Unbeknownst to the two of them, not long after they'd entered the devilish Qi, a fist-sized grey rock suddenly flew up from halfway up a nearby mountain.
The rock then shattered to reveal a shimmering golden beetle, which also flew into the passageway in a soundless manner.
Meanwhile, Han Li had emerged from the passageway, and appeared in the entrance of a large hall.
He focused his gaze up ahead to find that this was a circular hall with a diameter of over 1,000 feet.
At the very center of the hall was a golden formation that was over 300 feet in size, around which stood 12 black stone pillars that were each several tens of feet tall. There were some menacing images of demons and devils carved onto stone pillars, and bursts of inky-black devilish Qi were pouring forth from these images, drifting toward the center of the formation in unison.
At the center of the formation was a massive crimson bed, upon which was a huge black ape that was several tens of feet in size.
The devilish ape's fangs were completely bared, and its limbs were remarkably long. On top of that, it had three shimmering yellow twisted horns on its head.
There was a purple scar on his chest that was around the size of a human head, and through it, several ribs and an inky-black beating heart could be seen.
The massive ape's eyes were tightly shut, and black light was flashing all around it, slowly absorbing the surrounding devilish Qi into its body.
At the same time, a layer of crimson mist was being emitted by the large bed that the ape was lying on, and that mist was also surging into its body incessantly.
Han Li stood at the entrance and looked on coldly at the scenes unfolding within the hall, displaying no intentions to spring into action whatsoever.
At this moment, his body was in an insubstantial stage, so even if someone were standing right next to him, it would still be quite difficult for them to detect him.
However, according to Xian Xian's description, this giant ape was a being at somewhere around the mid-Body Integration Stage, so Han Li couldn't be sure that his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman would be able to fool it.
As such, he was maintaining his distance from the devilish ape while standing still on the spot, surveying the situation in silence.
However, after the golden beetle had flown out from the rock on the mountain, Han Li's expression changed slightly, and a cold light flashed through his eyes before they reverted back to normal.
Back before he'd entered the passageway, he'd kept a Gold Devouring Beetle outside as a safety precaution.
Of course, this beetle had been imbued with a wisp of his spiritual sense, and it was one of the beetles that had undergone mutation after devouring a portion of that mysterious stone block.
After devouring the stone block, the mutated Gold Devouring Beetles' bodies had become extraordinarily hard and heavy. Furthermore, following the research and experiments he'd conducted during the past few years, he discovered that the beetles had also attained a new ability; a stoneform ability.
This mutated ability was something that he'd unwittingly discovered while cultivating his own spiritual sense.
After burrowing into soil or stone, these mutated Gold Devouring Beetles could emit strange bursts of earth-attribute spiritual power, thereby allowing them to fuse as one with the earth around them.
As such, unless someone was aware of the exact hiding spot of the beetles in advance or had cultivated a spirit eye technique that could see through their disguise, no one would be able to notice that anything was amiss as long as the beetles continued to hide within the rock or stone, regardless of how powerful their spiritual sense was.
It was exactly because of this that Han Li had been willing to enter the mountain on his own.
Due to the obstruction from the devilish Qi, he wasn't able to glean exactly what Xian Xian was doing through the Gold Devouring Beetle. However, even through his rather murky spiritual sense detection, he learned that she hadn't just been waiting outside as she claimed she would, and was instead doing something rather suspicious.
Han Li wasn't overly surprised by this discovery.
He'd already speculated that she may have been hiding something after she'd offered to repair the Heavenly Devilish Armor in exchange for just some holy-grade devilish beast materials. It was quite clear that this woman was no ordinary Crystal being, so holy-grade devilish beast materials shouldn't be worth making the effort and taking the risk for her, especially when she couldn't even have the most valuable devilish core. On top of that, she was even presenting a treasure like the Heavenly Devilish Armor to him!
After entering the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, their group had encountered several extremely perilous scenarios, but Xian Xian had shown no signs of wanting to give up, and that only further fuelled Han Li's suspicions.
Now that he had confirmed that she harbored ulterior motives, he wasn't actually enraged at all.
As long as Xian Xian didn't do anything to hurt his interests and could repair the Heavenly Devilish Armor using the holy-grade devilish core as she proclaimed, he didn't really care if she had some other objectives.
Of course, if she were going after something that was sufficiently tempting, even to him, he wouldn't mind stepping in to get a share for himself.
Xian Xian did indeed possess some special abilities and treasures, but at her lowly cultivation base, Han Li was confident that he'd be able to control her at all times.
At this point, he had stood at the entrance and observed for around 10 minutes. During this time, he was able to ascertain that aside from the formation on the ground and the 12 pillars around it, there were no other restrictions in the room.
Furthermore, this giant ape had indeed been severely wounded and was in a state of deep slumber.
In that case, prior to ascertaining just what Xian Xian was plotting, he didn't mind securing the holy-grade devilish core first.
As long as he didn't have to face the beast in a direct confrontation, he was confident in his ability to kill it in one fell swoop with a sneak attack. With that in mind, a cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and he finally decided to act.
He took a deep breath before rustling both sleeves at once, and azure light flashed as a dozen or so azure beads appeared in one of his hands, while a thick stack of talismans appeared in the other.
He tossed both batches of items forward, and they hovered before him in a stationary manner. After that, golden light flashed from his body, and two fist-sized golden beetles emerged. After doing all that, Han Li made a hand seal, and his body slowly withdrew out of its insubstantial form.
During this process, he appraised the giant black ape in the hall with an intense unblinking gaze, and the devilish ape remained completely still on the bed, displaying no reaction to Han Li's actions whatsoever.
As solemn look appeared on Han Li's face as he pointed a finger at the stack of talismans, and they instantly drifted toward all corners of the hall, then disappeared in silence amid a flash of silver light.
Meanwhile, the dozen or so beads were also slowly flying toward the black pillars.
After flying to the tops of these round pillars, the azure beads all drew to a halt just before they flew into the giant formation. Thus, each of them hovered several feet above their respective pillar, and remained still on the spot.
The two Gold Devouring Beetles had also flown to just over 100 feet away from the formation in a wraith-like manner at his behest, and both of them were hovering in mid-air in a menacing manner.
After doing all that, Han Li glanced at the black devilish ape to find that it still hadn't displayed any reactions. After a brief hesitation, he suddenly raised a hand toward one corner of the hall, and spiritual light flashed as a silver Fire Raven appeared out of thin air, then spread its wings and vanished on the spot.
In the next instant, the Fire Raven appeared in a discreet manner directly above the giant formation before hanging completely motionlessly in mid-
air.
Han Li wore a rather grave expression, but he acted in a quick and decisive manner as he transmitted an instruction to the silver Fire Raven using his spiritual sense.
The Fire Raven immediately opened its beak at his behest to expel a thin golden and silver thread. It was none other than the Revolving Evil Spirit Light.
The thin thread flew through the air at an extraordinarily fast speed, reaching the formation down below almost as soon as it flew out of the Fire Raven's beak.
However, as expected, the giant formation was not just a useless ornamental display.
A buzzing sound rang out within the hall, following which a crimson light barrier suddenly appeared above the formation, shielding the giant ape's body within.
However, the thin golden and silver thread merely punctured through the light barrier as if it didn't even exist, then abruptly appeared right above the devilish ape's head.
It appeared that the thin thread was about to puncture the ape's large head in the next instant, and Han Li looked on from afar with bated breath.
All of a sudden, a suit of purple armor suddenly appeared, covering every single inch of its entire body.
The thin thread struck the visor of the armor, which was an exact mold of the devilish ape's face, only to be repelled amid a loud metallic clang.
Han Li's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately relinquished all attempts to remain stealthy and discreet as golden light flashed from his body. Immediately thereafter, a golden projection with three heads and six arms appeared above his head, and he chanted something internally as two of the three heads abruptly opened their eyes.
A cold light flashed through the two pairs of eyes, following which the six arms of the projection came together in three groups of two.
Golden light flashed within the projection shimmering golden hands, and three rather blurry giant swords appeared.
The three swords were all antiquated in design with runes flashing over their surfaces, but all of them were of different colors and styles.
One of them was as thin as paper and flashing with golden light, another one was narrow yet extremely long and shimmering with azure light, and the final one was an extremely thick dull sword that was completely inky-black in color.
"Slash!" Han Li commanded in a barely audible voice.
The golden projection instantly made hand seals with its three spare hands before pointing toward the distance in unison, and three sword projections of different colors flew through the air before combining as one, forming a three-colored streak of light that hurtled directly toward the giant black ape.
Almost at the exact same time, the 12 azure beads hovering above the black pillars came crashing down, and azure light flashed as they exploded amid a string of earth-shattering booms.
Loud thunderclaps rang out in rapid succession, and not only did the 12 black pillars fall in the face of the azure lightning, even the entire formation had been entirely inundated by arcs of lightning.
The light barrier clashed with the arcs of azure lightning, and the purple light barrier was shattered amid an agonized screech almost instantaneously before countless arcs of azure lightning rained down in a torrential downpour.
At the same time, the two golden beetles and three sword projections shot forth in unison, hoping to land a lethal blow amid the chaos.
Chapter 1631: Ho"Li" Sh*t, It's Han!
Setting aside the Gold Devouring Beetles, the three sword projections were an ability that Han Li had attained after combining his Provenance True Devil Arts and different types of true essence.
This secret technique could unleash the powers of his Provenance True Devil Arts, Azure Essence Sword Art, and Vajra Arts all at once through the Provenance True Devil Projection.
The Provenance True Devil Arts and Azure Essence Sword Art weren't worthy of note, but the Vajra Arts was a body refinement cultivation method, so it was extremely rare for someone to be able to project the true essence imbued within the cultivation art in this manner.
Han Li had coined the name "Triessence Slash" for this ability. Due to the fact that the three types of true essence were all different and complemented one another, their combined power was far superior to just the sum of their constituent parts.
The slash that had just been unleashed had exhausted close to half of the true essence within Han Li's body, and even though the three-colored sword projection had been compressed to a completely ordinary-looking state, it possessed devastating power that could virtually split mountains and part oceans.
With all of the other attacks that Han Li had also prepared, if the black devilish ape were to take everything head-on, Han Li was 70% confident that it would be killed on the spot.
At this moment, the azure arcs of lightning struck the giant ape's suit of purple armor first, yet an unexpected turn of events suddenly unfolded within the formation.
The runes all over the crimson bed lit up in unison, emitting a piercing crimson light that shielded the armored ape within.
The powerful arcs of lightning struck the crimson light in a frenzy, but the light barrier only tremored slightly in the face of such an astonishingly powerful attack, yet remained completely unscathed.
However, in the next instant, the three-colored sword projection and the two golden beetles also crashed into the crimson light barrier in quick succession.
A resounding boom rang out as the entire hall tremored violently, and was instantly inundated by lights of different colors.
What appeared to be an extremely dazzling rainbow sun then rose up from the center of the formation, yet Han Li didn't falter in the slightest as a hint of blue light flashed through his eyes.
All of a sudden, he pointed toward the distance while making a hand seal with his other hand to spur the golden projection above his head into action.
Before the explosions in the hall had even subsided, the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven let loose a clear cry and folded its wings against its sides as it plunged headfirst into the ball of light.
Silver flames immediately appeared within the scorching sun before disappearing in a flash.
Meanwhile, the giant swords in the hands of the golden projection disappeared, only to be replaced by balls of golden light that were sent flying through the air.
A gust of fierce golden winds was swept up amid a resounding boom, sweeping through the entire hall.
A burst of enormous wind pressure proliferated toward all directions from the very center, and even though Han Li was standing quite far away near the entrance, he was still forced back a couple of steps by this immense pressure.
All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly, and the golden projection above his head ceased in its attacks.
At the same time, Han Li swept both sleeves through the air to summon a layer of grey light, as well as a swath of five-colored flames that encapsulated his entire body.
Furthermore, a small crystalline shield had also flown out of his sleeve before positioning itself directly in front of him.
After that, Han Li stood silently on the spot and looked on with a grave expression.
Even with his spirit eye ability, he wasn't able to see anything through the flurry of exploding lights, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong.
Regardless of what kind of severe injuries the devilish ape had sustained, it was very strange that it would remain completely silent in the face of these attacks.
Even if he had managed to slay the devilish ape, a Body Integration Stage being definitely wouldn't pass away in such a peaceful manner.
With that in mind, Han Li released his spiritual sense to try and make sense of what was happening.
However, right at this moment, a burst of cackling suddenly rang out from within the hall.
Han Li's heart stirred as he instantly withdrew his spiritual sense, then cast his gaze into the golden winds.
All of a sudden, an earsplitting boom rang out, and t
he fierce golden winds were dispersed from the inside along with the massive ball of light amid a flash of countless thin purple lines.
The two then both disappeared amid a rumbling explosion.
Thus, the center of the giant formation was revealed, and Han Li focused his gaze up ahead, only for his eyelids to twitch involuntarily at the sight that he was greeted by.
The entire purple formation had been completely demolished.
It was riddled with countless pits and craters, and a part of it had even disappeared.
A massive gulf that was around 10 feet wide had also appeared at the center of the formation, virtually splitting the ground in the hall in half.
However, what was quite alarming to Han Li was that the crimson bed was situated directly in the path of the huge gulf, but it remained completely unscathed.
At this moment, a massive humanoid figure had sat up on the bed, and it was none other than the purple-armored devilish ape!
Aside from the three golden horns on its head, every single inch of its body had been covered by the suit of armor. Even its eyes were concealed beneath a pair of white crystals on the visor, making it impossible to glean emotions from the ape.
Looking at it from afar, the ape appeared to be a massive metallic puppet.
However, the suit of purple armor hadn't emerged without any damage. Not only had many sections of it been cracked and shattered, there were several parts that had already been melted and charred black. At this moment, the ape was holding onto a shimmering golden object in each of its armored hands, and they were none other than Han Li's two mature Gold Devouring Beetles.
The two beetles weren't backing down, either; both of them were gnawing on a finger each, displaying no intention of letting go.
Han Li didn't know what kind of material this suit of armor had been refined from, but it was quite extraordinary that it was able to withstand such astonishing attacks and even keep the Gold Devouring Beetles at bay for now.
It was quite clear that the devilish ape was extremely wary of these two beetles, making sure go grab ahold of them even at the expense of a finger or two.
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