Chapter 2187: Divine Thunder Repels the Demon

A flash of caution crossed Han Li’s eyes as he lowered his head and swiftly scanned his own body, his expression shifting slightly once more.

At this moment, he appeared slightly thinner, and though his clothing remained unchanged, the storage bracelets, spirit beast rings, and other artifacts on his wrists had all vanished.

Even more bizarrely, when he swept his divine sense over his face, he discovered that his features had reverted to those of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old youth—though his skin was no longer dark but had instead become as fair as jade.

“Soul projection! It seems the Heart Devil Tribulation is about to begin,” Han Li murmured, touching his face with a hint of strangeness in his tone.

Just then, a bizarre, androgynous laughter echoed in his mind:

“Boy, we meet again. I never expected you to truly reach this stage in such a short time. But this time, my true form has descended. Even if you were a Great Luo True Immortal reincarnated, you would never survive this Heart Devil Tribulation!”

Amid the eerie laughter, the gray sky suddenly split apart, and a massive green-faced ghostly head, as large as a small mountain, emerged. It licked its grotesquely thick lips with a tongue several feet long before letting out a sinister chuckle.

This enormous ghostly head was none other than the Outer Realm Demon Lord who had once clashed with Han Li. Now, empowered by the Heart Devil Tribulation, it had manifested its true form directly in this space.

“Is that so? I also didn’t expect you to be foolish enough to appear before me in person!” Han Li replied expressionlessly.

“Daring to boast even now? Soon, I’ll make you understand what it means to beg for death but find no release!” the Outer Realm Demon Lord roared furiously. Before it could finish, the ghostly head swelled violently within a surge of black light.

The youthful-looking Han Li below revealed a cold glint in his eyes. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and silently spat out three fist-sized golden lights.

The golden lights flickered and appeared right before the ghostly head in an instant.

They were three prismatic objects—gleaming gold and covered in densely packed crimson runes, resembling miniature golden spearheads.

“No!”

Though the Outer Realm Demon Lord didn’t immediately recognize the objects, an instinctive sense of extreme danger made it shudder. The ghostly head swayed, attempting to dissolve into black mist and evade.

But at that moment, Han Li pointed a finger at the three golden lights and uttered three explosive words: “Detonate!”

Instantly, the three golden spearheads shattered, unleashing countless golden flames and crimson lightning that engulfed the black mist in a deafening explosion.

“No—! Golden Annihilation Demon Lightning! How do you have such a thing?!” The black mist rapidly dissipated within the golden radiance, accompanied by the Demon Lord’s agonized shrieks, filled with disbelief.

“You can ponder that after turning to ashes,” Han Li sneered, then opened his mouth again and spat out four more golden lights.

“You think mere Annihilation Demon Lightning can destroy me?!” the Demon Lord howled. The black mist twisted violently before exploding into countless black threads, scattering in all directions.

But Han Li seemed prepared. With a cold expression, his finger trembled slightly as he pointed again.

The four golden lights flickered, appearing ahead of the fleeing black threads in four different directions before detonating simultaneously.

Golden flames and lightning cascaded like a tidal wave.

Most of the black threads were incinerated, leaving only a dozen or so that escaped the onslaught. They converged again a hundred feet away, reforming into a ghostly head—now only the size of a basin, its form hazy and nearly transparent, clearly severely weakened.

The moment it reappeared, the ghostly head let out a furious shriek before transforming into dozens of towering demonic phantoms, lunging at Han Li with outstretched claws.

But Han Li’s lips curled into a strange smile. With a flick of his sleeve, seven more golden orbs materialized and shot toward the phantoms.

At the sight, the phantoms’ rage vanished instantly. With a shrill cry, they twisted into a streak of black light and fled.

A few whooshing sounds later, the black light vanished into the void.

Yet the next moment, the Outer Realm Demon Lord’s furious voice echoed through the gray sky:

“Human brat! You’ve outsmarted me again, but don’t celebrate too soon. When you face your Ascension Tribulation, I will summon every Demon Lord from neighboring realms to obstruct you. Even with your Golden Annihilation Demon Lightning, you’ll never reach the Immortal Realm!”

As the thunderous voice faded, silence returned to the sky.

Han Li’s expression flickered briefly before he exhaled in relief.

He beckoned, and the seven golden orbs circled back. Clasping them between his hands, they transformed into seven golden spheres, faintly crackling with golden lightning—though they were not true Golden Annihilation Demon Lightning.

Han Li smiled faintly before storing the seven orbs in his sleeve.

These golden orbs weren’t entirely fake—they were merely unfinished versions of the true Annihilation Demon Lightning.

Ever since reaching the pinnacle of the Body Integration stage, Han Li had secretly refined these divine thunderbolts whenever he had spare time.

However, crafting them was exceedingly difficult. Even with an ample supply of Golden Lightning Bamboo leaves, the other materials were rare, and the success rate was abysmally low.

Despite his late-Body Integration cultivation and years of effort, Han Li had only managed to refine seven true Annihilation Demon Lightning bolts. The remaining seven were incomplete and unusable.

Long before attempting his Great Ascension breakthrough, Han Li had carefully planned how to deal with the Outer Realm Demon Lord.

The Heart Devil Tribulation was already perilous enough—with the Demon Lord interfering, the chances of success were nearly nonexistent.

Thus, after much deliberation, he devised this strategy: first, unleash genuine Annihilation Demon Lightning to severely wound the demon, then use fake bolts to scare it away.

Given the Golden Annihilation Demon Lightning’s terrifying potency against demons, even a being as powerful as the Outer Realm Demon Lord would likely flee when faced with a mix of real and fake attacks.

Before his breakthrough attempt, Han Li had fused both real and fake lightning bolts with his soul, allowing him to unleash them unexpectedly in this space.

Everything unfolded exactly as he had anticipated.

After being crippled by the first seven bolts, the Demon Lord fled in terror at the sight of the next seven—even though they were fakes.

Of course, this only worked because the fake bolts were semi-finished Annihilation Demon Lightning. Ordinary counterfeits would never have deceived the Demon Lord.

Now that the Demon Lord had retreated, Han Li felt confident in overcoming the Heart Devil Tribulation with his formidable divine sense.

As for the Demon Lord’s threat to return during his Ascension Tribulation, though it weighed on his mind, that was a concern for the distant future.

For now, Han Li’s priority was to survive the final Heart Devil Tribulation and ascend to the Great Ascension stage.

Having swiftly organized his thoughts, Han Li focused his mind, his eyes blazing with piercing blue light as he surveyed his surroundings.

The gray void around him began to churn and roil.

Moments later, faint ripples spread through the air as countless giant gray eyes, each several feet wide, emerged from all directions. They fixed their eerie, multicolored gazes upon Han Li.

The moment Han Li’s vision met the radiant light, his consciousness grew heavy. His surroundings blurred, and the world transformed into a lush landscape of emerald mountains and clear waters.

A small mountain peak rapidly approached, and in a daze, Han Li found himself in a rustic village, now a six or seven-year-old child clad in tattered, faded clothing. He instinctively joined a group of children in play.

“Dog Boy, Black Egg, Iron Pillar…”

In this scene, long-buried memories surged forth, and Han Li almost reflexively called out the names of the other children.

But before he could fully process the strangeness of it all, an overwhelming force acted upon his soul, filling him with warmth and erasing all awareness. He plunged deeply into the illusion, laughing and playing with the other children as if it were real.

Nearby, a frail figure stumbled toward them. The familiar silhouette made Han Li turn his head, and with joy, he cried out, “Little Sister!”

—

At the center of the basin, Han Li’s physical body sat motionless, his head slightly bowed, the crown of his skull open. A golden infant sat cross-legged above it, equally still.

Around them, gray demonic energy churned, sealing the surrounding space. Occasionally, black or white skeletal phantoms and other demonic apparitions surged forth.

But the moment these creatures came within ten feet of Han Li’s body, thunderous cracks erupted as golden lightning arcs surged from his flesh, obliterating them instantly.

The remaining demons recoiled in terror, retreating into the demonic mist—only to cautiously re-emerge moments later.

On a distant hilltop, Silvermoon and Zhu Guo’er stood side by side, their expressions solemn as they watched the basin’s center.

On another peak, the Crab Spirit had seated himself atop a boulder, meditating with closed eyes, as if entirely unconcerned with Han Li’s current plight.