A bizarre scene unfolded!
The white threads had barely touched the purple flames when they abruptly halted as if struck by a heavy blow, revealing countless fine, needle-like strands glowing with a faint white light.
Han Li swung his arm, and the purple flames around him surged over a foot high, instantly engulfing the needles. Purple light flickered across the needles as layers of violet ice rapidly encased them, causing them to lose all spiritual energy and fall to the ground like lifeless objects.
As for the emerald jade hammer that had also been hurled at him, Han Li merely flicked his sleeve casually. A flash of purple light later, the hammer was sent tumbling away as if struck by an immense force.
Miaohe Zhenren frantically formed hand seals to stop it, but to no avail. Instead, the hammer’s surface shimmered with crystalline light before being completely encased in violet ice in the blink of an eye.
The Taoist’s expression turned extremely grim!
Meanwhile, the yellow-robed elder could hardly believe his eyes.
His prized treasure, which he had always relied upon, had been effortlessly shattered with a single strike—something he found utterly unbelievable!
Seeing Han Li charging toward him through the purple flames, the elder panicked and flicked his sleeve, sending a silver dharma wheel shooting out.
But Han Li moved like the wind. With a roll of purple flames, he appeared right in front of the yellow-robed elder.
The silver wheel had barely flashed twice when a streak of golden light silently sliced it in half, sending the pieces plummeting to the ground.
The elder’s pupils contracted. His mouth opened, and a yellow glow flickered as he prepared to unleash his lifebound treasure.
But in that brief moment of hesitation, Han Li smirked coldly. His arm blurred and vanished from sight.
Almost simultaneously, the yellow-robed elder suddenly felt a chilling grip tighten around his neck. A flash of purple light filled his vision, and the treasure he had been about to summon instantly lost all connection with his divine sense.
“Ah!”
The elder was terrified out of his wits, but he only had time to let out a single scream before his entire body was encased in violet ice spreading from his neck, rendering him completely immobile. His frozen face was locked in an expression of sheer terror.
Han Li sneered, holding the now ice-sculpted elder with one hand. His gaze swept indifferently over the others.
The four Core Formation cultivators, knowing they stood no chance against a Nascent Soul cultivator, had already summoned their defensive treasures but could only watch nervously from a distance. Seeing the yellow-robed elder subdued in an instant, they exchanged glances before scattering in all directions, fleeing on their treasures in a panic.
Meanwhile, Han Li’s primary target, Miaohe Zhenren, had already turned and fled even faster than the Core Formation cultivators.
The moment the elder was captured, Miaohe was struck with overwhelming dread, realizing that Han Li’s power far exceeded his expectations. Knowing he stood no chance alone, he decisively transformed into a streak of green light and shot toward Stone City.
The old Taoist had initially feared that the golden-armored insects surrounding them would give chase, but to his surprise, the spirit insects remained motionless in the air like puppets, allowing him to break free from the encirclement in an instant.
Overjoyed, Miaohe flashed several times in succession, his escape light already a hundred zhang away.
Han Li wasted no words. With a flick of his sleeve toward the fleeing Core Formation cultivators, four streaks of golden light shot out, catching up to them almost instantly.
Screams rang out one after another!
The golden light coiled around the four cultivators and their defensive treasures, reducing them to a bloody rain of severed limbs and shattered artifacts that rained down from the sky.
Han Li then glanced at Miaohe’s nearly vanished escape light on the horizon and smirked. Instead of pursuing, he raised the hand holding the ice sculpture, and thunder rumbled as several thick golden arcs surged forth, weaving into a golden net that enveloped the frozen figure.
Amidst the crackling lightning, the ice sculpture shattered under the golden light, revealing a three-inch-tall yellow Nascent Soul with the exact same face as the yellow-robed elder.
The Nascent Soul panicked, swiftly forming hand seals. A flash of spiritual light later, it vanished from sight.
But in the next moment, a thunderous boom erupted from within the golden net as the Nascent Soul reappeared amidst the golden arcs. Its teleportation technique had failed to penetrate the divine lightning’s restraints.
Han Li said nothing. With a mere gesture, the golden net shrank rapidly, compressing into a golden sphere that trapped the Nascent Soul within. He then flicked his wrist, sending several talismans flying to stick onto the Nascent Soul’s body.
The Nascent Soul’s spiritual energy instantly froze, rendering it completely powerless.
Han Li clasped his hands behind his back, no longer paying attention to the Nascent Soul. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and gazed once more in the direction Miaohe had fled.
By now, Miaohe was already several hundred zhang away, his escape light nearly as fast as lightning as he poured all his energy into fleeing. Yet, despite this, the early Nascent Soul cultivator kept glancing back fearfully, as if expecting Han Li to appear at any moment.
Only when he saw nothing but darkness behind him did Miaohe relax slightly, though he maintained his speed. With a flip of his hand, he produced a cyan talisman and prepared to activate it.
But what Miaohe didn’t know was that the moment he turned his head back, a faint silver light flickered behind his escape light, and a cyan figure emerged like a ghost.
The figure moved effortlessly, keeping pace with Miaohe’s escape light without falling behind—it was none other than the humanoid puppet Han Li had secretly released earlier.
Unaware, Miaohe remained focused on the talisman in his hand.
The puppet raised its arm mechanically, and a silver fist silently shot forward.
With a crisp *ripping* sound, the red shield barrier around Miaohe tore apart like paper, and the silver fist pierced straight through his back, shattering his protective spiritual light.
By the time Miaohe sensed the danger behind him, it was already too late to react.
*Thud!*
The fist burst through his chest, dripping with fresh blood before retracting abruptly, leaving behind a gaping hole the size of a bowl.
Miaohe let out a bloodcurdling scream before his body went limp and plummeted downward.
The humanoid puppet emotionlessly rubbed its hands together and then flung them downward, casting a silver net that enveloped the falling figure.
A short while later, Han Li stood leisurely atop a nearby mountain peak, watching as a silver streak shot toward him from the horizon. A faint smile touched his lips.
*Thump!*
Miaohe, encased in a shimmering silver barrier and covered in multicolored talismans, was unceremoniously dropped at Han Li’s feet.
The puppet then flashed to stand behind Han Li.
Han Li examined the bloodied, barely alive Miaohe with an enigmatic expression…
Two hours later, a streak of cyan light quietly departed Thunder Void Island, streaking toward a distant horizon until it vanished from sight.
Inside the escape light, Han Li weighed two cyan storage pouches in his hand, deep in thought.
The pouches contained the belongings of Miaohe and the yellow-robed elder, including over a hundred high-grade spirit stones each—originally intended to be secretly transported back to Jade Spirit Island.
As it turned out, Miaohe, who had appeared to be on good terms with the other factions on the island, had secretly defected to the Inverse Star Alliance. Under their support, he had planned to covertly take control of several islands near Jade Spirit Island, with Thunder Void Island being one of his targets.
The high-grade spirit stones sold by Miaohe’s sect on Thunder Void Island had actually been mined by Inverse Star Alliance cultivators on Jade Spirit Island and secretly delivered to Miaohe to bolster his influence. The yellow-robed elder, meanwhile, was another Nascent Soul rogue cultivator bribed by the Alliance, originally tasked with overseeing another island in a role similar to Miaohe’s.
The reason the elder had appeared on Thunder Void Island was that, like Miaohe, he had received an inexplicable order to gather all high-grade spirit stones in his possession and rush to Jade Spirit Island for an urgent matter requiring both the stones and the power of Nascent Soul cultivators—all while avoiding detection by other factions.
Due to the bizarre nature of the order and the proximity of the elder’s island to Thunder Void Island, he had sought out Miaohe first to travel together for mutual support.
However, neither had expected that their conversation in the market would be overheard by Han Li. Though he hadn’t caught every detail, Han Li had deduced their allegiance to the Inverse Star Alliance, their possession of a large number of spirit stones, and their imminent departure from Stone City.
Han Li already had unfinished business with Miaohe. Learning that the two carried high-grade spirit stones—and recalling his past pursuit by multiple Inverse Star Alliance Nascent Soul elders—he saw no reason to hold back. The moment he left Stone City, he employed his divine sense division technique, releasing tens of thousands of Gold Devouring Beetles to monitor Miaohe’s movements.
That very night, he intercepted the group attempting to leave the island. Given his late Nascent Soul cultivation, subduing two early Nascent Soul cultivators was effortless.
With his objective achieved, Han Li could have returned to the Inner Star Sea immediately.
But after performing soul searches on Miaohe and the elder, he uncovered crucial information: the infamous Patriarch Jiyin, who had nearly killed him years ago, was currently stationed nearby—as one of the Inverse Star Alliance’s overseers of the spirit stone mines on Jade Spirit Island.
Needless to say, Patriarch Jiyin was one of Han Li’s most hated enemies in the Scattered Star Seas. Back in the Void Sky Palace, had it not been for his wits and sheer luck, he would have suffered unspeakable torment at the hands of the old demon before meeting a gruesome end.
Thus, Patriarch Jiyin was unquestionably on Han Li’s list of targets to eliminate.
Now that he knew the old demon was stationed on Jade Spirit Island, Han Li had no intention of passing up this chance for revenge. From the soul searches, he learned that the Inverse Star Alliance had four Nascent Soul cultivators on the island—one mid-stage and three early-stage.
While this force might be enough to intimidate the other factions on the island, to the current Han Li, they were insignificant.
He was absolutely confident he could infiltrate the island undetected, assassinate Patriarch Jiyin, and leave without a trace.
With this in mind, Han Li set off without hesitation toward Jade Spirit Island.
Three days later, he finally arrived in the waters near Jade Spirit Island.
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