A Record Of A Mortal's Journey To Immortality

by Srtyi

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

47. 1512

Read A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality - Chapter 1512: Beginning of More Troubles online free - Novel Full

"You're not mistaken about that Senior, but the item I'm going to take into this place isn't one of the holy artifacts of our race. Instead, its a replica treasure that was refined not long ago by the elders of our race, and to be completely accurate, it should actually be called a false divine nest. The treasure can only manifest one type of holy insect, and it's only a kind of holy insect of a very low caliber. On top of that, this type of replica is a disposable treasure, so it can only be used once," the crimson-armored puppet replied in a truthful manner.

"A false divine nest, eh? Interesting! I've heard a lot about the vastly renowned divine nests of the Mayfly Race, but I've never had the pleasure of witnessing one in action for myself. This isn't going to a real divine nest, but a replica will suffice. I can summon your true body here free of charge, but you'll have to pay a price if you want to borrow my Five Dragon Chopper again," the elderly man said in a slow voice.

"But I've only brought one vial of Yin Water Essence with me." A hint of hesitation crept into the puppet's voice.

"That's alright, just bring the remnants of your false divine nest to me after you're finished with it; that's not too much to ask, is it?" the elderly man asked.

"You want the false divine nest, Senior?" The crimson-armored puppet was truly becoming quite hesitant now.

"Hehe, if you don't want to, then so be it. I only wanted the item so I could broaden my horizons. Do you really think I can glean the secrets of your divine nest just by inspecting a set of remnants?" the elderly man said in a nonchalant voice.

After a brief moment of contemplation, the crimson-armored puppet arrived at the conclusion that it was too risky to take on the intruders with the false divine nest alone, so he gritted his teeth, and replied, "Alright, I'll do it, but on one condition; I can only leave the remnants of the nest here for a month. After that, I'll have to return it or I won't be able to answer to the elders of our race."

"Haha, that's all I needed to hear! I'll summon your true body here right away. It's a good thing that I have a wisp of your spiritual sense here to work with. Otherwise, even I wouldn't be able to draw you into this place." A burst of laughter rang out from within the cave, followed by a dull thump, and a plume of silver threads short forth, sweeping up the crimson-armored puppet, then dragging it into the cave.

The puppet disappeared in the blink of an eye, and around five minutes later, an extremely powerful burst of spiritual pressure suddenly erupted into the air from the white mountain ranges, following which a thick pillar of golden light surged into the air.

Gusts of Yin winds converged toward the pillar of light in a frenzy as boundless black Qi appeared in the surrounding area amid a string of resounding booms.

This phenomenon obscured the entire surrounding area, making it impossible to see what was happening inside. After a long while, a bolt of lightning pierced through the darkness like a powerful wyrm before disappearing in a flash, following which a sharp screech that was filled with resentment and baleful energy erupted from within

Han Li exhaled as he opened his eyes, and his expression was filled with elation.

"Fellow Daoist Han, the final tracking mark has been successfully eradicated." Yuan Yao's delightful voice sounded from behind him.

"Thank you for your assistance. I didn't think that the final tracking mark would be so difficult to get rid of. It was if it had taken root within my body, and we had to refine it without expelling as it simply refused to be ejected. Now that all four tracking marks have been destroyed, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief." Han Li turned around and cupped his fist in an earnest salute toward the two women.

"Hehe, there's no need to thank us, Brother Han; you saved our lives as well," Yuan Yao chuckled in a slightly exhausted manner.

Yan Li also wore a smile on her face, but her face was quite pale.

That wasn't much of a surprise; anyone would be suffering from symptoms of overexertion after controlling such a formation for over half a day.

Han Li immediately rustled his sleeve upon seeing this, and two small green vials flew forth before hovering in front of the two women.

"These two vials contain Green Yin Pills, which are Yin-attribute pills that will surely be quite beneficial for both of you."

"My junior martial sister and I really are in need of such pills, so I'll gladly accept them, Brother Han." Yan Li smiled as she swept a sleeve through the air, drawing a vial toward her before tipping out a dark green pill that immediately began to emit a strong Yin aura.

Yan Li's eyes lit up at the sight of the pill, and she picked it up between two of her fingers before carefully inspecting it for a while.

She then swallowed the pill and closed her eyes as she activated her cultivation arts in order to better absorb the power of the pill.

Yuan Yao hesitated momentarily upon seeing this before extending words of gratitude toward Han Li and accepting the other vial, then also consumed one of the pills.

Han Li stood patiently beside the two women as they absorbed the power of the pills they'd just consumed.

At this point, the vortex in the sky had already disappeared. As for the black ball, it had shrunk down to around 10 feet in size, and due to the fact that the formation had stopped functioning, it was slowly dissipating into black mist, looking as if it would also vanish not long from now.

After a while, the two women opened their eyes one after the other, and their complexions were looking a lot better.

Brother Han, those pills you gave us were quite precious, right? Junior Martial Sister Yuan and I both managed to recover most of our lost Yin Qi in such a short period of time," Yan Li said.

"I'm glad they're useful to you," Han Li replied with a smile.

"Brother Han, this isn't a safe place for us to stay; what do we do next?" Yuan Yao asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Indeed, we have to get away from here right away. In the instant that those tracking marks were destroyed, they would've revealed our approximate location to the demon monarchs. As for how we proceed from there, we'll naturally have to break through this space and return to the Spirit Realm. Of course, that's going to be easier said than done, but at least it's a goal that we can strive toward. Let's discuss this in detail while we leave this place," Han Li said with a solemn expression.

"Alright, we'll withdraw the formation first, then depart right away." Han Li was the one with the highest cultivation base among the three, so the two women naturally followed his lead.

Thus, the two of them flew through the air as streaks of black light to pack up all of the nearby tools that had been required to set up the formation from earlier.

Meanwhile, Han Li let loose a long cry that rumbled into the distance, and the Weeping Soul Beast and Leopard Kirin Beast immediately replied from afar. One of them let loose a loud ape cry while the other responded with a low roar before both hurtled back toward him.

A streak of black light and a streak of golden light soon disappeared up Han Li's sleeve in quick succession, and the two beasts were stored into this spirit beast bracelet again.

Moments later, the two women had also finished what they were doing, and the three of them decided on a direction before hurriedly flying away.

Less than half a day after Han Li's trio had departed, green light flashed in the air nearby, following which a ball of green light appeared.

Within the ball of green light was a slender and graceful figure. After circling around in the air for a while, the ball of green light descended onto the hill where Han Li and the others had been situated not long ago.

The green light faded, and the humanoid figure who was revealed was naturally none other than Mu Qing.

Mu Qing quickly surveyed the surroundings, and her expression gradually darkened.

To the average person, it would appear that there was nothing amiss here, but she was able to easily identify the remaining traces of the giant spell formation that had been set up her not long go, as well as the residual restriction fluctuations and pure Yin Qi that hung in the air.

"Looks like I was too late, and they've already been gone for a while. So he managed to eradicate the tracking marks through the use of a formation. Seeing as he's already left, it would be exceedingly difficult to try and find him," Mu Qing murmured to herself as an indecisive look appeared on her face.

"So be it! I'll take a gamble for the treasures in the devilish tomb. If I'd know that this would happen, I would've cast an extra restriction on him." Mu Qing gritted her teeth as a determined look appeared on her face.

She rose up into the air before flying away as a ball of azure light again.

However, on this occasion, she didn't fly too far away.

Close to two hours later, the ball of azure light suddenly descended into a small set of mountain ranges that appeared to be completely mundane and nondescript. Mu Qing then descended into an obscure valley within the mountain ranges.

The Yin Qi here was extremely sparse, compared to the rest of the mountain ranges, so there was not a single ghostly being to be found here.

That was exactly what Mu Qing was hoping for.

After searching through the valley to ensure that there were no potential hazards nearby, she swept both sleeves through the air, and countless fist-sized balls of green light shot forth through the air.

The balls of light flew toward all parts of the valley before disappearing into the ground.

After that, Mu Qing stomped a foot onto the ground, and spiritual light flashed beneath her waist as she transformed into her tree form again. Countless white roots pierced into the ground before extending toward all directions.

Mu Qing then began to chant something as she made a hand seal, and the entire valley before to tremor gently.

The soil on the ground where the green balls of light had disappeared suddenly split open, and countless seedlings sprouted before rapidly growing at a rate that was discernible to the naked eyes.

Within the span of a few breaths, they had all grown to become massive trees that were each several hundred feet tall.

The entire valley was transformed into a lush landscape that was abundant with wood-attribute spiritual Qi.

What was even more surprising was that none of these trees were rooted to the spot. Instead, they were all shifting locations positions at Mu Qing's behest, and moments later, a massive formation had appeared, encompassing virtually the entire valley with Mu Qing at its center.

The formation created a virtually watertight barrier around this place, following which Mu Qing abruptly opened her mouth to expel an object.

This was a white egg-sized bead that was slightly transparent and had strange golden patterns all over its surface.

The bead hovered around 10 feet in front of Mu Qing, rotating slowly on the spot. Mu Qing stared at the bead for a long while before heaving a faint sigh as she gently extended a finger toward it.

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The bead released a burst of azure light amid a faint thump, and an object began to take shape within the light.

As the light faded, the object was revealed to be a massive black pine tree.

The tree was extremely huge, yet its appearance was quite peculiar. There seemed to be an invisible line running directly down the center of the tree; on one side of the line, the tree was extremely lush and exuberant, yet the other half was completely shriveled up and devoid of leaves, as if it were a dead tree.

This was Mu Qing's wood spirit body.

She appraised the tree with a complex expression before flicking her 10 fingers in quick succession, casting one incantation seal after another, which all disappeared into the black tree.

The tree abruptly shuddered before lowering a small section of itself further into the ground, then falling completely still.

However, Mu Qing didn't stop there. She opened her mouth again to expel a ball of green blood essence, sending it flying toward the black tree before disappearing into a slight bulge on the tree trunk.

After that, Mu Qing began to chant something, and she raised both hands in unison to blast forth another two pillars of green light, both of which also vanished into the trees.

In the next instant, a ball of green light abruptly exploded from the spot on the tree trunk where the blood essence had just disappeared. The bark on the tree began to twist and warp before forming an extremely life-like set of facial features.

The face on the tree trunk was squirming incessantly and scrunched up in pain as if it were a living being.

Upon closer inspection, one would discover that this was none other than Jin Ling's face.

"Wake up!" Mu Qing yelled as she raised her eyebrows, then cast another incantation seal.

A small section of the massive black tree's trunk suddenly split apart down the middle, following which a golden ape leaped out from within.

The golden ape immediately knelt onto the ground, and said, "Jin Ling pays his respects to His Mistress! My Mistress, why have you awakened me? Could it be..."

"You may rise. It's a good thing you left a spiritual avatar of yourself within my body before we left. The original Jin Ling has already fallen, so you are Jin Ling now," Mu Qing sighed.

The golden ape's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but it then said in a respectful manner, "So I really did die. I was wondering why I couldn't sense the existence of my true body. In that case, I'm willing to continue serving My Mistress in Jin Ling's stead! You sacrificed your blood essence to summon me, so you must have something for me to do, right?"

"That's right. The tracking mark I planted in Han brat's body has been destroyed, and I've lost track of him as well. I'm preparing to unleash my Wood Domain to find him, but in that case, I'll have to use the power of my true body. Hence, I'll need you to protect the spirit wood that is my true form, and I've set up a powerful formation nearby. Even if beings as powerful as Liu Zu try to force their way into this area, it'd be able to stop them for a while. The formation will buy you enough time to take my true body and escape from here," Mu Qing said in a solemn voice.

"Wood Domain? That's extremely taxing on your powers, My Mistress! If you unleash it now, you won't be able to unleash it again within the next 1,000 years! Are you sure you want to do that?" A surprised look appeared on the golden ape's face.

"I have no choice. The bead I saw in the devilish tomb last time contained power that was identical to my essential power, yet the purity and quantity of power imbued within that bead are more than 10 times that of the essential power within my body. If I can obtain that treasure, then take the time to absorb all of the power within it, not only will I be able to progress beyond my current cultivation base, there's a very good chance that I'll even be able to advance even further. Hence, that thing is even more important to me than the so-called Divine Infernal River Elixir," Mu Qing said with a determined look on her face.

"In that case, I'll be sure to keep your true body safe, My Mistress." The golden ape knew that it wouldn't be able to dissuade Mu Qing, so it nodded with a solemn expression and allowed her to proceed.

"That's all I needed to hear, Jin Ling. Your original body has already been destroyed, and this current body of yours is a wood ape body that I manifested through my own power. This body is not as powerful as your original one, so you're currently only an early-Great Spirit General. Here, I'll give this to you as well to bolster your power." After a brief pause, Mu Qing opened her mouth to expel an azure mirror.

The mirror was only around the size of a human hand, and the back of the mirror was lined with green wooden patterns. As soon as it appeared, brilliant spiritual light radiated in all directions, and it was quite apparent even from first glance that this was an extraordinary treasure.

"Isn't this your Heavenly Wood Mirror? This is something that you've been nurturing within your body for countless years, My Mistress; I wouldn't dare to take something so significant! You'll require this mirror to protect yourself in the devilish tomb." Jin Ling immediately waved its hands to try and refused the mirror.

"If my true body were to be destroyed here, what would be the use of this mirror? Besides, it's not like your unaware of this; I obtained another spirit treasure a few years ago, and its powers are not inferior to that of this mirror. On top of that, it's even more effective for combating devilish Qi," Mu Qing insisted.

Jin Ling hesitated for a long while upon hearing this before finally agreeing to take the mirror.

It pointed a finger at the mirror, and the latter immediately disappeared into its body as a streak of azure light.

"Aside from this Heavenly Wood Mirror, I'll leave these two Evergreen Spirit Swords to you as well. This pair of swords will be even better than the two you had before." Mu Qing thought to herself before making a grabbing motion toward the giant black tree.

Two of the tree's branches shuddered before detaching themselves. Following a flash of azure light, they transformed into a pair of shimmering azure swords before falling from the tree. On this occasion, Jin Ling didn't refuse Mu Qing's offering. An elated look appeared on its face as it sprang forward to catch the two flying swords, then inspected them momentarily before quickly strapping them to its back.

After doing all that, Mu Qing issued a few more instructions to Jin Ling before reverting back to her original form.

A streak of azure light then rose up into the air above the valley before quickly departing.

Not long after Mu Qing had left, Jin Ling activated the spell formation that she'd set up in the valley.

The space within the entire valley warped and blurred, creating an illusion that there was nothing within the valley, and it was impossible to tell that anything was amiss when looking at this mirage from afar.

Mu Qing flew through the air in an unhurried manner, and a different scene was unfolding around her.

At this moment, the area in a radius of 100 feet around her was filled with specks of green light. The surrounding projections of plant life swayed as bursts of pure wood-attribute spiritual Qi emanated from them.

Shimmering green light appeared over Mu Qing's body, following which a massive green tree projection emerged behind her.

It was as if she'd created her own world within the area encompassed under the green light.

Moments later, Mu Qing returned to the hill where she'd first discovered signs of Han Li's whereabouts, then descended onto the summit.

She raised her hands into the air, and the green light around her suddenly expanded toward all directions, encompassing the entire hill in the span of just a few breaths.

The projections of plant life all manifested into actual living entities in that moment, taking root on the ground below and swaying in the wind.

The entire hill had been transformed into a lush forest, and at the same time, the roots of the giant tree behind Mu Qing suddenly transformed into countless azure threads that shot forth through the air.

Some of them disappeared into the bushes while others vanished into the ground in a flash.

Mu Qing closed her eyes with a solemn expression and her brows tightly furrowed, seemingly trying to concentrate intently on something.

After about 10 minutes, she suddenly opened her eyes, and murmured to herself, "So he managed to eradicate the tracking marks by borrowing the powers of those two women. Looks like the secret technique they used is something that isn't known even to the ghost hag herself. However, now that I've managed to determine the direction that they've traveled in, I'll be sure to find them eventually."

After that brief monologue, Mu Qing abruptly made a hand seal, and the green barrier of light shrank once again. As the green light receded, the plant life that it had manifested all began to vanish on the spot.

In the moment that everything returned to normal on the hill, Mu Qing rose up into the air and flew toward the direction that Han Li had departed in.

Han Li was naturally unaware of the fact that all of the demon monarchs were targeting him at once. However, as a safety precaution, he was constantly changing direction as he flew through the air after departing from the hill with the two women.

In his mind, there should've been no way for the demon monarchs to track him down again, but he'd clearly underestimated their abilities.

At present, Han Li was flying over a vast expanse of yellow sand with the two women, and he was saying something to Yuan Yao and Yan Li during their flight.

"What? You're planning to find a spatial node to return to the Spirit Realm?" A cry of surprise escaped Yan Li's mouth, and she seemed quite stunned to hear this.

"Indeed. Through my research of space both in the human world and the Spirit Realm, I discovered that no matter the size of a space, spatial nodes will always exist, and the smaller a space is, the easier such spatial nodes are to find. Those so-called spatial rifts are actually just an alternative form of spatial nodes. If we can find the spatial node within the infernal river, then take a small risk, then there's a very good chance that we could return to the Spirit Realm," Han Li replied in a calm voice.

"But Brother Han, my senior martial sister and I have both heard much about the perils of spatial nodes. Not only are there spatial storms to contend with, we won't be able to control the location of the exit, either. Isn't that a little too dangerous?" Yuan Yao asked in a hesitant voice.

"There will be some risk involved, but with me leading the way, we'll have at least a 70% to 80% chance of passing through the spatial node safely. After all, this infernal rive is only a slightly larger space that is a subsidiary to the Spirit Realm, and not an actual realm in itself. That is, unless the two of you don't want to leave and wish to stay permanently within the infernal river instead," Han Li said with furrowed brows.

"To be honest, we can hide here and cultivate for a while until those people leave. The Yin Qi and spiritual Qi here are both extremely abundant, so it'll be quite beneficial to our cultivation," Yan Li proposed with a smile.

"That's not a good idea. Have you forgotten about the Mayfly Race, Fairy Yan? We don't know when those Mayfly Race reinforcements will arrive, and even the demon monarchs were extremely fearful of the Mayfly Race, so they're definitely not something that we can contend with. The infernal river is the holy land of their race, so they undoubtedly have a better understanding of it than we do. No matter where we hide, we still won't be safe. On top of that, are the two of you giving up on returning to the human race in order to find a way to recover your human bodies?" Han Li analyzed in a slow voice.

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Yuan Yao and Yan Li exchanged a glance upon hearing this, and both of them could see their own indecision mirrored in each other's eyes.

The two of them naturally weren't going to give up on recovering their human bodies, and after a brief moment of contemplation, a wry smile appeared on Yan Li's face, and she said, "It looks like I was too naive about our situation. From the sounds of it, you seem to have traveled through a spatial node before, Brother Han. In that case, if we can find a relatively stable spatial node, then my junior martial sister and I would naturally also like to leave this place. However, the two of us have no idea how to find spatial nodes."

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoists, I have a few tricks to find spatial nodes, but we'll have to wait for a while before we begin our search; at least until after the demon monarchs give up on searching for us. Regardless of whether they've obtained when they came here for, they won't stay in the infernal river for too long as they'll be wary of Mayfly Race reinforcements as well. The time period after they leave the infernal river and before the Mayfly beings arrive will the ideal window for us to search for a spatial node and make our escape. What we should do now is find an extremely obscure location to hide for a while first," Han Li analyzed in a confident manner.

Yuan Yao and Yan Li both nodded emphatically in response, seemingly in agreement that this was quite a sound plan.

Thus, following the conclusion of their discussion, they continued onward, disappearing into the distance in a flash.

A few days, Han Li's trio arrived in the air above a peculiar body of water. The water down below was black and green, and there was a layer of thin black mist hovering over its surface.

What was even more peculiar was that there were many islands of different sizes sitting on top of this vast body of water, which Han Li was unable to determine whether it was a sea or a lake.

Han Li's trio traveled deeper into the area for a day and a night, yet they were still seemingly nowhere near reaching the conclusion.

"Let's hide here for now. This body of water is most likely not inferior in size to an ocean. Even if those demon monarchs track us down to this place, there's no way that they'll be able to find us in a short time. On top of that, I can sense that there seem to be a lot of fearsome beings lurking deeper within the water. With those things there, the demon monarchs wouldn't dare to search through the area recklessly with their spiritual sense, so they can act as a smokescreen of sorts for us," Han Li said in a slow voice as he surveyed their surroundings with blue light shimmering in his eyes.

They were currently situated in the air above a dense cloud of mist, and they had seen many such clouds of mist on the way here. Through the use of his spirit eyes, Han Li was able to determine that there was an island hidden beneath the mist.

Yuan Yao and Yan Li were unable to see through the black mist, but they immediately followed Han Li's lead without any hesitation as he descended toward the mist down below.

However, the events that unfolded next came as quite a surprise to all three of them.

The black mist appeared to be quite ordinary, but as soon as the trio flew into it, they felt the black mist converge toward them, following which the spiritual Qi around their bodies instantly dissipated.

"Argh!"

Yuan Yao and Yan Li both let loose cries of alarm. Even though they were trying to stay aloft with all their might, they were still plummeting deeper into the mist.

Han Li was also stunned by this development, but thankfully, he'd encountered countless unforeseen incidents in the past, so he was able to keep a level head as he instantly switched between several cultivation arts. He unleashed his Divine Essencefused Light and Provenance True Devil Arts at the same time, but they were also unable to allow him to muster up any spiritual power. In the end, he unleashed the Kun Peng transformation among his 12 Awakening Transformations, and after transforming into a massive azured bird, he recovered all of his magic power.

Han Li was naturally ecstatic, and he spread his wings as his body expanded even further in size. He flew through the air and gently caught the two women using his talons before flying high up into the sky.

Following a few flashes, the massive azure bird emerged from the mist and appeared at higher altitudes.

The azure light faded, and Han Li reverted back to his human form. Yuan Yao and Yan Li had both recovered their magic power by not, but both of them still wore expressions of lingering fear as they hovered in mid-air.

"What is that terrifying black mist? If Brother Han hadn't saved us, we would've been in big trouble," Yan Li murmured.

Yuan Yao's face was also quite pale, but a peculiar look slowly crept onto her face.

Han Li clasped his hands behind his back and appraised the black mist down below with a contemplative look on his face.

"This mist is indeed quite bizarre, but this feeling... Fellow Daoist Yuan, do you find it to be a little familiar as well?" Han Li asked as he turned to Yuan Yao.

"Indeed, Brother Han. I've suffered a similar ordeal once before in the human world. In the Scattered Star Seas, I was swept up by a similar type of ghostly mist right before I entered the Umbra Realm," Yuan Yao replied with a hint of bewilderment on her face.

"The Umbra Realm and the infernal river; there must be some kind of connection between the two," Han Li mused as he stroked his chin.

"But it's still a little different. I feel like the mist here is less powerful when it comes to debilitating one's spiritual power than the ghostly mist of the human world. Even though I couldn't muster up any magic power, I could still sense spiritual power, but after being swept up into the ghostly mist in the Scattered Star Seas, I felt like I was no different from a mortal," Yuan Yao said in a hesitant voice.

"I have the same feeling as well. It could be the case that the ghostly mist here is inferior to that of the human world or perhaps we're simply better equipped to deal with it due to our superior cultivation bases. However, I can say for certain that the ghostly mist in the human world seems to possess more spiritual nature and will take the initiative to engulf nearby cultivators, whereas the mist here..." Han Li shook his head as his voice trailed off.

"Indeed, Brother Han, the black mist here didn't try to sweep us up before we'd entered it. Speaking of which, the ghostly mist of the human world draws one into the Umbra Realm; will this mist lead to another space or realm as well?" Yuan Yao's eyes lit up with excitement.

"I'm not particularly sure about that. After all, I've never been able to ascertain the origins of the ghostly mist and the Umbra Realm in the human world," Han Li sighed.

"I can see many other clouds of similar black mist nearby; do they all have the same effect?" Yan Li suddenly asked as a hint of curiosity flashed through her eyes.

Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before raising an eyebrow as he said, "That's a good observation! Wait here for me for a moment; I'll be back soon."

Thus, azure light flashed from his body, and he transformed into a massive azure bird again. With each flap of his wings, he covered a distance of over 100 feet, and he flew into the distance, leaving Yuan Yao and Yan Li to look on in amazement.

"Junior Martial Sister Yuan, Fellow Daoist Han sure has cultivated many abilities; to think that he's even learned the transformation secret technique of the Flying Spirit Race," Yan Li said as she clicked her tongue with wonder.

"Have you forgotten that Brother Han has entered the earth abyss as a Flying Spirit Race holy disciple, Senior Martial Sister? It's no surprise that he's mastered such a secret technique, seeing as that's the case," Yuan Yao replied with a smile.

"You may not be aware of this, Junior Martial Sister, but not just anyone can become a Flying Spirit Race holy disciple. I've heard some information about this in the past; not only are holy disciples of the Flying Spirit Race required to have the true spirit blood of their respective branch in their bodies, there are also other types of stringent conditions that have to be met, and even for beings from the Flying Spirit Race, it's extremely difficult to become a holy disciple. I wonder how Fellow Daoist Han managed to achieve this and learn all these abilities," Yan Li chuckled.

"I see." Yuan Yao nodded, and her eyes had remained fixed on the direction that Han Li had disappeared in this entire time.

A peculiar look flashed through Yan Li's eyes upon making this observation, and she smiled as she said, "In comparison, I'm actually more curious about why Brother Han becomes immune to this ghostly mist after transforming into his bird form."

"I'm quite perplexed about that as well. Could it be that the transformation secret technique of the Flying Spirit Race contains some other type of unknown elements?" Yuan Yao was distracted by this question, and she withdrew her gaze as a confused look appeared on her face.

"It's no use speculating about this; why don't we ask Fellow Daoist Han when he gets back? He should know something about this." Yan Li pursed her lips with a smile.

"Is that a good idea? Wouldn't it be rude for us to inquire directly about his abilities and cultivation arts?" Yuan Yao was feeling rather hesitant about this.

"Hehe, with the relationship that the two of you share, surely it's not too much to ask of him. I just think that ghostly mist is quite bizarre, and I wanted to see if we can devise some kind of method to counteract it. However, I'm not all that familiar with Fellow Daoist Han, after all, so it's best that you asked him in my stead," Yan Li replied in a nonchalant manner.

Yuan Yao's brows furrowed upon hearing this, and she only nodded after a moment of contemplation.

An hour later, azure light flashed in the distance, and the massive azure bird returned.

Following a few flashes, gusts of fierce winds were swept up as the bird arrived before the two women. Immediately thereafter, the azure light faded, and Han Li reverted back to his human form.

"Did the other patches of black mist have the same properties as this one?" Yan Li asked.

"Not all of them; only some of them have that debilitation effect, and most of those patches of mist are quite large in area and also very dense," Han Li replied with a serious expression.

Both women were rather surprised to hear this.

"Should we enter the black mist again to investigate?" Yan Li asked.

"Theoretically, we've already got enough on our plates, so it would be rather unwise to investigate such things, but this black mist is able to cut off one's spiritual power and spiritual sense, so if we can hide in it, there's no way that the demon monarchs will be able to find us. My only concern is whether there are any hazards lurking deep within the mist," Han Li replied in a hesitant voice.

"If we can avoid detection from the demon monarchs, then its worth taking the risk. In any case, you're immune to the effects of the ghostly mist after transforming into your Kun Peng form, right, Brother Han?" Yan Li said with a smile on her face.

Han Li also smiled in response, yet before he had a chance to reply, Yuan Yao suddenly interjected, "Brother Han, your transformation secret technique comes from the Flying Spirit Race, right? Do you know why it is that you gain immunity to the ghostly mist after your transformation? Will my senior martial sister and I be able to do something to also retain our magic power in there?"

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Han Li pondered the question for a moment before replying, "My Kun Peng transformation technique does indeed come from the Tian Peng Race, but I'm not sure why I'm immune to the effect of this mist after taking on this form. I considered this question on my way back and came up with a theory, but I'm not sure if it's a reliable one."

"You can tell us what you think, Brother Han, there's no need to keep secrets from us," Yan Li chuckled.

A slightly awkward look appeared on Han Li's face before he continued, "Seeing as the two of you once cultivated in the Umbra Realm of the human world for so many, you're most likely aware of some of the legends surrounding that place."

"Are you referring to legends of the Netherworld and the Rahu Beast, Brother Han?" Yuan Yao asked as her expression changed slightly.

"Indeed. The Netherworld has always been the stuff of legends, and no one has actually been able to verify its existence, but I witnessed the Rahu Beast in person in the human world once. Even though I only saw an extremely tiny portion of the beast, the phenomenon that it triggered with its emergence was very similar to the ghostly mist leading to the Umbra Realm," Han Li replied.

"So you're saying the Unbrea Realm of the human world is actually the body of the Rahu Beast?" Yuan Yao's mouth gaped open in astonishment.

"I don't have any other evidence to support that notion, but I think it's very much possible. The true spirit Kun Peng is the mortal enemy of the Rahu Beast, so perhaps I'm able to draw upon some of the Kun Peng's power after adopting my Kun Peng form. If the mist here really does have something to do with the ghostly mist of the human world, then everything would make sense," Han Li speculated.

"Could it be that this so-called infernal river is the body of the Rahu Beast? In that case, why is the mist here slightly different from the ghostly mist in the human world?" Yan Li asked with her brows furrowed in confusion.

Han Li didn't give a direct answer to this. Instead, he smiled and responded with a question of his own. "Are you under the impression that this Rahu is the same as the Rahu of the human world?"

"Are you saying that these are two different Rahu Beasts? That does explain the differences in the mists. It's said that the Rahu Beast is unfathomably massive and is capable of devouring celestial bodies like the sun and the moon. This infernal river is clearly far larger than the Umbra Realm, so we must be inside the body of a Rahu Beast that's far larger than the one in the human world!" Yan Li's face paled slightly as that realization dawned on her.

"That's probably not the extent of it." Han Li shook his head with a grim expression.

"Oh? Do you have something else to add, Brother Han?" Yuan Yao asked with a curious expression.

"The mist in this place feels quite dead in comparison to the ghostly mist in the human world. I've seen some records that mention that when Rahu Beasts reach the ends of their lifespans and pass away, the space within their bodies won't collapse and can actually continue to exist forever."

"Are you saying we're currently in the space within the carcass of a Rahu Beast?" Yuan Yao faltered upon hearing this.

"Hehe, I'm merely speculating. As for what the actual situation is like, that's yet to be verified," Han Li chuckled in response.

"I think you're very close to the truth if not spot-on in your speculation, Brother Han. In that case, everything can be explained. It's due to fact that this Rahu Beast has already passed away that the Yin Qi within its body is far more abundant than in the Umbra Realm, thereby giving rise to so many high-grade ghostly beings. I wonder if the demon monarchs already know this or have figured it out at this point yet. The only thing that I'm still confused about is the existence of spiritual Qi and spirit veins here. There's no spiritual Qi at all in the Umbra Realm, and magic power can't be used there, either," Yan Li mused.

"Who knows? Perhaps the powerful beings of the Mayfly Race modified this place after discovering it or perhaps these changes naturally occur after the Rahu Beast passes away. In any case, none of that had anything to do with our current situation, so we don't need to delve too deep into those matters. The only thing I'm interested in is whether this black mist can actually take us away from the infernal river. As long as this place is the same kind of entity as the Umbra Realm, then there has to be an exit here as well. If this really is the exit, then it's a lot safer then having to go through a spatial node," Han Li said with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

"You're right, Brother Han! Did you find anything amiss within the clouds of mist that you explored earlier?" Yan Li asked.

"No. Aside from the fact that the black mist can also seal away one's magic power and abilities, there were no other noteworthy discoveries. Of course, I only searched through a few patches of mist in the nearby area. Seeing as this black mist exists here, the exit should be somewhere in this body of water as well. Should we try and search for the exit right away or hide here for a while as we originally planned?" Han Li asked.

"Seeing as the exit could be nearby, let's spend some time to try and find it. Perhaps we'll be able to come across it rather quickly. In that case, we'll be able to get out of this place, so there'll be no need to take risks by hiding," Yan Li immediately replied.

Yuan Yao hesitated momentarily before nodding in agreement. "You're right, Senior Martial Sister. If we hide here as we originally planned, we could be tracked down by the demon monarchs anyway or perhaps even hunted by the Mayfly Race if their reinforcements arrive earlier than expected. In either of those scenarios, we'd be as good as dead."

Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.

The proposal raised by the two women was quite reasonable, but he couldn't shake this feeling of uneasiness that had plagued him during the past few days. He could sense that something wasn't quite right, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, and it was making him quite hesitant about how to proceed.

After pondering the issue for a long while, he finally said, "Alright, let's search for the exit here, but we can only spend two days in our search at most. After that, we have to hide right away. I think we should be safe during this period of time."

Han Li offered a compromised course of action.

Yuan Yao and Yan Li exchanged a glance upon hearing this before nodding in unison.

"Alright, let's search through the black mist below us first. Even if we can't find the exit here, let's set up a temporary base that we can hide in if any unforeseen circumstances arise. Seeing as my Kun Peng power is immune to the effects of the mist, I have a way to temporarily grant you two immunity to its effects as well," Han Li said with a smile.

"Is that true, Brother Han?" Yuan Yao and Yan Li were ecstatic to hear this.

Han Li smiled as a loud thunderclap suddenly erupted behind him, and a pair of wings appeared on his back. He flapped the pair of wings, and their color changed drastically, with one wing taking on an azure hue while the other wing was flashing incessantly with five-colored light. Both wings were glittering and translucent, and presented a glorious sight to behold.

Han Li had disguised his Thunderstorm Wings as Tian Peng wings this entire time, and he was finally revealing the true form of the spirit treasure.

This was the first time that the two women had witnessed these wings in their true form, and both of them were quite taken aback.

Not only had the appearance of these wings changed drastically, the astonishing spiritual pressure emanating from them also came as quite a shock to the two women.

Right at this moment, Han Li flapped his azure wing, and two translucent azure feathers short forth before stopping in front of the two women.

"These are feathers manifested from the aura of the Kun Peng. You can try to inject your magic power into them; perhaps they'll be able to grant you immunity to the mist," Han Li said with a smile.

Yuan Yao and Yan Li glanced at one another, and both of them were a little skeptical.

However, Yan Li then immediately made a grabbing motion to draw one of the azure feathers into her grasp, then injected her magic power into it as Han Li had suggested.

A ball of azure light dispersed around her following a dull thump, enshrouding her entire body.

"Oh, it does indeed seem to be working. I'll go first; if I fall, make sure to catch me, Brother Han," Yan Li chuckled.

"Hehe, of course. I'll be right beside you, Fairy Yan," Han Li replied as he transformed into the massive azure bird again, then flew ahead into the black mist first.

Yan Li held the azure feather in her hand and prepared to follow suit.

"Be careful, Senior Martial Sister!" Yuan Yao couldn't help but caution.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine with Brother Han looking after me," Yan Li replied with a smile before slowly descending into the mist.

Yuan Yao looked on as Yan Li departed while Han Li was waiting for her to descend into the mist.

Soon, Yan Li finally entered the black mist, following her elated voice rang out from within.

"It really does work! I still can't draw on most of my spiritual power, but it's more than enough for flight and using normal treasures."

Han Li seemed to have predicted this already, and he chuckled, "Hehe, that's good to hear. Come on down, Fairy Yuan, we'll search through this mist together."

Yuan Yao heaved a long sigh of relief after hearing their voices, and she also injected her magic power into the remaining azure feather before descending as well.

However, right at this moment, a sudden turn of events abruptly unfolded!

The peaceful black mist suddenly began to tumble and surge violently, following which a gust of ferocious winds erupted from down below. All of a sudden, the black mist transformed into a massive vortex that howled with fury.

Han Li was stunned by this sudden development.

The winds erupting from the vortex were quite fierce, and there was an enormous suction force attempting to draw his body into the vortex, but it wasn't enough to completely trap him. The suction force was only potent enough to slow him down slightly, yet he was still able to fly over to Yan Li in a flash, grabbing her in his talons before attempting to fly out of the black mist.

However, loud thunderclaps suddenly erupted within the entire vortex as countless bolts of inky-black lightning appeared.

Han Li's heart sank upon witnessing this familiar scene.

The black arcs of lightning were hurtling through the air extremely quickly, yet Han Li was unable to move as fast as he'd normally be able due to that immense suction force.

Black light flashed, and both he and Yan Li disappeared into the vortex.

Yuan Yao was stunned to see this as she looked on from above, yet before she had a chance to do anything, the black vortex abruptly expanded in all directions.

Yuan Yao was unable to evade the rapidly expanding vortex as she also disappeared amid flashes of black lightning.

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In the instant that the black lightning struck Han Li, he felt his surroundings blur before he was teleported away amid a rush of dizziness.

Thankfully, he was extremely familiar with teleportation at this point, and as soon as he reappeared, he forcibly suppressed his vertigo and discomfort as he made a hand seal to revert back to his human form.

Grey light then erupted from his body, instantly creating a protective barrier around himself, as well as Yan Li, who was still yet to return to her senses.

Only then did he carefully inspect his surroundings, upon which he discovered that they were situated on a tall platform constructed from beautiful jade.

There were a dozen or so azure stone pillars around the platform, all of which were extremely intricately carved with countless runes flashing over their surfaces.

This platform was a small spell formation.

As these stone pillars flashed, a film of murky white light was created, enshrouding the entire platform beneath it. Outside the light barrier was a vast expanse of black mist that made it impossible to see what was going on outside.

Thankfully, all of the mist had been kept out by the barrier.

Han Li's brows furrowed upon seeing this.

"Brother Han, what is this place?" Yan Li finally recovered from her rush of dizziness, and her face paled slightly as she took in her surroundings.

"Looks like we've been teleported elsewhere by the ghostly mist." Han Li was quite calm in comparison.

"Does that mean we're no longer in the infernal river?" Yan Li was elated to hear this.

"I'm not so sure about that. Judging from the teleportation experience I've accrued in the past, that didn't seem like long-distance teleportation across realms to me, so we should still be in the infernal river," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.

Yan Li was quite disappointed to hear this, but a thought then suddenly occurred to her, and her expression changed drastically as she exclaimed, "Junior Martial Sister Yuan is outside out of the black mist, and she hasn't been teleported here! Doesn't that mean we've been separated from her?"

"Not to worry, Fellow Daoist Yan; with Fairy Yuan's resourcefulness, she'll be fine even if she's on her own. What we have to focus on is determining where we are first. As long as we're all still in the infernal river, it shouldn't be a difficult task to find Fellow Daoist Yuan again," Han Li said in a calm voice.

Yan Li's anxious expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and she said, "Apologies for letting my emotions get the better of me there, Brother Han. It's just that I've very rarely ever been separated from my junior martial sister, so this is quite a jarring experience for me."

"It's alright, I'm glad to see that you and Fellow Daoist Yuan share such a close bond. However, we have to address the predicament that we're in at the moment first before we can worry about her," Han Li replied with a wry smile before making his way over to one of the nearby stone pillars.

He glanced at the runes on the pillar through narrowed eyes before casting his gaze out of the light barrier as a faint blue light flashed through his eyes.

The black mist around here was quite dense, but Han Li was still able to pierce through it with his spirit eyes to assess their surroundings.

"Hmm?" Han Li's expressions suddenly changed slightly.

"What do you see, Brother Han?" Yan Li made her way over to him with a concerned look on her face.

"Aside from this platform that we're situated on, there are six other platforms just like this one in a circular formation nearby. Also, we appear to be in the belly of a mountain," Han Li replied in a slow voice.

"The belly of a mountain? If we still haven't left the infernal river, then who would've constructed these things here?" Yan Li murmured to herself as she furrowed her brows.

"That's too difficult for us to speculate about. What I want to know is how this being was able to control the ghostly mist to teleport us here. Perhaps they're somehow related to the Rahu Beast," Han Li mused.

"We won't be able to find any answers if we keep taking shots in the dark like this; we have to get out of this place first," Yan Li sighed.

"Of course. We don't know whether the owner of this place harbors ill will toward us. It looks like we're being protected by this barrier, but it can also be said that we've been confined in a prison of sorts. Our top priority is indeed to get away from here. I just had a look at the runes on the pillars, yet they're extremely profound. At the very least, with my knowledge base in spell formations, I was unable to understand most of the runes, so we'll have to break out of this place using brute force," Han Li decided as he stroked his chin.

"Is that so? I've also done some research into the art of spell formations, so let me have a look as well." Yan Li seemed to be rather confident in herself.

"Oh? It would naturally be best if you could break this formation here." Han Li faltered upon hearing this before stepping away from the pillar with a smile.

Yan Li immediately strode toward the pillar and began inspecting it with rapt focus, seemingly completely absorbed by the runes on the pillar.

Meanwhile, Han Li clasped his hands behind his back as he made his way around the light barrier, trying to search for any alternative ways out.

Around 10 minutes later, Yan Li exhaled as she withdrew her gaze, then turned to Han Li with a forced smile on her face. "This restriction is indeed far more profound than any I've encountered in the past, so I won't be able to help out here."

"That's alright, I'll try my flying swords." Han Li seemed to have predicted that this would be the verdict, and he swept a sleeve through the air, upon which a small golden sword shot forth from within.

The flying sword then transformed into a shimmering golden longsword that was around three feet in length.

"Go."

Han Li pointed directly at the white light barrier up ahead, and the golden longsword flew through the air before striking the light barrier with ferocious might.

White and golden light flashed amid a dull thump, following which the golden longsword was repelled with ease.

Han Li's expression changed drastically as he hurriedly pointed a finger toward the flying sword to stabilize it in mid-air.

He had guessed that this light barrier would be quite resolute, but not to such an extent that his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword wouldn't even be able to leave so much as a single scratch on it.

Yan Li also wore a surprised expression upon seeing this, and she immediately opened her mouth to expel a black banana leaf fan, which she waved toward the light barrier with all her might.

Inky-black flames surged through the air, only to repelled once again the same manner as the golden sword, while the light barrier remained completely unscathed.

"How is this restriction so powerful?" Han paused momentarily before raising an arm to reveal pitch-black hand.

He spread open his five fingers before pressing his hand flat against the light barrier, then unleashing a powerful burst of grey light.

The seemingly indestructible light barrier began to emit a low ringing sound as the grey light swept over it, following which ripples began to appear on its surface.

A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this.

It was just as he'd expected; as long as this restriction contained any five-elemental power, then there was no way that the Divine Essencefused Light wouldn't be able to do anything to it.

With that in mind, Han Li began to circulate his magic power, and the grey light surging from his palm became more and more dazzling while the white light barrier began to termor more violently.

The entire light barrier began to warp and twist with Han Li's hand at the epicenter.

Yan Li's eyes widened with surprise and elation upon seeing this.

She'd seen Han Li unleash his Divine Essencefused Light on multiple occasions, so she was aware of just how powerful it was, but she didn't think that it'd be so effective against restrictions as well.

Moments later, a dull thump rang out as the light barrier was finally twisted to the point of shattering by the Divine Essencefused Light.

The black mist outside immediately swept toward the white jade platform as a result.

Han Li immediately transformed into his bird form again before rising into the air. Yan Li was also well prepared as she injected her magic power into the azure feather, conjuring up a ball of azure light around her before ascending toward Han Li.

Han Li had already assessed their surroundings using his spirit eyes, so after adopting his bird form, he immediately flew toward a certain direction in the mist without any hesitation.

After a few flashes, his eyes lit up at the sight of the azure and yellow barrier up ahead.

This barrier was an extremely simple one, so he immediately crashed through it without adopting any defensive measures.

The barrier was easily shattered by his massive bird body, and he descended onto a patch of rocky land on the other side of the barrier before reverting back to his human form.

Yan Li also flew through the barrier behind him in hot pursuit, then landed beside Han Li.

Han Li hurriedly turned around to discover that the azure and yellow barrier behind them had sealed over in the blink of an eye, keeping out the black mist that was trying to seep into the area.

Only then did Han Li heave an internal sigh of relief.

Right at this moment, Yan Li exclaimed, Brother Han, there's someone over there! Should we go and have a look?"

Han Li's heart stirred upon hearing this before he hurriedly turned toward the direction that Yan Li was pointing toward.

Several hundred feet away from them, there was a shimmering white passageway situated on a bluestone face, and Han Li raised his eyebrows as he took a closer look.

Only then did he realize that there were standing atop a platform on a steep mountain face, and the jade platforms he'd seen earlier was situated at the foot of the mountain.

Instead of making his way over to the passageway in the mountain face, Han Li paused momentarily before flicking two fingers through the air.

Two specks of golden light flew out of his sleeve before transforming into a pair of fist-sized golden beetles, which then flew toward the opening of the passageway.

Meanwhile, Han Li sat down onto the ground with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.

Yan Li knew that Han Li was sending those beetles into the cave as scouts, so she also waited patiently nearby.

After a while, Han Li's face suddenly paled as he abruptly opened his eyes and sprang to his feet.

"This is bad! There's someone with an unfathomable cultivation base in that cave; my spirit insects have been captured!"

As soon as Han Li's voice trailed off, an elderly voice rang out around them from all directions.

"I was wondering who had broken my Seven Gates Yin Locking Formation; turns out I've got some guests. Seeing as you're here, why not come in and have a chat with me?"

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Han Li and Yan Li were both startled to hear this elderly voice, and the two of them exchanged a bewildered glance.

"Let's go, this man's far too powerful for us to oppose. According to the wisps of spiritual sense I'd imbued my spirit insects with, his cultivation base is beyond that of even the demon monarchs." Even though Han Li was feeling quite uneasy, he still put on a calm facade.

Han Li's calm and collected demeanor as quite a soothing sight for Yan Li, and she nodded in response.

Thus, the two of them slowly drifted over to the entrance of the cave.

The passageway on the mountain face wasn't very large, and nor was it special in any way; it was merely a square entrance paved with ordinary bluestone.

After flying into the passageway for over 1,000 feet, the two of them arrived in an antiquated hall with fine white sand all over the floor.

The hall was over 1,000 feet in size, yet in such a cavernous space, there were only a few items of furniture. Aside from a few tables and chairs, there were only several pots of strange plants situated in the corners of the hall.

These plants were each no more than a foot tall, but Han Li could smell their essence even from afar. Just the scents emitted by these few potted plants in the hall alone made him feel as if he were situated within a lush forest.

At the very center of the hall was a chair, on which sat a grey-robed elderly man.

The man possessed a mundane appearance with his meter-long beard his only noteworthy facial feature, and he was also looking back at Han Li and Yan Li.

"You two are humans!" the elderly man said in a slightly surprised voice.

Han Li's heart jolted upon hearing this, and he bowed slightly as he replied. "I see that Senior knows of our human race. May I ask for your name, Senior?"

"Hehe, I don't just know of the human race, I'm a human myself. As for my former name, there's no need to mention it. You may refer to be as Senior Jiang," the elderly man chuckled, and a benevolent light appeared in his eyes as he looked Han Li and Yan Li.

"What? You're a human as well, Senior?" Yan Li exclaimed in shock.

"Why? Is it really strange that I'm a human?" the elderly man chuckled.

"Of course not. It's just that we didn't expect to see one of our brethren so far away from the human territories," Han Li hurriedly explained.

The elderly man before them was truly an unfathomably powerful being whom they couldn't afford to offend.

"I hail from the human race, but my current body is no longer the one I originally possessed. Instead, I managed to obtain the body of an extremely rare Chang Yuan Race being by chance. These beings are proficient in all types of abilities, and they are endowed with several incredible abilities from birth, each and every one of which are far beyond even the most prodigious cultivators of our human race," the elderly man said in a slow voice as he inspected his own hands.

Han Li had never heard of this Chang Yuan Race, but this elderly man's appearance and voice were exactly the same as that of a human.

Thus, a peculiar look appeared in Han Li's eyes.

"There's no need to be perplexed; my current appearance is still the same as it was back when I possessed a human body. It took me a lot of effort to refine this Chang Yuan Race body to perfectly resemble my former body," the elderly man explained.

The process being described by the elderly man was an unimaginable one to Han Li, yet the man was speaking about it as if it had been a relatively simple feat. This made Han Li even more awestruck by the man's unfathomable powers, and he said in a respectful voice, "Please forgive us for our ignorance, Senior!"

"Come to think of it, ever since I left the human race all those years ago, I've never returned once, so I'm rather interested to hear what the human race is like now. Would you two be willing to tell me about it?" the elderly man asked in a pleasant voice.

"We'll be sure to tell you everything we know, Senior," Han Li immediately replied after exchanging a glance with Yan Li.

The elderly man chortled with elation as he rubbed his hands together, and said, "Great! I wonder how many of my past friends and acquaintances from the human race are still alive."

After that, the elderly man paused momentarily as he appraised Han Li and Yan Li, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

"The two of you don't possess any exceptional cultivation bases, yet the cultivation arts you're using are quite interesting. One of you is a semi-ghostly being; it's been over 10,000 years since I've seen someone adopt such a cultivation path. As for you, your magic power is quite diverse; you possess a hint of devilish nature, and your body is extraordinarily powerful for a being of your cultivation base. You're either using several types of cultivation arts at once or walking the path of simultaneous cultivation," the elderly man mused in an absentminded voice, but his words struck Han Li and Yan Li like a bolt of lightning.

Yan Li's face paled slightly, and Han Li's expression also changed drastically. The two of them had been laid completely bare before the elderly man after just a single glance!

Han Li forcibly repressed the astonishment in his heart and forced a smile onto his face, yet just as he was about to say something, golden light flashed in the elderly man's eyes as he uttered a faint cry of surprise.

He then waved a hand toward Han Li, and before Han Li had figured out what he was doing, the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in his body suddenly tremored in unison. Immediately thereafter, they were forced out of his body by a burst of enormous suction force.

Han Li was stunned by this development, and grey light instantly erupted alongside golden arcs of lightning at the same to form a protective barrier around himself as he exclaimed, "What is the meaning of this, Senior? Have I offended you in any way?"

At the same time, azure light flashed within one of his sleeves, and a dozen or so lightning beads fell soundlessly into his hands.

Meanwhile, black light flashed from his other hand as he summoned the spirit beast bracelet that was filled with Gold Devouring Beetles.

He had a large number of treasures in his possession, but only those two things could assist him in this situation.

The elderly man completely ignored Han Li as he inspected the 72 shimmering golden swords in the air. As he did so, a peculiar look appeared on his face, and he murmured to himself, "From the style and refinement methods, it appears that these are indeed Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and there just so happen to be exactly 72 of them as well. The color isn't quite right, so you must've added something to them. Oh? So you refined these swords using Golden Lightning Bamboo; you sure are a wealthy man! Even I wouldn't be able to gather so much Golden Lightning Bamboo..."

Han Li was naturally quite surprised to hear the elderly man identify the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. All of a sudden, an incredible thought occurred to him, and he was completely rooted to the spot.

After a while, the elderly man heaved a faint sigh and withdrew his gaze from the 72 swords before closing his eyes.

Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li regained control over his swords, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which all of the swords disappeared into his body in a flash.

He then appraised the elderly man with a peculiar expression and fell completely silent.

Yan Li could sense that there was something amiss as a bewildered look appeared on her face, but she wisely chose not to say anything.

After a while, the elderly man opened his eyes again and turned to Han Li with a smile as he said, "Hehe, looks like the Azure Essence Sword Art I left in the human world fell into your hands. You must be a cultivator who ascended to the Spirit Realm from the human world, right? I wasn't able to perfect this sword art, yet you were still able to refine all 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords as your bonded treasures and infuse Golden Lightning Bamboo into them. That's quite a remarkable feat."

The elderly man clicked his tongue in wonder as he spoke, and he was appraising Han Li as if he were some kind of precious treasure.

"I did indeed come into possession of the Azure Essence Sword Art, and it's also true that I'm an ascended cultivator. So that means you really are Senior Qing Yuan Zi!" Han Li faltered slightly before extending another respectful bow.

The Azure Essence Sword Art had been the main cultivation art he had used throughout his time in the human world, so he was naturally awestruck now that he was seeing Qing Yuanzi in person.

"Qing Yuanzi? I kind of am, I guess. To be accurate, I'm only half a Qing Yuanzi." The elderly man smiled in response.

"Half?" Han Li didn't know what to make of that bizarre statement.

"Back when Qing Yuanzi was traveling the other continents, he was attacked by several powerful enemies at once. He managed to survive the battle, but his physical body was destroyed, and his soul was also on the brink of falling apart. In that dire situation, he encountered a Chang Yuan being, and he forcibly took over that being's body, then fused their souls together in order to repair his own soul. Hence, half of my memories belong to Qing Yuanzi while the other half belongs to that Chang Yuan being. That's why I was able to progress so rapidly in my cultivation and scale to these heights, so it's not entirely incorrect to call me Qing Yuanzi," the elderly man explained.

Han Li blinked in a speechless manner upon hearing this.

"Back when I obtained the body of this Chang Yuan being, I wasn't able to inherit all of Qing Yuanzi's memories, but I retained all of his memories about the Azure Essence Sword Art. By infusing Golden Lightning Bamboo into your swords, you've created the ideal wood-attribute flying swords. It's a pity that you were too impatient later on and refined it with a bunch of other materials, thereby making the spiritual nature of these swords so chaotic. Otherwise, you'd have forged a far stronger connection between your heart and your swords, and you'd be able to dominate all beings of the same cultivation base with just a set of flying swords alone. Hehe, back in the day, Qing Yuanzi didn't have any treasures other than his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, yet he was able to defeat Spatial Tempering Stage beings at just the Deity Transformation Stage, and after reaching the Spatial Tempering Stage himself, he was feared even by Body Integration cultivators," the elderly man said in a wistful voice.

Han Li stroked his chin as a wry smile appeared on his face.

Perhaps this elderly man was right, but back when he was in the human world, he was constantly in severe danger, so how could he not have been impatient?

In reality, with his current powers and abilities, he could also easily defeat Spatial Tempering Stage beings, and after reaching the Spatial Tempering Stage himself, he'd be quite confident in his chances against Body Integration Stage beings.

Of course, he couldn't say that to rebuke the elderly man, so he could only feign a slightly awkward expression.

"In any case, you inherited the Azure Essence Sword Art, and I possessed close to half of Qing Yuanzi's memories, so it can be said that we have an affinity with one another. Let me ask you something, and be honest with your reply; did you two come into the infernal river with those intruders?" The elderly man's voice suddenly turned quite cold and forbidding at the end.

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Han Li's heart jolted upon hearing this. Even though he'd already suspected this to be the case, the man's question clearly indicated that they were still situated in the infernal river.

Han Li paused for a moment to prepare a response before replying, "The two of us were forced to enter the infernal river with those intruders. Thankfully, we were able to escape from them, and it would be nothing short of disastrous for us if we were to encounter them again."

Han Li's reply was a little ambiguous, but the elderly man merely nodded in a nonchalant manner as he said, "You don't have to worry about offending me. I'm only residing here as I made a deal with the elders of the Mayfly Race, so as long as this space isn't under threat, I won't do anything to intervene. However, I'm rather interested in those intruders, seeing as they were able to enter the infernal river through another space and defeat all of the puppets stationed here by the Mayfly Race. They must be quite powerful in their own respects, right? "

"Your wisdom is unmatched, Senior! All of them are demon monarchs at the mid-Body Integration Stage or late-Body Integration Stage, so they're certainly all immensely powerful," Han Li replied with a wry smile.

"Those people must've forced you here because they want to make use of your Divine Devilbane Lightning. Seeing as they've already secured the Divine Infernal River Elixir yet still aren't willing to release you, then they must also intend to raid the devilish tomb. Hmph, their greed will spell their deaths!" the elderly man chuckled coldly with a derisive sneer on his face.

"Is there something wrong with the devilish tomb, Senior?" Han Li asked carefully.

"Very much so! Those intruders are in for a nasty surprise once they enter the area where the devilish artifacts are being stored. Not long ago, one of the devilish artifacts there managed to cultivate a human form and devoured all of the other devilish artifacts, thereby attaining a paramount devilish body. Even I wouldn't be able to defeat that thing; let alone those intruders. In fact, they may not even be able to escape alive," the elderly man explained with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Paramount devilish body!" Han Li's lips twitched upon hearing this.

If he recalled correctly, that was the peak of cultivation that all devilish cultivators strove toward.

"That thing is hidden in the deepest part of the devilish Qi within the devilish tomb and is focused wholeheartedly on cultivation, so without your Divine Devilbane Lightning, those demon monarchs may not even be able to get to it. Of course, if they're too stubborn and insist on infuriating that thing, then that would be a whole different story. By the way, the two you have another companion, right?" the elderly man suddenly asked.

"I have a junior martial sister who was separated from us. How do you know of this, Senior?" Yan Li hurriedly replied.

"Aside from the two of you, there was someone else who was also swept here by my Seven Gates Yin Locking Formation. However, she's elsewhere at the moment, but I'm guiding her over to this place, so you'll be able to reunite with her soon," the elderly man replied.

"Thank you, Senior! I've been so worried about her this entire time!" Yan Li was overjoyed.

Han Li hesitated momentarily before asking, "Senior Jiang, why did your Seven Gates Yin Locking Formation draw us to this place?"

"I used the power of the formation to set up a few measures in the places within the infernal river where Yin Qi most frequently erupts, and that allows me to easily gauge the level of Yin Qi in the entire infernal river. In doing so, I can prevent extreme imbalances or excessive Yin Qi from erupting in this infernal, thereby causing this entire space to collapse. The three of you were drawn here as you just so happened to be situated close to the Spirit Devouring Mist right as I was activating the formation," the elderly man explained with a smile.

"I see." Han Li was enlightened upon hearing this.

He actually wanted to ask about the relationship between the black mist, this space, and the Rahu Beast, but he decided against it in the end.

He didn't stand to gain anything from this knowledge, and asking too many questions about this space could irk the elderly man, so it simply wasn't worth it.

Just as they were conversing with one another, azure light suddenly flashed from the stone face on one side of the hall, and another passageway appeared there.

A lithe and graceful beauty then emerged from within amid a cloud of Yin Qi.

It was none other than Yuan Yao.

In the instant that she appeared in this space, she wore an alert and wary expression, but that quickly gave way to surprise and elation as she caught sight of Han Li and Yan Li.

"Brother Han, Senior Martial Sister Yan, I'm so glad to see you two!" Yuan Yao immediately flew over to the two of them with a wide smile on her face.

"Another cultivator using a ghost Dao cultivation art, I see. Hmm, actually, it's a little strange..." A bewildered look suddenly appeared in the elderly man's eyes as he appraised Yuan Yao.

Yuan Yao glanced at the elderly man with a perplexed look. She was unable to ascertain his cultivation base, but she knew that he was an unfathomably powerful being. However, the words that were coming out of his mouth were quite puzzling to her.

Han Li and Yan Li also exchanged a confused glance.

With this elderly man's fearsome cultivation base, what about Yuan Yao could draw such a strong reaction from him?

Right at this moment, a thought seemed to have occurred to the elderly man, and he pointed a finger toward Yuan Yao with an elated look on his face.

A beam of azure light flashed through the air from his fingertip, disappearing into Yuan Yao's body before Han Li and the others could even react.

"Argh!"

Yuan Yao was given a massive fright and hurriedly adopted a defensive stance while assessing her own internal condition at the same time.

Yuan Yao immediately hurried over to stand beside Yuan Yao as the two of them stared at the elderly man with wary expressions on their faces. If it weren't for the fact that they'd stand no chance in a battle against this man, perhaps they would've attacked in a fit of rage already.

Meanwhile, Han Li merely narrowed his eyes as he remained standing on the spot.

If the elderly man truly bore ill will toward them, then they'd already be dead. At the very least, he couldn't sense any animosity coming from him at the moment. However, as a safety precaution, Han Li still reflexively tightened his grip around the lightning beads and spirit beast bracelet that were hidden up his sleeve.

Sure enough, the elderly man soon said, "There's no need to be alarmed, Fellow Daoists, I was merely casting an experimental incantation seal to verify my suspicions. The incantation seal won't harm this fellow Daoist in any way."

"An experiment? What could you be experimenting with me, Senior? This is the first time I've ever met you!" Yuan Yao was still feeling extremely uneasy.

However, the elderly man simply ignored her before making a hand seal, and Yuan Yao was alarmed to find that her dantian had suddenly heated up slightly.

Before she had a chance to say anything, a layer of dark green light suddenly appeared over her face, following which leaf-like patterns surfaced over her glabella cheeks.

"What is that?" Yan Li exclaimed as she caught sight of the patterns that had appeared on Yuan Yao's face.

However, Yuan Yao was completely oblivious to the patterns that had surfaced over her glabella, so she was rather perplexed by Yan Li's alarmed reaction.

"As expected, you really do possess the Heavenly Yin Physique. I've yet to find one after all my years of searching, yet just as I'm about to give up, one is delivered right to my doorstep! Thankfully, it's not too late; there's still just enough time!" The elderly man suddenly burst into ecstatic laughter.

Yan Li and Yuan Yao were both slightly fearful of the elderly man's seemingly deranged reaction, and they reflexively took a few steps backward as they turned to Han Li for help.

Han Li's brows furrowed as he asked, "I daresay that I'm fairly knowledgeable, but I've never heard of this Heavenly Yin Physique; would you be able to elaborate on it, Senior Jiang?"

"My apologies, I've been looking for someone with a Heavenly Yin Physique for countless years, so my emotions got the better of me there. The Heavenly Yin Physique isn't a concept from our human race. Instead, it's a special constitution renowned in the Chang Yuan Race, so it's no surprise that you haven't heard of it. This constitution doesn't provide any benefits when using human cultivation arts, but some immensely powerful cultivation arts of the Chang Yuan Race can only be used by someone with such a physique. However, beings who fit this criterion are extremely rare, even in the Chang Yuan Race, and it's even rare among other races. At the very least, I've spent close to 10,000 years searching for one, all to no avail. Fellow Daoist Yuan, right? Would you be willing to become my disciple?" the elderly man suddenly asked with a smile.

Yuan Yao stunned upon hearing this.

"You want to take Junior Martial Sister Yuan as your disciple, Senior?" Yan Li was also completely flabbergasted.

"Indeed, but rest assured, I bear no ill will. Truth be told, I'd like to take Fellow Daoist Yuan as my disciple so she can cultivate an ability that can only be used by those with her constitution, and with the assistance of that ability, I'll have at least a 70% chance of transcending my next heavenly tribulation. In fact, if I'm fortunate, I could perhaps even transcend the tribulation after that. With two heavenly tribulations' worth of time, I can make further advancements in my cultivation, and it won't be impossible for me to progress to the Tribulation Transcendence Stage," the elderly man said in an earnest voice as his smile faded.

"Tribulation Transcendence Stage? Could it be that you're a Grand Ascension Stage cultivator?" Yuan Yao drew a sharp breath in astonishment.

"Hehe, I've been an early-Grand Ascension cultivator ever since over 10,000 years ago. How about it? If I wanted to accept a disciple, countless high-grade cultivators would flock to my cave abode just for a chance to be considered by me," the elderly man said in a proud manner.

Yan Li was truly dumbstruck by this point.

Han Li had already suspected this to be the case, but hearing the elderly man admit this himself still made his throat run dry.

This was the first every Grand Ascension cultivator Han Li had encountered since ascending to the Spirit Realm.

Yuan Yao forced herself to calm down before asking in a hesitant voice, "It would of course be a great honor for me to become your disciple, Senior, but this is all a bit too sudden. May I please have some time to discuss this matter with Fellow Daoist Han and Senior Martial Sister Yao?"

"Hehe, looks like I was in too much of a hurry. Of course you can discuss this matter with your companions. How about this? You can stay in my cave abode and rest for a while, then give me an answer within three days," the elderly man said with a confident stroke of his beard.

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Yuan Yao and Yan Li were quite relieved to hear this, and both of them hurriedly expressed their gratitude.

The elderly man suddenly smiled and clapped his hands together, following which white light flashed, and a semi-transparent white figure emerged out of thin air on one side of the hall.

"Take our guests to the guest room for some rest. If our three fellow Daoists have any requirements, do your best to satisfy them," the elderly man instructed.

"Yes, Master!" The white figure extended a respectful bow in response.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense toward this white figure, and his heart jolted as he discovered that this being was a late-Spatial Tempering Stage ghost monarch.

Han Li had many questions left unanswered, but he could only leave with this white figure.

After Han Li's trio left the hall, the elderly man withdrew his gaze as a contemplative look appeared on his face.

Meanwhile, Han Li and the others followed his ghostly servant through a series of passageways, past a few smaller halls, then arrived in a courtyard.

The courtyard consisted of a dozen or so stone cabins, and they weren't particularly spectacular or intricately crafted, but they were all quite clean and tidy.

The white figure pointed toward the courtyard, and said in a cold voice, "The three of you can stay and rest here. If you don't have any urgent matters that need to be addressed, I suggest you don't go anywhere else. If you do have something that needs to be taken care of, call for me and I'll get here as soon as possible."

After that, the white figure vanished on the spot, leaving Han Li's trio behind to glance at one another.

"Let's go in and have rest first. We've been traveling non-stop these past few days, so I'm sure the two of you are quite tired as well. We can consider the other matters on hand after we've all recovered some of our energy. In any case, we've got three days to decide, so there's certainly no hurry," Han Li said in a slow voice as he turned to the two women with a smile.

Yan Li forced a smile in response, whereas Yuan Yao's brows remained tightly furrowed.

Thus, Han Li strode into the courtyard first.

He made his way toward one of the stone cabins, and there were no restrictions on the door, so he opened it and walked into the room. The interior of the cabin wasn't very large; only around 70 to 80 feet in area, but it was completely furnished with extremely simple bluestone furniture.

There was even a grass-woven futon sitting in a corner of the room.

Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and a dozen or so formation flags flew forth before disappearing into the corners of the cabin.

An azure barrier of light slowly appeared.

This was only a simple restriction to ward off surveillance. Even though it had no actual defensive properties, at least the elderly man wouldn't be able to see what he was doing.

Han Li took off his shoes in an unhurried manner before immediately falling asleep on the bed.

Ever since he'd entered the infernal river, he'd had to be wary of the ghostly beings that ran rampant in the area as well as the demon monarchs plotting against him, so he hadn't had any good rest to speak of.

Even though he couldn't completely bring himself to trust this elderly man, it wouldn't matter no matter how cautious he was seeing as he was dealing with a Grand Ascension cultivator, so he simply decided to let down his guard for the most part and take this opportunity to rest and recover.

Snores rang out in the stone cabin, and Han Li fell into a deep slumber.

He dreamed of the scenes during his childhood when he'd lived together with his parents and siblings, and he even dreamed of some of his childhood friends.

These people were all extremely familiar to him, but he somehow couldn't glean any of their facial features.

In the air, a pair of gentle and loving eyes appeared in his dream, and those eyes belonged to none other than Nangong Wan, his wife in the human world.

Nangong Wan didn't say anything after appearing in his dream. She merely appraised Han Li with a warm and passionate gaze, and Han Li also looked back at her, seemingly entranced by her beauty...

After a long while, Han Li's eyelids fluttered as he woke up, but the image of Nangong Wan's beautiful eyes still remained in his mind.

He didn't immediately get up. Instead, he lay on his bed, basking in the warmth that that dream had brought to his heart.

After a while, the intoxicated look in Han Li's eyes gradually faded, and he reverted back to his usual calm expression.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, but right at this moment, Yan Li's delightful voice sounded outside his door.

"Are you up yet, Brother Han? If so, please come to discuss the matters at hand with my junior martial sister and myself."

Yan Li was speaking in quite a polite manner.

"Please wait for a moment, I'll be coming soon," Han Li replied as he sat up on his bed.

"We'll be waiting in the stone cabin in the middle for your visit, then, Brother Han!" Yan Li chuckled before departing.

Han Li calmly put on his shoes, then raised a hand to conjure up a burst of azure light that revolved around his entire body.

The creases on his robes were instantly smoothed out as a result, and Han Li was also feeling more alert as he strode out of his stone cabin.

Yuan Yao and Yan Li had lived in the same cabin the night before, so they had most likely had a preliminary discussion already.

With that in mind, Han Li made his way into the stone chamber at the very center of the courtyard.

This cabin was around twice as large as the one he was residing in, and there was a stone table, as well as a few stone chairs, inside the room. Yan Li and Yuan Yao were sitting at the table, discussing something in a slightly heated manner.

There was a black flag standing on each of the four corners of the hall, enshrouding the entire cabin in a layer of grey light.

It appeared that they'd set up a restriction in the cabin as well.

"I'm glad you're here, Brother Han, Junior Martial Sister Yuan and I have been racking our brains, trying to come up with the best solution here." Yan Li immediately rose to her feet with a seductive smile as Han Li entered the cabin.

Yuan Yao also stood up to greet him.

"Oh, so it looks like the two of you have indeed already discussed this matter. If you trust me, then feel free to tell me your opinions. My cultivation base may be rather lackluster, but I'm not bad at coming with strategies and ideas here and there," Han Li chuckled.

Thus, he also made his way over to the table, and all three of them took a seat.

"It's actually quite simple; it's naturally a brilliant opportunity for me that Senior Jiang is willing to take me as his disciple, but I'm more interested in returning to the human race to find whatever secret technique or cultivation art that would allow me to recover my human body. No matter how powerful that Chang Yuan Race ability is, it won't be able to resolve my current predicament. However, Senior Martial Sister Yan thinks that this is an opportunity that's not to be missed, and she wants me to stay here under Senior Jiang's tutelage," Yuan Yao sighed in a resigned manner.

"Why are you in such a hurry to recover your human body, Junior Martial Sister Yuan? You can cultivate under Senior Jiang for a while, and when you master the ability that he mentioned, you can then return to the human race to find a way to recover your human body. If you miss this opportunity here, it may never come around again," Yan Li urged.

"If that were possible, then I would certainly jump at this opportunity! However, you and I both know that ever since we began cultivating the Yin Yan Reincarnation Arts, our constitutions have been gradually shifting toward becoming true ghostly beings. Even though we've tried to repress this process with all our might, it most likely won't be long before we truly become ghostly beings. I can't afford to stay here and cultivate some other ability because we simply don't have time to waste!" Yuan Yao sighed in a dejected manner.

"Of course I'm aware of this. That's why I propose that you stay here and cultivate under Senior Jiang while I return to the human race to find a way to recover our human bodies. That way, you can have the best of both worlds," Yan Li sighed in response.

"There's no need to try and placate me, Senior Martial Sister! I'm sure you can read between the lines; his next heavenly tribulation seems to be coming up soon, and I barely have enough time to master that Chang Yuan Race ability with the current deadline. If I agree to become Senior Jiang's disciple, how will I be able to divert my attention to cultivate other things that will help me recover my human body?" Yuan Yao shook her head in a stubborn manner.

"As long as the two of us can be together, so what if we become true ghostly beings? You've witnessed the perils of the Spirit Realm just as I have, Junior Martial Sister; if the two of us recover our human bodies, we may just end up dying again one day. In comparison, it's much better for you to cultivate under and receive the protection of Senior Jiang. After you master the required ability, we can then go find a way to recover our human bodies. After all, even if we transform into ghostly beings, we're still definitely different from true ghostly beings that were never human to begin with. There should be another way to reverse all of this. On top of that, forgive me for being blunt, but Senior Jiang clearly holds you in extremely high regard; if you turn him down, do you think it'll be a simple matter for us to leave this place?" Yan Li continued.

"And what if there's no way to reverse the process?" Yuan Yao countered with a shake of her head.

"Brother Han, what do you think? Please talk some sense into her!" Yan Li could only turn to Han Li for help.

"Alright, so I can understand where the two of you are coming from. Fellow Daoist Yuan is concerned that she won't be able to revert back to her human body in the future, so she doesn't want to cultivate under Senior Jiang, but Fellow Daoist Yan wants her to stay as this is a brilliant opportunity, is that correct?" Han Li analyzed in a calm manner.

"That's right! We've been arguing all night last night, but neither of us has been able to convince the other!" Yan Li replied with a wry smile.

"I can understand your unwillingness to become a ghostly being, Fellow Daoist Yuan, and I can also understand that you want what's best for her, Fellow Daoist Yan. Neither of you are in the wrong here," Han Li said with a smile.

"Brother Han, my junior martial sister and I need someone to help us make a decision, not a mediator." Yan Li furrowed her brows with a hint of displeasure in her eyes.

"Hehe, mediating was never my intention, Fellow Daoist Yan. What I want to say is, it's not impossible for both of these predicaments to be resolved at once," Han Li said with a smile.

"What? Is that true?" A skeptical look appeared on Yan Li's face upon hearing this.

Yuan Yao was also clearly quite taken aback.

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"This is an extremely important matter, so I certainly wouldn't make jokes about it," Han Li replied with a serious look on his face.

"If we can find a perfect solution, then that would naturally be for the best. Tell us what it is, Brother Han," Yan Li urged with an elated expression.

"The two of you don't actually have to struggle with this matter on your own; you can simply inform Senior Jiang of this predicament. Don't forget that Senior Jiang is a Grand Ascension cultivator; things that seem extremely difficult or impossible for us may be quite simple for him. Even if he can't reverse the process and allow the two of you to recover your human bodies right away, I'm sure he had some method to prevent you two from further transitioning toward ghostly beings. Why don't you raise the issue with Senior Jiang before making a decision?" Han Li suggested with a smile.

Both Yuan Yao and Yan Li were enlightened upon hearing this.

"That's a brilliant idea, Brother Han! We were too caught up with trying to convince the other person that our solution was the best one, and it made us lose sight of the bigger picture," Yan Li said with an excited look on her face.

Yuan Yao also nodded in agreement with this idea after a brief pause for contemplation.

"In all honesty, I have some other concerns that I'd like to raise," Han Li suddenly continued after a brief hesitation.

"Please do tell, Brother Han," Yan Li prompted.

Yuan Yao also turned to appraise Han Li with an unblinking gaze.

Han Li chuckled, but didn't immediately respond. Instead, he flipped a hand over to reveal a black object in his palm, which instantly expanded to around 10 feet in size.

It was none other than his Divine Essencefused Mountain.

He swept a sleeve through the air, and the small mountain flew out onto the roof as a streak of black light, then transforming into a grey light barrier that enshrouded the entire cabin.

The two women were a little surprised by what he was doing, but neither of them asked any questions.

Only then did Han Li raise his aforementioned concerns.

"My Divine Essencefused Light is nothing in the face of a Grand Ascension cultivator, but it'll alert me as soon as any spiritual sense attempts to infiltrate it. What I'm about to say next may be a little disrespectful to Senior Jiang, but I believe it needs to be discussed. Fellow Daoist Yan, you're adamant that Fellow Daoist Yuan should become Senior Jiang's disciple, but have you considered the notion that perhaps this senior doesn't want to use Fellow Daoist Yuan's powers to help him transcend his next heavenly tribulation, but for some other purpose instead? Or perhaps helping him transcend his next tribulation could be an extremely harmful or dangerous process to Fellow Daoist Yuan; in that case, what will you do?"

The two women exchanged a glance upon hearing this, but they weren't very surprised to hear these issues being raised. Yan Li forced a smile onto her face, and said, "Surely that's going too far, Brother Han. Senior Jiang is a Grand Ascension cultivator; he wouldn't lie to insignificant juniors like us."

Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and only after staring at the two women for a while did he nod with a faint smile.

"It appears I was overthinking things, then. Seeing as the two of you have already considered this issue, I won't speak any further about it, but allow me to issue one final reminder to Fellow Daoist Yuan; Senior Jiang is extending an invitation for you to become his disciple, leaving you with the power to make the final decision, rather than forcing you under his wing. This indicates that the objective he wants to achieve can't be accomplished by force. In that case, you do have a certain level of leverage against him, which means that you're not completely doomed to follow his bidding. It would be very dangerous to try and abuse that leverage, but do be aware that it exists."

"Thank you for the reminder, Brother Han," Yuan Yao replied with a wry smile.

Han Li smiled before waving an arm through the air, and the Divine Essencefused Mountain instantly disappeared along with the grey light barrier.

After that, Han Li discussed a few more things with the two women and also speculated about why he was residing in a place like this.

However, Yuan Yao then insisted on going to see the elderly man right away to determine whether he'd actually be able to help them recover their human bodies.

Han Li and Yan Li naturally wouldn't oppose her, so the three of them emerged from the stone cabin together.

Yuan Yao then called out for the white ghostly figure that had brought them to this courtyard, and it immediately appeared as if it had never even left in the first place.

After hearing their request to see the elderly man, the ghostly being nodded before leading the way.

A short while later, Han Li and the others returned to the cavernous hall, where they were greeted by the sight of the elderly man once again.

The man was still sitting on the same chair as before, and a faint smile appeared on his face at the sight of Han Li's trio as he asked, "Have you already decided to accept my offer, Fellow Daoist Yuan?"

Yuan Yao extended a respectful bow toward the elderly man, and considered her response for a short while before carefully replying, "I am forever grateful for your immensely kind offer, and I would love to cultivate by your side. However, there is an issue that I need to address or I won't be able to accept your offer right away."

"Oh? An issue, you say? Hehe, why don't you tell me about it?" The elderly man's eyes immediately lit up, and he seemed to be quite confident in his ability to take care of any issues that Yuan Yao could raise.

Thus, Yuan Yao immediately revealed to the man her wishes to return to her human form.

"Haha, you made it sound like some kind of impossible predicament, but this is merely a trifling matter. I can refine several types of pills for you, then expend some magic power to expel the Yin power within your body, and it'd only be a matter of a few years before you can recover your human body. On top of that, it won't hamper your cultivation of the Chang Yuan Race ability at all," the elderly man chortled with glee, as if this were merely a simple task to him.

"In that case, I would certainly be willing to accept you as my Master, Senior Jiang! Yao'er pays her respects to her master!" Yuan Yao was also overjoyed by this outcome, and she immediately extended another respectful bow.

"Good, good! Rest assured, my disciple, I can wait a few years with no issues. Whenever you completely recover your human body is when you can begin cultivating that Chang Yuan Race ability." The elderly man swept a sleeve through the air, sending forth a burst of gently invisible power to help Yuan Yao back into an upright posture.

Tears suddenly welled up in Yuan Yao's eyes as she continued, "Master, you've already agreed to help me recover my human body, so I really shouldn't be asking for anything else, but Senior Martial Sister Yan Li has been like a true sister to me for many years. Would you be able to accept her as your disciple as well, and also help her recover her human body?"

A conflicted look appeared on the elderly man's face, and only after a long while did he heave a faint sigh. "I've already made an exception by accepting you as my disciple, so I won't be able to take Fellow Daoist Yan under my wing no matter what. However, I can help her recover her human body if that's what you want."

Yuan Yao still wanted to insist on the matter, but Yan Li cut her off with a surreptitious shake of her head toward Yuan Yao.

"I'm already extremely grateful that Senior Jiang is willing to expend the time and effort to help me recover my human body; I couldn't possibly hope to become Senior Jiang's disciple with my mediocre aptitude, so please don't ask for anything more, Junior Martial Sister."

Yan Li had spoken in an extremely earnest manner, and a slightly dejected look appeared on Yuan Yao's face, but she fell silent in the end.

She was also quite aware that a man of Senior Jiang's status wouldn't easily change his mind after making a decision. Agreeing to half of her condition was already a show of great generosity, so it wouldn't be realistic to ask for anything more.

Han Li had accompanied the two women into the hall, but he merely stood off to the side and refrained from saying anything. However, he was inspecting the elderly man with intense focus this entire time, trying to catch any signs of deceit in his words, but the elderly man appeared to be quite genuine throughout this entire process, and that came as quite a relief to Han Li.

It appeared that this Senior Jiang truly was looking for a disciple.

All of a sudden, the elderly man transmitted his voice to Han Li. "Fellow Daoist Han, I have something that I'd like to speak to you about alone; would you be willing to hear it?"

Han Li was slightly taken aback, but he quickly transmitted his voice in reply. "I'd be more than glad to hear it, Senior Jiang."

Yuan Yao and Yan Li could see Han Li and the elderly man's lips moving, but no sounds came out, so they were aware that the two were clearly conversing through voice transmissions. The two women glanced at one another before wisely waiting in silence.

"In all honesty, if I hadn't discovered that this female companion of yours possesses the Heavenly Yin Physique, I'd originally intended to take you as my disciple and inherit everything I have. However, I've taken Yao'er as my disciple now, and I also have to prepare for my next heavenly tribulation, so I simply don't have the spare capacity to take you under my wing as well. That's quite regrettable to me as I'm very interested in your simultaneous cultivation," the elderly man said in a forlorn voice.

Han Li was completely taken aback to hear this, and only after a while did he reply in a respectful voice, "That is indeed quite unfortunate for me, but such is life."

"However, seeing as you obtained the sword art left behind by Qing Yuanzi in the human world and used Golden Lightning Bamboo to refine your 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, you're technically half a disciple of mine. If you're still interested in the new Azure Essence Sword Art and refining your Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords again, I can bestow those methods upon you. However, you're not a true disciple of mine, after all, so you'll have to offer me something in exchange," the elderly man continued.

"The new Azure Essence Sword Art?" Han Li's heart stirred upon hearing this.

"That's right. The sword art that Qing Yuanzi left behind in the human world was only half-complete, and he only finished the second half after entering the Spirit Realm. With both halves, the sword art can support your cultivation all the way up to the early-Body Integration Stage. Only after taking over the body of this Chang Yuan being did I switch to a Chang Yuan Race cultivation art, but if you can master this sword art, then refine your flying swords again to rid them of their impurities, the sword formation you set up will allow you to fight on even terms with late-Body Integration Stage beings," the elderly man said with a smile.

"But I'm only a mere Deity Transformation cultivator; what could I possibly offer that would catch your interest, Senior?" Han Li was very tempted by this offer, but he still retained a hint of clarity and calmness in his mind.

"You may not have anything else, but surely you have some spare Golden Lightning Bamboo leftover, right?" the elderly man asked with narrowed eyes.

"Golden Lightning Bamboo?" Han Li was quite surprised to hear this.

"That's right. If you can give me enough of this material to refine three flying swords, I'll pass this new sword art onto you. If you have more than that, I can even help you refine your 72 flying swords," the elderly man chuckled.

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"How are you so sure that I have leftover Golden Lightning Bamboo, Senior?" Han Li asked with a peculiar look on his face.

"I can't be absolutely sure, of course, but seeing as you were able to refine 72 flying swords with the materials, there's a good chance that you'll have some spare Golden Lightning Bamboo, which is why I mentioned it," the elderly man replied.

"I'm afraid I'll have to let you down, Senior; I don't have any spare Golden Lightning Bamboo. I came across the Golden Lightning Bamboo I used to refine my swords by chance, and there was only just enough of it to refine these 72 flying swords," Han Li sighed.

"You don't have any left?" The elderly man furrowed his brows, seemingly slightly taken aback by this.

"That's right. I really do want the new sword art, as well as to refine my flying swords again, but I'm afraid I simply don't have the resources to facilitate this exchange," Han Li replied with a wry smile.

He was telling the truth here. Even though he had that mysterious small vial and a spiritual root of the Golden Lightning Bamboo, the Divine Devilbane Lightning contained within the 72 flying swords had always been sufficient for him, and there were countless other things that he had to use that small vial for. As such, he didn't nurture any additional Golden Lightning Bamboo.

He was quite tempted by the exchange that the elderly man was proposing, but he could only decline.

The elderly man stared at Han Li for a long while before determining that he didn't seem to be lying, and only then did he continue, "If you don't have any Golden Lightning Bamboo left, then I won't be able to give you the sword art. Actually, when you were harvesting the Golden Lightning Bamboo, you must've obtained a lot of its leaves as well, right?"

A thought suddenly occurred to the man, and he enquired about the leaves of the Golden Lightning Bamboo instead.

Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before replying, "I did indeed procure a lot of these leaves. Those leaves were quite peculiar, seemingly not wooden nor metallic in nature. I never managed to find a use for them, but they didn't seem like ordinary items, so I kept all the leaves in a safe place."

"Great! If you don't have Golden Lightning Bamboo, then I can give you the sword art and the refinement method for your flying swords in exchange for those leaves. However, I won't be helping you refine your swords, what do you think?" the elderly man asked as a hint of elation appeared in his eyes.

"That would be fantastic!" Han Li replied without any hesitation.

He knew that these leaves had to be quite useful for something or the elderly man wouldn't be asking him for them, but it was naturally a great exchange for him to be able to offer something that he didn't know the purpose of for something that was extremely useful to him.

Thus, Han Li immediately swept a hand over his storage bracelet, and azure light flashed as two faint green wooden boxes appeared in his hands.

He then tossed both of wooden boxes toward the elderly man, and a faint light flashed through the man's eyes as the two boxes drew to a halt, hovering in mid-air before him.

The lids of the boxes were then lifted amid flashes of white light, and stacks of shimmering golden bamboo leaves were revealed.

"There's no mistaking it; these are indeed Golden Lightning Bamboo leaves." The elderly man was able to instantly ascertain the authenticity of these leaves, and a pleased expression appeared on his face.

He swept a sleeve through the air, and boxes disappeared after the lids were placed back onto them.

He then flicked a finger to send a streak of white light hurtling directly toward Han Li.

Han Li caught the streak of white light in his grasp to find that it was a white jade slip.

"I've put the new sword art and the refinement method of the flying swords into that jade slip; you can have a look at it to make sure that I'm now swindling you," the elderly man said with a smile.

"I wouldn't dare to think that!" Han Li stowed the jade slip away without so much as a second glance at it.

The elderly man nodded upon seeing this.

"Senior Jiang, would you be able to enlighten me and tell me what those leaves can be used for?" Han Li couldn't help but ask.

"Hehe, you must still have some of these bamboo leaves left in your possession, right, Fellow Daoist Han? Rest assured, these leaves will be enough for me, so I won't make you hand over the rest. The purpose of these leaves is something that's known to very few people in the human race, but its common knowledge in the Chang Yuan Race, so there's no harm in telling you. These leaves can be used for two purposes; the first is to refine them into a type of divine lightning known as Golden Devil Vanquishing Lightning. In terms of potency against devilish beings, this type of lightning is superior even to Divine Devilbane Lightning. It's a powerful weapon for Grand Ascension cultivators like me against Extrarealm Heavenly Devils. They can also be fed to some spirit insects, and there's a very good chance that a mutation could occur. Of course, a considerable amount of these leaves must be fed to the spirit insects for that to happen," the elderly man revealed.

"Extrarealm Heavenly Devils? What are those?" Han Li was perplexed.

The elderly man was clearly in a very good mood, and he was a lot more talkative as he explained, "How do I say this? It's kind of like the lightning tribulations that befall us cultivators, except lightning tribulations take place at regular intervals, whereas Extrarealm Heavenly Devils are things that all Grand Ascension cultivators could be susceptible to at any moment. They're completely invisible and formless, kind of like inner demons, but countless times more dangerous. Under normal circumstances, Grand Ascension cultivators are most susceptible to such devils when our magic power is in a severely depleted state or when our state of mind is unstable. If we're unable to resist their attack, then our souls could be corrupted, thereby reducing us to one of them. I want these Golden Lightning Bamboo leaves so I can refine some Golden Devil Vanquishing Lightning, which will help me ward off such heavenly devils after my tribulation transcendence."

A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this. He was quite intrigued by the notion that these leaves could be fed to spirit insects to effect mutations.

"By the way, are you planning to permanently settle in this place, Fellow Daoist Han?" On this occasion, the elderly man spoke in a normal manner rather than transmitting his voice to Han Li.

"There's too much Yin Qi here, which will hamper my cultivation in the long run, and I have some matters to take care of in the outside world as well, so I won't be able to stay here for too long," Han Li replied truthfully after a brief hesitation.

Yuan Yao's face paled slightly upon hearing this, but she quickly composed herself thereafter, so no one noticed her shift in demeanor aside from Yan Li.

A slightly peculiar look appeared on Yan Li's face upon seeing this, but she also quickly reverted back to a calm facade.

"Oh? Does that mean you've found a way to leave this space?" A hint of a smile appeared on the elderly man's face.

"Not yet, Senior." Han Li rubbed his nose in a slightly awkward manner.

"Haha, then you don't have to keep looking; I have a reliable way out of this place. Otherwise, how could I possibly reside in this holy land of the Mayfly Race without a way out? I can send you on your way in a few days," the elderly man chuckled.

"Thank you, Senior!" Han Li was overjoyed to hear this.

Just as an elated look appeared on Han Li's face, the elderly man transmitted his voice to him again. "Don't thank me just yet. I don't do anything free of charge, and this is no exception. I want to make another deal with you."

"Another deal?" Han Li faltered upon hearing this.

"Are you interested in the Divine Infernal River Elixir?" the elderly man asked.

"You possess this divine elixir, Senior?" Han Li was truly astonished this time.

"I've lived for so long in this infernal river; it'd be an absolute joke if I hadn't secured some Divine Infernal River Elixir by this point," the elderly man chuckled coldly.

"Does the Mayfly Race know of this? Aren't there two Infernal Lightning Beasts guarding the divine elixir?" Han Li asked in bewilderment.

"Do you really think two Infernal Lightning Beasts can stop me? I have countless ways to secure the divine elixir without being detected by them. On top of that, I only extract a small amount of elixir every time. Even if those Infernal Lightning Beasts come to realize what I'm doing, what are they going to do? Come and challenge me in battle to recover the elixir?" the elderly man scoffed in a proud manner.

"Of course I'm interested in the divine elixir, but I really don't have anything that I can exchange for it," Han Li replied after a long silence.

"I never said I wanted something for you now," the elderly man said in a meaningful voice.

"Then..." Han Li's expression changed slightly.

"It's quite simple; I can't leave this space as I'm trying to delay the arrival of my next heavenly tribulation, but I require some extremely important things. As long as you can gather those things for me, then bring them to me within the next 1,000 years, I'll exchange a vial of Divine Infernal River Elixir for them; what do you think, Fellow Daoist Han?" the elderly man asked.

"I'll have to hear what you'd like me to collect first, Senior." Rather than immediately accepting this arrangement, Han Li took a more conservative and cautious approach.

The fact that Han Li was exercising such caution seemed to be an encouraging sign for the elderly man, and a pleased look appeared on his face as he swept his sleeve through the air to send another jade slip flying toward Han Li.

Han Li caught the jade slip before immediately inspecting its contents, and it didn't take long before a peculiar look appeared on his face.

After a while, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip before raising his head with a forced smile on his face.

"There aren't many items listed in this jade slip, but I've never even heard of most of them. Even the ones that I do know of are extremely rare, and I could easily go 1,000 years without encountering a single one of them. Surely you're asking too much of me, Senior."

"Do you think Divine Infernal River Elixir is some kind of normal spirit elixir, Fellow Daoist Han? It's something that even Body Integration cultivators are willing to risk their lives for! Besides, I didn't say you had to find everything on that list; as long as you can gather two-thirds of them, then return to this place, I'll exchange the divine elixir for those things," the elderly man replied in a calm manner.

"Two thirds? In that case, it's not entirely impossible," Han Li murmured after a brief pause for contemplation.

"Then do we have a deal, Fellow Daoist Han? If so, I can send you out of this infernal river as my deposit."

"I guess I have no choice but to agree." Han Li rubbed his nose with a wry smile on his face.

The elderly man smiled, and said, "I'll send you away from here in two days!"

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Two days passed by in the blink of an eye.

At the summit of a nameless massive mountain, there was a huge spell formation that was around 1,000 feet in radius.

There were eight tall platforms around the formation, atop each of which stood a giant flag with golden and silver runes shimmering on those flags.

Han Li stood at the center of the formation, while the elderly man, Yuan Yao, and Yan Li stood outside it.

High up in the misty sky, there was a barely visible white rift that was over 1,000 feet in length.

"Fellow Daoist Han, I can borrow the power of this spatial rift in the infernal river and use the formation to teleport you away, but I can't guarantee your destination. However, it's most likely the case that you'll still end up in an area somewhere near or within the Flying Spirit Race," the elderly man said.

"Thank you for your words of cautions, Senior," Han Li replied in a respectful voice.

"Alright, it's about time we began. I'll activate the formation and send you away from the infernal river. By the way, take this with you; when you've collected enough items, you can follow the instructions on that thing to return to the infernal river again. That thing is a disposable treasure, and I only have one, so look after it well." The elderly man raised a hand, and two items were sent flying toward Han Li.

Han Li hurriedly caught the items before focusing his gaze on them, following which he immediately exclaimed, "A Star Defying Plate?"

The two items in his hands were a round plate that was shimmering with white light and a blue jade slip.

"Oh? I'm surprised you know of this thing. However, this is only a replica of a Star Defying Plate, but the materials required to refine this thing are extremely hard to find. I originally refined a few of these, but I've used up all of them aside from this one. Inside that jade slip contains the method for you to access the infernal river using that plate; you can take a good look at it later. Aside from that, you can have your Gold Devouring Beetles back as well," the elderly man said as he swept a sleeve through the air.

An azure flash of light emerged from within his sleeve, quickly revealing itself to be a miniature wooden tower.

The treasure rotated in mid-air, and two specks of golden light flew out from within.

Those were none other than the Gold Devouring Beetles that the elderly man had taken.

Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately extended a hand to draw the beetles back to him.

"You're incredibly fortunate to have been able to nurture mature Gold Devouring Beetles, Fellow Daoist Han, but let me tell you this; mature Gold Devouring Beetles may be quite fearsome, but they can only display their true power in large numbers. If only a few are unleashed at once, it'd be quite easy for a high-grade cultivator to trap them using a wood-attribute treasure. As opposed to focusing on these beetles, it would be more beneficial to work harder on your own cultivation. Of course, if you can nurture hundreds, even thousands of these mature Gold Devouring Beetles, then most of the Spirit Realm is your oyster as the majority of wood-attribute treasures won't be able to trap so many matured Gold Devouring Beetles. At the same time, it's important to remember that controlling such a large number of Gold Devouring Beetles would be so taxing our one's spiritual sense, that even Grand Ascension cultivators like me won't be able to handle it. Hehe, of course, if you can nurture a legendary Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch, then even True Immortals would most likely refrain from engaging you in battle, let alone a Grand Ascension cultivator like me," the elderly man chuckled.

"Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch?" This was the first time that Han Li had heard of something like this.

"Oh? You don't know what that is? Ah, that makes sense. Only the Mayfly Race and other races that are closely affiliated with insects know of Gold Devouring Beetle Monarchs, so I suppose it's no surprise that you're oblivious to them. If you ever get the chance to do so, you can go and conduct some research on your own about this matter. This beetle monarch is a legend that has been around for countless years, but I've never actually heard of anyone successfully refining, so it's not something to be overly fixated on," the elderly man explained before making a hand seal.

A loud rumbling noise erupted from the sky above, and dense dark clouds began to surface as howling winds were swept up.

The elderly man then began to chant something in the wind, and even though his voice wasn't very loud, it was still quite clearly audible.

An astonishing scene then ensued.

The elderly man didn't appear to have done anything else, but the massive flags on the eight platforms suddenly tremored in unison. The flags flapped in the wind as the entire formation began to emit a faint buzzing sound.

Spiritual threads of all types of different colors surfaced around the formation before sweeping toward the massive flags as streaks of light.

As the eight flags flashed within the spiritual light, bursts of astonishing spiritual pressure emanated from the formation as one rune after another emerged.

Han Li was situated at the very center of the formation, so he could quite clearly sense just how fearsome the power imbued within these runes were.

If any single one of those runes were to explode, he definitely wouldn't be able to withstand the explosion even with his current immensely powerful body.

Han Li's expression changed slightly as he took a deep breath.

Yuan Yao looked on from outside the formation, and a hint of concern also appeared in her eyes.

The eight giant flags rotated at once before blasting forth eight pillars of light that were as thick as large bowls, all of which disappeared high up into the sky in a flash.

The white rift overhead immediately shimmered with brilliant light, and instantly became several times more visible than before.

The elderly man swept a sleeve upward upon seeing this, and a dull thump erupted in the air above the formation, following which an azure sword projection that was several tens of feet in length appeared amid a flash of piercing azure light.

"Sever!" the elderly man yelled before pointing two of his fingers at the huge sword projection up above.

The azure sword projection immediately adopted a vertical position before flying up toward the white rift in the sky.

A loud ringing sound suddenly erupted in the surrounding sky as the air abruptly tightened, as if all of the world's origin Qi nearby had been sucked away by this sword.

In the instant before the giant azure sword struck the white rift, it expanded countless times further, taking up the entire sky as if it were a divine weapon.

The azure sword then proceeded to slice open that white rift amid a loud tearing sound that was audible throughout the entire heavens.

A thin long black rift emerged within the white rift, and the elderly man waved a hand through the air to dispel the gargantuan sword.

At the same time, eight gigantic runes, each of which was around the size of a cabin, surfaced near the black rift, shimmering with bright golden light.

Han Li felt the air around him tighten, immediately following which the runes from the formation beneath his feet hovered toward him in unison.

His heart jolted with shock upon seeing this, and just as chills were running down his spine, the runes transformed into lights of different colors before revolving rapidly around him.

His surroundings suddenly blurred, and he was struck by a rush of dizziness.

Following a strange high-pitched screech, a pillar of five-colored light erupted from the center of the formation, then disappeared into the black rift in a flash.

At the same time, the light emanating from the entire formation faded, and it ceased to function.

At this moment, Han Li was already nowhere to be seen.

"Master, has Brother Han really been teleported away?" Yuan Yao was unable to hide her concern any longer as she turned to the elderly man.

"Rest assured, Yao'er, the teleportation formation worked extremely well, so he should be back in the Spirit Realm by now. Within 1,000 years, he'll return to the infernal river again, and you two will be reunited," the elderly man chuckled.

He could also sense that Yuan Yao's feeling for Han Li seemed to have gone beyond simple friendship, so there was a suggestive tone to his words. Yuan Yao blushed slightly upon hearing this, but she made no effort to defend herself as she looked up into the sky again.

The black rift up above was gradually sealing over, reverting back to a white rift that was slowly blurring again.

Yan Li wrapped an arm around Yuan Yao's shoulder, and smiled as she said, "Let's go back, Junior Martial Sister. It's just as Senior Jiang says; you'll see him again if fate dictates it to be so. Your cultivation base and powers may not be able to match against Fellow Daoist Han's at the moment, but with Senior Jiang as your master, I'm sure you'll have at least matched him by the time he returns."

"Hehe, you're not wrong there. That Han brat is indeed quite an extraordinary cultivator for someone of his cultivation base, but under my tutelage, you're almost guaranteed to progress to the Spatial Tempering Stage, and there's a 40% to 50% that I'll even get you to the Body Integration Stage," the elderly man said in a confident manner.

"I'll be sure to cultivate to the very best of my abilities, Master!" Yuan Yao immediately rid her mind of all unnecessary thoughts and emotions as she extended a grateful bow toward the elderly man.

Just as Han Li was teleported out of the infernal river, Liu Zu, the white-haired beauty, the crimson-robed figure, and the Purpleblood Puppet were situated on a set of plains located countless kilometers away from the greyish-white mountain ranges, struggling to survive amid a sea of insects.

There were countless winged centipede-like creatures with hooked tails swarming toward and attacking them from all sides.

These strange insects were each around three to four feet in size, and they were extremely ferocious with no fear for their own safety whatsoever.

At this point, Liu Zu had already transformed into a massive black insect himself, and countless streaks of black light were erupting from his body to puncture the insects around him.

The Purpleblood Puppet had already expanded to over 1,000 times its original size at the crimson-robed figure's behest, and it was relentlessly blasting pillars of crimson light out of its six eyes.

The white-haired beauty had also donned her suit of black armor again, and a sea of green flames was erupting from her war hammer to keep all of the surrounding insects at bay.

The demon monarchs clearly held the upper hand, and but all three of them were extremely frustrated as no matter how many of these strange insects they killed, there was always more to replace them, and it seemed as if there were no end to their numbers.

Close to 10 kilometers away, there was a praying-mantis-like creature with a human facing appraising the battle from afar with a frosty look on its face.

In the air above this creature, there was semi-spherical object around 1,000 feet in diameter, and it was flashing erratically with silver light as countless winged centipede creatures surging toward the demon monarchs in the distance in a frenzy.

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"We can't keep going like this! That's our Mayfly Race's holy nest; there's no end to the creatures coming out of it! How could a Golden Mayfly Tier being possibly possess such an item? We have to get out of her right away!" Liu Zu roared.

During that split second alone, hundreds of insects were punctured and killed by the black light erupting from his body.

"Where can we run? These things aren't much slower than we are; if things continue like this, our magic power will be exhausted eventually," the crimson-robed figure said with a grim expression as he stood atop the Purpleblood Puppet.

"Let's head straight to the passageway that led into this place. After we get there, we'll be able to return to the infernal river and evade the insect sea manifested by the holy nest," Liu Zu replied without any hesitation.

"Have you gone mad, Fellow Daoist Liu Zu? Even if we fly as quickly as we're capable of, it'd still take two to three months to get there; are we just going to keep fighting these things during that time? On top of that, what about the devilish tomb and the devilish artifacts?" the white-haired beauty screeched in a sharp voice.

"Hmph, what good will those devilish artifacts do us if we die here? I'll give you and Fellow Daoist Di Xue some treasures out of my personal collection to make up for this. The holy insects being manifested by the holy nest at the moment are only those of the lowest caliber; once more powerful holy insects are manifested, we won't be able to get away from here even if wanted to," Liu Zu bellowed with fury.

If it weren't for the fact that the three of them had to work together just for a chance to get away, he would've most likely fled the scene with the Divine Infernal River Elixir already.

After all, no one was more aware that he was of just how destructive the holy nests of the Mayfly Race were.

Of course, Liu Zu was naturally unaware of the fact that this was only a replica rather than an actual holy nest. Even so, its devastating power was not something that the three demon monarchs could oppose. Hence, as soon as he witnessed this item, he was immediately struck by the urge to flee.

The white-haired beauty was still quite reluctant to give up on the devilish tomb, but she knew that Liu Zu was right.

The crimson-robed figure also remained silent, clearly in agreement with Liu Zu's proposal as well.

Thus, all three of them unleashed powerful abilities in unison.

Scintillating black light suddenly erupted from Liu Zu's body, following which countless massive black bone spikes appeared all over his body, all of which were around 10 feet in length and extremely sharp.

He then opened his mouth to blast forth bursts of visible black halos.

As soon as these halos appeared, they instantly swelled countless times in size before surging into the swarm of insects.

An astonishing scene ensued!

All of the insects that came into contact with these black halos instantly lost their sense of balance as they plummeted straight out of the sky, instantly opening up a vast area before Liu Zu.

Meanwhile, the mountainous Purpleblood Puppet opened its massive mouth and blasted forth a pillar of purple light that was over 10 times thicker than those erupting from its eyes.

All of the insects in the path of this pillar of light were instantly reduced to ashes.

As the Purpleblood Puppet swiveled its head, the pillar of light fanned out, instantly destroying a vast number of insects.

The area cleared out by this attack was even larger than that created by Liu Zu's attack.

The final one to spring into action was the white-haired beauty.

Seeing as the other two demon monarchs weren't holding back any longer, the white-haired woman also cast aside her qualms as she quickly made a hand seal.

Her war hammer then immediately exploded within a swath of green flames, and the eight white skulls emerged before swelling to the size of wagon wheels, then opening their mouths to unleash sharp unsettling screeches.

However, these skulls were no longer blasting green ghostly flames out of their mouths. Instead, they produced gusts of white glacial winds that flew all of the insects in their path.

Countless insects were reduced to white ice sculptures of different sizes before raining down from above.

With three Body Integration cultivators attacking at once, even the relentless barrage of insects was unable to keep up, and a massive empty area was created.

The praying mantis creatures in the distance harrumphed coldly upon seeing this before pointing up at the silver object with one of its giant scythe-like arms.

The semi-spherical object immediately began to rotate even more quickly, and the number of insects flooding out from within increased significantly.

However, right at this moment, the three demon monarchs combined their magic powers to conjure up a massive ball of light around them, which allowed them to crash through the countless insects around them, thereby opening up a path that took them to the edge of the insect sea in just a few flashes.

The ball of light then separated into three streaks of light again, all of which hurriedly fled into the distance.

The praying mantis creature was clearly not expecting these demon monarchs to flee, and a furious expression appeared on its face before it let loose a sharp screen, sending the swarm of insects flying toward the demon monarchs in hot pursuit.

All of these insects flew at a phenomenal speed, seemingly able to match the pace being set by the demon monarchs.

Meanwhile, the praying mantis creature's body blurred, and he disappeared on the spot.

In the next instant, he appeared above the semi-spherical object, then disappeared into it.

A loud buzzing sound erupted from the holy nest, and the stream of insect projections pouring forth from it was cut off before it also flew through the air as a streak of silver light, surrounded by countless insects.

Thus, the insect sea and the demon monarchs vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye.

Elsewhere, Mu Qing was hovering in the air above the body of water that Han Li had been situated at several days ago, looking down with a dark expression on her face.

"This place seems to be..." Within another vast expanse of black mist, a humanoid figure was inspecting his surroundings within a swath of grey light.

This man wore a set of azure robes and appeared to be in his twenties with his brows slightly furrowed. He was none other than Han Li, who'd just left the infernal river.

As soon as he recovered from his rush of dizziness, he'd immediately found himself situated within this vast expanse of black mist.

Thankfully, he had cultivated his Divine Essencefused Light for so long that using it was second nature to him now, and it was automatically released to protect him.

Han Li looked up into the air to find that the spatial rift that had just ejected him was already sealing over, and in the instant that he cast his gaze toward it, it finally disappeared without a trace, as if it had never even existed in the first place.

Even though it was only for an instant, Han Li had caught sight of wisps of black Qi escaping from the spatial rift right before it disappeared, then blended into the black mist around him.

"Could it be that all of the mist here seeped out of that spatial rift?" Han Li murmured to himself before inspecting his surroundings again, trying to ascertain his current location.

However, he was only able to release his spiritual sense for around 1,000 before it immediately recoiled, thereby limiting his sensory range.

Han Li raised an eyebrow and stroked his chin as a thought suddenly occurred to him.

He brought his hands together before separating them, and azure light flashed between his palms, following which a spirit herb that was several inches in length appeared within his grasp.

He raised a hand to hurl the spirit herb into the black mist, and it immediately wilted before being reduced to dust in the instant before it drifted onto the ground below.

"Black Infernal Mist!" Han Li drew a sharp breath, and he could finally confirm his current location.

He had been teleported back to the massive island in the Flying Spirit Race territory, and this vast expanse of black mist was the sea of Black Infernal Mist that he'd refrained from entering when he was last on this island.

He had conducted some tests on this black mist to find that the Yin Qi within it was extremely severe, and that it was able to absorb the spiritual Qi within plant life and other living beings.

At the time, he was in a hurry to break through his bottleneck, and he was also quite wary of this mist's strange properties, so he never ventured into it.

Now, he had no choice as he had been teleported here right after leaving the infernal river. Thinking back to the black Qi that had seeped out of the spatial rift, it seemed that the formation of this sea of mist most likely had something to do with the infernal river.

However, the Yin Qi in the infernal river was definitely not as fearsome as that present in this black mist, so there had to be some other constituents that made up this mist.

Han Li's eyes flashed as he made his judgment in the blink of an eye.

In any case, this was most definitely not the place for a picnic, and it was best to get away from here as quickly as possible.

With that in mind, azure light flashed from Han Li's body, and he immediately rose up into the air.

However, after rising to altitudes of only several tens of feet, the mist around him suddenly converged toward his body, snuffing out the azure light around and forcing him to plummet toward the ground.

"There's a flight restriction here!" Han Li's heart stirred upon making this observation.

He finally understood why the Tian Peng beings were so wary of this sea of mist, to the extent that no one was stationed on this island.

To the Tian Peng beings who revered the Kun Peng as a divine deity, a flight restriction was naturally extremely dangerous. After all, most of the abilities of Flying Spirit Race beings hinged on their wings. If they were unable to fly, then they would immediately be severely debilitated.

That was, of course, only one of the reasons. It was most likely the case that the Tian Peng beings avoided this place like the plague also due to the aura of the infernal river that seeped out of the spatial rift here.

After all, the infernal river was most likely the internal space of the body of a Rahu Beast, so the Tian Peng beings, who possessed the Kun Peng bloodline, would most definitely find this place to be absolutely abhorrent.

However, these were all merely assumptions being made by Han Li. As for whether these reasons were valid or if there were other factors behind all this, that was something that perhaps on the elders of the Tian Peng Race knew.

Even though he was technically a holy disciple of the Tian Peng Race, he hadn't come into contact with such matters, so he naturally didn't know the true reasons behind everything.

The flight restriction in this place was quite bothersome to Han Li, but that certainly wasn't going to trap him.

With his powerful body, even if he had to travel on foot, he would most likely be able to leave this place quite quickly.

The only things that he had to be wary of were strange creatures potentially attacking him or other unforeseen restrictions.

However, Han Li naturally wasn't going to keep waiting here. After making up his mind, his unleashed his spiritual sense to its maximal extent, then sped toward a certain direction.

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Han Li took a step forward, and even though it didn't appear as if he were moving all that quickly, he still covered a distance of 70 to 80 feet in a flash.

After a while, he'd traveled several tens of kilometers, and he was already moving slower than he normally would as a safety precaution.

Otherwise, if he were charging through the mist as quickly as he could, he would've covered several hundred kilometers already.

He had once skirted around most of the outskirts of this sea of Black Infernal Mist, and even when flying as quickly as he could back them, it had taken him around a month or two to go the entire way around one side.

He didn't know where he was currently situated within the sea of mist, but it would most likely take him quite a few days to emerge from this area on foot.

As such, Han Li wasn't in a hurry to forge ahead. Instead, he merely progressed at an even pace while considering his trip into the earth abyss and the infernal river.

During this adventure, he'd had quite a few perilous experiences and had almost been reduced to a puppet by the demon monarchs, but he'd also secured bountiful rewards.

He had learned the true method to use his Divine Devilbane Lightning from Mu Qing and also secured a vial of Five-Colored Peacock True Blood from her. From Di Xue, he'd obtained the refinement methods for spirit servant puppets, thereby allowing him to master the refinement methods for the Nine Palaces Heavenly Talisman and the Armor Origin Talisman. On to of that, the elderly man with the Jiang surname had passed the new Azure Essence Sword Art onto him, along with the method to refine the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords again. If he focused enough attention on those two things in the future, he'd presumably be able to make his sword formation a lot more powerful.

However, none of those things were as valuable as the Divine Infernal River Elixir that had been promised to him.

From what he knew of already, this elixir could alter one's constitution, thereby allowing one to absorb more of the world's origin Qi than they'd normally be able to. This was an incredible item, and he naturally didn't want to give up on it.

With this divine elixir, he'd be saving himself countless years of cultivation. For a cultivator with ordinary aptitude like Han Li, that was definitely something of the utmost importance.

The items on the list given to him by the elderly man were all extremely difficult to find, but there was still hope for him if he had a time period of 1,000 years to find two-thirds of the items on the list.

With that much time allotted to him, Han Li was relatively confident that he'd be able to achieve such a feat.

However, what he had to do now was to return to his cave abode on the island as quickly as possible, then go into seclusion so he could consolidate the rewards that he'd reaped from this trip. Once he reached the pinnacle of the late-Deity Transformation Stage, he'd be able to take the Black Flame Pills and attempt to progress to the early-Spatial Tempering Stage.

During this journey, he'd encountered so many beings at the Body Integration Stage and witnessed them in battle on many occasions. From that experience, he felt as if he'd attained some enlightenment, and was more confident in his ability to break through his next bottleneck.

Even though the demon monarchs had refrained from giving him much guidance in cultivation, they were all immensely powerful beings, and just seeing them in action had been an invaluable experience for Han Li.

After all, how many Deity Transformation cultivators could witness battles between Body Integration Stage beings in person?

All of these thoughts were rapidly racing through Han Li's mind, and it only took him mere moments to establish his future cultivation plan.

He then swept a hand over his storage bracelet, and a jade slip immediately appeared over his palm.

This was none other than the jade slip that the elderly man had given him, and within it was recorded the new Azure Essence Sword Art.

Han Li instantly split his spiritual sense into two with a small portion of it controlling his body in its advancement and inspecting his surroundings, which most of his spiritual sense seeped into this jade slip.

Initially, his expression remained quite calm, but as he furthered his understanding this sword art, his expression gradually became more solemn, and his brows were tightly furrowed by the end.

After a while, he heaved a long sigh and flipped his hand over, upon which the jade slip disappeared amid a flash of azure light.

A contemplative look then appeared in Han Li's eyes.

He had roughly read through the contents of the sword art and committed it to memory. It was quite clear that this so-called new sword art hadn't really brought many changes to the original 13 layers of the cultivation method, and the insignificant changes that had been made didn't impact him in ay way.

The main difference was the five additional layers of the sword art after that.

These layers of the sword art corresponded to the three tiers of the Deity Transformation Stage, as well as the early and mid tiers of the Spatial Tempering Stage. If he were to cultivate the sword art in its entirety, it'd support him to the late-Spatial Tempering Stage.

If Han Li hadn't cultivated the Provenance True Devil Arts, he would perhaps truly be quite interested in this cultivation art.

As things were at present, he could only pick a few useful secret techniques and abilities from the last five layers of the sword art to cultivate. After all, he was walking the path of simultaneous cultivation, so it certainly wouldn't be wise for him to spend so much time on this cultivation art.

Of course, he was only able to achieve these things as he'd mastered the first 13 layers of the sword art in advance, and he was also a late-Deity Transformation cultivator himself.

Otherwise, even if other high-grade cultivators were to obtain this sword art, they wouldn't be able to make use of it at all.

The things enclosed in the final five layers of the sword art that Han Li was most interested in was a pair of new sword formations, one of which was named Spring Dawn, while the other was called Azure Coil.

These two sword formations used in conjunction with the final five layers of the sword art would be immensely powerful, and allow him to challenge beings of a higher cultivation base than himself. Even without cultivating the final five layers of the sword art, those two sword formations could still be unleashed, but the requirements on the flying swords used in that case were extremely stringent; they had to be extremely pure wood-attribute flying swords that had been nurtured to an extremely high level.

Han Li's current 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords couldn't satisfy this condition, so he had to refine them again.

Among these two sword formations, Spring Dawn was something that he could unleash with his current cultivation base, but Azure Coil would only be something that he could cultivate and study after reaching the late-Spatial Tempering Stage.

As such, Han Li directed his attention to the refinement method for the flying swords enclosed with the sword art.

However, a bewildered look appeared on his face only after a brief inspection of the refinement method.

The method wasn't very difficult, but the process during which the swords were refined had to be an extremely lengthy one, and during this time, his flying swords would be extremely brittle and frail, making them unusable in battle. Only after completely refining the swords and achieving a state of oneness with them would be able to display their true power.

According to information in the refinement method, he'd have to rid his flying swords of the Auric Essence he'd refined into them as well, and in that case, he wouldn't be able to unleash his Aureate Sword Formation.

That was making Han Li rather hesitant.

Not being able to use the flying swords for an extended period of time wasn't too much of a concern. After all, he wasn't relying on them as a crutch anyway. However, losing the Aureate Sword Formation really was something that made him feel quite indecisive.

The new sword art stated that Spring Dawn and Azure Coil were both far superior in power to the Aureate Sword Formation, so it only made sense to sacrifice it for those two other sword formations.

However, Han Li had never witnessed those two sword formations in action, yet the Aureate Sword Formation had helped him defeat powerful enemies on more than one occasion, so he was inevitably going to be rather hesitant.

He wasn't planning to cultivate the last five layers of the Azure Essence Sword Art, so it was a mystery just how much power he'd be able to unleash with those two sword formations with just his refined flying swords alone.

If it turned out to be the case that those two sword formations were inferior in power compared to the Aureate Sword Formation, then he'd have incurred a massive loss while expending a lot of time and effort.

Just as Han Li was trying to make a decision about his sword formation, his expression suddenly changed as he stood still on the spot.

He peered into the black mist off to one side, and a dark expression appeared on his face as he said in a cold voice, "What are you doing lurking in the shadows over there? Were you planning to attack me?"

He then raised a hand, and a thick bolt of golden light shot forth amid a loud thunderclap, forming a head-sized ball of golden lightning that hovered in mid-air.

The surface of the ball was crackling incessantly with arcs of lightning and shimmering with golden runes, creating quite an intimidating sight to behold.

"You're not a Tian Peng being?" A surprised voice sounded from the direction that Han Li had turned his attention toward.

"Who are you and how do you know that?" Han Li asked as his eyes narrowed.

"Hehe, if you're truly a Tian Peng being, there's no way you'd be able to remain completely unaffected here even as a Great Spirit General, let alone a mere Spirit General," the voice replied in a cold manner.

"Oh? Sounds like you know a lot about Tian Peng beings and this place. Why have you still not shown yourself? Come out and speak to me face to face!"As soon as Han Li's voice trailed off, the golden ball of lightning before him abruptly disappeared.

In the next instant golden light flashed within the black mist, and the ball of lightning appeared out of thin air before exploding on the spot.

Golden light flashed, and a black shadow immediately rushed out of the mist, appearing just over 100 feet away from Han Li after a few flashes.

Han Li carefully inspected the being that had just appeared, upon which his expression faltered slightly.

He was looking at a young man with a green face and a pair of white curved horns growing on his head.

He swept his spiritual sense toward the young man to find that he was a Spatial Tempering Stage being, and the aura he was emanating was rather familiar to Han Li somehow.

He quickly traced back through his memories before abruptly exclaiming, "You're Luminous Beast! Wait, you have a lot of Yin Qi within your body, so you must've used a ghost Dao cultivation art!"

The young man's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, but a sinister light then appeared in his eyes.

"I originally intended to let you go, but seeing as you've identified my origins, you won't be getting away from here alive!"

The young man then abruptly opened his mouth to blast forth a gust of grey Yin winds that swept directly toward Han Li.

He was clearly trying to kill Han Li in order to silence him forever!

Han Li was initially regretting the fact that he'd blurted out the young man's origins, but seeing as the young man wanted to engage him in battle, a smile appeared on his face instead.

He merely stood still on the spot, but the grey light around his body swelled drastically before revolving around Han Li, sweeping aside all of the oncoming gusts of Yin winds.

A flash of astonishment appeared in the young man's eyes upon seeing this, but he immediately slapped a hand onto his own head, upon which his twin horns detached themselves from his body, then transformed into a pair of shimmering white scimitars that landed in his grasp.

With the new weapons, the young man seemed to have been injected with a surge of confidence, and he stomped a foot into the ground, charging toward Han Li at an incredible speed, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake.

The young man was seemed to be intent on challenging Han Li in melee combat, and a peculiar look flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this. Instead of taking any evasive measures, brilliant golden light suddenly erupted from his body as he stood still on the spot. A layer of golden scales appeared over his skin, and at the same time, a golden projection with three heads and six arms surfaced behind him.

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The young man faltered slightly upon seeing the projection and scales that Han Li had conjured but, but he didn't slow down in the slightest as he slashed his twin sabers through the air toward Han Li. A pair of black saber formations instantly hurtled forth in a cross formation. As soon as these saber projections appeared, all of the nearby black mist surged toward them in a frenzy.

The two saber projections instantly swelled to around twice their original size before reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye.

Han Li's eyelids twitched as his hands blurred slightly, and a pair of golden longswords suddenly appeared in his grasp. With a flick of his wrists, he slashed his longswords toward the saber projections in a merciless manner. A loud thunderclap erupted as golden arcs of lightning coiled around the long swords. As soon as the black saber projections clashed with the golden lightning, the former was instantly vanquished, much to the shock of the young man. In contrast, a cold smile appeared on Han Li's face.

The saber projections unleashed by his opponent clearly contained a lot of devilish Qi. Otherwise, even his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords wouldn't have been able to take care of them so easily. Seeing as this was the case, this young man was essentially committing suicide through his decision to challenge Han Li.

With that in mind, Han Li flapped the five-colored translucent wing on his back, sending forth a burst of five-colored light before the young man had recovered from his astonishment.

The light was extremely bright and piercing, as if a five-colored sun had surfaced from within Han Li's body. "Argh!"

The young man reflexively closed his eyes in the face of such scintillating light, and at the same time, he knew that he was in a perilous situation, so he stomped both feet violently into the ground and shot back like an arrow, retreating even faster than he'd come.

At this moment, a thunderclap erupted from within the five-colored light, following which an arc os azure and white lightning flashed behind the young man, and Han Li abruptly appeared out of thin air. He then slashed his two longswords toward his opponent with devastating force.

The young man's eyes were still closed and his spiritual sense was slightly delayed in its reaction, but such a blatant attack certainly couldn't escape his notice. As such, he immediately tossed his twin sabers behind him, and they shot forth as two streaks of black light.

He then made a hand seal, and the muscles on his body instantly disappeared, revealing a translucent white-jade-like skeleton. The skeleton tremored before releasing a white barrier of light that completely shielded its body within. Han Li's longsword came crashing down amid a couple of thunderclaps, only to be kept at bay by the streaks of black light formed by the twin sabers. Han Li didn't find this to be strange or unexpected in the slightest.

Instead, he'd be surprised if a pair of weapons manifested from a Spatial Tempering Stage demon beast's body didn't possess this much power. He had never intended or hoped to kill this demon beast with this pair of flying swords alone.

In the instant that he'd lashed out with his swords, the Provenance True Devil Projection swung its six arms through the air, and countless fist projections immediately blossomed like golden lotus flowers before crashing toward the white light barrier like a torrential downpour. Each and every one of the seemingly ordinary fist projections were imbued with Han Li's immense inhuman strength, and this overwhelming storm of attacks was something that had been unleashed through brute force alone.

In the instant the white barrier of light was struck the fist projections, the seemingly resolute barrier immediately began to tremor violently before quickly being shattered by the devastating fist projections.

All of this had taken place in only the blink of an eye, and only then did the demon beast twist around before opening its eyes.

Having had all of its flesh and blood disappear, his eyeballs were also nowhere to be seen, and had instead been replaced by two balls of green flames in his eye sockets.

The demon beast was mortified that his protective barrier of light had been destroyed so easily, and he immediately opened his mouth to blast forth several inky-black streaks of light toward Han Li. At the same time, his head exploded of its own accord, following which a green bead shot forth from within and hurtled toward the distance.

The remnants of his skeletal body quickly disassembled itself before forming a white bone shield that followed closely behind the green bead to protect it during his escape.

The demon beast had clearly identified that he was no match for Han Li, and immediately tried to flee the scene.

He had cultivated for many years within this Black Infernal Mist, and he was confident that if he could open up some distance between himself and Han Li, there was no way that the latter would be able to chase him down.

However, Han Li was already intent on killing him at this point. He didn't want to let this demon beast get away, only to return and potentially cause trouble for him int he future.

Thus, he let loose a cold harrumph as the grey light before him flashed. The streaks of oncoming black light merely fizzled out almost as soon as they came into contact with this grey light.

All of the golden fist projections in the air also abruptly disappeared while golden light flashed from his Provenance True Devil Projection. Six thick bolts of lightning then surfaced from the hands attached to the projection's six arms, and the six arcs of lightning transformed into six golden lightning spears in unison. The arms then blurred as the six golden spears were hurled through the air.

The golden spear streaked through the before crashing viciously into the white bone shield. To the credit of the shield, it was able to withstand the first three spears, but after being struck by the fourth spear, it finally exploded. The final two spears pierced through as a result, striking the green bead at the same time. Golden arcs of lightning flashed, and the green bead flashed erratically before exploding.

The projection of a Luminous Beast shot forth from within in a horrified manner. However, the golden arcs of lightning had already formed an inescapable net around the soul of this demon beast, and as the net converged, a bloodcurdling howl erupted from within before the projection of the Luminous Beast was completely destroyed.

Han Li had slain this Spatial Tempering Stage demon beast with ease.

Part of this was due to the fact that the demon beast had been too complacent after seeing Han Li's Deity Transformation Stage cultivation base, but this was also contributed to by the fact that Han Li had become far more powerful than when he'd departed from this massive island.

Even though he hadn't dedicated much time to cultivation, he's obtained the 12 Awakening Transformations from the Tian Peng Race, as well as the Lightningwield Technique from the earth abyss that significantly enhanced the power of his Divine Devilbane Lightning. After that, he'd consumed the true spirit bloods of the Kun Peng and the Five-Colored Peacock, thereby significantly boosting his magic power as well.

Even prior to reaching the late-Deity Transformation Stage, Han Li had been capable of killing Spatial Tempering Stage beings, so he certainly wasn't going to have any trouble with this demon beast.

On top of that, the demon beast didn't even seem to be carrying any treasures, so it stood even less of a chance against Han Li.

Han Li inspected the skeletal remains of the demon beast with a cold expression before flicking a finger to blast forth a crimson fireball. The remains of the demon beast immediately caught on fire and were burned to ashes in the blink of an eye.

After that, Han Li immediately departed from the scene had disappeared into the black mist.

On this occasion, he had managed to easily kill his opponent, but it was still quite frustrating that he'd had to engage in this battle for no good reason.

Of course, unbeknownst to him, he had just killed the behind that all of the mid-grade demon beasts in the Hidden Black Mountain Ranges saw as their backer and eventual savior.

He was the one who was going to eradicate their slave marks and grant them freedom, but those hopes had been completely dashed.

Of course, none of that had anything to do with Han Li. He continued to forge ahead in the black mist while contemplating the new sword art.

Close to a month later, black mist suddenly surged at the border of the sea of mist near a barren mountain, and a humanoid figure emerged from within.

He then rose up into the air and reached the summit of the mountain in just a few flashes. He was none other than Han Li, who had just emerged from the sea of Black Infernal Mist. He'd finally made it out of the mist, and he couldn't help but let loose a thunderous roar if excitement and elation, causing the air around him to ring and vibrate, and even the clouds high up in the sky were stirred up as a result.

Only then did Han Li assess his surroundings and quickly ascertained his position before flying toward a certain direction as a streak of azure light.

After a few flashes, he'd transformed into a black dot on the horizon, and he completely disappeared following a few flashes more.

Azure light flashed before a tall mountain enshrouded in white mist located deep within the Hidden Black Mountain Ranges, and Han Li appeared at the foot of the mountain. He looked up to the mountain to find that nothing seemed to have changed since his departure, and he made a hand seal as he heaved a long sigh. The white mist before him immediately surged before opening up a path for him. Han Li flew into his cave abode in an unhurried manner before immediately paying his medicine garden a visit. After verifying that everything was in order there, he was completely reassured, and he returned to his living quarters, falling asleep almost as soon as his lay down on his bed.

He slept for two days and two nights! He had rested for a night at the elderly man's cave abode, but on that occasion, he'd naturally been unable to rest to his heart's content.

When he finally woke up from his slumber, his exhausted body and mind had both been completely rejuvenated.

He got up in high spirits and entered his secret chamber to consolidate the rewards he'd reaped from his trip and continue to consume his True Toad Spirit Liquid. He then had to go into seclusion to reach the pinnacle of the Deity Transformation Stage as soon as possible before attempting a breakthrough to the Spatial Tempering Stage.

He also had to refine the wisp of spiritual sense contained within the Tian Peng Relic as quickly as possible so he could obtain the true dragon and heavenly phoenix mantras enclosed within the 12 Awakening Transformations. After that, he'd be able to fuse those true spirit bloods into his body.

As for the new sword art and the reinforcement of his flying swords, that was also an urgent matter that had to be taken care of as soon as possible.

With that in mind, Han Li made his way toward his secret chamber while laying a hand on the back of his own head.

A ball of black light immediately shot forth from the back of his own head before transforming into a miniature black humanoid figure that was several inches tall.

It was none other than his second Nascent Soul.

He then rustled both sleeves to summoning his Weeping Soul Beast and Leopard Kirin Beast.

Han Li waved a hand toward the three of them with a smile on his face, then tossed the mysterious small vial toward the second Nascent Soul before departing on his own.

The second Nascent Soul caught the small vial, also with a smile on its face, and only after Han Li had disappeared around the corner did it deliver a few instructions to the two beasts, then slowly fly away toward another direction.

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Moments later, Han Li entered his secret chamber before sitting down with his legs crossed.

His pupils then contracted slightly as he inspected his surroundings and caught sight of three greyish-white stone blocks in one corner of the secret chamber.

Those were none other than the chunks of the stone block he'd obtained from the underwater cave abode belonging to that blue wyrm. Back then, he'd used his Gold Devouring Beetles to split the stone block into three, but he was too busy with cultivation to pay any heed to this treasure.

The material was extraordinarily heavy, and Han Li had originally intended to refine it into some kind of treasures, but all of the Gold Devouring Beetles that had consumed some of this material then began to mutate, and that made Han Li rather hesitant.

The fact that this thing was able to make fully matured Gold Devouring Beetles mutate again was a sign of just how precious it was. However, spirit insect mutation wasn't necessarily always a good thing. Even though most mutations resulted in positive enhancements, there were also quite a few instances where the contrary proved to be true.

At the very least, aside from the fact that his Gold Devouring Beetles had attained more resolute bodies and grown heavier, Han Li was yet to identify any other changes.

Generally speaking, it was very difficult for spirit insects that had mutated once to mutate for a second time, which was why he hadn't fed this entire stone block to his Gold Devouring Beetles, and why it had been so difficult for him to decide just how he was going to use this material.

However, he was very intrigued by the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch that the elderly man had mentioned, so he certainly wasn't going to recklessly induce mutations in his Gold Devouring Beetles again. Otherwise, if he were to obtain the method to nurture the beetle monarch someday, only to find that it didn't apply to his beetles anymore due to their mutations, that would be quite a devastating blow.

Furthermore, during his journey, Han Li had thought of a better way to use this incredibly heavy stone.

Thus, blue light flashed within his eyes, and he raised an arm to reveal an inky-black hand within his robes.

His five fingers tremored slightly, and black light flashed over his palm, following which a miniature mountain that was only several inches in size appeared.

The mountain instantly expanded to around 10 feet in size amid a flash of grey light before hovering in front of Han Li.

Golden light flashed from Han Li's body as the projection with three heads and six arms surfaced behind him, and he let loose a low cry as he the six arms of the projection made a grabbing motion in unison toward the stone blocks in the corner.

Several years ago, prior to fusing the true spirit bloods of the Kun Peng and the Five-Colored Peacock into his body, Han Li wouldn't have been able to move these stone blocks by grabbing at them from afar.

However, not only had his cultivation base progressed to the late-Deity Transformation Stage since then, his body had also become a lot more powerful due to the effect of the two true spirit bloods.

Thus, he was able to move the stone blocks in such a manner now, and one of them wobbled before slowly flying toward him, causing the entire secret chamber to tremor in the process.

Brilliant grey light erupted from the Divine Essencefused Mountain hovering before Han Li, and countless grey threads of light shot forth, encapsulating the oncoming stone block in a watertight cocoon.

At the same time, the six arms of the Provenance True Devil Projection behind him also moved in unison, and the stone block shot forth directly toward the black mountain.

At this moment, Han Li began to chant something while pointing a finger toward the mountain.

The Divine Essencefused Light immediately swelled further in size while a large hole opened up on the mountain face that was aimed toward the stone block.

Brilliant grey light erupted from that hole, and this was only a secret technique that Han Li had mastered after progressing to a certain cultivation base, as well as completely refining this mountain to the extent that it was almost an extension of his own body.

Prior to cultivating the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra or even before he'd left the massive island, he'd have most likely been unable to accomplish this.

The stone block was drawn into the hole that appeared on the mountain by the grey threads, and the impact of the collision made the Divine Essencefused Mountain tremor before flying back for several tens of feet, then thudding heavily onto the ground.

Following another astonishing dull thump, even the restriction light barrier around the secret chamber tremored violently, and the base of the mountain had sunk around a foot into the ground.

The Divine Essencefused Mountain was quite heavy in itself, and their combined weight had finally become too much for the floor to handle.

Thankfully, the entire secret chamber had been fortified by Han Li with restrictions in advance, so it wasn't going to actually completely collapse.

At this moment, Han Li was looking at the hole on the side of the Divine Essencefused Mountain with a peculiar look on his face. He made a hand seal before opening his mouth, and a ball of silver flames shot forth from within.

As soon as the fireball emerged out of his mouth, it transformed into a Fire Raven, then also plunged headfirst into the hole on the Divine Essencefused Mountain at his behest.

Han Li then immediately flicked his wrist to hurl his storage bracelet through the air, and it shimmered with spiritual light before summoning a series of vials, jars, and wooden boxes that appeared on the ground before Han Li.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense toward these containers, and all of their lids flew off to reveal all types of tool refinement materials, most of which extremely rare materials that were very difficult to find.

Most of them were secured using a large number of spirit stones and spirit medicines in Deep Heaven City, while the rest had been obtained in the human world and from the Tian Peng Race.

Han Li inspected these materials and immediately found the ones he needed.

He swept a sleeve through the air, and a swath of azure light surged forth, sweeping up a dozen or so types of materials in its wake before sending all of them into the hole on the small mountain.

A delightful cry then erupted within the hole, following which silver light flashed from within along with a burst of scorching heat, causing the nearby air to warp and blur.

Han Li adopted a serious expression as he raised a hand, and a burst of grey light appeared at the center of his palm.

The Divine Essencefused Mountain seemed to have resonated with him as it also lit up with grey light, and the hole on the side of the mountain slowly sealed over while the scorching heat also disappeared.

Han Li was using the Divine Essencefused Mountain as a hearth, while deploying the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven to completely melt that greyish-white stone into the mountain.

Han Li was looking forward to what properties the stone block could contribute to the Divine Essencefused Mountain. If it could become indestructible and as immensely heavy as the stone block, then its destructive power would be significantly enhanced.

Of course, even with his Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames, it wouldn't be a simple matter to melt these stone blocks. Otherwise, Han Li would've thrown in all three at once rather than only one.

However, even with just this one stone block, it would take around three or four decades to melt it into the mountain. If he'd done all three at once, then it'd at least require a century.

If Han Li had to use his own Nascent Soul flames to refine the stone blocks, then he naturally wouldn't engage in such a time-consuming activity. However, he could afford to do this now seeing as he could use the Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames instead.

He would just have to leave the Divine Essencefused Mountain here for over 100 years.

With that in mind, Han Li chanted something and cast an incantation seal onto the small mountain while the six golden hands on the projection behind his back all made a grabbing motion in unison.

The small mountain instantly swayed before shrinking down to around a foot in size, then slowly flying over to a corner of the secret chamber and slowly descending.

Before the stone block was fused into the mountain, Han Li wouldn't be able to withdraw it back into his own body, so he could only set it aside like this.

After that, Han Li paused for a brief moment of contemplation before grabbing the air toward the storage bracelet, and a white jade box immediately flew out from within before landing on his palm.

He swept his other hand over the lid of the box, and the lid immediately flew off to reveal a thumb-sized crimson fruit core.

At the same time, an extremely rich medicinal aroma wafted toward him.

This was none other than the Azure Shifting Fruit core that Han Li had obtained during his time in the Tian Peng Race.

With this item, he'd be able to nurture Azure Shifting Fruits through the use of his small vial, then refine the legendary Heavenshifting Pill. He'd consume the Heavenshifting Pill with his Black Flame Pills, and if the former's enhancement effect were to activate, then the chances of him breaking through his bottleneck would be significantly increased.

Han Li held the fruit core between two fingers and carefully inspected it through narrowed eyes, then instantly cast his spiritual sense out of the secret chamber.

Moments later, the azure barrier of light around him tremored, and a ball of black light flew in; it was none other than his second Nascent Soul.

Han Li placed the lid onto the jade box containing the fruit core before tossing toward the second Nascent Soul without even uttering a single word.

The second Nascent Soul waved a little hand through the air to catch the box in an extremely rehearsed manner, then disappeared into the light barrier behind it again.

Having done all that, Han Li heaved a sigh of relief before slowly closing his eyes.

What he had to do next was to work on the new sword art he obtained to see if this Spring Dawn Sword Formation truly was as lethal as the sword art proclaimed it to be. After that, he'd be able to decide whether to give up on his Aureate Sword Formation and refine his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords again.

The Spring Dawn Sword Formation just so happened to be something that could be used by late-Deity Transformation cultivators, and it was indeed far more complex and profound than the Aureate Sword Formation.

Time passed by slowly, and three months later, Han Li opened his eyes to awaken from his meditative state.

However, there was a peculiar look in his eyes and a hesitant expression on his face.

"So that's what Spring Dawn means. I was wondering why such a strange name had been given to it; turns out it's a sword formation that primarily draws on the power of an illusionary technique. That's quite surprising. In that case, won't the effectiveness of this formation depend on the power of the enemy's spiritual sense and whether the cultivation arts they're using are potent against illusionary techniques? How am I supposed to make that judgment call?" Han Li's brows furrowed with indecision.

He pondered this issue for a long while, weighing up the benefits and the drawbacks, before finally making a decision.

Back when Qing Yuanzi created this Spring Dawn Sword Formation, he would've had to give up on the Aureate Sword Formation as well, so it had to have some properties that placed it well above the Aureate Sword Formation.

At present, the Aureate Sword Formation definitely had no issues against cultivators of the same cultivation base, but it was quite difficult for it to do much against Body Integration Stage beings.

Most importantly, the Azure Coil Sword Formation after the Spring Dawn Sword Formation could also only be set up using the refined flying swords.

As such, Han Li finally decided to give up on the Aureate Sword Formation in the end.

As for refining a brand new set of flying swords, that was something that Han Li didn't even consider.

After all, with things like flying swords, it wasn't a case of the more the better. He only needed enough to set up his sword formations, and too many flying swords would make it too difficult to nurture all of them at once.

Han Li didn't want to ruin his bonded treasure due to his greed.

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Having made his decision, Han Li naturally no longer hesitated. He flipped a palm over, and the jade slip that the elderly man had given him appeared in his hand.

On this occasion, he was going to study the refinement method for the flying swords before he worked on the sword art.

He had already briefly read through the refinement method last time, but this was an important matter, so Han Li naturally had to read it again in detail.

A short while later, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip and narrowed his eyes slightly in contemplation.

According to the jade slip, if he wanted to rid his flying swords of impurities, there were three methods he could employ.

The simplest of those methods required no extra materials; he simply had to use his Nascent Soul flames to slowly refine all of the non-wood-attribute materials in the flying swords.

That was the simplest method and also one that incurred the least amount of risk.

However, all of the materials in his flying swords had already fused as one, and it would take an extremely long time to refine them in such a way. In fact, even three or four centuries may not be enough. During this process, he'd have to constantly be using his Nascent Soul flames, so he'd be significantly hampering his own cultivation.

As such, Han Li decided against this method almost immediately.

The second method was to use a cultivation art known as the Nineflame Metal Metal Melting Art. If he could collect several types of special fire-attribute pills, then go into seclusion for around 70 to 80 years, he'd be able to use this cultivation art along with the power within those pills to forcibly rid the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords of their impurities.

However, this was an extremely risky method, and it would also harm some of the wood-attribute materials in the flying swords. Furthermore, the fire-attribute pills required were quite rare and not that easy to collect.

At the time, the elderly man was preparing to use this method to refine Han Li's flying swords for him in exchange for Golden Lightning Bamboo, but Han Li had not been a fan of this essentially self-mutilating method.

As such, there was only one final method left, and it was also seemingly the most implausible and time-consuming one.

The elderly man had enclosed a message stating that this method was only something that he theorized would work, but had never actually tried it himself. However, if one were to follow the instructions closely, they should have a good chance of success. Furthermore, if success were to be achieved, the rewards reaped would also be quite staggering.

This method involved a process that was known as "planting swords".

The process consisted of finding some sprit seedings, then planting them in a place with abundant spiritual Qi. After that, the flying swords had to be sealed within these seedlings, and as the seedlings grew, all of the materials in the sword would gradually be converted into wood-attribute materials due to the wood-attribute spiritual Qi of the spirit trees themselves. As such, there'd be no need to rid the flying swords of anything.

Once the spirit trees reached full maturity, the flying swords would've been nurtured by wood-attribute spiritual Qi for a long time. As a result, not only would this process not harm the swords, it would make them pure to an incredible degree.

Even though that wouldn't significantly enhance the power of the swords, it would make it a lot easier for Han Li to attain oneness with his swords.

Of course, the elderly man didn't employ such a brilliant method due to a fatal flaw; it simply took too long!

It would take a far longer time than the previous two methods to achieve this method as spirit trees had to grow bit by bit. Even the most ordinary of spirit trees required at least 1,000 years of nurturing care to reach full maturity.

During this time, not only could these flying swords not be used at all, it also had to be ensured that none of the spirit trees died. Otherwise, all of the prior efforts would go to waste. Even if one were to replant the flying sword into another spirit tree, the damage would already be irreversible.

As for how long was required for this process, there were no specific guidelines. However, one thing was for certain; the longer a sword was planted and the more precious the spirit tree was, the greater the degree of purity of the flying sword following the procedure.

Han Li was ecstatic to see this method, and he immediately decided to use it.

This method would perhaps be next to impossible for other people, but it was perfect for him, seeing as he could accelerate the growth of plants.

With his small vial to assist him, Myriad Year Spirit Trees could be nurtured with no issues at all.

However, he was rather skeptical about whether this method was actually feasible.

However, he didn't have to expend a lot of time to complete the process, so he decided to give it a try first.

If it didn't work, then he could switch to one of the other two methods.

Having made his decision, Han Li rustled a sleeve, and a green jade box appeared.

The lid of the box flew off to reveal a seemingly ordinary section of bamboo that had a few roots hanging off one end.

This was none other than the small section of Golden Lightning Bamboo that Han Li had intentionally kept after refining his flying swords.

Even though this wasn't explicitly stated in instructions within the jade slip, it could only be better to plant the swords into a spirit tree that was the same as their main constituent material. Furthermore, he had learned from the elderly man that the leaves of the Golden Lightning Bamboo could be used to refine the Golden Devil Vanquishing Lightning, so it certainly couldn't hurt to harvest some of those leaves as well.

Thus, Han Li summoned his second Nascent Soul again before handing the wooden box and a flying sword over to it.

He was going to experiment with just a single sword first. If the process did indeed prove to be viable, he'd then mass produce Golden Lightning Bamboo and plant the rest of his swords into them.

After the second Nascent Soul departed, Han Li closed his eyes to meditate for a while before opening his eyes again and producing a small white vial.

He raised his neck and dripped a drop of True Toad Liquid into his mouth to finally begin his true cultivation.

Treasures and cultivation arts were certainly fantastic, but without sufficient magic power to support them, they would hardly be very useful.

Han Li had been well aware of this all along.

He made a hand seal, and golden light shimmered all over his body as the true devil projection appeared again.

Each of its six golden arms made a profound hand seal, and the projection also sat down in a cross-legged manner as if it were also going to cultivate.

At the same time that golden light flashed from Han Li's body, a halo of golden light also appeared around the projection.

This massive halo of light enshrouded the entire projection, and countless golden runes were surging forth relentlessly from the projection's hands, then disappearing into its body.

Meanwhile, Han Li sat expressionlessly with a layer of golden scales over his body, and spiritual light swirling over the surface of his skin, giving off quite a mysterious image...

Days turned into months, and months turned into years, but the doors of the secret chamber remained firmly shut throughout this entire time.

During this period, the second Nascent Soul would control a giant ape puppet's body to occasionally appear in the medicine garden before quickly disappearing.

The mid-grade demon beasts of the Hidden Black Mountains also visited on several occasions, bringing with them large amounts of precious materials exchange for Woodbud Flowers.

All of them wore grim expressions each time, thinking that the supply of Woodbud Flowers surely had to be rapidly depleting, but the second Nascent Soul only had to nurture some Woodbud Flowers from time to time in order to continue facilitating these exchanges. In the process, the Weeping Soul Beast transformed into Han Li's appearance to placate these demon beasts, thereby managing to convince them that Han Li was seeing them in person.

The demon beasts were naturally quite relieved that "Han Li" was able to continue supplying Woodbud Flowers.

Time passed by in a flash, and over 100 years flew by in the blink of an eye.

No major events took place on the island during this time, and it seemed that this period of peace would continue for the foreseeable future.

However, one day, an extremely astonishing phenomenon suddenly appeared in the air above Han Li's cave abode.

Loud thunderclaps erupted overhead, following which white spiritual clouds appeared out of thin air, then converged toward the summit of the mountain.

Countless specks of light of different colors also began to rise into the air from all of the mountains within a radius of thousands of kilometers. After rising to a certain altitude, these specks of light swelled before bursting like bubbles, creating swaths of five-colored light that then surged toward Han Li's cave abode.

Within 10 minutes, layer up layer of dense five-colored light had enshrouded the entire mountain that Han Li was situated in, yet another phenomenon appeared in the air above.

The white spiritual clouds up above converged to form a massive cloud ring, at the center of which gusts of fierce azure winds were taking shape. The five-colored light down below was swept up into the cloud ring, then torn apart before fusing together again.

As the winds grew fiercer, the more and more five-colored spiritual light was swept up into the sky, and in the even the azure winds were converted into all types of different colors. However, the five-colored light surging from all directions didn't cease in the slightest, and the films of light around the giant mountain down below became even denser than before.

Such astonishing scenes naturally attracted all of the attention of the beasts and demon beasts within the Hidden Black Mountain Ranges.

The immense spiritual pressure from the phenomena alone was enough to force normal beasts to the ground as they trembled uncontrollably with fear, and even the normally ferocious beasts were completely petrified and powerless.

Some low-grade and mid-grade demon beasts that had attained intelligence hurriedly flew toward Han Li's cave abode, yet all of them seemed to have encountered an invisible barrier thousands of kilometers away from the phenomena, thereby preventing them from advancing any further.

All of them were forced to look on at the gargantuan cloud ring and five-colored mountain from afar with panic in their eyes.

The cow-headed beast, the three-headed giant python, and all of the other demon beasts that had made deals with Han Li also appeared in the nearby area.

All of them immediately identified where the phenomena were taking place, and all of them glanced at one another with astonishment in their eyes.

"Is that man making a breakthrough? Could it be that he's becoming a Great Spirit General?" the three-headed giant python exclaimed.

"That's most likely the case. A less significant breakthrough wouldn't conjure up such an astonishing set of phenomena," the cow-headed beast replied in a slow voice.

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"If that man becomes a Great Spirit General, then won't he also have the ability to get rid of our slave marks?" the three-headed giant python exclaimed with elation.

A hint of anticipation also flashed through the cow-headed beast's eyes, but that quickly disappeared as a wry smile appeared on its face. "Theoretically, yes, but why would he help us?"

"Our senior in the Black Infernal Mist is most likely either dead or has abandoned us. In any case, we haven't been able to get in contact with him for over 100 years. If we don't give this a try, then our lives will truly be under threat," the golden ape said in a grave voice.

"So what do you two suggest?" the cow-headed beast asked.

"If that man really can successfully progress, then why don't we offer him that treasure so he can lift the restrictions on us?" the giant ape suggested.

"That item is extremely important for our future progression; are we just going to hand it over to someone else? What if he takes the treasure, but doesn't lift our restrictions? That would be a disaster," the cow-headed beast said in a hesitant voice.

"What's the point of having such a treasure if we're going to lose our lives? This man may not be a being of the same race as us, but he's been quite fair during the exchanges that we've had with him, so he most likely won't revoke any promises. I will admit that there's some risk involved, but we'll regret it in the future if we don't try to take this opportunity. This man is an outsider, so who knows how much longer he'll stay here for?" The giant python was growing rather agitated, and it slammed its massive tail into the ground, smashing a crater into the soil that was several feet deep.

The golden ape nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

"Seeing as both of you support this course of action, then I'm also willing to take this risk. However, let's wait and see if this man succeeds in his breakthrough for now. If he fails, then we won't be able to do anything anyway," the cow-headed beast sighed.

The other two beasts naturally nodded in agreement, and their discussion ceased as all three of them looked on toward the phenomena taking place in the distance with concern in their eyes.

At this moment, the white cloud ring above the five-colored giant mountain was slowly expanding outward, seemingly at a slow rate, but that was only because it was so massive already. In reality, it was proliferating at a startling rate, and it was soon big enough to fit around the entire giant mountain.

As the cloud ring expanded, the winds within it also became more fierce and impossible to withstand.

The five-colored light down below was sucked upward by the gale-force winds at an astonishing rate, and the films of light over the giant mountain gradually thinned out.

After such a long time, the specks of five-colored light converging toward the giant mountain had also begun to lessen.

The spiritual light manifested from the world's origin Qi finally gathered in one place before being swept up into the cloud ring by the fierce winds.

The entire underside of the giant cloud ring gave off the appearance of a huge five-colored bowl.

When the final layer of layer disappeared from around the mountain, the winds suddenly ceased, and the entire cloud ring fell silent with only five-colored light shimmering incessantly within it. It was as if the calm before the storm had arrived.

All of a sudden, a loud dragon roar erupted from deep within the mountain, and golden light flashed at its summit before the giant golden projection with three heads and six arms appeared.

The projection was over 10,000 feet, and it was if it were an actual being. The projection slowly raised its three heads to reveal two balls of piercing golden light on each of its blurry and indistinct faces. Those balls of light opened up to form pairs of completely emotionless eyes that looked up at the cloud ring in unison.

All of a sudden, the three heads swayed together, and three long cries rang out once again in a relentless manner, like rumbling lightning that echoed throughout the entire heavens.

The normal beasts in the distance only grew more petrified as a result, but exhibited no other symptoms. However, the demon beasts that already possessed demonic power were suddenly struck an intense ringing in their ears, and it was if their spiritual sense had been plunged into a turbulent ocean, making it impossible for them to formulate any coherent thoughts.

The long cry unleashed by the giant projection dragged on for as long as 10 minutes before abruptly coming to a halt. After that, each of the six arms made a hand seal, and following a few muffled thumps, spiritual light flashed in the surrounding area, and four more projections appeared, each of which was only half the size of the original one.

These consisted of a massive azure bird, a five-colored peacock, a five-clawed golden wyrm, and a huge rainbow phoenix.

As soon as these true spirit projections appeared, each of them let loose their customary cries and began to fly in the air around the original golden projection.

Light suddenly flashed from two of the projection's three blurry faces, and they instantly became clearer as both of them took on Han Li's set of ordinary facial features.

Golden light was flashing in the eyes on those two faces, and both of them wore grim expressions. For some reason, the final head remained quite blurry and indistinct, making it impossible for one to glean its facial features.

One of the faces let loose a loud roar, and the four true spirit projections faltered before flying toward the massive golden projections.

Spiritual light flashed, and all four projections disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The original golden projection shuddered before swinging its six arms through the air, and its body began to expand drastically amid swirling golden light once again.

Within moments, it had grown significantly taller than even the massive mountain beneath it, and it was almost able to reach up and extend its hands directly into the light within the cloud ring.

Right at this moment, bursts of Buddhist chants rang out from one of the heads that had taken on Han Li's facial features, following which all six arms pointed up into the sky in unison.

The cloud ring that had become completely motionless suddenly sprang to life again. Spiritual light flashed, and the giant cloud ring descended soundlessly, encircling the entire massive projection within, descending all the way down to the projection's waist before finally stopping.

It then began to rotate around the projection's body.

A peculiar scene then ensued!

The five-colored light within the cloud ring surged into the projection in a frenzy, and as a result, the body of the projection took on a vibrant rainbow hue as opposed to its original golden color.

During this process, the projection's body was trembling uncontrollably as agonized expressions appeared on both sets of its faces.

It was as if the more five-colored light was being injected into its body, the more pain it had to suffer.

Furthermore, the rate of influx of this five-colored light was quite astonishing.

After just a few moments, all of the light within the cloud ring had disappeared without a trace. The projection then let loose a loud cry, and the white cloud ring around it also disintegrated into hundreds of balls of white light that hovered in the nearby area.

At this moment, the three heads opened their mouths in unison to blast forth bursts of golden light that swept these balls of light into their stomach.

After doing all that, the pain on the faces of the projections eased significantly, but its body suddenly began to shrank.

In the blink of an eye, the mountainous projection had transformed into a normal-sized human being with layers of five-colored light over its body.

The humanoid figure sat down in the air above the mountain with its legs crossed while making a hand seal, and he hovered there in a completely motionless manner.

The astonishing spiritual pressure and phenomena had all disappeared, and it was as if everything had gone back to normal.

Only then did the beasts and demon beasts in the distance slowly return to their senses.

The normal beasts struggled to their feet before letting loose a few panicked cries and fleeing back to their nests and lairs as quickly as they could, not even daring to sneak a glance back at the massive mountain.

All of the demon beasts also fled into the distance as if they'd just survived an extremely perilous ordeal.

The trio of mid-grade demon beasts were faring slightly better than the other beasts and demon beasts, yet they were also only able to barely remain standing. At this moment, the golden ape asked in an anxious voice, "What happened? Did he succeed?"

The cow-headed beast seemed to be the most knowledgeable among the trio, and it said in a slow voice, "I don't know. The breakthrough process most likely still hasn't concluded yet. The phenomenon that we witnessed earlier was just him absorbing the nearby world's origin Qi. Everything appears to have settled down now, but don't be fooled; this is the key moment for his breakthrough."

The three-headed giant python and the golden ape were both slightly surprised to hear this as they cast their eyes toward the giant mountain again.

"Let's go. It'll take him quite a while to break through his bottleneck. At least a few days will pass and we might even have to wait months for the final result, so if we stay here for too long, we might irk him and accomplish the opposite of what we intended," the cow-headed beast continued.

The other two demon beasts' hearts stirred upon hearing this, and they immediately nodded in agreement.

Thus, the three demon beasts flew away into the opposite direction as gusts of demonic winds.

After a while, they disappeared without a trace into the distance.

Meanwhile, the humanoid figure sitting in mid-air atop the giant mountain had his eyes closed the entire time, as if he'd seen nothing and knew nothing.

One day, two days, five days, ten days...

Two months passed by, yet the humanoid figure hovering above the mountain remained completely stationary.

The only difference was that the five-colored light barrier around him was growing more and more dazzling.

The mid-grade demon beasts had snuck back to check on Han Li on a few occasions during this time, and all of them found this to be quite intriguing.

At the same time, they were all quite perplexed by what was happening.

During this period, there were the occasional beasts that had forgotten about the phenomena that had taken place here not long ago and ventured within 50 kilometers of the giant mountain.

All of them then disappeared amid a burst of white mist.

A gargantuan restriction had been set up around the entire massive mountain, and the closer one drew to the center of the restriction, the more powerful it seemed to become.

After another half a month, the humanoid figure within the light barrier suddenly shuddered, and the five-colored light around his body swirled before he finally opened his eyes.

A long cry then erupted from his mouth.

The cry didn't contain any power or abilities; it was merely an expression of elation.

Moments later, the cry cut off, and the humanoid figure rose to his feet before swinging both arms through the air, and the five-colored light barrier around him disintegrated into specks of spiritual light.

Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and a pair of wings appeared on his back before he disappeared following a loud thunderclap.

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Deep within the giant mountain, an azure and white arc of lightning flashed within the secret chamber of the cave abode, and Han Li appeared with an elated look on his face.

With the assistance of the True Toad Spirit Liquid complementing the arduous cultivation that he'd engaged in for over a century, he had finally reached the pinnacle of the Deity Transformation Stage ad also completely refined the wisp of spiritual sense within the Tian Peng Relic. Thus, he obtained the methods to refine the true dragon and heavenly phoenix true spirit bloods.

Thus, he naturally immediately fused those two types of spirit blood into his body, thereby mastering the true dragon and heavenly phoenix transformations.

At that point, both Han Li's body and magic power had reached an incredible level that stood at the very pinnacle of what was possible for Deity Transformation cultivators.

At the same time, the Azure Shifting Fruit core had also been nurtured into several Azure Shifting Fruit trees.

With this fruit as the main ingredient, Han Li finally refined over 10 Heavenshifting Pills after several failures.

With everything ready, Han Li finally prepared to progress to the Spatial Tempering Stage with the assistance of his three Black Flame Pills and three Heavenshifting Pills.

During the process, Han Li had been quite lucky in that two of his three Heavenshifting Pills took effect, enhancing the effects of the two accompanying Black Flame Pills by 20% to 30%.

Under such optimistic circumstances, Han Li spent several months and was finally able to activate the world's origin Qi in a vast area around him before injecting it into his own body, thereby progressing to the Spatial Tempering Stage in what was an extremely smooth and flawless breakthrough.

Both his magic power and spiritual sense had more than doubled as a result of his breakthrough, but that wasn't the most significant difference that Han Li was experiencing.

At this moment, he was hovering in mid-air within his secret chamber with his eyes closed, sensing everything around him.

In the past, the world's origin Qi had been rather indistinct and elusive to him, but it had since become extremely clear, as if he could gather it in his palm and grab it like a physical object.

Seeing as that was the case, he really did raise a hand and make a grabbing motion.

A spluttering sound rang out as five streaks of translucent light shot forth from his fingertips. Immediately thereafter, specks of spiritual light flashed in the nearby area, and countless rice-sized specks of five-colored light appeared, then disappeared into the streaks of translucent light in a flash.

Brilliant light then erupted from those streaks of light, following which a massive translucent five-colored hand appeared out of thin air.

"I see! After progressing to the Spatial Tempering Stage, my control of the world's origin Qi has improved significantly compared to when I was at the Deity Transformation Stage," Han Li murmured to himself.

At the Deity Transformation Stage, he could only just barely sense the world's origin Qi and use it for extremely basic functions.

Only now had he truly mastered the world's origin Qi. With this significantly improved mastery of the world's origin Qi, any ability or technique that he unleashed would become a lot more powerful than before. The abilities that relied solely on borrowing the power of the world's origin Qi would presumably become even more fearsome, perhaps even enhanced to several times their original power.

Han Li opened his eyes as a pleased look appeared on his face. He swept an arm through the air, and the massive translucent hand before him immediately disappeared.

Han Li then slowly descended onto the ground below.

He cast his gaze toward a corner of the secret chamber, which was where the Divine Essencefused Mountain had been sitting for over 100 years.

During this time, Han Li had also placed the other two stone blocks into it in succession, and it was about time that all three blocks were completely refined.

With that in mind, Han Li waved a hand toward the mountain without any hesitation.

A loud rumbling rang out, and the small black mountain only rose up into the air before traveling toward him after a burst of violent tremors ran through the entire secret chamber.

Han Li spread open his five fingers, and the small black mountain instantly stopped right in front of him.

He carefully inspected the mountain to find that its appearance hadn't changed in the slightest.

However, the fact that he could draw it so easily to himself was an indication that the stone blocks had indeed completely fused as one with the mountain.

Otherwise, even with the significant improvements in his magic power, there was no way that he'd be able to control it so easily.

He nodded before casting an incantation seal toward the small mountain, and azure light flashed as the incantation seal disappeared as soon as it came into contact with the mountain.

Immediately thereafter, silver light flashed, and a ball of silver flames emerged from the mountain before transforming into a silver Fire Raven.

It was none other than the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven!

The Fire Raven had clearly shrunk significantly, and it appeared to be rather feeble.

It was quite clear that refining the stone blocks of over 100 years had depleted a lot of its essential power.

Han Li's heart throbbed slightly upon seeing this, and he pointed a finger toward the Fire Raven, following which it immediately flew through the air before disappearing into his body in a flash.

Han Li would have to nurture it in his body for a while for it to recover.

A smile appeared on Han Li's face as he cast another incantation seal toward the small black mountain.

The mountain revolved before disappearing amid a flash of grey light.

In the next instant, Han Li flipped over his inky black hand so that the palm was facing upward, and black light flashed as a miniature mountain appeared in the air above his palm before descending straight downward.

The miniature mountain then disappeared in a flash, and at the same time, the image of a small silver mountain appeared on the back of his hand.

Han Li had sealed the Divine Essencefused Mountain back into his hand again.

However, his expression then abruptly changed drastically as his outstretched arm plummeted at an alarming rate, pitching his body forward as well.

"Crap!"

Han Li hurriedly bent his knees to absorb his momentum while his other hand shot forth to catch his plummeting hand.

He then swayed several times on the spot before finally managing to right himself.

In the instant that the Divine Essencefused Mountain was sealed into his hand, his arm had become impossibly heavy, and even with his immense strength, he was still almost thrown forward onto the ground, and even now, he was only barely managing to stay upright.

Han Li was naturally quite bewildered by this development, but he quickly understood what had happened.

Even though he'd already used the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra to completely fuse the Divine Essencefused Mountain with his hand, the newly added stone blocks were yet to be refined using this mantra, thus resulting in its immense weight being unaccounted for.

It appeared that if he wanted to use the mountain as easily as he could in the past, he'd have to refine it with the mantra again.

With that in mind, Han Li immediately began the process. He sat down with his legs crossed, carrying his arm with his other hand as golden light flashed above his head. An azure Nascent Soul abruptly emerged from the top of his head, wearing a solemn expression with golden and azure light shimmering around its body.

The Nascent Soul immediately made a hand seal before opening its little mouth to expel a wisp of azure flames, which struck the hand in which the mountain was sealed.

The palm was inky-black and instantly enshrouded by the flames unleashed by the Nascent Soul.

Han Li closed his eyes while golden light flashed from behind him, and the Provenance True Devil Projection appeared once again. It was also seated with its legs crossed while making hand seals, but this projection was clearly a lot more substantial than what Han Li had been capable of summoning in the past.

From a distance, the projection appeared to be a real golden statue.

Thus, Han Li used the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra to refine the Divine Essencefused Mountain again, and that took the better part of a year. Thankfully, it had already been refined once before and this process was only to refine the stone blocks that had been melted into the mountain. Otherwise, it would've undoubtedly taken a lot more time.

On this day, the flames erupting from the Nascent Soul's mouth ceased, following which spiritual light flashed from its body, and it disappeared on the spot.

Han Li withdrew his hand seal and concluded the refinement process.

It was impossible to complete the refinement process in such a short time, but at the very least, his arm was no longer unbearably heavy. As for the rest of the process, that would consist of the mountain slowly being assimilated with his hand again, and that would be an extremely lengthy process.

Han Li flexed his arm and set it through a range of motions without any difficulty, and a pleased look appeared on his face.

Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly furrowed his brows as he rose to his feet before making his way over to the door.

The heavy stone door opened of its own accord, and Han Li swayed before appearing outside the secret chamber.

There was a miniature black humanoid figure hovering in mid-air outside, appraising Han Li with a smile.

It was none other than his second Nascent Soul.

Han Li didn't say anything as he made a hand seal, and the second Nascent Soul disappeared into his head as a streak of black light.

Thus, Han Li was able to instantly get a grasp on what had happened during the past century.

"Those demon beasts want to see me?" A peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face as he opened his eyes.

He didn't delay any longer as he immediately strode toward the hall.

After a few turns, Han Li appeared at the entrance to the hall, and the sound of conversation could be heard coming from within.

Han Li raised an eyebrow before making his way into the hall, and the conversation immediately ceased as everyone in the hall turned to him with dumbstruck expressions on their faces.

Han Li swept his gaze across the hall to discover four demon beasts. They were none other than the cow-headed beast, the golden ape, the three-headed giant python, and the massive demonic pig with whom he'd exchanged Woodbud Flowers with.

On the main seat within the hall sat a smiling azure-robed man; it was a second Han Li!

As soon as the seated "Han Li" saw Han Li entering the room, he rose to his feet with a serious expression before extending a deep bow.

"Congratulations on your successful breakthrough, Master!"

"You've been working quite hard as well during this period of time, I see!"

Han Li had already learned everything from the second Nascent Soul, so he wasn't very surprised by what he was witnessing. He merely nodded before waving a hand toward "Han Li".

"I've only done what's expected of me, Master. However, we have an important matter on our hands that will need to be attended to by Maser in person," "Han Li" replied in a respectful manner before turning to the flabbergasted demon beasts with an amused smile.

Brilliant black light then flashed from his body, and he instantly transformed into a small monkey that was around half a foot tall before springing toward Han Li.

Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and the small monkey immediately disappeared into it.

"Alright, you can tell me why you're here now!" Han Li strode forward and sat down on the main seat that the Weeping Soul Beast had been sitting in before turning to the four demon beasts.

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The cow-headed beast finally recovered from the shock of seeing two Han Lis, and it hurriedly bowed with a respectful expression as it said, "We witnessed the phenomena triggered by your breakthrough a while ago, and we've come to offer our congratulations to you, Senior!"

It was quite clear that this person before them was the true Han Li.

"Oh? How did you know I succeeded? What if I failed?" Han Li chuckled.

"Other people may fail, but with your unfathomable power, there's no way that you'd fail, Senior," the three-headed giant python said in a fawning manner.

Han Li chuckled upon hearing this before adopting a serious expression as he said, "Alright, that's enough idle chatter. I'm already aware of the reason for your visit; you say you're here to offer me a treasure? Tell me what you want; I don't have time to waste here."

At Han Li's current cultivation base, he was more than twice as powerful as the average early-Spatial Tempering cultivator. Even though he hadn't intentionally unleashed any of that power, his shift in demeanor still affected the world's origin Qi within the hall, causing it to surge violently.

The four demon beasts felt the air tighten around them, and it was as if a gargantuan weight had fallen on their shoulders, almost flattening them onto the ground.

"Please curb your anger, Senior, we really are here to offer a treasure; we bear no ill will!" the cow-headed beast yelled in a panicked manner as it circulated its magic power to withstanding overwhelming pressure.

"Why would you offer me a treasure for no reason? So be it, show me what you've got first. If it catches my interest, I'll listen to what you have to say next. If it's useless to me, then you can all leave," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.

At the same time, the overbearing pressure in the hall disappeared, and the four demon beasts were able to stand up straight again.

The cow-headed beast didn't dare to delay any longer as it hurriedly turned toward the golden ape.

The ape hesitated momentarily before producing a black wooden box, then striding forward and offering up the box with both hands in a respectful manner.

Han Li waved a hand through the air, and the wooden box flew into his grasp.

He swept a sleeve over the lid of the box, and azure light immediately flashed from its surface before it flew off of its own accord, thus revealing its contents.

Within the box sat a fist-sized vibrant red fruit with a net of silver lines running all over its surface while light shimmered from it in an erratic manner.

Before the four demon beasts had a chance to explain anything, he gently extended two fingers and tapped them onto the fruit before injecting his spiritual sense into it.

Han Li's expression then changed several times in a matter of moments. Initially, there was a hint of surprise in his eyes, following which his brows furrowed with bewilderment.

The four demon beasts glanced at one another upon seeing Han Li's reaction, and al of them wisely remained silent.

After a full 10 minutes had passed, Han Li exhaled as he removed his fingers from the fruit in the wooden box.

"This is a Blood Apricot! It's quite impressive that you were able to find something like this." Han Li replaced the lid on the box in a seemingly nonchalant manner before turning to the four demon beasts with a hint of a smile on his face.

The cow-headed beast was quite stunned that Han Li had been able to identify the fruit, but it maintained a respectful expression as it said, "You truly have a brilliant discerning eye to be able to identify this item right away, Senior! This is something that the four of us found in a set of ancient ruins within the Hidden Black Mountain Ranges, and we wanted to offer it to you, Senior!"

"If I recall correctly, this fruit is able to rejuvenate one's blood and refine one's body; it's an extremely rare spirit medicine that can assist you demon beasts in your breakthroughs. If you're willing to offer something like this to me, you must have a big favor to ask of me, right? This fruit is indeed rather useful to me, so I'll listen to what you have to say," Han Li said in an unhurried manner as he narrowed his eyes.

The four demon beasts glanced at one another upon seeing this, and in the end, it was still the cow-headed beast that spoke on their behalf.

"Seeing as you've seen through intentions, then we won't hide anything any longer. The four of us are in grave danger, and you're our only hope, Senior!" the cow-headed beast said with a beseeching look on its face.

However, Han Li remained completely expressionless and merely looked on in an indifferent manner.

The beast could only force an awkward smile onto its face as it continued in a careful manner, "As you know, the four of us are required to present offerings to the Tian Peng Race at regular interval. However, the supply of items required for those offerings is quickly dwindling within these mountain ranges, and there'll be none left in around 1,000 years. Hence, we came here in the hope that you'd help rid us of our slave marks to grant us freedom so we'll no longer be trapped on this island. If you agree to our request, not only are we willing to offer up this Blood Apricot, we'll also be willing to give you all of the precious items we've found during our years on this island. Our cultivation bases are quite pitiful, but we have some talent in treasure-hunting, so you won't be disappointed, Senior."

"Slave marks? I was wondering why you were so obedient and didn't flee from the island; so the Tian Peng Race really did place restrictions on all of you. Let me have a look at the slave marks first." Han Li's expression changed slightly as he suddenly raised a hand before making a grabbing motion.

A streak of golden light swept forth from his fingers, and before the cow-headed beast had a chance to react, it was drawn toward Han Li by a burst of suction force that rendered it completely unable to control its own body.

The beast let loose a cry of surprise before instantly being drawn to several feet away from Han Li, where it hovered in mid-air, completely immobilized.

The three other demon beasts were all given a fright, and they backed away with fearful and wary looks in their eyes.

However, Han Li didn't even take a single glance at them and only continued to do what he was doing. Blue light flashed within his eyes, and his spiritual sense immediately seeped into the demon beast's body as he began to search for the slave mark.

Only then did the other three demon beasts understand Han Li's intentions, and all of them heaved internal sighs of relief as they looked on with anticipation and elation in their eyes.

All of a sudden, a peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face, and he chuckled as he raised both arms.

He flicked his 10 fingers in quick succession, and a series of translucent azure threads shot forth from his fingertips, all of which disappeared into the beast's body in a flash.

Han Li then began to chant something, and the azure threads were severed as he cast several incantation seals. The cow-headed beast shuddered violently before its body completely stiffened, and a vibrant red insect projection was forcibly dragged out of its glabella by a clump of azure threads.

The insect projection was several inches in length, and after half of its body had emerged from the small beast's glabella, it refused to be withdrawn any further, despite the azure threads' best efforts.

At the same time, an agonized look appeared on the beast's face. Its mouth was slightly agape, but no sound escaped from within, and it suddenly fell unconscious in the end.

A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this. However, he then raised an eyebrow as blue light flashed through his eyes, and he let loose a low cry.

Azure light flashed in the air behind him, following which the projection of a massive azure bird appeared.

As soon the projection emerged, a sharp piercing screech rang out, and the three other demon beasts all collapsed onto the ground in a completely feeble and powerless manner.

The trio consisted entirely of mid-grade demon beasts, so it was no wonder that they couldn't withstand the pressure being released by the projection of the azure bird, especially at such close proximity.

Right at this moment, the massive azure bird pecked down onto the cow-headed beast's glabella like lightning at Han Li's behest.

A peculiar scene unfolded.

The resolute insect projection that refused to be extricated was easily plucked out by the bird's sharp beak before being eaten.

Following another piercing cry, the projection of the massive bird disappeared.

Only then did the other three demon beasts struggle to their feet, but all of them were trembling uncontrollably with fear as they appraised Han Li with horror in their eyes.

Han Li paid no heed to the other three demon beasts, focusing his attention on the cow-headed beast before him instead.

After a brief inspection, he nodded with a pleased expression before making a grabbing motion with one hand. The azure threads that had made their way into the small beast's body immediately re-emerged before being withdrawn by him.

In the instant that the azure threads left its body, the beast's eyelids fluttered, but it didn't immediately awaken.

Han Li's brows furrowed upon seeing this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to send forth a burst of azure spiritual light that disappeared into the beast's body.

The unconscious beast's furry body shuddered, and it finally slowly opened its eyes.

"Check to see if the slave mark is still within your body," Han Li instructed in an indifferent voice.

The small beast had only just awoken, and it faltered slightly upon hearing this before reflexively doing as it was told.

Moments later, an ecstatic look appeared on its face.

"The slave mark is gone! Thank you, Senior!"The small beast hurried extended a deep bow toward Han Li.

Ever since the slave mark had been planted into the beast's body, it had been like an inescapable curse. Now that it had been removed, the beast was naturally overjoyed.

The other three beasts were also elated to see this, and they all congratulated the cow-headed beast before turning to Han Li with anticipation in their eyes.

"There's no rush; I'll take care of your slave marks one at a time." Han Li smiled as he pointed a finger toward the golden ape.

The ape was overjoyed as it voluntarily skipped over to Han Li.

Thus, after a short while, the slave marks within the bodies of all four demon beasts had been eradicated.

All four of them were naturally filled with gratitude toward Han Li, and thanked him over and over again.

"You can go now. This was a fair exchange, so you don't need to thank me. By the way, when is your next offering to the Tian Peng Race due?" Han Li suddenly asked.

The cow-headed beast immediately identified what Han Li was concerned about, and it hurriedly replied in a respectful voice, "Rest assured, Senior, we've only recently submitted our last offering, so the Tian Peng Race won't be back on the island for several centuries."

"Oh, that's good to hear. You can all leave now." Han Li was quite relieved to hear this, and he waved a hand to dismiss the four demon beasts.

He'd be long gone by the time the Tian Peng Race returned to the island again, so none of that would concern him.

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The four demon beasts departed after extending more words of gratitude, and Han Li sat within the hall as he summoned the wooden box holding the Blood Apricot again. He extricated the fruit from within the box before holding it between two of his fingers and carefully inspecting it.

"I've been looking for this for a long time; who would've thought it'd turn up on my doorstep without any effort? With this, I've secured yet another ingredient required to manifest the Provenance True Devil Projection. With the spirit medicines I found in the holy city of the Tian Peng Race, I'm only missing the legendary Flame Metal Essence now. After I find that, I'll be able to manifest the projection with the Golden Marrow Crystal Insects!" Han Li murmured to himself as a hint of excitement appeared on his face.

He then placed the fruit back into the wooden box, and it disappeared amid a flash of azure light.

After that, Han Li rose to his feet and made his way out of the hall.

Moments later, he'd arrived in a corner of the medicine garden in his cave abode.

There were 72 exuberant azure bamboo plants standing before him, each of which was around 10 feet tall and shimmering with a layer of faint golden light.

Han Li inspected these bamboo plants for a while before suddenly extending a hand toward the one that was closest to him.

In the instant that his finger came into the contact with one of the bamboo leaves, a loud thunderclap erupted, and an arc of golden lightning erupted from the trunk of the bamboo plant before striking the back of his hand in a merciless manner.

However, Han Li's hand instantly turned an inky-black color, and the arc of golden lightning was completely absorbed.

Han Li paid no heed to all of this as he closed his eyes, seemingly trying to sense something through the bamboo leaf held between his fingers.

After a long while, Han Li finally opened his eyes and released the bamboo leaf, but his brows were still tightly furrowed.

"This method is definitely working, but the conversion process seems to be slower than I expected. I should go and take care of some other matters for now," Han Li murmured to himself as he stroked his chin.

Golden light flashed from his body, and he sped out of the medicine garden as a streak of golden light, quickly disappearing out of sight.

Not long after that, Han Li appeared in another rectangular stone chamber.

There were seven or eight cauldrons of different sizes placed in a circle within the room, and a tall stone platform stood at the center. There was a large round how on the surface of the platform that was tightly covered by a white jade lid, and the lid was emanating a layer of faint white glacial Qi.

The lid had been constructed from a large chunk of Profound Ice.

On the wooden shelves positioned all around the stone chamber were various jars and vials of different sizes, from which a rich medicinal aroma was wafting through the air.

This was none other than Han Li's designated pill refinement chamber.

All of the jars and vials contained various medicines, most of which were quite ordinary, but were used quite frequently and were indispensable.

Han Li couldn't be bothered to stow them away in his storage bracelet, so he stored them all in here.

After sweeping his gaze across all of the cauldrons, his eyes settled on a medium-sized azure cauldron.

Han Li lifted a hand and made a grabbing motion toward the lid on the stone platform, and the lid immediately rose into the air before falling heavily onto the ground beside the platform with a loud thump, indicating that it was quite heavy.

As soon as the lid was removed, a burst of crimson flames erupted out of the hole on the stone platform, and the entire stone chamber was plunged into an unbearably sweltering environment.

Han Li immediately pointed a finger toward the azure cauldron without any hesitation, and it swayed before vanishing on the spot.

In the next instant, the cauldron appeared in the air above the crimson flames, rotating in mid-air as it was illuminated by the scorching fire.

Han Li chanted something and made a hand seal before casting an incantation seal toward the azure cauldron.

The cauldron then shrank and swelled erratically before plummeting straight downward, descending onto the hole in a tight fit and concealing all of the crimson flames beneath it.

Han Li exhaled upon seeing this before sweeping a hand over the storage bracelet on his wrist, and azure light flashed as a jade box appeared.

He carefully removed the lid of the box to reveal several purple fruits, each of which was around the size of a fist. The fruits were all very round and supple, seemingly filled with translucent fruit juices, and emanating a peculiar alluring aroma.

Each fruit possessed a core in the form of an extremely life-like miniature dragon, creating quite a mesmerizing sight to behold.

These were none other than the Zoysia Dragon Fruits that Han Li had obtained during his trip to the Wood Tribe territory.

The Rising Dragon Pills refined using this precious fruit was extremely effective for cultivation progression for early-Spatial Tempering and mid-Spatial Tempering cultivators.

Han Li had now reached the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage, so he was naturally going to begin refining this pill.

However, this was the first time he'd ever seen a spirit pill with such a difficult refinement process. Just the ingredients required to refine this pill had to be refined on their own, and that would take the better part of a month.

Thankfully, Zoysia Dragon Fruits also took an extremely long time to mature, requiring roughly 30,000 to reach maturity. He was too busy accelerating the growth of his Golden Lightning Bamboo and Azure Shifting Fruit earlier, thereby neglecting the Zoysia Dragon Fruits, so he'd have to wait a few years for them to mature.

With that in mind, Han Li stowed the Zoysia Dragon Fruits away before making a grabbing motion toward one of the nearby wooden shelves.

A dozen or so vials and jars immediately came flying toward him...

Han Li stayed in the pill refinement chamber for half a month. When he emerged again, he entered his secret chamber to consolidate his new cultivation base.

Of course, at the same time, he began studying the Spring Dawn Sword Formation.

During this time, the four demon beasts returned to offer up a bunch of valuable materials and ingredients, all of which were quite valuable, but most of them were not very useful to Han Li at the moment. The gifts were naturally accepted by the Weeping Soul Beast in Han Li's stead, and the four demon beasts were unable to verify the authenticity of this Han Li, but they were still extremely respectful and expressed their gratitude once again.

Following the instructions from the second Nascent Soul, the Weeping Soul Beast accepted all of the items before seeing off the four demon beasts.

As for what they did from here onward, that was not something for Han Li to be concerned about.

Thus, days passed by one after another, and after several years, the first batch of Zoysia Dragon Fruits had finally reached maturity. Han Li emerged from seclusion and began to refine a large number of Rising Dragon Pills.

During the process, he discovered that not only was the pill refinement process extremely difficult, the success rate was also shockingly low. Even with his current level of mastery in pill refinement, he still only had a 20% to 30% success rate.

Han Li had expected that refining these pills would be quite difficult, but he was still greatly taken aback by such a pitiful success rate.

Only then did he realize that Spatial Tempering Stage pills were even more difficult to refine that the rumors suggested. It was no wonder that he'd never seen pills of that caliber being sold during the auctions held in Deep Heaven City. It was most likely the case that pill refinement masters could barely refine enough for their own breakthroughs, so they certainly weren't going to sell them.

As for directly consuming the pill for general cultivation purposes, that wasn't a practice that was completely unheard of, but it was most definitely exceedingly rare.

Even though Han Li was feeling a little depressed, he had the small vial to help him nurture more fruits, and the other ingredients used weren't all that precious or rare, so this was only a test of patience.

Thus, time flew by through a repetitive cycle of pill refinement and seclusion.

40 years later, Han Li was sitting in a cross-legged manner on the ground within the secret chamber of his cave abode while making a hand seal. Golden light was swirling all over his body, and he was concentrating fully on his cultivation.

All of sudden, he was struck by a bone-chilling sensation, and he hurriedly opened his eyes as he rose to his feet.

"It seems like an immensely powerful cultivator is sweeping their spiritual sense through this place! Could it be..." A bewildered look appeared on Han Li's face.

For him to be struck by such an overwhelming sense of spiritual pressure even through the layers of restrictions he'd set up outside his cave abode clearly indicated that this was a cultivator far beyond his cultivation base. However, why would a Body Integration cultivator come to a bleak and barren island like this one? Could it be the elders from the Tian Peng Race or perhaps other old monsters from the Flying Spirit Race?

Countless thoughts raced through Han Li's mind, but he only hesitated momentarily before opening the stone doors and departing from the secret chamber.

Moments later, Han Li appeared in a hall where a massive formation had been carved onto the ground. At the center of the formation was a stone platform, upon which was placed a hexagonal bronze mirror that was emanating faint silver light.

This was none other than the Myriad Dragon Bead restriction that Han Li had modified several times after mastering the Nine Palaces Heavenly Talismans. Not only could this restriction now cover an area of thousands of kilometers, it was also far more profound than it had been in the past.

Han Li strode forward and stood at the center of the formation before making a hand seal to cast a streak of azure light into the formation.

The entire formation instantly began to ring incessantly as lights of different colors appeared, then surged toward the bronze mirror in unison.

As soon as the lights disappeared into the mirror, the silver light on its surface flashed, and it projected a silver light screen that was around 10 feet in size.

There were specks of light of different sizes flashing on the light screen, and Han Li's gaze was immediately drawn to the two most piercing specks of light in the corner of the silver screen.

"What? There are two of them?" Han Li was given a massive shock before staring at the two specks of light with an intense unblinking gaze.

10 full minutes passed, but the two specks of light remained completely stationary on the light screen, showing no intention of approaching Han Li's cave abode, but seemingly not in a hurry to leave, either.

Han Li was becoming more bewildered by the minute.

It was quite clear that these two fearsome beings weren't targeting him. Otherwise, they would've flown here as soon as their spiritual sense had swept over his cave abode. However, they weren't departing, either, which suggested that they weren't just passing through. As such, Han Li was truly perplexed. With their cultivation bases, they clearly wouldn't just appear here for no reason to have a chat. Who knew if these two were friend or foe? At present, the two of them were only several thousand kilometers away from his cave abode, and they could even attack him from this distance. With that in mind, Han Li was growing quite concerned. Furthermore, the bone-chilling sensation that he'd been struck with when their spiritual sense had swept through this place was extremely unsettling, particularly when he didn't know their objective.

He pondered the situation with a grave expression, then looked down at the formation beneath his feet, and he finally made up his mind as he gritted his teeth.

He pointed a finger toward the bronze mirror atop the stone platform, and the mirror tremored slightly before slowly rising up into the air and radiating piercing silver light.

At the same time, Han Li began to chant something before opening his mouth to expel a ball of blood essence.

The ball of blood essence exploded around a foot away from the mirror, transforming into a cloud of crimson mist that enshrouded the mirror within.

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Silver light flashed on the surface of the mirror, instantly absorbing the blood mist.

The shimmering silver mirror instantly took on a vibrant red color, following which the silver light screen disappeared, only to be replaced by a swath of five-colored light.

An incredible scene ensued.

In the instant that the five-colored light formed another light screen, bursts of white spiritual mist emanated from its surface.

The mist tumbled and surged before forming an extremely clear image.

Everything within the image was manifested from mist, and aside from the fact that they were several times smaller than in real life, they were all extremely life-like and realistic.

Han Li peered into the image, and his pupils abruptly contracted.

The setting in the image was very familiar; it was the area near a certain small mountain located quite close to the edge of the sea of Black Infernal Mist. There were two beings from different foreign races standing beside one another atop the mountain.

At first glance, the two of them appeared to be rather similar in appearance to humans. One of them was a tall and broad handsome young man who appeared to be in his thirties with a shimmering silver horn on his head. The other being had crimson hair reaching all the way down to his waist with a pair of dead-fish eyes and faint fish scales on his face. This being wore a set of green beasthide clothing.

The two of them were currently looking into the sea of Black Infernal Mist and discussing something among themselves.

The image being manifested from the white mist couldn't broadcast any sound, so Han Li couldn't hear what was being said.

However, his heart immediately sank at the sight of these two beings, who were clearly not from the Flying Spirit Race.

If they were Flying Spirit beings, then he could appear before them as a holy disciple of the Tian Peng Race, and they most likely wouldn't do anything to him. However, things could prove to be a lot more perilous for Han Li now.

After all, all of these old monsters had strange personalities, and it would be a tragedy if he were to be killed by them on a whim. However, immediately fleeing from this place could alert those two beings and perhaps irk them as a result.

Just as Han Li was pondering what the best course of action in this situation was, the white-robed young man with the single silver horn on his head suddenly turned to face Han Li from within the image with a meaningful look, following which a burst of piercing silver light erupted from his eyes.

Han Li's eyes were struck by a burst of sharp pain, and he hurriedly stumbled back as he closed his eyes with alarm.

At the same time, the clear image blurred before exploding amid a flash of silver light, then disintegrating into puffs of white mist.

Han Li stood rooted to the spot with an astonished look on his face.

The image that had just been dispelled was something that he'd conjured up by forcibly activating an ability that the Myriad Dragon Beast possessed.

Through the use of this ability, the beads buried in an area could broadcast the scenes unfolding in that nearby area to him in an extremely discreet manner.

However, never would he have thought that the white-robed young man would possess such powerful spiritual sense that allowed him to identify what he was doing almost right away.

These two were most definitely Body Integration Stage beings, and it was possible that they could even be mid-Body Integration or late-Body Integration cultivators.

Seeing as they had already identified what he was doing, should he get away from here right away? Han Li was still feeling quite indecisive.

He wasn't holding onto the false hope that the two beings perhaps hadn't noticed him. Instead, he was afraid that recklessly fleeing the scene could spell his doom.

Just as Han Li was grappling with an internal conflict, the silver light was slowly fading from the eyes of the white-robed being thousands of kilometers away.

"Did you discover something, Fellow Daoist Min?" the crimson-haired being asked.

"Someone was spying on us using some kind of restriction, but I've already thwarted their efforts. However, this restriction is rather interesting," the white-robed young man replied with a smile before making a grabbing motion toward a certain direction.

A white bead that was buried deep into the ground sprang out of the soil nearby before landing in his grasp.

He held the bead up close to his eyes and carefully inspected it as he clicked his tongue with wonder.

"I didn't think I'd find such intricately crafted surveillance treasures in a place like this. They're treasures of an extremely low caliber, yet they're extremely practical. There are very few treasures of this nature and quality even among our two races."

"That's some glowing praise coming from you, Brother Min! There must be more than just one of these beads buried around here, right?" The crimson-haired faltered slightly before sweeping his spiritual sense through the nearby area. Spiritual light then flashed through his eyes, and he suddenly disappeared on the spot.

In the next instant, he appeared somewhere extremely far away before also making a grabbing motion.

Thus, another Myriad Dragon Bead shot forth before landing in his grasp.

The crimson-haired being then swayed before disappearing again, then soundless reappearing where he was standing before.

"It is indeed rather unique, but I feel like your praise was unwarranted. Our two races definitely have better surveillance treasures at our disposal," the crimson-haired being chuckled coldly as blue light flashed from his palm, and the bead was frozen before exploding into countless tiny shards of ice.

"I beg to differ, Brother Jian! It is indeed true that our races have similar treasures, and that these treasures possess various flaws, but this shows us that the tool refinement prowess of the Flying Spirit beings seems to far surpass the level suggested by the rumors that are going around. It appears that the appraisal of the Flying Spirit Race made by our two races was a little inaccurate," the white-robed being replied in a calm voice.

"Oh? In that case, why don't we capture that Flying Spirit being and interrogate him?" the crimson-haired being suggested with a sinister smile.

"Forget it, we're here to correspond with the Flying Spirit Race for the first time, not to declare war on them. We'll be able to assess the tool refinement skill level of the Flying Spirt Race once we enter their core territory, so there's no need to stir up unnecessary trouble. On top of that, this being possesses a decent cultivation base; if he's closely related to one of the old monsters of the Flying Spirit Race, then we might be digging a hole for ourselves by capturing him. Besides, we've stumbled upon an unexpected reward, haven't we?" The white-robed man cast his gaze toward the black mist in the distance with a greedy look in his eyes.

"Hehe, you're right, Brother Min. These Flying Spirit beings sure are wasting a precious resource, though; I can't believe they'd just leave such valuable True Spirit Yin Qi here without anyone to look after it. Although, that certainly is a good thing for us," the crimson-haired being said with an excited look on his face.

"Normal Flying Spirit beings may be oblivious to this, but there's no way that those old monsters of the Flying Spirit Race won't know what this mist can be used for, so we should be more careful. In all honesty, if it weren't for the fact that we truly need this stuff right now, I really don't want to stir up additional trouble in the Flying Spirit Race territory," the white-robed man said in a hesitant voice.

"Haha, are you afraid that the Flying Spirit Race would dare to attack us, Brother Min? We're here on behalf of our two races. Those old farts wouldn't dare to lay a finger on us unless they want the entire Flying Spirit Race to be wiped off the face of the Spirit Realm. Even if we take this Yin Qi away from this place, they wouldn't dare to do anything to us," the crimson-haired being chortled in a nonchalant manner.

"Perhaps. However, I'm not sure whether we've been lucky or unlucky. We detected that this area was where the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword had appeared, but after coming all the way here and performing a blood sacrifice, we were unable to summon the Profound Heavenly Treasure. If it weren't for the fact that the high priest of our race conducted another bout of divination, we wouldn't even know that the treasure had been taken into Flying Spirit Race territory. Come to think of it, that's quite strange. Could it be that the Flying Spirit beings got their hands on the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword before us?" the white-robed man sighed.

"That's most likely the case. Otherwise, it had to have been one of the smaller races securing the treasure, then taking it to the Flying Spirit Race. Either way, it makes no difference to us," the crimson-haired being chuckled coldly.

"Indeed, it doesn't matter to us in the slightest. Our two races had to expend a vast amount of spirit stones to teleport us to this continent that lies on the other side of the ocean; we can't let the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword fall into anyone else's hands. If it were just a normal Profound Heavenly Treasure, then we'd most likely just leave it, but the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword is one of the three most powerful Profound Heavenly Treasures; such a prized weapon cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of other races. Regardless of which race on the Tian Yuan Continent refuses to hand over the sword, our two races will join forces to eradicate them. The Flying Spirit Race is a relatively powerful one on the Tian Yuan Continent, but they'd stand no chance against our two races. It's just a pain having to teleport people over across the sea. Otherwise, we'd just take the sword by force!" A hint of killing intent flashed through the white-robed man's eyes.

"Indeed. If your Jiao Chi Race and our Sea Monarch Race can deploy even a tenth of our forces, we'd be able to easily destroy a race like the Flying Spirit Race. However, due to the vast distance that separates us, we'll have to resort to negotiation first. The Flying Spirit Race better obey our wishes, or else..." the crimson-haired being chuckled in a sinister manner.

"Alright, seeing as neither of us wants to give up on this True Spirit Yin Qi, then let's get started right away. After that, we'll pay a visit to those old farts of the Flying Spirit Race," the white-robed man sighed as if he'd finally made up his mind.

"Haha, that's the spirit, Brother Min," the crimson-haired being cackled before suddenly rubbing his hands together. Waves of blue ripples immediately proliferated from his body, expanding to cover an area of several hundred acres in the blink of an eye, almost encompassing the entire sky.

Spiritual light then flashed, and the blue ripples instantly transformed into blue waves.

The crimson-haired being then opened its mouth to expel a glittering and translucent gourd that was several inches tall, then gently shook it toward the waves.

A string of loud rumbling booms erupted as the surrounding waves began to swirl in a frenzy around the gourd before rising up to several hundred feet tall, thereby completely enshrouding the crimson-haired being within.

The white-robed man smiled upon seeing this before suddenly laying hand onto the top of his own head, following which howling gusts of azure winds erupted from his head.

Those winds then swelled drastically to several tens of feet in just a few flashes before surging into the heavens.

A long cry that punctured the entire heavens erupted from within the fierce winds, and the winds suddenly fell away as if they were feeble papier-mâché structures. A strange horned azure creature that that was over 1,000 feet tall emerged in the air.

The creature had a single long silver horn on its head and a mouthful of sharp fangs. There was a suit of azure armor draped over its body, and its upper body was long and thin while its lower body was shorty and stubby. It wielded a strange black blade in one hand while holding an azure jade vial in the other.

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The monstrous creature tossed the jade vial in its hand into the air, and a ball of azure light instantly appeared in mid-air. A projection that was completely identical to the jade vial then emerged, and after a few flashes, it swelled drastically to around 100 feet in size. A buzzing sound rang out from within the vial, following which the opening of the vial slowly aimed itself toward the sea of mist in the distance.

Almost at the exact same moment, the blue waves on the other side also underwent a drastic transformation.

A piercing pillar of light erupted from the center of the blue waves, and all of the water swept outward in all directions like a waterfall. At the very center of the waves, the projection of a blue gourd that was not inferior in size to the vial projection appeared, then also aimed its opening at the sea of Black Infernal Mist.

The two beings then made hand seals in unison, and a thick pillar of azure light erupted from the vial while bursts of blue light swept forth from within the gourd.

The two disappeared into the sea of mist in a flash, causing the mist to tumble violently before surging toward the azure and blue lights in a frenzy.

The black mist then swirled before forming two pillars of mist that gushed into the two container treasures.

The rate at which the two treasures were taking in mist was truly astounding.

In mere moments, a vast expanse of empty space had been cleared out in the wake of the blue and azure lights, but the black mist quickly filled up that space again.

However, there seemed to be no end to the capacity of the two containers, and they showed no sign of stopping as they continued to suck in more and more black mist.

Right at this moment, the crimson-haired being appeared in the air above the blue gourd projection, looking down in silence with a cold expression on his face.

Meanwhile, the massive monster that had been summoned by the white-robed man was seated beneath the vial projection in a cross-legged manner with its eyes closed.

The amount of black mist sucked in by the two treasures was quite incredible, but the amount of Black Infernal Mist in the area was certainly nothing to be scoffed at, either.

The two beings persisted for two days and two nights, but they'd only sucked away a tiny portion of the sea of black mist. If they wanted to completely take all of the black mist with them, then it would take at least a month or two.

However, the two beings didn't appear to be in any hurry as they continued to spur on their two treasures, appearing as if they had all the time in the world.

Han Li had witnessed what these two beings were doing through the use of his Myriad Dragon Beads, and he was starting to become quite uneasy again.

With these two staying here for so long, how was he supposed to cultivate with peace of mind? It would naturally be best if they departed after taking the entire sea of mist, but it would be very bad if they directed their attention to him after that.

However, fleeing the scene would likely incur just as much risk as staying, so Han Li refrained from doing so.

Even so, he had still finished packing up everything within the cave abode a day ago. Aside from the 72 Golden Lightning Bamboo plants in which his flying swords had been sealed, all of the other important items had been stowed away into his storage bracelet, thereby allowing him to immediately escape at the first sign of trouble.

A day later, both of the foreign beings cast incantation techniques to make their container treasures swell to around twice their original sizes, and the rate at which they were sucking in mist also accelerated significantly.

Perhaps they had also used some other abilities to enhance the two treasures, seeing as a dozen or so pillars of mist were now gushing into the treasures as opposed to the original two pillars.

Each and every pillar of mist was rotating as they surged through the air, thereby sweeping up the mist in a wider area around them to surge into the container treasures together.

Thus, the rate at which the sea of mist was being depleted accelerated significantly, and the mist was thinning almost at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.

The crimson-haired being chuckled upon seeing this before turning to the white-robed man.

"Brother Min, looks like we'll be able to take all of the True Spirit Yin Qi here in around a dozen or so more days!"

The white-robed man smiled upon hearing this, and he was just about to say something in reply when his expression suddenly changed slightly. Immediately thereafter, an infuriated cry erupted from deep within the sea of mist.

As soon as the roar rang out, the black pillars of mist surging toward the container treasures faltered before dissipating amid a string of dull thumps, as if they'd been struck by some kind of invisible power.

Even as the pillar of azure light and waves of blue light continued to sweep through the mist, the black mist remained completely tranquil and refused to be taken.

The two beings glanced at one another upon seeing this, and both of them could see their own grim expression mirrored in one another's eyes.

At this moment, the monstrous cry within the mist became slightly louder, as if there were something flying quickly toward them from deep within the sea of mist.

"Is it that thing?" the crimson-haired being asked without any context.

However, the white-robed being seemed to be aware of what his companion was referring to, and his brows furrowed as he replied, "It most likely is."

"I was wondering why those Tian Peng beings hadn't touched the True Spirit Yin Qi here; turns out such a thing was lurking within it. They've always regarded bird-type true spirits as divine deities, so the thing in there was most likely left behind by such a true spirit as well," the crimson-haired being said with a wry smile.

"That's most likely the case. We don't know what state it's evolved to yet, but if it's already evolved to the final stage, then we have to retreat right away," the white-robed man sighed.

"Indeed, I have no intention of falling to that thing. Even my soul won't be able to reincarnate in that case," the crimson-haired being sighed in a grim manner.

The white-robed man didn't say anything in response this time. Instead, he made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the massive gourd projection.

The projection shattered amid a dull thump, and a speck of azure light shot forth from within before landing in his grasp.

It was none other than that azure jade vial, and it disappeared without a trace amid a flash of azure light.

The crimson-haired being also made a grabbing motion in a cautious manner, and the waves down below vanished as the massive gourd instantly shrank down to its original size before landing in his grasp.

The two beings then stood side by side, looking on into the sea of black mist in silence.

Judging from the sound of that monstrous cry, whatever they were waiting for seemed to be quite close already, but only after 10 minutes did a gust of fierce winds erupt from within the sea of mist. Immediately thereafter, a white figure appeared in a flash, revealing itself to be a gargantuan creature that was several thousand feet in size. As it flashed through the sea of mist, it swept up a rank odor, as it appraised the two beings with a frosty light in its eyes.

This was a white skeletal bird with nine different heads! Each and every one of the heads had eerie green ghostly flames burning within their eye sockets, and wisps of inky-black Yin Qi were swirling around its body, giving the bird an even more sinister appearance.

"Those are the remains of a Nine-headed Bird!" the crimson-haired being exclaimed as soon as he caught sight of the skeletal bird.

"Thankfully, it's still only at the second stage of its corpse transformation and hasn't yet evolved to become an Infernal Nethercorpse of the final stage, so it's only comparable to the two of us in power. The only problem is that we don't know how much of this bird's vicious baleful Qi remains. If it's retained more than half its baleful Qi, then we'll most likely have to retreat," the white-robed man said in a calm voice, but a faint hint of fear flashed through his eyes as he spoke.

"Let's give it a try to find out. Would you really be willing to give up on the True Spirit Yin Qi here, Brother Min?" the crimson-haired being asked with gritted teeth as he stared at the skeletal bird with a grave expression.

"Of course I don't want to give up on it; the cultivation art I'm using desperately requires this stuff to enhance its power. We'll each try one attack each to test it. If it's too powerful, then we retreat right away." The white-robed man finally made up his mind.

As soon as his voice trailed off, one of the Nine-headed Birds huge heads reared up before letting loose a shrill cry, following which all eight of its other heads opened their beaks in unison.

Loud booms rang out as fireballs, blades of wind, ice spikes, bolts of lightning, and other attacks of countless different attributes erupted from the eight heads at the same time, obscuring almost the entire sky.

The ferocity of the attack was truly astounding.

However, the two foreign beings suddenly became a lot calmer upon seeing this.

"I'll go first," the crimson-haired being volunteered before making a hand seal, upon which blue light immediately began to surge around his body. He then pointed a finger toward the oncoming wave of attacks in a seemingly casual manner, and a burst of blue light shot forth from his fingertip.

The blue light was initially only a thin line, but after leaving his fingertip, it immediately transformed into a blue light barrier that shielded the two beings behind it.

The crimson-haired being then made another hand seal, and the light barrier flashed erratically before forming a resolute blue wall of ice.

In that instant, all of the oncoming attacks finally struck, crashing into the blue ice barrier like a torrential downpour.

Loud explosions, dull thumps, and sharp screeching sounds rang out at the same time from the surface of the ice wall.

Spiritual light of all types of different colors radiated from the attacks, completely inundating the ice wall in a spectacular display of colorful lights.

The skeletal bird's central head let loose a triumphant cry upon seeing this, but the other eight heads continued their offensive output. In fact, they were attacking with even greater ferocity, as if the bird were planning to kill both of its enemies in one fell swoop.

However, right at this moment, a cold harrumph suddenly sounded from beyond the wall of ice, following which a burst of blue light surged forth. The blue light proliferated at an incredible rate, expanding to encompass an area with a radius of over 1,000 feet in the blink of an eye.

The space left in the wake of the blue light warped and blurred, and any attack that entered that area simply disappeared in a soundless manner.

The crimson-haired being's urgent chanting then sounded from within the blue light, and the light swelled dramatically, sweeping toward the massive skeletal bird in a counterattack.

The blue light was traveling at such an incredible speed that it was upon the skeletal bird in the span of just a single breath.

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The skeletal bird was startled by this, but remained unflustered as it swiped its massive talons toward the oncoming blue light.

Dozens of inky-black claw projections appeared before hurtling forth like sharp swords, striking the blue light amid a resounding boom

Dozens of rifts were instantly sliced into the blue light by the claw projections, making it appear as if it were a shredded rag.

However, the blue light returned to its original condition following a flash of spiritual light, but all of the claw projections were trapped within the blue light before being sealed in chunks of blue ice.

The blue light then swept into the air above the skeletal bird's head before crashing down with devastating might.

The skeletal bird's central head let loose a sharp cry of shock and fury as it abruptly flapped both of its massive bony wings at once.

Two bursts of grey Qi erupted from the wings before striking the descending blue light, and as the two clashed and intertwined amid bursts of rumbling akin to loud thunderclaps.

The blue light then intensified in brightness before quickly engulfing the grey Qi, then transforming into blocks of ice of different sizes that hovered in mid-air.

However, the blue light was also unable to descend any further as a result, and was kept at bay by the relentless grey Qi.

Just as a stalemate was beginning to eventuate, a startling turn of events unfolded.

The skeletal bird let loose an eerie cry, and light flashed within the blocks of ice before countless holes suddenly appeared on their smooth surfaces. Grey Qi then surged out of those holes in a frenzy before instantly engulfing the blocks of ice and reducing them to nothingness.

The grey Qi possessed powerful corrosive attributes, and it took only the span of a few breaths to completely eradicate the blocks of ice and blue light up above.

"As expected, this Nine-headed Bird still possesses some of its baleful Qi from when it was alive, but let's see just how much of that it's managed to retain!" the crimson-haired being mused in a cold voice.

Immediately thereafter, the blue light began to tremor violently, then increase significantly in brightness, following which countless balls of blue light shot forth from within.

These were fist-sized balls of light that appeared to be almost substantial, and as soon as they appeared, they hurtled toward the skeletal bird amid an unsettling screeching sound.

The skeletal bird had witnessed the power of the blue light already, so it naturally wasn't going to make the mistake of underestimating its enemy's attacks again. Thus, its central head immediately spread open its beak to expel another burst of grey Qi.

This stream of grey Qi combined with the other two that were gushing from its wings, and they swept toward the blue balls of light in unison, following which loud explosions erupted.

All of the balls of light transformed into ice lotus flowers, only to be completely inundated by the grey Qi before they could do anything.

However, there seemed to be no end to these balls of blue light, and with so many of them exploding in rapid successions, the grey Qi was completely stalled, unable to advance any further.

"It has indeed retained a lot of its baleful Qi. Let me give it a try as well!" The white-robed man's voice sounded from within the blue light, following which he emerged from within.

At this moment, he was making a hand seal, and the horn on his head instantly elongated to around twice its original length. At the same time, the massive monstrous projection that had been summoned once before appeared behind it again.

A bolt of azure lightning appeared on the man's horn, and he lowered his head slightly to blast the arc of lightning through the air.

The bolt of lightning became as thick as a large bowl mid-flight and elongated to over 100 feet.

The man shook his head from side to the side, and the massive bolt of lightning blurred before it was instantly split into two, then into four, then into eight...

Countless arcs of this azure lightning had covered half of the entire sky in the blink of an eye, and all of them were sent hurtling toward the skeletal bird amid a burst of earsplitting rumbling.

The skeletal bird was quite startled to see this, and it immediately switched the direction toward which it was blasting its grey Qi, aiming it toward the arcs of lightning instead.

In the instant that the two came into contact with one another, most of the arcs of lightning flashed before forming an azure net of lightning.

A loud thunderclap erupted, and the azure lightning intertwined with the grey Qi, nullifying each other to result in another stalemate.

Moments later, a peculiar look appeared on the young man's face, and he made a hand seal to send another arc of lightning flying from the horn on his head.

The same process repeated itself, and several hundred more arcs of azure lightning shot forth at once, instantly shattering the fragile balance that had been established.

The new influx of azure lightning instantly forced back the grey Qi, and the lightning transformed into lightning wyrms and pythons that wreaked havoc relentlessly within the grey Qi.

The giant skeletal bird raised all nine of its head in unison upon seeing this, then opened its beaks at once to blast forth pillars of black light that shot forth at a rapid speed.

Five of those pillars of light surged toward the azure lightning up above while the remaining four shot forth toward the blue light down below.

A scorching aura erupted from the pillars of light, and the arcs of lightning and waves of blue light were all vanquished with ease by this black light.

The nine pillars of light appeared in a flash before the white-robed man and the crimson-haired being, who was hiding within the blue light, then punctured through bothe their bodies at once.

However, the bodies of those two beings vanished as soon as they were punctured by those pillars of light, revealing them to be mere projections.

In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted over 1,000 feet away, and two humanoid figures appeared.

They were none other than the two beings engaged in battle with the skeletal bird.

The white-robed man turned to his companion, and asked, "How much of its baleful Qi do you think it's retained?"

"It should be less than half; around a third," the crimson-haired being immediately replied.

"That's what I think as well. If it had sufficient baleful Qi to support it, then it wouldn't have unleashed its Soul Vanquishing Divine Light so early," the white-robed man mused.

"Does that mean you're going to fight for the True Spirit Yin Qi now, Brother Min?" the crimson-haired being chuckled.

"Seeing as the remains of this Nine-headed Bird doesn't have much baleful Qi left, I certainly won't give up on this True Spirit Yin Qi. However, what's troubling me is that a nethercorpse of this caliber shouldn't be capable of producing so much True Spirit Yin Qi of such a high degree of purity," the white-robed man replied with furrowed brows.

"That is indeed rather suspicious, but what does it matter to us unless there's a second nethercorpse within this True Spirit Yin Qi? If there were too little of this Yin Qi, it wouldn't be enough to split between us, so this is ideal," the crimson-haired being chuckled.

The white-robed man contemplated his companion's words momentarily before nodding in agreement. "You're right, I was merely overthinking things. Let's go all-out and kill this thing as quickly as possible!"

"My thoughts exactly!" A cold expression immediately appeared on the crimson-haired being's face.

At this moment, the skeletal bird had flown into a thunderous rage upon seeing its attack fail to hit its enemies. It suddenly plunged headfirst into the sea of mist before letting loose a long cry, and all of the black mist within a radius of several kilometers surged toward it. The black mist converged to form inky-black feathers that covered its entire body, and it surged toward its two opponents with devastating might.

The two beings were confident in their ability to win this battle, but their hearts still jolted upon seeing this.

The white-robed man immediately laid a hand onto his own head and transformed into that massive armored monster. At the same time, countless arcs of azure light erupted from his body to meet the oncoming bird.

Meanwhile, the crimson-haired being made a grabbing motion, and a shimmering golden trident immediately appeared within his grasp.

He raised the trident into the air, and blue, white, and yellow spiritual light appeared on the three respective tips of the trident.

Brilliant blue light also erupted from the crimson-haired being's body, and it abruptly transformed into a massive monster with the head of a fish and the body of a human. His new body then expanded countless times along with the trident in his hand, and he resembled a towering giant as he waved his massive trident through the air.

Spiritual light of three different colors immediately appeared in the surrounding space before transforming into blue waves, fierce white winds, and azure lightning.

The trident was then plunged forward to join the battle.

Earthshattering booms erupted one after another, and the ground tremored violently as the battle raged on, creating a thunderous commotion that was audible even from thousands of kilometers away.

Unless Han Li was deaf, there was no way that he wouldn't have detected what was happening outside his cave abode.

He immediately activated his Myriad Dragon Bead formation without any hesitation, thereby allowing him to witness the battle taking place near the sea of black mist.

When he witnessed the gargantuan Nine-headed Bird sweeping through the sea of black mist, Han Li couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

To think that such a fearsome being was lurking within the mist; he was truly fortunate that he hadn't alerted this thing as he was rushing out of the sea of mist back when he'd just been teleported out of the infernal river.

This skeletal bird was able to take on two Body Integration Stage beings at once, so if he were to face it in battle, he'd be dead for sure.

A massive spiritual tornado was taking shape due to the battle between the three Body Integration Stage beings, and the tornado was only expanding as it stirred up the sea of black mist beneath it.

Han Li looked on as the battle was being broadcasted on the light screen before him, and an indecisive look appeared on his face.

He was naturally able to tell that the two foreign beings held the upper hand, and that the battle was slowly approaching his cave abode.

"I can't stay here any longer!" Regardless of whether their battle was actually going to impact his cave abode, this was the ideal opportunity to leave. Otherwise, once the battle was decided, it'd be too late. Thus, Han Li instantly made his decision, and he no longer hesitated as he shot forth through the air as a streak of azure light, quickly disappearing from within the hall.

Moments later, the azure light faded, and Han Li appeared within the medicine garden.

Before him stood several rows of Myriad Year Golden Lightning Bamboo, all of which were quite lush and exuberant.

Han Li took a deep breath before sweeping his sleeves toward these bamboo plants.

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72 projections of small swords shot forth from within her sleeve before disappearing into the bamboo plants in a flash, following which he made a hand seal, and an astonishing scene ensued.

Thunderclaps erupted from all of the Golden Lightning Bamboo plants as the entire plan instantly wilted, then turned into a greyish-white color as they were long dead.

A gentle breeze swept past, and all of the plants instantly disappeared into dust.

What remained in their place were 72 azure flying swords, each of which around a foot in length, hovering in mid-air while shimmering with cold light.

Han Li swept a hand through the air, and one of the flying swords flew toward him before landing in his grasp. Han Li inspected the azure flying sword for a moment, then abruptly flicked a finger onto the flat part of the blade. Azure light immediately shimmered over the surface of the sword, and a long dragon roar rang out as the sword wobbled like a squirming azure wyrm.

Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and brilliant spiritual light suddenly erupted from his palm as he held onto the sword, injecting bursts of astonishing spiritual power into the sword.

The sword instantly began to flash erratically with azure light, turning the entire sword into an indistinct blur. Han Li's eyes narrowed as he extended a finger toward the sword, only for his finger to pass through it without any impediment, as if the flying sword were merely an illusion.

Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he made a hand seal before sweeping his spiritual sense toward all of the flying swords. The 72 flying swords rose up into the air at once, circling around before disappearing into Han Li's body. Han Li then flew out of the medicine garden as a streak of azure light and moments later, he appeared at the foot of the giant mountain where his cave abode was situated.

A streak of azure light then ascended before flying toward the opposite direction of the sea of Black Infernal Mist.

With the powerful spiritual sense of the three Body Integration Stage beings in the distance, there were no concealment measures that Han Li could take that would allow him to avoid detection.

Thus, he made no effort to conceal himself at all as he blatantly flew away into the distance.

Loud rumbling booms were erupting in the distance amid piercing flashes of spiritual light. Even if those two foreign beings wanted to hunt him down, they were currently too busy to do so.

Han Li was only escaping now as he'd identified this as a brilliant opportunity.

In the distance, the white-robed man that had transformed into the massive monster was blasting forth countless arcs of azure lightning from his hands to force back the oncoming skeletal bird. All of a sudden, he turned toward the direction that Han Li was fleeing in, and a cold light flashed through his eyes.

"Don't get distracted, Brother Min; let's kill this thing first. If we pile on a bit more pressure, it won't be able to last much longer," his companion urged, despite also catching sight of Han Li fleeing the scene.

"I don't need you to tell me that," the horned monster harrumphed coldly. A boom thunderclap erupted from the monster's horn, following which a bolt of azure lightning a thick as a water tank shot forth, transforming into a massive lightning blade in a flash before hurtling toward the skeletal bird in a vicious manner.

The bird showed no intention of backing down as it let loose a sharp cry and raised one of its talons. A gargantuan talon projection that was enshrouded in black Qi emerged before directly meeting the lightning blade amid a resounding boom, and the resulting explosion sent shockwaves radiating in all directions. A cruel smile appeared on the crimson-haired being upon seeing this, and he raised the trident in his hand to blast forth an extraordinarily thick ice spear, a gust of gale-force winds, and a bolt of white lightning in unison.

The battle between the three seemed to have intensified even further! Initially, Han Li was flying toward the direction that would take him deeper into Tian Peng Race territory, but after flying for close to 100,000 kilometers, he suddenly looped around and flew deeper into the ocean.

This was a precautionary measure to prevent the two foreign beings from hunting him down if they were to take care of that skeletal bird in a short time.

After throwing what was essentially a feint, Han Li would naturally be a lot safer.

Even so, Han Li still didn't dare to stop for a single instant during the next dozen or so days. Instead, he flew deep into the ocean with all his might, and only after making certain that he wouldn't be chased down by those two beings did he heave a long sigh of relief and change directions yet again.

On this occasion, he was slowly flying parallel to the shore.

Generally speaking, the powerful sea beasts and perils within the sea were more dangerous than those on land. Even after reaching the Spatial Tempering Stage, he had never intended to go so deep into the ocean as he knew just how perilous the sea could prove to be.

However, Han Li no longer planned to remain in the area controlled by the Flying Spirit Race, either. On one hand, he wanted to get away from the Tian Peng Race, and on the other hand, the arrival of the two foreign Body Integration Stage beings struck him with a sense of foreboding, thereby further fueling his decision to get away from this place.

He was going to keep flying along the seashore until he flew out of Flying Spirit Race territories.

Powerful sea beasts from deeper in the ocean general wouldn't come so close to the short, and most Flying Spirit beings detested the ocean, so it was rather unlikely that he'd encounter any of them here.

Thus, he'd be able to avoid a lot of trouble by taking this course of action.

Having made up his mind, Han Li flew toward the east.

At his current cultivation base, even though he wasn't flying at full speed as he was trying to be more cautious in his journey, it was still no issue at all for him to cover millions of kilometers in a single day.

As he flew along, he pulled out one of his azure flying swords and stroked it with a finger while wearing a contemplative look on his face.

All of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been converted to pure wood-attribute treasures, and they'd all become as light as air. Furthermore, injection of magic power could make the swords transition between a substantial state and a light form.

Han Li held onto the hilt of the sword and injected his magic power into it.

A vast expanse of azure light immediately erupted before him like a peacock spreading its tail, but as he flicked his wrist through the air, all of the azure light instantly converged to form an azure longsword. The speed at which these transitions took place was quite astounding, and Han Li was naturally ecstatic to see this.

He swung his sword through the air a few times, and couldn't feel any weight nor resistance, which indicated that his flying swords were light and sharp to an extraordinary degree.

In that, he could use these flying swords to instantly kill someone at a whim from several kilometers away.

However, Han Li's brows then furrowed slightly.

For these flying swords to become so light and singular in terms of attributes surely meant that they wouldn't be as resolute as they'd been in the past.

With that in mind, Han Li hesitated momentarily before flipping over his other hand to produce another identical flying sword.

The two swords flashed through the air before clashing with one another amid a flash of azure light, following which a crisp crack rang out.

"Crap!" Han Li was given a massive fright, and after the azure light faded, the sight that greeted him made his expression darken slightly.

The two flying swords had both snapped in half following their clash, and their four segments were currently hovering in the air before him.

His newly refined Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were even more brittle and fragile than he'd feared.

"Wait, these Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords are my bonded treasures; how could I have remained unscathed despite the fact that these swords have been damaged?" Han Li was feeling rather bewildered as he tossed the four segments of the two flying swords into the air before making a hand seal.

A peculiar scene then ensued.

The four segments of the swords joined together again before reverting back to form two completely unscathed swords again.

"That's the voidform ability!" Han Li exclaimed as his eyes lit up. The fact that the flying swords had taken on a blurry and indistinct form when he'd injected his spiritual power into them had raised his suspicions about this, and he could completely confirm those suspicions now.

This was an extraordinary ability that was rumored to exist among sword cultivators of the human race. Han Li had heard of it on many occasions, but he'd never witnessed any flying swords that possessed such an incredible ability, and he didn't think that his flying swords would attain an ability like this after his sword-planting experiment.

It was said that flying swords with such an ability could take on a completely insubstantial form and be recover back to their original form even after being pulverized into countless segments.

As such, his flying swords were essentially indestructible, and there was no need to worry about them being damaged unless he came up against some special treasures.

Of course, this was only true in theory. Every time the flying swords reconstructed themselves after being shattered, they would still incur a slight amount of damage, and the process would also expend a lot of the wielder's magic power.

If they were broken too many times or the wielder's magic power ran out, then even with the voidform ability, the flying swords would still be completely destroyed.

Even so, Han Li was still overjoyed.

He was finally beginning to understand why the elderly man had been so critical of his decision to add materials of other attributes into his flying swords.

The man's flying swords most likely possessed this extraordinary ability as well. However, he hadn't employed the sword-planting method, so it would've certainly taken him countless years to develop that ability within his flying swords, unlike Han Li, who was able to achieve this in a mere century or so with the assistance of his Golden Lightning Bamboo and the small vial.

He opened his mouth to expel a burst of azure light, and the two flying swords instantly shrank down to less than a tenth of their original size within the azure light, reducing them down to around an inch in size each.

The azure light then swept back into Han Li's body along with the flying sword.

If he wanted to continue to refine his flying swords to truly achieve oneness with them, he wouldn't be able to do so through the use of any external items; he'd only be able to use his own power to slowly nurture them.

Thus, Han Li was in high spirits as he continued to fly through the air while studying the Spring Dawn Sword Formation.

Time passed by one day after another, and Han Li flew along the seashore for over half a year...

On this day, a few of Han Li's flying swords had just flown forth at his behest to strike down a sea python that was attempting to attack him, when his expression abruptly changed as he cast his gaze toward a certain direction.

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The sky in that direction had been bright and clear just a moment ago, but it had suddenly turned into a vibrant red color.

Immediately thereafter, countless crimson clouds swept toward him from that direction, soundlessly reaching the air above his head in mere moments before rapidly extending even further into the distance.

In the blink of an eye, those clouds had stretched to as far as Han Li's eyes could see in all directions, and the air around him reeked of a strong rank odor. It was as if he'd somehow found himself in a completely unfamiliar world.

Han Li sniffed at the air around him, and his face paled slightly.

The scent in the air clearly belonged to that of fresh blood!

How much fresh blood was required to condense into so many blood clouds?

Han Li immediately became extremely wary.

He abruptly stopped mid-flight as a lightning robe appeared over his body, then transformed into a flickering layer of azure and white arcs of lightning. At the same time, golden light shimmered all over his body as golden scales emerged alongside the projection with three heads and six arms.

Meanwhile, Han Li had his arms crossed as he looked up into the sky. He narrowed his eyes, and blue light flashed within his pupils.

The bizarre scenes unfolding around him struck him with the suspicion that something was onto him. Thankfully, with his current cultivation base and the new abilities he'd mastered, he had a decent chance of escaping even in the face of a Body Integration cultivator. Thus, he was still quite calm and collected.

Of course, he'd also immediately unleashed his spiritual sense in all directions, trying to seek out the potential hidden enemies lurking within the blood clouds.

However, the results of his detection immediately made his heart sink.

There was not a single enemy to be found within the vast area encompassed by his spiritual sense. Instead, what he discovered was that the entire sky in a radius of thousands of kilometers around him had been enshrouded under the same blood clouds.

Han Li drew a sharp breath upon seeing this.

Could it be that he'd been targeted by someone or that he was situated within a certain mysterious restriction?

Those were the only conclusions that Han Li could arrive at.

After a period of indecision, he suddenly shot forth as a streak of azure light, disappearing into the distance after just a few flashes.

Regardless of why such a harrowing phenomenon had appeared, it was best to get far away from this place.

At Han Li's current cultivation base, flying at full speed allowed him to cover a distance of over 1,000 feet in an instant, and his speed could almost match that of a Body Integration cultivator.

This was partially due to the fact that Han Li's cultivation base had improved significantly, but the main contributory factor to this was how light his newly refined flying swords had become.

Han Li was able to travel at such high speed as he was flying atop one of his swords.

This came as quite a surprise to him, but it was obviously quite a pleasant one.

However, Han Li's smile soon stiffened on his face as an incredulous look appeared in his eyes.

He had flown for over 500,000 kilometers, but he still hadn't been able to escape from these blood clouds, and there was still no end to them in sight.

Han Li was astonished to see this, and he began to accelerate even further.

After flying for over an hour, the blood clouds remained hanging over his head, and Han Li finally stopped as the azure light around him faded.

At this moment, Han Li wore an extremely dark expression.

It was quite clear that he was situated within some type of profound restriction. Otherwise, something like this definitely wouldn't be happening. However, the size of this restriction was downright staggering.

Han Li hovered in mid-air as he rapidly scrambled for a way to extricate himself from this situation.

However, before he could think of anything, the blood clouds in the air suddenly surged violently, and a series of fist-sized crimson runes emerged from within. These runes swirled through the air before emitting a low buzzing sound, but the noise was growing louder and louder, and slowly becoming quite deafening.

Han Li's heart stirred upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal. Azure light flashed from his body as 72 azure flying swords flew forth from all parts of his body, then circled around him and transformed into 72 azure lotus flowers.

However, that wasn't the end. After releasing his flying swords, Han Li made a grabbing motion, and a black shadow flashed as a miniature black mountain that was several inches tall appeared over his hand.

He tossed the miniature mountain into the air, and it instantly swelled to over 100 feet tall, creating a massive shield above Han Li.

Even though he didn't know what was going to happen, he still instantly set up several layers of defense.

Just as Han Li was looking on with a grim expression, the crimson runes up above suddenly converged toward Han Li in unison as if they'd found a target.

With the massive Divine Essencefused Mountain up above, none of the runes overhead were able to reach him. However, the crimson runes in all four directions and down below were surging toward him in a frenzy.

Han Li's expression changed upon seeing this, and he immediately pointed at the azure lotus flowers around him.

The flowers rotated on the spot before transforming into countless streaks of azure sword Qi that flew toward the oncoming runes.

Strings of dull thumps erupted as all of the runes were instantly slashed into clouds of blood mist. The blood mist then attempted to surge through the gaps between the azure sword Qi, only for Han Li to let loose a low cry as the azure and white arcs of lightning around his body swelled, forming a massive lightning net that repelled the blood mist.

Just as Han Li was heaving a faint sigh of relief, all of the blood mist was swept back and disappeared into the crimson clouds in the blink of an eye.

The clouds instantly began to tremor violently, and following an earth-shattering boom, a massive crimson rune that was around 300 feet in size slowly descended.

Even Han Li was quite intimidated by the sight of such a gigantic blood rune.

He took a deep breath before pointing a finger up at the black mountain above his head.

A dull thump immediately erupted from the mountain as countless grey strands of light shot forth, forming a huge grey net in preparation for the descent of the massive blood rune.

However, the scenes that unfolded next had Han Li scratching his head.

The massive rune didn't plummet straight down as he imagined it would. Instead, it slowly swirled beneath the blood clouds, emanating an eerie crimson light in the process.

Han Li stood still on the spot and waited for a full 10 minutes, only for nothing to happen!

His brows furrowed as he pondered what the purpose of this giant rune could be.

However, his expression then suddenly changed, and he seemed to have discovered something as he abruptly swept a hand over the storage bracelet on his wrist.

Azure light flashed, and a jade box flew forth before landing in his grasp.

There were several talismans of different colors plastered to the jade box, but its lid was still tremoring incessantly while flashing erratically with spiritual light.

What was even more incredible was that in the instant Han Li summoned the box, the massive blood rune in the sky seemed to resonate as it began to flash violently.

The talismans plastered to the box suddenly self-ignited and were burned to ashes in the blink of an eye. Almost at the exact same moment, a resounding boom erupted, and the jade box exploded amid a burst of white light, sending countless shards of shrapnel flying in all directions.

If Han Li were a normal cultivator, that alone wouldn't have been enough to severely wound him.

However, Han Li's body had truly reached an extraordinarily powerful state, to the extent that the shrapnel merely bounced off his body in a harmless manner as if they'd struck a statue forged from steel essence.

After the white light faded, the item within the box hovered before Han Li in a motionless manner.

The surface of the item was slightly yellow, but there were dark green patterns running all over it, and it appeared to be a long and thin wooden rod.

It was none other than Han Li's Profound Heavenly Fruit!

As soon as the Profound Heavenly Fruit appeared, the blood rune in the sky tremored violently before disappearing with a dull thump.

An extremely bewildered look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this.

The situation was far too bizarre! These blood clouds had gathered for his Profound Heavenly Fruit?

Before he had a chance to ascertain what was happening, a loud rumbling boom suddenly erupted from within the blood clouds up above.

Han Li faltered before hurriedly looking upward, and the sight that he was greeted by gave him quite a fright.

Countless projections had been manifested within the blood clouds, most of which were projections of all types of demon beasts, while a small portion of them were foreign beings that Han Li had never seen before, many of which appeared to be Flying Spirit beings.

All of the projections wore twisted expressions, as if they were in extreme agony.

"This is a blood sacrifice!" With Han Li's vast knowledge and experience, he was immediately able to identify what he was seeing.

Right at this moment, the crimson projections converged toward the center of the blood clouds, following which brilliant crimson light erupted, and a crimson formation that encompassed almost the entire sky gradually took shape.

Han Li drew a sharp breath as he abruptly grabbed the Profound Heavenly Fruit, then instantly sped to over 1,000 feet away as a streak of azure light.

The situation clearly wasn't quite right, so he decided to flee the scene right away.

After just a few flashes, he disappeared into the distance.

However, the massive formation was still taking shape in an unhurried manner, showing no signs of stopping due to Han Li's departure.

After a while, Han Li had flown to hundreds of thousands of kilometers away after fleeing with all his might.

He was still enshrouded under the blood clouds, but he'd lost sight of the massive formation long ago.

Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief, and only now did he finally slow down a little.

All of a sudden, a loud rumbling erupted within the blood clouds overhead again.

Han Li's heart sank upon hearing this familiar sound, and he hurriedly raised his head.

The sedentary blood clouds up above suddenly dispersed, and the entire sky warped as crimson light flashed, following which a massive crimson formation appeared.

The mysterious light formation was hovering right over Han Li, and his face instantly paled.

He didn't know the purpose of this formation, but it was definitely not a good thing for such a massive formation to be stalking him.

Thus, Han Li immediately fled into the distance as a streak of azure light again.

Right at this moment, the crimson formation up above suddenly sprang into action!

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A thick pillar of light with a diameter of over 1,000 feet erupted from the center of the formation, enveloping Han Li in a flash, affording him no time to evade with its rapid speed.

Han Li was quite stunned by this development, and the pillar of light was somehow able to directly bypass the Divine Essencefused Mountain overhead before striking him.

As soon as the crimson light rained down on him, Han Li found himself completely immobilized, unable to move so much as a single finger.

Han Li's expression changed drastically as the azure lotus flowers around him flashed before reverting back to flying swords that were each around a foot in length, then flying through the air as streaks of sword Qi at his behest.

The sword Qi flashed through the puncturing the pillar of light and emerging on the other side with ease, as if t were merely an illusion. However, Han Li was still completely immobilized, as if the air around him had turned into steel essence that had bound his body and limbs.

Han Li drew a sharp breath as his current predicament dawned on him.

Crimson runes of different sizes began to emerge from the formation up above, and Han Li knew that he couldn't hold back any longer.

He let loose a loud cry as golden light shimmered all over his body, following which the Provenance True Devil Projection appeared.

The projection was seated in mid-air with its legs crossed while making seals with its six hands.

A golden halo then radiated from the projection's body, and ripples were swept up within the crimson pillar of light around Han Li.

At the same time, the restrictive feeling in the air lessened slightly, and Han Li was naturally quite ecstatic to see this. He immediately began to chant something to accelerate the circulation of his magic power, thereby activating his Provenance True Devil Arts to their maximal extent.

However, right at this moment, brilliant crimson light suddenly erupted from the formation overhead.

Immediately thereafter, the crimson runes at the center of the formation dispersed to reveal a massive black hole that was around 100 feet in size. Countless crimson shadows could be seen lurking within the hole amid ghastly howls and eerie sobs.

The crimson pillar of light also began to rotate at high speed.

Han Li felt the pressure around his body intensify once again, and the limited degree of freedom he'd recovered instantly vanished again.

At the same time, countless runes emerged within the golden light around him before surging toward his body.

"Argh!"

Despite how calm and steadfast Han Li normally was, even he had turned deathly pale in the face of this ordeal.

He didn't know how powerful these runes were, but he was completely immobilized within this restriction, so he was nothing but a sitting duck.

In his desperation, Han Li activated his sword arts, and the flying swords around him flashed before appeared around him, then conjured up countless azure streaks of sword Qi before surging through the air in all directions.

However, the azure sword Qi merely passed through the runes as if they were illusions, unable to inflict any damage during the process.

Thus, the runes continued on toward Han Li in a seemingly unstoppable manner.

Han Li gritted his teeth, and black Qi flashed from his body as he conjured up a suit of black baleful armor. At the same time, he contacted the Gold Devouring Beetles within his spirit beast bracelet using his spiritual sense, and a ferocious look appeared on his face as he prepared to release all of his beetles at once.

The restriction around him was indeed quite peculiar, but surely it wouldn't be able to withstand so many mature Gold Devouring Beetles.

As for those runes, he'd naturally just have to try and withstand them using his powerful physical body and his suit of baleful armor.

However, even though he'd already reached the early-Spatial Tempering Stage, his spiritual sense was only powerful enough to support so many Gold Devouring Beetles for a short while. Even so, he had no choice but to unleash them in the face of this perilous situation.

However, the scenes that unfolded next immediately made Han Li falter in his attempt to summon the Gold Devouring Beetles.

Just as the runes were about to strike his body, they suddenly changed direction before surging into toward the object in his hand as specks of spiritual light.

Han Li felt a warm sensation in his palm, following which the Profound Heavenly Fruit in his hand struggled free from his fingers and flew into the air as a ball of white light.

After just a few flashes, the fruit rose over 1,000 feet into the air, enshrouded by countless crimson runes in the process.

Immediately thereafter, the fruit rotated in mid-air before swelling drastically to several times its original size, repelling away countless crimson runes around it. After that, countless streaks of sword Qi began to emanate with brilliant white light, shredding all of the runes in the air.

The white light then faded and disappeared without a trace while the enlarged Profound Heavenly Fruit remained hovering in mid-air.

Han Li looked on at the scenes unfolding before his eyes with a flabbergasted expression.

However, he quickly came to his senses, and the magic power that he'd gathered surged into the projection above him in a frenzy.

The projection shuddered, and shimmering golden light rapidly revolved around it before proliferating in all directions in the blink of an eye.

A scintillating ball of golden light akin to a golden sun rose up above Han Li's head.

Han Li then began to chant something, and the projection raised all three of its heads in unison while also waving its six arms in all directions, then letting loose a low deep cry.

The golden sun overhead expanded and shrank before abruptly exploding.

Following an earthshattering boom, waves of golden light proliferated forth like substantial shockwaves.

As the golden shockwaves surged through the crimson light, the latter flashed erratically before being forced back in a frenzy. With Han Li at the center, all of the crimson light within a radius of over 100 feet was forcibly repelled, thereby allowing him to recover his freedom.

This ability was something that Han Li had attained from the Provenance True Devil Arts after progressing to the early-Spatial Tempering Stage.

In reality, it was merely borrowing the power of his projection to focus the power of his cultivation art into one spot, then releasing it all at once.

That seemingly ordinary attack had actually expended close to half of all of the magic power within Han Li's body.

Of course, what was unbeknownst to Han Li was that the Provenance True Devil Arts contained both Buddhist and devilish elements at the same time, giving it an extremely special attribute. If any other cultivation art had been used, even Body Integration cultivators wouldn't have been able to break free from the crimson light.

Hence, it had to be said that he had been quite lucky here.

However, after finally escaping from the restriction of the crimson pillar after expending extensive effort, a burst of loud howling suddenly rang out from within the black hole in the crimson formation up above, following which countless vibrant crimson threads shot forth, attempting to ensnare the Profound Heavenly Fruit.

However, the Profound Heavenly Fruit seemed to have attained sentient will as it tremored gently before releasing boundless white light.

The white light and crimson threads instantly intertwined with one another amid a series of crackles and pops. The white light was extremely sharp and managed to shred most of the crimson threads, but it was quickly overwhelmed and enshrouded in a massive crimson cocoon.

The Profound Heavenly Fruit struggled with all its might within the crimson threads, but the two waves of white light it had unleashed just then had clearly expended all of its power. Thus, it was dragged toward the large black hole in a powerless manner.

However, right at this moment, golden light exploded within the crimson light down below, sweeping aside a vast expanse of crimson light.

Immediately thereafter, a streak of azure light shot forth from within the crimson light, then surged toward the crimson cocoon and forming a massive azure hand that grabbed toward it.

The azure hand caught the crimson cocoon in a tight grasp, following which countless streaks of sword Qi shot forth from within the massive hand to strike down on the cocoon.

However, a peculiar scene then ensued. The sword Qi merely passed through the cocoon as if it were an imaginary structure, unable to damage it in the slightest. The azure light receded, and the massive azure hand transformed into Han Li. Azure threads then erupted from within one of his sleeves before ensnaring the Profound Heavenly Fruit within the crimson cocoon.

However, the enormity of the crimson cocoon's pulling power was far beyond what Han Li had imagined, so the Profound Heavenly Fruit was still slowly rising up into the air. If it weren't for the fact that the fruit itself was struggling with all its might to resist the immense force being exerted by the crimson threads, it would've most likely been drawn into the black hole already.

Even so, it would only a matter of moments before it would disappear into the hole.

In his state of urgency, Han Li abruptly pointed a finger toward the azure flying sword in the air, and a long cry erupted from the sword, following which it blurred into a faint azure mark, as if it had lost all of its substance.

This was none other than the sword's voidform ability.

Immediately thereafter, the azure blur shot forth, slashing through the air amid a string of dull thumps. The seemingly insubstantial crimson threads were instantly sliced into countless segments.

Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air before flying forth as an azure thread. At the same time, all of the other flying swords caught up to Han Li in a flash, then disappeared into his body.

At Han Li's current speed, he was able to cover a distance of around 2,000 feet in the blink of an eye. After just a few more flashes, he was going to completely disappear into the distance.

Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief, thinking that he'd finally managed to escape this ordeal.

However, right at this moment, a sudden turn of events abruptly unfolded!

The black hole within the crimson formation contracted, following which a clump of crimson threads shot forth from within. The thread merely blurred before covering a distance of 2,000 feet, reaching Han Li at a speed that was greatly astounding to him.

Before he had a chance to react, crimson light flashed before his eyes, and both he, as well as the Profound Heavenly Fruit, were swept up by the crimson threads.

The crimson threads then flashed before surging back into the black hole just as quickly as they'd reached Han Li.

In the instant that Han Li was swept into the black hole, an earthshattering boom erupted from the crimson formation up above, and blood clouds surged violently as arcs of crimson lightning appeared.

A vast number of runes erupted out of the formation before the formation itself began to turn rather blurry and indistinct.

Han Li felt extremely sluggish within the clump of crimson threads, and had lost the ability to fly. He opened his mouth to blast forth a flying sword, only for it to be repelled back in a completely ineffective manner.

On this occasion, the flying swords were unable to sever the crimson threads even after activating their voidform ability.

Right at this moment, the light in the surrounding area dimmed, and the sound of ghostly howls and eerie wails rang out.

Immediately thereafter, a burst of powerful spatial fluctuations erupted, and Han Li's heart immediately sank upon making this observation.

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He couldn't see what was happening outside the clump of crimson threads, but he knew that he had to have been drawn into the black hole. Otherwise, such a peculiar occurrence wouldn't have taken place.

In his urgency, Han Li slapped a palm toward his own glabella.

Black light flashed there, following which a black eyeball emerged.

It was none other than the Law Destruction Eye that Han Li had cultivated arduously for many years.

Seeing as ordinary attacks were completely ineffective against the crimson threads, he could only use this ability that specifically targeted restrictions.

In his desperation, Han Li had made the right decision.

A beam of black light that was as thick as a finger shot forth from within the Law Destruction Eye, puncturing the seemingly indestructible crimson threads with ease.

The thin beam of light then swiped across to slice open a 10-feet-long opening in the clump of crimson threads.

Han Li was initially quite surprised that his Law Destruction Eye had managed to sever the crimson threads so easily, following which an ecstatic look appeared on his face.

He immediately flapped his wings without any hesitation, flying out through the opening created by the beam of black light in a flash.

The spiritual light around him then flashed before Han Li appeared within the black hole while his wings continued to flap incessantly.

This wasn't because he was unleashing some kind of movement technique. Instead, he required the Thunderstorm Wings' flight abilities just to stay aloft in the air.

Otherwise, he was going to immediately plummet straight into the depths of the black hole.

Ghostly howls erupted in the surrounding area, and countless crimson projections rushed toward him.

Han Li's expression darkened as he rubbed his hands together, and a loud thunderclap erupted as countless arcs of golden lightning erupted from his hands.

These arcs of lightning were all extremely thick, far more so than the Divine Devilbane Lightning that Han Li had used in the past.

This was one of the additional unexpected benefits of employing the sword-planting method; not only had the newly refined flying swords completely absorbed the spiritual Qi within the Golden Lightning Bamboo, they had also absorbed the Divine Devilbane Lightning imbued within the bamboo.

As a result, not only had his flying swords been refined to become pure wood-attribute swords, the Divine Devilbane Lightning they contained was far more plentiful and powerful than before.

Hence, they naturally appeared to be a lot more unstoppable now when unleashed by Han Li.

Following a burst of rumbling explosions, the vast expanse of golden lightning flashed and repelled all of the oncoming crimson projections. However, there were simply too many of them, and it seemed as if there were no end to these crimson shadows, which were pouncing toward Han Li in swarms without any fear for their own safety. Some of the more substantials ones were even able to open their mouths to blast forth putrid crimson threads than punctured through the net of Divine Devilbane Lightning, piercing right through to Han Li.

However, all of these threads were kept at bay by the voidform sword Qi he'd unleashed.

Streaks of azure light flashed through the air, shredding crimson threads into countless segments.

At this moment, a rumbling sound rang out from within the crimson formation, and the spatial fluctuations erupting from within the black hole intensified even further.

Han Li only had to look around to realize that he was facing some kind of unknown peril.

His expression changed drastically as he flapped his wings, flashing over to the edge of the black hole in an attempt to escape.

However, Han Li then stumbled back following a dull thump, as if he'd crashed into an invisible wall.

He flapped his wings violently several times, and only then was he able to arrest his momentum with an enraged look on his face.

Just as he had stabilized himself and was about to unleash another powerful ability to break this invisible barrier, a burst of enormous suction force suddenly erupted from deep within the black hole!

The suction force was so immense that Han Li was drawn back to the same place he had been situated at before almost without being able to offer any resistance, and he was quickly dragged beyond that point, pulling him further into the black hole.

Han Li's expression changed drastically, and it wasn't difficult to imagine the shock surging through his heart.

The crimson formation began to tremor even more violently, and the surface of the formation had already formed one massive blur and become quite transparent, as if it were going to disappear at any moment.

Many things had happened during this time, but only the span of a few breaths had actually passed.

Han Li was trapped by the suction force from the black hole, and in his desperation, he unleashed all of his abilities at once without any inhibitions in the hope that they would free him from his ordeal.

All of a sudden, golden light, grey light, five-colored flames, golden arcs of lightning, and streaks of azure sword Qi erupted forth in unison.

The power of so many abilities unleashed at once was obviously quite astounding.

Balls of five-colored flames appeared around Han Li before completely inundating his body, and despite how powerful the suction force was it, still eased during that instant.

Han Li was ecstatic, and he was just about to fly out of the black hole when an anguished wail erupted from the crimson shadows in the surrounding area. Immediately thereafter, a string of dull thumps rang out, and all of them exploded at once to form bursts of crimson light.

These bursts of light then instantly disappeared without a trace into the depths of the black hole.

Han Li immediately sensed his surroundings blur and warp, and a sense of deja vu welled up in his heart. His countless past experiences in teleportation alerted him to the fact that he was being teleported away once again.

He didn't know where he was going to be teleported to, but it certainly wasn't going to be somewhere good.

Thus, he immediately blasted forth a pillar of black light from his Law Destruction Eye again, and the light quickly disappeared into the darkness.

The blurry scenes around him congealed slightly before continuing to blur and warp.

Han Li wore a thunderous expression as he blasted one beam of black light after another out of his glabella. At the same time, the golden projection above his head was swinging all six arms through the air, sending streaks of golden light flashing past in an attempt to cut off the teleportation.

However, a loud buzzing sound rang out from within the cave, and all of the attacks disappeared in a flash, seemingly having not resulted in any effect.

It was quite clear that this teleportation wasn't like anything he'd seen before as it was completely immune to the effects of these attacks.

Han Li's heart sank, and he was struck by a sense of powerlessness for the first time. At the same time, a peculiar look appeared on his face.

In his past experiences with teleportation, he should've been teleported away already right after his surroundings blurred, so why was this process taking so long?

Just as Han Li was scrambling for answers, as well as a way to save himself, a sharp pain suddenly shot through the hand that was holding the Profound Heavenly Fruit, as if he'd just been pricked by a sharp needle.

He immediately looked down in a startled manner to discover that even though he's activated his Provenance True Devil Arts to their maximal extent, a small hole had still been stabbed into his hand, and blood was flowing from the small puncture wound. An extremely sharp wooden spike had appeared on the Profound Heavenly Fruit, and it was stained with blood, so it had clearly been responsible for inflicting the injury.

Han Li's body was even more resolute than the average treasure, and when activating his Provenance True Devil Arts, his hands were several times more robust than normal.

As such, it was simply incredible that he was injured so easily by a small wooden spike. If he hadn't have seen it for himself, he would've found it very difficult to believe.

A bewildered look appeared on Han Li's face, and before he had a chance to try and stop the bleeding, white light flashed from the Profound Heavenly Fruit before it began absorbing his blood essence. A crisp ringing sound then erupted from the fruit, piercing directly into the heavens.

Han Li's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he tried to hurl the Profound Heavenly Fruit away as if he'd just been bitten by a snake. However, the fruit remained tightly glued to his palm, refusing to move so much as a single inch.

Han Li's face immediately paled even further.

He could feel his blood essence surging toward the Profound Heavenly Fruit at an alarming rate, and even though he was trying to arrest this trend with all his might, he was completely unable to do so.

In the blink of an eye, he'd lost more than two-thirds of his blood essence before the fruit finally stopped leeching at him.

Thankfully, Han Li's powerful body allowed him to handle such a massive loss of blood essence with minimal side effects. If a normal cultivator were to lose so much of their blood essence, they'd most likely be in an extremely feeble state. But then again, if a normal cultivator had been in Han Li's shoes, the Profound Heavenly Fruit most likely wouldn't be satisfied even if it sucked them dry.

At this moment, the Profound Heavenly Fruit's skin had turned into a vibrant red color, and the green patterns on its surface squirmed before transforming into countless tiny profound runes.

At the same time, countless specks of five-colored light appeared around Han Li's body, all of which flew toward the Profound Heavenly Fruit like moths to a flame.

Green light flashed from one end of the Profound Heavenly Fruit, and a sword blade that was around a foot long suddenly shot forth.

The blade of the sword as extremely bright and as smooth as a mirror. However, at the center of the blade was a straight line of strange green runes, of which there was a total of five.

The Profound Heavenly Fruit just so happened to have become the hilt of this sword, so Han Li had become the sword's wielder.

All of this had Han Li rather flabbergasted.

However, as soon as the sword appeared, the crimson formation outside seemed to have received some kind of stimulus. Following an earth-shattering boom, the entire formation and the black hole at its center tremored violently before vanishing on the spot.

At the same time, the blurry surroundings of the black hole disappeared, and Han Li was greeted by the sight of a vast expanse of crimson, following which he was struck by a rush of dizziness.

In his astonishment, Han Li reflexively slashed the sword in his hand through the air without any direction.

In a place countless kilometers away, a burst of blood Qi rose up into the air. There was a massive sacrificial altar in this place that was enshrouded under crimson mist, and a dozen or so humanoid figures were standing atop the altar. Beneath their feet was a huge formation that was flashing with faint crimson light, and upon closer inspection, one would discover that this formation was exactly identical to the one that had appeared above Han Li's head earlier.

Beneath the sacrificial altar was a giant lake that was filled with crimson liquid. The lake stretched as far as the eyes could see in all directions, and there were sets of skeletons of different sizes from different races floating on the surface of the lake, creating quite a harrowing sight to behold.

"Impossible! Where did the Profound Heavenly Treasure go? I'd already sensed it and was summoning it back here!" one of the humanoid figures on the altar exclaimed with rage and incredulity.

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"Perhaps you were mistaken and the newly appeared Profound Heavenly Treasure isn't actually in our Flying Spirit Race territory, Fellow Daoist Jian? In that case, it would be quite understandable that you were unable to summon the treasure using your blood sacrifice technique." A faint female voice also sounded from the altar in response.

The one who had spoked was a middle-aged beauty wearing a white cloak with a pair of five-colored wings on her back, and her voice suggested that she was taking some pleasure from her companion's misfortune.

"Mistress Bu! Brother Jian and I set up this summoning formation together, and both of us definitely sensed the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword through the power of our blood sacrifice, but something went wrong during the summoning process, and it suddenly disappeared. Could it be that this sword has already attained sentient will, and it sliced open space before hiding into a spatial rift?" another young man suddenly said.

This young man had a single shimmering horn on his head, and he was none other than the Jiao Chi being that Han Li had seen on the massive island half a year ago.

The one who had spoken first was naturally none other than that crimson-haired being from the Sea Monarch Race, and he currently wore a furious look on his face.

"The two of you set up the formation, so only you two are aware of whether this Profound Heavenly Treasure truly exists; we've merely been deployed here to assist you," an elderly man with a pair of grey wings said in an indifferent voice.

He was holding a cane with a dragon head carved onto its tip, and he was making no effort to hide the mockery in his words.

As for the other winged Flying Spirit beings, none of them said anything, but they were also appraising the two foreign beings with steely looks in their eyes.

The young man from the Jiao Chi race didn't respond to their words. Instead, he exchanged a glance with his companion, and their lips moved in a silent conversation as they transmitted their voices to one another.

The expressions on the faces of the Flying Spirit beings present darkened even further upon seeing the lack of respect being displayed by these two foreign beings.

Following their discussion, the horned young man wore a dark expression as he said, "Seeing as we failed on this occasion, we'll just have to hold another blood sacrifice. The blood Qi has yet to completely dissipate, so we should be able to achieve this. As long as the Profound Heavenly Treasure is still within your Flying Spirit Race territory, we'll definitely be able to summon it."

"Hold another blood sacrifice? Do you think our magic power grows on trees? The blood sacrifice from earlier has exhausted most of our spiritual power. If we hold another on right away, it could very likely damage our cultivation bases!" the elderly man with the grey wings said in an enraged voice as he abruptly brought his cane down onto the altar, causing the entire structure to tremor amid a dull thump.

"I'm well aware that I'm asking a lot from you, but I'm sure you'd prefer risking your cultivation bases rather than face the destruction of your entire race within half a year, right? If you weigh us down and cause us to lose the opportunity to obtain the Profound Heavenly Treasure, I'm not sure you'll be able to handle the consequences," the horned young man said in a nonchalant manner as he narrowed his eyes.

An enraged expression appeared on the grey-winged man's face, and strode forward a few steps with a thunderous look in his eyes.

However, right at this moment, a slight cough sounded from the crowd nearby, following which a husky voice rang out.

"Peace, Brother Yao, Fellow Daoist Min is a representative of the Jiao Chi Race; we mustn't be rude to him." The one who had spoken was a hunch-backed humanoid figure enshrouded under a faint layer of white mist, making it impossible to glean his facial features.

The grey-winged man's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he immediately stepped back to his original spot before replying in a respectful voice, "You're right, Brother Xiong, please forgive me."

The horned young man's expression also stiffened as he identified the one who was speaking, and he forced a smile onto his face as he asked, "Do you have something to say, Fellow Daoist Xiong?"

"I do, indeed. We can overexert ourselves here and help you perform another blood sacrifice, but what if the second blood sacrifice also fails?" the hunch-backed figure chuckled before his voice cooled significantly.

"If both blood sacrifices fail, then that means the item is no longer in the area. In that case, we'll immediately depart from this place, and we definitely won't revoke our earlier promise to all of you," the horned young man replied.

The crimson-haired being remained silent as he spoke, seemingly expressing passive approval of his words.

"Good! That's all I needed to hear; we'll help you once again, then. All of you, set aside your egos and perform the blood sacrifice again," the hunch-backed figure instructed.

Strangely enough, all of the other Flying Spirit beings present were all high ranking figures, but none of them dared to express any displeasure toward this instruction as all of them silently nodded.

Moments later, the surface of the blood lake began to bubble and surge. At the same time, bursts of black Qi began to appear above the lake, and the sea of crimson mist up above also began to churn violently.

The sacrificial altar at the center of the blood lake was completely enshrouded under a layer of crimson light, and incantations could be heard being chanted within.

Following a head-splitting burst of excruciating pain, Han Li finally slowly awakened.

He was greeted by the sight of complete darkness, yet when he tried to open his eyes, his eyelids felt impossibly heavy and simply refused to budge.

Han Li was quite alarmed by this, and he suddenly realized that he seemed to be lying down. He immediately tried to sit up, but he couldn't even move so much as a single finger.

Han Li's heart sank as he forcibly repressed the agony spearing through his body, mustering up his final shred of spiritual sense as he hurriedly assessed his bodily condition.

What he discovered as a result was quite discouraging.

Not only had most of his blood essence been exhausted, all of his magic power had also been completely depleted. What was even worse was that only around 10% to 20% of his spiritual sense remained, and that was the reason for his splitting headache.

All of this had been caused by the reflexive swing of that sword from earlier.

Han Li's heart jolted with shock as he recalled back to the astonishing scenes that had unfolded following the swing of that sword, and at the same time, he was feeling extremely fortunate.

When he had unleashed that sword strike, it was as if heaven and earth had completely been tipped on its head. Not only was he able to instantly cut off the teleportation, he'd even managed to slice open space. However, the price for unleashing that sword strike had also been quite a hefty one. Not only had all of his magic power been exhausted, the sword had even drawn upon his spiritual sense. As such, he was sucked into the spatial rift he'd created with the sword, then immediately fallen unconscious.

However, thinking back, he'd only been able to unleash a tiny portion of the sword's power with that slash. The sword had clearly drawn upon his magic power, spiritual sense, and even his blood essence to fuel itself.

However, after ascertaining just how horrible of a state that his body was in, Han Li was instead feeling rather relieved. Blood essence, magic power, and spiritual sense were all things that could be recovered through pill consumption, as well as rest and recuperation. As such, no permanent damage had been done, and he'd be able to recover in a few years.

His surroundings were quite peaceful, and the fact that he'd appeared in this place alive indicated that he'd at least most likely escaped from that perilous ordeal.

He couldn't open his eyes and nor could he release his spiritual sense, but from the humidity in the air and the slightly salty breeze washing over him, he could ascertain that he was situated on a certain beach. The ground below was quite soft, and he seemed to be lying on a patch of grass.

Could it be that he hadn't been teleported too far away?

With that in mind, Han Li was beginning to grow concerned again. However, in his current condition, he was unable to move at all, so he could only continue to lie on the grass.

After a long while, Han Li's eyelids twitched, and he was able to just barely peel back his eyelids by a sliver.

He was immediately greeted by the sight of clear blue skies that were completely devoid of those nightmarish blood clouds, and he heaved a faint sigh of relief.

A few hours later, Han Li was able to move his neck, thereby allowing him to swivel his head from side to side in order to survey his surroundings.

He seemed to be situated within a small valley with short hills on three sides while a narrow exit stood on the remaining side. The entire valley was only just over 10,000 feet in size, and he was situated right at its very center.

A hint of amusement appeared in Han Li's eyes, and his lips began to curve up into the faint smile, but even that immediately made him grimace with pain. Only then did he discover that all of the muscles in his entire body had become extremely sore and lethargic.

This was a feeling that he'd never been afflicted by ever since be cultivated the Provenance True Devil Arts.

It appeared that aside from his magic power and spiritual sense, unleashing that sword strike had also caused something else to be depleted from his body. Otherwise, there was no way that his powerful body would be reduced to such a sorry state.

Han Li continued to ponder his current situation as he lay on the bed of grass.

After the better part of a day had passed, Han Li was finally able to move one of his fingers, thereby indicating that he'd recovered a shred of strength.

A hint of elation appeared on Han Li's face, but his expression soon stiffened.

Right at this moment, a string of dull thumps suddenly erupted from outside the valley. From the tremors running through the ground beneath his body, Han Li could sense that there was a gargantuan being making its way toward the valley.

Han Li cast his gaze toward the entrance of the valley as a grave expression appeared on his face.

Moments later, a massive creature that was over 100 feet tall barged into the valley; it was a massive carb with hooked spikes all over its body.

The crab had a pair of shimmering green eyes, and its exoskeleton was emanating faint azure light, making it appear as if it were wearing a suit of azure armor.

Initially, the giant crab failed to notice Han Li as it rapidly scurried sideways toward one of the nearby hills. Moments later, it had arrived in front of a rock face, then picked up a fallen grey rock with its massive pincers before stuffing the rock into its mouth.

A bone-chilling string of chewing sounds rang out from within its mouth, yet Han Li was quite relieved to see that the giant crab wasn't attacking him.

The giant crab devoured a dozen or so rocks before suddenly turning around and catching sight of Han Li.

Han Li's pupils contracted as he looked into the giant crab's eyes.

A strange hissing sound erupted from the giant crab's mouth as it swung its giant pincers in an intimidating manner, then rushed directly toward Han Li.

Han Li's expression darkened as a cold light flashed through his eyes. He glared expressionlessly at the oncoming giant crab, and even though he could barely move, there was no fear in his eyes.

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The crab was quite massive in stature, but it certainly wasn't slow. Within moments, it had reached within 70 to 80 feet of Han Li, and it'd be able to attack him with its giant claws after just one more flying lunge.

A cold light flashed through Han Li's eye as his lower abdomen bulged slightly. At the same time, his puckered his lips together as if he were about to blast something out of his mouth.

Right at this moment, a sharp screech rang out, following which a streak of silver light flashed through the air before striking the giant crab's body.

The crab's azure exoskeleton appeared to be indestructible, but the silver light was able to force its way through before plunging into the crab's body.

A jet of green blood erupted forth, and the streak of silver light was revealed to be a silver trident that was around 10 feet long. However, its upper half had been completely plunged into the giant crab's back, and only its lower half could be seen.

Having been wounded by that trident, the giant crab let loose an earthshattering screech before immediately rushing toward the opening in the valley.

The attack clearly hadn't inflicted any substantial wounds, but had merely enraged the giant crab instead.

Han Li faltered upon seeing this before hurriedly also turning his gaze toward the opening of the valley.

There, he discovered a dozen or so humanoid figures of different heights.

There were both male and female humanoid figures around them, and all of them were holding shimmering silver javelins, tridents, and other weapons that were made to be hurled. The men among them had their musclebound arms exposed while the women wore tight-fitting short-sleeved leather garments, and all of them gave off a tough and formidable aura.

However, when Han Li's gaze swept over their lower bodies, a surprised look instantly appeared on his face.

The lower limbs of these humanoid figures didn't consist of pairs of legs; instead, all of them had serpentine lower bodies of different thicknesses and colors, as well as layers of faintly visible scales.

These were definitely foreign beings, and they seemed to be from a foreign race that he'd never heard of.

Before Han Li had a chance to consider this notion any further, the giant crab was already almost upon these beings.

The burly man at the forefront of the ground let loose a low roar, and all of his companions quickly organized themselves into two orderly rows with six men at the front and seven women at the back.

The man let loose a loud cry, and everyone in the front row hurled their silver projectiles at once.

Six streaks of silver light flashed before striking the giant crab's body, but the projectiles were only half-buried into its shell, thus unable to inflict any substantial damage. Instead, the giant crab only became more enraged as green blood flowed down its body. It opened its mouth to blast forth a ball of putrid white froth.

The expression on the face of the man at the forefront of the group changed slightly, and he murmured something to himself, seemingly in quite a frustrated and furious manner. He then pulled out a flat round stone disk from behind his back, and the disk was shimmering with faint light, indicating that it seemed to be a more powerful weapon than the silver projectiles being used.

The man hurled the disk toward the oncoming ball of white froth without any hesitation.

In the instant that the stone disk left his hand, it transformed into a ball of red light that shot forth through the air before crashing into the white froth amid an earthshattering boom.

A ball of fierce flames then immediately enshrouded the white froth, and both of them nullified wone another within moments.

However, the giant crab had taken advantage of this opportunity to charge ahead, and it was now only just over 100 feet away from the foreign serpentine beings. Right at this moment, the six men in the front row split up into two groups that rushed forward on either side. They then flicked their wrists in unison before leaning back together, and the oncoming giant crab was suddenly brought to an abrupt halt.

Blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and only then was he able to identify that there were semi-transparent threads attached to each of the six beings' wrists, thereby ensnaring the giant crab. The threads had been stretched completely taut by the six beings, clearly indicating that they had remarkable arm strength.

However, what Han Li was more intrigued by were the yellow bracers each of them wore on their wrists. Spiritual light was shimmering from the bracers, and they seemed to be low-grade treasures. The six of them were able to use these bracers and their own brute strength to bring the giant crab to a complete standstill.

However, the crab was only stopped for an instant before its two pincers shot forth like lightning.

Two dull thumps rang out in unison as two of the six threads were severed, leaving extremely smooth incisions as if they'd been severed by a sharp blade. The two men were leaning back to exert force against the threads with all their might, and they were immediately sent tumbling through the air by their own momentum.

The giant crab was about to sever the rest of the thin threads when the women in the second row hurled their silver tridents through the air.

Bursts of dull thumps rang out, followed by a bloodcurdling howl from the giant crab. Seven of its leg joints had been punctured by silver projectiles, and it was immediately keeled over.

With only one of its legs remaining completely intact, there was no way that it could maintain balance.

The giant crab crashed to the ground amid a resounding boom, smashing a crater into the ground that was several feet deep.

All of the tense serpentine beings immediately let loose cries of elation, seemingly assured of their victory.

Indeed, the crippled giant crab was completely at their mercy.

The serpentine beings rushed forward at once, making sure to keep a distance of around 10 feet away from the crab while drawing the weapons strapped across their backs, then hurling them toward the giant crab's vital regions.

At such close quarters and with the giant crab completely crippled, their attacks naturally landed with unerring accuracy.

Moments later, the giant crab's body had been punctured by several tens of silver projectiles, and it was completely dead.

Han Li looked on as he lay on the ground with a calm expression, but his mind was racing rapidly.

From the weapons, treasures, and tactics that these beings had used to bring down the giant crab, these foreign beings seemed to be quite an organized unit. However, if this was the extent of their powers, then there was no way they'd be able to pose any threat to him even if he couldn't move.

Interestingly enough, these foreign beings were quite lithe an athletic, but there was no spiritual Qi emanating from their bodies. As such, they reminded Han Li of the body refinement warriors of the human race.

Just as these thoughts were flashing through Han Li's mind, the foreign beings had dismembered the giant crab in what seemed like the blink of an eye in an extremely rehearsed manner. They then collected the edible parts of the crab before laying them out on the ground, and judging from the proficiency in their movements, this was clearly not the first time they'd slain a creature like this.

At this moment, one of the female foreign beings with a supple and flexible waist slithered over to the man who appeared to be the leader of the group, following which the former pointed at Han Li and said something in a voice that was quite pleasing to the ears. It sounded similar to the language of the human race, but if one were to listen closely, they'd realize that they had no idea what was being said.

The leader of the group was a tanned musclebound being, and not only did he possess the most imposing stature among everyone in the group, he was also the only one with a completely inky-black serpentine lower body.

All of the other beings either had green or white lower bodies, completely different from that of their leader.

After hearing what the woman had to say, the man instantly cast his eyes toward Han Li, and he just so happened to meet Han Li's indifferent gaze.

His heart stirred at the sight of Han Li's placid eyes, and he then cast a glance toward Han Li's lower body, upon which his expression changed drastically. He hurriedly said something to the woman before slithering over to Han Li at a remarkable speed, reaching Han Li in just the span of a few breaths.

Han Li looked on with a calm expression and refrained from saying anything. However, if one were to look closely, they'd discover that his lower abdomen was still bulging slightly and hadn't settled down to its normal state.

Of course, this the first time that the man was seeing Han Li, so he naturally didn't notice that anything was amiss.

However, he suddenly stopped in front of Han Li, then extended a respectful bow with an arm placed in front of his chest. At the same time, he said something in a language that Han Li was unable to comprehend.

A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this.

He'd learned the languages of almost all of the races known to humans back when he was in Deep Heaven City, but the language being spoken by this man clearly wasn't one of those.

After a brief hesitation, Han Li asked a few questions in a language that was quite prevalently used on the Tian Yuan Continent. However, the man appeared to be quite lost, clearly unable to comprehend what Han Li was asking.

Han Li furrowed his brows before trying a few more languages, but the man only continued to scratch his head with a confused look on his face.

Thus, Han Li heaved a faint sigh and didn't say anything further.

At this moment, the man seemed to have identified that Han Li was unable to move, and he suddenly turned around and cried out to his companions.

Four of his female companions then immediately stopped what they were doing and quickly slithered over.

The man said something to those four women, and the women turned to Han Li with shock in their eyes, which quickly gave way to awe and veneration.

They then also extended a respectful bow toward Han Li before slithering over to the dozen or so trees within the valley.

Silver light flashed, and one of the smaller trees was felled by them using a strange silver blade.

The women swung their silver blades through the air, quickly crafting a stretcher out of the tree and some beast hide that they were carrying with them.

After that, the four men picked up a corner of the stretcher each, then hurriedly slithered back to Han Li.

At this point, Han Li had naturally identified that these beings bore no ill will toward him, and the bulge in his lower abdomen settled down again.

The four women then placed the stretcher down beside Han Li, and two of them slithered toward him before asking a question in a respectful manner.

Han Li didn't understand what they were saying, but their intentions were quite obvious. After a brief pause, Han Li nodded in response to their question.

All of the beings before him were all ecstatic upon seeing his response.

The two women beside him extended another respectful bow each before carefully lifting Han Li up from the ground by his arms and legs, then gently placing him onto the stretcher.

After that, they carefully adjusted his position to ensure that he would be in the least amount of discomfort possible.

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At this point, the other serpentine beings had already finished dismembering the giant crab, and they wrapped up all of the materials and flesh secured from its carcass in soft beasthide before carrying them on their backs.

These beasthide packages were each over 20 feet tall, and were almost the twice the size of the serpentine beings that were under them.

However, these beings were able to carry these packages with ease, clearly indicating that they were extremely strong.

The four women carried Han Li over to the group, and their leader issued an instruction, prompting the group to depart from the valley.

Only after exiting the valley did Han Li discover that the ocean was only several kilometers away from here.

With the sea so close to this place, it was no wonder that creatures like the giant crab would rush into the valley from time to time.

However, the surface of the ocean was very placid at the moment. There was the occasional salty breeze that would blow past, but there weren't any particularly strong waves to be seen. It was exactly because of this that Han Li hadn't heard the sounds of the ocean tide in the valley.

The serpentine beings carried Han Li along the seashore for a while as Han Li inspected his surroundings, and he quickly discovered that this wasn't the seashore of some continent. Instead, he was situated on an island that didn't appear to be very big.

After traveling for about 10 more kilometers, the group arrived in front of a pile of rocks, between which were parked seven or eight thin and long bone boats.

There was one particularly large one among them that could carry around four or five people, while all of the other ones appeared to only be capable of carrying around two people each.

Each of these bone boats had a pointy end while the other end consisted of carvings of all types of different beastly heads.

Han Li and two of the women got onto the largest boat while the others boarded the other smaller boats, and they set off into the ocean as the bone oars on the boats sliced through the waves.

With their remarkable strength and stamina, the serpentine beings were able to row their oars almost without any pause, and the boats sped through the waves like arrows.

The ocean was extremely calm, and no sea beasts attacked the boats, thereby culminating in quite a smooth journey.

After just two hours, a black spot appeared up ahead, and it was another island.

Han Li narrowed his eyes as blue light flashed within his pupils, and he was able to make a rough appraisal of the island from afar.

The island was a medium-sized one that was several hundred kilometers in area, and it was filled with undulating mountains as well as lush forests, making it quite a good place to inhabit.

However, there was a hint of red visible at the pinnacle of the tallest mountain on the island while the rest of the mountain seemed to be covered in ashes and soot; it was a volcano.

Han Li wasn't able to conduct a more thorough inspection of the island as he was yet to recover his magic power, so he couldn't inject more power into his spirit eye ability.

The bone boats sped through the ocean, quickly drawing closer to the island.

A short while later, they were less than 10 kilometers away from the island.

Right at this moment, countless dark clouds suddenly appeared over the clear skies above, following which howling winds were swept up as a torrential downpour came pelting down from the heavens.

The rate at which the weather could change when out at sea was truly astounding!

However, none of this was able to pose any impediment to the bone boats as the serpentine beings all pressed a certain bump on their boats, thereby summoning miniature spell formations from the undersides of the boats.

White barriers of light abruptly appeared, encompassing all of the boats within them.

However, the serpentine beings weren't looking much more relaxed despite the measures they'd taken.

This was because when the sudden change in weather took place, massive waves as tall buildings were swept up at the same time, and they came crashing down toward the small boats.

These boats were only around 20 to 30 feet tall, and they were extremely tiny in the face of these massive waves, so they naturally couldn't offer up much resistance. However, due to the fact that they were being protected by the white light barriers, they weren't going to capsize right away. Even so, their journey had become extremely perilous, and they could only go along with the tide, unable to advance in the slightest.

Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, yet as he cast his gaze toward the two serpentine women on the boat, he discovered that they both wore grim expressions, but they didn't appear to be panicking. It seemed that these beings had some kind of strategy to counteract the elements.

Sure enough, just as the bone boats were about to be plunged into a truly perilous situation, a beam of white light suddenly shot forth from the island up ahead, and the light pierced through the dark clouds nearby in a flash.

A loud rumbling boom immediately rang out from within the dark clouds, following which a massive ball of light exploded. White shockwaves surged through the air in all directions, creating a gigantic hole in the clouds with a radius of around 1,000 feet.

Han Li was quite stunned to see this, and he cast his gaze toward the island again.

However, the pillar of light that had just appeared had also disappeared just as quickly, so he wasn't able to identify the point on the island from which it had originated from.

After the hole had been punctured into the dark clouds, the howling winds and massive waves on the surface of the ocean all subsided slightly. It wasn't as peaceful and tranquil as the conditions had been earlier during their journey, but it was certainly a lot better, and the serpentine beings rowed their boats quickly toward the island again.

After a short while, the bone boats arrived in a naturally dock on the island, and everyone disembarked.

Han Li was also carried onto the shore on the makeshift stretcher they'd crafted for him.

At this moment, Han Li turned back to look up at the nearby sky again. It was quite clear that the suppression effect of the pillar of light couldn't last very long. The hole in the sky had been filled with the dark clouds again, sweeping up fierce winds and massive waves once again as a result.

However, none of that mattered to the serpentine beings who had already safely reached the shore.

A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face, and he became very interested in the thing on the island that had unleashed that white pillar of light earlier.

Even though his spiritual sense was severely depleted at the moment, he could still sense that the spiritual power within the pillar of light was quite chaotic and diverse, indicating that it definitely hadn't been unleashed by a certain powerful being. Instead, it seemed to have been unleashed by a certain formation or treasure after that was borrowing on the power of spirit stones.

Han Li naturally didn't find this level of power to be daunting, but for it to appear on such a small foreign island was rather curious to him.

However, these thoughts only flashed through Han Li's mind for an instant before he focused his attention on the scenes laid out in front of him again.

This small dock wasn't actually devoid of people. Not only were there several stone cabins of different heights lining the shore, there was even a massive stone pillar that stood over 1,000 feet tall.

There was also a small wooden cabin at the top of the pillar, and there seemed to be other serpentine beings residing in there as well.

Right at this moment, seven or eight of those beings emerged from the stone cabins on the shore, and most of them were female while the minority were male.

They were led by a beautiful serpentine woman with a voluptuous body who appeared to be in her twenties.

The woman glanced at the bulging packages being carried on the backs of the serpentine beings who'd just returned by boat, and a captivating smile appeared on her face. However, her smile faltered slightly as she caught sight of Han Li.

At this moment, the leader of the hunting party extended a bow toward the woman before saying something to her in a serious manner.

After hearing what he had to say, the woman's gaze traveled to Han Li's lower body, and a shocked look also appeared on her face.

All of a sudden, she slithered over to Han Li in a graceful and seductive manner, then said something in a strange language.

Han Li raised an eyebrow before shaking his head.

However, the serpentine woman didn't give up. She switched between using seven or eight different languages, and the last language in that sequence really was one that Han Li understood. It was the language of the Flying Spirit Race!

However, the woman was stuttering slightly as she spoke in the language, clearly indicating that she wasn't very fluent in it.

"You know the language of the Flying Spirit Race?" Han Li asked with a hint of surprise on his face.

The woman was ecstatic that Han Li knew the Flying Spirit Race language, and she immediately bowed as she replied, "You know this language as well, esteemed Upper Being? That's fantastic! I am the assistant priestess of the Fire Yang Race, Yan Wu. May I have the honor of knowing your name, esteemed Upper Being?"

"You can call me Mr. Han. The Fire Yang Race? This is the first time I've heard of your race. I ended up as the result of an accident; what is this section of the sea known as?" Han Li asked with furrowed brows.

"Our Fire Yang Race is only a small branch of the Naga Race, so it's not strange at all that you haven't heard of us, Master Han. It is a brilliant honor for us that an esteemed upper being such as yourself has appeared in our race. However, I'm only the assistant priestess, so I do not know much about the upper race beings in the nearby region of the sea. I'll take you to our high priestess right away; if you have any questions, she'll be able to answer them," the serpentine woman replied in a manner that was neither haughty nor humble.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. His eyes roamed over the woman as he sensed the faint spiritual Qi emanating from her body. This woman was only at around the Qi Condensation Stage, but she was indeed a cultivator. However, seeing as her cultivation base was so low, their high priestess was most likely not powerful enough to pose a threat to him, either.

This sequence of thoughts raced through Han Li's mind in an instant, and he quickly arrived at a decision before nodding in an indifferent manner.

The woman also heaved an internal sigh of relief after securing Han Li's approval. In her eyes, this upper being's aura was truly rather strange.

If one were to call him powerful, the issue was that the spiritual pressure emanating from his body was almost non-existent and barely more powerful than her own. However, if one were to call him weak, she'd beg to differ as her spiritual sense was completely unable to ascertain his cultivation base.

Such a strange situation naturally had to be left to the high priestess to assess.

Thus, after issuing a few instructions to the hunting party that had just returned, she pulled out a leather pouch, then released a snowy white spirit bird from within.

This was a fist-sized bird that resembled a parrot. However, its eyes were of a scorching red color, as if they were a pair of miniature fireballs.

The woman stroked the bird a few times while clucking to it in a peculiar manner, then releasing it from her grasp. The bird instantly flew deeper into the island as a streak of white light, disappearing in just a few flashes.

"I've already sent a message to our high priestess. Allow me to guide you to our Fire Yang City, Mr. Han," the woman said with a smile.

Han Li merely nodded and closed his eyes upon hearing this.

Thus, the woman immediately led the other four serpentine women who were carrying Han Li's stretcher toward the center of the island, along a small stone path.

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