Chapter 988: Evil Moon Illusion Mirror

The black-clad beauty beside him, seeing Han Li able to wield so many extraordinary treasures, immediately felt her spirits lift.

She raised her hand and summoned the small cyan shield, positioning it in front of herself. With another pat on her storage pouch, two butterfly-shaped treasures shot out, fluttering gracefully before her like living creatures.

As a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, she naturally possessed more treasures than this. However, in battles between cultivators, the advantage did not always lie with the one who deployed the most treasures.

Even the most treasure-laden cultivator would stop using additional treasures once their divine sense reached a certain limit while controlling them. After all, in combat, aside from relying on treasures, one also needed to reserve some spiritual power to cast spells.

The amount of divine sense reserved varied depending on the individual.

Those who believed their treasures were formidable but their spells weaker would naturally allocate more divine sense to controlling their treasures. Conversely, those with ordinary treasures but mastery of powerful secret techniques would reserve more divine sense for spellcasting.

Moreover, the more powerful a treasure, the more divine sense it typically consumed. This was why Core Formation cultivators rarely wielded ancient treasures, and even those with exceptionally strong divine sense would only select a few high-powered treasures for battle. The fact that Han Li could unleash so many treasures at once, even without reserving much divine sense, was a testament to his formidable spiritual power.

But before Han Li and the woman could join forces, the silver-winged Yecha’s face twisted with malice as an overwhelming aura erupted from its body. It crouched and slammed a palm fiercely onto the ground.

With a muffled *thud*, its splayed fingers pressed against the stone floor.

Han Li and the woman were momentarily stunned, unsure of its intentions, when a deafening rumble echoed across the plaza. The massive formation on the ground erupted in multicolored lights, and the stone pillars binding the desiccated corpses trembled violently.

“Not good!” Han Li’s expression darkened. Without hesitation, his wings fluttered, and his figure—along with all his treasures—vanished from the spot, leaving only the golden cloud of Gold Devouring Beetles and the Soul Shaker Beast behind.

The silver-winged Yecha let out a sinister laugh. A dark glow enveloped its body before it, too, vanished with a flap of its fleshy wings.

A thunderous *boom* erupted at the edge of the formation as a dark glow and silver light materialized simultaneously. The two collided, unleashing a dazzling explosion of radiance before recoiling in opposite directions, revealing two winged figures—Han Li and the silver-winged Yecha.

In that brief moment of delay, black smoke surged from the corpses bound to the surrounding pillars, transforming into towering black beams that shot skyward. In an instant, a vast black barrier enveloped the entire plaza.

Han Li and the others found their retreat cut off, trapped within the barrier.

The black-clad woman, sensing the anomaly in the formation, immediately transformed into a streak of light, darting outward. But before she could fly more than twenty zhang, the barrier had already formed, forcing her to halt with a grim expression.

Han Li stared at the silver-winged Yecha within the dark glow, his face shadowed with frustration.

At this moment, five blood-red rings shimmered around the Yecha’s limbs and neck—clearly some form of restraining artifact.

“So, you truly cannot leave this place. Otherwise, with your abilities, why would you willingly remain here? I just didn’t expect you could activate this formation without spirit stones. You’re confined to this formation’s range, aren’t you?” Han Li exhaled coldly.

The formation’s glow gradually faded, but the pillars surrounding the barrier remained shrouded in black mist, their beams undiminished.

“Heh! This Demon-Sealing Formation was indeed set up to imprison me. But the one who laid it never imagined that after so many years, I’d gain partial control over its restrictions. Though I’m bound here, you’re now trapped as well!” The silver-winged Yecha flapped its wings lightly before bursting into triumphant laughter.

A cold glint flashed in Han Li’s eyes. Below, the Soul Shaker Beast snorted, releasing a blinding yellow mist that surged toward the flying corpse, reaching it in an instant.

The Yecha’s laughter cut off abruptly. With a fierce flap of its wings, it vanished just before the mist could touch it, reappearing atop the emerald bamboo.

Undeterred, the Soul Shaker Beast swung its head, sending another wave of yellow mist chasing after the Yecha.

Enraged, the Yecha’s eyes narrowed. With a powerful flap of its wings, countless silver streaks shot forth, colliding with the yellow mist. To Han Li’s surprise, the mist—normally devastating to ghostly entities—was repelled by the silver light.

Though Han Li knew the silver-winged Yecha was no ordinary corpse puppet, this sight still sent a chill down his spine.

The Yecha, however, felt its earlier fear dissipate. With a sinister grin, it flickered within a dark glow, vanishing and reappearing above the Soul Shaker Beast. Its mouth gaped, a dark radiance gathering as if to unleash something.

But at that moment, a deafening buzz erupted above it. Startled, it jerked its head up and spat a pitch-black beam, striking a golden cloud descending upon it—Han Li’s swarm of Gold Devouring Beetles.

The swarm, left hovering after Han Li’s lightning escape, had lain in wait. Now, as the Yecha appeared nearby, Han Li’s divine sense commanded them to attack.

Yet the black beam was no ordinary attack—it was the Yecha’s accumulated corpse energy, refined over millennia. Not only was it vile and frigid, but it also carried a deadly corpse poison.

Though the beetles were nearly indestructible and immune to most toxins, under this assault, they fell like rain, their numbers dwindling by a third in moments. The survivors scattered in panic.

But this brief diversion gave the Soul Shaker Beast time to react. With another snort, it unleashed another wave of yellow mist upward.

The Yecha, however, calmly flapped its wings, reappearing over ten zhang away, evading the mist effortlessly.

At the same time, silver light flashed where the Yecha had stood, and Han Li materialized amid a crackle of thunder.

Without a word, he flicked his sleeve, sending a storm of golden sword light toward the Yecha. The purple mirror above him flashed, releasing a violet beam that followed the swords. Hidden within his sleeve, his finger twitched, releasing a nearly imperceptible red streak.

Only then did he glance coldly at the ground, where the fallen beetles twitched their wings and took flight again, though weakly, as if drained.

A faint relief flickered in Han Li’s heart.

Nearby, the black-clad woman seized the moment to point at her two jade butterflies.

Bathed in white light, the butterflies swelled to human size, their wings flapping furiously. Two white tornadoes formed before her, swiftly morphing into twin wind serpents that lunged at the Yecha with ferocious momentum.

Faced with this onslaught, the Yecha grinned darkly. Raising both hands, it summoned the Phantom Moon Mirror in one and, with a *puff*, conjured a fist-sized gray orb in the other, pulsing with eerie light.

With a cold glance at the incoming golden swords, it clapped its hands together, merging the orb into the mirror. Instantly, countless identical orbs surged from the mirror, fusing into a colossal sphere several zhang wide that encased the Yecha.

The golden sword light slashed into the sphere, shattering it with a soft *pop*. But the fragments merely dispersed into smaller orbs, while the sword light passed harmlessly through the Yecha’s body, slicing it into pieces before continuing onward.

Han Li’s eyes narrowed. He had no illusions that mere swords could kill this creature.

Sure enough, the impossible happened.

The smaller orbs converged, reforming the massive sphere, while the Yecha’s shredded body blurred and reassembled within it, unharmed as if nothing had occurred.

Han Li frowned.

By then, the violet beam and the woman’s wind serpents had arrived, tearing into the sphere.

The same eerie scene repeated—the sphere shattered, the Yecha was torn apart, yet it reformed unscathed within the restored sphere, as if immortal.

The Yecha smirked coldly at them, making no move. Yet the black mirror in its hand continued spewing orbs, expanding the sphere to over ten zhang in diameter and still growing.

Han Li’s expression turned grave. Though he didn’t know what would happen if caught inside that sphere, it was certainly nothing good.

The black-clad woman, equally horrified, reflexively formed hand seals, commanding her wind serpents to attack again.

The serpents coiled and lunged, shattering the sphere once more and “killing” the Yecha. But this time, instead of retreating, they unleashed a storm of white wind blades, shredding the reforming orbs into even smaller fragments.

For a moment, chaos reigned at the sphere’s core, howling winds and shrieking blades filling the air.

Han Li did not join the assault with his hovering swords. Instead, he narrowed his eyes, watching intently, a faint blue glimmer deep within his pupils.