pillars, emitting an extremely peculiar rank odor.

Meanwhile, City Lord Lan kept his swords circling above his head, preparing himself for any further attacks.

He was naturally well aware of just how powerful his flying swords were.

They were normally capable of easily slicing through small mountains, let alone a few pillars.

However, these pillars didn't appear to be normal pillars. Their surfaces seemed to possess a hint of suppleness, as if they were living creatures.

The young woman also wore a bewildered expression at the sight of City Lord Lan's failed attack.

A burst of low buzzing rang out from the pond down below, as if something had just been awakened.

Following the emergence of this strange sound, the five yellow pillars suddenly became completely stationary. However, a massive ball of light with a diameter of around 100 feet suddenly shot froth from within the pond.

The ball was entirely white in color, but there was a shimmering golden spherical object at its center that was roughly the same size as a human head.

"That's the Setting Sun Crystal!"

Tou Tuo suddenly exclaimed upon seeing this object. As soon as he blurted out those words, he deeply regretted not keeping a tighter lid on his own mouth, and he immediately hurtled forth as a streak of white light to claim the treasure for himself.

Upon hearing the words "Setting Sun Crystal", the young woman and the three identical young men were also ecstatic.

The young woman let loose a loud cry before transforming into a black flaming phoenix as she flew toward the object. Meanwhile, the three young men gathered together to form a thick pillar of silver light that shot forth in hot pursuit.

However, for some reason, City Lord Lan remained on the spot, refraining from taking any action.

Han Li also continued to look on without doing anything as he hovered up above.

His target was very simple; he was here for the divine blood. No matter what other valuable treasures existed here, unless they were more valuable than the divine blood, he wasn't going to pursue it and blow his own cover.

The young woman and the three young men had clearly sprung into action a split second slower than Tou Tuo.

The white light that Tou Tuo had transformed into reached the Setting Sun Crystal first, and he attempted to sweep it away.

However, right at this moment, a startling change suddenly struck.

An enormous burst of invisible suction force suddenly appeared around the ball of light, causing Tou Tuo's body to falter slightly in mid-air.

He was naturally shocked by this turn of events and hurriedly unleashed his magic power to resist this force. However, several peculiar silver runes then suddenly appeared over his robes, following which Tou Tuo was sucked into the pond, disappearing without a trace.

The ball of light remained floating silently in mid-air, as if nothing had ever happened.

The young woman and the three identical young men were naturally greatly startled upon seeing this, and they hurriedly retreated before casting their bewildered eyes toward the pond down below.

Meanwhile, City Lord Lan seemed to have gleaned something from the situation, and his expression suddenly became very strained.

Right at this moment, another thunderous boom erupted from within the pond, following which five more yellow pillars of light identical to the first five shot forth from the soil.

A roar that resembled violent thunderclaps then rang out from within the pond, gradually becoming louder and louder.

The pond and the 10 yellow pillars began to tremor violently amid the sound of this thunderous roar.

All of a sudden, City Lord Lan turned around and flew toward the entrance to the valley as a streak of blue light, disappearing into the mist in just a few flashes.

This came as quite a surprise to everyone else. Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he began to drift higher up into the air.

In contrast, the young woman and the three identical young men glanced at one another, and even though solemn expressions had appeared on their faces, none of them departed from this place.

Shortly thereafter, the water within the pond began to swirl rapidly, transforming into a giant vortex in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, the 10 yellow pillars suddenly grew over 100 feet taller. The ground also began to crumble as two gargantuan creatures emerged from either side of the pond.

Han Li was in the process of ascending to higher altitudes when he took a glance at what was taking place down below, and he was immediately flabbergasted by the sight that greeted him.

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He discovered that the colossal pillars that had appeared on either side of the pond were merely fingers on the hands of the two gargantuan creatures that had just appeared. Now, a pair of those enormous hands were slowly extending upward from within the soil.

The water in the Scorching Light Pond had somehow disappeared, and at the center of the pond, a giant eyeball around 20 feet in size appeared. The eyeball slowly rolled around before emitting a sinister light.

Han Li shuddered upon seeing this, and his face immediately paled as he recalled a vastly renowned race within the Spirit Realm.

He immediately sped up, flying up into the air without any hesitation.

However, he was unable to fly all that quickly anyway due to the limitations of his incomplete High Zenith Invisibility Talisman.

The young woman and the three identical young men hadn't noticed all of this yet, but they were also struck by a sense of indescribable peril.

The young woman harrumphed coldly before opening her mouth to expel a crimson handkerchief. She then raised a hand, and an azure wyrm of light that was around 10 feet in size appeared before circling around her body. It was an extremely profound azure flying saber.

The handkerchief rose up above her head, then transformed into a red barrier of light that shielded her body within.

Meanwhile, the three young men made hand seals in unison as faint silver light emanated from their bodies. The three balls of light then combined as one to create a large ball of silver light that inundated all three of them at once.

After adopting these defensive measures, the four demonic cultivators were immediately greeted by the sight of the ground down below in a radius of close to 10,000 feet splitting open at once amid an earthshattering boom.

The massive eyeball at the bottom of the pond blinked, following which the Setting Sun Crystal in mid-air descended rapidly before disappearing into the eye.

A mountainous creature then slowly sat up from the ground.

From his vantage point, Han Li was able to see everything.

The gargantuan creature was several thousand feet tall, and most of its body was covered in greyish-yellow soil as it raised both arms into the air. It was an unfathomably massive living being!

If it weren't for the fact that Han Li had seen demon spirits like the Rahu and the Heavenroaming Kun Peng in the human world, he would struggle to believe that something so massive could exist in this world.

The giant was only wearing a loincloth made from some type of unknown beast hide, and it had a single gargantuan eye on its head.

The eye was slightly caved in on the giant's face, and it was none other than the depression created by the eye that had given rise to the pond.

Aside from that, the giant had a hideous nose and a long mouth that extended almost from ear to ear. As it opened its mouth, sharp white teeth could be seen within.

The giant hadn't completely stood up. It had only sat up while the lower half of its body was still buried deep in the ground.

It was looking at the four demonic cultivators in the air with no hint of expression whatsoever in its single eye.

"Impossible! This is a primordial giant! Run! This is not something we can handle," the young woman immediately exclaimed after finally realizing what they were dealing with here.

She finally understood why City Lord Lan had fled without any regard for Tou Tuo's life. He must've identified the signs in advance and fled for his life.

The young woman immediately made a hand seal without any hesitation. The red light barrier around her body rapidly rotated before shattering into shards of red light, while the young woman herself abruptly disappeared.

However, her lithe and graceful figure resurfaced in the air 500 to 600 feet away amid a flash of red light.

The three young men were also stunned by the sight of the giant, and only after witnessing the young woman escape did they return to their senses, preparing to unleash a movement technique that would take them away from this terrifying creature.

However, right at this moment, the cyclops giant suddenly opened its mouth, and a strange sound rang out from within its throat as a burst of enormous suction force erupted from within. The three young men could feel themselves being sucked toward the giant's mouth, and they hurriedly made hand seals as they tried to resist with all their might.

Unfortunately for them, this was a fearsome being that even Deity Transformation cultivators like the young woman and City Lord Lan had to flee from, so three Nascent Soul cultivators were certainly not going to be able to resist its power.

Thus, the three demonic cultivators were forcibly drawn toward the giant's cavernous mouth, and only then were they truly struck by shock and horror.

One of the young men immediately transformed into a massive silver wolf that was several tens of feet in length.

The wolf let loose a desperate howl, and the other two young men immediately flew into its body as streaks of silver light.

Azure and red light immediately began to shimmer on either side of the wolf's head as a couple of smaller azure and red wolf heads emerged.

The three wolf heads let loose a long howl in unison, following which silver, red, and azure light erupted from their respective mouths, instantly infusing themselves into the silver protective light barrier around them.

Even though their momentum hadn't been completely arrested as a result, they managed to slow themselves down significantly.

In the face of such a dire situation, the three demonic cultivators had finally combined once again to revert back to their Cerberus wolf form.

Han Li's heart stirred slightly as he witnessed this from up above, and the image of a graceful figure suddenly appeared in his mind. However, he heaved a faint sigh to expel this image before focusing his attention on the events unfolding down below again.

Seeing as the pond was a product of the giant's eye, then it was very likely to be the case that the Spirit Tribe traitor had already been devoured by the giant.

Furthermore, according to what he knew about primordial giants, all of them possessed extremely low levels of intelligence and took pleasure in devouring any being from other races, so there was no way that it would be able to identify divine blood. As such, the vial containing the divine blood was most likely contained within the giant's body.

That was very troublesome.

Even though primordial giants were severely lacking in intelligence, once they grew to maturity, they'd attain abilities comparable to that of early-Spatial Tempering beings. Furthermore, with their brilliant aptitudes, they could even stand up against a Body Integration Stage being.

It was said that there was a legendary breed of Thousand-Eyed Giants that could even hold their own against true heavenly spirits like dragons and phoenixes.

Han Li was feeling rather hesitant, but he was also quite reluctant to give up on this opportunity.

At this moment, the three heads of the Cerberus wolf blasted out several treasures to try and break free from the suction force.

However, as soon as those treasures emerged, they were swept into the giant's cavernous mouth by a series of silver runes, rendering them completley useless.

Thus, the Cerberus wolf could hold on arduously by expending its own magic power, but its body was still slowly traveling toward the giant's mouth.

Even though the giant wolf was blasting out three-colored light with all its might, it was still unable to escape this suction force.

Even so, the giant was still getting rather impatient. It suddenly raised a colossal palm before swatting at the Cerberus wolf as if it were taking a swing at a fly.

A massive black shadow fell from the sky, enshrouding the body of the demonic wolf. Before it had even reached the wolf, the winds being swept up by the gargantuan palm were causing the barriers of light around the wolf demon's body to quiver and waver, threatening to destroy the barriers at any moment.

If the fearsome palm were to actually strike the wolf, the latter would definitely be crushed into mincemeat.

Unfortunately for the demonic wolf, it had been completely immobilized by the enormous suction force acting upon its body.

Despair appeared in the eyes of all three wolf heads. Just as the gargantuan hand was about to grab onto the Cerberus wolf, an abrupt turn of events suddenly struck.

Yellow light flashed near the massive wolf, and a thin and frail figure appeared from thin air before immediately throwing his fists through the air.

It was none other than Huan Tianqi, the young man from the demon race.

One of his fists was aimed at the oncoming massive palm, while the other had been thrown directly at the Cerberus wolf.

Piercing spiritual light erupted from his fists, following which two balls of yellow light shot forth.

A couple of resounding booms erupted as one of the balls of light clashed the gargantuan palm, but was only able to slow it down minutely before the ball of light was destroyed. Meanwhile, the other balls of light struck the barriers around the demonic wolf's body, forcibly launching it through the air like an arrow, thereby allowing it to escape from the insane suction force emitting from the giant's mouth.

At this moment, the giant's hand came crashing down with devastating force, but Huan Tianqi's body merely swayed before disappearing from the spot.

In the next instant, he reappeared several hundred feet away right in front of the Cerberus wolf before gently pointing a finger toward the demonic wolf.

Specks of azure light appeared out of thin air, forming a massive azure mirror with a smooth and translucent surface in the blink of an eye.

The demonic wolf's massive body crashed into the mirror, sending ripples surging through its surface before the former was slowly rebounded away.

The demonic wolf shook its three heads to shrug off its dizziness before hurriedly extending words of gratitude to its savior. "Thank you for saving my life, Senior Huan!"

"If you're alright now, then hurry up and get out of here; this is not something that you can handle. I didn't think that there would be a primordial giant here; looks like it must've been lying dormant in this valley before the three human regions were founded. Otherwise, there's no way that it would've been able to sneak into this place."

A ball of white light then flashed in the air nearby, and a white-robed man appeared with his hands clasped behind his back. The man was none other than Spirit Lord Huang Liang, and he looked on with narrowed eyes at the colossal creature up ahead with a solemn expression on his face.

"Hmph, that must indeed have been the case. Otherwise, unless the guards stationed at the entrances to the three regions were blind, there's no way that they would've missed such a gargantuan creature. Thankfully, it's only a Cyclops Giant, and it must have been severely wounded for it to be lying dormant in this valley. If we join forces, we should be able to kill it," Huan Tianqi analyzed.

"How do we split the spoils? I heard that this giant has a massive chunk of Setting Sun Crystal on its body; that's a superb material for refining Yang-attribute spirit treasures," Spirit Lord Huang Liang mused with furrowed brows.

Huan Tianqi seemed to have already considered this in advance, and he immediately replied without any hesitation, "I'm not interested in what the Spirit Tribe traitor has, so I'll take the Setting Sun Crystal."

"Alright, you have yourself a deal. All of you look out as well. Even though those Spirit Tribe cultivators have been forced back for now, we have to be wary of them making a return." Spirit Lord Huang Liang accepted this arrangement before suddenly turning to a few humanoid figures that had just appeared in the distance.

Han Li was eavesdropping in the air above, and he also turned toward that direction.

There, he discovered that City Lord Lan and the young woman from the demon race had returned along with some other humans and demons. There was not a single Spirit Tribe being to be seen.

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During the battle outside the valley earlier, Profound Spirit Xu Tian had thought that he'd be powerful enough to take on Spirit Lord Huang Liang and Huan Tianqi on his own. However, to his surprise, the cultivation arts used by the two of them complemented one another, and they were able to enhance each other to a much greater degree than Xu Tian had anticipated.

As the battle wore on, Xu Tian knew that he had no chance of victory, so he didn't dare to prolong the battle any longer, choosing instead to immediately retreat with all of the other Spirit Tribe beings.

Otherwise, Huan Tianqi and Spirit Lord Huang Liang wouldn't have been able to get into the valley so quickly.

At this moment, the presence of so many people seemed to have reminded the Cyclops Giant of some kind of traumatic experience, and a vicious light appeared in its eyes as it let loose a thunderous roar. It then lowered its head as piercing light erupted from its single eye, following which countless white strands shot forth in a frenzy, enshrouding both Huan Tianqi and Spirit Lord Huang Liang.

"Hmph, I didn't think that it would've completely refined the Setting Sun Crystal already, but it's dreaming if it thinks a few mere fire strands will hurt us." Spirit Lord Huang Liang harrumphed coldly as he rustled a sleeve. That Yin-Yan mirror treasure appeared once again, swelling drastically to around the size of a fully grown man and positioning itself before him as a shield.

As soon as the white light strands crashed into the mirror, brilliant spiritual light immediately erupted from the mirror's surface, rebounding all of the strands of light toward the giant's massive body. However, the strands of light simply disappeared into its body in a flash without being able to inflict any damage.

On the other end, Huan Tianqi had also conjured up a massive mirror before him using spiritual power to reflect the oncoming strands of white light.

This method of attack was clearly proving to be ineffective, so the giant immediately stopped blasting the strands of light out of its eye as it let loose a low snarl. At the same time, it spread open five fingers on one of its massive hands before swinging it toward its two assailants with devastating force.

Prior to the palm even coming into contact with the two of them, a burst of gale-force winds came sweeping forth first.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang's expression darkened as he blasted a white paper fan out of his mouth.

He grabbed the paper fan before waving it violently toward the gargantuan hand.

All of a sudden, a gust of white wind appeared out of thin air, crashing into the gale-force winds swept up by the palm and keeping the latter at bay.

Meanwhile, Huan Tianqi rubbed his hands together, and an arc of grey lightning appeared.

The lightning gradually changed shape between his hands, manifesting into a completely nondescript-looking silver saber.

The saber looked sleek and sharp for sure, but it was completely dull and mundane.

At the same time, Huan Tianqi began to chant something, and strands of yellow fur began to sprout from his youthful face while its eyes turned into a sinister green color.

After letting loose an almighty roar, devastating spiritual pressure erupted from his body. He slashed his saber gently through the air, and a grey line immediately shot forth.

The grey line elongated dramatically to over 10 feet in length before striking the thumb of the massive palm in a flash.

The grey line was sharp to the extreme, and the giant only had a chance to shudder before its thumb detached itself from its hand.

The giant let loose a howl of agony as it reflexively drew back its hand. The single eye on its forehead bulged and instantly became bloodshot with pain and rage.

It glared intently at Huan Tianqi as an expression of thunderous rage appeared on its hideous face.

After unleashing that saber strike, the grey blade disappeared in a flash, and Huan Tianqi's face paled significantly, as if that attack had expended a vast amount of his energy.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang looked into the giant's furious crimson eye with a grim expression on his face as he said in a slow voice, "Take care, Fellow Daoist Huan; it looks like your attack has truly enraged it. Its next attack is most likely going to be rather difficult to deal with. I wonder how its regenerative abilities are, though. If it can immediately regenerate its thumb, then that won't be good news for us."

"I know that much without you having to tell me, Fellow Daoist Huang Liang. That attack was only to test its true power. The fact that its finger was cut down by me so easily suggests that it's just an ordinary giant. Looks like we have nothing to worry about now," Huan Tianqi replied in a calm voice.

However, before he'd even finished his sentence, a layer of green light suddenly surfaced over the cross-sectional wound on the giant's thumb.

Amid the green light, bone and flesh grew in a frenzy, creating a brand new thumb that was identical to the previous one in the blink of an eye.

The giant then moved the thumb experimentally, and it appeared to be just as agile as it was before, thereby rendering Huan Tianqi's prior attack essentially completely ineffective.

Huan Tianqi faltered initially upon seeing this before drawing a sharp breath.

"An immortal body!" Spirit Lord Huang Liang's pupils also contracted drastically.

At this moment, the giant violently slammed its two gargantuan hands into the ground, causing the entire Chaotic Valley to tremor and quake.

Its height suddenly doubled as it finally stood up from the ground.

What came as even grimmer sight to Spirit Lord Huang Liang and Huan Tian was that as soon as the giant stood up, it dug a black stone club out from the soil underfoot.

The club was extraordinarily big, spanning almost half the giant's height in length. From the hints of azure light glistening over its surface, it appeared that this stone club had been constructed from the legendary Azure Spirit Sand.

This type of rare material was even heavier by mass than fine iron.

If such a fearsome weapon were to crashing down at full force, there would be very few beings even at the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage that would dare to take an attack from it head-on.

"It has a weapon as well; looks like things really are getting troublesome. We'll have to fight at full power now." Spirit Lord Huang Liang's face twitched.

"I'm well aware of that, Fellow Daoist Huang Liang. Let's take this thing down together; we can't allow it to live!" Huan Tianqi declared expressionlessly before opening his mouth to let loose a low cry.

Iridescent light flashed almost immediately thereafter in the sky, and a fist-sized moth appeared.

It was none other than Huan Tianqi's spirit insect, the mature Illusionary Flame Moth!

The moth fluttered its wings before its body instantly swelled drastically within the mesmerizing iridescent light, reaching around 10 feet in size in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, yellow beastly fur that several inches in length sprouted in a frenzy from Huan Tianqi's body, and his nose and mouth also began to take on feral beastly characteristics.

In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a half-human and half-demon being.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang sat down with his legs crossed and laid a hand over the top of his head, upon which a burst of yellow light surfaced, carrying a Nascent Soul that was around half a foot in size.

The Nascent Soul's appearance was completely identical to Spirit Lord Huang Liang's, but it was wearing a suit of shimmering silver armor and wielding a small green sword in one hand, as well as a white jade seal in the other.

Furthermore, the Nascent Soul appeared to be completely concrete without the insubstantial quality most Nascent Souls possessed.

The Nascent Soul abruptly opened its eyes before raising a hand to hurl the seal through the air. The seal immediately swelled to around an acre in size before crashing down directly toward the giant's head with devastating force.

Meanwhile, Huan Tianqi shot forth as a streak of light while swinging his claws through the air.

A series of translucent claw projections surfaced in mid-air, tearing through space as they hurtled toward the giant.

Immediately thereafter, Huan Qianqi himself somehow disappeared into those claw projections.

The giant let loose a thunderous roar of rage as beams of crimson pillars of light began to blast out of its eye. At the same time, it swung its stone club toward the oncoming seal with ferocious power.

It also made a grabbing motion toward the ground down below with its other hand, drawing a massive clump of soil into its grasp. Yellow light flashed as the soil transformed into a massive rock that was several tens of feet in diameter.

The giant drew back its arm before hurling the rock toward Spirit Lord Huang Liang with unerring accuracy.

At this moment, the claw projections struck the crimson pillars of light amid a series of rumbling explosions. Following an even louder boom, the stone club slammed into the massive seal...

The battle had officially commenced! Han Li spectated the battle from up above with tightly furrowed brows.

As expected of a battle between Spatial Tempering cultivators and a legendary primordial giant; even the simplest of their movements were causing the world's origin Qi to tremor violently around them.

In particular, after Spirit Lord Huang Liang's Nascent Soul had left his body, the massive seal that it was using absorbed a vast amount of spiritual Qi from the surrounding environment prior to every single attack, thereby significantly enhancing its power. Otherwise, despite the astonishing power of the seal itself, it would've never been able to withstand a few strikes from the stone club of the giant.

Meanwhile, Huan Tianqi's body was still one with the claw projections he had unleashed, and he was like an unfathomable vortex, constantly absorbing the spiritual Qi around him.

As for that Cyclops Giant, every time it opened and closed its mouth, it was unintentionally inhaling and exhaling a vast amount of Spiritual Qi of far greater quantity than what Spirit Lord Huang Liang and Huan Tianqi could summon, but the degree of purity was inferior in comparison.

This was the first time that Han Li had witnessed a battle between Spatial Tempering Stage beings at such close quarters, and he was unconsciously deriving insights and observations from the battle to assist in his won cultivation.

It was quite a bountiful process for him.

Just as Han Li was looking on with rapt focus, his expression suddenly changed as he turned his gaze toward a certain spot.

There was clearly nothing there, and his spiritual sense couldn't detect anything, either, but his spirit eyes that had been cleansed countless times by the Brightsight Spirit Water was able to identify a faint transparent shadow standing in mid-air, also spectating the battle down below.

"Xu Tian!" Even though Han Li's spirit eyes were unable to identify exactly who it was, it appeared that the only being capable of lurking here without being noticed would be this Profound Spirit.

Han Li was ecstatic upon seeing this.

To him, the more tumultuous the situation became, the better.

Just as Han Li was observing the transparent shadow, the latter abruptly raised his head, and also cast a glance toward Han Li's direction.

Han Li's heart stirred upon seeing this.

Thankfully, the shadow then immediately lowered his head again, leaving Han Li to wonder whether his cover had been blown or Xu Tian had merely cast an errant glance his way as an unintentional gesture.

Han Li's eyes narrowed and an indecisive look appeared on his face.

The fierce battle down below raged for half a day. The landscape in the Chaotic Valley had been ravaged so severely by the giant and the two Spatial Tempering Stage beings that it was now completely unrecognizable. The terrain was completely riddled with massive craters, and the grey mist in the valley had been swept clean long ago by the enormous spiritual pressure emanating from the bodies of the three combatants.

Furthermore, due to the drastic changes in the world's origin Qi that the three had effected, the sky was filled with dark clouds and pelting with heavy rain at times, yet bright and scorching with sunlight during other times. There were even stretches where wind, snow, and hail were interspersed with storms of mud and rocks.

Aside from the young woman in palatial robes and a few other Deity Transformation cultivators who could still spectate the battle from afar, everyone else had left the Chaotic Valley long ago in fear of dying as collateral damage during this battle for the ages.

The Cyclops Giant was just as ferocious as ever, and it appeared that he was completley indefatigable. However, Han Li could see that Spirit Lord Huang Liang and Huan Tianqi were intentionally employing guerilla warfare tactics to wear the giant out, and even with the world's origin Qi replenishing its body, the giant was still approaching the stage where it would soon be a spent force. All of its attacks had slowed down drastically, and it was only a matter of time before it was defeated.

Sure enough, as Spirit Lord Huang Liang was distracting the giant with one attack, Huan Tianqi took the opportunity to slice off one of its toes. The giant bellowed in fury once again, but its severed toe was unable to regenerate on this occasion.

Both Spirit Lord Huang Liang and Huan Tianqi's eyes lit up in unison upon seeing this. Thye knew that it was finally time for this battle to draw to a conclusion.

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Brilliant yellow light radiated from Spirit Lord Huang Liang's Nascent Soul, and the small green sword in its hand abruptly shot forth.

Green light flashed, and the small sword transformed into a peculiar spirit beast with the head of a falcon, the body of a horse, and a pair of azure feathered wings. The spirit beast opened its mouth before pouncing toward the giant with ferocious might.

The Nascent Soul then pointed a finger at the massive white seal that was hovering in the sky.

In response, the seal began to rotate rapidly, transforming into a white smoky projection at the Nascent Soul's behest.

All of a sudden, countless rays of light of different colors converged toward the massive seal, making its already astonishing stature expand even further. In just the span of a few breaths, the seal had swelled to several times its original size, seemingly filling up almost the entire sky.

Huan Tianqi also stopped several hundred feet away from the giant. He raised both hands and two balls of grey lightning surfaced at once amid a burst of rumbling thunderclaps.

A massive grey blade several tens of feet in length then abruptly appeared.

It didn't appear to be anything special, but the difference in power between this blade and the blade Huan Tianqi had employed earlier was night and day.

Huan Tianqi glared coldly at the giant before suddenly waving a hand toward the massive moth that had been hovering above him this entire time.

The moth immediately spread its wings, transforming into the streak of iridescent light that disappeared into the giant blade in the blink of an eye.

Immediately thereafter, a cold sinister light began to emanate from the giant blade, following which he slowly slashed it toward the giant's waist.

A mesmerizing thin line shot forth in a flash.

Even though the giant wasn't very intelligent, it could sense that it was in grave danger from these two devastating attacks unleashed by Spirit Lord Huang Liang and Huan Tianqi.

It tilted its head back and let loose an almighty roar as white light abruptly flashed from its eye. A glistening white ball shot forth from within, transforming into a ball of white light that managed to keep the peculiar azure-winged spirit beast at bay.

Immediately thereafter, crimson light flashed and a burst of powerful light erupted from its eye, clashing directly with the oncoming vibrant thin line.

A peculiar scene then ensued!

After the thin line and the crimson light came into contact with one another, no explosive boom erupted as a result. Instead, the clash was completely silent before the two became locked in an intense impasse.

In response to the massive white seal crashing down from above, the projection of a small mountain appeared around the stone club in the giant's hand, and it hurled the club directly at Spirit Lord Huang Liang.

It then clenched its hands into massive fists, causing the anaconda-like veins beneath its skin to bulge as it lashed out at the massive seal in the sky in a vicious strike.

It was going to rely on its insane strength to take on the gargantuan seal with its bare hands.

An earthshattering boom erupted, and incandescent light erupted from the seal. Even Han Li couldn't help but close his eyes in the face of such scintillating light as he spectated from above.

He then felt an astonishing wave of energy surging toward him, causing the air around him to churn violently and threatening to sweep him away.

Han Li's heart jolted with shock as he immediately circulated his magic power to stabilize his body.

When he opened his eyes again and looked down, he was flabbergasted by what he saw.

A dense yellow cloud had appeared beneath him, completely obscuring the three combatants within.

Han Li hesitated momentarily before slowly releasing his spiritual sense into the cloud. He could hear the enraged roar of the Cyclops Giant intermingled with the deranged cackles of Huan Tianqi ringing out from within the cloud. This was interspersed by bursts of resounding explosions, and the entire cloud itself was also churning and surging violently.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang remained silent throughout this entire process. Perhaps he was at a critical juncture of preparing a technique and couldn't divert his attention or simply couldn't be bothered to speak as he believed that this battle was already won.

Han Li's heart stirred as he cast his gaze toward the transparent shadow in the distance, only to find that it had disappeared.

A contemplative look appeared in Han Li's eyes as he directed his attention to the yellow cloud down below again.

A resounding bloodcurdling cry erupted from within the yellow cloud, following by an earthshaking thump that made the entire valley quake violently, as if something absolutely colossal had fallen to the ground.

All of the sounds within the cloud abruptly cut off.

A peculiar look flashed through Han Li's eyes as he made a hand seal and began to descend from above.

At the same time, Huan Tianqi's triumphant laughter erupted from within the yellow cloud.

"It's a good thing that this idiot didn't have much intelligence. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to take care of it so quickly. That Spirit Tribe traitor must've been devoured by it; let me slice open its body and see just what the Spirit Tribe traitor was carrying with it."

"I'll leave you to it, then, Brother Huan. I've restricted that Setting Sun Crystal as well, and I'll be handing that over to you shortly," Spirit Lord Huang Liang replied.

The yellow finally gradually receded to reveal everything that was taking place down below.

The Cyclops Giant's body was riddled with wounds, and it was lying in a river of green blood. An arm and a leg were lying beside it, seemingly having been forcibly dismembered.

Its massive head had also been completely pulverized, and less than half of its remained.

There was also a gargantuan hole at the center of its chest, the edges of which had been entirely charred black. It appeared that it had been struck by some kind of Yang-attribute treasure, destroying its heart in one fell swoop.

That was most likely the lethal blow.

Huan Tianqi had already reverted back to his human form, and aside from the fact that his face appeared a little pale, he didn't appear to have been wounded at all.

At present, he was manipulating a white flying saber to slice open the giant's gargantuan lower abdomen.

Meanwhile, Spirit Lord Huang Liang was fiddling around with a white crystal ball, wearing a faint smile on his face as he did so.

The crystal ball was none other than the Setting Sun Crystal within the giant's body, but Spirit Lord Huang Liang seemed to have cast some used some kind of technique to shrink it down dramatically.

"Back when we were last in the primordial world, I recall that we'd slain a Two-Eyed Giant. That one was much more difficult to kill than this one. Direct confrontations with primordial giants really should be avoided if possible. They're not like other ancient beasts or heavenly spirit beasts; even with such massive bodies, there's nothing useful to be procured. Killing one expends a lot of energy, but you gain nothing from it," Huan Tianqi sighed as he continued to slice through the giant's stomach.

"Of course. Under normal circumstances, we certainly wouldn't go around provoking giants in the primordial world. However, it may not necessarily be correct to say that we'll gain nothing from killing giants. I recall that Divine Wolf Celestial Kui of the seven Demon Monarchs once slew a Seven-Headed Giant and found a small clump of Myriad Dawn Soil, thereby allowing it to refine the Myriad Dawn Demon Tower on the Chaotic Roll. Only then was it able to become one of the Demon Monarchs," Spirit Lord Huang Liang disagreed with a shake of his head.

"That's true. Primordial giants like to devour just about anything, so it's indeed possible to find some valuable treasures within their bodies. However, the chances of that happening are far too low; who would fight a giant in the primordial world just to enter a lottery? In particular, primordial giants are normally pack-dwelling creatures. Have you forgotten that after we slew that Two-Eyed Giant, we were almost forced to jump into the ocean to escape the Three-Headed Giant that came after us?" A wry smile appeared on Huan Tianqi as he recalled those memories.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang also chuckled upon the recollection of these past events, and he didn't say anything further.

After slicing through a certain section of the giant's body, a pile of stuff suddenly fell out.

Everything else was already completely dull and lusterless with the exceptions of a blue jade bowl and a translucent red vial, both of which were still radiating rays of spiritual light.

The blue jade bowl was emanating a layer of faint blue light that just so happened to be shielding the small vial within.

"This should be it." Huan Tianqi immediately identified the blue jade bowl as the true body of an Artifact Spirit Tribe being.

However, the spiritual nature of the bowl had completely faded, clearly indicating that the Artifact Spirit Tribe being had fallen.

The Spirit Tribe traitor had clearly given his life to protect that small vial, so it was most likely the object that they were looking for.

An elated look appeared on Huan Tianqi's face, yet just as he was about to reach out toward the small vial, Spirit Lord Huang Liang's expression suddenly changed drastically as he yelled, "Look out!"

Huan Tianqi was an immensely powerful being in his own right, and he sensed an extremely well-concealed sneak attack aimed toward him from the shadows almost at the exact moment that Spirit Lord Huang Liang had cried out.

In a fit of shock and rage, he didn't have time to do anything other than stomp a foot violently into the ground, catapulting himself straight into the air while a streak of crimson light glanced past the soles of his feet.

A humanoid figure that was around a foot in size suddenly appeared nearby before abruptly reaching toward the small vial.

"Don't you dare!" Spirit Lord Huang Liang let loose an enraged roar as he flicked his 10 fingers rapidly toward the humanoid figure.

A dozen or so yellow streaks of sword Qi immediately swept forth, but he was clearly too late.

The humanoid figure gave a triumphant laugh before sucking the small vial into his grasp. His body then swayed, and he flew away as a crimson cloud.

"Xu Tian! You're not getting away!" Have just barely evaded that attack that would've sliced him in half, Huan Tianqi circled around in mid-air and was furious after identifying his assailant.

Spatial fluctuations suddenly proliferated from above the crimson cloud as a massive moth around 10 feet in size appeared at his behest. The moth's green eyes flashed as it immediately flapped its wings downward without any hesitation.

A burst of seven-colored mist immediately descended toward the crimson cloud.

The cloud seemed to be extremely wary of the colorful mist, as indicated by the fact that it was unwilling to come into contact with the mist, skirting around it instead as it fled toward another direction.

However, during this split-second delay, the dozen or so streaks of yellow sword Qi unleashed by Spirit Lord Huang Liang were already upon him. Spirit Lord Huang Liang himself was also charging toward him as a streak of yellow light.

Xu Tian's heart jolted upon seeing this.

Right at this moment, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in his ear. "Master Xu Tian, give the divine blood to me! I'm using a concealment technique, and I'll be able to get the divine blood out of this place!"

Xu Tian faltered slightly upon hearing this, but he was quickly overjoyed.

The one who had been spectating the battle with him up above was indeed Shi Yan!

Xu Tian had an ability that allowed him to fainty detect the presence of one of his brethren nearby, but he couldn't be sure if there was actually someone there, and nor was he able to determine who it was.

However, the familiar voice answered all of the questions in his heart.

He raised on hand to defend himself against the oncoming streak of sword Qi, while the small vial appeared out of nowhere in his other hand amid a flash of spiritual light.

He flicked his wrist through the air, and the small crimson vial shot forth toward the direction where the voice had come from.

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The cloud of blood roiled and instantly condensed into a blood lotus that twirled around its body. Over ten streaks of swordlight were absorbed into it.

The small vial flew over thirty meters away and disappeared into emptiness in the blink of an eye.

When Huan Tianqi arrived and saw this, he let out a furious roar, spitting out a grey demon wind with it. Hail and sand and stone swept over the area Han Li was hidden.

Although the demon wasn't able to see Han Li's figure, he was rich with battle experience. He was able to make out that a human using concealment techniques had seized the bottle.

When Han Li saw the demon wind come to attack him, his expression faintly changed.

After he concealed himself, it was impossible for him to immediately fly out of range of the demon wind. Once the wind brushed past him, it would immediately dispel his invisibility talisman.

In that split second, Xu Tian's face turned sullen and he pointed at the engulfing winds with an incantation gesture.

A red swordlight tore through the air from over the horizon and flew into his hand. It then flashed, cleaving through the demon winds and directly cutting at Hua Tianqi.

Frightened, Hua Tianqi hastily reached out above him.

A grey demon claw immediately appeared and cleaved at the incoming crimson light. The grey and red light intertwined finding themselves in a deadlock for the time being.

When Han Li saw this, he was elated and began to fly away, still concealed.

But then, a cold snort sounded from behind him, "Where do you think you're going?"

He suddenly sensed something flash from the yellow mist and a white jade seal strangely warped above his head. In a blur, it turned over thirty-meters-large and pounded down towards Han Li.

The attack was lightning swift. Xu Tian shouted, knowing it was too late for him to help.

Han Li had already witnessed its might and when the giant pounded it, it was entirely unscathed.

He absolutely couldn't receive the strike.

His expression wavered several times before he let out a sigh.

As the jade seal pressed down, silver light flashed and revealed Han Li.

Han Li slapped the roof of his head and summoned a small cauldron wrapped in azure light. He opened it to release a string of clear cries, followed by a barrage of countless azure threads. They quickly waved together a net of light to catch the seal above him.

The seal continued to press down, dropping right on top of the net.

A chain of explosions ruptured. The seal appeared unharmed as usual, and the azure net began to slowly crumble. However, the Heavenvoid Cauldron was a Divine Spirit Treasure. With another wave of azure threads, it completely halted the jade seal's momentum.

Han Li grasped his hands in an incantation gesture to use this opportunity. Thunder cried, followed by the appearance of azure-white wings on his back.

His body seemed to twist as he turned into a white line, disappearing along with the small cauldron.

When the seal broke free of the net of light, it naturally fell on top of nothing.

At that moment, azure lightning flashed over a hundred meters away where Han Li silently reappeared.

"How are you able to control that treasure? You aren't Shi Yan!"

Xu Tian's inconceivable voice sounded from within the blood cloud. Then it roiled to reveal a silhouette that was several inches tall. The profound spirit Xu Tian looked at Han Li with furious alarm.

"You aren't from the spirit clan! You're a human cultivator!" Light flashed from the yellow mist to reveal Spirit Lord Huang Liang, looking at Han Li with an astonished fash.

Huan Tianqi used this opportunity to scatter the crimson sword light and flashed forward to Huang Liang's side, examining Han Li with bewilderment as well.

Facing the Spatial Tempering-stage existences, Han Li simply opened his mouth with an incantation gesture formed and spat out a mist of blood.

Soon after, a dense mist of blood enveloped him.

"He wants to run!" When Xu Tian saw this, he saw that it was a profound movement technique and he furiously shouted.

Soon after, the blood cloud stirred beneath Han Li as if it were ready to pounce.

Huan Tianqi snorted and said, "Fellow Daoist Xu Tian, there is no need to be so anxious. I merely want to experience your Bloodfiend Spirit Lotus. Brother Han Li, since he's a human cultivator, you deal with him." His form then turned half-demon in an instant and his body blurred as he pounced towards Xu Tian.

Huang Liang stared at Han Li and indifferently said, "Don't worry, he is a trifling Deity Transformation-stage cultivator. Even with a spirit treasure, he will not escape me.

He then glanced at the Heavenvoid Cauldron at Han Li's side.

As soon as those words were said, he opened his mouth and spat a small green sword. It blurred and arrived above the blood mist with wyrm-like agility.

A clang lightly sounded as a golden light shot out from the mist. Although it was repelled from the impact, it managed to block the green sword.

The golden light revealed itself to be a foot-long flying sword.

Huang Liang sneered and pointed at his sword.

The green streak flew immediately intertwining with the flying golden sword. Under the bright clash, the golden light found itself further pressured and restrained as the green streak began to revolve and turn into a meter-long wheel, revolving at a force that would crush anything in its path.

A series of sharp metal clangs sounded, but strangely enough, the golden sword appeared almost entirely unscathed from the fierce blows apart from growing dimmer.

Instead, the flying sword continued to forcibly tangle with the azure sword and distract it.

Huang Liang let out a yelp and his face stirred.

Although he hadn't refined the green sword from extraordinary materials, when he completed the first cycle of cultivation, he honed it with several thousand years of effort. Its might already was equivalent to a spirit treasure, but now it was being repelled by the flying sword of a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator.

He was thoroughly shocked, but he retained a calm appearance and quickly formed an incantation gesture, causing his sword to let out a ring. It blurred as it turned into thirty-six identical copies. They all cleaved at the blood mist in a dense barrage of attack, intending on skewering Han Li's corpse.

But what Huang Liang couldn't have expected was for Han Li's back to blur, summoning tens of small golden swords as well. They all flew out in sword streaks and blocked the azure lights, letting not one of them through.

At that moment, the blood mist was growing violently unstable as Han Li continued to chant. His ten fingers began to cycle through incantation gestures as if he was about to finish his spell.

When Spirit Lord Huang Liang saw this, his astonishment was clear to see, but a cold glint soon shined from his eye. Soon after, yellow mist brightly lit up and he vanished.

Han Li let out a deep sigh and suddenly crimson marks flashed on his brow, followed by the appearance of a black eye-ball. It immediately released a thin beam of jet-black light before disappearing.

Thirty meters away, a loud boom shook the air. Yellow mist and black light flickered together to reveal Spirit Lord Huang Liang. He cried out in alarm, "You have such a treasure? An annihilating treasure!"

The Spatial Tempering-stage cultivator wore a grim expression, but after some surprise, there was neither rage nor joy.

He raised his hand and slowly reached his hand out in front of him.

The sounds of tearing space erupted above Han Li's head and the winds drew up a storm nearby. Countless threads of mist appeared in the nearby air, condensing into a ball of light in th blink of an eye. A three-meter-long crystalline jade axe appeared in the air.

Huang Liang made a first with his hand and waved down, uttering, "Cleave."

The rainbow jade axe trembled and slowly moved down, but before the axe drew close, lightning rang.

Balls of azure lightning flickered off of the axe, warping the nearby space it touched. The might's axe was beyond what it displayed.

As he still casted from within the blood mist, Han Li's expression changed.

Without another thought, he opened his mouth and spat out a small black mountain. It trembled to release halos of grey light from its surface. Where ever the strange halo of light passed through any of the azure swordlight's, they let out a wail and trembled uncontrollably as if they were stunned.

The huge jade axe clearly wasn't comparable to the azure swordlight, however. It easily brushed past the halos and scattered them with ease.

Han Li's heart grew tense and the small mountain burst, suddenly condensing a dozen rings of light together into an incredibly dense halo. It disappeared with a trembled, suddenly reappearing nearby the jade axe and quickly wrapping around it.

The rainbow light on the axe's surface pulsed in resistance, but then, the axe suddenly lost control.

Huang Liang was completely aghast by the sight of this. Without another thought, he shouted and released a chain of spell seals.

Suddenly, the jade axe let out a roll of thunder and a series of azure lightning bolts exploded, fiercely cleaving down and tearing through the grey halo.

But that moment of delay bought Han Li just enough time. He suddenly blurred in a crimson streak and he left the blood mist. At an inconceivable speed, he arrived hundreds of kilometers away, a mere black speck in the horizon.

As for his flying swords and the small black mountain, they disappeared as well.

With his Deity Transformation-stage cultivation and his fiercely powerful body, this life-saving evasion technique possessed inconceivable speeds. In several flickers, he already disappeared from sight.

At that moment, Spirit Lord Huang Liang and the others ceased their fighting and looked into the distance with shock.

The three yelled with alarm at nearly the same time and cast incantation gestures at nearly the same instant, streaking forward in furious pursuit.

Several seconds later, the nearby skies were completely empty, the three flying at a speed nearly comparable to the Bloodshadow Evasion.

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With the speed of the Bloodshadow Evasion, Han Li had arrived at the valley's entrance in the span of a few breaths.

With his current cultivation, he was finally able to do what he couldn't at Core Formation and Nascent Soul stage. He was able to control his direction with the overbearing speed of the technique.

In the blink of an eye, Han Li arrived over fifty kilometers away and he swept his spiritual sense past his surroundings.

He discovered that Huang Liang and the others weren't far away and were in close pursuit. His heart couldn't help but tremble.

Since they were all Spatial Tempering-stage cultivators, Han Li didn't believe it would be so simple to escape them.

Still within the crimson light, he flipped his hand and two pearls sparkling with crimson-black talisman characters appeared in his hand. He quickly tossed them behind him and began to chant with his hands held in a gesture.

At that moment, he continued to blur through the air in a crimson flash and swept past the entrance to the Chaotic Valley.

Behind him, the three were still in quick pursuit

The two pearls spun and let out a drone before detonating in a world-shaking explosion.

Black and red light turned into two thirty-meter-wide blazing suns.

To the naked eye, one could see waves of violent Qi scattering around them like a storm. It completely engulfed the area of several kilometers.

Of the three cultivators pursuing Han Li, Xu Tian possessed the deepest cultivation and even used a secret technique to increase his speed. As a result, he was engulfed by the storm.

As for the other two, they had more time to react and quickly changed direction, thinking of flying around the dangerous storm.

Nevertheless, both the human and the demon didn't let go of this opportunity to give a free hit to Xu Tian.

Huan Tianqi's sleeve trembled and a grey demon wind roiled. Huang Liang waved his hand at the storm and released a yellow beam of light.

The two attacks entered the storm and let out a large explosion. Xu Tian's furious roar immediately followed.

Seeing that Xu Tian was somewhat harmed, he would be occupied for some time.

The pair grinned at each other and then made their way to the valley entrance.

Because of the delay caused by the Immortal Vanquishing Pearls, Han Li already turned into a blur on the horizon.

The two didn't take the distance to heart as the two were confident, they would be able to catch up using their secret techniques. But then, two wounds cracked from the stone walls of the valley.

Silver light flashed and two pillars of silver flames moved to engulf them.

Because the flames traveled at immense speed within the narrow valley, it arrived before them in the blink of an eye.

Spirit Lord Huang Liang chopped his hand through the air without another through, striking down the flames with a yellow sword streak.

But as soon as the swordstreak touched the flame, it was consumed entirely.

The silver flame didn't stop there and rushed towards them with even greater momentum. The roiling temperatures left the cultivator completely dried out.

Huang Liang's expression vastly changed and she shouted, "Spirit Extinguishing Bone Flame!"

Soon after, he grasped his hands in an incantation gesture, and he disappeared. The flame pillar engulfed the area where he once was.

Huan Tianqi found himself in a similar situation

He cast a demon wind, but the silver flames cleanly engulfed it. He astonishedly blurred several times in response and let several afterimages in his place to escape the flame.

Huan Tianqi looked at Huang Liang's still figure with an unsightly expression and explained, "No, it isn't Spirit Extinguishing Bone Flame! The white bone flame may be silver, but it is also filled with evil Qi. Only Ancestor White Bone can control them and no one else."

The two silver flames then condensed at the center to reveal a three-meter-wide fireball. It shrunk several times in size to reveal a graceful silver flame bird.

"A fire spirit." The two were startled to see one.

However, the silver flame bird coldly stared at the two before gently flapping its wings.

Silver light flickered and countless fist-sized fireballs appeared nearby. A clear ring sounded and the fireballs trembled, enveloping the two in a dense barrage of attacks from every direction.

When Huang Liang heard that it wasn't that Spirit Extinguishing Bone Flame, he felt a wave of relief, and when he saw the fireballs, he snorted coldly. He waved his hand, wildly expanding an eight trigram mirror in front of him.

To his side, Huan Tianqi flipped his hand to produce a ball of silver lightning.

Although the two didn't know the true nature of the silver flames, they couldn't treat it with contempt and would have to deal with it using full force.

But at that moment, the fireballs that were about to strike them brightly glowed and trembled before disappearing.

The roasting temperatures nearby seemed to completely disappear along with the fireballs.

In his alarm, Huang Liang then narrowed his eyes as he looked at the silver flame bird.

Under his stare, he heard a light bang.

The flame bird combusted of its own accord. It scattered like the fireballs and strangely disappeared.

With a sullen expression, he turned to look at Huan Tianqi.

The Jasper Mouse Clan Elder wore an ashen expression.

As doubt flickered through his eyes, Huan Tianqi coldly said, "Even if the flames weren't the Spirit Extinguishing Bone Flames, they were still significant. I've never heard of a cultivator like that before!"

Huang Liang shook his head and glanced in the direction outside the valley. He coldly laughed and said, "I don't recognize him. Perhaps he is a cultivator from another region. In any case, this is the first time I've seen him in the Heaven Origin Region. But for a lone person to use such small tricks to escape our grasp, we must've been quite arrogant. Although it's too late to place a spiritual sense marker on his body, with our vastly powerful spiritual sense, we should be able to find him in the Setting Sun Tomb if he hasn't escaped over five thousand kilometers away."

At the moment, Han Li had already disappeared past the edge of the sky.

Huan Tianqi nodded and agreed.

Afterwards, the two closed their eyes and slowly expanded their immensely powerful spiritual sense.

After just a moment of time, their faces revealed wonder and astonishment as if they couldn't believe what they sensed.

"How can this be possible? All traces of his spiritual power have disappeared. Not a single trace." Huang Liang opened his eyes to reveal shock.

"I also couldn't find it. Even if he died, traces of his aura should've remained for a short time," Huan Tianqi muttered, "Either his cultivation was far beyond ours, or he used a peculiar technique to conceal his aura from our spiritual sense."

Spirit Lord Huang Liang frowned, "It must be the second reason! Don't forget, this person was already concealed nearby yet we weren't able to find him. It seems that this person must be skilled in formidable concealment techniques."

"How troublesome. With those abilities, we won't be able to find him." Huan Tianqi's cheek twitched.

"That might not be certain. We might have another opportunity. Now that he's concealed himself, he won't be able to travel far with his movement techniques. He should be around a thousand kilometers away. So long as we utilize our subordinates, the entire area will be under our control.

Besides, with your Illusion Flame Moths' Thousand Moth Technique, I am confident we won't be able to hide from us forever." A cold glint flashed from his eyes.

"The Thousand Moth Technique would wear down their vitality, but I guess there is no other choice. It will be worth it to use this technique. However, as for that Setting Sun Crystal..." Huan Tianqi reluctantly nodded and then dropped his gaze to the treasure in Huang Liang's hand.

Having already decided on the matter, Huang Liang answered, "Hehe, so long as we acquire that item from the spirit clan, I will give the crystal. Even if you can't find him, I'll split the crystal in half."

"Good, that will be fine..."

Huan Tianqi smiled and wanted to say something else when they heard a long screech from behind them along with a heaven-shattering eruption. An astonishing spirit wave spread throughout the sky.

The two felt their hearts tremble and they quickly turned around.

Not far away, the storm from the Immortal Vanquishing Beads had already disappeared. There was a thirty-meter-wide blood lotus twirling through the air along with a person at its center, staring at them with an icy ominous gaze.

It was Xu Tian, who the two had struck while he was down.

Huan Tianqi displayed not even a trace of fear and calmly said, "Fellow Daoist Xu Tian, you still wish to fight us? The person who deceived you has escaped to who knows where. Let us stop for the time being. It might be likely he'll escape.

Xu Tian glanced around him to find no trace of Han Li. Then he glared at the two and coldly snorted, "I have no choice but to let you go for now. But if there is a chance in the future, I will be sure to test your skills."

Afterwards, the blood lotus petals beneath him closed together.

Then, it shrieked through the valley at piercing speeds.

Not long after, it could no longer be seen.

Huang Liang and the demon didn't take the spirit cultivator's threat very seriously.

Not only is it impossible for spirits to remain in the human and demon domains for long, but the two held the advantage when their forces were combined.

Afterwards, the two had a brief discussion before heading in their own ways.

They prepared to gather their men and seal off an area over a thousand kilometers wide. Not even a fly or mouse would be able to make it through!

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At that moment, Han Li was now at a small mountain over a thousand kilometers away. He had a vastly changed appearance on his face. He was a shorter middle-aged man with long facial hair.

His body completely lacked spiritual Qi as he now appeared to be a run of the mill body refiner. He was meditating on a bolder with an expressionless face.

A while later, Han Li opened his eyes and wore a faint smile. He muttered, "The last thread of spirit flames in my body has been extinguished. Unless they personally examine me, they wouldn't be able to recognize them."

Even so, Han Li made no attempt to leave.

Even with his appearance and aura altered, Han Li had no desire to risk any danger.

From then on, he leaped off the bolder and jumped several times, skirting off the mountain.

Not long after, he found himself in front of a cliff covered in dense vines and shrubs.

Han Li swept his gaze around him and nodded with a satisfied smile. Then he took a deep breath and began to pound against the cliff with fists shining in golden light.

Huge rumbles sounded out and a ten-meter-deep cave appeared.

His figure blurred as he strangely shifted into it.

Then inside the cave, he struck above him, instantly covering the entrance in a pile of rubble and sealing it.

The cave immediately became pitch black.

He didn't mind this in the slightest and summoned a prepared moonlight stone into his hand with a flip of his palm.

He grabbed the stone and slapped it at the top of the cave. With immense force, the moonlight stone easily embedded itself.

Under the faint crystalline light, the stone cave became clear.

Han Li looked for a clean area to sit down. Light flashed from his spirit ring and he fetched a small crimson vial from his storage bracelet. He examined it with curious eyes.

Apart from a continuous red glow, the vial appeared quite ordinary. It had a common glossy surface like porcelain.

As he stroked the vial with his finger, he inwardly muttered and began to think of the spirit Shi Yan's memories relating to Divine Blood.

A long while later, he frowned and he took out a palm-sized jade alms bowl. He then opened the vial and tilted it over the bowl.

A purple light flowed out from the vial, slowly dripping a deep purple liquid into the alms bowl. It appeared unable to mix into the bowl.

Han Li narrowed his eyes and closely examined it for a long while before extending his finger to touch the liquid. As a result, the purple liquid seemed to jump up of its own accord and wrap around his finger as if it wanted to enter.

However, Han Li raised his brow and golden light flashed from his flesh, stopping the purple drop in its tracks. Then with a flick, he dropped the liquid back into the bowl.

"Not bad. It really is the Spirit Tribe's Divine Blood." A trace of interest lit up in Han Li's eyes.

Afterwards, he put the purple liquid back into the vial and carefully placed it back into his storage bracelet. He now felt at ease to rest peacefully in the cave.

Although he currently possessed no magic power, he still had no need to eat or drink.

Not long after, a sliver of spiritual sense swept past Han Li. When it sensed that Han Li's body didn't possess any spiritual Qi, it brushed past him and ignored his existence.

Several days later, threads of spiritual sense often swept past the area, number up to a dozen times in a day.

But after half a month, it eventually died down to two or three times.

Two months later, a spiritual sense that was far more powerful than the others swept past him, but Han Li remained calm, hidden inside the cave.

Then, a half year passed without another reemergence of spiritual sense.

When Han Li sensed this change, he rejoiced.

But he waited several more months before he opened his eyes and broke down the pile of rubble blocking the cave entrance.

He slowly walked out and took a look around him. When he saw there was nothing out of the ordinary, he waved his sleeve with a chuckle and leaped down the mountain like a shooting star.

Not long after, he disappeared into the mountain forests.

A year later in a small city relatively close to Setting Sun City, a young body refiner with an unfamiliar face arrived at the city. He hurriedly purchased a few items and left as quickly as he arrived.

This was because rumors of the missing Divine Blood slowly began to spread.

When a few of the cultivators and body refiners that participated in the battle with the three races verified the matter, it became a hot topic in the following years.

People clicked their tongues in wonder at the thought of a trifling Deity Transformation-stage cultivator seizing the prize from three Spatial Tempering-stage opponents.

Unwilling to give up, Spirit Lord Huang Liang investigated this matter for a good number of years after returning from the city, completely focusing his attention on finding the identity of this cultivator.

As a result, he found nothing. Although the cultivator displayed several powerful abilities, there was no trace of him as if he hadn't existed before that day.

After another two years passed, Spirit Lord Huang Liang left Setting Sun City and arrived at a wild territory as he previously agreed with Huan Tianqi. This hadn't captured anyone's interest as the matter of the Divine Blood had long past.

Several years later, at a huge mountain far from human civilization, there was a pitch-black room inside the mountain where a human was meditating with golden light sparkling from his body.

At his side was a small crimson bottle. It laid flat on the ground as if it were empty.

The person sat motionless and cross-legged. If it were for the faint signs of breathing, he may as well have been a statue.

To a mortal, a hundred years would most likely signify the end of their lifespan. But to a cultivator with profound magic power, it was only the blink of an eye.

After a hundred years, the still mountain suddenly had a squadron of wolf-mounted cavalry. They were slowly traveling through the mountain while escorting several decorated beast carriages.

There were three people in one of the carriages: an old man with greying hair, a seven-year-old boy with a dignified appearance, and a frail girl of the same age.

The old man had a faceful of wrinkles, but the body below his neck appeared as strong and fit as any young person, but his hands appeared to belong to the dried branches of an old tree.

Strangely enough, the old man's fingernails were not only several inches long, but they were also exceptionally sharp. The red light they displayed was also quite mysterious.

The boy and girl sitting across from him couldn't help but stare at his nails with wonder.

The old man made no effort to conceal his nails and simply looked at the children with a silent smile.

Suddenly, a beast hoofs sounded from the window and man's voice suddenly said, "Reporting to Elder Huo, the vanguard has returned. The beasts within a five hundred kilometer perimeter of Cloud Dress Mountain have been exterminated."

The old man's face stirred and he raised his hand to open the window curtains. "Good, good. With this, my business can open a new trade route without much problem."

He saw a middle-aged cavalryman saddled on a snow-white wolf. He was facing the carriage with a respectful face.

The old man glanced at the cavalryman and gravely said, "However, are you certain that all the demon beasts on the mountain were slain? It is common for demon beasts skilled on concealment techniques to hide their aura."

The cavalryman's face slightly changed, but he quickly replied with a tone of certainty, "That isn't possible. In addition to demonic Qi, I have asked many cultivators to sweep the mountain with their spiritual sense. There are definitely no demon beasts on the mountain."

"Oh, so it was like that. It seems there shouldn't be a problem. Although the cultivators are only at Core Formation-stage, the mountain shouldn't have any demon beasts at too high a level. In that case, please continue forward." The old man nodded his head and uttered a word of praise.

But just as he thought to close the window curtain, the sky suddenly changed.

The sounds of an earth-breaking disaster sounded from a distance, followed by continuous thunder and the darkening of the sky. Whistling winds tore through the air.

The vast change in the weather occurred in only the blink of an eye, all before the old man could close the curtains.

"This is..." The middle-aged cavalryman glanced up and stared at the clouds gathering at the peak of the huge mountain.

The old man frowned and pounded the top of the carriage three times.

The carriage slowed and came to a stop.

The old man stepped outside and looked up at the top of the mountain.

Soon, his face vastly changed.

The old man couldn't help but look at a distant mountain peak with bafflement. "Heavenly Tribulation. There is a cultivator undergoing tribulation. How strange, it seems unlike minor or greater tribulation."

On the huge mountain top, the sky had turned pitch-black and golden-silver lightning bolts danced across the black clouds. Their faint rumbles filled the distant air. White gales shrieked down to ground below and continuously struck the mountain top, cutting through trees and splitting rocks.

At that moment, the entire caravan came to a stop and the cavalryman stared the odd scene completely dumbstruck.

A few other members in the caravan soared into the air and circled once before flying to the old man's side.

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The yellow-robed youth with a handsome face seemed to be the leader of the group. He descended next to the old man and respectfully asked, "Elder Huo, can you see what sort of heavenly tribulation that Senior is undergoing? It doesn't seem to be minor tribulation. Could it be a Spatial Tempering-stage Senior is hidden in the mountain?" His voice carried a faint trace of excitement.

This came as no surprise. Cultivators at Spatial Tempering-stage and higher were a rare sight even in the spirit realm.

The old man shook his head and said, "It isn't greater tribulation. I've seen one before and the lightning was purple and golden. Its might was far greater than this one."

The yellow-robed youth wore an odd expression and said, "However, minor tribulation isn't golden. It should be azure. I've seen my sect elders undergo it several times."

The old man wore a solemn expression and doubtfully said, "It seems harsher than ordinary minor tribulation, but it can't be the metamorphosis tribulation of a demon beast. That has only silver lightning."

When the Core Formation cultivators saw that Elder Huo was unsure, they wore disappointed expressions.

The winds in the sky have already become more frequent and strong. A windstorm seemed to envelop the area fifty kilometers around the mountain. Black clouds also began to pressure the ground underneath.

As a result, Elder Huo began to mutter to himself and order the caravan to form a circle for the time being and calmly wait for the tribulation to end before continuing forward.

As the sounds of thunder continued to ring, the silver-gold lightning suddenly burst with greater ferocity. It roiled from cloud to cloud and began to strike down in a dense barrage aking to a rainstorm.

As this continued, the silver lightning struck the mountain, breaking apart its top with explosions of dust and rock, easily cleaving the top of the mountain with blinding silver light.

As for the golden lightning, it seemed to disappear upon touching the mountain.

Soon after, thunder began to clap from the center of the mountain. A muffle explosion seemed even louder than the fierce claps of thunder from the sky.

This came as a shock to Elder Huo and the other Core Formation cultivators. The golden lightning was odd in a heavenly tribulation and wasn't blocked by the mountain rock in the slightest, directly striking the target of the tribulation. This strange scene was something that only occurred with the purple-gold lightning of greater tribulations.

Could it be a type of greater tribulation that the old man had never seen before?

As these doubts welled in the hearts of these cultivators, a piercing azure light shot out from the center of the mountain. In a blur, it emerged from the center of the mountain, containing a faint silhouette.

When the spectators saw this, they knew the person inside the azure light was certain to be the cultivator of great ability undergoing the tribulation.

Unbeknownst to them, this person had emerged from the mountain since it did nothing to block the golden tribulation lightning. He felt that he would better deal with the tribulation's might in a wider area.

At that moment, the golden and silver lightning striking the huge mountain swiftly changed targets to the azure light.

A long shriek sounded from the azure light and azure light flashed from above the person's head. A huge cauldron appeared and its lid opened in a blur.

A dense mass of azure threads shot out from the cauldron and fluttered through the air, concealing about half of the sky.

The azure threads completely absorbed the silver lightning into the cauldron, but the golden lightning was still unaffected and brushed past the threads to strike at the person below.

"Good, good, good!" The person in the azure light seemed surprised, but he laughed at the unexpected result.

The person clutched his hands together and raised them to the air. Thunder deafeningly rang and two dense bolts of lightning wildly flashed. Soon after, they spread out, creating a huge net of lightning above him.

In the blink of an eye, the two types of golden lightning struck one another resulting in a crackling explosion. Afterwards, they dissolved into countless thin golden arcs that jumped through the air in a gorgeous display.

The Elder Huo and the others were dumbstruck by the sight.

Many cultivators practiced lightning-attributed techniques in the spirit realm, but when common lightning touched tribulation lightning, they were unable to block it. Rather, the tribulation lightning would absorb it and turning it against its owner.

The cultivator undergoing tribulation in front of them not only cultivated lightning ability on par with tribulation lightning, but he actually dared to use it to block tribulation lightning. He never heard of someone with the gall to do such a thing.

However, the silver and golden lightning dropping from the black clouds seemed unending. In the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the lightning continued to strike and with increasing ferocity.

The lightning was originally as thick as a thumb, but now it was as thick as an arm.

At that moment, the figure in the azure light had a faintly changed expression because the huge cauldron seemed to absorb as much lightning as it could hold. The azure threads seemed to be fewer and it began to block even less silver lightning.

As a result, a large quantity of silver lightning began to rain down on the person's golden net, draining the net's strength to near the point of exhaustion.

The Core Formation cultivators looked at each other in dismay. Their leader, the yellow-robed youth, muttered, "This absolutely isn't minor tribulation. Even the tribulation of a consummate Deity Transformation cultivator isn't this powerful!"

Elder Huo, having witnessed this power, suddenly said, "No, I have heard of this kind of tribulation before..."

"Is that true, Elder Huo?" The yellow-robed youth quickly turned to the old man.

"Yes, I have heard someone mention it once before. However, it was so long ago that I can't remember it clearly," the old man said with a deeply contemplative expression.

After all, he wasn't a cultivator. In his advanced age, his memory has begun to weaken.

The Core Formation cultivators felt somewhat anxious, but Elder Huo was a peak-grade body refiner with power that could rival a Nascent Soul cultivator. None dare to urge him to remember."

A Core Formation cultivator noticed a change in the sky and suddenly shouted, "Oh no, that Senior doesn't seem to be able to hold on!"

When the others heard this, they looked over in alarm and Elder Huo snapped out of his contemplation and quickly looked up.

They saw the tribulation lightning suddenly change. The arcs of lightning were replaced with head-sized balls of gold and silver lightning. It was as if a goddess' flowers were drifting down from the heavens.

The balls of lightning were clearly more powerful than the arcs that struck down. Under the dense and numerous attack, the cauldron was no longer able to endure and let out a mournful drone before withdrawing its threads and shrinking to the size of a fist. In a streak of light, it flew back into the person's body.

It was clear the treasure suffered grave damage.

The person still continued to channel golden lightning through his hands, but the golden net was soon about to collapse.

Eventually, the net was scattered inches at a time under the barrage of lightning balls.

Just as the spectators believed that the cultivator was about to fail his tribulation, the silhouette to let a bone-chilling snort and he slapped the back of his head to produce a grey misty light. He then opened his head to spit out a pitch-black inch-large rock.

When the grey mist spread itself to receive the balls of lightning, an inconceivable event occurred.

Regardless of the color of balls of lightning, the grey light immediately stopped the balls in their tracks. They appeared as if they were suspended in the air by an invisible force.

The grey light appeared to only have this kind of power against the lightning balls and could do nothing else. But as lightning balls continue to drop down, it continued to gather them up with ease.

Although the grey mist was only a hundred meters wide, in the blink of an eye, it amassed an overflowing number of lightning balls. It appeared filled to the brim as if it could hold no more.

At that point, the person formed an incantation gesture at the inch-large rock in front of him. It surged into a forty-meter-tall mountain instantly.

Immediately, after the silhouette let out a deep and cryptic incantation.

Waves of light challenged through the entire surface of the pitch-black mountain and grey rings began to fly off the mountain, sweeping past the suspended lightning balls.

An incredible scene followed.

When the grey rings began to sweep past them, the balls of lightning faintly trembled, but they didn't have any greater effect. However, the grey mist seemed to ripple and those ripples soon began to warp.

The balls of lightning eventually grew unstable as the grey mist twisted with greater intensity, causing the balls to strike one another and explode ferociously, scattering countless arcs of lightning everywhere.

Following that, the grey rings trembled and the arcs of lightning seemed to be brought under their control, striking down at the pitch-black mountain in a uniform manner.

The person in the azure light then continued, using the grey mist to dissolve the balls and using the small mountain to absorb the resulting loose lightning.

These actions appeared to be done with ease, but in the person's heart, he was cursing without end.

Although the Divine Essencefused Light possessed fantastical abilities and he could draw on the Essencefused Mountain to deal with the tribulation lightning, it consumed astronomical amounts of magic power.

Of course, the person in the azure light was Han Li, who cultivated in the mountain for over a hundred years.

At that moment, not only did he cultivate the Vajra Arts to full completion, but he reformed his dissolved Nascent Soul with the aid of spirit medicines.

He completely didn't expect that Heavenly Tribulation would strike down on him the moment he reformed his Nascent Soul.

Caught unprepared, he had no choice but to deal with it using force.

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After a dozen more waves of lightning balls rained down, Han Li's magic power had taken a steep dive, consuming a majority of it, but the tribulation didn't seem to be exhausting its lightning anytime soon.

Han Li's face paled.

Although he possessed many abilities, there weren't many that could block the heavenly tribulation. As for the flame bird he refined from Shi Yan's heavenly flame, it has been withdrawn into the body of his Nascent Soul since the start of tribulation.

As the cinque devils and Weeping Soul Beast were sentient, they cowered before tribulation and weren't very useful in this regard.

The Eight Spirit Ruler and the Six Divines Talisman were suitable treasures, but they had been destroyed in the journey through the spatial node.

Now he was left with sparsely few countermeasures, all of which he had prepared as last reserve life-saving measures, but he was still found wanting.

But how could a minor tribulation in the spirit realm be so formidable? If they were all this frightening, how could other Deity Transformation-stage cultivators survive? He didn't believe that each one of them was even more powerful than he was. There must be some trick to surviving it.

As he sullenly thought this, he regretted not doing more research on minor tribulations.

Of course, Han Li couldn't have known that what he was experiencing was far beyond what a minor tribulation could amount to.

Even with his several heaven-defying abilities and his two top-grade treasures: the Heavenvoid Cauldron and the Essensefused Mountain, a normal Deity Transformation-stage cultivator would've already perished under the first wave.

Now he let out a deep sigh and a crimson light faintly shined from his body as if something was about to emerge.

At that moment, over a kilometer outside the area of Han Li's tribulation, space fluctuated, followed by the appearance of a formation of white light.

The light formation was only about thirty-meters-wide and had talisman characters drifting within it with blinding light.

Although Han Li was mostly focused on blocking the tribulation, the strange appearance of the formation hadn't escaped his notice.

His heart trembled and a crimson streak flickered from his body. As he continued to use the Divine Essensefused Light to block the lightning balls, he turned his head coldly over.

It was no wonder Han Li was so cautious. During a crucial moment of calamity, an odd item he's never heard of suddenly appeared near him.

However, the formation of light appeared rather familiar, much like...

When Han Li swept his spiritual sense past the spell formation, he began to ponder.

As the formation of white light droned, it flashed and a square golden boat suddenly sprang forth from it.

The boat seemed to be forged from pure gold with exquisite detail, and it was also covered densely in faint silver talisman characters.

When Han Li saw those talisman characters, his face faintly changed.

"The silver rune scripts!" they were actually spirit scripts from the spirit realm!

The golden boat was about twenty meters long and its surface was engraved in talisman characters of the rune script. The huge light formation seemed to be a teleportation formation without a base.

Han Li felt shocked.

But what astonished him even more was the yellow dome barrier at the center of the boat. It appeared incredibly thick, preventing even his powerful spiritual sense from looking inside.

Shortly after the golden boat appeared, the formation of light beneath it crumbled away inches at a time. Meanwhile, the yellow barrier at the center of the golden boat disappeared to reveal two cultivators wearing golden battle armor.

One of them appeared quite elderly, either in his sixties or fifties, and wore a goatee. The other appeared to be only in his thirties, and he had a white complexion with no facial hair.

The silver rune scripts were also engraved into the two cultivator's armor, and would also have these talisman characters occasionally float around them. It was clear to see that the two sets of armor possessed great value.

Just as Han Li swept his spiritual sense past them, the Divine Essensefused Light above him trembled, nearly on the brink of destruction.

Spatial Tempering-stage cultivators. One of them is even at mid-Spatial Tempering stage!

How could such characters appear here and right as he was undergoing tribulation? Could it be that they've come for him?

As Han Li looked at the two, he wore an unsightly expression.

From the distance, the caravan naturally saw the sudden appearance of the golden boat and the two gold-armored cultivators.

For a time the Core Formation cultivators were left in a daze. But when Elder Huo saw them, his face vastly changed in shock and he shouted out, "The Golden Court Boat! The Deep Heaven Guards!"

"The Deep Heaven Guards! Could it be that Senior has a relationship with Deep Heaven City?" When the yellow-robed cultivator heard this, their faces turned snow white with disbelief.

Elder Huo stared at the boat and vacantly muttered, "I've got it! That person is truly undergoing minor tribulation, but he must be a rare cultivator that ascended from a lower realm. He also hadn't cleaned his essence with the Earth Exterminating Pill, causing two-colored tribulation lightning to claim his life. Those Deep Heaven Guards must've sensed the tribulation and have sent help. But what's more strange is that they would be in the area to begin with."

The Core Formation cultivators were left even more shocked by what they heard. Soon, everything seemed to verify the old man's words.

When the two Spatial Tempering-stage cultivators appeared from the boat, they looked at the balls of lightning hailing down from Han Li's tribulation. The two betrayed some astonishment at seeing him able to still hold out.

Nevertheless, one of them immediately raised their hand and released a purple talisman from his hand. As soon as it left his hand, it let out a thunderous clap and transformed into a thirty-meter-tall person of light wrapped by purple lightning.

The figure had its arm crossed and its upper body was bare, emitting a ferocious aura. However, its face was blurred and only a long mustache could be made out.

As for the other armored cultivator, he released an azure and a gold talisman.

When the two talismans were released, they let out thunderous light and turned into a three-meter-large azure spike and a golden hammer.

The two items were wrapped in azure sparks and golden lightning respectively, releasing an astonishing pressure.

The other cultivator began to solemnly cast spell seals into the huge light figure.

Suddenly, the giant of light reached out to the azure spike and the golden hammer, two weapons formed from talismans, and promptly summoned them into its hands.

As for the one who released the weapons, he began to chant in conjunction with his companion.

The giant raised its head and let out a dragon's roar. It raised its hand and pointed the azure spike in Han Li's direction. Then, it fiercely swung down with the hammer.

A huge bang resounded, followed by heaven-shaking lightning. Purple lightning sparked from the entire giant. The golden hammer and the azure spike both let out a blinding glare, a streak of purple, azure, and golden lightning poured out from the awl. At first, it was thin, but in the blink of an eye, it became thicker and longer, quickly expanding from ten meters long to over three hundred. At the peak of its expansion, the lightning took the form of a tri-colored true dragon. It's radiant visage even lit up the nearby skies.

The display left the spectators dumbstruck. The giant streak of lightning disappeared in an instant and reappeared above Han Li.

Lightning zapped and tri-colored light flashed. Below, Han Li's heart sank and his breath turned shallow. But immediately after, he left out a sigh of relief.

The huge arc of lightning had changed direction and struck the black sky.

Soon after, crackles sounded as various-colored lightning wildly danced through the skies. The balls of lightning that were originally hailing down quickly became rare.

When Han Li saw this, he felt great surprise at the fact those two had suddenly assisted him in passing through his tribulation, but he wasn't about to refuse the favor.

And without another thought, his figure dropped back to the ground.

The tribulation cloud was extremely dangerous, so he may as well use the opportunity to create more distance.

Just as he created more distance between him and the tribulation cloud, the huge tri-colored lightning dragon reappeared, but its entire body soon dissolved. Countless tri-colored lightning jumped across the clouds and a roll of lightning shook the air. In the blink of an eye, the incredibly dense tribulation clouds turned sparse and beams of sunlight began to shine through in the spans of a few breaths.

This minor tribulation had actually been broken.

Before Han Li showed his joy, he first retrieved the Divine Essensefused Light and Mountain, then turning to face the golden boat.

From the distance, the golden board, calmly drifted closer and soon the two gold-armored cultivators could be clearly seen.

Han Li frowned, faintly sensing that trouble had come knocking on his door.

He stood still in place and quietly waited.

The golden boat appeared at ease, but it was still deceptively swift. It silently arrived before Han Li in the span of a few breathes as the two gold-armored cultivators closely examined Han Li.

The pale thirty-year-old cultivators eventually spoke with a neutral tone, "You're a cultivator that ascended from a lower realm? It is quite strange for early-Deity Transformation stage cultivators to do such a thing. Regardless, it is your good fortune that we've arrived. Follow us."

"What do you mean, Senior? Where will we go?" When Han Li heard that they mentioned he came from the lower realms, his heart skipped a beat, but he maintained a calm face.

The pale cultivator's lip twitched and he calmly replied, "What do I mean? When you ascended, there were problems. Since you didn't appear that the Spirit Flight Tower or serve Deep Heavens City, a spatial storm appeared during your tribulation as someone that ascended through a spatial tear."

"Spirit Flight Tower?" Han Li was initially confused when he heard this, but a trace of surprise soon appeared on his face.

The older of the two cultivators then smiled and explained, "That's right, there are over a thousand people that ascended to the spirit realm from the lower realm. Each lower realm has a special Spirit Flight Tower for them. Normally, cultivators that ascend immediately appear at Deep Heaven City. However, there are rarely those like yourself that encounter mishaps during their ascension and land in other areas. Because these people haven't taken any Earth Cleansing Pills, they will encounter two-colored lightning during their first tribulation and perish. Fortunately, you came across us while we were on business and waved your life."

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The older golden-armored cultivator explained, "You haven't consumed the Earth Cleansing Pill and cleanse your body of the aura of the lower realm you came from. It will cause your minor tribulation to become two-colored. Even if you are vastly powerful, there will be no way for you to survive it. This time, we've helped you disperse of the tribulation, but as a result, the next tribulation will come earlier. IN a hundred years, you will experience your second tribulation. So long as you consume an Earth Cleansing Pill every year, it will change your aura to one native to the spirit realm, preventing your tribulation from becoming two-colored. Our Deep Heaven City gives one to every ascended cultivator each year. If your tribulation remains two-colored, it will become a third greater in power than the last."

Han Li blinked and asked, "Senior, does that mean I will have to live the rest of my life at Deep Heaven City?"

The pale cultivator insipidly said, "Of course not, so long as you consume the Earth Cleansing Pill for three hundred years, you'll cleanse yourself of the aura from your lower realm, and be freed of Deep Heaven City."

"Deep Heaven City may be a place where ascended cultivators gather, but you can't be giving away the pills for free. What are we tasked to do?" Han Li asked without further delay.

The older cultivator stroked his beard and smiled, "Fellow Daoist is quite intelligent. Although the Earth Cleansing Pill is quite useful to ascended cultivators, it requires rare materials that are found in the wildlands. You will have to purchase the pills for a price. However, this matter is best explained when you are in the city. First, you should follow us. If you refuse, we won't force you, but you should understand what will happen to you."

When Han Li heard this, his face slightly changed.

He muttered to himself for a moment and looked at the cloudless skies in the distance. He then took another look at the boat and boarded it in a blur.

The two gold-armored cultivators smiled at the obvious result. Having witnessed the fearsomeness of the two-colored lightning tribulation, there was only once choice left. Furthermore, he was only an early Deity Transformation cultivator, so it was quite a miracle for him to last long enough for them to arrive.

When Han Li arrived on the board, he looked around and discovered a small scale spell formation at the center of the boat.

Just as he was examining it, the two gold-armored cultivators stepped into it and called out to Han Li.

After some brief hesitation, Han Li joined them.

The two then struck the formation with a spell seal and it let out a drone, lighting up in dense light and enveloping the three of them.

Afterwards, the older cultivator flipped his palm and produced a golden plate. The plate had many silver rune characters on it.

He then slapped the plate on the top of the board, and golden light began to shine from it, along with dazzling silver talisman characters.

Meanwhile, the golden boat trembled, suddenly releasing streaks of milky white mist. The mist wrapped around the bottom of the golden board and began to circle around it, eventually forming the light formation Han Li saw from before.

The entire spell formation flared blindly and the boat disappeared with a tremble.

The spell formation then scattered without a trace.

This was all seen from a distance by Elder Huo and the Core Formation cultivators. Ever since the two golden-armored cultivators appeared, they completely kept silent and even their breaths turned quiet. When the golden boat eventually disappeared, they let out a large sigh, glancing at each other with happiness.

The yellow-robed youth hesitated and eventually said, "Elder Huo, it seems the Deep Heaven Guards aren't as fearsome as the legends say. It seems they are exaggerated."

Elder Huo hesitated from a moment and said, "What do you know? In the three human regions and the seven demon lands, the sole city free from the jurisdiction of the three human sovereigns and the seven demon kings is Deep Heaven City. Those gold-armored soldiers are among the highest existences in the city. Each of them can freely travel through any region without restriction. Furthermore, they can openly slay any human or demon they deem to be a threat. Their vast authority even inspires some dread in the three sovereigns. Furthermore, in their wars against the other tribes, the three sovereigns and seven kings first seek to dispatch the Deep Heaven City's elders."

"So it was like that." The yellow-robed youth widely opened his eyes in shock. Then after a pause, he said, "I've only heard from my master to never offend a Deep Heaven Soldier no matter what. I think a while back the Deep Heaven Guard spent an entire month butchering over a hundred cultivator clans. However, nobody knew what caused it and the three sovereigns turned a blind eye to it."

"That is so. But I don't have much information regarding Deep Heaven City. However, the city's cultivators don't normally appear in the demon and human territories. They are specialized in dealing with great foreign enemies. Furthermore, even if they appear in the territories of the two clans, they would only be the gold-armored Deep Heaven Guard."

As the two chatted, the other Core Formation cultivators listened in. They didn't know much about the city and could only look at each other in dismay.

At that moment, Han Li was inside a nameless city's secret teleportation formation.

The two gold-armored cultivators jumped off the golden boat and replaced several of the formation's glittering spirit stones. Then they struck the boat with more spell seals and activated the spell formation once more.

When Han Li looked at the crystals, he felt his heart jump. They were extremely valuable high-grade spirit stones. Just as his thoughts churned through his head, the golden boat was engulfed in white light. They teleported to another area. It was clearly an underground cave with a similar teleportation formation underneath the golden boat.

The two cultivators did the same again, and the boat teleported once more.

As Han Li indifferently observed them, the boat continued to teleport another twenty times.

In the past, Han Li only used a mid-grade spirit stone to deliver him from the Heavenly South to the Scattered Star Seas. By using high-grade spirit stones so many times, they were travelling a distance that Han Li found difficult to imagine.

Woosh. The golden board teleported once more, but this time, Han Li looked around and felt his heart tremble. He immediately realized that they've finally arrived in Deep Heaven City. This time the teleportation formation was set on an altar-like platform that was over thirty meters tall. There were four black-armored cultivators surrounding it.

The black armor appeared cruder than the armor of the two golden-armored cultivators, but silver characters still shined from their surface.

The platform was in a huge hall over three hundred meters wide and over fifty meters tall. Outside the huge platform, the surrounding space was empty. There were no other objects inside of it.

In the instant the golden boat appeared, the four black-armored cultivators immediately wore a vigilant expression. But when they saw the golden-armored cultivators, their expression relaxed, but they floated up to the platform.

Among them, a large green-eyed man immediately stepped forward and respectfully kneeled, "We pay our respects to the Elder Heaven Guards!"

When Han Li looked at them, his face stirred.

The four appeared to be Nascent Soul cultivators of varying cultivation: one at peak stage, one mid, and two early.

"Stand up. This is a newly ascended cultivator. I recall your squad is missing a Dark Azure Guard. Hehe, perhaps he will become your squad leader. Bring him to the Spirit Flight Hall to rest for a night. We will report our mission to the elders and see to him later."

"Yes!"

When the large man saw that Han Li was a Deity Transformation cultivator, he showed no surprise at hearing the Deep Heaven Guard. He simply bowed to Han Li.

The pale cultivator then said, "Go ahead followed them. We'll talk about other matters tomorrow."

Han Li nodded.

The three then descended from the platform and arrived at the hall gates. Han Li took note that the large green-eyed man was the only one following after them. The other three were sincerely guarding the platform.

It seemed that the spell formation and the golden boat was very important as four Nascent Soul cultivators were guarding it.

When they left the hall gate, they appeared in front of a huge road that was twenty meters wide.

Grey stone walls were raised to either side, but every interval of the wall had a portion that was engraved with silver talisman characters, giving them an air of mystery.

The road was circular and made a shallow incline.

Han Li raised his brow, but he didn't have any detailed thoughts.

The two gold-armored cultivators then went off to a different direction and the black-armored guard led Han Li away.

Every kilometer along the huge road, there would be identical gates that appeared, but some were shut while others were open.

For the open gates, Han Li could clearly see within them.

They had identical boats, platforms, and teleportation formations, along with several Nascent Soul cultivators guarding the location. They were also just as empty.

As for the halls that were shut, Han Li swept his spiritual sense past them, but he discovered that the silver inscriptions on the wall blocked him.

Occasionally, he would see other cultivators on the road. A vast majority of them wore black armor and were at Nascent Soul stage, but he did come across several cultivators wearing dark azure armor. They possessed Deity Transformation-stage cultivation and were the so-called Dark Azure Guards.

When these cultivators saw Han Li, an outsider, they gave him a curious glance, but didn't ask him any questions. They simply marched on their way as if out of training.

When Han Li saw this, he frowned.

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After walking for another three kilometers, Han Li saw his surroundings suddenly light up and he arrived in front of a giant hall that was over three kilometers wide. Nearly a hundred armored cultivators were bustling through the hall in a busy manner.

There were dozen similar roads connected to the hall that had people frequently using them.

A trace of surprise flashed on Han Li's face, but when he looked up at the ceiling, he felt deeply shocked.

The so-called hall didn't have a flat ceiling. Instead, there was a ring-shaped cylindrical opening, like a hollow tower. That meant the opening they arrived from was a gap in the tower wall.

This was the first time Han Li had seen such a huge stone tower, but he soon recovered from his shock and his ordinary expression returned.

The large green-eyed man leading him didn't mind Han Li's surprise, nor did he make any attempt to rush Han Li. He simply nodded at Han Li when he regained his bearings and led Han Li out the hall once more.

When Han Li went outside, he looked to the distance and felt his heart thump.

There were towering azure towers in a dense arrangement as far as the eye could see, numbering over a hundred at the very least. The base of the towers were surrounded by rows of pagodas attached to smaller buildings. The tallest of the pagodas were three kilometers tall, while the shortest were at least three hundred meters tall. Each building appeared ordinary apart from its size.

Having seen this for the first time, Han Li was left dumbstruck.

When the two both left the hall, they took off in streaks of light to a building below a pagoda.

The green-eyed man called out to Han Li and brought him to a pavilion that was three-hundred meters tall.

The pavilion was divided into ten stories, with an opening with each story. There was a hundred-meter-tall gate at its very center with the words, Spirit Flight Hall written in silver words.

The green-eyed man brought Han Li to the fourth floor of the hall. When they entered the small hall, he saw seven passages heading off in different directions.

The small hall had various-dressed cultivators gathered together, speaking to each other with a smile.

When Han Li glanced at them, he saw that they were early-Deity Transformation cultivators like himself.

When Han Li and the green-eyed man entered, they all turned around and looked at them.

"Yi! Well if it isn't Esteemed Nephew Zhuo? Have you brought us a newly arrived companion?" A white-haired old man with a dark complexion asked with a smile.

As the green-eyed man was a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, he didn't dare to be negligent.

When the green-eyed man entered the hall, his solemn expression vanished and his bearings appeared entirely changed. He answered with a respectful tone, "So it was Senior Liu. This Senior is someone that the heaven guards personally brought in from the outside. He isn't someone that entered the city."

An odd expression appeared on his face.

"Could it be that he is a cultivator brought in from the Spirit Flight Tower?"

"Could it be he ascended from another world?"

"Yi! How can he be at early-Deity Transformation stage? Did they say that one can only ascend with their cultivation is at late-Deity Transformation stage?"

When the early-Deity Transformation cultivators heard this, an uproar was raised in the room and they all looked at Han Li with an odd expression.

Han Li smiled at them and saluted the crowd, but said nothing else, thoughts quickly running through his mind.

Could it be that also ascended from a lower realm? But that didn't seem to be the case. If they were natives to the spirit realm, why would they be here?

Didn't the Spirit Flight Hall have something to do with ascended cultivators?

The green-eyed man quickly greeted the crowd and gave a few vague answers before leading Han Li down one of the passages and taking him to a suite connected to several rooms.

The rooms were fashioned after a small scale cave residence. Not only was there a secluded room for cultivation, but there was also room for pill and weapon refinement. Furthermore, there were a set of restrictions that sealed the rooms, which could only be opened by the person who possessed the restriction medallion.

When Han Li saw this, he nodded with satisfaction.

The green-eyed man then mentioned a few of the restricted places and immediately handed him a restriction medallion, then uttering a farewell before Han Li could flag him down.

Han Li thought to ask him some questions about the circumstances of Deep Heaven City.

As of current, he leaned back in a wooden chair in the living room and fiddled with a silver restriction medallion in his hand. He began to think about everything that had happened since his tribulation.

According to his original plan, he was going to find a hidden area with abundant spiritual Qi and cultivate. He would first enter the Spatial Tempering stage and then spend the rest of his life pursuing the great Dao.

He completely didn't think that ascended cultivators would actually carry the aura of another world and turn minor tribulations into something fearsome.

For the first appearance of the two-colored lightning tribulation, he might've truly been able to protect himself, but he definitely wouldn't be able to protect himself the second time.

Thus, he immediately followed the two Spatial Tempering cultivators to Deep Heaven City without much more consideration.

But when he arrived, he found something that was much different from what he experienced from cultivator cities. It left him completely clueless as he didn't know much about how the city operated.

The only thing he knew was that the city had a large relation to cultivators that ascended from lower realms.

As these thoughts came to mind, he became restless.

Just as he continued to ponder about whether he should inquire about Deep Heaven City circumstances with the cultivators on the outside, as well as what they did with ascended cultivators like himself.

As Han Li's heart stirred and had thought to take action, an old man's voice sounded from outside the room, "Fellow Daoist, I am an old man by the name of Liu Hedao. Would you like to chat for a bit?"

Han Li paused for a moment and smiled.

He wouldn't have to take the initiative to come out. Someone had already come over to befriend him.

"So Fellow Daoist Liu has come to take a visit. I, Han, am honored to have you!" With that said, he waved the medallion in the direction of the door.

A wave of silver mist rushed out and the large door creaked open by itself.

A man with a dark complexion and white hair stood outside the door.

"So you were surnamed Han. I hope you won't take offense at my sudden visit." The old man smiled and spoke with a polite tone.

"Hehe, how could I? Even if you didn't come, I planned on heading out anyways." As Han Li was long experienced throughout his journey of cultivation, he didn't believe himself to be superior to this Old Man Liu and he replied with a beaming smile,

As such, the two began to chat as if they were friends for years.

"From that esteemed nephew, I heard that the heaven guards personally brought you back to the city. You must be a cultivator that recently ascended from a lower realm. Which mortal realm would that be?" Old Man Liu suddenly asked.

"Which... realm? I'm not too sure about what the spirit realm calls the many lower realms, so I don't know how to answer that. How about this? I'll give you an answer when I come to understand this better. Could you help me with that?" Han Li glanced at him with a smile.

He wasn't about to easily give answers about his true origins. After all, during his time in the mortal realm, he was involved with a few superiors in the spirit realm. Regardless of whether it was the Soaring Sky Beast or the Wolf King Tian Kui that Silvermoon mentioned, they weren't people that he could currently provoke.

Old Man Liu laughed, "How foolish of me. You've only entered the spirit realm recently. Of course you wouldn't know. However, the initial generation of ascended cultivators all possess astonishing potential. Their chances of accomplishing Spatial Tempering is far greater than the descendants of ascended cultivators like me and those native to the spirit realm. They are viewed with importance by the elders. Most of them don't need to undergo examination and are directly appointed as Dark Azure Guards."

"Initial generation of ascended cultivators? Could Brother Liu explain that to me," an odd expression appeared on Han Li's face and his smile waned.

"It isn't a secret. In truth, Brother Han will soon figure this out after only staying in the city for a bit of time." Old Man Liu chuckled.

He continued, "The initial generation of ascended are those that enter the spirit realm like Brother Han. They are Deity Transformation cultivators that ascended from their realms. The dense otherworldly aura you carry will take three hundred years worth of Earth Cleansing Pills to cleanse. The direct descendants of ascended cultivators will carry a portion of this otherworldly aura. So long as they enter Nascent Soul-stage, they will also encounter two-colored tribulations. As for descendants like me, they would have to rush to Deep Heaven City and take an Earth Cleansing PIll to vanish their otherworldly aura, or else they will perish. Once the otherworldly aura is cleansed, you'll be able to leave the city. About five generations after the ascended arrive, their bloodline will not longer carry the otherworldly aura and be considered the same as a native cultivator."

Han Li blinked and asked, "In that case, Brother Liu should've already cleansed himself of the otherworldly aura since you've entered Deity Transformation-stage. Why did you stay?"

"Brother Han already sees a problem. That's right, even if we've cleansed ourselves of otherworldly aura, there aren't many that are willing to leave Deep Heaven City of their own accord. I don't know more than a few. Not only us, but those native to this land that entered the city also aren't willing to leave." The old man answered with a chuckle.

"Oh? How interesting. Could you tell me why?" Han Li's heart stirred, but he still wore a friendly smile.

The old man said with a deep tone, "It's quite simple. In Deep Heaven City, the speed of cultivation is doubled compared to other areas. Items found in the three regions and seven lands are certain to be found here. There are even things unique to our city. Brother Han should realize what I am saying."

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"What? Could it be that this place has sacred areas with dense spirit Qi?" Han Li asked with roused spirits.

"Hehe, there are several of these cultivation sites throughout the city. But we only have one that is equivalent to those found in the three sovereign's main cities. But what is important is that not only do we have a stream of materials from the lands of humans and demons, but the city is also the sole entrance between those lands and the wilderness. As a result, there are countless rare treasures that are brought back from the wilderness. A vast majority of cultivators sell or exchange these materials. Even medicines that allow for advancement over a single night are on the market. However, their price makes them something that could only be looked at."

The old man briefly paused before adding, "There is also another reason why the cultivators of this city aren't willing to leave it. Every ten years, the Deep Heaven City cultivators listen to someone from the council of elders explain the worldly Dao. It can answer some doubts about cultivation. And all of the elders are at Integration stage cultivation. Nobody else has the same opportunities we do. Hehe, that is why those that join the city don't often wish to leave."

"Those benefits!" Han Li felt joy at the explanation, but he soon frowned and asked, "But why are there so many high-grade cultivators guarding the city?"

"In addition to human cultivators, there are also large quantities of demon cultivators that guard the city. They occupy the other half of the city. And apart from that, there are large quantities of demon beasts and body refiners. Half of those low-grade existences originated from the city, while the other half comes from the outside. Our council of elders consists of over ten Integration-stage cultivators. With such astonishing might, the city has naturally become a target of the wilderness' outer tribes and true spirit level existences. The elders have arranged and extremely powerful and profound Immortal formation forcing successive generations of outer invasions to first go through the city. If so much power wasn't garrisoned here, the outer tribes would exterminate us. I heard that if we were to truly fight with the outer tribes, most of the city would be eradicated." Old Man Liu wore a solemn expression.

When Han Li heard this, his expression faintly changed. "More than half eradicated?"

"There is no need for Brother Han to be so worried. An outer tribe invades us once anywhere from sixty thousand years at the earliest, to a hundred thousand years at the latest. Against such a long period, there is no need for you to be worried. If there is truly an invasion, then you'd be out of luck and could only fight to the death. As for anybody that flees that Deep Heaven City's guard, they will be jointly pursued by both demons and humans. Since there is a smooth life in the city, it is natural to have a bit of danger with it. However, the last invasion of Deep Heaven City took place thirty thousand years ago. We will have another twenty thousand years before we have to worry about anything.

"So it was like that. In that case, I was brought here to Deep Heaven City so I could be profited from." Han Li stroked his chin with a pensive expression.

"Of course. Initial generation ascended have far higher odds of entering Spatial Tempering than natives and descendants like me. Each ascended cultivator is viewed with great importance by the elders and aren't easily let go. Furthermore, over the past few years, there have been fewer ascended cultivators appearing at the Spirit Flight Tower. I heard several of the elders send spiritual sense threads down to the lower realms to investigate the matter, but they hadn't succeeded. Since Brother Han came from a lower realm, did you notice anything strange?"

When Han Li heard this, he suddenly recalled the matter with the Elder Devil and felt his heart tremble, but he maintained a normal expression and answered, "Nothing. My world was quite normal."

"That is a pity. If Brother Han was able to come up with a reason, he would be heavily rewarded. However, of the cultivators that ascended recently, they also had no clues. I only heard in recent years that the demon clans discovered something. As a result, the elder council shouldn't interrogate you much over the matter."

Han Li smiled and then asked, "Ah yes, Brother Liu mentioned something about the Dark Azure Guards. Could you tell me something about them? Are they the ones I saw wearing azure armor?"

"That's right. Dark Azure Guards are a mid-grade existence in our city, and I am one of them. They command ten black-armored guards. Dark Azure Guards require Deity Transformation-stage cultivation, but not all Deity Transformation-stage cultivators are Dark Azure Guards. Brother Han should realize the difference."

"I have an idea. They either lack leadership or aren't skilled in battle, I think."

"That is correct. Now that we're on the topic, there are two types of Deep Heaven City guards. There are those that appointed missions on a fixed schedule and may make arrangements for themselves during other times. But these guards aren't given many spirit stones during their ten-year tenure and are often found wanting more, but there is very little danger.

The other kind undergo missions that are assigned by the council of elders. Each finished mission will give good benefits. Not only spirit stones but treasures, medicine, and other treasures are rewarded. Of course, these missions are far more dangerous, and most often relate to outer tribes in the wilderness. One must make careful consideration before agreeing. However, after each completed mission you don't need to take another assignment anywhere from decades to a century. You'll be able to peacefully cultivate for longer periods of time. Of course, the two posts aren't rigid and you can change your posts as you wish. "

"Many thanks for Brother Liu's pointers." Han Li said with a calm expression.

The old man chuckled and waved his hand. Then they chatted for a while more before the old man stood up and departed.

After the old man left, Han Li's smile faded and he walked into the secluded room and medicated in silence.

As for the dark-skinned old man, he returned to where the other Deity Transformation cultivators were chatting.

When they saw the old man, they all walked over to him.

"Did Brother Lu acquire any information from him?"

"Information? That man is tight-lipped. Apart from acknowledging he is someone who ascended from a lower realm, he said nothing else. I only answered a few of his questions." The old man shook his head with a helpless expression.

"Hehe, it is only natural for him to be cautious when Brother Liu came knocking on his door. He only just arrived in the spirit realm. However, we don't have any intentions other than befriend him. After all, the ascended have high potential..."

The Deity Transformation-stage cultivators continued to chat pleasantly as if they had no evil intentions towards Han Li. As for Old Man Liu, he simply smiled in silence.

On the morning of the next day, Han Li sat motionlessly in the secluded room before suddenly opening his eyes.

He then walked out into the living room and used his command medallion to open the main door.

There was a white-clothed cultivator standing there with a blank expression.

"Greetings Senior!" Han Li didn't dare to neglect him and saluted him with both hands.

This was the pale-faced man in golden armor from before, but now he exchanged the armor for Confucian robes. The harsh aura from his body had eased and he gave a more humble impression.

"Fellow Daoist Han, there is no need to be so polite. I've only just arrived. Since Brother Li is busy with other matters, I will be the only one to see you today. My name is Zhao Wugui." The Spatial Tempering cultivator appeared to be far friendlier than the day before.

Surprised, Han Li hastily addressed him as "Senior Zhao." He then invited him into the room and gave him the main seat in the living room.

As soon as Zhao Wugui took a seat, he offered Han Li an azure jade pendant, "Since you've been here for half a day, you must have questions. I'll keep the long story short. As an ascended cultivator and someone who was able to persist against two-colored tribulation for so long, you must possess powerful abilities. As such, I've already had you apply for the position of a Dark Azure Guard. This is your identity token. Keep it well. When the time comes, you'll take over third squad fifty-six. They are the small group of four you saw at the teleportation hall the day before."

Han Li didn't immediately reach out for it and hesitantly said, "As someone who's just arrived, there is much I don't understand. Isn't it a bit rash for me to suddenly be appointed to that position?"

Zhao Wugui chuckled, "Fellow Daoist Han doesn't need to be so modest. Every ascended cultivator is appointed a Deep Azure Guard when they come to the city. They are mostly all extremely competent. As for your understanding of the city, you will know everything about it after living here for a year."

Han Li's eye stirred and he eventually took the jade pendant. "In that case, I won't decline it."

Under close examination, he noticed silver rune patterns inscribed on it. It also had the golden characters "third squad fifty-six"

When Han Li took the jade pendant, Zhao Wugui nodded with satisfaction. Afterwards, he began to explain some of the general knowledge regarding the city. Some of it had been mentioned by Old Man Liu the day before, and some of it was new. It was very useful, of course.

Zhao Wugui took out a white jade slip from his storage pouch and handed it over to Han Li, "Alright, I've said enough. This is only a place where ascended cultivators are kept temporarily. It isn't appropriate for long term use. All cultivators at Nascent Soul-stage and above are given their own residence in Deep Heaven City. However, you'll have to strive for the better ones. You know more when you make arrangements at the Jade Fault Pavilion. This is a map of the city. Take a good look at it. For the first month you come to the city, there is no need for you to immediately take an assignment. But in a month, you will be assigned a set of Deep Azure Armor." Then he bid farewell.

Han Li respectfully thanked him and walked him out.

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When Han Li went back inside, he took the jade slip into his hand and pressed it against his forehead, sinking his spiritual sense into it instantly.

A moment later, his expression changed.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense through it with a changing face, "Deep Heaven City is actually this large. It appears even larger than the capital cities in the three human regions."

He then stroked the jade slip in his hand for a moment more and casually left the room.

Regardless, he first headed to the Jade Fault Pavilion and make arrangements for his cave residence. From what Zhao Wugui said, there should be something strange about it.

A bit of his interest was piqued.

Just as he committed the location of the Jade Fault Pavilion to memory, he left the pavilion in an azure streak.

As he swept past a dozen giant nearby pagodas, Han Li took a hidden glance at the various cultivators he spotted on the way.

He saw cultivators wearing various sets of armor, but they most commonly appeared near the huge buildings. Those farther away were wearing common cultivator attire from the spirit realm. It was unknown if they had taken off their armor or if they were cultivators not part of the city.

However, there was something he was certain of. You are normally required to wear armor when you enter the huge pagoda. Furthermore, Han Li discovered that yellow and white-armored body refiners used the first few floors of the huge pagodas. The yellow-armored body refiners only possessed mid-grade cultivation while white-armored body refiners had high-grade cultivation.

The number of them entering the huge pagodas was far beyond the cultivators wearing black and azure armor.

When Han Li saw this, he came to understand a bit.

It appeared that Deep Heaven City's military force was due to the countless soldiers stationed at the huge pagodas. The yellow, white, black, azure, and golden armor were all clear classifications of their fighting power.

After Han Li took a few glances at the huge pagoda and the soldiers, he turned his attention over to his objective.

After about an hour of flight, Han Li eventually caught sight of an extremely tall city wall in the distance. Then, the light around his body darkened and he dropped down to an unremarkable three-story building below him.

Although the building was small and plain, many cultivators were bustling in and out of it.

Han Li simply stopped and placed and examined the building and the streaking lights of flying cultivators for a moment more before he approached the gate.

The pagoda gate's signboard, the Jade Fault Pavilion", was written in bold artistic lettering.

Han Li glanced at the sign with narrowed eyes for a long while before he slowly stepped inside.

The first floor had a large hall that was over a hundred meters wide. There were several dozens of cultivators standing in the hall, looking at a huge screen shining in azure light at the very end of the room.

The screen was a map that was six meters tall and over thirty meters wide. Silver specks of light lit up on it, along with a few numbers on occasion. There was also an azure-robed middle-aged man that was standing in front of it with a smile.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense past it and discovered that the cultivators standing in the hall were all at Nascent Soul-stage. As for the azure-robed man, he was a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator.

Suddenly, a skinny old man walked up to the azure-robed man and bowed before handing over an iron plate shining in black light and a storage bracelet.

The middle-aged man took a glance at the iron plate and the storage pouch and flipped his hand with a nod. The storage pouch disappeared and he handed the iron plate back to the old man.

The old man's spirits immediately trembled. He grabbed the plate and approached the huge math and lightly waved it. Suddenly, a black line shined from its surface and it wrote "2" on one of the silver specks. The speck of light blurred and the number suddenly changed to "3".

Afterwards, the old man immediately withdrew.

After the time it took to finish a cup of tea, over a dozen people approached the azure-robed man and gave him either an item or some spirit stones. Most of the time, the middle-aged man nodded and gave them a sign on the mark, but there were a few times where he would shake his head and the rejected person would only withdraw dejectedly.

Han Li soon discovered that the huge map displayed the various spirit veins in Deep Heaven City. The deeper the azure light in an area and the greater the number that appeared, more contested the claim of the land. There was even an azure light near some green parts of the map that had an astonishing number of twelve.

When Han Li saw this, he stroked his chin and he remembered what Zhao Wugui said.

It appeared he would have to vie with others for a suitable cave residence.

Suddenly, a clear voice spoke from behind Han Li, "Senior, are you looking for a suitable spirit land to establish your cave residence?"

Han Li slowly turned around with a calm expression.

He saw a slender beautiful woman that was politely standing to the side. Her cultivation was only at Foundation Establishment stage, but it was to be expected given her maid attire.

"That's right, but I'm still looking for a good place. I'm not very satisfied with the spirit mountains here." Han Li calmly replied.

"Senior must be a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator. The first floor is only for black-armored guards. Senior should head to the second floor," the girl said with a smile.

"How did you know I was a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator. You shouldn't be able to tell with your cultivation." Han Li's heart trembled and a cold glint lit up from his eye.

"There is no need for Senior to be surprised." The girl immediately lifted her hand and revealed a palm-sized plate with silver rune characters flashing from it, "Although this Junior's cultivation is low, I possess a spirit pressure plate. Unless there is a Senior hiding their aura, I can see their cultivation."

Han Li looked at the plate and felt a bit of a headache.

It was unknown if those human elders have acquired imperial records relating to tool refinement or if their comprehension in this field had reached a stage where they can utilize these understandings in the city.

Either way, this seemed to smash his initial understanding of common conventions. He would have to pay more attention.

If he was caught unaware during a crucial time, some problems would occur.

Of course, none of these thoughts were betrayed by his face. He simply nodded at the girl and had her lead the way upstairs.

There were far fewer people on the second floor, but it appeared far more decorated. Although many areas were set up on the screen, there were simply five people calmly having a seat as they closely examined the map on the screen.

To the side of the screen, there was a large purple-robed man lazily sitting there.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense past the large man and his expression changed. He was an early Spatial Tempering cultivator. As for the people that were studying the map, there were Deity Transformation-stage cultivators like himself. Each of them had a fair maid dressed in similar robes. All of them were exceptionally beautiful and at Foundation Establishment-stage.

Han Li took a deep breath and saluted the large purple-robed man in the distance. Then he followed one of the maids to one of the chairs.

Like the others, the girl stood behind Han Li in a deferential manner.

Han Li glanced at the others and saw they were looking at the green areas on the map.

It appeared they were the mountain ranges in Deep Heaven City. But there were far fewer silver characters on the map than downstairs. Most of them only said 1 or 2. At most, there were several that said 4, but that was only for one location.

Han Li muttered to himself for a moment, and he waved to the maid behind him. He said, "I'm not too familiar with the spirit lands near here. Can you give me an introduction?"

"Yes, Senior. This map contains the three mountain ranges in the city. The central mountain range, the Jade Rapid Mountains have the most abundant spiritual Qi. This is where most Deity Transformation-stage seniors live. Furthermore, they also have many particular spirit medicines that grow there. This time, there are two Deity Transformation-stage Seniors that hadn't survived their tribulation, and there is one that also reached the end of this lifespan. According to the rules, their residences have been made available. Many fight for them. The other area is the Heavenly Sound Mountains. Many Deity Transformation-stage cultivators live there as well but the spiritual Qi isn't as abundant as in Jade Rapid Mountain. As for the Jade Sound Mountain, it is a place that was originally meant for Nascent Soul cultivators. It has recently been opened for use to Deity Transformation-stage Seniors, but I fear it may not be very suitable for you. However, there are very few cave residences placed on the mountain. If Senior wishes to have a large stretch of land exclusive to himself, that may be the better choice."

"So it was like that!" Han Li slowly nodded and he took another look at the screen.

The maid tactfully stood back behind Han Li and couldn't help but take another glance at Han Li.

Han Li only appeared to be in his twenties, but he was already a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator. Although she had seen many Deity Transformation cultivators during her time in the Jade Fault Pavilion, seeing one so young had piqued her curiosity.

Suddenly, a wealthily dressed fat man boldly stood a few steps forward and raised an embroidered box and an azure jade pendant. He respectfully brought it up to the large azure-robed man and said, "This Junior recently acquired a talk of Silver Immortal Grass at four thousand years of maturity. Can Senior decide if I have the qualifications to choose a spirit land?"

"Even with one of four thousand years, it will be difficult. Let me take a look." The large purple-robed man spoke casually and raised his hand to take the pendant and the box.

When he opened the box, he found a sparkling silver light that released a refreshing medicinal scent.

Even as someone well versed in medicinal plants, when Han Li smelled it, he couldn't help but concede its quality.

The large purple-robed man narrowed his eyes and examined the medicinal plant for a long while before reluctantly saying, "Four thousand years? It seems to be lacking a few hundred, but I'll let it go. It'll qualify."

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The fat man let out an inward sigh of relief and thanked the purple-robed man with a smile. He used the jade pendant on a speck of light that said '4'.

The number that said '4' was touched by the pendant's azure light and it blurred to a '5'.

This was a location in the Jade Rapid Mountains, the place with the densest spiritual Qi.

When the other sitting cultivators saw this, their expressions vastly changed. A few of the others had a similar idea to him and now had no choice but to take a change of plans.

Because the fat man was a late Deity Transformation-stage cultivator, his cultivation and words seemed to weigh down on the other cultivators.

Now that the fat man had chosen, he returned to his own seat and wanted to see what the others would pick.

Because of his choice, the remaining cultivators eventually stood up to make their choice, both taking an area at Heavenly Sound Mountain, one without any people and one with.

Once those two made their selection, they immediately headed down.

The remaining cultivators each frowned as if unable to come to a decision.

At that moment, Han Li suddenly stood up and walked to the purple-robed man.

The other cultivators were faintly startled.

After all, Han Li had only recently arrived, so it was unexpected for him to quickly come to a decision.

Han Li stroked his storage bracelet and took out a white jade box into his hand. Then with a smile, he handed them to the large purple-robed man with his own jade pendant.

The purple-robed man didn't immediately take the jade box. Instead, he glanced at Han Li and said, "I heard there was a newly ascended cultivator that arrived in the city. Are you that fellow surnamed Han?"

"Senior is well informed. That is me." Han Li's heart trembled, but he showed none of his shock on his face.

"In that case, this should be the first time you've picked a cave residence. You won't need to pay a price and can choose a spirit land."

"Many thanks, Senior!" Han Li's face blanked and he quickly withdrew the jade box with a smile.

When the cultivators heard that Han Li was a newly ascended, they glanced at him with an odd expression.

It seemed newly ascended cultivators were a special existence in the city.

The large man quickly examined Han Li's pendant and gave it back to him with a nod.

Han Li didn't hesitate and waved his pendant over an uninhabited area.

The azure light passed through it and marked the area with '1'.

An uproar was raised when they saw the area Han Li chose.

The area Han Li picked was an area on Jade Rapid Mountain with the most inferior spiritual Qi.

It wasn't strange for a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator to choose that mountain range, but there were other areas on the mountain range with no one as well. Han Li instead choose the most unremarkable area with the least spiritual Qi. This left them bewildered.

The spirit land's sole benefit was that to make up for the land's deficient spiritual Qi, they gave a larger plot of land to make up for it. The land spanned thousands of kilometers, several times in size compared to the other spirit lands on the mountain range.

But everyone knew that the quality of the land was directly related to the amount of spiritual Qi on the land. No matter how wide the land may be, the medicine and ores would certainly be lacking. It is even worse for the cultivator in question.

In the purple-robed man's surprise, he glanced at the man for a long while and frowned, "You truly chose that as your cave residence. You should know this selection can't be changed for a hundred years."

Han Li calmly answered, "I've only arrived in the spirit realm. I want to place to stay for the time being, I don't wish to fight over space with other Fellow Daoists. Although the area is lacking, there is no one else there."

The purple-robed man then glanced at Han Li with an odd expression and waved his hand. With his originally lazy voice, he said, "If those are your thoughts, then so be it. In any case, after you mark it, no one else will be able to change it."

Han Li saluted him without further concern and returned to his seat, planning on staying a while longer.

Then, another cultivator stood up and selected the same area as the large purple-robed man.

But then, footsteps clapped and someone entered the second floor unattended by a maid.

When the cultivators on the second floor saw this person, their expressions all changed. The fat man with the largest cultivation, on the other hand, looked at him with bright eyes and he called out, "So it was Fellow Daoist Weng! I didn't know you were interested in contesting spirit lands!"

The person who entered was a blue-robed man with a headband. He had sharp slanted eyebrows, giving him a menacing impression.

He glanced at the fat man and smiled, "Hehe, If Brother Jin has come to change his cave residence, then so can I."

This person was a mid-Deity Transformation stage cultivator, but he spoke to the late-stage fat man with a friendly tone. This caused Han Li's heart to stir and take another look at the blue-robed man.

After all, at this stage of cultivation, every difference in grade signified a vast disparity in power. Of course, those like him that possessed spirit treasures, created heavenly flames from devouring spirits, and practiced heaven-defying abilities like Divine Essensefused Light were the exception.

Since the blue-robed man acted so familiarly with the late-stage cultivator, he should belong in this category.

"Little Brother Weng must be joking. You hold a top grade spirit land. What would you exchange it for." The fat man stroked his chin and wore a trace of confusion.

"Hehe, I've been recently cultivating a secret technique that doesn't need too much spiritual Qi. I require a larger area, or it will be difficult to cultivate. I'm going to change it for the time being." The blue-robed man replied with a shock.

"So it was like that," the fat man said with understanding, but it was unknown if he truly believed him.

When Han Li heard the two talk, he frowned for a brief moment.

The blue-robed man took several steps to the purple-robed man and saluted him, "I pay my respects to Martial Uncle Jiao. My master sends his regards."

"From that old eccentric's rotten character, why would he say that? Nevertheless, you master hide from six greater tribulations already. I fear he won't be able to hide from the seventh, the large man said with a cold laugh.

When the blue-robed man heard the purple-robed man's reply, he wore an embarrassed expression, but he soon answered, "My master has been secluded for two hundred years. He is preparing to forge a spirit treasure that can withstand the next calamity."

"A spirit treasure? It seems your master's luck is quite good. Last time, he had his spirit treasures destroyed to withstand the tribulation and he managed to gather enough materials for another. In that case, your master does have a chance at surviving the next one. Alright, enough of that. I am on duty. Quickly make your choice." The purple-robed man's expression sank and he said no further.

"As you wish. The blue-robed man quickly swept his gaze past the man, and looked at several areas with a number and his expression sank.

"Someone actually chose such a remote area on Jade Rapid Mountains." Not daring to ask the purple-robed man any questions, he turned to the fat man and pointed at an area on the map, "Brother Jin, you've been here a while. Do you know who chose that place?"

When the fat man saw where he pointed, an odd expression appeared on his face and he unconsciously glanced in Han Li's direction.

The blue-robed man quickly understood what the fat man's face meant. He promptly turned around and closely examined Han Li.

When he saw Han Li's cultivation was only at early-stage, he wore an arrogant expression and he coldly said, "so you're the one who chose the spirit land!"

After a moment of silence, Han Li replied, "And you also want it."

The blue-robed man snorted and eerily said, "My secret technique can only be cultivated in a suitable place. If you're smart, you'll renounce your claim. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless in our fight." His threat was clear to see.

Han Li remained silent.

In order to avoid a fight, he intentionally picked an area with sparse spiritual Qi. He wanted to avoid provoking any problems as he only had interests in cultivating. He didn't want to make any enemies that would disturb him.

He completely didn't expect this plan to backfire and have someone come knocking on his door. Han Li found this matter to be truly laughable.

With blue light shining from his eyes, he took a quick glance at the others.

The large purple-robed man still lazily sat in his seat and had yet to raise his eyes. It appeared he didn't really care. As for the other cultivators, they looked at him with schadenfreude.

"Senior, if I renounce my choice, will I be able to pick another area." Han Li calmly asked the purple-robed man.

"You cannot. There are only so many spirit lands. Everyone will only have one opportunity to fight for it. If you lose, you'll have to contest an empty land in another hundred years." He replied expressionlessly.

When Han Li heard this, he sighed.

To delay the maturation of his spirit medicines and creation of spirit pills for a hundred years was something he found intolerable.

To the side, the blue-robed man sneered and said, "Even if you have to wait a hundred years, you'll be able to pick another area. But if you don't listen to me, hehe...'

When Han Li heard him, he raised his brow and smiled.

"I will not agree to your request. From the way I see it, it'd be best for you to look for a different area to cultivate. I don't wish to injure you. If I were to make a mistake..."

Han Li spoke casually, and although he only finished half his sentence, his blunt words were extremely obvious.

The spectators were stunned.

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Han Li was only at the early-Deity Transformation Stage, and he had been feigning weakness this entire time, so his words naturally came as quite a surprise to everyone.

Even the perpetually expressionless purple-robed man turned to Han Li with a hint of surprise on his face.

A cold light flashed through the eyes of the man with the sharp eyebrows.

"You're a brave one! It's been several hundred years since I've met someone who dared to talk to me like this despite having an inferior cultivation base. In that case, we won't have to hold back in the battle for the Spirit Land in three days," the man said in a menacing voice.

"I'll be sure to take everything you throw at me when the time comes. I'll be taking my leave now." In response, Han Li gave a nonchalant reply before extended a slight bow toward the purple-robed man and departing from the second floor.

The man with the sharp brows looked on at Han Li's departing figure with a dark expression.

Not long after that, the fatso and the man with sharp brows appeared in the air high above the Heavenly Jade Pavilion, and the two of them were discussing something through voice transmission.

"Brother Xian, what use do you have for that Spirit Land that you're fighting for? You couldn't disclose this information in there, but you can tell me now, right?" the fatso asked with a benevolent smile.

"I spoke the truth earlier; it is indeed to cultivate a type of secret technique that necessitates a switch of cave abodes. Otherwise, why would I go out of my way to find someplace with such sparse spiritual Qi?" the man with sharp brows replied with a faint sigh.

The fatso chuckled with a disbelieving expression.

The man with sharp brows was quite resigned to see this, and he put on an expression that said "I can't do anything if you don't believe me".

"So be it. Regardless of what objective you have, there must be some circumstances involved that make you unwilling to disclose your goals. Are you really planning not to hold back in the battle against that Han brat?" The fatso suddenly changed the subject.

"Why do you ask? Could it be that you have some ties with him, Fellow Daoist Jin?" The man with sharp brows was rather displeased to hear this question.

"How could I share any ties with him? I just wanted to tell you that he's a cultivator who's only recently ascended to Deep Heaven City," the fatso cautioned.

"A recently ascended cultivator? So what? A new cultivator will ascend to our Deep Heaven City once every two or three years. Do you think I'll lose to an early-Deity Transformation cultivator, Brother Jin? I was wondering why this man dared to be so arrogant; he must've dominated whatever lower realm he came from, and he's taken that cocky demeanor all the way here to the Spirit Realm." The man with sharp brows gave a cold chuckle in response.

"Haha, this man's cultivation base is naturally not noteworthy at all. With your powers, even I wouldn't dare to say that I can defeat you. No matter how powerful an early-Deity Transformation cultivator is, there's no way that he'd be a match for you. However, the ascended cultivators in the city always like to look after one another, so just teach him a lesson and don't actually kill him. Otherwise, even with Senior Ming as a backer, things could become quite troublesome for you if those guys become aware that you killed one of them," the fatso cautioned in a meaningful and heartfelt manner.

"This man has been far too arrogant, so I'll naturally be teaching him a good lesson. As for whether I'll actually be taking his life, we'll see when the battle comes." A cold light flashed through the man's eyes.

"Alright, in that case, I have nothing else to say. In three days, I also have to go and fight those four guys. I don't even know if I'm going to be able to win my own battle." A concerned look appeared on the fatso's face.

"You're being far too modest if you say that, Brother Jin. I heard that Brother Jin recently obtained a primordial treasure that possesses incredible abilities, and it's no less powerful than a spirit treasure." A peculiar smile appeared on the man's face.

The fatso's expression changed upon hearing this before he quickly recomposed himself.

"I didn't think that you'd heard about that already, Brother Weng. Indeed, I did obtain a rather powerful treasure recently, but to say that it's as powerful as a spirit treasure is a bold exaggeration. It simply has some protective properties." The fatso waved his hands in response.

"Oh really?" A hint of a smile appeared on the man's face.

After that, the two of them conversed for a while longer, each of them harboring their own ulterior motives, before the fatso departed as a streak of red light.

The man with the Weng surname looked on with a dark expression and harrumphed coldly.

"Hmph, he's trying to anger me and make me strike up a vendetta against those ascended cultivators. What a devious plan!"

"That man knows a lot about you and is already beginning to suspect you, so you should be more careful from now on. He's not anything to worry about, but his grandfather is someone whom even I'd rather not face." Another man's voice suddenly sounded above him.

Spiritual light then flashed there, and a green jade-like wyrm that was around a foot in length appeared.

The man immediately extended a respectful bow toward the green wyrm as he said, "Don't worry, Master. As soon as I obtain the Spirit Land, I'll completely seal it off immediately. Unless that fatso knows anything concrete, he won't be able to do anything."

"I trust that you'll do a good job. This is quite an important matter and if it weren't for the fact that I'm at a critical juncture in refining my spirit treasure, I definitely wouldn't just be deploying an avatar here. I hope you won't disappoint me." The wyrm nodded in response.

"I'll be sure not to disappoint you, Master," the man vowed before a hesitant look appeared on his face.

"But Master, are we sure that the information we have is accurate? The spiritual Qi there really is quite sparse; it doesn't appear possible that that man would've passed away there."

"Of course we're not completely sure, but with that person's identity, we have to give it a try even if there's only the slightest sliver of a chance. If it's true, then we'll be able to obtain that person's treasures and cultivation arts. In that case, not only would I not have to worry about my upcoming tribulation transcendence, it's quite possible that you'll be able to reach the Spatial Tempering Stage as well. Hence, defeat is not an option for you in three days. If the opponent does indeed prove to be quite troublesome, then there's no need for you to hold back; just kill him on the spot. The aftermath may be a little troublesome, but it's nothing compared to that person's treasures and cultivation arts." The wyrm's voice suddenly cooled significantly.

The man's heart jolted upon hearing this, but he immediately replied, "I understand, Master."

"All ascended cultivators have different tricks up their sleeves, so make sure you don't get complacent. Even though this man is only at the early-Deity Transformation Stage, I'll lend you my Thousand Soul Bell just in case. You'll have three days to refine it, and that should be enough for you to temporarily use the treasure. With that treasure, your victory will be assured." The wyrm opened its mouth after a brief period of contemplation, following which a ball of Yin Qi was expelled from within its body. A black bell that was around an inch in size was enshrouded within the Yin Qi, and there were countless runes visible on the surface of the bell.

The man was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly extended words of gratitude toward the wyrm. He then rustled his sleeve, and a burst of blue light shot forth to accept the bell.

After that, the wyrm gave him a few more instructions before disappearing up his other sleeve.

Only then did the man turn around and fly toward another direction as a streak of blue light.

Han Li was naturally oblivious toward these exchanges, and nor could he have imagined that someone really did intend to kill him.

After departing from the Heavenly Jade Pavilion, he didn't immediately return to the Flying Spirit Palace. Instead, he flew for over half a day according to the annotations on the map, finally settling in the air before looking down at the city in the distance with his brows furrowed in contemplation.

Come to think of it, it was more accurate to call this place the State of Tian Yuan rather than Deep Heaven City. The area governed by this city was comparable to a small state in the human world.

However, the Deep Heaven City wasn't actually all that vast in a strict sense; it was only several tens of thousands of square kilometers in area, and had been sealed off by massive city gates. The city itself was trapezoid in shape with city gates on the front and rear, while the thick mist from massive immortal formations obscured the remaining two sides. Even True Spirit level beings wouldn't be able to barge their way through the mist. The wall that facing the primordial world was the narrowest one at less than 100 kilometers in length, yet the watchtowers that had runes carved into them stretched for several tens of thousands of feet into the sky, striking the onlooker with a sense of awe and fear.

Outside this massive wall, there was a large number of human and demons patrols guarding this area day and night, and all types of restriction formations were also constantly activated.

Within the city wall, there was an army of over 1,000,000 humans and demons that was permanently situated in the city.

Such meticulous defensive measures ensured that Deep Heaven City had never been successfully invaded by foreign races ever since the day of its founding.

In comparison, the city wall on the other side was nowhere near as imposing and well-guarded. However, it stretched for over 500 kilometers, and there were many humans and demons who would access it to enter and exit the three regions and seven territories. Most of these beings were planning to go on adventures in the primordial world while the rest were coming to buy and sell things in Deep Heaven City. As such, the city was an extremely lively and bustling place.

After exiting the boundaries of Deep Heaven City, there was a vast stretch of mountain ranges and the occasional small mortal settlement. However, there was definitely no second cultivator city.

On one hand, these mortal settlements provided some essential supplies for Deep Heaven City and on the other hand, they provided a constant supply of low-grade cultivators and body refinement warriors. Of course, in the areas that had been assigned to the demon race, there were also countless beasts and low-grade demon beasts, thereby providing replenishments to the demons in the city.

The humans and demons were forced to join forces and guard Deep Heaven City together here in this Spirit Realm, but the inevitable truth was that the two races did not see eye to eye. As such, in order to prevent interracial conflict, the entire city was split in half using a massive light barrier, with each race governing one half of the city.

As for the area outside the city, there was also an unnamed no-man's-land acting as the border while each race governed half of that land.

The only place where humans and demons could coexist was the elder tower at the center of the city.

Not only was this tower several times thicker than other massive towers, it was also where the most powerful beings in the city were gathered. Among them, there were a dozen or so Body Integration Stage elders from both races who made decisions on important matters.

As such, this tower appeared extremely mysterious in the eyes of the city's residents.

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The place that Han Li was situated at was over 10 kilometers away from the elder tower. He looked at the massive azure stone tower than extended all the way up into the clouds, and his eyes were flashing with a contemplative light.

According to his knowledge, there was always at least one Body Integration Stage elder each from the human and demon races that were stationed at the tower, and that was a rather disheartening notion to Han Li.

Back in the human world, all Deity Transformation cultivators were extremely mysterious and it was very difficult to encounter one. However, here in Deep Heaven City, he was so close to even Body Integration cultivators, and he could ask them for guidance in the future.

It appeared that prior to cleansing himself of the aura of an alternate realm, this was a good place to stay.

Han Li was hovering in mid-air with a contemplative look on his face. He naturally wasn't thinking about his battle against the man with the Weng surname; he had even faced Spatial Tempering cultivators in the past, so this wasn't a concern for him.

After inspecting the city for a while longer, Han Li flew back toward the Flying Spirit Palace as a streak of azure light.

After returning to his own room, Han Li immediately deactivated the restriction, and he only made his way into the secret chamber before sitting down with his legs crossed after verifying that nothing was amiss.

Even though he was rather confident in his ability to emerge victorious in the upcoming battle, he naturally wasn't going to make no preparations at all.

However, prior to that, he had a small matter to take care of.

Han Li rustled a sleeve and a petite little silver bracelet appeared in his other hand. The bracelet appeared to be extremely intricately-crafted, yet was extremely light, thereby suggesting that it was a hollow object.

This was none other than a spirit beast bracelet, which was similar in nature to the storage bracelets of the Spirit Realm. The space within the bracelet was split up into several compartments so different types of spirit insects and spirit beast could be stored in it at once.

Following his trip to the Setting Sun Tomb, Han Li had stored all of his spirit beasts into the bracelet, including his Gold Devouring Beetles and Weeping Soul Beast. As such, his spirit beast pouch was naturally in disuse now.

He swept a hand over the bracelet and a fist-sized ball of yellow light immediately emerged from within. The ball of light rapidly expanded before transforming into a little beast that was around a foot or so in size with its body tightly bound by azure ropes.

It was none other than the mutated Leopard Kirin Beast that had been captured by the Spirit Tribe beings in the Setting Sun Tomb.

After sifting through Shi Yan's memories, Han Li had learned that even though this little beast appeared to be no different from a normal leopard, it actually possessed traces of a Kirin's bloodline. Furthermore, it was a mutated Leopard Kirin Beast, so it already possessed Nascent Soul Stage power even though it hadn't yet reached full maturity.

After Han Li had recovered his magic power, he had naturally considered taming the beast. However, this beast was extremely feral and already possessed a certain degree of intelligence, and it appeared that it would rather die than submit to Han Li.

As such, Han Li had no choice but to put it into the spirit beast pouch to try and grind down its rough edges through captivity. After being detained for several decades, the little beast was finally at the end of its wits. A few days ago, the spirit beast had sent a signal to him from within the bracelet, expressing an urge to submit to Han Li.

However, Han Li was busy preparing for his tribulation transcendence as well as a string of other events, so he no time to take care of this matter.

He now had three days, within which he could tame this little beast.

As soon as the little beast appeared from the spirit beast pouch, it immediately began to whine at Han with a beseeching look in its green eyes. In conjunction with its petite little feline body, it was rather adorable.

"I'm going to place a restriction on your body now. If you accept the restrictions, I'll release you from your bindings, and I'll also give you some benefits. Otherwise, I'll lock you up for another century!" Han Li immediately delivered a cold threat.

The little beast wasn't a highly intelligent creature, but it had clearly understood Han Li's words. Its body shuddered as it considered the prospect of captivity for another century, and it could only nod its furry little head.

A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he flipped a hand over to produce a dozen or so thin silver needles.

He then raised his hand, and all of the silver needles disappeared into the little beast's body in a flash.

Immediately thereafter, Han Li brought out a vibrant red talisman. He opened his mouth to expel a ball of blood essence before pinching the talisman between his fingers and gently waving it through the air.

The talisman transformed into a ball of blood mist that refused to dissipate.

Han Li then began to chant something before patting the top of his own head. Azure light flashed and a Nascent Soul that was several inches in size appeared atop a miniature cauldron.

As soon as the Nascent Soul appeared, it opened its mouth to blast out a ball of green light.

As soon as the green light appeared, the blood mist surged toward it, and the two quickly combined to form a ball of green and red light.

The Nascent Soul then made a hand seal and cast several incantation seals into the ball of light.

All of a sudden, the ball of light began to surge and churn violently, transforming into a fist-sized ghostly head with a set of sinister facial features.

The Nascent Soul pointed toward the little beast, following which the ghostly head opened its mouth before burrowing itself into the little beast's head in a flash.

The little beast let loose a loud cry before falling unconscious to the ground with its eyes rolled over into the back of its head.

At the same time, a layer of green and red light began to flash erratically all over its body.

A pleased look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this and he made a grabbing motion toward the little beast.

A muffled thump rang out as the azure ropes around the little beast's body snapped into countless segments before disappearing.

Han Li then paid no further heed to the little beast as he began to close his eyes in meditation.

In the remaining time, Han Li remained in his secret chamber, and three days passed by in the blink of an eye. On the morning of the fourth day, a streak of light flashed through the restriction outside the door, flying toward the secret chamber within which Han Li was situated.

However, after flying into the door of the secret chamber, a layer of white light surfaced to repel the streak of light.

It then attempted to fly through the door again to avail, and it immediately began to emit a ringing sound.

All of a sudden, azure light flashed and a humanoid figure appeared out of thin air, reaching out before grabbing the streak of light.

It was none other than Han Li, who had been in seclusion for three days.

There was a little leopard beast sitting on his shoulder and he delved his spiritual sense into the ball of light in his hand in an unhurried manner.

This was a voice transmission talisman sent by the Heavenly Jade Pavilion regarding the battle for the Spirit Land.

"The Vast Martial Hall, eh?"

Han Li murmured to himself before rubbing his hands together, and the ball of light immediately disappeared.

He then strode directly over to the door.

Four hours later, in the air high above an outdoor plaza, Han Li hovered in mid-air within a massive barrier of white light. Outside the light barrier, there was a burly man wearing a suit of golden armor with a scar on his face, wearing a cold expression.

Time passed by slowly, and Han Li continued to wait patiently, but the same could not be said for the man clad in golden armor. He looked up at the seven scorching suns in the sky from time to time, as if he were calculating the amount of time that had elapsed.

All of a sudden, spiritual light flashed in the distance, following which a streak of blue light shot forth. It appeared beside the light barrier in the blink of an eye before the light receded to reveal a cultivator.

"Please forgive me, Senior; I'm late because I was refining a treasure. I hope I'm not too late?" The man extended a respectful bow toward the armor-clad cultivator with a fawning smile on his face.

This man was none other than the man with the Weng surname.

The armor-clad man replied coldly, "Hmph! If you had come any later, I would've disqualified you! You're lucky that you made it in the nick of time. Get up there now."

He then made a hand seal and cast a golden incantation seal toward the white light barrier. Immediately thereafter, brilliant spiritual light erupted from the barrier, following which a passageway around 10 feet wide opened up before Han Li's opponent.

"Thank you, Senior."

The man was ecstatic as he shot forth into the light barrier as a streak of blue light.

When he cast his gaze toward Han Li, a twisted sinister smile appeared on his face.

"So you really came; looks like you have some guts, after all. To think that you would dare to accept my challenge as a mere early-Deity Transformation cultivator," the man said in a sinister voice.

Han Li merely gave a lazy smile response, as if he couldn't even be bothered to offer a reply.

The man was immediately enraged upon seeing this, and the killing intent in his heart grew even fiercer.

"Listen up! There are no rules or restrictions in this battle. As long as you don't leave the boundaries of this restriction, anything goes. Unless one side surrenders in a verbal concession, I won't step in. If you feel like you're not up to the task, then it's best to concede early on. Not many people have perished during battles for Spirit Lands, but it's rather common for severe injuries to be inflicted. If neither of you have any objections, then we'll begin soon," the armor-clad cultivator announced.

Han Li and his opponent looked at one another from afar, and neither of them said anything. The armor-clad man nodded, and loudly declared, "Begin!"

Han Li and his opponent sprang into action at the exact same moment.

In the face of an opponent whom even late-Deity Transformation cultivators treated with respect, Han Li naturally wasn't going to make the mistake of underestimation and complacency. He rustled his sleeve, and 72 small swords shot forth in a frenzy, each of which was around an inch in length. Amid a burst of shimmering golden light, they transformed into golden lotus flowers that circled around Han Li's body.

At the same time, he opened his mouth to expel a miniature cauldron. The cauldron swelled to around 10 feet in size amid a burst of brilliant spiritual light.

It was none other than the Heavenvoid Cauldron! In contrast, the man with sharp brows made a hand seal, and specks of blue light began to emanate from his body.

These specks of light were only around the size of grains of rice, but there was an innumerable amount, and they almost inundated his entire body.

The man then made a grabbing motion, and a ball of piercing silver light flashed, following which a shimmering silver wheel appeared over his hand. The wheel was around the size of a palm and was quite an antiquated artifact. From the layers of runes carved onto the surface of the wheel, it was quite apparent that this was an extraordinary item.

The silver wheel was tossed into the air and immediately transformed int a ball of silver light. Following a string of urgent chants, the ball of light began to swell drastically.

Moments later, it transformed into a massive ball around 30 to 40 feet in size, hovering directly above his head like a silver sun.

After doing all that, he cast his gaze toward Han Li, and his expression stiffened involuntarily. The 72 golden flying swords weren't all that fearsome to him, but the massive azure cauldron hovering before Han Li made his heart jolt in shock!

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