At the base of the black mountain, countless silver runes surged forth, forming a massive light array. An invisible, tremendous force instantly descended upon the area.
Below, the golden Shadow Beast, struck by three golden beams, tumbled before barely managing to shake its head and stand up. Suddenly, it felt the air around it tighten, as if its body weighed tens of thousands of pounds.
With a startled roar, its fur bristled and transformed into golden rays that shot out in all directions.
At its Fusion Stage cultivation, the golden rays would normally pierce through any surrounding restrictions and break free. But now, with its magic power reduced to less than a tenth of its original strength, the rays barely traveled a few feet before freezing in place under the immense pressure.
Fear flashed across the Shadow Beast’s face. Despite its formidable abilities, without sufficient magic power, it was like a well without water—utterly powerless to counter the attack.
At that moment, the massive silver ruler descending from the sky trembled, sending forth countless ruler shadows accompanied by the sound of wind and thunder. They struck the King-Class Shadow Beast in rapid succession.
A piercing shriek erupted as the beast’s body was instantly engulfed in countless silver arcs of lightning, the stench of charred flesh filling the air.
With a *whoosh*, a massive azure sword slashed down from the void!
Trapped by the lightning and the crushing force, the golden Shadow Beast couldn’t dodge. A flash of green light cleaved it cleanly in two.
The beast’s body split apart, its halves falling to the ground.
A loud explosion followed as a golden Shadow Beast, now half its original size, suddenly emerged between the two halves of its corpse. A burst of blood mist sprayed from its body, transforming into a streak of bloody light that shot away.
A surprised *hmm* echoed from the nearby void. Then, with a *boom*, the black mountain high above teleported downward, precisely crushing the fleeing bloody light.
But something bizarre happened.
As the bloody light scattered, a slender golden streak shot out from within—a fist-sized golden Shadow Beast. It had repeatedly used the Golden Cicada Molting technique to escape.
A bone-chilling snort came from above. Silver light flashed as a silver firebird, the size of a human head, materialized in front of the fleeing mini Shadow Beast. With a flap of its wings, it engulfed the golden Shadow Beast before it could react.
The mini Shadow Beast didn’t even have time to scream before being incinerated by the Devouring Spirit Flame.
At that moment, a low rumble of thunder sounded as a green-white thread of light appeared near the silver flames.
The light dissipated, revealing Han Li. He reached out and swiftly grabbed something from the silver fire.
With a *whoosh*, a thumb-sized golden core was pulled from the flames and landed in his palm—the King-Class Shadow Beast’s demon core.
Han Li examined it briefly before shifting his gaze elsewhere.
Hundreds of feet away, the white winged tiger demon glared at the demon core in his hand, its expression a mix of fury and greed. Yet it hesitated, not daring to approach.
Han Li narrowed his eyes and beckoned the black mountain and silver ruler.
The two treasures hummed as they shot back, shrinking to their original sizes before circling around him.
He remained motionless in the air, holding the demon core, his face expressionless as he watched the white tiger demon.
The celestial phenomena in the sky grew more intense. Silver lightning crackled within the multicolored clouds, followed by a torrential downpour that shrouded the sky in mist.
The white tiger demon’s figure blurred in the distance, but its eyes flickered with indecision.
Han Li snorted coldly, a hint of impatience crossing his face. With a slight flap of his wings, clusters of green-white lightning balls materialized behind him.
The crackling of thunder filled the air.
The white tiger’s pupils contracted. With a reluctant growl, it turned and fled as a streak of white light.
Han Li didn’t pursue it. Instead, he watched the light vanish into the horizon before retracting his wings, causing the lightning balls to disappear silently. The black mountain and silver ruler also vanished as he stored them away.
The white tiger was also at the early Fusion Stage, but its magic power wasn’t as depleted as the Shadow Beast’s. With the Lunar Realm about to close, Han Li had no intention of risking a chase. Any mishap would outweigh any potential gains.
The tiger, intelligent enough to recognize Han Li’s overwhelming strength, reluctantly retreated despite its anger.
Inside the spirit beast ring, the Leopard-Qilin Beast grew increasingly excited, roaring softly and even transmitting its desperate desire for the Shadow Beast’s demon core directly to Han Li.
Han Li smiled faintly and tossed the golden demon core into the ring.
The Leopard-Qilin Beast let out a delighted cry, swallowing the core whole before sending Han Li a wave of gratitude. It then lay down, closed its eyes, and soon fell into a deep slumber.
Having witnessed its previous transformation after consuming a high-tier Shadow Beast’s core, Han Li wasn’t surprised. Instead, he felt a flicker of anticipation.
A King-Class Shadow Beast’s core was far superior to those of high-tier Shadow Beasts. He wondered what astonishing changes it would bring to the Leopard-Qilin Beast.
Han Li remained suspended in the air, unmoving.
Hours later, the multicolored clouds in the sky rumbled before cascading downward like a tidal wave.
Han Li’s figure was instantly swallowed by the mist, within which lightning flashed wildly. A tremendous spatial fluctuation erupted.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the mist and lightning dissipated as abruptly as they had appeared. The spot where Han Li had been was now empty.
Identical scenes played out across the Lunar Realm as thousands of beings were forcibly expelled by the realm’s laws.
…
Han Li’s vision was flooded with blinding multicolored light, so intense even his Brightsight Spirit Eyes couldn’t penetrate it. Then, his feet left the ground, and the world spun around him.
When his feet touched solid ground again, deafening explosions assaulted his ears, followed by a piercing cold descending upon him.
Startled, Han Li instinctively summoned a surge of black energy. The dark, otherworldly Demon Armor materialized over his body.
With a *clang*, he opened his eyes to see a foot-long, gleaming flying sword rebounding off the black light barrier his armor projected, utterly failing to penetrate.
The sword’s wielder was a silver-armored man with long horns—a member of the Horned Race.
Han Li’s expression darkened as he surveyed the scene. The sky was filled with flying treasures, explosions of multicolored light erupting everywhere.
Thousands of beings clashed in midair, about a third of them Horned Race warriors, the rest Tianyun Clan guards tasked with protecting the teleportation arrays.
Higher up, two Horned Race warships, each the size of a small town, hovered motionlessly at an altitude of tens of thousands of feet. More Horned Race and Tianyun warriors battled fiercely around them.
Most of the restrictions around the two massive teleportation arrays had already been destroyed.
Beyond this area, fires raged across Tianyun City, explosions echoing without pause, as if the entire city had descended into chaos.
Strangely, none of the combatants here were at the Sacred Stage or above. The strongest were only at the peak of the Void Refining Stage, like Han Li himself.
This only added to the pandemonium.
The massive teleportation array on the ground continued to flash and hum, but Han Li was the only one who had returned so far. No others were in sight.
No wonder he had been attacked immediately upon arrival—he stood out like a tree in a barren forest.
Han Li’s face darkened further. He glanced at the Horned Race warrior who had attacked him and flicked his sleeve, sending a small azure sword shooting into the sky.
The sword vanished into thin air.
The Horned Race warrior, already alarmed when his sword was deflected, paled further upon seeing Han Li’s sword disappear. He barely had time to think *Oh no* before activating his escape technique, darting away.
But it was too late. The azure sword reappeared inches from his neck, slicing through it with a single flash. His head tumbled to the ground.
Golden light engulfed the headless corpse, shredding it—along with the fleeing Nascent Soul—into nothingness.
Han Li recalled his sword with an impassive expression.
Just then, spatial fluctuations rippled as four figures materialized on the teleportation array.
Han Li’s eyes narrowed. He recognized two of them—Liu Shui’er and Shi Kun. The other two were an ordinary-looking middle-aged man and a youth, both part of the original team that had entered the Lunar Realm with him.
But when Han Li’s gaze landed on the middle-aged man, his pupils contracted. The man exuded the faint aura of an early Fusion Stage cultivator—he had successfully broken through in the Lunar Realm.
Liu Shui’er and the others, however, showed no change in their auras, indicating they had failed.
Simultaneously, four more figures appeared on another nearby teleportation array.
Han Li only recognized one—Yue Xianzi. The elder Xu was nowhere to be seen.
Yue Xianzi wore a faint smile, her aura vastly different from before. She, too, had broken through to the early Fusion Stage.
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