With Lü Tianmeng’s death, the hundreds of small rulers, now devoid of spiritual power, instantly shattered into specks of cyan light. These specks then converged, revealing the original form of the talisman, which drifted gently to the ground, landing precisely between Han Li, Xuan Le, and the blood-red spider.
Xuan Le watched Han Li expressionlessly, making no move. Han Li, after glancing at the blood spider and then at Xuan Le, silently raised his hand and summoned the white scale shield. Simultaneously, eight beams of white light flashed around him as eight puppet beasts materialized.
Xuan Le’s expression finally shifted slightly. He raised his hand to recall the small yellow bell and said indifferently, “I never expected Junior Brother Han to also be skilled in puppetry. However, it seems your cultivation is not yet mature. Do you really think these few puppets can match me?”
Han Li’s expression remained unchanged. He coldly asked, “Did you intentionally release the spider?”
“Indeed!” Xuan Le admitted without hesitation, and with a flip of his hand, a red, veil-like cloak appeared in his grasp.
“Aren’t you afraid of overplaying your hand and ending up killed by this demon beast?” Han Li licked his dry lips and sneered.
“Heh! Kill me? With just this fourth-level demon beast that’s nothing more than a tough body and some brute strength?” Xuan Le mocked, his face full of disdain. “But you should focus on playing with this Crystal Spider! I hope you can keep your life!”
With that, he draped the light veil over himself. Though he remained in place, all his auras vanished in an instant.
Han Li was somewhat surprised and couldn’t help but take a closer look at the veil.
Meanwhile, Xuan Le slowly retreated to a corner of the cave with a smile, appearing as if he intended to stay out of the matter. Han Li’s mind raced, and he quickly deduced the purpose of the veil. His expression changed, and he hurriedly turned his gaze to the spider.
The blood spider was glaring at him fiercely, its fangs chattering once more, clearly having identified him as its prey.
After a moment’s thought, Han Li’s figure flickered, and he swiftly charged toward the corner where Xuan Le stood.
But as soon as Han Li moved, the blood spider erupted with a brilliant crimson light and charged at him as well.
However, the prepared puppet beasts took turns shooting fleeting beams of light from their mouths, striking the blood spider and repeatedly sending it tumbling, temporarily preventing it from pursuing Han Li.
Seeing Han Li charging toward him, Xuan Le felt a chill.
He was deeply wary of Han Li’s lightning-fast movement technique and dared not let him get close. Without thinking, he threw the small bell toward Han Li while a radiant light enveloped him, and a fiery-red leather armor appeared on his body. The light veil, now useless, was stored away.
As the giant bell descended upon him, Han Li raised his hand, and a small mirror appeared in his grasp. A beam of cyan light shot out, instantly forcing the enlarging bell back to its original form and suspending it mid-air.
“The Cyan Condensation Mirror!” Xuan Le exclaimed in shock. How could he not recognize this famous top-grade magical artifact from their sect?
Immediately, Xuan Le panicked.
He had thought the “Sky-Shielding Bell” would buy him at least a little time, but Han Li charged forward without the slightest pause, leaving him flustered.
Fortunately, Han Li was still over ten zhang away. Xuan Le threw out an “Ice Rain Art” talisman he had just retrieved, which instantly transformed into a dense barrage of ice spikes shooting forth. He thought that if Han Li blocked with his white shield, his movement would inevitably slow, giving Xuan Le enough time to activate a powerful magical instrument he had just taken out.
Seeing the barrage of ice spikes, a cold glint flashed in Han Li’s eyes. Surprisingly, he waved his hand and stored the small shield in front of him into his storage pouch while suddenly doubling his speed. His body twisted and contorted in an unbelievable manner, allowing him to charge through the ice spikes completely unscathed.
Witnessing this, Xuan Le’s composed demeanor vanished entirely, and his face turned deathly pale.
In the blink of an eye, as Han Li closed in on him, Xuan Le had no choice but to abandon any thought of activating a magical instrument. Instead, he poured all his spiritual power into the fiery-red armor, hoping its top-grade defensive capabilities would see him through the crisis.
Seeing the opponent’s armor emit a dazzling light, a murderous intent surged in Han Li’s eyes. He opened his mouth and spat out a dark, pointed object he had prepared earlier. It shot out unexpectedly with a piercing shriek, embedding itself into the opponent’s armor and triggering an earth-shattering explosion.
Following that, a massive cyan sword Qi materialized out of thin air. Han Li flashed and reappeared behind Xuan Le.
Xuan Le stood frozen in place. A fist-sized hole had been torn in the chest of his fiery-red armor, draining it of all spiritual energy and rendering it useless. Then, without any warning, his head suddenly tumbled from his shoulders. Han Li had not only breached his armor but had also used the Green Bamboo Beecloud Sword to behead him directly. The storage pouch at his waist was naturally taken by Han Li as well.
Han Li looked at the storage pouch in his hand, feeling indescribably complex.
A late Foundation Establishment cultivator had been killed just like that. He must have found it unbelievable even in his final moments!
However, Han Li was well aware that the reason the other had died by his hand was partly due to the element of surprise, but also entirely because of the constraints of the narrow terrain.
In a typical high-altitude confrontation between cultivators, his opponent would never have allowed him to close the distance. With dozens of zhang separating them and the ability to fly via magical artifacts, the adversary’s speed would hardly have been inferior to his own extreme movement technique.
Moreover, to break through the opponent’s armor, he had been forced to use a disposable self-destruct artifact crafted from the infant horn of an Ink Flood Dragon, essentially sacrificing it to destroy the armor.
Speaking of that infant horn, the shopkeeper who had refined the magical artifact for him repeatedly expressed regret, saying that if the Ink Flood Dragon’s horn had grown for another twenty or thirty years, it could have been forged into an extremely powerful magical artifact. Instead, in its nascent state, it was too brittle and only suitable for consumable items.
But now, it seemed using it to kill a late Foundation Establishment cultivator was an extremely worthwhile trade!
After storing the Cyan Condensation Mirror and the opponent’s small bell, a series of explosive sounds came from behind him. Pausing for a moment, Han Li instinctively patted his storage pouch, releasing several second-level puppet beasts. The original eight had finally been overwhelmed by the blood spider, which had closed in and shredded them to pieces in a few strikes.
Now, the blood spider turned around and charged at Han Li once more!
Han Li raised his hand, and a pair of Black Dragon Claws shot out, suddenly enlarging to block the giant spider mid-air.
The puppet beasts’ light beam attacks followed immediately, continuously bombarding the demon beast’s crimson body, finally pinning it in place and preventing its advance.
In desperation, the blood spider spat out several webs in succession. Unfortunately, as soon as Han Li saw the demon beast use this move, he immediately dodged. As for the puppet beasts, if any were slightly entangled by the silk threads, Han Li would instantly store them in his storage pouch and replace them with another, ensuring the puppet beasts’ attacks continued uninterrupted.
However, Han Li had to abandon his initial plan of using a talisman treasure to kill the spider. After all, blocking its webs with a protective shield or a magical instrument would be unwise.
Helpless, Han Li sighed and could only maintain this level of assault on the spider, not daring to relax in the slightest.
After about fifteen minutes, just as Han Li had predicted, the blood spider’s crimson color gradually faded, and its shell began to show pitted scars. Clearly, the demon beast’s true essence was depleted, and it could no longer use spiritual power to cover its body and resist the attacks.
As a smile appeared on Han Li’s face, the spider seemed to realize its predicament. It tried several times to escape Han Li’s assault and flee toward the cave entrance, but each time it was forced back by rapid light beams from the puppet beasts. In the end, it was trapped and worn down to death right there.
When the spider demon beast had exhausted its last trace of true essence, it could only curl up into a ball, completely powerless to counterattack. Han Li switched to an incredibly sharp Silver Edge Sword, stepped forward, and with a single strike, severed the spider’s head. Indeed, although the beast’s shell was exceptionally tough, without the protection of magical power, the silver sword easily breached its defenses.
Then, Han Li sat down heavily on the nearby ground and remained silent for a long time.
After a while, he surveyed the numerous dead cultivators around him and, for the first time, felt the fragility of a cultivator’s life. It saddened him somewhat. Perhaps one day, he too would die at the hands of another cultivator or end up in the belly of some demon beast.
Once he had rested enough, Han Li first retrieved the small ruler talisman treasure, then searched each corpse for their storage pouches.
Finally, he cautiously approached the teleportation formation, his gaze flickering uncertainly as he scrutinized the five-colored skeleton and the token it held.
“The Great Shift Token! That’s what Lü Tianmeng called this token!” Han Li fell into deep thought.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage