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

50. 1605

Read A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality - Chapter 1605: Flawed Item online free - Novel Full

Han Li had naturally heard of this Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid, and it had been quite a sought-after treasure to him for a long time.

This liquid was something that was refined from an extremely rare type of heavenly flame, and compared to other spirit items of the same caliber, it was even rarer and harder to find.

After doing some research on the spirit liquid, Han Li had thought that it would be the most difficult to find among the list of materials that Qing Yuanzi had given him, but who would've thought that it would appear on this auction with such an incredibly low starting price?

Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid was so rare and precious that it could easily be the auction item that was reserved for the finale.

18,000,000 spirit stones was not a small sum, but compared to the value of this spirit liquid, it was cheap beyond belief.

With that in mind, Han Li had a feeling that Xiao Buyi was definitely going to be providing an explanation regarding why the starting price was so low.

Han Li was not the only one in the auction hall waiting for an explanation. Many other people were also looking at Xiao Buyi with astonishment intermingled with a hint of anticipation in their eyes, awaiting further elaboration on the situation.

As expected, a faint smile appeared on Xiao Buyi's face as he continued, "I know that that the starting price for this Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid comes as quite a surprise to everyone, but there's naturally a reason for this. This spirit liquid was refined from a heavenly flame, but something went wrong during the refinement process, so it's technically a flawed item compared to true Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid. However, I can guarantee that it possesses all of the main functions of normal Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid, it's just that its efficacy will be severely hampered in comparison."

"A flawed item?" The rowdy crowd immediately fell silent, and many people furrowed their brows with indecision.

There had been precedents of flawed spirit medicines and even flawed treasures that had been sold during auctions, but it was said that all of these items were very lackluster and couldn't hold a candle to their perfect counterparts. After all, both pill and tool refinement required extremely strict regulation of the materials, as well as the refinement methods and processes used. Even the slightest mistake or discrepancy could result in a complete failure.

Thus, the frenzied crowd suddenly calmed down as if a massive bucket of cold water had been poured over everyone's heads.

"I'd thought that 18,000,000 spirit stones was a ridiculously low starting price, but seeing as this is a flawed item, I now feel that it's far too high," a man in one of the cabins on the upper level chuckled coldly.

Xiao Buyi turned to a certain cabin on the upper level, and replied, "There's no point in trying to barter with me, Fellow Daoist Lie; the starting prices of the auction items were all set by the auction house. Come to think of it, wouldn't this Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid be perfect for your flame spirit body?"

"If it were a perfect item, then I would naturally try to purchase it at all costs, but if it's flawed, then it's next to useless to me, so why should I be interested in it?" the man who had spoken countered in a cold voice.

Xiao Buyi merely smiled in response, but didn't say anything in reply on this occasion. Instead, he waved a sleeve over the lid of the vial in his hand, and azure light flashed as the lid flew off of its own accord.

A pillar of crimson flames immediately shot forth out of the vial's opening, following which a small ball of red liquid slowly emerged from within.

The ball of liquid was translucent and shimmering with red light.

Xiao Buyi focused his gaze on it, and white light flashed in one of his hands as he summoned a flying sword that was around a foot in length.

This was an antiquated sword that was flashing with a cold light, and it was quite apparent even from a single glance that this was a weapon of quite a high caliber.

Xiao Buyi flicked his wrist, and the flying sword instantly shot forth as a swath of cold light that hurtled directly toward the ball of red liquid.

An astonishing scene then ensued.

In the instant that the cold light came into contact with the ball of liquid, a loud sizzling sound rang out as a plume of white smoke wafted through the air. Immediately thereafter, the entire flying sword turned bright red and began to melt, completely disappearing after just a few flashes.

That demonstration was sufficient to display the spirit liquid's fearsome might!

Xiao Buyi could sense everyone's hesitation, and he explained, "I hope everyone saw that clearly. Even though this spirit liquid is flawed, it still possesses the ability to melt metal and rocks, so it'll be very useful for tool refinement."

After that, he opened his mouth to expel a ball of azure spiritual Qi that immediately enshrouded the ball of red liquid within.

The liquid began to burn in a frenzy like a phoenix rising from the ashes, transforming into a head-sized fireball amid a dull thump.

A burst of scorching heat proliferated from the stage, quickly surging into the distance in all directions.

All of a sudden, the air temperature in the entire hall was raised significantly, and the foreign beings sitting on the front few rows closest to the stage felt as if they'd been plunged into a sea of lava.

All of the beings in the hall were high-grade cultivators, so they naturally wouldn't be injured by this level of heat, but many of them were still quite stunned by what they saw.

Everyone could see that Xiao Buyi had only expelled a ball of pure spiritual Qi as a catalyst to draw forth that wave of scorching heat, so this was entirely a display of the spirit liquid's power alone.

It came as quite a surprise to everyone that even a flawed ball of Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid could possess such staggering power.

Thus, quiet chattering rang out within the silent hall again, and the yearning in everyone's eyes was rekindled as they stared at the ball of fiery liquid.

Xiao Buyi knew that he had already achieved the intended effect at this point, so he casually swept a sleeve toward the fireball. A swath of light swept forth, and the scorching flames were snuffed out to reveal the ball of liquid again before it disappeared into the vial in a flash.

Xiao Buyi made a grabbing motion, and the vial was sealed shut again using its original lid. After that, the vial itself slowly descended onto the center of his palm.

"Bidding for the Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid will now commence!" he announced without any further delay.

"30,000,000!" An astonishing bid was immediately made by someone from a certain corner of the auction hall. As opposed to matching the starting price, the bid was instantly upped the price by almost twofold.

Many people who were just about to make lower bids were quite stunned by this opening salvo, and they all turned to find that the bidder was a pale-faced man in a set of long black robes.

It was none other than Han Li!

After a brief internal struggle, many of the beings present finally decided against making further birds.

Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid was indeed extremely precious, but the inescapable fact of the matter was that it was still a flawed item, and it simply wasn't worth such a lofty price to them.

Meanwhile, Han Li was merely sitting still on his chair. He wore a calm expression, but he was internally quite excited.

Even though this spirit liquid was flawed, thereby significantly hampering its efficacy, it was still Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid, so it would most likely still be useful to Qing Yuanzi. If he were to give up on this opportunity, he most likely won't be able to obtain perfectly refined Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid anyway, so he was determined to get his hands on this spirit liquid, even if it were flawed.

As such, he didn't hold back at all, and immediately bid the price up to a staggering height from the get-go.

He wasn't hoping to be able to actually secure the spirit liquid at this price, but at the very least, he was going to scare off most of his potential competitors.

If there were many people bidding for the same item, it was easy for them to get swept up in the heat of the moment, thereby bidding the price up to something that no one would be willing to pay had they retained their sense of logic.

It was quite clear that Han Li's plan had proven to be effective as the entire hall remained silent after that initial bid that he'd placed.

"This fellow Daoist has placed a bid of 30,000,000 spirit stones. Are there any other bidders? If not, this vial of spirit liquid will go to this fellow Daoist after a count of three," Xiao Buyi announced as he glanced at the corner that Han Li was sitting in.

"Going once!"

Right at this moment, an elderly voice sounded. "32,000,000!"

Han Li's brows furrowed as he turned toward that direction to find that the bidder was a yellow-robed elderly man sitting at the center of the auction. The man had a head of straw-like hair, but his eyebrows were quite bushy, and his blue eyes were bright and piercing.

"It's Old Man Fu! Why is he interested in this spirit liquid?" Many people were quite surprised to see this new bidder, and they began to chat among themselves.

It appeared that this old man was quite a renowned figure in Cloud City.

"40,000,000!"

Before Han Li had a chance to formulate his next bid, another bid was placed by someone on the upper level. To Han Li's surprise, the bidder had a pleasant female voice, so it clearly wasn't the man with the Lie surname who had spoken earlier.

As soon as that bid was made, a hesitant look appeared on Old Man Fu's face. He cast a glance up at the upper level and opened his mouth as if he were contemplating placing another bid, but shook his head and remained silent in the end.

"40,000,000 going once!"

"40,000,000 going twice!"

A faint smile appeared on Xiao Buyi's face as he quickly completed two counts. It was quite clear that this price was already higher than what was projected by the auction house, and he was also of the opinion that no one would dare to bid against a holy race being from the upper level.

However, just as he was about to complete the third and final count, Han Li placed another bid in an expressionless manner. "45,000,000!"

Everyone else in the auction hall, including even Xiao Buyi himself, couldn't help but cast their eyes toward Han Li with peculiar expressions on their faces.

It was not every day that they saw an upper race being who dared to bid against a holy race being.

"47,000,000!" The female holy race being on the upper level seemed to have been irked by Han Li's insolence, and her voice cooled significantly.

Han Li's eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this new price, but he still immediately followed up with a bid of 50,000,000 without any hesitation.

This was basically the extent of the number of spirit stones he currently possessed, so if the price were to be raised any higher, he'd have no choice but to give up.

Thankfully, this price seemed to have also exceeded the limit of what the woman on the upper level was willing to pay, and she gave a cold harrumph before falling silent.

After completing a quick count of three, Xiao Buyi announced, "Alright, this half vial of Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid goes to this fellow Daoist for 50,000,000 spirit stones. Please issue your payment right away."

Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief before immediately rising to his feet and making his way onto the stage.

Upon reaching Xiao Buyi, Han Li brought out a bag of top-grade spirit stones that he'd prepared in advance from his within his storage bracelet.

Xiao Buyi swept his spiritual sense toward the bag before nodding with a faint smile and handing the small white vial over to Han Li.

Han Li removed the lid of the vial and took a quick glance inside, upon which a hint of elation appeared on his face. After extending a slight bow toward Xiao Buyi, he walked down from the stage in an unhurried manner before returning to his original seat.

During this process, Han Li naturally sensed many pairs of eyes fixated on him, and needless to say, most of them were not appraising him with benevolent expressions on their faces.

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Han Li merely chuckled coldly in his heart upon seeing this.

Even if there were beings here who had cultivated certain special secret techniques, all they'd be able to identify would be that he was in some kind of disguise.

After all, even Duan Tianren, who was at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage, hadn't even been able to glean his true appearance, and there was no way that the most powerful beings in this auction hall would bother to come after him for a half vial of flawed spirit liquid.

As such, after returning to his seat, Han Li merely closed his eyes as if he weren't interested in the rest of the auction.

Everything proceeded quite smoothly thereafter, and there were even two other items that were sold for a price that exceeded that of the Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid, but they hadn't been reserved for the finale, either.

One of them was a treasure that had been passed down since ancient times, known as the Myriad Beast Conch Horn. Even though it wasn't a Divine Spirit Treasures, its whistle could make all of the low-grade spirit beasts within a certain area obedient to the user, so it was quite an extraordinary treasure.

The other auction item was the vial of Rising Dragon Pills that Han Li had refined.

After Xiao Buyi had explained the astonishing effect of the pills, the entire auction hall had burst into an elated frenzy.

These pills were greatly beneficial both for enhancing one's magic power and for breakthroughs, so it really was a case of the more the better.

Furthermore, Spatial Tempering Stage pills were extremely rare in auctions, so an intense round of bidding ensued as soon as they were unveiled.

Even the beings below the Spatial Tempering Stage in the auction hall were bidding up the price for all they were worth. They'd rather purchase the pills and use them in the future than miss out on this brilliant opportunity.

As for the Spatial Tempering Stage beings who were stuck at bottlenecks and desperately needed these pills, they were naturally unwilling to back down, either. Who knew if Spatial Tempering Stage pills would feature again in the upcoming editions of the Four Races Auction?

As such, after a bout of frenzied bidding, the vial of Rising Dragon Pills was sold for an astronomical price of 63,000,000, even higher than the price that Han Li had purchased the Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid for.

Much to his surprise, the pills were purchased by the holy race woman who had been competing with Han Li for the Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid earlier. This woman naturally no longer needed this pill, so she was most likely purchasing them for one of her juniors.

This was quite a disheartening outcome for all of the people on the lower and middle levels.

Han Li also heaved a forlorn internal sigh upon hearing this final price.

This wasn't because he was displeased with the price that the pills had been sold for. Instead, he was thinking back to all of the Rising Dragon Pills he'd consumed in the past two years, and calculating how many spirit stones they would've fetched him had he sold them instead. Unsurprisingly, it was an extremely staggering sum.

Furthermore, he was most likely going to have to continue consuming Rising Dragon Pills for the next few centuries; it was a massive waste!

But then again, if it weren't for the fact that he had all these pills that he could consume to assist him in his cultivation, there was no way that he'd be able to progress to the Spatial Tempering Stage from the early-Deity Transformation Stage in just a few centuries with his ordinary aptitude.

This was why the mysterious small vial was even more valuable than the profound heavenly treasure in his heart.

With the profound heavenly treasure, he could reign supreme over the entire Spirit Realm in the future, but without the mysterious small vial, he had no confidence in his ability to even make it to that point.

Just as these thoughts were running through Han Li's mind, the auction finally reached its climax.

After a blue puppet was taken away from the stage by its buyer, Xiao Buyi looked around as a serious expression appeared on his face.

"I presume many of you are already growing quite impatient, so without further ado, I'll now be presenting the final few auction items for today. Two of these items are precious treasures supplied by our four races, while the other two were supplied by other fellow Daoists."

Just as Xiao Buyi was making this announcement, a burst of light erupted from the teleportation formation on the stage, following which four humanoid figures emerged.

The four consisted of a short elderly man with a long beard, a tall and broad armored being wearing a golden mask, a woman with a gorgeous figure, yet a hideous face that was riddled with green scales, and a strange black being with two identical heads.

In the face of the widespread scrutiny they were receiving, the four beings all remained quite calm as if they were completely unfazed.

However, all of the beings in the auction hall drew a sharp breath in unison upon seeing this, and a burst of chatter rang out again.

"It's those four seniors!"

"Indeed, those are the four great guest members of our Cloud City! To think that they've been invited to this auction as well!"

At the same time as the four beings appeared on the stage, Han Li also opened his eyes and his heart stirred as he discovered that they were all mid-Body Integration Stage beings. It was no wonder that their emergence was creating such a massive stir.

Xiao Buyi turned to the four beings with a smile on his face, and cupped his fist to extend a salute as he greeted, "Thank you for coming, fellow Daoists."

"You're welcomed. We were paid to be here, so we certainly weren't going to not show up," the bearded elderly man chuckled in response.

In contrast, the other three were rather cold and aloof toward Xiao Buyi, and they merely extended customary salutes in return, but remained silent.

Xiao Buyi was clearly already accustomed to this, and he merely nodded before turning around as he continued, "There are only four items that have been reserved for the finale, but they include all types of items like spirit beasts, materials, and spirit treasures, so you surely won't be disappointed."

After that, Xiao Buyi turned to the elderly man, and said, "Brother Lan, please reveal your auction item first."

The man nodded before rustling his sleeve, and a strange cry rang out, following which an object flew out from within.

It was a palm-sized black leather pouch that was completely mundane and nondescript in appearance.

However, the old man was treating the pouch with great care as he began to chant something while carefully pointing his finger a few times at the leather pouch.

Black light swirled around the surface of the pouch, following which bursts of black mist suddenly erupted from within. Immediately thereafter, the mist began to swell, then converged to form a black cage that was around 10 feet tall in the blink of an eye.

Within the cage was a small purple beast that was huddled up into a ball, and its entire body was bound tightly by a series of thin golden and silver chains. Due to the fact that its head and limbs were all burrowed into its body, it appeared to be like a large furball from afar, making it impossible to glean its true form.

At this moment, everyone below the stage, including Han Li, was staring intently at the small purple beast.

It had been reserved for the finale, so they knew that this was definitely no ordinary spirit beast. After all, there was a fourth-tier upper race sentient puppet that had been sold earlier, and even that hadn't been reserved for the finale; could it be that this spirit beast possessed holy-grade power?

The same thought flashed through everyone's minds, and hints of scorching yearning appeared in their eyes.

However, the faint black light emanating from the cage managed to keep out all of their prying spiritual sense, thereby thwarting their attempts to glean the small beast's true appearance.

"Hehe, looks like all of you are growing rather impatient. Brother Lan, I'll let you introduce this beast to everyone," Xiao Buyi chuckled.

"Sure thing. There are not too many people who are aware of this beast's origins, but I'm sure many of you know about the eight mystical beasts of our Spirit Realm, which are only ranked below the almighty true spirits," the old man said with a stroke of his beard.

"What? The eight mystical beasts? Could this be one of them?"

The entire auction hall instantly erupted into a frenzy, and there were even many astonishing auras that erupted uncontrollably from within the stone cabins on the upper level.

"That's not the case, Fellow Daoists. The eight mystical beasts are all extremely powerful creatures, and even though they aren't comparable to true spirit beings, they're definitely not creatures that can be capture by holy race beings. The spirit beast in the cage is actually a mixed-blood descendant of one of the eight mystical beasts, the Human-faced Wyrm. Even though it's only a mixed-blood creature, it possesses an extremely large amount of the Human-faced Wyrm's bloodline, and if carefully nurtured, it's not impossible for it to become just as a powerful as a true Human-faced Wyrm in the future. According to the results of our examination, this beast should be less than 100 years old, but the spiritual Qi fluctuations emanating from its body are already comparable to upper race beings of the lower tiers. Most importantly, this beast has already displayed several powerful endowed abilities of the Human-faced Wyrm. Even for holy race beings like me, it would've been impossible to capture it alive had it not been for the fact that several of us joined forces to do so. By the way, this beast was captured by none other than the four of us," the elderly man chuckled as he made a grabbing motion toward the black cage.

The golden and silver chains around the small beast's body split apart of their own accord amid a dull thump, and all of then flew into the elderly man's hand as a thin streak of golden and silver light.

The entire hall immediately fell completely silent.

Everyone wanted to see the true appearance of a spirit beast that had inherited most of a Human-faced Wyrm's bloodline.

As soon as the chains were removed, the small beast shuddered, but it still didn't immediately rise to its feet, choosing instead to continuing lying motionlessly in the corner.

Many people began to exchange glances with one another upon seeing this.

However, in the next instant, a ball of scintillating purple light suddenly erupted from the small beast's body.

All of the people staring at the cage closed their eyes involuntarily, yet Han Li managed to keep his eyes open as a burst of blue light flashed through his pupils.

"Argh!"

"Impossible!"

"Where did the spirit beast go?"

After everyone finally re-opened their eyes, many of them were shocked to find that the small beast had disappeared without a trace from within the black cage.

However, the expressions of the beings on the stage remained unchanged, and the elderly man harrumphed coldly, "You still dare to play these little tricks even now; looks like we didn't discipline you enough on the way here."

The elderly man raised a hand as he spoke before flicking a finger toward the black cage from afar.

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A pea-sized ball of light shot forth from his fingertip before disappearing into the cage in a flash.

In the next instant, azure light erupted from a corner of the cage, following which the small purple beast reappeared. At the same time, it bent its four limbs slightly to absorb the impact before landing on the ground in a soundless manner like a ball of cotton.

Thus, the small beast was finally revealed to everyone as a purple beast that resembled a fox.

The beast's body was only around half an inch in size, and its eyes were darting around incessantly. Those eyes were no different from that of highly intelligent beings, thereby indicating that it had already attained a good level of intelligence.

The only thing that set this beast apart from a normal spirit fox would be the faint silver scales that could be seen on its nose and ears. However, these patches of scales were only the size of fingernails, and it was really difficult to see them unless one was paying particularly close attention.

"Is this really a spirit beast that's inherited the bloodline of the Human-faced Wyrm? It looks no different from a normal fox beast," someone exclaimed in a disappointed manner.

Many of the other beings present were also appraising the small beast with furrowed brows, unable to identify how it was supposed to be special in any way.

"A normal fox beast? I'd advise all of you to take a closer look, Fellow Daoists."A sinister look suddenly appeared on the elderly man's benevolent face, and he abruptly thrust a palm toward the black cage from afar.

A resounding boom erupted from within the cage, following which white lightning flashed, and a layer of white electricity appeared.

A string of loud thunderclaps then rang out as countless thin arcs of lightning transformed into sharp blades that hurtled directly toward the small beast in the cage.

An extremely humanized expression of alarm and fury appeared on the small beast's face upon seeing this, and it let loose a low snarl as purple light swirled over its body. All of a sudden, a projection surfaced above it, shielding its body within.

This was the projection of a faint silver wyrm.

The wyrm projection was extremely blurry and indistinct, making the onlooker only barely able to identify it as a wyrm, but all of the blades of lightning disappeared like sandcastles in the tide after striking the projection.

After absorbing so much lightning, the wyrm projection had swelled to several times its original size, almost filling up the entire cage as it raised its head to let loose an enraged roar.

All of a sudden, the cage began to screech and groan as if it were to struggling to hold itself together.

All of the beings present drew a sharp breath in unison upon seeing this.

Just a projection conjured up by this purple beast in its infantile stage was this powerful; it was indeed displaying astonishing potential.

At the sight of the astonishment etched on everyone's faces, the elderly man knew that he had achieved the intended effect, and he chuckled as he raised a hand up into the air.

Brilliant golden and silver light erupted, and the thin chains appeared again before hurtling toward the cage to bind the small beast.

The chains were somehow able to completely disregard the wyrm projection and wound themselves tightly around the purple fox's body, rendering all of its struggles completely futile.

Immediately thereafter, the silver wyrm projection that it had conjured up vanished, and the black cage settled again.

Xiao Buyi knew the importance of striking while the metal was hot, so before everyone could recover from their shock, he immediately announced, "I'm sure all of you have witnessed this beast's powers and no longer have any doubts about its capabilities. This starting price for this mystical beast will be 80,000,000 spirit stones; let the bidding begin!"

"85,000,000!"

"90,000,000!"

As expected, after witnessing the beast's powers, a series of astonishing bids were made, and within mere moments, the price had been bid up to over 100,000,000 spirit stones.

However, Han Li merely sat on the spot and didn't participate in the bidding.

This beast did indeed possess brilliant potential, but it would definitely take a long time to nurture. He already had his Weeping Soul Beast, Leopard Kirin Beast, and his Gold Devouring Beetles, so another spirit beast would most likely be superfluous to his requirements.

On top of that, even if he were tempted to bid for the beast, he simply didn't have enough spirit stones to participate in the bidding anyway.

At this point, even the holy race beings on the upper level were beginning to participate in the bidding. As such, even if he hadn't purchased the Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid earlier, the chances of him securing the beast now were extremely slim.

However, at this moment, a peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face as he appraised the silver fox in the cage.

Perhaps it was simply a figment of his imagination, but the appearance and demeanor of the bound purple beast somehow struck him with a sense of familiarity. In his eyes, the small beast bore a strong resemblance to Silvermoon.

Even though Silvermoon's true form was a silver wolf, she had also possessed a spirit fox in the human world, so it wasn't particularly strange that there was a certain level of resemblance between the two.

Even though he was well aware of this, he still couldn't help but feel slightly saddened at the sight of the pitiable purple fox that was bound in the cage.

Back when Silvermoon had left him, he certainly hadn't failed to notice the emotions hidden deep within her eyes prior to her departure.

However, at his pitiful cultivation base at the time, he couldn't do anything aside from look on as she returned to the Spirit Realm.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that Han Li's expression was different from those of the other foreign beings in the auction, but the immobilized purple fox seemed to have taken notice of him and suddenly turned its gaze toward him. As soon as their eyes met, it blinked its intelligent eyes, and a hint of confusion intermingled with elation suddenly appeared on its face.

The changes in the purple fox's expression were extremely minute, but they certainly couldn't escape the notice of Han Li's spirit eye ability.

As such, he immediately faltered slightly, and a hint of befuddlement welled up in his heart.

"130,000,000!" An astonishing bid was made by the owner of an elderly voice on the upper level, and the entire auction hall finally fell completely silent.

It seemed that no one was able to outdo that astronomical bid.

"130,000,000 going once!"

"130,000,000 going twice!"

""... going thrice!

Xiao Buyi was clearly also of the opinion that no one else would be able to place a higher bid, so after completing a quick count of three, he turned to the upper level with a smile, and said, "Congratulations, Brother Lu! With this mystical beast by your side, I'm sure you'll become even more formidable."

It seemed that he recognized the final bidder.

"Hehe, I didn't think that you'd still recognize my voice after we've been apart for so many years, Fellow Daoist Xiao," the final bidder chuckled in response.

Immediately thereafter, a burst of light suddenly flashed from a stone cabin near the back of the upper level, following which a ball of yellow light flew forth from within before landing on the stage in the flash.

Han Li's eyes narrowed as he looked on from his seat, and he discovered that this was an elderly man with yellow skin wearing a set of brocade robes.

The man had a head of curly hair, and had quite a burly and intimidating stature that was almost two feet taller than Xiao Buyi.

A hint of wariness flashed through Xiao Buyi's eyes a the sight of the elderly man, but he still said in a respectful manner, "I suggest that it would be best for you to knock this beast unconscious before you take it. Otherwise, it could be a little troublesome to control."

"Are you afraid that I won't be able to control a mere infantile beast? Don't worry, just tally up the spirit stones, and I'll be taking this spirit beast as is. You can get rid of the cage now, Fellow Daoist Lan." The brocade-robed man seemed to be very confident in his own abilities, and he casually tossed a bag of spirit stones at Xiao Buyi before turning to the bearded elderly man.

"Hehe, if you say so, Brother Lu; I'll be removing the restriction now." The elderly man nodded before slowly raising a hand as he prepared to make a grabbing motion toward the cage.

The small purple beast in the cage seemed to be aware that something bad was about to happen upon seeing this, and all of its fur stood up on end as it let loose a sharp screech.

As soon as this piercing screech rang out, the beings of lower cultivation bases present were struck by a ringing sensation in their heads, following which the magic power within their bodies became stagnant and disobedient.

These beings were naturally stunned by this turn of events.

However, for a Spatial Tempering Stage being like Han Li, the effects of this screech were naturally quite negligible. As for the elderly man, his expression didn't even change in the slightest as azure light flashed from his fingertips.

Meanwhile, the brocade-robed man had made quite a confident and bold declaration earlier, but he didn't actually dare to get too complacent. His eyes were fixed intently on the small beast as he readied himself to restrict it as soon as the elderly man withdrew the cage.

All of the other beings in the auction house also had their eyes fixed firmly on the stage.

At the sight of the purple fox's alarmed expression, a thought suddenly seemed to have occurred to Han Li, and his eyelids abruptly twitched as a dull crack rang out.

His hand was resting on the armrest of his chair, but he had abruptly clenched his fingers and crushed the jade armrest into dust.

Right at this moment, a startling turn of events abruptly unfolded!

An earthshattering boom erupted from outside the auction hall, following which the massive gates that were flashing with spiritual light suddenly exploded into countless shattered fragments.

The entire auction hall fell deathly silent as expressions of astonishment appeared on everyone's faces.

This was the Four Races Auction; who would dare to do something so brazen and reckless here?

However, the entire auction hall then immediately erupted into a frenzy as countless voices rang out at once.

"Argh, what happened?"

"What's going on?"

"Guards! Guards!"

Due to the fact that the restriction on the gates had been broken, there were spiritual lights flashing erratically at the entrance, making it impossible for everyone to see who the intruder was.

Xiao Buyi was also quite stunned by this sudden development, but as a Body Integration Stage being, he was able to quickly recompose himself as he yelled, "There's no need to panic! With our four races hosting this auction, no one can wreak havoc here without consequences!"

His voice was like a loud thunderclap that instantly instilled a sense of clarity into everyone's minds.

He was right. Setting aside all of the guards that had been deployed to the auction house, with so many upper race and holy race beings here, no one could possibly expect to barge in and not suffer the consequences of their actions.

"The four races, eh? You sure do dare to talk! Do you really think I wouldn't dare to kill all of you here?" A thunderous male voice sounded from outside the shattered gates.

Xiao Buyi's heart sank upon hearing this bold declaration, but his expression remained calm as he asked, "Who are you and how dare you wreak havoc in our Cloud City?"

"Is your Cloud City some kind of lethal realm? Why wouldn't I dare to wreak havoc here?" The sound of footsteps rang out from outside the auction hall, following which a humanoid figure slowly strode in.

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Everyone was finally able to glean the appearance of the intruder, and they discovered that this was a silver-robed middle-aged man. He had a set of rather delicate facial features, but his expression was as cold as ice.

Many of the beings in the auction hall immediately tried to sweep their spiritual sense toward him, only for their spiritual sense to be repelled by a burst of mysterious power emanating from the man's body, thereby completely thwarting their attempts to ascertain his cultivation base.

However, a being who dared to barge into the Four Races Auction in such a reckless manner naturally had to be an immensely powerful one.

What everyone failed to notice was that as soon as the purple beast caught sight of the man, an ecstatic expression appeared on its face. However, its body was still bound by the golden and silver chains, so it was unable to do anything.

"Who are you and how did you get in here? What happened to all of the guards outside?" Xiao Buyi asked with a solemn expression.

"I brought him in here, and I told the guards outside to grant us passage. Do you have a problem with that?" Another unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out, following which another person strode into the auction hall.

This was a white-robed young man who appeared to only be around 27 to 28 years old. His appearance was extremely ordinary, and there were no memorable features about him whatsoever. However, as soon as the young man entered the auction hall, an alarmed expression appeared on Xiao Buyi's face as he hurriedly extended a respectful bow.

"Xiao Buyi pays his respects to Senior Fei!"

"We pay our respects to Senior Fei!"

The other holy race beings on the stage also seemed to have recognized the young man, and their expressions also changed drastically as they hurriedly extended respectful bows.

Not only that, but all of the holy race beings on the upper level also flew out of their cabins before paying their respects to the young man.

Han Li looked up to find that even Qian Jizi and Duan Tianren were among these holy race beings. Both of them were at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage, yet they were also appraising the young man with awe and veneration in their eyes.

As such, it was not difficult to deduce that this young man had to be a Grand Ascension Stage being! With that in mind, Han Li's expression was also filled with astonishment as he cast his gaze toward the young man.

At this point, all of the other foreign beings in the auction hall had naturally also guessed this young man's true identity, and many of them gulped nervously with shock and alarm etched on their faces.

The entire hall fell completely silent once again.

"Why have you come here, Senior Fei? Didn't you go into seclusion?" The one who had spoken wasn't Xiao Buyi. Instead, it was another being at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage that Han Li didn't recognize. This was a strange being with dark green stripes all over his face, wearing a set of beasthide robes.

"Oh? So you're here as well, Junior Hei. I came out of seclusion and arrived in Cloud City due to the recent Jiao Chi Race invasion, but I'm here today because of Fellow Daoist Tu," the young man sighed.

"May I ask who this Senior Tu is?" the green-faced being asked with an uneasy look in his eyes.

The young man merely smiled upon hearing this, but didn't offer a reply. Instead, he turned to the silver-robed man, and asked, "Brother Tu, have you found the one you're looking for?"

"Of course!" The silver-robed man looked around before his gaze finally settled on the stone stage.

A hint of elation flashed through his eyes at the sight of the purple beast, but his face quickly fell at the sight of the black cage and thin chains that the small beast had been bound by.

His body swayed, and he disappeared amid a flash of silver light.

In the next instant, silver light flashed on the stage, and the silver-robed being reappeared in a soundless manner.

The brocade-robed man was given quite a fright by the sudden appearance of the silver-robed man right next to him, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "Senior, you..."

"Piss off!" The silver-robed man had no intention of speaking with him, and he cut him off in an abrupt manner before casually sweeping a sleeve toward him.

An immense burst of power was immediately sent hurtling toward the brocade-robed man, and he was naturally quite alarmed and enraged by this sudden unprovoked attack.

He reflexively drew a sharp breath, and a layer of yellow light surfaced all over his body as he prepared to withstand the attack.

Following an earth-shattering boom, the yellow light around his body tremored violently, and he was forced back seven or eight steps in quick succession, almost falling off the stage in the end.

Xiao Buyi's expression changed drastically upon seeing this.

He was well aware of just how powerful this brocade-robed man was. He specialized in an earth-attribute cultivation art of an extremely high caliber, and defense had always been his forte. However, he wasn't even able to withstand a casual strike from the silver-robed man, and that was absolutely astonishing.

It appeared that this silver-robed man was most definitely a Grand Ascension Stage being as well.

The other four beings on the stage had also clearly come to the same conclusion as Xiao Buyi, and al of them hurriedly took a few steps backward at the sight of the approaching silver-robed man.

However, an unexpected turn of events then unfolded.

The silver-robed man completely ignored them as he strode directly toward the cage, then tore it apart with his bare hands with ease as if it were nothing more than a papier-mâchéstructure.

Thus, the ruined cage and the small beast plummeted downward at the same time, and the two halves of the cage disappeared into clouds of black Qi before they had even fallen onto the ground below.

Meanwhile, the small beast let loose an elated peal of laughter as it was caught by the silver-robed man, who then swept his other hand over the golden and silver chains around its body.

Following a string of dull thumps, the chains were all shattered, and as soon as the small purple beast was freed, it dove into the silver-robed man's arms and rubbed its head against him an extremely affectionate manner.

"Hmph, that's what you get for not staying in the cave abode and running off on your own! Tell me who captured you and brought you here." The man stroked the small beast's head in a doting manner before a frosty expression suddenly appeared on his face.

The four mid-Body Integration Stage beings nearby were quite alarmed to hear this, and they all exchanged fearful glances with one another.

This small beast had been captured by the four of them and transported to the auction hall. Otherwise, as guest members of the Heavenly Cloud Races, they most likely wouldn't have been invited onto the stage.

At this moment, the small purple beast turned to the bearded elderly man with a resentful expression, then let loose a string of low snarls as if it really were communicating something to the silver-robed man.

"What? He tortured you? How dare you! The four of you can all pay with your lives!" An enraged expression appeared on the silver-robed man's face, and an astonishing baleful aura erupted from his body.

His shoulder swayed, and his arm shot forth toward the elderly man like lightning. There was a distance of over 100 feet between them, but his arm somehow elongated drastically, and his five fingers shimmered with silver light as they reached the elderly man in a flash.

The attack was so fast that it reached its target almost instantaneously. At the same time, an asphyxiating burst of spiritual pressure crashed down upon the elderly man.

He was already prepared for an attack, but never did he think that the attack would come with such immense power and ferocity.

In the face of this lightning-fast attack, he only had a chance to opened his mouth to expel an azure bead that hurtled directly toward the oncoming hand. At the same time, he activated an incantation seal that he'd already prepared in advance, and his body suddenly blurred as three light barriers of different colors instantly materialized before him.

However, the events that unfolded next plunged the elderly man into a state of extreme horror.

Before the azure bead even had a chance to unleash its power, it was shattered into countless fragments by a flash of silver light.

Almost at the exact same moment, the silver-robed man's hand pierced through all three light barriers in an instant, and five streaks of silver light flashed directly toward the elderly man's head.

The man naturally had countless other abilities that he had yet to unleash, but in this dire situation, there was nothing that he could do.

As such, his face immediately turned deathly pale as a sense of impending doom dawned upon him.

However, right at this moment, a calm voice sounded nearby.

"Please stop, Fellow Daoist Tu; have you forgotten what you promised me?" All of a sudden, an ordinary-looking palm appeared out of thin air, swatting the five streaks of silver light aside with a casual wave.

Immediately thereafter, spatial fluctuations erupted nearby, and the young man with the Fei surname appeared beside the silver-robed man with a serious expression on his face.

The silver-robed man seemed to be rather wary of the young man, as indicated by the fact that he didn't unleash any further attacks after his first attack was nullified. However, he still wore a dark expression on his face as he said, "Hmph, I did indeed promise that I wasn't going to kill anyone here, but I never said I'd spare them from all punishment."

"Of course. Seeing as these fellow Daoists have hurt your daughter, they naturally must be punished," the young man said with a smile.

"Daughter? That means you're a Human-faced Wyrm!" The elderly man was yet to recover from that near-death experience, and his face paled even further upon hearing the young man's words.

"Indeed, my true form is that of a Human-faced Wyrm. Do you want to capture me as well?" The silver-robed man turned to the old man with a cold look in his eyes.

"I wouldn't dare to even dream of it, Senior! We didn't know that this spirit beast was your daughter, so I implore you to spare us, Senior!" The elderly man was a holy race being, but he knew the importance of cowering when required. As such, he immediately begged for his life in this grim situation.

"You were far too reckless, Brother Lan; how could you have gone hunting for spirit beasts near Brother Tu's cave abode? You should thank the heavens that no harm has befallen Brother Tu's daughter," the young man scolded with a dark expression.

"I didn't know that Senior Tu's cave abode was under than region of the sea. Otherwise, I certainly wouldn't have dared to venture anywhere near it!" Cold sweat began to pour down the elderly man's face upon hearing this, and the other three beings' faces had also paled significantly.

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Even though they were already holy race beings, they knew that the difference between the Grand Ascension Stage and the Body Integration Stage was like that of heaven and earth. After reaching the Grand Ascension Stage, one would attain unfathomable power, thereby creating an insurmountable gulf between themselves and Body Integration Stage beings.

Under normal circumstances, a few beings at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage could perhaps put a fight against an early-Body Integration Stage being, but a few beings at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage would only be able to flee for their lives in the face of an early-Grand Ascension Stage being.

After reaching the Grand Ascension Stage, one was essentially half a true immortal, and through their cultivation, they could grasp some extremely powerful laws of heaven and earth, making them virtually completely invincible to Body Integration Stage beings. As for the final Tribulation Transcendence Stage, that was actually only an arbitrary division. Aside from a slight change in the nature of one's magic power, beings who reached that stage wouldn't actually be a whole lot more powerful than Grand Ascension Stage beings.

Furthermore, after reaching the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, there were no longer any early, mid, or late classifications. Most of them would also go into indefinite seclusion to try and transcend their true immortal tribulations in an attempt to ascend to that higher realm.

As such, Grand Ascension Stage beings were the most powerful beings in the Spirit Realm aside from those true spirit beings.

The four guest members of the Heavenly Cloud Races had just captured the daughter of such an unfathomably powerful being, so they were naturally completely petrified.

However, they were situated in Cloud City, and there were so many powerful beings from all 13 races around them. As such, if the Human-faced Wyrm had come here alone, then they wouldn't have been all that fearful toward him. The most worrying thing to them was that the young man with the Fei surname seemed to be an acquaintance of the Human-faced Wyrm, and he had even led the Human-faced Wyrm to this place. Hence, it would naturally be impossible for them to try and encourage everyone to attack the Human-faced Wrym together, which was why they were so horrified by this current situation.

If it weren't for the fact that the young man had dispelled the lethal attack that was about to take the elderly man's life, they would've already fled for their lives.

"Alright, I'll do you a favor and spare their lives, Brother Fei, but they tortured my daughter on the way, so I have to punish them," the silver-robed man suddenly chuckled coldly after a brief silence.

He then swung his hand toward the elderly man in a lightning-fast chopping motion, and before the old man could react, one of his arms had already been dismembered amid a flash of silver light, and a geyser of blood erupted from the wound.

The elderly man was greatly startled by this, yet before he had a chance to administer treatment to himself, the young man suddenly appeared by his side before gently thrusting a palm toward his wound.

Brilliant green light flashed, and the bleeding was immediately stopped, following which the wound began to heal at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.

The elderly man's face turned deathly pale, and he was just about to say something when the young man waved a hand toward him, and said, "Seeing as Brother Tu has already punished you, the others will be spared of further punishment. However, this is not the end of the matter. I don't care how you captured Brother Tu's daughter, but all of you must give him 100,000,000 spirit stones each as compensation for mental damages. If you're unwilling to do so, then you can all leave one of your arms here."

The four beings all heaved internal sighs of relief upon hearing this.

If they could settle such a major issue through spending just 100,000,000 spirit stones each, then that would naturally be close to the ideal outcome. Otherwise, even if they were to be spared now, they'd have to essentially hide in Cloud City for the rest of their lives as venturing out of the city could result in them being hunted down by this Grand Ascension Stage being.

The elderly man had lost an arm and some blood essence, but at his cultivation base, reattaching a limb was a simple matter.

Thus, the four beings immediately gathered together and brought out four bags of spirit stones, all of which they handed to the young man in a respectful manner.

The young man took the bags of spirit stones from them before turning to the silver-robed man with a smile as he said, "I'm sure these spirit stones won't be enough to assuage your rage, but this is the first time Fellow Daoist Lan and the others had visited your Crepe Myrtle Sea, so they were completely oblivious and certainly didn't intend to offend you. As such, please do me a favor and let bygones be bygones."

The silver-robed man's expression remained quite furious upon hearing this, but after glancing at the elderly man's dismembered arm, then turning back to the young man's smiling face, he finally gave a reluctant nod in the end.

"Alright, I'll do you a favor and spare them on this occasion, but from now on, they are prohibited from coming to my Crepe Myrtle Sea. If I find them there again, don't blame me for putting an end to their lives." A set of blurry silver patterns appeared on the silver-robed man's face as he spoke, giving him a far more sinister appearance.

The young man wasn't surprised at all by the silver-robed man's condition, and he tossed the bags of spirit stones over to him as he replied with a smile, "Of course. If Fellow Daoist Lan and the others dare to venture into your Crepe Myrtle Sea again, then they'll be rid of their statuses as guest members of our Heavenly Cloud Races, and you'll be able to do with them as you pleased."

The four beings in question began to sweat profusely again after hearing this.

The silver-robed man caught the four bags of spirit stones, and his expression eased slightly as spiritual light flashed from his hands, following which the four bags abruptly disappeared.

Immediately thereafter, the man suddenly patted the small beast on the back, and purple light flashed as the small beast disappeared, only to be replaced by a little girl who appeared to be six or seven years old.

The little girl had snowy white skin and a pair of bright black eyes. There were several purple little braids woven into her hair, and she was extremely adorable.

Many people's expression changed slightly upon seeing this.

This small beast clearly wasn't powerful enough to be able to manifest a human form on its own, yet the silver-robed man was able to assist her in doing so, thereby presenting a further indication of his immense powers.

Even after adopting a human form, the small beast was still clinging tightly to the silver-robed man while uttering a series of unintelligible syllables. At the same time, she was pointing insistently at the four beings who had captured her with a pitiable look on her little face.

"Alright, I've already taught them a lesson, so that's the end of this matter. Let this be a lesson to you as well; this is what you get for being so disobedient! After we go back, make sure to focus on your cultivation, and I won't let you leave the cave abode until you reach the metamorphosis stage." The man was speaking in a stern voice, but the doting expression on his face made his scolding words completely weightless.

The little girl pouted upon hearing this, and a hint of moisture began to well up in her eyes as she threatened to burst into tears.

The silver-robed man heaved a resigned sigh and no longer paid any heed to the little girl as he turned, instead, to the young man beside him.

"It's all thanks to you that I was able to recover my beloved daughter, Brother Fei; my Dao Companion and I will repay you for this favor in the future. However, she's currently still waiting at home for further news on our daughter, so I have to go back right away." As his voice trailed off, the silver-robed man cupped his fist in a farewell salute.

"In that case, I won't keep you any longer, Brother Tu. I wish you and your daughter a safe and smooth return journey." Seeing as the Human-faced Wyrm was willing to spare the four beings who had captured his daughter, the young man heaved an internal sigh of relief.

Those four beings were all guest members of the Heavenly Cloud Races, and they were also holy beings as well, so he naturally couldn't allow them to be killed in front of so many people.

However, it was also most definitely not in Cloud City's best interest to make the Human-faced Wyrm its enemy. Not only was this silver-robed being extremely fearsome, the thought of his immensely powerful Dao Companion also sent shivers running down his spine.

Otherwise, even if he were acquainted with or even a good friend of the Human-faced Wyrm, he definitely wouldn't have led him to this place and essentially conceded to everyone present that Cloud City was fearful of him.

As such, this was about as ideal an outcome as he could hope for.

The silver-robed man nodded before turning around, and spiritual light flashed around his body as he prepared to leave. However, right at this moment, the little girl suddenly tugged on his robes and said something that was unintelligible to everyone again, then pointed toward a certain direction in the auction hall.

"Oh? Is that true?" The spiritual light around the silver-robed man's body faded as a hint of surprise crept into his voice.

The young man faltered upon seeing this before asking, "What did your daughter say, Brother Tu?"

"It's nothing important; it appears that she may have identified a being here who is somehow related to my Dao Companion," the Human-faced Wyrm replied as he cast his gaze toward the direction that the little girl was pointing toward.

The young man was rather taken aback to hear this, and he also narrowed his eyes as he turned toward that direction.

Under the scrutiny of two Grand Ascension Stage beings at once, all of the beings sitting in that direction immediately grew quite uneasy. Even if they knew that this clearly had nothing to do with them, they still couldn't help but feel quite anxious.

Han Li's expression also changed slightly as he knew that the person the little girl was pointing at was most likely himself!

However, he had no idea why she singled him out from the crowd.

During the exchange that just took place between the silver-robed man and the young man, someone had cast a temporary restriction that allowed everyone to still see everything that was happening on the stage, but not hear what was being said.

On top of that, in that instant, an extremely fearsome burst of spiritual sense suddenly swept through this area, and many beings' faces paled as this spiritual sense washed over them.

In the instant that this burst of spiritual sense swept past his body, Han Li was also struck by the harrowing sensation that his entire being had been completely bared to the owner of the spiritual sense. This feeling was like being scrutinized by a primordial beast that was too powerful for him to even consider resisting.

His heart sank slightly, following which he immediately sensed the silver-robed man's gaze lock onto him from afar.

All of a sudden, the man raised a foot, and in the next instant, Han Li felt his vision blur slightly, following which a humanoid figure suddenly appeared before him.

It was none other than the silver-robed man and the little girl that was being held in his arms.

The little girl was currently appraising him with curiosity shimmering in her bright eyes, and Han Li immediately rose to his feet. He was feeling quite uneasy, but he still maintained a calm expression as he extended a respectful salute to the silver-robed man.

"I pay my respects to Senior Tu!"

In the face of a Grand Ascension Stage being, he didn't dare to show any disrespect.

The man took an errant glance at Han Li before shaking his head in an aloof manner. "He does indeed possess a hint of aura that belongs to the race that your mother hailed from, but it's very slight. Even if there is some kind of bloodline connection, it's completely negligible. What am I going to do with you? Your mother has so many powerful abilities for you to inherit, but you inherited her most useless sensory ability. Seeing as he doesn't have much of a connection with your mother, let's leave him be."

Before the little girl had a chance to say anything, silver light flashed from his body, and he immediately flew out of the auction hall as a streak of silver light.

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Han Li felt as if he'd dodged a bullet, and he heaved an internal sigh of relief.

He was a full-blood human, so how could he be somehow related to the Human-faced Wyrm's Dao Companion? Could it be due to the true spirit bloods he'd refined?

That wasn't very plausible, either. Those true spirit bloods were indeed quite powerful, but after being refined, they'd merely hide in his body on a recessive basis. Otherwise, with all of the powerful beings he'd encountered, at least one of them would've noticed.

Han Li contemplated this matter for a while, but emerged on the other side just as confused as he was before.

Meanwhile, the foreign beings in the nearby area were all appraising him with peculiar expressions. Even the young man with the Fei surname cast a glance toward him, but he didn't say anything.

As for Body Integration Stage beings on the upper level, many of them were also appraising him with curiosity in their eyes.

Among them, Duan Tianren naturally immediately recognized Han Li, and a peculiar look also appeared on his face.

Meanwhile, Han Li was feeling quite disgruntled by the widespread attention he was suddenly receiving.

The young man withdrew his gaze before turning to the Xiao Buyi and the elderly man as he said, "Alright, seeing as this issue has been resolved, the auction can be continued. I'll be going now. Fellow Daoist Lan, make sure the four of you don't go to the Crepe Myrtle Sea ever again. Otherwise, if something were to happen to you, even I wouldn't be able to do anything."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind Senior! Thank you for stepping in to save us. Otherwise, we would've been killed for sure." The four beings were naturally filled with gratitude toward the young man.

Xiao Buyi also bade farewell to him in a respectful manner.

The young man nodded before walking down the stage in just a single step. He didn't appear to be moving very quickly, but he exited the auction hall and disappeared in a flash after just a few more steps.

Following the departure of the two Grand Ascension Stage beings, all of the Body Integration Stage beings returned to the cabins on the upper level again.

Everyone else in the hall turned their attention to the people on the stage again, and Xiao Buyi turned to the four other beings as he said, "Brother Lan, you're still carrying an injury, so you should go back to your cave abode on focus on your recovery. Mistress Kun, I'll have to trouble the three of you for a while longer. Fortunately, the auction is almost over, so I won't be delaying you for too long. On top of that, I'll be raising your payments by 20% on behalf of our four races."

The woman exchanged a glance with her two companions, and a wry smile appeared on her face as she replied, "Rest assured, Brother Xiao, we promised to stay for the duration of the auction, and we certainly plan to see it through to the end."

"Thank you!" Xiao Buyi was ecstatic to hear this.

If these three really were to insist on leaving right away, then there was nothing he could do to ask them to stay.

As for the bearded elderly man, he merely nodded in response with a thunderous expression on his face before making a grabbing motion with his remaining hand.

His dismembered arm hovered immediately hovered toward him at his behest before being carefully stowed away.

Immediately thereafter, the elderly man made a hand seal, and a low buzzing sound rang out from the blue formation on the stage, following which he disappeared amid a flash of spiritual light.

As a holy race being, the elderly man had always been respected and revered, so it was naturally extremely humiliating for him to have an arm dismembered in front of so many people.

As such, he didn't want to remain in the auction hall for even a moment longer, and nor did he want to see anyone for a long time after this.

At this moment, Xiao Buyi suddenly turned to the brocade-robed man who had retreated to the side of the stage, and smiled as he said, "Due to the unforeseen circumstances that have just unfolded, the last auction item has naturally been canceled. Fellow Daoist Lu, you may take back your spirit stones. Additionally, in order to compensate you for your loss, if you manage to successfully purchase one of the final three items, then you'll receive a discount of 10,000,000 spirit stones."

Thus, he raised a hand and tossed back the bag of spirit stone that had just been issued.

The brocade-robed man was clearly afraid that the Human-faced Wyrm would turn on him as well, so he'd been standing there in silence, hoping to blend in with the scenery.

After hearing Xiao Buyi's offer, the man shook his head and sighed, "So be it. The incident that just took place indicates that I have no affinity with this auction. As such, I won't be participating in the rest of this auction."

After catching the bag of spirit stones, the man immediately turned and exited the auction hall, quickly disappearing from view thereafter.

His departure created a slight stir among the rest of the people in the auction hall, Xiao Buyi's brows furrowed slightly before quickly smoothing out as he turned to the green-scaled woman beside him.

Following a slight nod from Xiao Buyi, the woman reached into her sleeve to pull out a black object before tossing it into the air.

All of a sudden, a string of ferocious cries erupted within the auction hall.

Immediately thereafter, gale-force winds swept forth in all directions as a black clouds materialized out of thin air. The cloud tumbled and churned violently as it expanded to over 100 feet in size, and such a phenomenon naturally drew the attention of all of the beings below the stage.

A burst of screeching rang out incessantly from within the clouds, following which several thunderclaps erupted, and the dark clouds disappeared amid flashes of white lightning.

Thus, an inky-black flying carriage was instantly revealed. The carriage was around 50 to 60 feet in length antiquated patterns carved all over its surface, and an ancient aura was emanating from it.

The carriage was being drawn by four black horned pegasi, and not only did they each have a pair of black wings, most of their bodies were covered by a layer of black armor.

Atop each of these pegasi was a black armored being that was around as tall as an average human. They were all armed to the teeth with swords and bows strapped to their backs, and all of the pegasi, as well as their riders, were hovering completely motionlessly in mid-air, indicating that they were all puppets!

The same cold light was emanating from the carriage and the four pegasus riders, and that suggested that they had been refined from the same material.

Many people below the stage were quite intrigued by the sight of this carriage and the pegasus riders.

"Hehe, this is the second auction item that has been reserved for our finale, the Infernal Earth Battle Carriage. I won't make an in-depth introduction of this carriage, but I'm sure most of you will have heard about its place of origin. I trust that many of you still recall the Earth Spirit Race that was completely eradicated hundreds of thousands of years ago. Back then, they were renowned as the race on the Thunder Continent that was most proficient in puppetry. This Infernal Earth Battle Carriage was made by none other than the Earth Spirit Race, and it was found at a set of ruins left behind by said race. As for its specific abilities, I won't display them here. All I can tell you is that each of these rider puppets possesses mid-Spatial Tempering Stage power, and when all four of them combine their powers, they can unleash a secret technique that has been lost for a long time, and that secret technique is capable of withstanding an attack from an early-holy race being. As for the carriage itself, it has countless transformations, and that will have to be explored by the fellow Daoist who ends up purchasing it," Xiao Buyi chuckled.

Many people were already quite temped upon hearing that this carriage had been forged by the Earth Spirit Race, and after learning that the four puppet riders could even keep an early-holy race being at bay, all of them were ecstatic. There were even some people who swept their spiritual sense toward the carriage for a closer inspection, only to be given a massive fright before hurriedly withdrawing their spiritual sense.

As it turned out, as soon as their spiritual sense came into contact with the flying carriage, a strange burst of suction force suddenly erupted from it that forcibly sucked their spiritual sense into the carriage.

This was naturally quite a startling development.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that the carriage still had no owner as of yet, but all of them were able to withdraw their spiritual sense without any impediment. Otherwise, they really would've been in a rather sticky situation.

As such, it was verified that this carriage did indeed possess some extraordinary abilities, and it drew even more interest from prospective bidders.

Han Li was among the beings who had swept his spiritual sense toward the carriage, and he had also developed a sense of curiosity toward it. However, He then immediately heaved a forlorn internal sigh.

The starting price of the carriage hadn't yet been announced, but it was surely going to be very high, seeing as this was a treasure capable of keeping even an early-holy race being at bay. As such, he would simply have to act as a spectator while others bid of the carriage.

However, the Golden Lightning Bamboo still hadn't appeared yet, which meant that in the eyes of the auction house, it was even more important than this carriage and that spirit beast from earlier.

Just as these thoughts were running through Han Li's mind, Xiao Buyi finally announced the starting prices for this carriage. "The starting price for this Infernal Earth Battle Carriage will be 120,000,000 spirit stones!"

Han Li knew that the starting price was going to be quite a staggering one, but he was still taken aback by this massive sum.

As expected, bidding for this Infernal Earth Battle Carriage was extremely intense, and the price was quickly bid up to over 200,000,000 spirit stones. Even so, there were many people who were unwilling to give up.

However, on this occasion, there weren't many holy race beings from the upper level who participated in the bidding. A few of them placed a bid here and there, but all of them gave up on the carriage after the price exceeded 200,000,000.

In the end, the carriage was secured by a graceful woman with a veil over her face for the price of 220,000,000 spirit stones.

This drew a sense of bewilderment from many of the beings present as this woman appeared to only be at the mid-Deity Transformation Stage, so it was quite incredible that she'd be in possession of such a huge sum of spirit stones.

Han Li was also rather surprised to see this, but he quickly cast these thoughts aside as the next auction item was a section of green bamboo.

It was none other than the Golden Lightning Bamboo that he'd offered to the auction house!

"This is a section of Golden Lightning Bamboo, the source of the paramount wood-attribute divine lightning! The starting price is 70,000,000!" Xiao Buyi's introduction was quite concise on this occasion, and he picked up the section of bamboo as he spoke before waving it toward the people below the stage.

A loud thunderclap rang out as countless arcs of golden lightning erupted from the section of bamboo at once, instantly forming a large golden net of lightning.

"Golden Lightning Bamboo!"

"Divine Devilbane Lightning!"

"Paramount wood-attribute divine lightning!"

Cries of surprise and elation immediately rang out, and some of them had even come directly from the upper level.

Many people's expressions changed drastically at the sight of the golden lightning net, and a massive stir ran through the entire auction hall!

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Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged, but he was quite delighted by this reaction.

It was quite clear that this Golden Lightning Bamboo was even more precious than he'd originally thought.

But then again, even though he'd already mastered the Lightningwield Technique, he still couldn't help but feel that there seemed to be something else hidden within the Golden Lightning Bamboo. Otherwise, the demon monarchs of the earth abyss wouldn't have been so wary of this Divine Devilbane Lightning.

Unfortunately, the demon monarchs were merely using him as a tool at the time, so even if the Golden Lightning Bamboo were harboring some other secrets, they naturally wouldn't tell him about it.

Han Li had searched through the Flying Spirit Race and Cloud City, but there weren't many tomes that he could find that were related to the Golden Lightning Bamboo and Divine Devilbane Lightning. As such, he could only give up in his search for now and hope that an answer would present itself to him later on.

Just as these thoughts were racing through Han Li's mind, bidding had already begun on the Golden Lightning Bamboo.

All of a sudden, a holy race being on the upper level made a staggering bid of 250,000,000 spirit stones, effectively scaring off many prospective bidders.

However, that holy race being definitely wasn't the only one with a massive budget.

Almost immediately thereafter, bids of 260,000,000 and 270,000,000 were made by two other holy race beings on the upper level.

The voice of one of the bidders was rather familiar to Han Li, and after a brief moment of contemplation, he realized that it was Qian Jizi.

This elder of the Myriad Ancient Race had also set his sights on that section of Golden Lightning Bamboo.

As for the other bidder, it was the man with the Lie surname who had raised his skepticism toward the flawed Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid earlier.

These two beings made one bid after another, and all of the other prospective bidders could only look on in disappointment and yearning toward the Golden Lightning Bamboo on the stage.

All of a sudden, the atmosphere in the auction hall became a little tense and oppressive.

"300,000,000!"

After a brief silence, the holy race being who had earlier made the bid of 250,000,000 finally placed another bid, and Han Li's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this astonishing price.

This time, Qian Jizi heaved a forlorn sigh and remained silent.

"310,000,000! Fellow Daoist Jing, you're the one bidding against me, right? This section of Golden Lightning Bamboo is extremely important to me, so I hope that you can relinquish it to me." The man with the Lie surname made another after a brief hesitation before directing a polite request toward the other bidder.

However, the man with the Jing surname had no intention of giving up, and he chuckled, "I don't think so, Brother Lie. The Golden Lightning Bamboo is also extremely important to me, which is why I'm willing to place such a high bid for it. I won't be handing it over to anyone. 320,000,000!"

"Alright, in that case, I'll hand over the Golden Lightning Bamboo to you, Brother Jing." The man with the Lie surname seemed to be aware of how wealthy his competitor was, so he also gave up following a wistful sigh.

"Hehe, you have my thanks, Brother Lie!" the man with the Jing surname replied in a triumphant voice, but he was quickly stumped by the scenes that unfolded next.

"330,000,000!" A bid was made by someone on the lower level.

This was a pleasant female voice, and many people faltered upon hearing this before turning toward that direction, only to find that the bidder was none other than the same woman who had purchased the Infernal Earth Battle Carriage.

Everyone was quite stunned to see this, including Han Li.

She had already spent such a massive sum of spirit stones earlier, yet she was still able to make such an astronomical bid; that was insane!

Of course, this didn't truly indicate that her wealth exceeded that of a holy race being, but at the very least, she possessed far more spirit stones than the average holy race being.

"340,000,000!" the man with the Jing surname continued in a dark voice.

"350,000,000!" the woman countered in an unhurried manner.

The man with the Jing surname fell silent once again, but after a brief moment, he made another bid in a frosty voice. "360,000,000! If anyone can make a higher bid than this, then even I won't be able to keep up."

As soon as his voice fell, the woman made another bid in an extremely calm manner. "370,000,000!"

A burst of enraged and incredulous laughter rang out from the cabin that the man with the Jing surname was situated in.

"Good! Seeing as you're so intent on securing this Golden Lightning Bamboo, then I can only wish you a safe trip when you depart from Cloud City!"

After being provoked over and over again by an upper race being, this holy race being finally couldn't repress his fury any longer, and delivered a barely-concealed threat.

However, the woman completely ignored him as if she hadn't even heard what was being said. After Xiao Buyi announced that she had successfully placed the final bid for the auction item, she made her way onto the stage in an unhurried manner, then issued the required spirit stones in exchange for the Golden Lightning Bamboo before returning to her seat.

The fearlessness being displayed by the woman evoked a sense of wariness in the heart of the man with the Jing surname, and he merely chuckled coldly before falling silent.

"Alright, we have now reached the grand finale of the auction, so allow me to present our most precious auction item. Hehe, I'm sure all of you know what it is already. The final auction item is a vial of 13 Myriad Wonder Pills. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate much on the extraordinary effects of Myriad Wonder Pills; not only are they ideal for breakthroughs to the holy race, consumption of the pill can cleanse one's essence and enhance one's constitution. In the past, Myriad Wonder Pills have been sold during prior auctions, but they've never been sold in batches of more than three or four at once. In all honesty, even I was quite stunned that the elders of the Crystal Race were willing to offer so many Myriad Wonder Pills to be sold during this auction. If it weren't for the fact that I'm hosting this auction, perhaps I would participate in the bidding as well. I won't be able to use them for myself, but these pills would be more than ideal for a junior or disciple of mine," Xiao Buyi said with a forlorn look on his face.

After that, he accepted a faint silver vial from one of the armored beings on the stage, then raised it high above his head.

The holy race beings on the upper level may not have been overly tempted by these pills, but the beings on the lower and middle levels were all staring intently at the silver vial in Xiao Buyi's hand with scorching desire in their eyes.

All of them either wore solemn expressions, or ones of unbridled excitement or anxiety.

"Alright, that's enough rambling from me. Without further ado, the starting price for this vial of Myriad Wonder Pills is 300,000,000!" Xiao Buyi announced with a smile.

After hearing this starting price, Han Li stroked his chin and crossing his arms, then leaned back into his seat expressionlessly before closing his eyes.

At this moment, Han Li's mind had completely drifted away from the vial of Myriad Wonder Pills before offered on the stage. Instead, he was contemplating how he could get his hands on its refinement method.

If the ingredients used were all plant-based items, then he could refine countless such pills for himself. If these Myriad Wonder Pills really were as extraordinary as everyone proclaimed, then with the assistance of the true spirit bloods within his body, there was a very good chance that he'd be able break through to the Body Integration Stage through consuming these pills.

Thus, Han Li fell into deep thought...

Close to a day later, within the secret chamber of his cave abode on Dreamcloud Mountain, Han Li sat in a cross-legged manner with a faint blue pouch in one hand, and a small white vial in the other.

He bounced the pouch up and down in his hand as a faint smile appeared on his face.

This pouch naturally contained the top-grade spirit stones that he'd received from the Four Races Auction, and they were most likely sufficient to cover close to half of the costs incurred by using the super teleportation formation. If Cai Liuying really were willing to issue the other half of the costs, then he'd most likely be able to gather the remaining sum of spirit stones quite easily.

The last time he'd attended an auction was back in Deep Heaven City of the human race, and he'd clearly underestimated just how wealthy foreign beings from other continents were. Thus, the costs required to use the super teleportation formation were no longer a problem to him.

All he had to next was to travel to the Vast Glacial Realm, gather the tool refinement material for the Stone Cocoon Race, secure the designated treasures for Cai Liuying and Duan Tianren, and he'd be able to teleport back to the Tian Yuan Continent thereafter.

On top of that, his trip to the Vast Glacial Realm would be a brilliant opportunity for him to break through a bottleneck. As such, it would be very much in his best interest to cultivate to the pinnacle of the early-Spatial Tempering Stage. In that case, he'd be able to use the vast abundance of spiritual Qi in the Vast Glacial Realm to facilitate a breakthrough to the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage.

These thoughts raced rapidly through Han Li's mind, and he carefully re-evaluated his plan before finally heaving a long sigh after ascertaining that there were no issues with his projected course of action.

Spiritual light then flashed from one of his hands, and the pouch of spirit stones instantly disappeared.

After that, Han Li turned his gaze toward the small white vial. This was naturally the vial that contained the flawed Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid.

Compared to the auction items that had been reserved for the finale, this spirit liquid had been a lot cheaper. However, Qing Yuanzi had promised him some Divine Infernal River Elixir, so Han Li had been extremely diligent when it came to gathering the items on Qing Yuanzi's list.

This spiritual liquid was flawed, yet Xiao Buyi proclaimed that it still possessed all of the abilities of a perfectly refined batch of the same spirit liquid, just to a significantly lesser degree.

Of course, Han Li wasn't going to just take his word for it; he naturally had to conduct an examination for himself to verify if this was indeed the case.

Otherwise, if he were to present something to Qing Yuanzi that was completely useless, then the latter certainly wasn't going to be happy.

Thus, Han Li appraised the jade vial in his hand in deep thought before suddenly opening his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames.

The ball of silver flames revolved around Han Li before a crisp cry rang out, and it transformed into a silver Fire Raven.

Han Li then immediately tossed the jade vial into the air, then pointed a finger toward it.

A dull thump rang out as the runes on the surface of the vial's lid flashed, following which it flew off of its own accord.

All of a sudden, brilliant red light flashed from the opening of the vial, and a pillar of crimson flames erupted from within. At the same time, a ball of red liquid slowly hovered out of the vial.

The entire secret chamber was immediately illuminated by red light, and scorching heatwaves rolled directly toward Han Li, making him feel as if he'd been thrown directly into a furnace!

At this moment, the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven suddenly became extremely excited at the sight of the ball of red liquid, and it let loose an elated cry before spreading its wings and flying toward it before Han Li had even given it any instructions.

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Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal to stop the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven cold in its tracks.

The Fire Raven let loose a reluctant cry before revolving around the ball of spirit liquid in a wistful manner.

Prior to deciding how he was going to use this flawed batch of spirit liquid, he naturally wasn't going to allow his Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven to devour it.

He had only summoned the Fire Raven so it could assist him in testing the efficacy of the Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid.

Han Li flicked his 10 fingers through the air in rapid succession, casting a series of incantation seals of different colors toward the ball of spirit liquid.

Some of these incantation seals disappeared into the ball of liquid in a flash while others were repelled amid flashes of red light. There were also some incantation seals that struck the ball of liquid with rumbling booms akin to dull thunderclaps, and Han Li's expression changed incessantly as he witnessed the spirit liquid's reactions to the incantation seals he'd cast toward it.

After the final white incantation seal struck the ball of liquid and exploded into a cloud of white mist, Han Li suddenly stopped what he was doing as he stroked his chin with a contemplative look on his face.

A few moments later, he suddenly flipped a hand over to summon a set of extremely intricate formation flags. These flags were only several inches in size each, and as he raised a hand, they transformed into several streaks of spiritual light that shot forth through the air before abruptly disappearing.

A light formation that was around 10 feet in size appeared in their place.

This was a five-colored light formation that had a wide top and a narrow bottom, making it resemble a massive funnel.

There was a series of runes of different sizes flashing near the light formation, giving it a very mysterious appearance.

Han Li let loose a low cry before making a grabbing motion toward the ball of fiery liquid that was hovering in mid-air, and it was instantly thrust into the light formation.

In the instant that the ball of liquid entered the formation, a low buzzing sound suddenly rang out from within the light formation, following which a five-colored light barrier that encompassed the entire formation appeared.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged as he flicked his 10 fingers toward the light formation, and a series of thin translucent threads shot forth from his fingertips before disappearing into the light barrier up ahead.

Han Li then curled his fingers inward slightly, and the translucent threads completely straightened out in response.

He began to chant something, and a film of light began to revolve around the translucent threads, as if something were being transmitted toward them from the light formation.

Han Li stared at the translucent threads with an intense unblinking gaze.

What he was unleashing now was a secret technique that had been invented by the Monarch of Soul Divergence, and the technique allowed him to combine the power of his spiritual sense with this formation in a synergistic manner.

Not only could the power of his spiritual sense be amplified significantly within the formation, the secret technique also possessed some other incredible effects that could be directly applied to the items within the formation.

The 10 translucent threads that had been manifested from the power of Han Li's spiritual sense began to tremor slightly at his behest.

At the same time, the light swirling around the translucent threads began to fluctuate in brightness.

If someone could see through the five-colored light barrier around the formation, then they'd be greeted by the sight of the ball of Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid revolving rapidly at the center of the light formation.

There were countless runes of different sizes in the nearby area, and they were plunging themselves into the ball of fiery liquid in a frenzy. At the same time, there were countless other runes surging incessantly out of the ball of spirit liquid.

The rapid entry and exit of runes made the red light around the ball of liquid tumble and churn incessantly, as if it had reached its boiling point.

After a while, Han Li's expression finally changed, and some kind of outcome seemed to have been reached. After a brief hesitation, he flicked his 10 fingers through the air again, and the 10 translucent threads shattered in unison.

Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and a loud buzzing sound rang out from within the light formation.

Five-colored light surged as a ball of fiery liquid that had shrunk significantly in size flew up into the air and out of the light barrier.

Han Li wore a serious expression as he pointed a finger at the ball of fiery liquid from afar, and the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven appeared beside it in a flash before devouring the ball of liquid.

The Fire Raven then let loose a cry of elation as it turned around and flew directly toward Han Li. It transformed into a fireball mid-flight before disappearing into his body.

Han Li took a deep breath before abruptly waving a sleeve through the air, and a swath of azure light swept forth.

As the azure light passed through the five-colored light barrier, the latter gradually dissolved away to reveal the light formation within.

Han Li waved a hand toward the light formation in an expressionless manner, and several streaks of spiritual light shot forth from within before reverting back to a stack of formation flags that gently fluttered downward.

Han Li swept a sleeve toward the formation flags, and they disappeared amid a flash of spiritual light.

The light formation in the distance also rapidly disappeared in a soundless manner.

Moments later, the only thing that was left hovering in mid-air was a fist-sized ball of fiery liquid.

Han Li waved a hand toward the ball of liquid, and the white jade vial appeared above it in a flash.

The vial tipped itself over before a swath of light surged out of its opening, then drew the ball of spirit liquid into the vial.

After sealing and stowing away the vial, Han Li closed his eyes as he sat down with his legs crossed in a motionless manner.

However, from his tightly furrowed brows and his indecisive expression, it could be deduced that he was grappling with some kind of difficult decision.

A short while later, his furrowed brows smoothed out as he opened his eyes again, then suddenly extended a hand.

A ball of silver flames instantly flames emerged over the center of his palm, and Han Li narrowed his eyes as a small crimson flame suddenly appeared within the ball of silver flames.

After appraising the wisp of red flames for a short while, Han Li opened his mouth to expel a ball of azure light.

An incredible scene ensued.

As soon as the ball of silver flames came into contact with the azure light, the former abruptly exploded.

Immediately thereafter, a ball of silver flames that was around 10 times the size of the original one appeared in its place.

Han Li nodded upon seeing this before opening his mouth, and the massive fireball was instantly devoured by him as a streak of silver flames.

"Looks like this flawed spirit liquid really does possess all of the main functions of a perfectly refined batch of Glazed Heavenly Flame Liquid. The only problem is that there are a few types of unknown impurities intermingled into the liquid. I wonder if this will be enough to satisfy that man. After devouring this thing, the Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flame has gained the ability to draw upon pure spiritual Qi in order to temporarily enhance its own powers. With a sufficient supply of spiritual power, it could even enhance its own power by twofold in battle," Han Li murmured to himself.

After that, Han Li meditated for a while longer while contemplating what he had seen during the Four Races Auctions. After ascertaining that he didn't seem to have done anything wrong, he heaved a long sigh before pulling out a small vial and tipping out a Rising Dragon Pill for consumption.

Immediately thereafter, Han Li began to focus on his cultivation.

The time for the opening of the Vast Glacial Realm wasn't set, so the day could arrive as long as a century later or as short as just a few years later.

As such, he naturally had to focus as much of his time on cultivation as possible.

Even if he didn't want to use the abundant spiritual Qi in the Vast Glacial Realm to break through a bottleneck, it would certainly be in his best interest to become more powerful before entering the perilous realm.

Three months later, Han Li was still situated in the same secret chamber with his Provenance True Devil Projection behind him, and he was making a hand seal while engaging in arduous cultivation.

However, moments later, his expression suddenly changed slightly, and the golden light around his body abruptly faded.

He rustled his sleeve, and a jade badge flew out from within amid a flash of spiritual light. The badge circled around in the air before landing in his grasp, revealing itself to be a Myriad Distance Talisman.

The surface of the talisman was shimmering with spiritual light, and rows of ant-sized text were gradually appearing on it.

Han Li took a glance at it, and murmured to himself, "So it's already opened! Looks like I'll have to make a trip there, then."

Thus, he stowed the Myriad Distance Talisman away before emerging from his secret chamber.

Several hours later, Han Li disembarked from a beast-drawn carriage and arrived on a street that he'd already been to once before.

He looked around before immediately making his way toward a nearby shop.

Strangely enough, the doors of the shop were tightly shut, and it didn't seem to be open to any customers.

However, Han Li paid no heed to this as he strode over to the door before raising a hand, casting an incantation seal that flew directly through the door and into the shop.

Moments later, the door was opened from the inside, and Han Li strode into the shop to find a woman with a shimmering white crystal on her glabella waiting for him in there.

It was none other than the Crystal woman, Xian Xian.

Xian Xian extended a respectful curtsey with a smile on her face as she greeted, "Welcome, Senior. I didn't think that you'd get here so quickly, so I didn't head out to greet you; I hope you may forgive me."

"Hehe, cultivators like us aren't fixated on such trivial formalities anyway. I came here as soon as I received notification from you," Han Li replied with a faint smile.

Xian Xian smiled, and continued, "This isn't a good place to talk, Senior; let's continue this in my secret space. There's another fellow Daoist waiting for us in there, and I'd like to introduce him to you."

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but he merely nodded without saying anything.

Xian Xian closed the doors to her shop again, then flipped a hand over to produce a formation plate.

She made a hand seal and began to chant something while pointing a finger at the formation plate.

Brilliant light instantly flashed from the formation plate, following which a vast expanse of five-colored light swept forth in all directions, enshrouding Han Li and the woman within.

This five-colored light then swirled before forming a five-colored light formation.

In the next instant, Han Li felt his surroundings blur, following which he found himself in a murky grey space. This was none other than the private spatial rift that Xian Xian had opened up.

Han Li looked around and immediately caught sight of a humanoid figure that was standing nearby.

"I pay my respects to Senior Han," the humanoid figure greeted in a polite manner as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.

Han Li inspected the humanoid figure through narrowed eyes to discover that this was a musclebound black-robed man with several faint purple scars on his face. His entire body was emanating a fierce aura, and after sweeping his spiritual sense toward the man, Han Li discovered that he was a mid-Deity Transformation cultivator.

"What can I refer to you as, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li asked in a calm voice as he emerged from the teleportation formation.

"My name is Yue Zong," the man replied.

"Brother Yue is the most renowned devilish beast hunter in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges. If we want to have a smooth trip into the mountain ranges, we'll have to enlist the help of Fellow Daoist Yue's abilities," Xian Xian explained.

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"Devilish beast hunter? Does that mean you enter the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges quite often?" Han Li asked with a curious look on his face.

"I've entered the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges on a total of 37 occasions, and I've ventured deep into the mountain ranges on seven of those occasions," Yue Zong replied in a respectful manner.

"37?" Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

Seeing as he had promised that he would enter the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges with Xian Xian, he had naturally conducted some research into the mountain ranges beforehand.

Thus, he discovered that the mountain ranges were even more perilous than Xian Xian had made them out to be, and all of the beings who still dared to enter the mountain ranges at this point were brave and skilled adventurers.

However, even those beings didn't dare to venture deep into the mountain ranges, and they'd only roam around the outskirts to kill some relatively weaker devilish beasts.

Yet much to his surprise, this Yue Zong was only at the mid-Deity Transformation Stage, but had ventured deep into the Golden Devil Mountain on several occasions. He didn't know just how deep into the mountain ranges Yue Zong had gone on those occasions, but this was still quite an astonishing feat.

At this moment, Xian Xian explained, "Even though we won't need to venture deep into the mountain ranges during this trip, the place we'll be going to is still quite far away from the entrance to the mountain ranges, and it would be rather perilous for us if we were to encounter any powerful devilish beasts that may be lurking in the outskirts. Hence, I hired Brother Yue as our guide as a safety precaution. With him leading the way, I'm sure we'll enjoy a smooth journey. Brother Yue is one of the very few beings who are able to detect the locations of powerful devilish beasts in advance, even with the disruption presented by the devilish Qi in the mountain ranges."

"You're far too kind, Fair Xian. I certainly wouldn't dare to guarantee a smooth journey, and I haven't entered the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges fo a long time as well, so I don't know if any drastic changes have taken place in there. After all, the last time I entered the mountain ranges was about a century ago," Yue Zong replied in a modest manner.

"What could've possibly changed in a mere century? You're extremely renowned for your exploits in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, and we're only going to be venturing into the outskirts on this occasion, so surely there's very little that we'll have to worry about," Xian Xian said with a smile.

"That's not necessarily the case, Fairy Xian. The Golden Devil Mountain Ranges aren't just fearsome due to the powerful devilish beasts in there. In addition to those, its terrain changes almost every single day due to the devilish Qi that had gathered there over countless years. Due to the presence of this devilish Qi, a plot of empty land that had been extremely safe the day before could transform into a tall mountain filled with all types of devilish beasts the very next day. To some devilish beasts, changing the terrain within the mountain ranges is a simple task. If it weren't for the facts that we're only going to be exploring the outskirts of the mountain ranges and that I really need that vial of Myriad Year Zoysia Spirit Liquid, I wouldn't have agreed to take this risk no matter what," Yue Zong said with a serious expression.

Xian Xian's expression changed slightly upon hearing this before a warm smile appeared on her face as she said, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Yue; we'll only be traveling through the outskirts, and there's no way that we'll venture deep into the mountain ranges. My cultivation base is far inferior to yours, so I certainly wouldn't dare to go any deeper into the mountain ranges than necessary."

Yue Zong's expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and after a brief pause, he continued, "That would be best. Also, as we discussed earlier, I'll only be responsible for acting as your guide and helping to battle any devilish beasts that we may encounter along the way. Aside from that, I won't be assisting you and Senior Han in any other areas; you have no issues with that, right, Fairy Xian?"

"None at all. If we really do encounter some situations where further assistance is required from you, I'm willing to offer additional rewards, and I definitely won't force you to do anything against your will." Xian Xian nodded in response, but she didn't completely agree to this. Yue Zong contemplated her response for a short while before conceding with a slight nod.

Meanwhile, Han Li remained silent this entire time as he carefully appraised Yue Zong, and only at the conclusion of his conversation with Xian Xian did he finally interject, "In all honesty, my understanding of the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges and devilish beasts is very lackluster. I've only learned about some of these aspects by asking others and reading some relevant tomes. As such, I'm very glad that Fairy Xian was able to invite someone as familiar with the mountain ranges as Fellow Daoist Yue. However, I have a few questions surrounding the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, and I was hoping you'd be able to answer them, Fellow Daoist Yue."

"Please state any question that you may have, and I'll be sure to tell you everything that I know, Senior Han," Yue Zong immediately replied.

"Setting aside the high-grade devilish beasts in the mountain ranges, have the mid-grade and low-grade devilish beasts also attained intelligence? If so, how does their intelligence compare with that of normal spirit beasts? Also..." Han Li immediately rattled off a list of questions.

Yue Zong displayed his vast wealth of knowledge of the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, providing detailed responses to all of Han Li's questions, and Xian Xian also interjected from time to time with questions of her own.

The atmosphere between the three of them was quite harmonious, and they talked for close to an hour before Han Li was finally satisfied. After receiving an answer to his final question, a smile appeared on Han Li's face as he said, "With all of this knowledge, I'm sure our trip will be quite a smooth one. When do you plan on setting off, Fellow Daoist Xian?"

Xian Xian considered the question momentarily before replying, "The Golden Devil Mountain Ranges are about a month's travel away from our Cloud City, so we won't be able to delay for too much longer. I think we should set off in three days; what do you think, Senior?"Han Li stroked his chin as he replied, "Alright, we'll do as you say. Three days from now, let's meet up five kilometers outside of the eastern gates."Yue Zong nodded in response, stating no objections to this proposal. Han Li had no intention of staying any longer, and he bade everyone farewell as he said, "If that's everything that needs to be discussed, then I have to go back and make some preparations now." "We've discussed everything that needs to be said, so you're certainly free to leave, Senior Han," Xian Xian replied in a respectful manner before flipping a hand over to summon her formation plate again.

Thus, Han Li stepped onto the teleportation formation and disappeared amid a flash of spiritual light.

Immediately following Han Li's departure, Yue Zong heaved a reflexive sigh of relief before his brows furrowed as he asked, "Fellow Daoist Xian, is this Senior Han really trustworthy? You say that he's a high-grade devilish cultivator, but I don't sense any devilish aura emanating from his body. I've explored the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges on many occasions, and I'm quite confident in my ability to sense devilish Qi, so could it be possible that he's lying?"

"Rest assured, Brother Yue, I can guarantee that Senior Han is indeed a high-grade devilish cultivator. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that he was a devilish cultivator, I may not have been able to tempt him into coming with us. But then again, if it weren't for the fact that a high-grade devilish cultivator was required for our plans, I wouldn't have had to wait for so long," Xian Xian confirmed with a faint sigh.

Yue Zong was silent for a moment before suddenly asking, "In that case, this Senior Han must be using some kind of mysterious cultivation art that can mask his devilish Qi. Otherwise, there's no way that my sensory ability would completely fail to detect any devilish aura from him. Aside from that, I don't know what your objective for this trip is, but seeing as it requires the accompaniment of a high-grade devilish cultivator, I can only presume that it's not something simple. On top of that, it really is a bad idea to be entering the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges this year. This should be the time during which an influx of devilish Qi will be pouring into the mountain ranges once every 300 years, and during this 10-year period, there's a high chance that the powerful devilish beasts in the mountain ranges will appear in the outskirts. Why don't you wait for a further four or five years instead?"

"My apologies, but I have my secrets, and I cannot reveal them to you. In any case, I have to enter the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges within these two years. Otherwise, I'll have to wait for several more centuries for another opportunity. I simply can't afford to wait that long, so I have no choice but to take this risk. However, it's exactly because of this that I was willing to offer a vial of Myriad Year Zoysia Spirit Liquid in exchange for your services. Truth be told, I went to several other people before you in the hope of employing their services, but none of them were willing to enter the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges during this period of devilish Qi influx, so I had no choice but to come to you," Xian Xian admitted with a wry smile after a brief hesitation.

"In that case, I'll have to take the risk with you then, Fairy Xian. However, let me make this clear first; during this period of devilish Qi influx, I'm only 70% to 80% confident that I'll be able to guide you safely to your destination. If mishaps arise or we encounter some powerful devilish beasts or some other incident occurs that will pose a threat to our lives, then I'll be fleeing the scene right away. On top of that, you'll have to give me the other half vial of Zoysia Spirit Liquid that you promised me as well," Yue Zong reminded in a serious voice.

"Of course. These terms were all confirmed in advance, so I naturally won't go back on my word," Xian Xian replied with a smile.

Yue Zong nodded before narrowing his eyes as he asked, "From the looks of it, you don't seem to have told Senior Han about the devilish Qi influx that's currently taking place in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges; won't that be problematic?"

"I'm taking Senior Han with us because I need to borrow his Devil Dao abilities, and that has nothing to do with the influx of devilish Qi. Even you can't guide us safely in and out of the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, then the outcome will remain the same regardless of whether I inform Senior Han or not. He'll know about this sooner or later anyway," Xian Xian replied with a sly look on her eyes.

"That's true. However, if you were to tell him in advance, then you most likely wouldn't have been able to convince Senior Han to come with us," Yue Zong chuckled with a knowing expression.

Xian Xian merely smiled upon hearing this and offered no response.

After that, she and Yue Zong discussed some other details before Yue Zong was also sent away by the teleportation formation. Thus, Xian Xian was the only one left in the spatial rift.

The smile on her face gradually faded, and her brows furrowed slightly as she suddenly waved a sleeve through the air. A ball of azure light immediately flew out from within, then transformed into a fist-sized azure beast in a flash.

The small beast had scales all over its body and sharp claws attached to its four limbs. There was a pair of horns on its head it had a mouthful of sharp fangs, giving it an identical appearance to a true spirit Kirin.

However, the small beast's body was extremely indistinct and insubstantial, looking as if it could be dispersed by nothing more than a gentle breeze.

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"Are you sure that place will be opening within these two years? Make sure you haven't miscalculated the date. If you're off even by just a few years, I'll be taking this risk for nothing, and I'll be missing out on a brilliant opportunity," Xian Xian asked in a serious voice as she appraised the Kirin projection before her.

"Do you still not believe me even now? When have I provided you with false guidance? If it weren't for the rewards that you reaped from the other set of ruins I told you about, you wouldn't even be at where you are today. With the limited cultivation aptitude of you Crystal beings, you can already be considered to be a supreme prodigy by reaching this point after just a few centuries of cultivation," the Kirin projection replied as it raised its head in a lazy manner.

"From the day that I was born, you were born with me, and if I were to die, you would suffer the same fate, so of course I believe you. It's just you're merely a wisp of the soul of the true spirit Kirin from back then, so it wouldn't be impossible that your memory's been jumbled or rearranged; I'm simply feeling a little uneasy," Xian Xian said as she appraised the miniature Kirin.

"I am indeed only a hundred-thousandths of that true spirit Kirin's spiritual sense after it had self-detonated, but back then, it had been forced to the brink of death by its sworn enemies, and it wouldn't have been able to escape had it not detonated its own soul. Even though it unleashed an ability that defied the natural order to split its soul into 100,000 fragments, it has implanted a few extremely important pieces of information into every single fragment of its soul so it can have a chance of returning to its former power. I can assure you that the information regarding that true spirit cave is most definitely one of those pieces of information, so there's no way that I'll miscalculate," the miniature Kirin chuckled.

"Indeed, it's all thanks to you that I was able to reach my current cultivation base. However, you only adhered to my infant self to try and take over my body and reincarnate yourself. I don't know why you failed to do so in the end, but you certainly didn't harbor good intentions toward me in the beginning," Xian Xian countered with a faint smile.

Spiritual light flashed erratically around the miniature Kirin upon hearing this, and its mood seemed to have soured significantly. "Why are you still mentioning that? I failed in the end, didn't I? It's a stroke of terrible luck that I decided to adhere to your body. Otherwise, if I had chosen someone else at the time, perhaps I'd have been freed long ago!"

"Hmph, do you really think I don't know what happened back then? At the time in the village that I was born, I was the only baby that was yet to be born. You must've thought that an unborn baby with cognitive functions that were yet to be fully developed would've been an easy vessel for you to take over," Xian Xian chuckled.

"At the time, I had used up almost all of my power just to escape, so of course I was going to choose the easiest target to try and possess. Otherwise, even just a hundred-thousandths of a true spirit being's spiritual sense is more than powerful enough to take over the body of a mature Crystal being," the miniature Kirin grumbled in a resigned manner.

"Alright, let's not bicker about this any longer. Even though you weren't able to successfully reincarnate yourself, the fact of the matter is that you did manage to survive. Entering the true spirit cave will be extremely beneficial for both of us, so we have to ensure that nothing goes wrong. It's unfortunate that I've reached a bottleneck in my cultivation and may not be able to make any progress even in the next few centuries. Otherwise, I would've waited until I was powerful enough before setting off in search of that true spirit cave. That would undoubtedly take a long time, but it would certainly be safer than entering the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges with these two beings who are both far more powerful than I am," Xian Xian mused in a contemplative manner.

"You Crystal beings really do possess very ordinary cultivation aptitude. Even with my guidance and after taking so many precious pills, it would still be impossible for you to progress at the miraculous rate you enjoyed in the past. As such, it wouldn't do you any good to delay for so much longer. Then again, if it weren't for the fact that the true spirit cave just so happened to have been occupied by that wounded holy-grade devilish beast, it would've definitely been better for you to go there alone," the Kirin projection paused momentarily before continuing, "But rest assured, you've already prepared measures to counteract those beings, haven't you? It would be best if they didn't try to plot against you, but if they did, then you could unleash those measures, and even ordinary beings who are far more powerful than you would be susceptible."

"Ordinary beings? Are you implying that one of them isn't an ordinary being? Does that mean there's a chance that those measures won't work on them?" The Crystal woman was extremely intelligent, and was immediately able to read between the lines.

"You've come into those two beings twice already, and even though I've been hiding in your body on those occasions, I was still able to sense some things. That Yue Zong's aura fluctuates in power, and upon closer inspection, I can sense some baleful Qi lurking within his body. If I'm not mistaken, he must be using some kind of cultivation art that specializes in concealment and unleashing lethal attacks with the aim of killing his target with a single strike. Of course, he must've cultivated some other abilities and secret techniques as well. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to venture into the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges so many times and still remain unscathed. However, in contrast, that Han Li is a lot more unsettling. Not only does his cultivation base far outstrip that of Yue Zong, his cultivation arts and abilities are all very profound. Even I'm struck by a sense of peril in his presence, but the measures I've prepared for you are all the most effective ones that you can use at your current cultivation base. In particular, the life-saving measures are extremely profound and unpredictable, so even if you can't kill the two of them on the spot, you'll still be able to escape with ease," the Kirin projection replied in a confident manner.

"In that case, I'm feeling quite reassured. However, there's something else that I'm more worried about," Xian Xian sighed as a peculiar look flashed through her eyes."Oh? What is it?" the miniature Kirin asked.

"When that Kirin self-detonated its soul all those years ago, it was split into 100,000 fragments, so surely you're not the only one that managed to escape and is aware of the location of the true spirit cave. Hundreds of years have passed since then, so perhaps someone's already accessed the cave and taken all of the benefits for themselves, thereby rendering our efforts completely futile," Xian Xian speculated.

"The Krin's soul was indeed split up into many fragments, but very few of them actually managed to escape. Among those, a large proportion would've failed to possess a host or encountered some other kind of mishap, so it really is rather difficult to say whether other soul fragments like me still exist. As such, I think it's quite unlikely that someone would've already accessed the cave," the Kirin projection replied in a solemn voice.

"I hope that's the case. If we can secure the benefits in the true spirit cave, then I'll be able to progress at a rapid rate in my cultivation," Xian Xian murmured to herself.

"Hehe, that would indeed be the case. Otherwise, I wouldn't have retained this piece of information so clearly," the Kirin projection chuckled.

Xian Xian merely smiled upon hearing this, but didn't offer any reply.

After revolving around her for a while, the miniature Kirin suddenly said, "That Han Li possesses quite a powerful spiritual sense, so when you're with him, try not to contact me if you can avoid it. Otherwise, there's a chance that he may discover that something's amiss. Ideally, the next time that I appear would be when we're already situated in the true spirit cave."

After that, the Kirin projection flew toward the Xian Xian's body and abruptly disappeared.

Xian Xian heaved a faint sigh before also making her way into the teleportation formation. She waved the formation plate in her hand, and disappeared amid a flash of spiritual light.

Three days later, on the summit of a small mountain near Cloud City, an azure-robed young man stood with his hands clasped his back, inspecting the scenery below him.

He was completely motionless, and he wore a placid expression on his face.

This man was naturally none other than Han Li, who had arrived at the designated location as agreed upon.

He had already been here for some time, yet the sun was only just beginning to rise up over the horizon. It appeared that he was a little early.

However, it was quite rare for him to have some leisurely downtime, so his mood was quite good as he breathed in some fresh air and inspected the surrounding scenery.

Less than an hour later, Han Li stirred slightly before turning toward a certain direction, and a few moments later, a streak of crimson light came hurtling toward him before also landing on the mountain summit after just a few flashes.

The crimson light faded to reveal a humanoid figure, and it was none other than Yue Zong."Greetings, Senior Han. Sorry to keep you waiting." Yue Zong cupped his fist in a respectful salute. "It's alright, I intentionally came here a little earlier." Han Li shook his head in an indifferent manner.

Yue Zong gave him a polite smile upon hearing this before finding a clean patch of ground nearby and sitting down in a cross-legged manner.

Meanwhile, Han Li continued to cast his gaze into the distance.

Not long after that, Xian Xian also arrived.

Han Li raised his eyebrows slightly as she descended from above as a ball of white light, and Yue Zong also rose to his feet.

"Seeing as everyone's here, let's set off right away," Han Li suggested in a straightforward manner following her arrival.

He then rose up into the air as a streak of azure light, leaving Yue Zong and Xian Xian to follow along behind him.

A month wasn't exactly a long time, but it wasn't a short time, either. Adding to that the month or so that they were projected to spend in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, they'd be able to return to Cloud City around three months later if everything were to progress smoothly.

Han Li continued to forge ahead as he contemplated these thoughts, and the journey proved to be quite smooth and uneventful.

A month later, after flying over a long set of nameless mountain ranges, a boundless sea of azure mist appeared up ahead.

"That's the Azure Spirit Cloud Sea, which is the restriction around the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges. It's also the only entrance to the mountain ranges, and attempting to barge into the mountain ranges from anywhere else would spell certain death." A hint of excitement flashed through Yue Zong's eyes at the sight of the sea of mist.

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Han Li was flying beside Yue Zong with a contemplative look on his face as he cast his gaze toward the sea of mist in the distance.

All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly. When they were further away, he had failed to notice this, but after drawing closer, he could hear a dull rumbling from within the azure sea of mist, as if a loud thunderstorm were raging within.

At this moment, Yue Zong suddenly drew to a halt, and the crimson light around his body faded as he appeared before the azure mist.

He flipped a hand over, and a shimmering golden badge appeared in his grasp. He then raised a hand, and the badge disappeared into the mist as a streak of golden light.

The dense mist that yielded almost zero visibility suddenly parted in the face of the streak of golden light, forming a natural passageway.

"Stay close to me and make sure you don't stray from this passageway. Otherwise, you'll be in big trouble," Yue Zong cautioned before flying ahead again.

Even though Han Li didn't know what kind of trouble would await him if he were to fly into the azure mist, he certainly wasn't going to find out, and he followed close behind Yue Zong as he was told.

Xian Xian was also flying along behind them, and she couldn't help but ask, "I've also been to these Golden Devil Mountain Ranges once before, and if I recall correctly, shouldn't we have entered from another location?"

"Ordinary beings would naturally have to enter from there, but I've built up a bit of reputation for myself here, so I'm exempt from that requirement," Yue Zong explained with a shake of his head.

Xian Xian nodded and fell silent upon hearing this.

Thus, the three of them continued to fly along under the guidance of the streak of golden light, and before they knew it, they had traveled close to 10 kilometers into the sea of mist.

All of a sudden, Han Li's eyes flashed as he suddenly caught sight of a cluster of buildings around 500 meters below them. After drawing closer, he discovered that this was a small town set up in a long and thin formation consisting of two rows of stone cabins. These stone cabins were all of different sizes, and there were hundreds of them down below.

At the very center of a small town was a massive pavilion that was several hundred feet tall. The pavilion had a total of five levels, and it was quite an eye-catching structure that was constructed from massive grey stone blocks.

There seemed to be some people walking along the streets of the small town, but there weren't many of them.

Yue Zong let loose a low cry and headed directly toward the pavilion at the center of the small town, followed closely by Han Li and Xian Xian.

The three of them appeared in front of the massive pavilion almost at the exact same time, and Han Li discovered that there was a horizontal plaque hanging above the gates, which were several tens of feet tall. The words "Lightning Cloud Pavilion" had been inscribed onto the plaque in flowing and graceful ancient text.

"Come with me, Fellow Daoists. This is the place where we receive restriction badges; I'm sure you've been here before as well, right, Fairy Xian?" Yue Zong asked with a smile.

"Indeed. However, on the last occasion that I was here, I had to go somewhere else and buy a Cloudsplit Badge before I could enter this place," Xian Xian replied with a nod.

"The Cloudsplit Badge that you purchased is only a temporary badge, and those expire after a month. In contrast, the treasure I just used to split apart the azure mist just then is one that can be used over and over again, and it was something that was given to me by a senior responsible for guarding this place seeing as I came to these Golden Devil Mountain Ranges quite frequently. The sea of mist is a little troublesome to traverse, but even if you get lost in there, it won't kill you; you'll just be trapped in there for a month or two before someone from this place rescues you. What we have to do now is collect Lightningbane Umbrellas, which are the items that will truly grant us passage into the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges. Otherwise, the divine lightning restriction is something that even holy race beings won't be able to force their way through," Yue Zong explained before making his way toward the pavilion.

The pavilion gates were wide open, and the first level was completely empty, giving off the impression that people rarely ever visited the place.

After hearing Yue Zong's introduction, Han Li nodded before also striding toward the pavilion, while Xian Xian followed along behind him.

The trio quickly made their way through the pavilion gates to find that there was nothing on the first level aside from a few tables and chairs. Thus, they scaled the staircase onto the second level, only to find that there was nothing there, either.

As such, the three of them continued up to the third level, where they discovered a white light barrier at the entrance.

Yue Zong completely ignored the light barrier and passed directly through it. Han Li raised an eyebrow before also following suit in an expressionless manner to discover that the barrier posed no impediment at all.

However, Han Li's expression immediately changed slightly after emerging on the other side.

After passing through the entrance, the sound of chatter and activity could be heard from above the staircase, and it seemed that there were many people on the third level.

Yue Zong and Xian Xian had naturally also heard this, and expressions of surprise appeared on both of their faces, but Yue Zong's remained unfazed as he calmly scaled the staircase first.

The voices from the third level immediately cut off, indicating that the people there had also noticed Yue Zong's arrival.

At this moment, Han Li also made his way onto the third level, upon which he discovered that the level was only just over 200 feet in area, but it was packed with people.

There were over 30 foreign beings in different attire sitting on the ground in a cross-legged manner, and the only other things in the room were a round stone table at the center of the room, as well as the futons of different sizes that the beings were sitting on.

As soon as Han Li's trio appeared, everyone naturally turned toward the three of them.

"Oh, it's Brother Yue!"

"So you came as well, Fellow Daoist Yue."

"Haha, I knew you wouldn't be willing to give up on this opportunity, Brother Yue."

After identifying that it was Yue Zong who had arrived, many of the beings in the room extended warm greetings toward him, and among them, there were even beings with superior cultivation bases compared to Yue Zong.

The other beings who didn't recognize Yue Zong also stirred upon hearing his name, and some of them were appraising him with enmity in their eyes.

It seemed that even though they didn't recognize Yue Zong, he was indeed quite renowned around these parts.

However, there were four or five beings in the room who displayed no reaction even after hearing Yue Zong's name, and they were merely appraising Han Li's trio in a discreet manner.

Han Li swept his spiritual senses throughout the room, and he was quite surprised that all of the beings here were at or above the Deity Transformation Stage. In fact, close to half of them were Spatial Tempering Stage beings, and there were even three beings at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage.

There were also some beings who were using treasures to conceal their spiritual powers, so even Han Li was unable to ascertain their cultivation bases.

In contrast to Han Li, Xian Xian was rather intrigued by the resounding reputation that Yue Zong clearly had in this place.

Yue Zong cupped his fist in a salute to everyone before heading toward a thin elderly man with grey hair, and asking in a respectful manner, "You're here as well, Senior Yan; did something happen in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges?"

This elderly man was one of the three beings who were at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage, and he was appraising Yue Zong with a benevolent smile on his face, seemingly closer with him than all of the other beings here.

"Did you not know anything before coming to this place? Aren't you aiming to enter the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges?" The elderly man was rather surprised to hear Yue Zong's question.

"I am indeed going to enter the mountain ranges, but that's for another reason. As far as I know, this is a period during which a mass influx of devilish Qi is taking place, so why are there still so many people gathered here? Could it be that all of them are here for Lightningbane Umbrellas?" Yue Zong asked with a serious look on his face.

"Of course. No one would come here unless they were looking to enter the mountain ranges. As for the reason behind this, that's a long story. Hmm? Who are those two fellow Daoists?" the elderly man asked in a hesitant manner as he cast his gaze toward Han Li and Xian Xian.

"It's alright, Senior Han and Fairy Xian are my companions, with whom I'm going to be entering the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges together, so you can tell them what you're about to tell me as well, Senior Yan. It seems that the three of us are the only ones here who are still in the dark," Yue Zong chuckled with a wry smile.

"That's true. Long story short, a humanoid immortal zoysia suddenly came to our town and wounded a cultivator a few days ago, then fled into the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges," the elderly man replied after a brief contemplation.

"Humanoid immortal zoysia? Did I hear that right?" Xue Zong's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.

Han Li and Xian Xian also exchanged an astonished glance.

"There's no mistaking it; it was indeed an immortal zoysia. While it was trying to escape, someone wounded and secured a few drops of its spirit immortal blood, which they sold in the two for a staggering amount of spirit stones," the elderly man confirmed.

"It's extremely rare for spirit medicines to attain human forms, and it's not necessarily the case that spirit medicines will attain sentience and a human form after existing for a certain period of time. Spirit medicines have to encounter many miraculous opportunities before they even have a sliver of a chance of attaining a human form. It seems that even in the entire Spirit Realm, there haven't been many precedents of such spirit medicines. If this news were to spread, all of the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races and even beyond would surely erupt into a massive frenzy. All of these beings gathered here must've arrived after hearing this news," Yue Zong mused with a peculiar look on his face.

"That's not going to be the case, Brother Yue. Perhaps more people will gather here from the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races in the coming days, but beings from further away won't have any chances of capturing the immortal zoysia. Not only is it proficient in two types of earth movement techniques, it seems to have also attained a movement ability that allows it to attain a shadow form," a young man with a clean-shaven face interjected with a chuckled.

"It has a shadow form? If it possesses such a legendary movement technique, then what's the point of venturing into the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges? With that ability, it would be impossible even for holy race beings to capture it," Xian Xian exclaimed with a stunned expression.

"Hehe, we're naturally not going to take the risk if it's only bound to be futile. This immortal zoysia was quite unlucky in that it attacked a cultivator who just so happened to have mastered a type of Golden Origin Restrictive Light. Even though he was caught off guard and severely wounded, his instinctive retaliative attack also struck the immortal zoysia. When it tried to escape by adopting its shadow form, it only managed to activate the ability halfway before the restrictive light took effect, and it was forced to revert to its normal form. However, it also possesses some kind of ability that makes it insusceptible to the Lightning Cloud Formation, and it passed directly through the restriction before escaping into the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges," the young man explained.

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After a brief pause, the young man continued in an excited manner, "The cultivator who was wounded by the immortal zoysia says that his Golden Origin Restrictive Light can prevent the immortal zoysia from adopting its shadow form for two months. On top of that, due to the fact that the immortal zoysia has his restrictive light within its body, he can refine a formation plate that can track the immortal zoysia's location as long as one is within 50 kilometers of it. This immortal zoysia possesses some powerful movement and concealment techniques, as well as some other special abilities, but its combat prowess is actually quite lackluster. On top of that, it's also been wounded, so there's no way that it would dare to venture deep into the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, which means that it must be hiding in the outskirts. As such, this one-month period would be ideal for capturing it. We originally had no intention of entering the mountain ranges during the influx of devilish Qi, but we certainly couldn't give up on such a brilliant opportunity. As for the people outside of the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races, even if they've received news of this, it's too late for them to get here."

Han Li's trio was enlightened by this explanation.

Yue Zong contemplated the situation momentarily before a cautious look appeared on his face, and he said, "Humanoid spirit medicines are indeed extremely rare, but there are no records suggesting that they possess any special properties when it comes to pill refinement, so they may not be any more potent than other high-grade spirit medicines. The only thing special about it is that spirit medicines of this nature are extremely rare. In that case, surely it wouldn't be enough to draw so many people here in just a few days, especially during this period of devilish Qi influx. After all, the mountain ranges are far more perilous during this period of time than otherwise, and even when traversing through the outskirts, there's a good chance that we may encounter powerful devilish beasts."

"That's the other thing that I was just about to explain, Brother Yue; on the day that the immortal zoysia appeared, a holy race being appeared in our town and offered a reward of three Myriad Wonder Pills, three Myriad Year Green Lotus Flowers, and a massive sum of spirit stones as a reward in exchange for this immortal zoysia, and he doesn't care if it's been captured dead or alive. This senior is currently living in the town, and he's announced that he'll only leave after the one-month period during which the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges are open. By the way, that senior was also the person who purchased the few drops of blood shed by the immortal zoysia," a beauty in a palatial dress explained."A holy race being?" Han Li repeated with a hint of surprise on his face.

The woman glanced at Han Li and found him to be completely mundane and nondescript, so she replied in a slightly cold manner, "Indeed. This senior's surname is Gu, and he possesses an unfathomable cultivation base. He doesn't appear to be from our Cloud City." "Looks like everyone is actually here for the reward being offered by this Senior Gu," Xian Xian chuckled upon hearing this.

"All cultivators who come to this town are desperately in need of spirit stones. Otherwise, no one would want to risk entering the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges. With such a high reward being offered, we wouldn't have to keep living in this town or risk our lives to kill devilish beasts," the woman harrumphed in response, seemingly rather displeased by Xian Xian's words.

Xian Xian merely smiled and offered no response to this.

"Ni'er, don't be so rude. These two are both friends of Junior Yue's." The old man with the Yan surname seemed to be a direct senior of the woman in the palatial dress, and he scolded her in a stern manner.

The woman still didn't appear to be very pleased, but she still gave an affirmative response before falling silent.

Yue Zong seemed to be confused about something else, and he looked around with furrowed brows before asking, "Seeing as this happened a few days ago, why are there still so many people here? Could it be that Senior Liao is no longer responsible for this place?"

"Indeed, Brother Yue. Senior Liao departed over 10 years ago, and he was replaced by an extremely strict man. He's even brought back the old passage examination, and those who aren't able to pass the examination won't be given Lightningbane Umbrellas. On top of that, he's nowhere near as flexible as Senior Liao and refuses to give out Lightningbane Umbrellas in advance. You've actually come at just the right time as this is the first day that the examination is being held. That's why there are so many people gathered here," the clean-shaven young man complained.

"That's enough, these are not matters for you to comment on. The newly appointed Enforcer Min has only reintroduced the examinations in order to bar entry to beings who are too weak, thereby preventing from entering the mountain ranges, only to be killed by the devilish beasts in there," the elderly man said in an indifferent manner.

"But this examination is just an outdated relic of the distant past. It was only put in place because back then, too many fellow Daoists perished in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges. Now, hardly anyone is willing to venture into the mountain ranges, so such an examination is completely superfluous," the young man argued as he pursed his lips.

"It doesn't matter what we say. The fact of the matter is that no one can enter the mountain ranges without Lightningbane Umbrellas, and the one responsible for this place is no longer Senior Liao. As such, the rules will naturally be changed," the elderly man with the Yan surname said in a meaningful voice.

Seeing as even the one with the highest cultivation base among them had spoken, the others naturally couldn't raise any further objections.

"Regardless of what you came here to do, surely you won't be willing to miss out on this opportunity, right, Brother Yue? How about we go and capture that immortal zoysia together? With the legendary devilish beast hunter on our side, we should have a greater chance of capturing the immortal zoysia than everyone else. After we capture the immortal zoysia, we can split the reward between us based on individual contributions. What do you say, Brother Yue?" the woman urged with a smile.

Yue Zong's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but he didn't immediately give a reply.

Xian Xian could see that Yue Zong was tempted by the offer, so she calmly reminded, "Brother Yue, we don't have much time on our hands, so we can't afford to take any detours. As for the potential reward, that's something you'll only be getting if you actually capture the immortal zoysia, whereas I've already given you half the reward that I promised to you. I'm sure you've heard the saying that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

Yue Zong hesitated momentarily before finally making a decision. "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Xian, I've already taken half the reward offered to me, so I'm certainly not going to change my mind. Senior Yan, I have another matter that I must attend to, so I won't be able to accompany you."

"That's alright. In all honesty, we're just trying our luck here. The outskirts of the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges are overly large, but it wouldn't be an easy task to find the immortal zoysia within the devilish Qi, so it's difficult to say who'll find it or if anyone would find it at all. Perhaps it's one of those things where those who aren't actually searching for it will stumble upon it instead. Ni'er, give a Junior Yue a portrait of the immortal zoysia and a tracking formation plate," the elderly man instructed in a nonchalant manner.

The woman immediately did as she was told, pulling out a white stone tablet and a blue formation plate from within her storage bracelet. After a brief hesitation, Yue Zong still accepted the two items in the end. "Thank you, Senior Yan."

"Hehe, don't mention it. Your father and I were good friends, after all, so it's only right that I help out his beloved son," the elderly man chuckled.

Meanwhile, a hint of a smile appeared on Han Li's face, and his lips twitched slightly as he transmitted his voice to the Xian Xian. "What's this devilish Qi influx? And what's this about encountering powerful devilish beasts even in the outskirts of the mountain ranges?"

Xian Xian's expression changed minutely upon hearing this, following which she also transmitted her voice back to Han Li in reply. "Please forgive me, Senior! This devilish Qi influx will indeed slightly impact our journey, but it won't pose any substantial problems unless we venture deep into the mountain ranges. I was going to explain this after we entered the mountain ranges. How about this? After we kill the holy-grade devilish beast, I'll offer some of the materials derived from the beast to you aside from its true blood and devilish core. I hope you won't blame me for my oversight, Senior!"

As soon as Han Li raised the question, Xian Xian immediately made a concession in order to appease him.

Han Li was silent for a while before transmitting his voice to Xian Xian again, and on this occasion, his voice had turned as cold as ice.

"Out of the all of things I hate, people laying traps for me stands at the top of the list. I'll let it go this one time, but if I discover something else that you've kept from me, then our collaboration is over. I do indeed want to repair the Heavenly Devilish Armor, but I won't allow myself to be played for a fool."

Despite the frosty tone of Han Li's voice, Xian Xian heaved a sigh of relief as she knew that she had weathered that storm. At this moment, Yue Zong and the elderly man with the Yan surname began to chat about the past, and they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. However, right at this moment, an unexpected turn of events suddenly unfolded.

As aforementioned, there were three beings at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage present, one of whom was the elderly man with the Yan surname. As for the other two, not only were they outsiders, they were among the few beings who displayed no reaction after hearing Yue Zong's name.

However, after hearing the conversation that had just taken place earlier, they finally realized why Yue Zong was so renowned around these parts, and their eyes lit up in unison.

After a brief conversation via voice transmission, one of them abruptly rose to his feet before making his way toward Han Li's group. This was a square-headed middle-aged man with disheveled green hair, and he said in an unfriendly voice, "So you're the renowned devilish beast hunter; you must be very familiar with the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, then."

Yue Zong's heart sank slightly, but he still replied in a voice that was neither humble nor arrogant, "That's in my past now; I haven't been in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges for over 100 years, so I can hardly claim to be familiar with it now. Do you need something from me, Senior?"

"Nice try, but that's not going to fool me. Fellow Daoist Miao and I are going into the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges tomorrow to search for the immortal zoysia, and you have to come with us," the green-haired being said in a domineering manner.

Yue Zong and everyone around him couldn't help but falter upon hearing this. The elderly man with the Yan surname was able to remain calm, but his expression had darkened significantly as he asked, "What are you trying to do to, Fellow Daoist?"

"Nothing much, I just want to enlist the help of my little friend here. Do you have a problem?" Perhaps the green-haired being had a powerful back; in any case, he was being just as bullish and rude to the elderly man who possessed the same cultivation base as him.

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The elderly man didn't say anything in response. Instead, he turned and cast his gaze toward the green-haired being's companion. This was a being who wore a suit of silver armor that was filled with sharp crimson spikes, all of which were emanating an odor of blood and gore.

The foreign being was appraising them with an extremely wooden expression, as if he were merely looking at a pile of dead bodies.

Even the elderly man couldn't help but shudder as he met the being's gaze.

With his vast wealth of experience, he naturally knew that this being had to have mastered some kind of extremely powerful cultivation art. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been struck by a bone-chilling sensation at the sight of a being who was of the same cultivation base as him.

The old man quickly cast his glance toward the are surrounding the foreign being to find that even though not all of the outsiders had banded together, there were over 10 beings clustered around him.

He then glanced at his own side to find that even including Han Li, Yue Zong, and the others, they only had around seven or eight people in total, and his expression became quite grim upon seeing this.

Even if all of the beings outside of the silver-armored being's group were to side with them, their numbers would still only just about break even. However, aside from the two ninth-tier upper race beings among the opposing group, there were also four uppers beings of the seventh and eighth tiers. In contrast, the only upper race being above the seventh tier aside from himself was a burly man with disheveled hair who hadn't spoken this entire time.

The elderly man heaved a faint internal sigh upon seeing this. He knew that this green-haired being only dared to act in such a bullish and demanding manner because they had an overwhelming advantage in power.

Even so, he wasn't about to back down. A steely expression appeared on his face as he said in a cold voice, "Junior Yue has some ties with me, so I won't just stand by and watch as you take him away. Also, I want to remind you that this is Lightning Cloud Town; it's not a place where you can do as you please. Even if you want to invite Junior Yue to come with you, you have to follow the rules here."

The elderly man's response seemed to be an unexpected one to the green-haired being, and a cold light flashed through his eyes as he asked, "Rules? What rules?"

"In this town, if a conflict takes place between two beings, then they have to battle one another in the town's arena. The loser will have to comply with the will of the winner," the elderly man replied.

The green-haired being faltered upon hearing this before bursting into raucous laughter. "Haha, are you asking me to fight this little brat?"

"Of course not. I forgot to tell you that according to the rules of the town, only beings of similar cultivation bases can battle one another in the arena. If you insist on taking Junior Yue with you, then you'll either have to find someone of a similar cultivation base as him or I'll be fighting you in his place," the old man replied in an indifferent manner.

The green-haired being faltered upon hearing this before a sinister expression appeared on his face, and he asked, "I have to find someone of a similar cultivation base? What kind of ridiculous rules are these? What if I refuse to abide by them?"

"If you refuse to abide by the rules, then you'll be seen as a troublemaker, and the enforcer that has been deployed to this town by the panel of elders will evict you from the town, as well as ban you from ever being able to enter the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges ever again. Do you want to oppose the panel of elders, Fellow Daoist?" the elderly man countered.

"The panel of elders?" The green-haired being hesitated momentarily before casting his gaze toward the silver-armored being.

The latter furrowed his brows before suddenly raising his head and turning to someone behind him for confirmation. "Is he telling the truth? Is there really such a rule in Lightning Cloud Town?"

"I can confirm that such a rule does indeed exist, Senior Gui. However, this rule had been established ever since the town had been first constructed, and it has been many years since anyone has mentioned it."The being who had spoken wore a black hooded robe that covered his entire body, and he seemed to be rather familiar with Lightning Cloud Town.

Everyone immediately turned to him with confusion in their eyes.

This being had been enshrouded under those secretive black robes of his ever since he came to this place, and everyone had initially assumed that he was an outsider, but that didn't appear to be the case now.

"Don't change the subject. I just want to know if the enforcer deployed here by the panel of elders really will intervene if I were to try and take that man by force here," the silver-armored being asked in a cold manner.

"That's hard to say. It really depends on the personality of the enforcer. I've heard that the new enforcer that has recently been stationed here is a very dogmatic person, so there's a very high likelihood that he'll intervene," the black-robed being replied.

"In that case, I really won't be able to take him by force here. Alright, we'll do as you say then. After we get our Lightningbane Umbrellas, I will spar with you in person. If I win, then Fellow Daoist Yue has to come with me. If you win, then I'll let him go," the silver-armored being proposed.

The elderly man nodded with a grave expression upon hearing this, then turned to Yue Zong, who wore a thunderous look on his face, and said, "Junior Yue, I'll be taking part in this battle in your stead. What do you say?"

"Senior Yan, they want me to go with them; I can't drag you into my mess. I'll fight my own battles; we'll just get them to pick someone else from their side!" Yue Zong immediately shook his head.

"Pick someone else? Do I look stupid to you? Either he battles in your stead or you spar with me. Those are the only two options; there's no third alternative for you!" the green-haired being sneered before laying down his own terms in a domineering manner.

Yue Zong remained silent upon hearing this, but his expression had darkened significantly.

Han Li was spectating the situation with a calm look on his face when Xian Xian suddenly transmitted her voice to him in an urgent manner. "Senior Han, we can't let them take Fellow Daoist Yue away. Without his guidance, it'll be very unlikely for us to get to the place where the holy-grade devilish beast is hiding during this period of mass devilish Qi influx."

Han Li's expression remained unchanged as he cast a glance toward her to find that she was appraising him with an urgent look on her face.

"You think far too highly of me, Fellow Daoist. I'm just a seventh-tier upper race being; how am I supposed to be able to do anything?" Han Li turned away as he transmitted his voice in an indifferent response.

Xian Xian gritted her teeth and suddenly said something that came as quite a surprise to Han Li. "There's no need to try and fool me, Senior Han. My cultivation base is quite lackluster, but I do know some things, and I heard that you once slew several beings of the same cultivation base as you with ease while rescuing Senior Jia of the Myriad Ancient Race, which means you're most likely far more powerful than even the average ninth-tier upper race being."

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly, and only after a brief silence did he transmit his voice back to her in a slightly cold reply, "Looks like you've certainly done your research. Alright, for the sake of the Heavenly Devilish Armor, I'll help you again."

"Thank you, Senior!" Xian Xian was ecstatic to hear this.

In the next instant, Han Li suddenly interjected, "Are there really only two choices? I think a third choice would be better. Fellow Daoist Yue has already promised to come with us, so you won't be taking him."

As he spoke, Han Li stepped forward and positioned himself in front of Yue Zong.

The elderly man and the people around him all exchanged surprised glances upon seeing this.

The old man then appraised Han Li again in a rather hesitant manner, clearly concerned about his cultivation base disadvantage in the face of this green-haired being.

The green-haired being faltered upon hearing this before glowering at Han Li with fury in his eyes as he threatened, "Who are you? Do you want to die? Or are you planning to spar with me in his stead?"

Before Han Li had a chance to reply, the green-haired being suddenly stepped forward, and one of his green furry hands came grabbing down toward Han Li.

As his hand swung through the air, it suddenly swelled drastically in size after the green-haired being unleashed a certain secret technique, and the five fingers spread open to encompass Han Li's entire body beneath the hand.

At the same time, yellow light flashed from his fingers as an enormous force weighed down upon Han Li.

"Look out, Fellow Daoist Han!" the elderly man cautioned, but for some reason, he intentionally delayed for a split second, thereby making it too late for him to try and save Han Li.

Meanwhile, the green-haired being's hand continued downward with devastating force. If an ordinary early-Spatial Tempering cultivator had been caught off guard by this attack, then the immense force emanating from the palm alone would be enough to completely immobilize them.

However, Han Li's physical body had reached an insane powerful level, so he certainly wasn't going to be immobilized by something like this.

Even if the pressure weighing down on his body were to increase by severalfold, it still wouldn't even be of the slightest concern to him.

At the sight of the oncoming palm, a cold smile appeared on Han Li's face, and he reached out with an inky-black hand before extending it upward.

Grey light flashed before converging to form a massive grey hand of light that materialized overhead, grabbing toward the massive yellow hand.

A violent look flashed through the green-haired being as he saw what Han Li was doing, and he roared, "Insolent brat! Kneel down before me!"

He was only using around 70% of his magic power to unleash this attack initially, but now, his magic power was circulating rapidly throughout his body, and he was no longer holding back at all as he injected all of his spiritual power into the descending palm, trying to force Han Li to his knees with this devastating attack.

Yellow light flashed from the giant palm, and it swelled in size once again as it crashed into the grey hand of light.

However, in the instant, that the two massive hands clashed, a completely unexpected turn of events unfolded.

There wasn't any earth-shattering collision as everyone had anticipated. Instead, the yellow hand was simply crushed into nothingness by the grey hand amid a gentle thump.

After that, the grey hand swayed before appearing in the air above the green-haired being, and it also came crashing down in a soundless manner.

Before the hand had even reached its target, grey Divine Essencefused Light was sweeping downward ahead of it.

"Impossible!" the green-haired being exclaimed. It was incredible to him that Han Li had brushed aside his attack, and was now retaliating in kind.

In a fit of shock and fury, he abruptly clenched his fists together before throwing two punches at once toward the descending grey light with all his might.

Two yellow fist projections erupted from his hand amid a rumbling sound, heading directly toward the grey light.

However, in the instant that the first projections came into contact with the grey light, they disappeared like sandcastles in the rising tide.

A hint of astonishment appeared on the green-haired being's face, and he immediately tried to unleash a movement technique to take evasive measures.

However, the grey light that was descending slowly just a moment ago suddenly sped up drastically, reaching him at an incredible speed before sweeping up his entire body in the blink of an eye.

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Within the grey light, the green-haired being felt the layer of protective spiritual light around his body solidify, and he was instantly completely immobilized. In the next instant, a crushing weight crashed down onto his shoulders, and the green-haired being was completely unable to oppose it as he fell to one knee onto the ground.

The massive grey hand was actually still around half a foot away from his head, so it was weighing down on the protective spiritual light around him instead of his body, but that was still enough to completely immobilize him.

The green-haired being's face paled before becoming extremely flushed, perhaps due to overexertion or humiliation or a combination of both.

The entire third level fell completely silent.

All of the cultivators present, regardless of whether they were local beings or outsiders, were completely stunned by this turn of events.

The elderly man with the Yan surname was also quite shocked, but also elated that Han Li was so unexpectedly powerful.

In the distance, the silver-armored being's eyelids twitched, and he cast a frosty gaze toward Han Li.

Meanwhile, Xian Xian's expression changed several times in quick succession. He knew that Han Li was far more powerful than his cultivation base suggested, but it was still completely unexpected to her that he was able to crush a ninth-tier upper race after just a single exchange. This gave her rather mixed feelings.

Yue Zong was also completely flabbergasted, and he stared at Han Li in silence, seemingly yet to process what he was seeing.

As for the woman in the palatial dress an the others, they were naturally all completely dumbstruck.

Han Li paid no heed to any of them as he fixed his gaze on the green-haired being, whose joints were popping and cracking from the strain of resisting against the massive grey hand of light.

After being crushed into a half-kneeling position, the green-haired being was glowering at Han Li with both humiliation and resentment in his eyes. At the same time, the protective spiritual light around his body wavered incessantly, and he looked as if he wanted to forcibly rise to his feet.

Han Li harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and he suddenly flipped his inky-black hand over.

Immediately thereafter, the grey hand that was weighing down on the green-haired being also flipped itself over, and a small mountain that was around 10 feet in size appeared out of thin air before crashing down with a dull thud.

The black mountain was completely mundane and nondescript in appearance, but not only was it able to completely vanquish the green-haired being's protective spiritual light, it completely flattened him onto the ground from his original half-kneeling position.

After that, the small mountain swayed and swelled to around 30 to 40 feet tall, crushing the green-haired being's entire body beneath it, leaving only half of his head poking out from underneath.

The entire pavilion tremored violently, following which a layer of white spiritual light surfaced over the floor and the walls. At the same time, a series of strange runes surged forth in a frenzy from all directions before disappearing a flash, following which the tremors came to an abrupt halt.

A massive and extremely profound restriction had been set up in this ordinary-looking pavilion. Otherwise, the clashes that had taken place earlier would've been enough to raze the entire pavilion to the ground several times already.

Han Li withdrew his arm as he looked down at the green-haired being beneath the mountain, and he asked, "Do I have a third choice now?"

In the face of a being at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage, Han Li would normally have a hard time defeating them unless he were to unleash a few trump cards.

However, this bullish green-haired being was overly confident in the power of his own body, and he refrained from evading any of Han Li's attacks as he engaged Han Li in battle in such a small area.

As such, Han Li's insane strength and Provenance True Devil Arts shone through immensely, thereby allowing him to crush his opponent with ease.

When the green-haired being finally realized that something was amiss and attempted to take evasive measures or summon other treasures, it was already too late. In the face of the Han Li's immense strength and Divine Essencefused Light, he was only able to just barely ensure self-preservation, so there was no way that he could retaliate.

At the sight of his companion being subdued by Han Li with ease, the silver-robed being's brows furrowed as crimson light flashed past his face, and the odor of blood and gore around him suddenly became more pronounced.

He slowly rose to his feet, seemingly preparing to make his way toward Han Li, and the expressions of elation on everyone's faces immediately stiffened upon seeing this.

The fact that he was completely unfazed even after witnessing Han Li's display of power indicated that he was far more powerful than his green-haired companion.

The elderly man narrowed his eyes as he cast his gaze toward the silver-armored being, as did Han Li, but he remained completely expressionless as he did so.

As the silver-armored being strode toward Han Li, the atmosphere in the pavilion suddenly became extremely tense.

All of the other beings on the third level looked on with wide unblinking eyes in anticipation of the potential fierce clash that was about to take place.

"Put your treasure away, Fellow Daoist. This is the Lightning Cloud Pavilion, and fighting is prohibited here. If you want to spar, then you can go to the arena in the town that has been built specifically for this purpose. Otherwise, all of you will be prohibited from entering the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges." An unfamiliar male voice had suddenly sounded from the staircase leading up to the fourth level, and the voice was quite a stern and unyielding one.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and the silver-armored being also faltered in his footsteps.

"It's the newly appointed Enforcer Min! Fellow Daoist Han, you should do as you're told," the elderly man hurriedly cautioned.

Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he chuckled as he glanced at the green-haired being beneath the mountain, then made a grabbing motion toward the small mountain.

Thus, the small black mountain disappeared amid a flash of grey light as if it had been nothing more than a mirage, and the green-haired being immediately sprang to his feet with his face completely flushed from humiliation.

He let loose a low roar, and he opened his mouth to reveal a hint of yellow light shimmering within, seemingly about to attack Han Li again.

Han Li remained on the spot upon seeing this, and merely chuckled coldly in a derisive manner.

"Stop! You're no match for him; come back," the silver-armored being ordered in a cold voice.

"He only got me because he caught me off guard! I'm going to..." In his fit of thunderous rage, the green-haired being didn't want to listen to anyone.

The silver-armored being's expression darkened upon seeing this, and he asked in a cold voice, "Are you going against my orders?"

His voice wasn't very loud, but the green-haired being immediately shuddered as the fury on his place was replaced by horror, and he hurriedly replied, "I wouldn't dare!"

He then aimed a vicious glare at Han Li before walking away and sitting back down on his futon in an extremely foul mood.

"Seeing as you refuse to let Fellow Daoist Yue come with us, then so be it. From what I overheard earlier, it seems that you aren't going after the immortal zoysia anyway, so there's no direct conflict of interest between us. As such, I have no intention of fighting you here and needlessly wasting my magic power. However, if you dare to oppose me next time, then things won't end in such a peaceful manner!" the silver-armored being threatened in a menacing manner before also sitting back down on his futon.

Han Li merely stroked his chin with a smile and remained silent upon hearing this.

The elderly man and everyone around him heaved a collective sigh of relief.

At this point, the woman in the palatial dress had naturally realized that she'd completely misjudged Han Li, and she smiled at him as she prepared to say something, but at this moment, Enforcer Min's voice rang out from upstairs again.

"Aside from upper race beings of the eighth and ninth tiers, all those who want to enter the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges must pass the examination. Those of you who want to enter the mountain ranges can come upstairs not, but only two at a time."

Enforcer Min's voice was extremely calm, but his words immediately created a stir among the beings gathered on the third level.

Everyone glanced at one another before a pair of beings rushed up the staircase one after another, disappearing from view in the blink of an eye.

One of them was a mid-Deity Transformation Stage being while the other was at the early-Spatial Tempering Stage. Neither of them belonged to the elderly man's faction, nor the silver-armored being's faction.

The other beings were all quite disappointed that they hadn't reacted quickly enough.

After all, getting a Lightningbane Umbrella earlier could only be better than getting one later.

As things stood now, the remaining beings could only wait. Some of them were focusing intently on trying to hear what was going on upstairs so they could perhaps ascertain the nature of the examination.

However, either a restriction had been set up upstairs or the examination was completely silent; in any case, no one could hear even the slightest sound from upstairs.

This was rather disheartening to the beings who were craning their necks and listening intently.

The duration of the examination wasn't very long, but it wasn't all that short, either. After a full hour had passed, one of them beings finally came down from upstairs.

Everyone immediately turned toward him in unison to find that his clothes were in tatters, and that he was carrying a few injuries, seemingly having just endured a battle with something.

"Fellow Daoist Zhu, what was the examination about? Did you get a Lightningbane Umbrella?" one of his acquaintances immediately asked.

"I did pass the examination, but Enforcer Min has prohibited me from revealing any details about the examination. Otherwise, my Lightningbame Umbrella will be stripped away. Also, everyone who has undergone an examination has to leave this place immediately, regardless of whether they've passed or not, so I have to go on ahead now," the slightly disheveled man replied in an ambiguous manner before hurrying downstairs without any hesitation.

As such, the other people who intended to ask him questions could only sit back down in a sheepish manner.

A short while later, the other person also walked down the staircase in a dejected manner.

In contrast with the one who had emerged before him, this being of a lower cultivation base remained completely unscathed, but he seemed to be in low spirits.

He didn't pause even for a single moment on the third level before continuing downstairs.

After witnessing such a bizarre scenario, everyone suddenly became rather reluctant to take the examination early, and they all glanced at one another with hesitant expressions on their faces, clearly hoping that others would take the plunge before them.

"I'm ready for the next two people!" Enforcer Min urged from upstairs.

Han Li looked around to find that no one had risen to their feet, so he stood up with a smile and headed directly toward the staircase.

However, after taking a few steps, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, indicating that someone else was also following him.

Han Li seemed to be aware of who it was that was behind him, and without even turning his head, he said, "There's no need to be in such a hurry, Fellow Daoist; you can wait for a while and better prepare yourself before taking the examination."

"Rest assured, Senior, I've done some research on this examination, so I've come prepared," Xian Xian replied from behind him.

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"You sound quite confident; it looks my concern was unnecessary," Han Li chuckled before making his way up the staircase without any further delay.

Xian Xian pursed her lips with a smile as she followed along behind him in an elegant manner.

At the entrance to the fourth level was a faint red light barrier, and Han Li's body swayed as he passed through the light barrier, following which he appeared in an entirely blue place.

The walls and the ceiling of the room were all translucent and shimmering with a faint blue light, and there was a massive white spell formation underfoot that took up an area of over 200 feet. At the very center of the formation was a man standing in silence while appraising Han Li and Xian Xian.

Han Li focused his gaze on the man to find that he had a scholarly appearance with a yellow book in one hand and a golden formation plate in the other. He appeared to be a being at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage, and a peculiar look appeared on his face as he said, "So it's you."

"Do you recognize me, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li asked with a smile.

"Even if I didn't recognize you before, after that spectacular display earlier, I certainly do now. It's quite extraordinary that you were able to crush a ninth-tier upper race being so easily," the scholar mused with a hint of intrigue in his eyes.

"You're far too kind, Fellow Daoist. May I ask what kind of examination I'll be undertaking?" Han Li asked in a nonchalant manner.

"Examination? With your powers, there's no need for an examination. You get an automatic pass!" the scholar chuckled.

Both Han Li and Xian Xian were rather surprised to hear this.

"What? Do you really think I'm such a dogmatic person that I refuse to do anything outside of the rules and regulations? Even eight-tier upper race beings can be exempt from the examination, so you certainly don't need to undertake one. Here's your Lightningwield Umbrella." As soon as the scholar's voice trailed of, silver light flashed from the book in his hand, and an object flew out from within, heading straight toward Han Li.

Han Li made a grabbing motion to draw the object into his grasp, and he found that it was slightly cold to the touch.

He looked down to discover that it was a small silver umbrella that was only around several inches in size, but it was an extremely intricate object, upon which was carved many profound runes.

"There are some things that I need to tell you, Fellow Daoist; you must conduct the master recognition ceremony with the Lightningbane Umbrella in my presence to prevent it from being taken by others. Also, after completing the master recognition ceremony, the umbrella will only be effective for a month. After that, it will expire and become a useless object, which means that you must come out of the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges within a month. Otherwise, the devilish Qi in there will make you undergo devilfication, and you'll be transformed into a true devilish being," Enforcer Min cautioned in a diligent and detailed manner.

"Thank you for your words of caution." Han Li nodded before tossing the umbrella up into the air, then opening his mouth to expel a small ball of blood essence, which quickly transformed into a cloud of blood mist that enshrouded the silver umbrella within.

After that, Han Li began to chant something as he made a hand seal, then flicked his 10 fingers rapidly through the air in quick succession.

A series of incantation seals of different colors surged forth in a frenzy, all of which disappeared into the blood mist.

The small silver umbrella instantly swelled to three feet in size as a result.

At the same time, a rumbling sound rang out from within the blood mist, following which the mist condensed into a series of crimson runes of different sizes. The runes revolved around the silver umbrella before disappearing into it in a flash, and a film of crimson light emanated from it before instantly fizzling out.

After that, Han Li waved a hand through the air, and the silver umbrella shrank at his behest before flying up his sleeve.

The entire master recognition ceremony was completed in what seemed like the mere blink of an eye.

A hint of surprise appeared on Enforcer Min's face, clearly shocked that he was able to perform the master recognition ceremony so quickly.

However, he quickly recomposed himself, then turned to Xian Xian with furrowed brows as he said, "I can see that you're a Crystal being, and your cultivation base is quite low. If you were to enter the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, there's a very high likelihood that you'll perish in there. I suggest that you refrain from entering the mountain ranges for your own safety."

"Thank you for your concern, Senior, but I have to enter the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges on this occasion. Please commence your examination, Senior," Xian Xian insisted after extending a respectful curtsey toward the Enforcer Min.

"In that case, then I won't try to dissuade you any further. There are two types of examinations; one of them is to last an hour inside an illusionary realm conjured up by this formation, and the other one is to battle and defeat my two beast puppets. As long as you can do either of those, you'll get a pass," Enforcer Min introduced.

Xian Xian seemed to have expected this answer in advance, and she immediately replied, "I choose the first type of examination!"

"Alright, then please take three steps forward," Enforcer Min instructed with a quick nod.

Xian Xian did as she was told, and Han Li discovered that after taking those three steps, she just so happened to be standing on top of a certain massive rune on the formation.

However, before he had a chance to think anything of this, Enforcer Min suddenly said, "You can go downstairs now. I don't want to have anyone spectate my examinations, and I'll have to ask you to refrain from revealing any details about the examination."

"Of course. I'll be taking my leave, then." Han Li nodded in response before making his way downstairs.

In the instant that he reached the opening leading to the staircase, a burst of restriction fluctuations suddenly erupted behind him alongside a faint buzzing sound.

Han Li turned around in a nonchalant manner to find that the entire formation on the ground had been completely activated. Layers of white light appeared, completely encompassing Xian Xian and Enforcer Min within, making it impossible to see them from the outside.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but he continued through the light barrier without pause before walking down the staircase.

As soon as he emerged on the third level, everyone turned toward him, and he merely smiled before continuing down the staircase without any delay.

Moments later, Han Li appeared outside the gates of the pavilion, and following a brief pause, he turned to look up at the pavilion behind him.

This pavilion had a total of five levels, so what lay on the fifth level?

For some reason, that strange thought surfaced in Han Li's mind. However, he then shook his head with a nonchalant smile before slowly departing along the street.

It would be some time before Yue Zong also completed his examination, so he was going to take a stroll around the town.

Thankfully, the town wasn't very big, so it didn't take him long to see essentially everything that it had to offer.

On top of that, he was also rather intrigued by the holy race being who was offering a reward for that immortal zoysia. He didn't want to directly interact with this holy race being, but catching a glimpse of him from afar shouldn't be too difficult.

With that in mind, Han Li continued onward down the street.

There weren't many shops on either side of the street, and most of them were selling devilish beast materials. These shops were all rather small and also slightly dilapidated in appearance, clearly indicating that they'd stood in this town for a long time.

Thankfully, there were some low-grade cultivators walking along these streets and visiting the shops from time to time, so at least they wouldn't go out of business.

After passing through most of the street, Han Li passed by a large courtyard, and his eyes suddenly narrowed as a slightly solemn look appeared on his face.

As his spiritual sense was sweeping through the area, it had been kept at bay by a strange restriction that had been set up here. Furthermore, the restriction was extremely profound, and even if he were to try and force his spiritual sense through it, he wouldn't be able to achieve this anytime soon.

It appeared that this had to be where the holy race being was residing.

With that in mind, Han Li couldn't help but take a few extra glances at this place.

Unfortunately, the gates were tightly shut, and he was unable to see anything through the restriction, so he didn't know whether the holy race being was actually in there or not.

Han Li didn't pause here for long; he merely took a final glance at the gates before continuing onward.

Over an hour later, Han Li had strolled through the entire town and returned to the pavilion.

Upon his return, he discovered that Xian Xian and Yue Zong were standing outside already, and there were no other people around them.

Han Li immediately figured out what had happened, and he smiled as he asked, "Were you also exempt from taking the examination, Brother Yue?"

"Indeed, Senior. When I went up, Senior Min told me that my reputation around these parts grants me an automatic pass. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to come out so quickly. On top of that, I must thank you for your intervention earlier." Yue Zong bowed in a respectful manner with an expression of awe and veneration on his face.

"No need to thank me. We need you on this journey, so I certainly couldn't allow you to be taken by others. Fellow Daoist Xian, you also received a Lightningbane Umbrella, right?" Han Li asked.

"Of course. That illusionary formation is quite formidable, but I just so happen to have cultivated a few calming secret techniques, so it wasn't an issue for me to last an hour in there," Xian Xian replied in a nonchalant manner.

"In that case, let's set off right away. After all, we don't have a lot of time on our hands," Han Li suggested.

"My thoughts exactly!" Xian Xian chuckled in response.

Yue Zong also nodded with a solemn expression.

Thus, the three of them no longer delayed any further as they departed from the town and flew on ahead.

After flying for several kilometers, they disappeared into the azure mist again.

After forging ahead for close to 15 kilometers, the mist up ahead gradually thinned out.

However, the rumbling thunderclaps up ahead were louder than ever.

After emerging from the azure mist, Han Li couldn't help but draw a sharp breath at the sight that was presented before him.

In the distance several thousand kilometers up ahead, the entire sky was flashing with azure lightning, and countless thunderclaps were erupting from all directions.

They were about to enter a world where there was nothing aside from lightning.

"Let's go," Yue Zong said in a low voice as he opened his mouth to expel the small silver umbrella, and it transformed into a silver ball of light that enshrouded his entire body.

After that, he flew on ahead, followed closely by Han Li and Xian Xian, who also brought out their own Lightningbane Umbrellas.

Two hours later, three balls of silver light emerged on the other side of the world of lightning, and they appeared above a tall black mountain.

The silver light faded to reveal Han Li's trio, and Han Li cast his gaze down below as he murmured to himself, "So these are the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges."

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This was a place with extremely unique scenery.

In the air around 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the ground, there was a vast expanse of grey devilish Qi that stretched as far as the eyes could, and below that was a layer of dense black mist that obscured everything down below.

There was a clear division between the black mist and the grey Qi, and they coexisted alongside one another like yin and yang.

Han Li's expression changed slightly as he looked down to find that only the tip of the mountain down below could be seen, while the rest of it was hidden within the sea of mist.

There was visibility for only around 400 feet, and even then, the objects within that range were quite blurry and indistinct. If one were to try and look any further beyond that, they would only be greeted by the sight of inky darkness.

After a brief pause, blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and everything in the black sea of mist within a radius of several thousand feet instantly became clear to him.

However, Han Li's brows still furrowed as he discovered that even his spirit eyes were unable to pierce through the mist all the way to the deepest part of the ground down below.

As for his spiritual sense, he could only release it for several hundred feet down below before it was repelled.

When he tried to sweep his spiritual sense toward the grey devilish Qi up above, he found that the situation was even worse as he was only able to release it for around 500 meters, thereby rendering it even less effective than his spirit eye ability.

In that case, things were going to be rather troublesome.

If they were to encounter high-grade devilish beasts that were proficient in concealment, then even he wouldn't be able to detect them in time.

Just as Han Li was hesitating about how to proceed, Yue Zong turned to Xian Xian, and asked, "Fairy Xian, can you tell me where you want to go now?"

"Of course. How will you guide us if I don't tell you where we're going?" Xian Xian chuckled as she flipped a hand over, tossing a stone tablet that she'd prepared earlier toward Yue Zong.

Yue Zong made a grabbing motion to draw the object into his grasp, then laid it against his forehead and closed his eyes as he seeped his spiritual sense into it.

Meanwhile, Han Li had already ascertained that there were no devilish beasts nearby, and he withdrew his gaze before turning his attention to Yue Zong.

Moments later, Yue Zong opened his eyes again, and a grim expression appeared on his face as he said, "So this is where you want to go? That's the deepest point of the outskirts of these mountain ranges."

"You've ventured deep into the mountain ranges on several occasions, so surely it won't be an issue for you to take us there, Brother Yue," Xian Xian replied with a smile.

"If it weren't for the fact that we're currently in a period of devilish Qi influx, this would naturally not be a problem. However, at present, going that deep will incur some risk. On top of that, this area is quite far away from the entrance, and the journey definitely won't be a smooth one," Yue Zong sighed.

"We'll only be taking a slight risk; it's not like we're guaranteed to encounter high-grade devilish beasts. We've already made it here, so we can't just turn back now. You're quite familiar with the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, so I'll leave it to you to decide on a route for us, Brother Yue. All I ask is that we get there in around 10 days," Xian Xian said.

"You sure have a lot of faith in me, Fairy Xian!" Yue Zong gave a wry smile upon hearing this before turning to Han Li.

Han Li was the most powerful being among the three of them by far, and his display of power earlier had filled Yue Zong with awe and veneration, so he naturally had to get Han Li's opinion on the matter.

Han Li was naturally aware of what Yue Zong was thinking, and he smiled as he said, "I don't have any suggestions or objections; I'll leave the decision-making to you, Fellow Daoist Yue."

"In that case, I'll lead the way. If we go directly there in a straight line, we'll be incurring too much risk. In contrast, skirting around the outermost area of the mountain ranges will be a lot safer, but we might not make it there in time. Hence, we have to find a route somewhere in between the two. In doing so, we'll be able to limit the risks involved, but also get there in the required timeframe," Yue Zong said after a brief pause.

"Alright, we'll do as you say, Brother Yue," Xian Xian readily agreed.

Han Li didn't say anything, but he also nodded in response.

Thus, after discussing some finer details with Han Li and Xian Xian, then instructing the two of them on a few precautionary measures that they should take, Yue Zong forged on ahead to lead the way for the trio.

Around two hours after they'd departed, four more beings rushed out from the world of lightning and emerged in a nearby area.

The four of them inspected their surroundings in a cautious manner, then gathered together to discuss some things before a black-faced mid-Spatial Tempering Stage being among them waved a hand through the air. All four of them then pulled out a formation plate each before flying toward a certain direction.

After that, more and more beings entered the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges at intervals of around two to four hours.

Some of them were alone, while others traveled in groups, and the largest of those groups was the group of outsiders led by the silver-armored being.

The second-largest group was that of the local cultivators led by the elderly man with the Yan surname.

However, as soon as those two groups entered the mountain ranges, they immediately dispersed instead of traveling together.

Three days later, a dull explosion rang out at low altitudes over a certain location in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges.

Several balls of white light comparable in size to wagon wheels exploded in unison before transforming into gusts of fierce white winds. The winds screeched through the air, harboring countless blades of wind, and in the next instant, several cries of anguish rang out from within.

Immediately thereafter, several tens of sections of furry remains plummeted from above, disappearing into the sea of mist down below in the blink of an eye.

The fierce winds then disappeared into nothingness.

Three humanoid figures appeared thereafter, one of whom was holding a white bead in his hand with a grave expression on his face.

This man was none other than Yue Zong.

Han Li stood beside him with his arms cross, hovering in mid-air in an expressionless manner.

Meanwhile, Xian Xian had donned a suit of red armor, and an inky-black bird with a fiery red beak and a pair of shimmering golden eyes was perched on her shoulder.

Yue Zong stowed away the bead in his hand as he heaved a faint sigh, and the residual winds in the area completely vanished.

"Something's not quite right!" Yue Zong said in a grave voice.

"What do you mean, Brother Yue? We've only encountered a few low-grade devilish beasts, haven't we? It's not like we haven't encountered other low-grade devilish beasts up to this point," Xian Xian asked in a perplexed manner.

"Everything would naturally be fine if these were just normal low-grade devilish beasts, but these devilish ravens have always resided deep in the mountain ranges and never appeared in the outskirts. These devilish ravens share a symbiotic relationship with the high-grade devilish beasts, the Cerberus Badgers. If one of them appears, then others shouldn't be far away, either. This is why I asked the two of you to be on your guard even though we were only dealing with low-grade devilish beasts," Yue Zong explained.

Xian Xian faltered slightly upon hearing this before asking, "Could it be that these devilish birds have always been able to travel on their own, but it's only rather rare, so you've never seen it happen before?"

"Definitely not. These devilish ravens are the most common devilish birds deep within the mountain ranges, and countless explorers have entered these mountain ranges before and after me, and none of them have seen these birds on the outskirts here," Yue Zong immediately replied with a shake of his head.

"So what could it mean for these birds to appear here?" Han Li suddenly asked.

After a brief pause, Yue Zong replied, "It means that the Cerberus Badgers with whom these birds share a symbiotic relationship have already perished, and they weren't able to find other Cerberus Badgers. As such, they were unable to survive deep within the mountain ranges, thereby forcing them onto the outskirts here. Alternatively, it could mean that these birds have been forced against their will to come here by beings that are far more powerful than the Cerberus Badgers."

"Oh? Which one of those scenarios is more plausible in your opinion, Fellow Daoist Yue?"Han Li asked with a nonchalant smile.

"The first scenario is very unlikely. After all, these devilish ravens are low-grade devilish beasts, and they can fly pretty fast, but they're certainly far from powerful. Without any Cerberus Badgers protecting them, it's very unlikely that they would've escaped all the way here deep within the mountain ranges alive. The other devilish beasts within the mountain ranges would've hunted them down long before this," Yue Zong replied.

"So that means these devilish ravens have most likely been forced here by another powerful devilish beast, and that devilish beast is already onto us," Han Li mused as his eyes narrowed.

"I'm afraid so. On top of that, this devilish beast appears to be quite intelligent as well," Yue Zong replied in a solemn manner.

"What do you think we should do in this situation, Fellow Daoist Yue?" Xian Xian asked with furrowed brows.

"I suggest we speed up first to see if we can throw it off our trail. After all, seeing as this beast possesses a high level of intelligence, perhaps it appeared here for some other reason rather than to hunt us down. If that doesn't work, then we'll have no choice but to kill it. Otherwise, if it attracts other devilish beasts here or continues to tail us, it'll always be a thorn in our sides. Hehe, of course, I'm only able to make the second suggestion because Senior Han is with us. If I were alone, then I'd have to employ some other measures. However, those measures are very time-consuming to implement, so they won't be suitable for our current situation," Yue Zong replied while giving Han Li an offhand compliment.

A hint of a smile appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this, but he didn't give Yue Zong a direct response. Instead, he turned to Xian Xian, and asked, "What do you think of this suggestion, Fairy Xian?"

"Brother Yue's understanding of the devilish beasts here definitely far outstrips mine, and with your powers, we have nothing to fear as long as we don't encounter any holy-grade devilish beasts," Xian Xian replied in a smile.

"In that case, I don't have any objections, either," Han Li agreed with a nod.

"Alright, then let's keep going. It's a pity that we can't fly too fast here in case we attract attention from other devilish beasts here. Otherwise, if we were to fly at full speed, we'd be able to throw any devilish beast off our trail as long as they're not extremely proficient in flight," Yue Zong mused in a slightly forlorn manner.

That was quite true. Needless to say, Han Li was flying well within himself, and Yue Zong standing atop a white wheel treasure that enhanced his speed to be comparable to that of a Spatial Tempering Stage being.

As for Xian Xian, she had summoned a small golden flag, and during her flight, she could transform into a barely visible golden streak of light that could cover a distance of over 100 feet with every single flash, making her speed comparable to Han Li's as well.

The three streaks of light hurtled through the air, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

Almost at the exact same moment, at the foot of a small mountain close to 10 kilometers away, crimson light suddenly flashed. Immediately thereafter, a dozen or so crimson devilish eyes suddenly lit up at once in what was a pitch-black area just a moment ago.

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Han Li's trio flew for several hundred kilometers without pause, even disturbing a nest of black flying squirrels on a certain mountain along the way.

These devilish beasts were like squirrels that had swelled to around a dozen times their original size, and each of them had a pair of bat wings, as well as a mouthful of sharp fangs, thereby giving them quite a vicious appearance.

Of course, Han Li paid no heed at all to these low-grade devilish beasts.

He didn't even need to take care of them on his own as Xian Xian did so in his stead. Countless specks of golden light suddenly appeared all over her body, and they shot forth in a torrential downpour, puncturing the bodies of these flying devilish squirrels, thereby killing them on the spot.

However, Yue Zong was not elated in the slightest upon seeing this. Instead, after flying for a short while longer, he suddenly stopped and heaved a faint sigh as he said, "There's no need for us to fly any further, Fairy Xian, Senior Han. That devilish beast is still on our tail, and it's traveling quite quickly as well, so we definitely won't be able to throw it off our trail like this."

"Are you sure?" Han Li asked as the azure light around him faded, and a slightly peculiar look flashed through his eyes.

"I'm sure of it. I may be lacking somewhat in cultivation base, but I'm confident in my ability to sense and track devilish beasts," Yue Zong confirmed.

Xian Xian's expression darkened slightly upon hearing this while Han Li also fell silent.

In reality, he already knew that there was indeed a devilish beast pursuing them even without Yue Zong's confirmation.

Even though he was unable to release his spiritual sense very far, he could see the beasts' indistinct figure through the devilish Qi using his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.

The beast was hiding itself within the black sea of mist and behind various mountains this entire time, but its massive body was not so easy to completely conceal.

After conducting that test, Han Li's confidence in Yue Zong's credentials grew even further.

It appeared that he really did have some skills that were very useful in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges. It was no wonder that Xian Xian insisted on hiring him.

"Senior Han, it looks like we'll have to set up a trap to kill this devilish beast," Xian Xian suggested in a cautious manner as she turned to Han Li.

"Set up a trap? There's no need for that. Seeing as this beast is trying to hunt us down, I'll just have to kill it. Wait here for a moment; I'll be back soon!" Han Li replied as azure and white light flashed behind him, following which a pair of translucent wings appeared on his back.

He gently flapped those wings, and a loud thunderclap rang out as he shot forth as an arc of azure and white lightning.

After just a few flashes, he had covered a distance of several thousand feet, and he completely disappeared from view after another dull thunderclap.

Xian Xian and Yue Zong were both rooted to the spot.

Yue Zong quickly composed himself as a concerned look appeared on his face, and he mused, "Is Senior Han really going to face that devilish beast alone? There's no way that the beast is a holy-grade devilish beast, but some high-grade devilish beasts possess extremely powerful abilities that make them far more powerful than even beings of the same cultivation base."

"Senior Han must have some tricks up his sleeve, seeing as he's so confident," Xian Xian reassured.

Yue Zong didn't say anything in response, but his brows still furrowed slightly with concern.

Right at this moment, a few resounding booms rang out in the distance, followed by a roar of shock and fury. However, the roar then immediately petered out into a bloodcurdling cry before everything fell silent again.

Yue Zong and Xian Xian couldn't help but exchange a glance upon hearing this.

Moments later, just as the two of them were beginning to grow rather uneasy, spiritual light flashed in the distant sky, following which a streak of azure light hurtled toward them.

"It's Senior Han!" Yue Zong heaved a long sigh of relief upon seeing this, but he wore a peculiar look on his face.

Xian Xian didn't say anything in response as she fixed her gaze on the oncoming streak of azure light.

After just a few flashes, the streak of azure light arrived in the air directly above them, following which the azure light faded, and Han Li was revealed.

"Fellow Daoist Yue, can you tell me what devilish beast it is? It has a rather interesting appearance," Han Li said as he waved an arm through the air, tossing a black object that reeked of blood and gore toward Yue Zong.

Yue Zong was rather taken aback by this request, and he hurriedly pointed a finger toward the object to keep it hovering in mid-air.

Xian Xian focused her gaze on the object to find that this was the head of a devilish beast, and it was comparable in size to a washbasin.

At first glance, the head was quite furry with a pair of round ears attached to it, and it resembled the head of a monkey. However, upon closer inspection, a chill immediately ran down her spine, and she drew an involuntary sharp breath.

The head didn't have a nose or mouth. Instead, it was filled with a dozen or so devilish crimson eyes that were all half-closed.

Most of these devilish eyes were bleeding and harbored expressions of extreme shock and horror.

Yue Zong immediately identified the devilish beast that the head belonged to, and he was struck by a sense of shock, yet also a hint of enlightenment. "That's the Myriad Eye Devil! These devilish beasts are proficient in captivation techniques from birth, and they're quite rare even deep in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges. It's no wonder that those devilish ravens were forced to do its bidding."

"Myriad Eye Devil? So that's why it kept blinking its eyes at me; it must've been trying to unleash a captivation technique on me. Tsk tsk, it's quite unlucky to have tried something like that on me," Han Li chuckled in a nonchalant manner.

"Having said that, it's really quite amazing that you were able to slay this high-grade Myriad Eye Devil in such a short time, Senior. Not only is this beast proficient in captivation techniques, it also possesses a few other troublesome abilities that make it quite a difficult opponent even for beings of a higher cultivation base than it." Yue Zong still wore a peculiar look on his face as he spoke.

"Is that so? I don't know about that. All I did was kill it before it could unleash any of its abilities. On top of that, its magic power is only comparable to that of an upper race being at the seventh or eighth tier, so it's really not all that powerful," Han Li replied with an indifferent smile.

Yue Zong was rather speechless upon hearing this.

"I've heard some things about these Myriad Eye Devils. Apparently, the most precious materials that can be sourced from its body are these captivating eyeballs. They are fantastic materials to be used to refine calming treasures. It's a pity that these aren't the eyeballs of a holy-grade Myriad Eye Devil. Otherwise, we'd be able to refine a treasure that's close to a spirit treasure in caliber," Xian Xian suddenly said with a smile.

"Surely you jest, Fair Xian. If I'd encountered a holy-grade Myriad Eye Devil, I would've been forced to flee for my life. Hehe, in any case, it appears that I was right to keep the head of this beast. The rest of its body has fallen deep into the black mist down below, so it'll be quite difficult to try and recover," Han Li replied with a faint smile.

"Seeing as this Myriad Eye Devil has been taken care of, the rest of our journey should be a lot smoother. It's really quite fortunate that you were able to kill this beast, Senior. Myriad Eye Devils are very skilled in controlling and joining forces with other devilish beasts to attack its prey, and it's known for holding grudges, so we would've been in a lot of trouble had it have managed to escape. Even so, we shouldn't delay here any longer; let's get out of here right away. After all, we can't ensure that the battle earlier didn't attract other high-grade devilish beasts to this place," Yue Zong suggested in a cautious manner.

"You're right, Brother Yue. Let's continue onward, Senior Han," Xian Xian agreed with a nod of her head.

Han Li also nodded in approval before sweeping a sleeve downward, upon which a swath of azure light swept past, and the head of the devilish beast abruptly disappeared.

Thus, the three of them continued to forge ahead.

Unbeknownst to the trio, less than half a day after they had departed from this place, a sharp screech suddenly rang out from another direction, following which a cloud of blacks mist surged forth from the air above, instantly encompassing an area with a radius of several kilometers.

A sharp screech erupted from within the black cloud, following which the cloud tumbled and surged violently before a dozen or so crimson pillars of light shot forth from within to strike the sea of mist down below.

The black mist parted to allow the pillars of light passage, and the pillars of slight stirred up the area violent, clearing the black mist within an area of several acres to reveal a devilish beast's headless body.

The lower half of the body resembled a giant green python, while its upper body was like that of a lizard. The beast also had a pair of arms, one large and one small, with sharp green nails on its fingertips.

As soon as the body was revealed, a piercing cry of grief rang out, as if countless ghosts were weeping in unison.

"Who killed my son? I'm going to dice up their body and torment their soul for the rest of eternity!" The voice was very sharp and unpleasant, but one could tell that it belonged to an elderly being.

"Jiu Ye, Wu Qi, find the being that took the head of my son, and we'll devour them bit by bit!" the elderly being roared with thunderous fury.

"Yes!"

"As you wish!"

A male and a female voice sounded from within the dark clouds, following which the clouds parted to grant passage to two balls of light, one silver and one red. Two beings could be indistinctly seen within the balls of light, and they descended beside the headless body in a flash.

The silver and red lights then receded to reveal a pair of half-human, half-beast monstrous beings.

One of them had a pair of massive black horns on his head and a very burly build. His upper body was completely identical to that of a normal human, and he was wearing a suit of black metal armor, but he had a pair of beastly legs that were covered in hard black fur.

His companion was a petite woman with a gorgeous facial structure, but a pair of green eyes and pointy ears. At the same time, she had a thin yellow feline tail protruding from her rear.

The two of them descended onto the ground below and made a few laps around the headless body.

Moments later, the man let loose a low roar and opened his mouth to expel a streak of black light, which disappeared into the body in a flash. Immediately thereafter, black light flashed from the man's giant black horns, and the headless body suddenly shuddered before it was entirely enshrouded within the black light. A ball of grey light then slowly hovered out of the body before transforming into an extremely dull shadow that hung above the body in a completely idle manner.

At this moment, the woman sniffed around her nose, and her eyes narrowed as she suddenly rose up into the sky before flying through the air nearby, seemingly in an erratic manner.

"I've found it. There was only one being who killed the young master, but it seems that there were two other outsiders nearby as well. Even if they weren't related to the young master's death, they're most likely companions of the killer," the woman reported in a respectful manner as she suddenly drew to a halt.

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"Very good. Can you find the killer?" the owner of the elderly voice asked in a cold manner.

"Of course. The three of them have all used secret techniques to conceal their spiritual power, but with the ever-present devilish Qi in this nearby area, there's no way for outsiders to completely conceal their auras, so I'll still be able to track their location. The killer has gone in that direction, but his residual aura is already very faint, so they most likely left quite a while ago. On top of that, the devilish Qi currents at high altitudes are very fast, so I'm not confident in my ability to chase them down, given how fast they're traveling," the woman replied in a truthful manner.

"Hmph! Useless!" The elderly man immediately flared up with rage upon hearing this.

The woman could only stand on the spot in a resigned manner.

At this moment, her companion also rose up from the ground below, and he appeared beside the woman after just a few flashes before extending a respectful bow as he delivered his findings. "Master, I've drawn the young master's residual soul out of his body and used a secret technique to simulate the killer's appearance."

"Let me see it," the elderly being instructed in a cold voice.

The horned man gave an affirmative response before sweeping a sleeve through the air, upon which a ball of intertwining grey Qi and black light flew forth, then settled above his head.

He then made a hand seal before casting a series incantation seals toward the ball of light, and the ball exploded to reveal a humanoid projection.

This was a shimmering projection of an azure-robed man with a set of ordinary facial features. There was an inky-black eyeball on his glabella that was swirling with an unsettling black light, and the man was naturally none other than Han Li.

The projection only held its form for the span of a few breaths before it imploded and vanished.

After identifying the third eye on Han Li's glabella, the elderly being gritted his teeth, and said, "A Law Destruction Eye, eh? Looks like he really is the killer, then. Only the spatial abilities of the Law Destruction Eye can prevent my son from teleporting away. Let's go!"

The horned man hesitated momentarily before asking, "Please forgive me for my rudeness, but may I ask if you planning to go after the killer, Master?"

"Were my orders unclear?" the elderly being asked in a cold voice.

The horned man hesitated momentarily again before replying, "Not at all, I just wanted to remind you of the purpose of our trip. The patriarch is going to use this mass devilish Qi influx to completely awaken, and if you get there too late, Tie Mo and the others could turn the patriarch on you by fabricating some slanderous lies. In that case, you can land in some trouble, Master."

"Hmph, that Tie Mo has always been a thorn in my side," the elderly being harrumphed coldly, seemingly in a disdainful manner, but it was quite clear that he was concerned about this as well.

The elderly grappled with an internal conflict for a long while before finally deciding in a begrudging manner, "Alright then, Jiu Ye, you're proficient in tracking and concealment, so I'm going send you after those beings. Find them no matter what you do, then stay on their firmly on their tails while I go and welcome the patriarch as he comes out of seclusion. After that, I'll meet up with you and we'll avenge my son. If you still haven't found those beings by the time I reunite with you, you should know the consequences that await you, right?"

The woman's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but she then immediately lowered her head as she answered, "Yes, Master."

"Let's go, Wu Qi." The elderly then turned to the horn man before a massive azure-scaled hand reached extended out of the clouds. The hand made a grabbing motion, and the headless body down below was drawn into its grasp before it was withdrawn back into the clouds like lightning.

"Yes, Master," the horned man replied in a respectful before flying up as a ball of red light and disappearing into dark clouds in a flash.

After that, a burst of rumbling rang out from within the dark clouds, following which it rapidly flew away.

Thus, the pointy-eared woman was the only one remaining.

When the dark cloud finally disappeared into the distance, the woman's furry tail curled up, and she raised her head with furrowed brows, clearly very troubled by the difficult order that had been assigned to her.

In the end, she heaved a faint sight and cast her gaze around her. After ascertaining the correct direction, her body swayed, and she shot forth as a streak of silver light.

After flying for over 1,000 feet, the streak of silver light suddenly shuddered before slowly becoming more blurry and indistinct. Following one final flash, the streak of light completely disappeared into thin air.

Elsewhere, a Deity Transformation Stage being was slowly flying alongside a Spatial Tempering Stage being at a low altitude.

Each of them was carrying a palm-sized formation plate, and they were stopping quite regularly to appraise the reactions displayed by those formation plates.

The Deity Transformation Stage being was a young man who appeared to be in his thirties, and he couldn't help but ask, "Martial Uncle Wang, it's been quite a few days already, yet we haven't even caught a glimpse of the immortal zoysia; could it be that we've gone the wrong way?"

His companion was a thin middle-aged man whose attention was entirely fixed on the formation plate in his hand, and he didn't even look up as he replied, "My divination technique doesn't have 100% accuracy, but it's correct at least once 20% of the times. I've conducted divination on several consecutive occasions, and this direction has been pointed out on all of those occasions, so we're definitely going the right away."

"20% isn't exactly a high probability," the young man sighed in a rather dejected manner.

At this moment, the two of them were flying over a pair of tall mountains, and both of them were in a completely identical state to the mountains they'd passed through before. All of the mountains here were inky-black and remarkably smooth with no signs of plant life growing on them whatsoever, as if they were all just piles of smooth rocks.

As such, neither of them paid any heed to those mountains, and they were just about to pass through between them mountains when a startling turn of events abruptly unfolded.

One of the mountain faces that they were passing by suddenly exploded, and a black blade of light that was several hundred feet in length suddenly erupted forth.

"Argh!"

The thin middle-aged was caught completely off guard, and he hurriedly opened his mouth to expel a white shield. The shield swayed before him, then expanded to several tens of feet in size before positioning itself in front of him.

However, in the next instant, the black blade merely continued onward, slicing through the shield and destroying the middle-aged man's body without any impediment.

What was quite curious was that despite how powerful the black blade of light was, it didn't harm the young man at all.

The blade virtually skimmed past the young man's body in a flash before disappearing into the sea of mist down below.

All of a sudden, a loud rumbling boom erupted from within the mist, and a massive bottomless gulf that was over 100 feet wide was sliced into the ground.

The young man may have been a Deity Transformation cultivator, but he clearly didn't have much practical battle experience, and only then did he react to the situation as an expression of horror and panic appeared on his face. He hurriedly made a hand seal in a clumsy manner before transforming into a streak of white light and flying back the way he'd come.

However, right at this moment, a film of grey light suddenly appeared over one of the smooth mountain faces nearby, following which a sinister face that was over 100 feet in size appeared on the mountain face.

The face opened its cavernous mouth, and a burst of yellow light swept forth from within in a frenzy, drawing the white streak of light into the mouth.

Immediately thereafter, the massive mouth swung shut, and a gargantuan body that was as tall as a multistory building slowly emerged from the mountain peak. This was a devilish beast with a gigantic head and a body that resembled a toad.

The devilish beast's entire body was grey and completely smooth, and just its huge head alone took up half of its body, thereby giving it an extremely strange appearance.

However, regardless of how peculiar its appearance, its gargantuan size made it extremely terrifying to behold.

Right at this moment, a humanoid figure that was around 30 to 40 feet tall also slowly flew out of one of the mountain peaks.

Upon closer inspection, one would discover that this humanoid figure was a man with large eyes and bushy eyebrows, contributing to a simple and honest appearance. The man wore a suit of azure armor, and there was a pair of black fleshy wings on his back that were flapping incessantly.

Those wings were extremely massive, and when fully extended, the wingspan stretched to several hundred feet. There was not even a single strand of fur or hair on those wings, but they were filled with silver runes that were flashing erratically.

Looking at them from afar, the wings seemed to be shimmering with a starry light, thereby giving them an extremely mysterious appearance.

As soon as the humanoid figure emerged, the giant toad-liked beast asked, "Master Tie Mo, those were just a pair of Spirit Realm beings; why did we go to the trouble of ambushing them?"

"No particular reason. It's just that it's been a long time since any beings have dared to venture into these mountain ranges, and I found it be quite strange that these two beings would suddenly appear here. This a critical juncture in the patriarch's awakening, so I don't want to see any mishaps taking place during this time. If there are any volatile factors that present themselves, we have to take of them immediately," the winged being replied in an indifferent manner.

"I think you're overthinking things, Master. According to the agreement our patriarch made with those top-grade beings from the Spirit Realm, this time period coincides with the one-month period during which Spirit Realm beings are permitted to enter our mountain ranges, so it's no surprise that someone people would appear here," the giant toad beast replied.

"Alright, Ju Chu, hurry up and use your soul-devouring technique to digest the soul of the being that you just swallowed. I want to know if they're actually just normal devilish beast hunters," the winged being instructed in a cold voice.

"Yes, Master." At the sight of the hint of impatience that had appeared the man's face, the giant toad beast didn't dare to say anything further as it immediately closed its eyes.

All of a sudden, a layer of five-colored light began to swirl around its massive body. At the same time, a series of black runes appeared in the nearby air before also rapidly revolving around it.

After around 10 minutes, the giant toad beast let loose a loud cry, and all of the black runes disappeared into its body before it reopened its eyes.

"Master, I've ascertained the reason why they've entered these mountain ranges; they're searching for a wounded immortal zoysia," Ju Chu reported in a slightly peculiar voice, clearly a little taken aback by its findings.

"Immortal zoysia? What's that?" the giant winged manner asked in a perplexed manner.

"It's a sentient spirit zoysia that can adopt a human form," Ju Chu explained.

"A spirit zoysia that can adopt a human form? Is that true?" The giant winged man shuddered upon hearing this before an elated look appeared on his face.

"I've already completely digested that being's soul, so this information is definitely accurate. Are you interested in such a thing as well, Master?" Ju Chu scratched its head with a massive hand in a befuddled manner.

"Hehe, you know about the humanoid devilish spirit of our Elder Devil Realm, right? This immortal zoysia has the same function," the winged man explained with excitement shimmering in his eyes.

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"It's comparable to a humanoid devilish spirit? No wonder these people have ventured into these mountain ranges; they're most likely all here to try and capture it. Wait, but these people don't actually know how to use the spirit zoysia!" Ju Chu exclaimed.

After pausing for a moment, the giant winged man instructed in a cold voice, "In any case, we definitely can't let something so precious fall into their hands, but I can't afford to delay here either as our patriarch's emergence from seclusion is imminent. As such, I'll leave this to you. Go and gather a horde of devilish beasts and track down that immortal zoysia for me. They're much more familiar with these mountain ranges, so they'll definitely be able to find the immortal zoysia ahead of those outsiders. However, you have to remember to act discreetly so Duo Yan and Xue Bi's subordinates don't notice what you're doing. Also, kill all of the Spirit Realm beings that you encounter. We did make an agreement with those top-grade beings of the Spirit Realm, but as long we don't leave these mountain ranges en masse, they can't do anything to us just because a few people go missing in here."

"Alright, then I'll go back immediately. These beings have some treasures that can track the immortal zoysia, and even though it's only effective within a radius of 50 kilometers, we should have a better chance of finding the immortal zoysia if we manage to take all of those treasures. The other person's treasure had already been destroyed, but the treasure belonging to the being that I swallowed is still intact; I'll give that one to you, Master." Ju Chuu nodded before opening its mouth to expel a formation plate that was shimmering with faint spiritual light.

The winged being was quite elated to hear this, and he raised a hand to draw the formation plate into his grasp as he said, "I see. In that case, we really do have to kill all of the Spirit Realm beings in here. Otherwise, they'll constantly be competing with us to get their hands on the immortal zoysia first. You can go now."

"Yes, Master!" Ju Chu replied in a respectful manner before suddenly descending into the sea of mist down below, quickly disappearing in a soundless manner.

Meanwhile, the winged being stowed the formation plate away before flapping his wings and flying away as a streak of black light.

Two days later, two groups of foreign beings were hurtling through the air one after another over a strange area that was filled with massive trees that were each several tens of feet in length.

The group up ahead was flying through the air atop a yellow spirit ark that was around 30 to 40 feet in length. Their group consisted of three beings, all of whom were blue-robed men. One of them was seated with his legs crossed in a completely motionless manner, seemingly having sustained severe injuries, while the other two had spiritual light flashing erratically around their bodies as they injected their magic power into the spirit ark with all their might.

They were being pursued by a strange conical flying carriage that was entirely crimson in color. The carriage had been enshrouded within a ball of grey Qi, and ghostly shadows could be seen flashing indistinctly within.

There was only one humanoid figure on the flying carriage who was wearing a suit of silver armor that was riddled with extremely eye-catching sharp crimson spikes.

It was none other than the man with the Gui surname who had almost attacked Han Li in the Lightning Cloud Pavilion.

The man had his arms crossed as he looked on expressionlessly at the fleeing spirit ark with a hint of bloodlust flashing through his eyes.

The two groups flew through the air one after another, covering a distance of several tens of kilometers in the blink of an eye.

However, the silver-armored being clearly held the advantage both in the caliber of his flying treasure and his magic power, so it only took a few moments for his flying carriage to close the gap significantly.

In his desperation, one of the people on the spirit ark turned around, and yelled, "Why do you insist on hunting us down, Fellow Daoist? The three of us haven't wronged you in any way, and we're willing to hand over our tracking plates and exit these mountain ranges if you let us go!"

"Let you go? Of course I can do that. Hand over your blood and souls to me, and I'd be more than happy to let you go!" the silver-armored man replied in a completely emotionless manner, and even though his voice wasn't very loud, it was clearly audible even from so far away.

"You really are an abhorrent being!" the blue-robed man who had just spoken cursed in an enraged voice.

Thus, the chase continued, and the three blue-robed beings were becoming more and more panicked by the second. The two beings who were uninjured were already coughing up mouthfuls of blood essence to forcibly stimulate their latent potential, and even the wounded being was forced to inject his spiritual power into the spirit ark as opposed to focusing on recovery.

Thus, the spirit ark accelerated drastically, making it slightly faster than the flying carriage behind him.

However, before the three of them even had a chance to celebrate this positive development, the silver-armored being chuckled coldly as brilliant silver light suddenly erupted from his suit of armor. He then made a hand seal before abruptly stomping a foot onto his flying carriage, upon which an incredible turn of events unfolded.

The grey Qi around the crimson flying carriage tumbled and surged violently before transforming into a massive cloud that was several acres in size, following which a dragon's roar erupted from within.

The three blue-robed beings all turned to examine the situation behind them with shock etched on their faces, and the sight that they were greeted by had them completely petrified.

Just as they were turning around, crimson light flashed within the massive cloud, following which a silver wyrm emerged from within before disappearing in a flash. In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted above the spirit ark, and the wyrm appeared out of thin air before swooping down in a vicious manner.

The three blue-robed beings were all stunned by this sudden development, but they reacted quite quickly as they made hand seals and raised their hands up into the air, summoning seven or eight treasures in an instant, all of which flew up to attack the silver wyrm.

In response, crimson light flashed from the wyrm's demonic eyes, and it opened its mouth to expel a crimson bead amid a crisp ringing sound.

The bead rotated in the air before suddenly releasing a vast expanse of dark crimson light, and all of the treasures that were struck by this light plummeted from the sky amid wails of anguish.

The crimson light continued downward, and the spirit ark had a yellow protective barrier around it, but that was instantly melted away by the crimson light like a thin layer of ice under the scorching sun.

Immediately thereafter, crimson light flashed before enveloping all three of the beings on the spirit ark amid bloodcurdling cries of agony.

In the blink of an eye, the three layers of protective spiritual light around the blue-robed being's bodies disintegrated along with their flesh and bones in a flash, reducing them to three fist-sized balls of blood.

The silver wyrm opened its mouth and a swath of crimson light swept forth, drawing the balls of blood into its stomach.

At this moment, spiritual light flashed around the silver wyrm's body, and it took on a human form; it was none other than the man with the Gui surname.

He raised a hand with a cold expression to wipe away the faint trace of blood on the corner of his lips, then cast his gaze deep into the ranges. Following a brief pause, he departed as a streak of crimson light.

Elsewhere in the mountain ranges, there was a vast expanse of murky white mist to which there seemed to be no end. Compared to the grey devilish Qi and the black mist everywhere else, this stretch of white mist stood out like a sore thumb.

Han Li's trio was currently hovering before this stretch of white mist in silence with contrasting expressions on their faces.

"Do we have to go through here? Can't we go around it?" Xian Xian asked.

"I'm afraid not. In order to avoid that swarm of devilish wasps that appeared a few days ago, we already had to take a detour that wasted an extra two days. If we take another detour here, we won't be able to make it in time," Yue Zong replied with a furrowed brows.

"But according to what you said earlier, there has never been any mist in this place, so this situation is really quite unsettling," Xian Xian sighed.

"It's not just unsettling; there are most likely powerful devilish beasts lurking in this mist or perhaps this mist was conjured up by a certain devilish beast," Han Li remarked in a solemn voice.

"With you on our side, even high-grade devilish beasts are nothing to fear," Xian Xian chuckled as she turned to Han Li.

"You're rating me far too highly, Fairy Xian. If there were only one or two devilish beasts in there, then I'd naturally be able to take care of them with no issues, but if there's a pack of them lurking in this mist, then I'll only be able to ensure self-preservation at most," Han Li replied with a calm shake of his head.

"How could there possibly be a pack of devilish beasts in there? There are very few high-grade devilish beasts that are pack-dwelling creatures," Xian Xian countered with a slightly forced smile.

"That's not necessarily the case. This stretch of mist may be thin, but it's extremely vast in area, so it doesn't look like something that can be conjured up by just one or two devilish beasts. There's either an immensely powerful devilish beast in there or there's a pack of high-grade devilish beasts lurking within," Yue Zong disagreed.

Xian Xian's smile faded upon hearing this, and only after a brief silence did she ask, "So what do you two want to do? Are you planning to turn back?"

"We don't have to go that far, but what I'm saying is that we have to take extra care in there. If we encounter some dangers, it'll always be better to be prepared. If there really are beings in there that are too powerful for us to oppose, then we'll have no choice but to turn back," Han Li said with a smile.

Xian Xian's expression eased upon hearing this, but Yue Zong displayed the opposite reaction as he asked, "Have you decided to enter this mist as well, Senior Han?"

"That's right. This trip is also very important for me, so I won't turn back unless there's a very convincing reason for it. Are you thinking about turning back, Fellow Daoist Yue?" Han Li asked as he cast his gaze toward Yue Zong.

Yue Zong hesitated for a long while before finally gritting his teeth as he said, "You saved me from those two beings earlier, so I owe you a great debt. If you're going to enter this place, then I'll accompany you, even if it means risking my life."

Han Li merely smiled upon hearing this and didn't say anything in reply.

Xian Xian also smiled, and said, "Seeing as both of you have made your decisions, then let's go in. If we encounter some powerful devilish beasts in there, don't worry about me. My cultivation base may be quite lackluster, but I have some trump cards that will save me in perilous situations, so I can look after myself."

"In that case, I have even fewer qualms about continuing onward," Han Li chuckled before leading the way as he flew into the mist as a streak of azure light.

With his current powers, he'd be able to save himself even if he were to encounter a holy-grade devilish beast, so he wasn't actually overly concerned about this thin mist.

Xian Xian and Yue Zong exchanged a glance before following along close behind him.

The azure streak of light flew through the at low altitudes in an unhurried manner. Within the streak of light, Han Li was constantly surveying his surroundings with blue light flashing within his eyes.

At this point, he had already activated his spirit eye ability to its maximal extent, and at the same time, there was a small translucent shiled that was lowly revolving around his body with barely visible runes flashing on its surface.

This was none other than the crystalline shield that he'd forged from the materials obtained after slaying that monstrous moth. In such a perilous place, he certainly wasn't going to hold back his defensive treasures. Yue Zong was flying along behind him with a pair of wheels under his feet, and he'd summoned a strange grey box.

After unlidding the box, a strange insect with silver dots all over its white and chubby body was revealed.

The insect bore a close resemblance to a silkworm, but there was a peculiar ghost face pattern on the top of its head, and the pattern was extremely life-like, as if it were a living creature.

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As for Xian Xian, she was still enveloped within a ball of golden light, but eight palm-sized copper mirrors had appeared outside the golden light, and were revolving around her body.

These mirrors had antiquated patterns on their backs while their mirror surfaces were shimmering with a cold light.

Aside from these treasures, the two of them were also holding other things with their hands concealed up their sleeves.

It was quite clear that the two of them were also aware that this misty area was potentially quite a perilous place, and they'd both made some preparations.

Even Han Li was holding several azure lightning beads in one of his hands that was hidden up his sleeve. If they were to encounter any powerful enemies, he'd be able to immediately attack them with these lightning beads.

The murky white mist around them was similar in nature to normal devilish Qi, but it was naturally a lot less potent than the black sea of mist down below.

At the very least, they didn't have to worry about devilfication for the time being.

However, Han Li's spirit eye ability was also greatly restricted here, cutting visibility down to only around 500 meters.

As such, even though Han Li appeared to be quite calm, he didn't dare to grow complacent in the slightest. At the same time as he was scanning his gaze throughout the surrounding area, he had also released his spiritual sense to encompass an area with a radius of several hundred feet in case any devilish beasts proficient in concealment were to try and approach him.

Thus, the conversation between the three of them gradually petered out as they entered the sea of mist, and the trio continued onward in silence.

To them, the ideal outcome would naturally be to pass through this area without alerting the devilish beasts that were potentially lurking within this mist.

After flying for around an hour, their surroundings were still entirely enshrouded in faint white mist, and there were no signs to suggest that they were anywhere near making it out of this area.

Han Li remained relatively unfazed in the face of this situation, but Xian Xian wore a rather concerned expression, and Yue Zong was also clearly feeling quite tense as he cast his gaze toward the strange insect in the box with increasing regularity.

After flying onward for a while longer, a burst of short and sharp urgent screeching suddenly rang out from behind him.

He paused in his flight upon hearing this before turning around to find that bright silver light was radiating from the box in Yue Zong's hand. At the same time, the strange insect had raised its upper body, and its head was thrashing about violently as it screeched in a distressed manner.

Not only were the silver spots on its body shimmering with bright silver light, even the ghostly image on its head had become an extremely vibrant crimson color.

Yue Zong's expression changed drastically as he warned, "This is bad! High-grade devilish beasts have appeared within five kilometers, and they're flying extremely quickly toward us."

"Tell me which direction they're coming from," Han Li instructed in a calm manner.

After listening to the insect's screeching for a while longer, Yue Zong hurriedly answered, "From the southwest, and there are five of them in total."

"Five, eh? That will indeed be rather troublesome to deal with. I wonder what kind of high-grade devilish beasts these are," Han Li murmured to himself as he cast his gaze toward the southwestern direction.

All of a sudden, he rustled a sleeve, and 72 azure swords short forth amid a crisp ringing sound. After that, he began to chant something before rapidly pointing at these flying swords.

All of the small swords shuddered before abruptly disappearing on the spot.

Immediately thereafter, a series of azure lotus flowers appeared out of thin air, and they were multiplying at an alarming rate.

Specks of azure light began to appear high up in the air, and the azure lotus flowers rotated in unison before swelling to around 10 feet in size each. They connected to form an azure light barrier than obscured the entire sky nearby.

An area with a radius of around 1,000 feet had been enshrouded under the light barrier.

This was one of the Han Li's most powerful abilities, the Spring Dawn Sword Formation.

Only with this sword formation was Han Li confident that he'd be able to trap several high-grade devilish beasts at once.

He was naturally confident in his ability to kill these devilish beasts even without this sword formation, but he wouldn't be able to guarantee Xian Xian and Yue Zong's safety in that case. If a mishap were to occur or a high-grade devilish beast or two were to slip through and bypass him, those two would be in grave danger.

Both of them were imperative to this journey, so Han Li naturally used the safest method.

"This a sword formation!"

With Xian Xian's vast wealth of knowledge and experience, she was able to immediately identify the nature of the ability that Han Li had unleashed, and she faltered momentarily before an elated look appeared on her face.

Yue Zong was also ecstatic to hear this, clearly aware of how powerful sword formations were as well.

Meanwhile, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air in an expressionless manner, and a swath of azure light swept forth. The light barrier up above blurred slightly before turning transparent, then vanishing without a trace as if it had never even existed.

The mystique of this Spring Dawn Sword Formation further boosted Xian Xian and Yue Zong's confidence in Han Li.

They glanced at one another before flying closer to Han Li, hovering directly behind him.

Han Li didn't turn around, but he could sense that the two of them were still over 200 feet away and hadn't been impudent enough to draw too close to him.

Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly heard a string of strange cries coming from afar, and as soon as this sound reached his ears, he was struck by a sense of irritation that made it difficult for him to concentrate.

He was rather startled by this development and immediately activated his Great Development Technique, thereby quickly restoring a sense of clarity into his mind.

Meanwhile, Yue Zong and Xian Xian displayed different reactions in response to these strange cries.

Yue Zong's eyes suddenly became glazed over, and his cheeks became unnaturally flushed. His hands balled up into tight fists involuntarily before relaxing again, and he seemed to be quite confused.

As for Xiao Xiao, a layer of azure light flashed past her face, and she remained completely immune to the effects of this strange sound.

However, she was also quite alert in that as soon as she noticed that these were no ordinary cries, she immediately cast her gaze toward Yue Zong. After assessing his condition, her expression darkened slightly, and following a brief hesitation, she suddenly raised a hand.

A talisman that she'd hidden in her hand in advance shot forth in a flash, then transformed into a burst of white glacial Qi.

"Argh!"

Due to the fact that Yue Zong's reflexes had been dulled due to his confused state, he completely failed to react to Xian Xian's surprise gesture, and his entire body was instantly enshrouded within the glacial Qi.

An icy cold sensation then traveled down his body from head to toe, and the sense of irritation that had welled up in his heart instantly disappeared.

After returning to his senses, Yue Zong was naturally aware of what had just happened, and he cupped his fist in a grateful salute as he said, "Thank you for your help, Fairy Xian."

"It's alright, but you have to be more careful, Brother Yue," Xian Xian replied with a smile.

After recovering full control over his cognitive abilities, Yue Zong found this situation to be rather strange. His cultivation base far outstripped that of Xian Xian, yet she'd remained completely unaffected by those strange cries despite the fact that even he'd fallen prey to them. Could it be that she was carrying some kind of calming treasure of an extremely high caliber?

Just as these thoughts were running through Yue Zong's mind, the thin mist in the southwestern direction suddenly tumbled and surged violently, following which several black shadows appeared in a menacing manner, each of which was around 10 feet in size.

After just a few flashes, they rushed out of the mist amid a burst of unsettling cries, revealing themselves to a pack devilish beasts that resembled vultures.

However, all of these devilish beasts possessed faces of human women, yet each of them had four green eyes as opposed to two eyes that one would normally expect to find on a human face.

As such, the beautiful female faces were given an extremely sinister appearance instead.

Among the five devilish beasts, there were four with black and white feathers, and they possessed early-Spatial Tempering Stage power. As for the final beast, this one had snowy-white feathers, and it was also the most powerful being in the group with a late-Spatial Tempering Stage cultivation base.

"Kuku! Look what we have here! Spirit Realm beings! This is great; the last time I had a Spirit Realm being was several hundred years ago." The most powerful white vulture beast was able to speak in an indistinct human voice that was extremely coarse and unpleasant.

Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged, and he merely stood still on the spot as he appraised the devilish birds with a cold look in his eyes.

However, this late-Spatial Tempering Stage devilish vulture seemed to possess an extremely high level of intelligence as it didn't immediately attack Han Li's trio with its four companions. Instead, it was flapping its wings gently as it hovered in mid-air, appraising Han Li's trio from afar with its four green eyes to ascertain their power levels.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he suddenly raised a hand.

Five azure beads immediately shot forth, all of which transformed into fist-sized balls of azure light that reached the devilish birds after just a few flashes.

The devilish vultures were slightly surprised by this sudden development, but all of them then dispersed following a command from their leader, trying to avoid having to face these attacks head-on.

After all, all devilish birds were far faster than most land-dwelling beasts, and this was something that they were more than willing to take advantage of.

However, a cold smile suddenly appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he abruptly made a hand seal.

After missing their targets, the five balls of azure light suddenly changed directions at his behest, hurtling toward an area of empty space between the five devilish birds.

All of a sudden, a string of resounding booms rang out as the five balls azure light clashed before exploding in unison.

Loud thunderclaps rang out as countless arcs of azure lightning flashed through the air, instantly covering an area of several acres. The five devilish vultures were completely caught off guard and swept up in the explosion.

The arcs of lightning crashed down viciously onto their bodies, inundating them in azure lightning in the blink of an eye.

Yue Zong was ecstatic to see this as he stood behind Han Li, and he was just about to say something with a loud cry suddenly erupted from within the azure lightning.

Immediately thereafter, five pillars of white light shot forth from within, one of which was thicker than the other.

The pillars of light swept through the vast expanse of lightning, quickly nullifying the latter, following which the five devilish birds rushed out of what little remained of the azure light in a violent manner.

All of them were letting loose enraged cries, having clearly been infuriated by Han Li's attack, and it was no wonder that this was the case; aside from their leader, which had only suffered a bit of charring on one of its wings, the other four devilish vultures were all riddled without wounds and reeked of an acrid burning odor.

They had managed to withstand that attack, but each of Han Li's lightning beads possessed power equivalent to a full-force attack from a Spatial Tempering Stage being, so they certainly weren't going to emerge unscathed after being caught in an explosion of several such lightning beads at once.

Thus, the four devilish birds that had suffered severe burns all pounced toward Han Li with irrepressible rage in their eyes, looking as if they'd like nothing better than to tear him into shreds before devouring his body.

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Meanwhile, the white devilish bird remained on the spot, appraising Han Li from afar. It seemed to have sensed that something was amiss.

After a brief hesitation, it let loose a sharp cry to try and summon its four subordinates back to its side, but that split-second delay already made it too late.

The sword formation that Han Li had set up was over 1,000 feet in size, and the four devilish birds were flying very quickly, plunging headfirst into the Spring Dawn Sword Formation in the blink of an eye.

Immediately thereafter, azure light flashed, and a light barrier abruptly appeared, ensnaring all four of the devilish vultures within.

The four birds were all stunned by this sudden development, and they circled around before grabbing viciously toward the light barrier with their talons.

As soon as their talons struck the light barrier, it shattered like a pane of glass, giving away without offering any resistance.

The four devilish vultures were ecstatic to see this, but they were then quickly left feeling flabbergasted.

After the light barrier had been shattered, they didn't find themselves outside of the sword formation. Instead, they appeared in a strange space that was filled with azure lotus flowers.

The lotus flowers were only around the size of a human thumb each, but there was no end to their numbers, and they created a seemingly impenetrable barrier.

The four devilish birds glanced at one another before one of them suddenly opened its mouth to blast forth a pillar of white light.

The pillar of light struck several of the azure lotus flowers in a flash amid a dull thump, but as opposed to being destroyed, those few lotus flowers swelled to several times their original size, now comparable to the size of a human fist.

The four birds were all given a massive fright upon seeing this, and following that attack, the might of the entire Spring Dawn Sword Formation had also been activated.

The rest of the light barrier instantly shattered on its own as countless azure lotus flowers appeared in its place. All of these lotus flowers began to rotate, and the four devilish vultures felt their surroundings blur before they found themselves in a forest filled with massive azure trees.

Each and every tree was over 1,000 feet tall, reaching up to higher than the eyes could see, and their lush canopies of branches and leaves obscured virtually the entire sky.

The four birds were situated at the deepest point in the forest.

All of them were quite alarmed by this development. For birds like them, falling into dense forestry or rivers was one of their worst fears as the movement techniques that they relied so heavily upon would be greatly hampered in such terrains.

Thus, all four of them immediately spread their wings in unison, sending four balls of scorching white flames erupting from their bodies. These white fireballs then exploded to form over 100 palm-sized white fiery butterflies that flew toward the surrounding trees.

These white flames were the trump card ability of these devilish birds, so they thought that these trees would be incinerated with ease.

However, the fiery butterflies they'd conjured up merely passed through the trees as if they didn't even exist.

"This is an illusionary technique!"

All of these devilish birds possessed early-Spatial Tempering Stage cultivation bases, so they had enough intelligence to immediately make sense of the situation.

One of them was quite bullish and short-tempered, and it immediately flew toward one of the giant trees.

However, the things manifested by the Spring Dawn Sword Formation were incomparable to those conjured up by other illusionary techniques; they existed in a state that was somewhere in between illusion and reality.

Thus, the bullish devilish bird struck the tree that it was flying toward with a resounding boom before bouncing back like a feathered rubber ball.

Meanwhile, the giant tree remained completely unscathed as if it were entirely forged from steel essence.

The devilish vulture did indeed possess quite a powerful body, but after crashing headfirst into a tree at full speed, it was still struck by a splitting headache.

Its three companions were all flabbergasted upon seeing this.

Meanwhile, outside the formation, the white devilish bird was naturally both shocked and enraged by the disappearance of its four subordinates after they had flown into the light barrier.

It let loose a loud cry before abruptly spreading its wings, and a halo of white light suddenly erupted from its body, following which all of its snowy-white feathers were set alight.

In contrast with the white flames conjured up by the four other devilish vultures, there were silver runes flashing within these white flames, and they were also far more scorching hot in comparison, raising the surrounding air temperature to an incredible degree.

The Spring Dawn Sword Formation that had just been concealed was also forced to reveal itself in the face of such scorching temperatures, and the azure light barrier reappeared.

Xian Xian was initially elated after seeing the four devilish vultures being trapped within the sword formation, but her expression changed drastically at the sight of those strange white flames. "Look out, Brother Han! Those are Golden Crow True Flames; make sure you don't allow it to come into contact with your body! This devilish bird may possess some of the Golden Crow true spirit's bloodline."

"Golden Crow True Flames?" Han Li's expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but he was internally overjoyed.

At this moment, the devilish bird up ahead had completely transformed into a giant fiery bird as it hurtled directly toward Han Li.

Before it had even gotten close to him, a fierce wave of flames swept forth, and Han Li could see specks of red light appearing in the air nearby, following which countless pea-sized fireballs emerged out of thin air.

The entire space in a radius of several hundred feet around Han Li had been completely ignited!

However, Han Li paid no heed to this as he stood on the spot in a calm manner. All of a sudden, he took a deep breath before opening his mouth, and a silver fireball erupted forth before transforming into a silver Fire Raven that was around a foot in length.

As soon as the Fire Raven appeared, the silver flames around its body flashed, and all of the miniature red fireballs that had appeared in the surrounding area converged toward it, ironically, like moths to a flame.

The pea-sized fireballs disappeared into the Fire Raven's body in a flash, and the scorching temperatures in the surrounding area also instantly abated.

Meanwhile, the silver Fire Raven had swelled drastically in size, and it flapped its wings before flying toward the oncoming flaming vulture in a fearless manner.

Even though the Fire Raven had expanded in size, the devilish vulture was still seven or eight times larger than it, but that didn't faze it in the slightest.

In the instant, that the silver Fire Raven appeared, a strange sequence of emotions flashed through the devilish bird's eyes.

There was initially a hint of fear, followed by surprise and elation, but most of all, there was a dominant undercurrent of greed and yearning.

At the sight of the silver Fire Raven hurtling directly toward it, the devilish bird seemed to be rather hesitant about how to proceed, but in the next instant, a deranged look appeared in its eyes as it let loose a loud cry.

The flames all over its body swelled to several feet tall, and it didn't hesitate any longer as it also pounced toward the oncoming Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven.

The two clashed amid a resounding boom, and white and silver flames intertwined with one another as the two fiery birds battled for supremacy over the other.

As soon as the white and silver flames came into contact with each other, a peculiar crackling sound rang out, as if they were the bane of the other's existence.

Despite the silver Fire Raven's diminutive stature, it was able to hold its own as it clashed with the massive devilish bird, and the two types of flames were constantly trying to devour one another.

One moment, the silver flames would have devoured a burst of white flames, only for another ball of white flames to engulf those silver flames.

Han Li only looked on for a short while before his pupils contracted slightly.

He could see that his Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames were superior in quality to the devilish bird's flames, but due to the severe disadvantage in quantity, it wouldn't take long for all of the silver flames to be completely devoured.

Of course, he wasn't going to allow that to happen.

Thus, he suddenly made a hand seal before pointing a finger toward the distance, and a thin pillar of azure light shot forth from his fingertip, disappearing into the Fire Raven's body in a flash.

The pillar of light was so dense that it almost appeared to be a pillar of liquid, and it was of an extremely exuberant azure color. It had been manifested from the pure energy within Han Li's body.

An astonishing scene then ensued.

The silver Fire Raven's body began to expand at an alarming rate, first to two feet, then to four, then five, then 10...

Within the span of just a few breaths, the silver Fire Raven had swelled to 30 to 40 feet in size, and as a result, the white flames being unleashed by the devilish bird were instantly forced onto the back foot.

It was now the silver flames that were exerting their dominance over the white flames. An expression of shock and horror appeared on the devilish vulture's face, and it suddenly opened its beak to expel a white bead.

The bead was flawless and of a pristine white color, and it was radiating piercing white light.

This was none other than its devilish core, and it had decided to expel it from its body in the face of this dire situation.

The devilish core was only around the size of a human fist, but as soon as it emerged out of the bird's beak, the light emanating from it transformed into thousands of thin needles that split up into two groups.

One half of those needles instantly shot forth toward the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven, puncturing countless holes into its body.

Meanwhile, the other half hurtled toward Han Li before crashing into the azure light barrier in a flash.

These thin needles possessed extraordinary power, allowing them to pierce through the azure light barrier with ease before raining down upon Han Li in a torrential downpour.

Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, but he remained standing on the spot as brilliant crystalline light suddenly radiated from the crystalline shield hovering before him.

As soon as these thin needles of light struck the crystalline shield, they were refracted toward a different direction, thereby completely missing their target.

Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li made a grabbing motion without even turning around, and five skull projections appeared over his five fingers, following which five streams of flames of different colors erupted from his fingertips, all of which converged to form a sea of five-colored flames.

The thin needles were all swept up by the five-colored flames before disappearing in a flash.

On the other end, the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven's body was being punctured incessantly by the hundreds of thin needles that were flying around it.

The puncture wounds were healed as soon as they were inflicted, but the needles were clearly still having a detrimental effect on the Fire Raven, as exemplified by the fact that the silver flames it was releasing were severely debilitated in power.

Thus, the Golden Crow True Flames were able to hold their own against the silver flames once again.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he suddenly made a hand seal before abruptly rolling down onto the ground.

All of a sudden, brilliant five-colored light flashed, following which the loud cry of a phoenix pierced directly into the heavens. After the five-colored light receded, a five-colored phoenix was revealed in the place of Han Li.

The phoenix abruptly swept a wing up ahead, and a thin white line appeared out of thin air.

The white line warped slightly before opening up a white rift, and the phoenix flapped its wings as it disappeared into the spatial rift.

At the same time, an identical white line appeared out of thin air right above the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven and the devilish vulture.

The white line then split open in a soundless manner, and the upper half of the phoenix's body extended out from it.

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From the instant that Han Li had transformed into the five-colored phoenix to the moment that he'd unleashed that spatial ability to appear above the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven and the devilish vulture, only a split second had passed by.

However, the devilish bird down below had already been startled by the fact that the thin needles it had unleashed had completely failed to even reach Han Li, so it had been keeping an eye on him this entire time.

As such, it witnessed the entirety of his transformation process, and a hint of fear appeared on its feminine face.

After all, the heavenly phoenix true spirit was known as the monarch of all birds. Even the Golden Crow, which was also a true spirit being, would suffer from having its powers severely debilitated in the face of a heavenly phoenix.

Of course, Han Li was only using his 12 Awakening Transformations to manifest this rainbow phoenix form, so it was completely incomparable to a true heavenly phoenix. Even so, it was undeniable that he had the true spirit blood of the heavenly phoenix within his body. On top of that, this devilish vulture was only a mutated bird that had inherited part of the Golden Crow's bloodline, so it wasn't a true Golden Crow itself.

As such, in the instant that it sensed the unique aura released by the true spirit blood within Han Li's body, it was struck by a sense of irrepressible fear.

On top of that, the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven was also a very troublesome opponent to deal with in that it was able to devour Golden Crow True Flames, which was the devilish vulture's trump card that had won it countless battles in the past.

As such, the devilish bird immediately let loose a sharp cry as it blasted forth a pillar of white light, following which the white flames around its body receded as it attempted to flee the scene.

However, the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven was formed from the spiritual flame within Han Li's body, so it had a closer connection with Han Li than even his bonded treasures.

Hence, it only took a single thought from Han Li for the silver Fire Raven to realize that the devilish bird was trying to escape, and it immediately opened its bead to expel a thin golden and silver thread.

This was none other than the Revolving Evil Spirit Light!

The pillar of golden light was as thick as a large bowl, while the golden and silver thread was as thin as a strand of silk, but as soon as the two clashed, the pillar of light was reflected directly back toward the devilish bird.

The devilish vulture was naturally quite stunned by the fact that its own attack was being used against it, and it abruptly flapped its wings in a fit of shock and fury. Two bursts of white flames erupted from its wings, and only then was it able to just barely nullify the pillar of light.

However, the golden and silver thread had also taken this opportunity to hurtle directly toward it.

The devilish bird had been made aware of the fact that this thin thread possessed some strange abilities, and it immediately tried to take evasive measures.

However, right at this moment, a loud phoenix cry rang out overhead, following which a vast expanse of azure light came hurtling downward at an alarming speed.

Han Li had emerged from the spatial rift in his phoenix form, and as he swept his tail feathers through the air, he'd conjured up the oncoming swath of azure light.

With the speed of the devilish bird's movement techniques, it originally would've been able to evade this attack. However, an enormous force erupted from the silver flames unleashed by the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven, and the devilish vulture stalled in mid-air as it was caught completely off guard by the impact.

As a result, the azure light reached rained down upon it in an instant. The scorching white flames all over the bird's body instantly melted away in the face of the azure light like snow under the warm sun, and as soon as the light enveloped the devilish vulture, it suddenly felt its body tighten and become extremely heavy and sluggish.

The devilish bird was absolutely petrified by this sudden development, not just because of the restrictive force of the azure light, but also doe to the fact that the golden and silver thread was now too close for it to evade in time.

Han Li and the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven had collaborated to perfection and placed their opponent into a dire situation.

In its desperation, the devilish bird had no choice but to abruptly draw in a deep breath, upon which the white devilish core nearby suddenly flew back and positioned itself directly in the path of the golden and silver thread.

It was planning to use its devilish core to keep the thin thread at bay, thereby indicating that it was extremely confident in the hardness of its own devilish core.

However, an astonishing scene then ensued.

As soon as the thin thread struck the devilish core, it passed through the object in a soundless manner, puncturing a small black hole at the center of the devilish core.

A shrill cry erupted from within the devilish vulture's beak, and the white flames around its body suddenly swelled drastically once again.

It flapped its wings in a thunderous rage, shattering the restrictive azure light around it before opening up some distance between itself and Han Li.

Immediately thereafter, a pillar of white flames erupted into the sky from its body, and the power of wind was infused into the pillar of flames, instantly forming a sea of white fire.

The devilish bird flapped its wings incessantly within the scorching white flames with a sinister expression on its face. Meanwhile, a massive bird projection that was over 100 feet in length abruptly appeared in the air with the devilish core at its very center.

The projection was entirely golden in color with a pair of inky-black eyes. It bore a strong resemblance to a crow, but it had three talons as opposed to two.

"That's a Golden Crow projection! As expected, this bird really does possess some of the true spirit's bloodline!" Han Li murmured to himself.

At this point, he had already reverted back to his human form, and was appraising the Golden Crow projection within the sea of flames from his vantage point up above.

Right at this moment, the devilish vulture raised its head and let loose a long cry. The scorching white flames around it immediately swept toward the Golden Crow projection before disappearing into the projection.

Within the span of just a few breaths, the massive projection had absorbed all of the Golden Crow True Flames in the surrounding area, and its body suddenly seemed to have taken on a substantial form as a layer of white flames also appeared over its golden feathers.

Within those white flames, silver runes were surging incessantly, and the flames seemed to be several times more powerful than before.

The devilish vulture down below wore a vicious look on its face as it glowered at Han Li, and it was quite clear that it was preparing to unleash a powerful attack with the projection that it had conjured up.

Strangely enough, Han Li glanced at the massive Golden Crow in the sky, then looked down at the devilish bird, and he suddenly chuckled as he pointed a finger at the devilish vulture before uttering the word "fall" three times in a row.

The devilish bird faltered upon hearing this, but it then flew into a thunderous rage as it prepared to spring into action, but right at this moment, an unexpected turn of events suddenly unfolded.

The massive vulture shuddered as a cry of anguish escaped its beak, and it suddenly plummeted from the sky. During its descent, its body curled up into a ball, and it suddenly turned a dark purple color while emitting a putrid odor. In the blink of an eye, it had been reduced to a puddle of purple liquid, and even its soul hadn't managed to escape.

This was all due to the lethal poison contained within the Revolving Evil Spirit Light.

Not only was this poison extremely potent, the target experienced no signs of discomfort in the initial stages following infection.

However, compared to the monstrous moth that Han Li had slain in the past, this Golden Crow was far more susceptible to the effects of this poison. Not only did it completely fail to detect that it had been poisoned for so long, it disintegrated into a puddle of toxic liquid almost as soon as it discovered that it had been poisoned.

Han Li was quite relieved to see this while the silver Fire Raven let loose a cry of elation. Immediately thereafter, it spread its wings and swooped down before devouring the puddle of toxic liquid that the devilish bird had disintegrated into.

Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, but he decided against stopping the Fire Raven after a brief hesitation.

The true blood of the Golden Crow was quite precious, but the Golden Crow wasn't part of his 12 Awakening Transformations, so it wouldn't do him much good anyway. As such, it was better to let the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven devour it; perhaps it would undergo some kind of transformation.

After all, this Fire Raven already possess a high level of spiritual nature, so anything that it was so eager to devour had to be extremely beneficial to its evolution.

After the Fire Raven devoured the toxic puddle, it didn't immediately turn back. Instead, it flew high up into the air.

Curiously enough, after the devilish vulture had perished, the massive Golden Crow projection didn't immediately vanish. Instead, it was merely hovering on the spot, and the only difference was that its inky-black eyes had lost all of their spark, making it appear completely wooden and soulless, just like a puppet.

The silver Fire Raven rushed into the Golden Crows body, then devoured the projection in a frenzy.

Perhaps it had devoured too much Golden Crow True Flames in one sitting, but after the Fire Raven devoured the final wisp of white flames, it reverted back to around a foot in size before immediately flying toward Han Li and disappearing into his body in a flash.

Thus, the white devilish core and the shimmering thin needles of light were the only things that remained down below.

Han Li certainly wasn't going to leave those behind; he swept a sleeve through the air, and a swath of azure light swept forth, upon which the devilish core and the hundreds of thin needles all disappeared in a flash.

At this moment, Han Li turned to glance at the azure light barrier conjured up by the Spring Dawn Sword Formation, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

He made a hand seal, and the azure light barrier shattered, following which the layers of azure lotus flowers disappeared. In the end, they reverted back to the 72 azure flying swords that hung in the air in all directions while emitting a faint ringing sound.

At the center of the area surrounded by the flying swords were the remains of the four devilish vultures, and they'd been diced up into several tens of segments. Just the power of the Spring Dawn Sword Formation had been enough to kill these four early-Spatial Tempering Stage devilish birds.

Han Li wasn't very surprised to see this. He merely flew over to the remains of the birds and paused momentarily before stowing the remains away in his storage bracelet.

He could sense that the Golden Crow bloodline was really thin in the bodies of these devilish birds, but there were still barely detectable traces here and there. In that case, he could wait for the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven to finish what it had just devoured, then feed it the remains of these four birds as well.

After all, true spirit blood was extremely rare, even in the Spirit Realm, so he wasn't going to waste even a single drop.

After doing all that, Han Li flew over to Xian Xian and Yue Zong as he said in a calm manner, "Everything has been taken care of here; let's keep going."

Yue Zong had been looking on in a flabbergasted manner for a long while.

In his heart, Han Li was indeed quite powerful, but surely he was only comparable to a ninth-tier upper race being at most.

But what had just happened? He was clearly only a seventh-tier upper race being, but he had slain so many high-grade devilish birds with ease in such a short timeframe.

Furthermore, not only was there a ninth-tier upper race being among these devilish birds, this was a mutated devilish bird with true spirit blood in its body!

Yue Zong had truly been stunned to the extreme, and he was still struggling to believe his eyes.

As such, he could only stare blankly at Han Li with incredulity etched all over his face.

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As for Xian Xian, she was also quite astonished, but she quickly returned to her senses as she said, "Indeed, Senior Han; this is not somewhere we should stay for longer than we have to. Perhaps there could be other devilish beasts lurking in the nearby area, so it's best that we get away from here as quickly as possible."

Yue Zong finally recovered from his stunned stupor upon hearing this, and he quickly nodded in agreement.

Thus, the three of them continued onward.

After that, they only flew for less than an hour before emerging from the thin mist, finally departing from that unsettling area.

The three of them then continued without pause on their journey.

Unbeknownst to the three of them, at the same time as they left the misty region, a streak of silver light shot forth from the distance before stopping in front of the sea of thin white mist.

The silver light faded to reveal a petite humanoid figure with a pair of pointy ears a long furry tail that was wagging gently behind her.

The beautiful woman looked around before making a hand seal while chanting something, and the ball of silver mist suddenly erupted from within her body, then transforming into runes that quickly spread in all directions.

The silver runes disappeared into thin air in the end, and a hint of elation appeared on the woman's face. "This is definitely the right direction! If I recall correctly, those mutated Human-faced Vultures recently settled here. They possess the bloodline of the Golden Crow and they're subordinates to Xue Bi, so they won't be easy to deal with. That's a good thing; at the very least beings won't be able to get out of this place easily."

Within that in mind, silver light appeared around her body, and she flew directly into the mist.

Over two hours later, silver light faded at the location where Han Li had slain the devilish birds earlier, and the woman revealed herself again.

She gently sniffed the air in the area, upon which a hint of bewilderment flashed through her eyes. She then made a hand seal and repeated the same process from earlier, following which the bewilderment in her eyes grew even more pronounced.

After pondering the situation for a while, she suddenly raised her head that let loose a long cry that was akin to the roar of a tiger, but also similar to that of a dragon.

Even after maintaining her call for a long while, the surrounding area still remained completely silent, and there was no response to her cry.

Thus, her voice came to an abrupt halt, and she furrowed her brows tightly.

A short while later, she shook her head and departed from this place. The direction that she was advancing toward was identical to the route that Han Li's trio had taken.

Within a certain obscure col in deep in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, thousands upon thousands of devilish beasts of different types had gathered, both in the air above and on the ground below.

The largest of those beast resembled small mountains, while the smallest were only around a foot in size each.

At the center of the area surrounded by these devilish beasts was a huge rock that was several hundred feet in size.

There was a devilish beast that was several tens of feet tall perched atop the rock, and it was none other than the giant toad named Ju Chu.

However, this devilish beast's body had shrunk down drastically compared to its original size, and it was looking rather mundane among this vast gathering of devilish beasts, among which many were far more menacing in appearance.

The giant toad was perched motionlessly on the giant rock, seemingly waiting for something.

The thousands of other devilish beasts in the surrounding area were all starting to grow quite impatient, but they were also willing themselves to remain calm.

A short while later, the devilish beasts in the air suddenly parted to open up a path for a massive bat with golden patterns all over its body. The bat swooped down from above before folding is wings against its body, then stopping in front of the giant toad.

"Master, the time has come, and we've gathered everyone that we could!"

"Alright, in that case, let's set off. Let me reiterate the objective of this operation; kill all of the outsiders who have ventured into these mountain ranges, and secure the formation-plate-like treasures that they're holding. After that, find this immortal zoysia using those formation plates and offer it to Master Tie Mo. The one who finds the immortal zoysia will be given a handsome reward," the giant toad instructed in a concise manner.

All of the devilish beasts gathered in the col had already attained intelligence, and after hearing these instructions, they immediately set off. Some of them flew away into the air while others burrowed deep into the ground, and all of them traveled toward the outskirts of the mountain ranges.

The giant toad itself also leaped away to join the search.

However, unbeknownst to all of the devilish beasts present, there was a black shadow lurking within an ordinary-looking grey cloud that was hanging tens of thousands of feet above the col.

The black shadow had a pair of flashing crimson eyes, and it was appraising everything unfolding down below in a cold manner.

Only after all of the devilish beasts had left the col did it fly out from the cloud, thereby revealing itself to be a large crimson parrot.

The parrot circled around in the air before suddenly self-detonating into a cloud of blood mist amid a dull thump.

There was a crimson rune within the body of the parrot, and it disappeared in a flash.

At the same time, within a stone chamber situated deep underground in an area where multiple formations had been set up, a crimson-robed man who was meditating on a bed suddenly opened his eyes.

The man's face as deathly pale with a big mouth and a sunken nose, as well as a pair of dark brooding eyes.

"What is that Tie Mo plotting at a time like this? Our patriarch is about to awaken soon, yet they're deploying so many beings to kill outsiders? And what is this immortal zoysia? It must be something quite important, seeing as he's deployed almost all of the high-grade devilish beasts under his command to search for it," the man murmured to himself in a hesitant manner.

Moments later, he suddenly clapped his hands together twice, and the stone door of the chamber swung soundlessly on their own.

A woman with an elegant figure wearing a crimson palatial dress strode in through the door, but there was a layer of crimson mist that concealed her facial features.

"Greetings, Father!" The woman extended a graceful curtsey after making her way over to the man.

"Xue Ying, have Tie Mo and Duo Yan arrived at the earth palace yet?" the man asked.

"Not yet, Father." The woman's voice was a little low, but it was a relatively pleasant voice nonetheless.

"They still haven't made it? Looks like there really is something amiss, then," the crimson-robed man mused with a contemplative look in his eyes.

"Have you received some news, Father?" the woman asked in a curious voice.

"I have, indeed. All of Tie Mo's subordinates have been deployed," the man replied in a slow choice.

"What? All of them? Could it be..." The woman was quite startled to hear this.

"It's not what you think. They've all been deployed to the outskirts of the mountain ranges, and they're preparing to kill all of the Spirit Realm beings who have ventured in this place," the man explained with a shake of his head.

"They want to kill all of the Spirit Realm beings? Why is that?" The woman was rather confused to hear this.

"This is why I summoned you here. They seem to be searching for something called an immortal zoysia, but the holy patriarch's awakening is imminent, so I can't leave this place. As such, I want you to find out what the situation is in my stead, and inform me immediately if you find some useful information," the man instructed as a cold light flashed through his eyes.

The woman's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, but she still replied, "Yes, Father."

After that, she backed out of the chamber in a respectful manner, and the stone door swung shut of its own accord.

Meanwhile, the crimson-robed man heaved a faint sigh before closing his eyes to meditate again.

In the air above a grey forest on the outskirts of the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, a Deity Transformation cultivator was controlling three red flying sabers as he battled two devilish beasts that resembled black bears.

Not only were these devilish beasts several tens of feet tall, they were able to unleash countless claw projections by swinging their paws through the air, and those claw projections clashed with the flying sabers amid a string of loud clangs as a fierce battle ensued.

This Deity Transformation Stage being was only barely able to ensure self-preservation in the face of these fierce attacks, but in the next instant, a peculiar cry suddenly rang out in the distant sky, following which a black cloud drifted forth.

This was a pack of hundreds of horned black birds.

One of them was around 10 feet in length a pair of green eyes that were emitting a sinister light.

The Deity Transformation Stage being was absolutely petrified upon seeing this, but he was unable to do anything aside from manipulating his three flying sabers with all his might in the face of the two giant bears.

All of a sudden, the three flying sabers flew back toward him before transforming into three streaks of light that shielded his body within.

However, following a strange cry from the devilish bird leading the pack, the rest of them flew forth in a frenzy. The flying sabers were only able to slay a dozen or so of these devilish birds before they were torn to shreds.

Even the giant bear-like devilish beasts weren't spared as they were also eaten by this pack of ferocious birds.

In the end, one of the birds suddenly opened its beak to expel a formation plate, and their leader's eyes lit up with elation upon seeing this as it opened its peak to blast forth a burst of light, which drew the formation plate into its stomach.

After that, it led the pack of devilish birds toward another direction.

In the air above a small mountain, five leopard-like devilish beasts were attacking a yellow light barrier that had enshrouded the mountain's summit.

Grey devilish Qi was erupting from the mouths of the devilish beasts, causing the light barrier to tremor incessantly, and below the light barrier, there were two foreign beings each wielding a flag with all their might. Despite the fact that they were doing their best to maintain the light barrier, it was clearly on the brink of collapse.

Elsewhere, above a stretch of empty land, the elderly man with the Yan surname and the pale-faced young man were flying through the air as quickly as they could as two streaks of light.

Behind them, a strange green cloud and a gust of fierce black winds were giving chase in hot pursuit.

As the two drew closer and closer, the elderly man's heart sank, and he gritted his teeth as he suddenly flipped his hand over to produce a slightly worn-out golden talisman.

He chanted something before raising the talisman, and a ball of piercing golden light that resembled a scintillating golden sun appeared amid a resounding boom.

Golden light radiated in all directions, creating a marvelous spectacle that also forced back all of the devilish Qi in the surrounding area.

The green cloud and the gust of black winds were also forced to stop in their tracks as a result.

Moments later, the golden light vanished, yet the two men up ahead had also disappeared without a trace.

Similar scenarios were unfolding all throughout the outskirts of the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges.

Most of the foreign beings who had entered the mountain ranges had been killed by devilish beasts, and only a small number remained.

All of the beings who had survived up to this point were naturally quite powerful, and after realizing that there seemed to be an abnormally high number of high-grade devilish beasts that were appearing in the area, all of them went into hiding and became extremely cautious.

The devilish beasts that had obtained the tracking formation plates from the beings that they had slain all began to search through the outskirts of the mountain ranges.

However, strangely enough, none of the remaining Spirit Realm beings nor the devilish beasts had even caught a single glimpse of this immortal zoysia.

At this point, after a few days of travel, Han Li's trio was finally close to their destination.

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Han Li stood atop the summit of a small mountain, looking into the distance through a pair of narrowed eyes.

After a while, he withdrew his gaze and turned to Xian Xian as he asked, "Is this the place that you were referring to? Why does it look so ordinary?"

"The wounded devilish beast chose this place precisely because it's so nondescript. Brother Yue, your guidance won't be required for the rest of the journey, so take a rest somewhere nearby. Senior Han and I have to make a trip over there, and we'll be back in three to four days at most. If we're still not back by then, you can leave us behind and go back on your own," Xian Xian said with a smile.

"In that case, I'll be slacking off for a bit here." Yue Zong nodded before cupping his fist in a salute, then flew over to a nearby small mountain before disappearing into the mountain peak.

"Let's go, Senior Han." Xian Xian took a deep breath as a solemn look appeared on her face.

Han Li nodded before immediately flying toward that direction as a streak of azure light.

After entering the mountain ranges up ahead, the Devilish Smoke Bird perched on Xian Xian's shoulder immediately spread open its wings before flying into the air, then heading toward a certain direction.

Han Li and Xian Xian followed along closely behind it, flying for several thousand kilometers before the small black bird finally stopped in front of an ordinary-looking mountain.

After that, it began to circle around in the air above the mountain while chirping incessantly.

Xian Xian's eyes lit up with elation as she said, "It's already found the entrance!"

Immediately thereafter, she flew on ahead and drew close to the mountain peak after just a few flashes. She then quickly flew around the mountain peak a few times before stopping halfway up the mountain, where she began to appraise something with a focused look on her face.

Han Li flew over to her side and also cast his gaze toward the same directions.

There, he was greeted by the sight of a mundane-looking grey rock face that was over 1,000 feet tall. The rock face was quite smooth, and aside from the fact that there was some black Qi hovering close to it, there was nothing else that set it apart from any of the other rock faces here.

However, as blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he if he'd noticed something more than what met the eye.

At this moment, Xian Xian let loose a low cry, and the Devilish Smoke Bird that was circling around in the air above suddenly swooped down before flying directly toward the rock face.

In the instant, that the Devilish Smoke Bird came into contact with the seemingly solid rock face, ripples ran through the sheer mountain face amid a dull thump. Immediately thereafter, its surface blurred before transforming into a layer of dense black mist.

The entire rock face was the entrance to a massive cave, and the Devilish Smoke Bird had passed through the black mist without any impediment.

"Please wait for a moment, Senior; I'll get the Devilish Smoke Bird to do some scouting first," Xian Xian said in a cautious manner before sitting down in mid-air in a cross-legged manner, then closed her eyes while making a hand seal.

A wisp of her spiritual sense had already been infused into the Devilish Smoke Bird's body, and she was going to control it to assess the situation inside the cave first.

Meanwhile, Han Li stood beside her with a contemplative look on his face, seemingly in deep thought about something.

After a long while, the Devilish Smoke Bird emerged from the black mist with a clear chirp before landing on Xian Xian's shoulder, and the latter also opened her eyes at this moment.

"Luckily for us, the holy-grade devilish beast in there is still in a deep slumber, so this is the best opportunity to strike. I'll get the Devilish Smoke Bird to lead you directly to the devilish beast, Senior Han. However, the devilish Qi in there is quite fierce, so even you won't be able to last very long in there. As such, it's best to kill the devilish beast in one fell swoop without alerting it!" Xian Xian said in a serious manner before pointing a finger up ahead.

The small black bird flew into the black mist again at her behest, and Han Li appraised Xian Xian for a while before nodding in a calm manner. He then made a hand seal, and golden light shimmered all over his body as a layer of thin golden scales appeared.

Thus, he made his way into the black mist as a streak of golden light, and a contemplative look appeared on Xian Xian's face upon seeing this.

All of a sudden, a ball of azure light flew out from Xian Xian's body, and it transformed into a fist-sized Kirin projection as it said, "It's about time we made our move as well."

Xian Xina shook her head, and replied, "Let's wait for a while longer. Regardless of whether he can kill that holy-grade devilish beast or not, the best opportunity for us to enter the true spirit cave will be while he's battling the beast."

"Oh? You seem to be quite wary of him," the Kirin projection chuckled.

"You've been in my body this entire time, so you must've also seen his displays of power. Even a ninth-tier upper race devilish beast is no match for him; if I were to face him in a direct battle, I have zero confidence in my ability to win. If I'm not mistaken, even though that holy-grade devilish beast is still in a deep slumber, it must have set up some defensive measures in advance, so it'll most likely be next to impossible to approach it without waking it up. We can only sneak in and open the true spirit cave during their battle," Xian Xian analyzed in a calm voice.

"You're right. Let's keep waiting for a bit, then," the Kirin projection replied with a nod after a moment of deliberation.

Meanwhile, Yue Zong was meditating inside a new cave that he'd dug into a mountain peak outside of the mountain ranges.

All of a sudden, his expression changed drastically as he flipped his hand over to produce the box that contained the strange insect.

As soon as the lid of the box was removed, the silkworm-like insect began to screech and thrash with all its might.

Yue Zong drew a sharp breath upon seeing this, and he immediately flew out of the cave as a streak of white light.

However, as soon as he emerged outside, his expression darkened significantly as he found himself standing directly before a silver-armored man with an extremely cold and aloof expression.

It was the foreign being with the Gui surname with whom he'd been in conflict earlier.

Yue Zong's heart sank, but he forced a smile onto his face as he asked, "I didn't expect to see you here, Senior; I thought some other devilish beast had appeared in the area. Do you have some business with me, Senior?"

The silver-armored man appraised Yue Zong in a cold manner for a long while without saying anything before finally replying, "Where are the others?"

"Others? There are no other people here aside from myself, Senior," Yue Zong replied in a relatively calm manner.

"Is that so? In that case, I'll send you on your way!" Crimson light flashed past the silver-armored man's face as a vicious look surfaced in his eyes.

Yue Zong's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he immediately hurled the box in his hand toward the silver-armored man. Immediately thereafter, spiritual light flashed from within his sleeves, and several tens of talismans of different colors shot forth from within. At the same time, he opened his mouth to blast forth a white jade badge.

The strange insect flew out of the box and swelled to around 10 feet in size before slithering toward the silver-armored being like a white snake. Meanwhile, the talismans all exploded into balls of light of different colors, while the jade badge transformed into a cloud of white mist amid a dull thump, covering an area of around an acre and enshrouding the silver-armored man within.

As for Yue Zong himself, white light flashed beneath his feet as a pair of white wheels appeared, and his body swayed as he disappeared on the spot, only to reappear over 100 feet away from the cloud of white mist.

After that, he fled the scene as a streak of white light. The silver-armored being chuckled coldly upon seeing this before suddenly laying a hand on the top of his own head, and his body blurred before manifesting three identical avatars.

One of the avatars raised both arms into the air, and they transformed into a pair of crimson ghostly hands with sharp fingers and black Qi revolving around them. The pair of hands grabbed onto the oncoming giant insect, then clenched together tightly, and the 10 fingers tore the insect into several segments as if they were sharp blades.

Another avatar abruptly opened his mouth to expel a burst of crimson light, which swept up all of the oncoming balls of light in a frenzy.

After that, the avatar inhaled violently, and the crimson light flashed as all of the balls of light were sucked into his stomach, along with a small portion of the white mist nearby.

As for the final avatar, silver light flashed through his eyes, and he suddenly transformed into a silver wyrm that shot forth through the air.

After just a single flash, the silver wyrm appeared in the air above Yue Zong as if by instantaneous teleportation, then whipped its tail before grabbing downward with its massive claws in a menacing manner.

Yue Zong's face paled significantly upon seeing this, but he naturally wasn't going to just allow himself to be killed. A resounding boom erupted from his body, following which a pair of white bone flying swords short forth from within.

The flying swords had lightning flashing along their surfaces, and they appeared to be quite powerful as they swept toward the oncoming claws in a criss-cross formation.

The bone swords were able to keep the massive claws at bay for a split second, but they were then immediately shattered into two clean halves in the face of the enormous force being exerted upon them.

Yue Zong took advantage of this opportunity to expel a ball of blood essence that enshrouded his two feet, looking as if he were planning to use some kind of movement technique to aid him in his escape.

However, a cold light flashed through the silver wyrm's eyes, and it opened its mouth to expel a crimson bead amid a clear ringing sound.

The bead rotated on the spot before suddenly emitting a vast expanse of dark crimson light, which caught Yue Zong completely off guard and instantly inundated his body.

He then essentially disintegrated into a puddle of blood before being gobble up by the silver wyrm.

Immediately thereafter, the silvery wyrm circled around while the other two avatars also rose into the air to meet it.

The three avatars then combined in one in an instant to form that silver-robed being again.

However, he currently wore a contemplative look on his face, as if he were in deep thought about something.

"Those beings also appeared in this place; could it be that they're after that as well? But there shouldn't be anyone else aware of that thing, unless they're like me... Hmph! In any case, only I have a right to obtain that thing; I'll kill anyone who dares to stand in my way!" the man murmured to himself with a ferocious look in his eyes.

All of a sudden, he turned toward a certain direction, and yelled, "Who's there? Come out right now!"

However, there nothing emerged from that direction.

The man's expression darkened as he abruptly raised a hand to hurl a silver flying saber through the air, and silver light flashed before a series of saber projections instantly descended upon that spot.

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However, even after all of the saber projections converged toward that spot, nothing was revealed to be there.

A hint of surprise flashed through the silver-armored man's face upon seeing this, and a hint of confusion appeared on his face. After contemplating the situation for a moment, he let loose a cold harrumph before making a hand seal.

The silver flying dagger immediately returned to him as he behest before disappearing up his sleeve in a flash. After that, the man flew away as a streak of azure light, and complete silence returned to the area with the exception of the sound of a few gusts of gentle breeze blowing past.

Some time later, faint silver light flashed in the air, and a petite humanoid figure appeared.

This was a being who resembled a beautiful woman with a pair of pointy ears; it was none other than the devilish beast, Jiu Ye.

She looked on toward the direction that the silver-armored being had departed, and her brows furrowed as she murmured to herself, "Who was that? He's not the one who killed the young master, but he's quite powerful nonetheless. If it weren't for the fact that I used a secret technique to move my aura elsewhere in advance, I most likely wouldn't have been able to fool him. These outsiders are all far too powerful for me to deal with alone; I have to call for some reinforcements."

As soon as her voice trailed off, the woman tore off a small tuft of fur from her tail before chanting something, then raising her hand up into the air.

These strands of fur transformed into thin streaks of silver light that flew through the air before disappearing into the distance after just a few flashes.

The woman's expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and she then cast a hesitant gaze toward the mountain ranges where Han Li and the silver-armored being had disappeared before heaving a faint sigh.

She made a hand seal, and her body blurred within the silver light again before vanishing into nothingness.

Meanwhile, Han Li was following the Devilish Smoke Bird as he slowly traversed through the dense black mist.

The bird was chirping urgently from time to time as if it were urging him to pick up the speed, but Han Li merely ignored it and continued at his own leisurely pace.

Thus, the Devilish Smoke Bird had no choice but to slow down to accommodate his speed as it led him further on ahead.

The devilish Qi in the surrounding area was dense to the extreme, to the extent that one couldn't even see their five fingers if they were to hold their hand up in front of their face. It was as if this were the darkest pits of hell.

However, with the golden light that was flashing from Han Li's body and the blue light that was shimmering in his eyes, he was able to see everything in the surrounding area with great clarity.

At this moment, he was currently situated in a massive square passageway.

The passageway was over 100 feet in both length and width, and the four surfaces were all paved with a type of inky-black rock material that he'd never seen before.

The dense devilish Qi in the passageway was pouring out incessantly from none other than those rocks, and this Han Li quite curious about just what they were.

If it weren't for the fact that a restriction could've potentially been cast onto these walls, he would've chipped off a few of the black rocks for further examination.

This passageway wasn't just a singular one. Instead, it was part of a system of passageways that spread throughout the entire belly of the mountain like a maze, and the further one progressed, the deeper underground they went.

Thus, time passed by slowly.

It hadn't taken the Devilish Smoke Bird long to make a return trip last time, but Han Li had already been walking for quite a while, and there were still no signs to suggest that he was close to reaching the end.

This made Han Li develop a sense of distrust and animosity toward the black bird.

The Devilish Smoke Bird seemed to have also sensed Han Li's discontent, but it couldn't do anything aside from continuing onward. After forging ahead for a while longer, the Devilish Smoke Bird suddenly stopped up ahead, just as Han Li was contemplating turning back.

Han Li's heart stirred upon seeing this, and he focused his gaze up ahead to find that the devilish Qi there seemed to have thinned out significantly. Furthermore, there was a massive exit that was shimmering with white light right before his eyes.

Han Li's expression finally eased slightly, and he took a deep breath before suddenly gesturing toward the Devilish Smoke Bird.

The bird had a wisp of Xian Xian's spiritual sense within its body, so it was naturally quite intelligent, and a hint of confusion appeared in its eyes upon seeing this. However, after a brief hesitation, it still flew obediently toward Han Li.

As soon as the bird reached the air above Han Li's head, he suddenly swept a sleeve upward, and a swath of grey light erupted forth like lightning before sweeping up the hapless bird in a flash.

The Devilish Smoke Bird was naturally quite stunned by this development, and it opened its beak to try and cry out.

However, its voice was naturally unable to escape through the Divine Essencefused Light around it.

At this moment, Han Li pointed a finger up ahead in a calm manner, and azure light flashed from his fingertip as an azure rune struck the immobilized Devilish Smoke Bird's body.

Azure light then swirled all over the entire bird before it disappeared within the grey light in a flash.

After doing all that, Han Li dusted off his hands as a faint smile appeared on his face.

However, in the next instant, he cast his gaze toward the exit, and a grim expression surfaced in his eyes.

He suddenly opened his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames, which transformed into a silver Fire Raven in a flash.

The Fire Raven flew around Han Li a few times before disappearing without a trace into a nearby wall.

After that, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and 72 small golden swords also shot forth in a soundless manner.

These flying swords circled around in the air at Han Li's behest, then transformed into countless azure lotus flowers that appeared all over the passageway, only to disappear like soap bubbles in the next instant.

After doing all that, Han Li paused momentarily before flipping a hand to produce two silver talismans. The talismans shot forth toward the ground below before transforming into a pair of fain golden shadows that disappeared underground.

Those were none other than his two Armor Origin Talismans.

What he was about to face was a Body Integration Stage Devilish Beast, and even though it had sustained severe injuries, Han Li still didn't dare to grow complacent in the slightest.

Prior to making this journey, he had specifically refined some beveled silver talismans to take with him.

The materials required to refine these talismans were all extremely precious, but in a super city like Cloud City, it was naturally possible to gather those materials as long as he had sufficient spirit stones.

After making all of those preparations, a cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and plastered a purple talisman onto his own body.

Brilliant silver light flashed, and a ball of purple mist permeated forth, following which Han Li's body disappeared amid a flash of silver runes.

As a safety precaution, he decided to use a High Zenith Invisibility Talisman as well.

After that, Han Li's insubstantial body drifted toward the exit as if he really were about to try and slay the holy-grade devilish beast.

Outside the mountain, Xian Xian let loose a cry of surprise in the instant that Han Li cast a restriction on the Devilish Smoke Bird.

The azure Kirin projection was rather startled by this, and it hurriedly raised its head as it asked, "What happened?"

Xian Xian exhaled with a hesitant look on her face as she replied, "My Devilish Smoke Bird has been restricted by that person."

"What? Why would he do that? Could it be that he's already noticed something?" the Kirn projection asked with furrowed brows.

"It's unlikely that he's noticed something. Perhaps he's simply very cautious in nature and doesn't wish for us to be able to conduct surveillance on him while he battles the holy-grade devilish beast," Xian Xian replied in an unconvincing voice.

"In that case, things are a little troublesome for us. We don't know what's going on in there, so we won't be able to go in at the ideal opportunity," the Kirin projection said in a dark voice with a frustrated swipe of its tail.

"I'm naturally aware of that as well, but we have no choice. Regardless of what's happening in there, let's go in right away as well. No matter how powerful he is, he's still just an upper race being, so there's no way that he'll be able to kill a holy-grade devilish beast anytime soon. In any case, we'll have enough time to open the true spirit cave," Xian Xian decided as she gritted her teeth.

"Looks like that's our only choice. Let's go!" The Kirin projection also quickly nodded in response.

Thus, Xian Xian flipped a hand over to produce a triangular badge.

The badge was entirely black in color, and there was a black Kirin image on one side, while several silver runes had been inscribed onto the other side.

"It's a pity that we have to use up this Devilish Kirin Badge. I had to go to great lengths to gather the materials, and I failed on many occasions before I finally managed to refine this one," Xian Xian mused as she stroked the badge in a wistful manner.

"No matter how precious that badge is, it can't compare with the things that lie in the true spirit cave. Only with that thing will you be able to avoid being rejected by the devilish Qi in the cave, thereby allowing you to infiltrate with ease. With that Han brat holding off the holy-grade devilish beast for you, even if it notices that something's amiss, it won't be able to stop you from opening the true spirit cave," the Kirin projection urged.

"Even so, this is a disposable item, and it's a huge waste to use it solely for aura concealment," Xian Xian sighed with a wry smile.

The Kirin projection rolled its eyes upon hearing this, and it was just about to say something when Xian Xian's expression abruptly changed as she tossed the badge in her hand into the air.

The badge rotated in mid-air, and fierce gusts of black winds were suddenly swept up.

These gust winds were extremely unsettling as a disconcerting low roar could be heard emanating from them, as if there were a giant beast lurking within them.

Xian Xian's expression darkened as she made one hand seal after another while raising her other wrist, then opening her mouth to expel a small azure sword.

The sword revolved around her wrist as a streak of azure light, then flew back into her mouth, and a large amount of blood essence immediately gushed out of the gash that had just been inflicted on her wrist.

"Go!" Xian Xian let loose a low cry.

The blood essence instantly converged to form a fist-sized crimson ball before flying straight toward the gusts of fierce black winds.

Strangely enough, after the ball of blood disappeared into the black winds, not only did the unsettling roaring come to an abrupt halt, even the ferocious winds themselves gradually abated.

In the end, the black winds vanished in a flash, but an inky-black Kirin that was around 10 feet in length had appeared in their place.

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The Kirin had black light flashing all over its body, and it was only an extremely blurry and indistinct projection.

However, even in the face of a mere projection, Xian Xian was carrying herself in an extremely careful manner. She pointed a finger into the air several times to conjure up one black rune after another, all of which disappeared into the black Kirin.

The vicious light in the eyes of the menacing black Kirin instantly subsided as a result, and in the end, it transformed into a ball of black light that hurtled through the air, encapsulating both the azure Kirin projection and Xian Xian within the black light.

"It's a good thing that I still remember where this Kirin perished, so we were able to use a hint of residual corpse Qi from its remains to refine this treasure. Due to the fact that the two of us are interconnected, you also possess the aura of a Kirin within your body. Otherwise, not only would you have been unable to use this treasure, you would've suffered backlash from it as well," the azure Kirin projection chuckled.

"That's why I didn't want to part with this treasure. In a dire situation, this treasure could save my life," Xian Xian lamented with a wry smile.

However, after her voice fell, she didn't hesitate any longer as her body swayed, and she disappeared into the devilish Qi while enveloped by black light.

Unbeknownst to the two of them, not long after they'd entered the devilish Qi, a fist-sized grey rock suddenly flew up from halfway up a nearby mountain.

The rock then shattered to reveal a shimmering golden beetle, which also flew into the passageway in a soundless manner.

Meanwhile, Han Li had emerged from the passageway, and appeared in the entrance of a large hall.

He focused his gaze up ahead to find that this was a circular hall with a diameter of over 1,000 feet.

At the very center of the hall was a golden formation that was over 300 feet in size, around which stood 12 black stone pillars that were each several tens of feet tall. There were some menacing images of demons and devils carved onto stone pillars, and bursts of inky-black devilish Qi were pouring forth from these images, drifting toward the center of the formation in unison.

At the center of the formation was a massive crimson bed, upon which was a huge black ape that was several tens of feet in size.

The devilish ape's fangs were completely bared, and its limbs were remarkably long. On top of that, it had three shimmering yellow twisted horns on its head.

There was a purple scar on his chest that was around the size of a human head, and through it, several ribs and an inky-black beating heart could be seen.

The massive ape's eyes were tightly shut, and black light was flashing all around it, slowly absorbing the surrounding devilish Qi into its body.

At the same time, a layer of crimson mist was being emitted by the large bed that the ape was lying on, and that mist was also surging into its body incessantly.

Han Li stood at the entrance and looked on coldly at the scenes unfolding within the hall, displaying no intentions to spring into action whatsoever.

At this moment, his body was in an insubstantial stage, so even if someone were standing right next to him, it would still be quite difficult for them to detect him.

However, according to Xian Xian's description, this giant ape was a being at somewhere around the mid-Body Integration Stage, so Han Li couldn't be sure that his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman would be able to fool it.

As such, he was maintaining his distance from the devilish ape while standing still on the spot, surveying the situation in silence.

However, after the golden beetle had flown out from the rock on the mountain, Han Li's expression changed slightly, and a cold light flashed through his eyes before they reverted back to normal.

Back before he'd entered the passageway, he'd kept a Gold Devouring Beetle outside as a safety precaution.

Of course, this beetle had been imbued with a wisp of his spiritual sense, and it was one of the beetles that had undergone mutation after devouring a portion of that mysterious stone block.

After devouring the stone block, the mutated Gold Devouring Beetles' bodies had become extraordinarily hard and heavy. Further, following the research and experiments he'd conducted during the past few years, he discovered that the beetles had also attained a new ability; a stoneform ability.

This mutated ability was something that he'd unwittingly discovered while cultivating his own spiritual sense.

After burrowing into soil or stone, these mutated Gold Devouring Beetles could emit strange bursts of earth-attribute spiritual power, thereby allowing them to fuse as one with the earth around them.

As such, unless someone was aware of the exact hiding spot of the beetles in advance or had cultivated a spirit eye technique that could see through their disguise, no one would be able to notice that anything was amiss as long as the beetles continued to hide within the rock or stone, regardless of how powerful their spiritual sense was.

It was exactly because of this that Han Li had been willing to enter the mountain on his own.

Due to the obstruction from the devilish Qi, he wasn't able to glean exactly what Xian Xian was doing through the Gold Devouring Beetle. However, even though his rather murky spiritual sense detection, he learned that she hadn't just been waiting outside as she claimed she would, and was instead doing something rather suspicious.

Han Li wasn't overly surprised by this discovery.

He'd already speculated that she may have been hiding something after she'd offered to repair the Heavenly Devilish Armor in exchange for just some holy-grade devilish beast materials. It was quite clear that this woman was no ordinary Crystal being, so holy-grade devilish beast materials shouldn't be worth making the effort and taking the risk for her, especially when she couldn't even have the most valuable devilish core. On top of that, she was even presenting a treasure like the Heavenly Devilish Armor to him!

After entering the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, their group had encountered several extremely perilous scenarios, but Xian Xian had shown no signs of wanting to give up, and that only further fuelled Han Li's suspicions.

Now that he had confirmed that she harbored ulterior motives, he wasn't actually enraged at all.

As long as Xian Xian didn't do anything to hurt his interests and could repair the Heavenly Devilish Armor using the holy-grade devilish core as she proclaimed, he didn't really care if she had some other objectives.

Of course, if she were going after something that was sufficiently tempting, even to him, he wouldn't mind stepping in to get a share for himself.

Xian Xian did indeed possess some special abilities and treasures, but at her lowly cultivation base, Han Li was confident that he'd be able to control her at all times.

At this point, he had stood at the entrance and observed for around 10 minutes. During this time, he was able to ascertain that aside from the formation on the ground and the 12 pillars around it, there were no other restrictions in the room.

Furthermore, this giant ape had indeed been severely wounded and was in a state of deep slumber.

In that case, prior to ascertaining just what Xian Xian was plotting, he didn't mind securing the holy-grade devilish core first.

As long as he didn't have to face the beast in a direct confrontation, he was confident in his ability to kill it in one fell swoop with a sneak attack. With that in mind, a cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and he finally decided to act.

He took a deep breath before rustling both sleeves at once, and azure light flashed as a dozen or so azure beads appeared in one of his hands, while a thick stack of talismans appeared in the other.

He tossed both batches of items forward, and they hovered before him in a stationary manner. After that, golden light flashed from his body, and two fist-sized golden beetles emerged. After doing all that, Han Li made a hand seal, and his body slowly withdrew out of its insubstantial form.

During this process, he appraised the giant black ape in the hall with an intense unblinking gaze, and the devilish ape remained completely still on the bed, displaying no reaction to Han Li's actions whatsoever.

As solemn look appeared on Han Li's face as he pointed a finger at the stack of talismans, and they instantly drifted toward all corners of the hall, then disappeared in silence amid a flash of silver light.

Meanwhile, the dozen or so beads were also slowly flying toward the black pillars.

After flying to the tops of these round pillars, the azure beads all drew to a halt just before they flew into the giant formation. Thus, each of them hovered several feet above their respective pillar, and remained still on the spot.

The two Gold Devouring Beetles had also flown to just over 100 feet away from the formation in a wraith-like manner at his behest, and both of them were hovering in mid-air in a menacing manner.

After doing all that, Han Li glanced at the black devilish ape to find that it still hadn't displayed any reactions. After a brief hesitation, he suddenly raised a hand toward one corner of the hall, and spiritual light flashed as a silver Fire Raven appeared out of thin air, then spread its wings and vanished on the spot.

In the next instant, the Fire Raven appeared in a discreet manner directly above the giant formation before hanging completely motionlessly in mid-air.

Han Li wore a rather grave expression, but he acted in a quick and decisive manner as he transmitted an instruction to the silver Fire Raven using his spiritual sense.

The Fire Raven immediately opened its beak at his behest to expel a thin golden and silver thread. It was none other than the Revolving Evil Spirit Light.

The thin thread flew through the air at an extraordinarily fast speed, reaching the formation down below almost as soon as it flew out of the Fire Raven's beak.

However, as expected, the giant formation was not just a useless ornamental display.

A buzzing sound rang out within the hall, following which a crimson light barrier suddenly appeared above the formation, shielding the giant ape's body within.

However, the thin golden and silver thread merely punctured through the light barrier as if it didn't even exist, then abruptly appeared right above the devilish ape's head.

It appeared that the thin thread was about to puncture the ape's large head in the next instant, and Han Li looked on from afar with bated breath.

All of a sudden, a suit of purple armor suddenly appeared, covering every single inch of its entire body.

The thin thread struck the visor of the armor, which was an exact mold of the devilish ape's face, only to be repelled amid a loud metallic clang.

Han Li's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately relinquished all attempts to remain stealthy and discreet as golden light flashed from his body. Immediately thereafter, a golden projection with three heads and six arms appeared above his head, and he chanted something internally as two of the three heads abruptly opened their eyes.

A cold light flashed through the two pairs of eyes, following which the six arms of the projection came together in three groups of two.

Golden light flashed within the projection shimmering golden hands, and three rather blurry giant swords appeared.

The three swords were all antiquated in design with runes flashing over their surfaces, but all of them were of different colors and styles.

One of them was as thin as paper and flashing with golden light, another one was narrow yet extremely long and shimmering with azure light, and the final one was an extremely thick dull sword that was completely inky-black in color.

"Slash!" Han Li commanded in a barely audible voice.

The golden projection instantly made hand seals with its three spare hands before pointing toward the distance in unison, and three sword projections of different colors flew through the air before combining as one, forming a three-colored streak of light that hurtled directly toward the giant black ape.

Almost at the exact same time, the 12 azure beads hovering above the black pillars came crashing down, and azure light flashed as they exploded amid a string of earth-shattering booms.

Loud thunderclaps rang out in rapid succession, and not only did the 12 black pillars fall in the face of the azure lightning, even the entire formation had been entirely inundated by arcs of lightning.

The light barrier clashed with the arcs of azure lightning, and the purple light barrier was shattered amid an agonized screech almost instantaneously before countless arcs of azure lightning rained down in a torrential downpour.

At the same time, the two golden beetles and three sword projections shot forth in unison, hoping to land a lethal blow amid the chaos.

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Setting aside the Gold Devouring Beetles, the three sword projections were an ability that Han Li had attained after combining his Provenance True Devil Arts and different types of true essence.

This secret technique could unleash the powers of his Provenance True Devil Arts, Azure Essence Sword Art, and Vajra Arts all at once through the Provenance True Devil Projection.

The Provenance True Devil Arts and Azure Essence Sword Art weren't worthy of note, but the Vajra Arts was a body refinement cultivation method, so it was extremely rare to be able for someone to be able to project the true essence imbued within the cultivation art in this manner.

Han Li had coined the name "Triessence Slash" for this ability. Due to the fact that the three types of true essence were all different and complemented one another, their combined power was far superior to just the sum of their constituent parts.

The slash that had just been unleashed had exhausted close to half of the true essence within Han Li's body, and even though the three-colored sword projection had been compressed to a completely ordinary-looking state, it possessed devastating power that could virtually split mountains and part oceans.

With all of the other attacks that Han Li had also prepared, if the black devilish ape were to take everything head-on, Han Li was 70% confident that it would be killed on the spot.

At this moment, the azure arcs of lightning struck the giant ape's suit of purple armor first, yet an unexpected turn of events suddenly unfolded within the formation.

The runes all over the crimson bed lit up in unison, emitting a piercing crimson light that shielded the armored ape within.

The powerful arcs of lightning struck the crimson light in a frenzy, but the light barrier only tremored slightly in the face of such an astonishingly powerful attack, yet remained completely unscathed.

However, in the next instant, the three-colored sword projection and the two golden beetles also crashed into the crimson light barrier in quick succession.

A resounding boom rang out as the entire hall tremored violently, and was instantly inundated by lights of different colors.

What appeared to be an extremely dazzling rainbow sun then rose up from the center of the formation, yet Han Li didn't falter in the slightest as a hint of blue light flashed through his eyes.

All of a sudden, he pointed toward the distance while making a hand seal with his other hand to spur the golden projection above his head into action.

Before the explosions in the hall had even subsided, the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven let loose a clearly cry and folded its wings against its sides as it plunged headfirst into the ball of light.

Silver flames immediately appeared within the scorching sun before disappearing in a flash.

Meanwhile, the giant swords in the hands of the golden projection disappeared, only to be replaced by balls of golden light that were sent flying through the air.

A gust of fierce golden winds was swept up amid a resounding boom, sweeping through the entire hall.

A burst of enormous wind pressure proliferated toward all directions from the very center, and even though Han Li was standing quite far away near the entrance, he was still forced back a couple of steps by this immense pressure.

All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly, and the golden projection above his head ceased in its attacks.

At the same time, Han Li swept both sleeves through the air to summon a layer of grey light, as well as a swath of give-colored flames that encapsulated his entire body.

Furthermore, a small crystalline shield had also flown out of his sleeve before positioning itself directly in front of him.

After that, Han Li stood silently on the spot and looked on with a grave expression.

Even with his spirit eye ability, he wasn't able to see anything through the flurry of exploding lights, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong.

Regardless of what kind of severe injuries the devilish ape had sustained, it was very strange that it would remain completely silent in the face of these attacks.

Even if he had managed to slay the devilish ape, a Body Integration Stage being definitely wouldn't pass away in such a peaceful manner.

With that in mind, Han Li released his spiritual sense to try and make sense of what was happening.

However, right at this moment, a burst of cackling suddenly rang out from within the hall.

Han Li's heart stirred as he instantly withdrew his spiritual sense, then cast his gaze into the golden winds.

All of a sudden, an earsplitting boom rang out, and the fierce golden winds were dispersed from the inside along with the massive ball of light amid a flash of countless thin purple lines.

The two then both disappeared amid a rumbling explosion.

Thus, the center of the giant formation was revealed, and Han Li focused his gaze up ahead, only for his eyelids to twitch involuntarily at the sight that he was greeted by.

The entire purple formation had been completely demolished.

It was riddled with countless pits and craters, and a part of it had even disappeared.

A massive gulf that was around 10 feet wide had also appeared at the center of the formation, virtually splitting the ground in the hall in half.

However, what was quite alarming to Han Li was that the crimson bed was situated directly in the path of the huge gulf, but it remained completely unscathed.

At this moment, a massive humanoid figure had sat up on the bed, and it was none other than the purple-armored devilish ape!

Aside from the three golden horns on its head, every single inch of its body had been covered by the suit of armor. Even its eyes were concealed beneath a pair of white crystals on the visor, making it impossible to glean emotions from the ape.

Looking at it from afar, the ape appeared to be a massive metallic puppet.

However, the suit of purple armor hadn't emerged without any damage. Not only had many sections of it been cracked and shattered, there were several parts that had already been melted and charred black. At this moment, the ape was holding onto a shimmering golden object in each of its armored hands, and they were none other than Han Li's two mature Gold Devouring Beetles.

The two beetles weren't backing down, either; both of them were gnawing on a finger each, displaying no intention of letting go.

Han Li didn't know what kind of material this suit of armor had been refined from, but it was quite extraordinary that it was able to withstand such astonishing attacks and even keep the Gold Devouring Beetles at bay for now.

It was quite clear that the devilish ape was extremely wary of these two beetles, making sure go grab ahold of them even at the expense of a finger or two.

Otherwise, if these beetles were to exploit a chink in its armor and burrow into its body, it would be in a lot of trouble.

However, none of this was what Han Li's attention was focused on at the moment.

Instead, his gaze had fallen upon a shimmering object that was hovering before the giant ape. This was a segment of a blade that was around half a foot in length.

The top half of the blade was nowhere to be seen, and it was shimmering with purple light. The entire segment of the blade was semi-transparent, and there seemed to be something moving around incessantly within it.

Han Li's eyes narrowed as he focused his gaze on the object within the purple blade, quickly discovering that it was a creature that resembled both a wyrm, yet also a phoenix.

At first glance, this creature bore a slight resemblance to the winged wyrms of the Jiao Chi Race, but upon closer inspection, one would find that they were completely different.

Even though both had massive wings and bodies that were similar to wyrms, this creature's wings were covered in purple scales and were devoid of any fur. Furthermore, this creature had two pairs of wings as opposed to one, with one pair being bigger than the other.

What was even more eye-catching was the remarkably long golden horn that was growing on its nose, which gave the creature a rather comical appearance.

However, laughing was the last thing on Han Li's mind as his pupils contracted drastically.

Every time the unknown creature moved, the blade would move as well, and the enormous spiritual pressure emanating from it was quite astonishing, even to Han Li.

This was a damaged blade, yet it still possessed such astonishing spiritual pressure. If it were fully intact, it would be an insanely powerful weapon.

It appeared that even though the holy-grade devilish beast had been severely wounded, these extraordinary treasures in its possession made it quite a difficult opponent to face.

Just as these thoughts were racing through Han Li's mind, the cackling coming from within the purple suit of armor drew to an abrupt halt, and black Qi flashed from the suit of armor before the giant ape stood up on the bed, then strode down from it in a wobbly manner.

Han Li's lips twitched as he suddenly made a grabbing motion, and countless pea-sized balls of silver flames appeared out of thin air around the devilish ape before raining down upon it in a torrential downpour.

At the same time, spiritual light flashed from the walls of the hall, following which hundreds of talismans emerged before abruptly vanishing.

A shimmering silver light formation appeared in the air above the giant ape, and a massive palatial projection surfaced within the silver light, as if the giant ape had been teleported to an ethereal realm.

The entire palace was shimmering with silver light, and countless runes were dancing around it while delightful heavenly music was emanating from within.

However, if one were to focus on the music and really try to listen to it, the music would suddenly fade.

This was the Nine Palaces Heavenly Talismans, and the light formation rotated on the spot before blasting forth a pillar of silver light.

In the blink of an eye, two attacks had reached the devilish ape, yet it made no effort to take evasive measures.

A burst of cackling rang out from behind the visor yet again, and it merely clenched a fist before swiping an arm through the air.

A burst of black Qi immediately erupted from its body amid a resounding boom, and all of the oncoming balls of silver flames were instantly snuffed out.

The pillar of silver light descending from above was also stalled and prevented from traveling downward any further by the wave of black Qi.

Han Li's expression darkened upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal.

The heavenly music within the light formation instantly increased in volume while the palatial projection swelled to several times its original size, then plummeted directly toward the devilish ape from the light formation.

The palatial projection was extremely life-like, and it was emanating and astonishing aura of superiority.

The devilish ape raised its head to look up at the projection, following which the blade segment before it moved slightly, sending a thin and long purple streak slashing through the air.

The purple light flashed past, and both the palatial projection, as well as the light formation up above, were both sliced in half before disappearing in a flash.

Han Li's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, the blade segment suddenly aimed itself at Han Li before moving slightly again.

Another purple streak appeared before his eyes, and at the same time, the seemingly slow and sluggish devilish ape's body blurred as it abruptly disappeared on the spot.

In the next instant, purple light flashed, and the armored ape appeared beside Han Li before launching a massive fist directly at his head.

There were two light barriers around Han Li's body, yet his ears were still struck by a ringing sensation even before the fist had made contact. An invisible soundwave had pierced through the light barriers before hurtling directly into his ears.

"Crack!"

"Boom!"

Two different sounds rang out from within the hall almost in unison, and the purple streak flashed past while a powerful soundwave swept over the spot where Han Li was standing.

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