Chapter 1707: New Divine Ability

He waited until the pulling force beneath his feet weakened to a certain degree before taking another step, then paused again for a considerable while…

In this manner, the final dozen or so stone steps took Han Li a full half-hour to finally traverse.

Almost the moment his feet touched the summit, Han Li felt the pulling force beneath him vanish entirely, and his body became incredibly light, as if he could take a single stride and soar into the air without expending any mana at all.

Han Li exhaled deeply, and the faint golden armor covering his body flickered and disappeared in an instant.

Turning his head to glance down the mountain, he saw Shi Kun still hundreds of steps away, panting heavily as he stared at Han Li with a look of frustration.

Meanwhile, Liu Shui’er was even farther back, two thousand steps away, barely visible as a tiny black dot.

Fortunately, the two knew that although Han Li had gained the upper hand, the purple palace was vast, and no one could be certain whether it contained any formidable restrictions. Thus, they weren’t overly concerned that all the treasures would be swept away by him alone.

Han Li smiled faintly, aware that it would take the other two a long time to reach the summit. Without a word, he turned back to face the purple palace before him.

Several dozen feet away stood a towering palace gate, over twenty feet high.

The gate was tightly shut, its surface adorned with dozens of multicolored crystals and intricate patterns densely inscribed along its edges, arranged in an orderly fashion.

After scrutinizing the gate several times, Han Li’s eyes flashed with a trace of surprise.

He realized that the fist-sized crystals embedded in the gate were all exceptionally rare top-grade spirit stones—purer even than the so-called “top-grade spirit stones” of the Spirit Realm.

Han Li let out a soft, admiring sound, then shifted his gaze to the purple palace walls beside the gate.

These walls, constructed from some unknown material, stood only about fifteen feet high but emitted a strange, hazy purple glow. Their surfaces were imprinted with faint silver runes of varying sizes.

A faint smile curled Han Li’s lips as he immediately recognized these runes—they were none other than the “Silver Koi Script,” with which he was intimately familiar.

“This place was indeed built by an immortal of the True Immortal World!” Though his expression remained calm, his heart churned with excitement, and his gaze toward the palace grew increasingly fervent.

Despite the many extraordinary treasures he possessed and the countless fortuitous encounters he had experienced since embarking on his cultivation path, the thought that this palace might hold relics left behind by an immortal still stirred an excitement he could barely contain.

No wonder Cai Liuying and Duan Tianren were so certain that this place contained elixirs capable of helping them break through the Saintly Stage bottleneck. Given the vast powers of True Immortal World immortals, concocting pills useful to those of the lower realms would be child’s play.

However, Han Li was no ordinary man. After steadying his mind, he quickly regained his composure and cast his gaze upward along the purple palace walls.

Suddenly, he raised a hand and pointed a finger into the void. A thunderclap rang out as a faint golden lightning arc materialized, flashing once before streaking toward the space above the palace walls.

An eerie scene unfolded. The moment the golden lightning struck the seemingly empty space above the purple walls, a melodious, heavenly music filled the air. A purple glow flashed, and the golden lightning vanished as if swallowed by quicksand.

Han Li frowned. Even with the enhanced vision of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he couldn’t discern the mystery behind that purple light.

As for his spiritual sense, the moment it neared the palace walls, it was repelled by an invisible force, utterly incapable of penetrating the palace’s interior.

With a soft sigh, Han Li abandoned the idea of scaling the walls and returned his attention to the palace gate.

Compared to the enigmatic restrictions on the walls, the main entrance seemed the safer option. Though he hadn’t detected anything unusual about the gate, he wasn’t about to recklessly attempt opening it himself.

After a brief moment of thought, Han Li tapped his storage bracelet, releasing a sphere of azure light that immediately plummeted to the ground. It was a two-tall ape puppet, now sprawled on all fours, evidently having been injured by the anti-flight restrictions.

Han Li raised an eyebrow and casually flicked a finger toward the puppet.

With a series of creaks, the giant ape slowly rose to its feet, then turned expressionlessly and strode toward the distant palace gate.

Han Li remained where he was, his eyes narrowing slightly as he intently observed the puppet’s movements.

Under his watchful gaze, the ape puppet reached the gate without hesitation, pressing its hands against both sides. After several flashes of azure light across its body, the gate began to move, slowly swinging open.

Han Li’s expression turned peculiar—a mix of pleasant surprise and disbelief. That the gate had opened so easily seemed almost too good to be true.

Suppressing his lingering doubts and rising excitement, he quickly scanned the interior beyond the gate.

Inside lay a plaza paved with cyan tiles, surrounded by crystal-clear white jade railings. At the far end stood a towering purple-gold main hall.

In the distance, three smaller side halls—each a third the size of the main hall—formed a triangular formation around it. Beyond these, the faint outlines of a cluster of low-rise pavilions suggested an even more extensive complex.

After a brief hesitation, Han Li willed the ape puppet forward. The giant ape strode boldly through the gate.

Han Li followed at a measured pace, and moments later, he stood on the other side of the gate, finally entering the palace proper and arriving at a corner of the plaza.

The plaza was sizable, spanning five to six hundred feet.

Under Han Li’s mental command, the ape puppet headed straight for the plaza’s center, intending to cross directly toward the main hall.

Han Li trailed behind, maintaining a distance of about sixty feet from the puppet as a precaution. However, after a short while, his expression darkened as he realized something was amiss.

Despite having walked for some time across what should have been a mere few hundred feet, neither he nor the puppet seemed any closer to the plaza’s center.

“Illusion array!” Han Li’s eyes narrowed as he abruptly halted the puppet, then glanced back.

To his astonishment, the crystal-clear white jade railings stood only about thirty feet behind him—as if he had barely moved from the plaza’s edge despite having walked several hundred feet.

A surge of alarm ran through him. Without hesitation, his eyes flashed with blue light as he scanned the entire plaza. Yet, his spirit eyes revealed nothing out of the ordinary—the space remained empty and unremarkable.

His expression shifted slightly. That his spirit eyes couldn’t pierce through what should have been a simple illusion array was unprecedented.

Then again, considering this restriction might have been laid by an immortal of the True Immortal World, such profound mysticism wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Nevertheless, Han Li had no intention of giving up.

Taking a deep breath, he channeled all his mana, directing it through his meridians toward his brow.

Within moments, a swirl of black energy gathered between his eyebrows, from which emerged a crystalline black third eye—the Annihilation Dharma Eye he had nurtured for centuries.

Originally cultivated during his time in the human world, this eye had developed several extraordinary abilities over the years.

While primarily specializing in spatial powers, it also possessed several techniques specifically effective against illusions and soul-confounding spells—though naturally not as refined as his spirit eyes.

During a secluded cultivation session on the Thunder Continent, Han Li had once accidentally combined the powers of his Annihilation Dharma Eye and Brightsight Spirit Eyes, resulting in a new technique far surpassing either eye’s individual capabilities.

However, this technique consumed an enormous amount of mana, making it impractical for frequent use. Thus, despite having mastered it, this was the first time Han Li had employed it in actual combat.

Recalling the results of his initial experiments with this technique, he felt reasonably confident it could break the current illusion.

Muttering an incantation, he watched as the blue light in his eyes grew increasingly intense, while the black Annihilation Dharma Eye swirled with an eerie dark radiance, resembling a mysterious black gem embedded in his forehead.

Suddenly, two beams of blue light and a black ray shot simultaneously from his three eyes, converging before him into a single black-blue orb—azure on the outside, obsidian within, about the size of a fist, resembling a gigantic eyeball.

“Break!”

Without hesitation, Han Li flicked his sleeve toward the orb, releasing a wave of azure mist that enveloped it before vanishing inside.

The orb’s surface shimmered as black and blue runes of varying sizes appeared, spinning rapidly.

In an instant, the orb erupted with light, shooting countless black-blue threads in all directions.

These threads, though fine as needles, moved with astonishing speed, instantly forming a vast net that enveloped the entire plaza.

A series of low hums arose from across the plaza as, wherever the threads touched, bursts of multicolored light exploded into being.

Suddenly, an unusual spatial fluctuation surged upward, warping the void beneath the net. The scenery at the plaza’s center blurred momentarily before revealing a towering, misty white gate.