Chapter 1657: The Three Evils

The five-colored light sword moved slightly and then descended slowly towards the ground.

The giant toad inwardly cried out “Not good!” as the black-and-red wind and fire pillar beside it roared, surging upward first to intercept the attack.

Where the wind and fire passed, the air distorted, and a loud buzzing sound erupted, as if even the void itself were being torn apart. In a flash, the five-colored light sword was engulfed within it.

Amidst violent flashes of purple light, terrifying explosions echoed from within, causing the light curtain formed by the sword array to tremble violently, as if it might shatter at any moment.

The giant toad relaxed slightly, a faint smile appearing on its face.

In its view, this fusion of great supernatural powers—drawn from nearly all the potential of the possessed toad and amplified by the spiritual pearl between its brows—was absolutely not something a mere sword array could withstand. Even its true form would likely avoid confronting such an attack head-on.

However, the moment the smile appeared on the toad’s face, a clear, dragon-like cry suddenly erupted from within the wind and fire. The black-and-red pillar then split apart unnaturally.

Amidst the shimmering five-colored spiritual light, a massive sword, about ten feet long, emerged. With a flash of radiance, the sword trembled and emitted a resonant hum.

The surrounding wind and fire forces seemed to encounter some unimaginable power, dispersing with strange buzzing sounds, fully revealing the giant sword.

At this moment, the five-colored sword spun swiftly and delivered a gentle slash toward the toad.

Silent and seemingly devoid of any power!

Yet, the gray pearl between the toad’s brows shattered with a loud crack.

“Impossible!” the toad shrieked in agony, its tightly shut eyes suddenly snapping open, revealing blood-red pupils with faint traces of blood trickling out.

But in the next instant, the demon’s head and massive body split cleanly in two without any warning.

A surge of crimson flames erupted from the bisected body, transforming into a sea of fire.

The toad’s remains seemed to instantly crumble into dust, vanishing without a trace within the flames.

The possessed toad, under the might of the primordial energy sword, couldn’t withstand even a single slash—its spirit didn’t even have a chance to escape.

A flash of cyan light appeared above as Han Li emerged within the sword array, gazing at the raging flames below with a sigh.

“Harnessing the power of heaven and earth is indeed incomparable to ordinary secret techniques. Back when I faced that demonic ape, if I hadn’t been trapped in the demonic energy channel and unable to gather sufficient primordial energy, this primordial energy sword might have been enough to slay it. I wouldn’t have needed to use the Profound Heavenly Treasure and damage my Dharma Form.”

After muttering these words to himself, a trace of regret flickered across Han Li’s face. But as blue light flashed in his eyes, he peered intently into the sea of fire and suddenly raised an eyebrow, reaching out with one hand.

With a whoosh, an object shot out from the flames. After a few flashes, it was pulled into his grasp.

It was a pale blue pouch, inscribed with several glowing runes—clearly no ordinary item.

“A storage pouch?” Han Li murmured in surprise, though he wasn’t entirely certain.

After a brief pause, his hand holding the pouch turned pitch-black, and wisps of gray mist sprayed from his palm, tightly enveloping the pouch. With a flick of his wrist, a cyan spell shot out and vanished into the pouch.

The blue pouch trembled violently before its opening glowed and slowly unfastened.

With a soft pop, a ball of blue light shot out, attempting to flee into the sky.

But Han Li had long been prepared. With a cold snort, the gray mist surged and wrapped around the blue light, trapping it within.

As the gray mist and blue light intertwined, the true form of the object was revealed—a translucent, azure-hued orb the size of a thumb, its surface shimmering like glass.

“This is…” Han Li scanned it with his spiritual sense, surprised.

“A demon core? No. But it doesn’t seem like a magical artifact either!” Han Li plucked the orb with two fingers and examined it closely, unable to determine its origin.

“Never mind. I’ll study it later. For now, I should leave this place quickly.” After a moment’s thought, he flipped his hand and produced a jade box, placing the orb inside.

Then, glancing at the crimson flames below, his expression shifted slightly.

Without any visible movement, a silver flash erupted from the cyan light curtain above as the Spirit Devouring Firebird dove into the sea of flames.

In an instant, the raging fire was completely absorbed by the firebird, which then let out a joyful cry before flapping its wings and merging back into Han Li’s body.

With a hand seal, the vast cyan light curtain retracted, revealing countless green lotuses in the sky.

These lotuses spun gently before transforming back into seventy-two small cyan swords.

Han Li’s figure blurred as he turned into a streak of cyan light, swiftly collecting all the flying swords before shooting toward the horizon. In a few flashes, he vanished without a trace.

—

At the same time Han Li slew the giant toad, deep within a mountain in the Demon Mountain Range, inside a grand palace, a green-robed man standing beside two others suddenly paled, his expression turning grim.

“What’s wrong, Brother Tie?” asked a blood-robed man beside him, noticing his odd reaction.

“Nothing serious. Just that one of my parasitic avatars was destroyed,” the green-robed man replied calmly.

“A parasitic avatar? The one you crafted using the Demon Bone Pearl?” asked an elegant-looking elder clad in silver, his eyes flashing with curiosity.

“Haha, Brother Duoyan seems quite familiar with my techniques,” the green-robed man chuckled, though his tone carried a hint of disdain.

“A Demon Bone Pearl avatar, when possessing a suitable host, should wield at least twenty to thirty percent of your true power. With that strength, aside from the three of us, no one in the Demon Mountain Range should be capable of destroying it,” the silver-robed elder pressed.

“Not necessarily. Have you forgotten, Brother Duoyan? Aside from us, there was another of our rank who followed the Sacred Ancestor to this realm—that demonic ape. Its power rivals ours,” the blood-robed man interjected with a light laugh.

“Humph! That ape dared to steal the Profound Heavenly Treasure fragment entrusted to us by the Sacred Ancestor and flee. It wouldn’t dare show its face here again,” the silver-robed elder scoffed.

“Who knows? I suspect it sought a way to repair the treasure before returning to the Sacred Realm,” the blood-robed man countered.

“Repair a Profound Heavenly Treasure fragment? Does it think this is the Ancient Demon Realm? The mighty beings here are no weaker than our Sacred Ancestors. If not for our desperate circumstances, the Sacred Ancestor wouldn’t have shattered the Profound Heavenly Treasure to tear through dimensions and send us here,” the elder said, his eyes glinting.

“No need for wild guesses. Once I use a secret technique to investigate, I’ll know who destroyed my avatar. Besides, my avatar’s last message mentioned that your daughter, Brother Xuebi, was nearby,” the green-robed man said coolly.

“Xue Ying? You’re not suggesting my daughter destroyed your avatar, are you?” the blood-robed man laughed, his tone mocking.

“Alone, she couldn’t. But with a newly ascended Saint-rank demon crocodile, it’s entirely possible,” the green-robed man said, staring intently at the blood-robed man.

“What? Ascended to Saint-rank?”

“You mean that demon crocodile?”

Both the blood-robed man and the silver-robed elder exclaimed in shock.

“No need for surprise. Your subordinates will likely report this soon. As for the crocodile, it’s none other than the Black Abyss Crocodile,” the green-robed man said with a bitter smile.

“So it’s that one. It makes sense,” the elder muttered, his expression darkening.

“If it’s that creature, things get complicated. It was once the mount of Sacred Ancestor Ming Luo. Our Sacred Ancestor had close ties with Ming Luo. Even though we’ve left the Sacred Realm, we can’t just attack it. But that beast never obeyed us before. Now that it’s reached Saint-rank, it’ll be even more unruly, making it harder to manage the mountain range,” the blood-robed man grumbled.

“Not necessarily. Now that it’s ascended, the Sacred Ancestor won’t ignore it. We’ll let him decide its fate,” the green-robed man said confidently.

“True. The Sacred Ancestor will awaken soon. We should follow his decree,” the elder agreed, stroking his beard.

“Very well, I defer to your judgment,” the blood-robed man conceded after a moment’s thought.

“But I’m curious,” the elder suddenly narrowed his eyes. “With the Sacred Ancestor’s awakening imminent, why have you two sent your avatars and daughter away? What are you plotting?”

The green-robed man and the blood-robed man exchanged glances.

With a sly smile, the blood-robed man countered, “Come now, Duoyan. Don’t play dumb. Your own subordinates have been active outside too. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard about the Immortal Mushroom?”

The green-robed man remained silent, his face dark.

“Immortal Mushroom? What Immortal Mushroom? I sent my men to hunt down the outsider who killed my child for revenge!” the elder retorted, baffled.