“An illusion?” Han Li was momentarily stunned upon seeing this, but he immediately flicked his sleeves, releasing dozens of small golden swordfish that darted out and transformed into foot-long golden swords in a flash.
With a mental command, each flying sword blurred slightly, splitting into several identical sword beams that began swirling around him.
In an instant, golden light filled the sky, sword energy crisscrossing, and the monsters within a radius of several dozen zhang were sliced to pieces.
Blood and dismembered corpses, along with the roars of beasts, surrounded Han Li in an instant.
Yet, he frowned slightly.
Whether it was the sensation of his swords striking or what he witnessed firsthand, everything felt utterly real. These monsters showed no signs of being illusions, making it impossible to discern any falsehood.
A trace of doubt flickered in his heart, though his expression remained impassive. The sword beams formed by his flying swords never ceased, tightly shielding him.
From afar, the old Daoist standing atop the Flood Dragon beast revealed a sinister smile.
The monsters emerging around them seemed endless, while Han Li’s sword beams were lethally sharp. In mere moments, hundreds of beasts had fallen beneath his blades.
However, the shattered remains of these monsters floated in the air nearby instead of falling, causing the stench of blood to grow increasingly pungent and overwhelming.
Moments later, just as Han Li sensed something amiss, the Flood Dragon beneath the old Daoist let out a cry, and all the scattered corpses instantly transformed into thick black mist, surging toward Han Li.
Hundreds of sword beams whirled around, occasionally slicing through parts of the black mist, but as more tendrils of fog entangled them, the flying swords suddenly slowed and grew sluggish.
At the same time, the massive body of the Flood Dragon swayed and silently dissolved into a streak of black energy, vanishing into the mist.
The next instant, two long crimson shadows shot out from the black fog without warning, flashing toward Han Li—one aimed at his head, the other at his heart—moving as fast as lightning.
Had Han Li not been circulating his spiritual energy throughout his body, his eyes glowing blue as he pushed his Clear Spirit Eyes to their limit, his divine sense alone would never have detected such a swift attack.
His expression darkened. Without relying on any treasures, a golden light flickered across his face as his hands shot out, seemingly slow yet impossibly fast.
Both hands turned golden, as if forged from pure gold.
*Thud! Thud!*
Two bizarre golden hands seized the two fleshy, crimson tongues, each tipped with a bulbous end. A tremendous force surged through his arms.
Yet Han Li merely swayed slightly at the shoulders, appearing entirely unfazed.
Seeing this, the old Daoist was startled, a flash of astonishment crossing his eyes.
This Flood Dragon was not only peerless in its illusory abilities but also renowned among the Shadow Clan for its immense strength. Earlier, it had effortlessly flicked away a hundred-zhang-tall mountain with its twin tongues—proof of its terrifying power.
Yet this seemingly unremarkable human youth had caught both tongues barehanded, appearing utterly at ease. It was beyond belief.
However, the old Daoist wasn’t truly worried. The Flood Dragon was far more than just brute strength.
Sure enough, finding itself trapped, the twin tongues suddenly erupted in white light, transforming into two crimson pythons that lunged at Han Li’s head with gaping maws.
Han Li felt his fingers tremble violently as the grip turned icy and slippery. The pythons seemed on the verge of breaking free.
His blue eyes blazing, Han Li’s golden hands shimmered and bizarrely shifted to black and white.
The dark hand bore the phantom image of a silver mountain on its back, while its fingers thickened abruptly.
*Squelch!*
Blood sprayed as the hand crushed one python in half.
Meanwhile, the jade-like hand sprouted five white skeletal skulls from its fingers, which latched onto the other python’s vitals with eerie precision.
The skulls’ jaws gaped wide, sucking greedily, and the python’s body withered instantly, its essence drained completely.
This was the result of Han Li merging the Magnetic Divine Mountain, the Five Ghosts of the Heart, and his own hands—a unique cultivation method recorded in the Hundred Veins Treasure Refinement Art.
While refining limbs into treasures was a painstakingly slow process, integrating existing treasures could drastically shorten it.
Through this method, Han Li had not only enhanced his hands’ power but also fused them with the treasures’ abilities, making them far more formidable in battle.
Thus, he had effortlessly destroyed the Flood Dragon’s tongues.
The old Daoist, clearly unprepared for this outcome, was both shocked and enraged. Before he could react, two agonized roars echoed from the black mist, which then split apart as the Flood Dragon lunged out—only to vanish mid-flight, turning completely transparent.
The beast possessed invisibility as well.
Moments later, its roars surrounded Han Li, making its position impossible to pinpoint.
Even with his blue eyes scanning relentlessly, Han Li couldn’t detect its presence.
Yet he merely chuckled.
With a sweep of his sleeves, a buzzing sound erupted as countless golden specks surged forth, swelling into half-foot-long beetles mid-flight.
These were the matured Gold Devouring Beetles Han Li had painstakingly nurtured.
Over a thousand of the insects swarmed the air, filling the surroundings.
In an instant, the Flood Dragon collided with several beetles, revealing its form.
Without Han Li’s command, the beetles swarmed the beast, engulfing it in a golden cloud.
The Flood Dragon shrieked in agony before dissolving into black mist in an attempt to escape.
Ordinary insects would be helpless against such a form, but the impossible happened.
As the mist tried to slip through the swarm, the beetles’ claws glowed gold, clinging stubbornly before voraciously devouring it.
Under the onslaught of a thousand beetles, the mist was reduced by over a tenth in mere moments.
The Flood Dragon’s wails intensified as the mist writhed, ejecting ten slender gold-and-silver snakes, each over a zhang long.
They struck like lightning, each swallowing a beetle whole before flicking their heads to consume ten more.
Yet moments later, the snakes convulsed, reverting to black mist as the beetles emerged unscathed, resuming their feast.
The mist attempted several other transformations—all specialized against insects—but none harmed the beetles. Meanwhile, half the mist had already been devoured, its transformations growing sluggish.
From the moment Han Li released the swarm to the near-destruction of the mist, only a few breaths had passed.
The old Daoist, watching from afar, stared wide-eyed at the golden beetles, his expression shifting to something strange.
“Gold Devouring Beetles… matured Gold Devouring Beetles!” he muttered before suddenly slapping his own head.
A red streak shot from his crown, transforming into a dazzling rainbow that fled hundreds of zhang away in an instant, vanishing over the horizon.
His abandoned body withered into a mummy, crumbling to ash in the wind.
“Hmm?” Han Li, still rooted in place, stared at the vanished rainbow, his expression unreadable.
“To abandon such a rare beast… Are matured Gold Devouring Beetles truly that infamous?”
Puzzled, he turned to the nearly consumed mist and waved a hand.
The beetles swarmed back, shrinking to grain-sized specks before disappearing into his sleeves.
As he prepared to leave, his body suddenly swayed violently, nearly sending him plummeting from the sky.
“How? My divine sense is nearly depleted—it almost damaged my soul!”
A quick internal inspection left him pale with shock.
His divine sense, nearly at the Void Refinement level, had been drained by seventy to eighty percent, almost entirely exhausted—all without his notice.
“Could it be…?”
Realization struck instantly. His face darkened as he thought of the matured beetles.
With another flick of his sleeve, a single golden speck flew out, expanding into a massive beetle that circled him.
Han Li focused inward, and moments later, he stood frozen.
With just one beetle active, his divine sense was draining at a visible rate.
If a single beetle consumed so much, the toll of hundreds or thousands would be unimaginable.
Even his Void Refinement-level divine sense couldn’t sustain such a cost for long.
Worse, this drain was utterly silent—undetectable unless he deliberately checked.
A chill ran down his spine.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage