As soon as the black bell was hurled into the air, it released a string of crisp chimes.
Han Li was suddenly struck by the feeling that a ma.s.sive boom had erupted within his spiritual sense, following which his body spasmed as if he"d been electrocuted, and he almost plummeted from the sky.
Han Li was naturally shocked by this development, and his Great Development Technique activated of its own accord to send a stream of coolness circulating through his mind.
His face had paled significantly, but his body was finally back to normal.
"That"s also a spirit treasure! There"s no way that a normal treasure could possess such power!" A hint of wariness flashed through Han Li"s heart as he reflexively retaliated.
He made a hand seal, and his spiritual sense converged into a ball in his mind before being expelled toward his opponent.
Meanwhile, Han Li"s opponent was even more shocked than he was to see Han Li recover so easily from the effects of the Thousand Soul Bell.
Even though this attack wasn"t the bell"s most powerful ability, it was very difficult for opponents of a lesser cultivation base to withstand such an attack.
He gritted his teeth, and just as he was about to pour forth even more magic power into the bell, a burst of acute pain suddenly tore through his spiritual sense, as if a sharp spike had been forcibly stabbed into his brain.
Unfortunately for him, his spiritual sense wasn"t as powerful as Han Li"s. As such, he was quite susceptible to Han Li"s Spirit Stun Thorn attack, causing him to let loose a howl of pain as he threw his hands over his head, while his body completely curled up into a ball.
His Nascent Soul also instantly disappeared into his body.
In an instant, he had lost control over the Thousand Soul Bell in the air.
A cold light flashed through Han Li"s eyes upon seeing this, and he completely ignored the oncoming giant puppet as he pointed a finger toward the ma.s.sive golden lotus flower in the distance.
The ma.s.sive lotus flower immediately rotated rapidly as it came cras.h.i.+ng down from above, encapsulating the black bell in a burst of golden light.
Just as the golden lotus flower enshrouded the Thousand Soul Bell, the green puppet had swelled to around 60 to 70 feet in size, raising a ma.s.sive fist before swinging it violently toward Han Li.
A loud thump erupted as the puppet"s punch was kept at bay by the Heavenvoid Cauldron. However, the cauldron tremored violently as it shrank down to around half its size. This puppet possessed extraordinary strength!
Meanwhile, a burst of ghastly howls rang out from within the ma.s.sive golden lotus flower. A giant bell projection around 10 feet in size appeared at the center of the golden lotus flower, warding off all of the flower"s sharp golden petals.
At the same time, wisps of black threads emerged from within the black bell, binding the golden lotus flower, forcibly slowing down its rotation.
Han Li was rather bewildered upon seeing this, yet just as he was about to inject more power into his treasure, the giant black wolf surfaced behind him like a wraith before pouncing toward him from behind.
Its claws were able to pierce through Han Li"s grey Divine Essencefused Light barrier without any trouble.
The Divine Essencefused Light was indeed powerful, but its powers were not applicable to existences outside the realm of the five elemental powers.
Just as the giant wolf thought that its sneak attack had succeeded, two s.h.i.+mmering golden fists suddenly hurtled toward its front paws.
Following two resounding booms, its front paws were completely pulverized by the pair of golden fists.
The wolf let loose a howl of anguish as its body shot back from the tremendous resulting force of the clash.
Right at this moment, Han Li finally turned around to face it. His entire body was s.h.i.+mmering with golden light, making it appear as if he were a divine deity forged from gold.
At the sight of the backpedaling black wolf, Han Li wore a cold expression as his body shot forth through the air. A string of afterimages was left in his wake, and he appeared above the wolf"s head in the blink of an eye.
After recovering his magic power, Han Li was able to unleash his s.h.i.+fting Smoke Steps.
Even though this technique didn"t grant him as much speed as the Thunderstorm Wings and the Nine Gale Transformations, when used in conjunction with Han Li"s insanely powerful body, it was very effective for movement over short distances.
Upon seeing Han Li appear above its head, the giant black wolf"s feral instincts were set off as it blasted a ball of black light out of its mouth, which was aimed straight at Han Li.
However, Han Li merely waved a casual golden palm through the air, and the black ball of light was swatted flying as if it were a pitiful fly.
At the same time, he injected his magic power into his eyes in a frenzy, following which piercing blue light instantly erupted from his eyes, allowing him to glean the bodily structure of the entire wolf in a split second.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li"s body swayed before he appeared in front of the wolf"s stomach in a completely expressionless manner.
His hand"s shot forth light lightning, grabbing onto the wolf"s head and one of its hindlegs respectively, catching the wolf in two vice-like grips that completely immobilized it. He then let loose a loud roar as he brought both arms apart in one violent motion! With Han Li"s current unfathomable strength, even a demon beast constructed from metal could be torn apart with ease, let alone a creature manifested from a talisman.
As a result, the giant wolf"s ma.s.sive head was wrenched off its body in one fell swoop. As soon as the wolf was decapitated, brilliant black light erupted from its body, dissipating into bursts of tumbling black mist. However, its head was still very much alive and kicking, even while it was still clamped within Han Li"s golden grasp.
Han Li chuckled coldly as he grabbed the air with his other hand, following which a ball of silver flames emerged.
The ball of fire transformed into a Fire Raven in a flash, and the latter swooped down toward the black wolf"s head following a crisp cry.
Amid a howl of shock and horror, silver flames instantly engulfed the wolf"s head, reducing it to a ball of black mist in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, the silver flames completely devoured all of this black mist before reverting back to its Fire Raven form.
The bird opened its mouth to expel a silver talisman, which Han Li rapidly grabbed ahold of.
This talisman was none other than the one that his opponent had summoned earlier, but the light s.h.i.+mmering on its surface had dimmed significantly, indicating that it had expended most of its power.
Meanwhile, the Fire Raven was blasting silver flames out of its mouth, circling around Han Li in an excited manner.
Han Li then turned toward the green giant puppet over 100 feet away before appearing above its head in a flash.
The puppet had been impeded by the Heavenvoid Cauldron, and was ramming its fists into the latter over and over again.
The cauldron was knocked back around 10 feet and shrank with every single punch, but it was able to withstand an attack from the avatar of an elder demon in the past, so it certainly wasn"t an easy obstacle to get around. After each successive punch, it would simply return to its original spot and expand once again to its former size, thereby repeating the process over and over again...
The puppet had no intelligence to speak of, and Han Li"s opponent was still reeling from the excruciating pain inflicted by the Spirit Stun Thorn. As such, he couldn"t manipulate the puppet and it could only attack the giant cauldron with brute force, seeing as it wasn"t capable of formulating any superior strategies.
Han Li wasn"t very familiar with the puppetry techniques of the Spirit Realm, but the puppetry techniques in the Great Development Treasured Scriptures left behind by the Monarch of Soul Divergence were among the best that could be found in the human world.
As such, despite this giant green puppet’s obvious power, Han Li was able to immediately identify its weakness with his spirit eyes.
He quickly stowed away the silver talisman in his hand before stepping forward. Golden light flashed, and he appeared almost instantaneously behind the ma.s.sive puppet.
A string of crackles and pops rang out from Han Li"s body as he aimed vicious punch toward a certain spot right under the puppet"s ribs.
Prior to even making contact with the puppet, his s.h.i.+mmering golden fist was sweeping up immensely powerful winds that threatened to tear through s.p.a.ce.
An earthshattering boom erupted as a ma.s.sive fist indentation that was several inches deep appeared on the puppet"s body right under its ribs. It was swept off its feet by the enormous force of Han Li"s strike before thudding to the ground.
However, Han Li refused to release the pressure as his fists rained down like a torrential storm on the exact same spot on the puppet"s body.
In the blink of an eye, a hole had been punctured into the puppet"s body.
Han Li immediately withdrew his fists before rubbing his hands together, sending an arc of golden lightning hurtling directly into the puppet"s body through that hole.
A series of explosions rang out from within the puppet"s body, following which it began to shrink drastically amid a burst of brilliant green light. In the blink of an eye, it had shrunk down to only around a foot in size before laying on the ground in a completely stationary manner.
It appeared that a complex series of procedures had been undertaken to defeat the black wolf and the green puppet, but it had actually only taken Han Li the span of a few breaths.
At this moment, his opponent finally recovered from the effects of the Spirit Stun Thorn, just in time to witness Han Li destroying his puppet while scintillating golden light radiated from his body.
"Complete mastery of the Vajra Arts! You"re a top-grade body refinement warrior as well!" he exclaimed with incredulity etched on his face.
The armor-clad cultivator outside the barrier of light didn"t say anything, but he was clearly also quite astonished by what he was witnessing.
Han Li turned to his opponent with a calm expression, and asked, "Would you like to continue, Fellow Daoist Weng?"
The man"s expression immediately darkened upon hearing this."Your abilities are indeed far superior to what I"d antic.i.p.ated, but do you really think that you"ve won? Even if I have to sacrifice the fruits of over a century of arduous cultivation, I"m going to show you the full power of this Thousand Soul Bell!" Han Li"s opponent flew into a thunderous rage as he looked up at the black bell, which was currently grappling with a giant golden lotus flower.
He then began to chant something, and blue light flashed above his head as his Nascent Soul emerged again.
The Nascent Soul wore a grave expression as it made a hand seal with one hand while raising its other hand into the air. A blue pillar of light shot forth, striking the black bell with unerring accuracy as the Nascent Soul began to chant an unintelligible incantation.
The black bell shuddered before absorbing the blue pillar of light as specks of spiritual light.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the man pointed a finger at the black bell from afar, and it gave off a crisp tinkle.
A burst of violent spatial fluctuations abruptly erupted from within the light barrier, following which a thin black rift appeared in the air above without any premonition.