The Rong being's expression changed drastically, and it was quite clear that he hadn't anticipated that such a huge mountain could weave in and out of space instantaneously. In this dire situation, he let loose a loud roar, and the crimson lotus flower petals around him converged to form a dense crimson light barrier that was seven layers thick.
At the same time, the Rong being laid a hand onto the top of his own head, and a burst of crimson baleful Qi erupted out of his head before transforming into a ferocious giant crimson tiger that pounced violently toward the underside of the mountain.
The black mountain continued to descend amid a burst of dull rumbling, and the giant tiger was destroyed almost as soon as the two clashed with one another.
The mountain then crashed down onto the crimson light barrier, and a string of cracking noises rang out in quick succession from the latter.
Five layers of the light barrier were shattered in a flash, and the sixth layer only just barely managed to arrest the Extreme Essencefused Mountain's downward momentum, but it was quivering violently, clearly struggling against the mountain's enormous weight.
A ferocious look appeared on the Rong being's face as he made a grabbing motion toward the giant ax up above. The huge silver ax swiveled around before crashing downward as a thick pillar of lightning, hurtling directly toward Han Li.
Han Li's eyelids twitched slightly, but he made no effort to take evasive measures.
All of a sudden, a head-sized ball of silver flames emerged out of the nearby space, then struck the bolt of lightning formed by the giant ax in a flash with unerring accuracy.
The two clashed amid a loud boom, and the giant ax was immediately forced back into its original form before being inundated by scorching silver flames.
The Rong being's heart jolted with shock upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to react, the space behind him suddenly twisted and warped. A huge golden projection with three heads and six arms then emerged out of thin air, and there was a ball of golden light revolving incessantly over each of its six palms.
This was none other than Han Li's Provenance Golden Body.
As soon as it appeared, the six arms converged in front of the golden body's chest, and the six balls of light instantly combined as one to form a head-sized golden vortex.
At the same time, two of the golden body's heads closed their eyes in unison before chanting two different types of incantations that overlapped with one another.
Loud thunderclaps rang out from within the vortex alongside faint Buddhist chants, and the vortex suddenly expanded to around 10 feet in size.
The Rong being had naturally noticed the golden body at this point, and his expression changed drastically as he hurriedly swept a sleeve behind him.
A vast expanse of translucent crimson threads immediately surfaced behind him before hurtling toward the golden body in unison, creating quite a devastating barrage of attacks.
However, all of the crimson threads merely vanished one after another as they struck the golden body, while the golden body itself remained completely unscathed.
Right at this moment, a burst of enormous force erupted from within the golden vortex, and the Rong being felt the air tighten around him, upon which he was completely immobilized.
"Argh!"
A chill ran down the Rong being's spine, and he tried to draw back the giant blade, which was still engaged in a fierce battle against the silver ruler.
However, Han Li gave a cold harrumph in response, and the silver ruler suddenly released countless identical projections that surged toward the giant blade as balls of silver light.
The giant blade was indeed extremely powerful, but it was unable to escape from such a ferocious barrage of attacks in a short time.
A burst of immense irresistible force erupted behind the Rong being, and he was drawn into the giant vortex behind him like a speeding arrow.
A bloodcurdling cry rang out, following by an earth-shattering boom, and the golden vortex shuddered slightly before the aura of the Rong being completely disappeared.
The golden body ceased its chanting before pointing a finger at the huge vortex, and spiritual light flashed as the vortex rapidly shrank down to its original size, then faded into nothingness in a flash.
At this moment, the giant black blade, which had lost its owner, let loose an anguished wail as it suddenly transformed into a black wyrm. The black wyrm blasted forth clouds of black Qi in a frenzied manner, tearing a hole through the barrage of silver ruler projections before attempting to flee the scene.
However, Han Li seemed to have anticipated this well in advance, and he flapped his wings amid a loud thunderclap before he instantly appeared above the black blade in a wraith-like manner.
He opened his mouth to expel a ball of azure light, within which was a miniature azure cauldron.
Han Li quickly pointed a finger at the small cauldron, and its lid flew off on its own before a loud buzzing sound rang out from within. Countless azure threads erupted forth before tightly binding the black wyrm, following which Han Li immediately patted the small cauldron.
A crisp clang rang out, and the azure threads abruptly tightened around the black wyrm, forcing it back into its giant blade form amid a flash of brilliant azure light.
Han Li made a hand seal, and the azure threads drew the huge blade into the cauldron, which reverted back into a ball of azure light.
Han Li swept a sleeve toward the ball of azure light, and it disappeared in a flash. Only then did he cast his gaze elsewhere to inspect the rest of the battlefield.
The giant silver ax had already been melted into a ball of silver liquid by the Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames, and it was close to being fully devoured by the flames.
As for the other three Rong beings, they had naturally already noticed that their companion had been killed by Han Li.
All three of them were horrified by this development, and they abandoned their opponents almost at the exact same time before fleeing the scene as streaks of light.
Their deceased companion was the most powerful one among them, and the fact that Han Li had killed him in such a short time meant that he was definitely far too powerful for the three of them to oppose. They would only have a chance if they could be reunited with all of their other companions.
However, Han Li certainly wasn't about to let them escape. A cold light flashed through his eyes, and he flapped his wings before vanishing into thin air as an azure and white thread of light.
The golden body stepped forward and abruptly disappeared on the spot, while the two shadow puppets and Doll also set off in hot pursuit.
Moments later, the young man's anguished wail rang out from outside the cave, and his aura was the first to vanish.
Immediately thereafter, a string of explosions and roars of fury rang out, and not long after that, the elderly man and woman were also felled amid bloodcurdling cries.
Everything fell silent thereafter.
After around 10 minutes had passed, an earth-shattering boom erupted from a certain crossroads far away from the cave, and the sounds of battle resumed.
After an indeterminate period of time, everything fell silent again.
Azure light flashed outside the cave, and Han Li strode in in an expressionless manner before immediately directing his gaze toward the silver light barrier in the cave.
He had slain those three Rong beings with his golden body and puppets, then immediately rushed over to the crossroads where he'd set up his formations.
As expected, the other four Rong beings had been trapped within the Nine Palaces Heavenly Talisman and the restriction, and Han Li immediately engaged them in battle.
The outcome of that battle was rather unexpected to him. He was able to kill three of the Rong beings in quick succession, but the final black-furred Rong being suddenly unleashed a peculiar secret technique that he had never seen before, self-detonating his physical body to break through the restriction before escaping as a dozen or so streaks of crimson light.
Even though most of the streaks of crimson light were hunted down by Han Li, there were two that had escaped too far even for his spiritual sense and spirit eyes to track, so he could only let them go.
However, even though that Rong being had survived, he was nothing more than just two soul fragments without a physical body, so it was most likely the case that he would simply be hunted down as prey by some powerful beast in this realm.
Han Li had no intention of staying here any longer than he had to. All he wanted to do now was to break this final restriction to obtain the final part of the cultivation arc, then immediately depart from this place.
However, even the dozen or so Rong beings had been stumped by this restriction, so he wasn't very sure whether he would be able to break it.
Han Li narrowed his eyes, and blue light flashed through his pupils as he slowly made his way over to the light barrier.
This restriction really did appear to be quite special. Its surface seemed to be shimmering with silver light, yet upon closer inspection, there were actually runes of all colors drifting within the light barrier. Furthermore, the barrier itself was also very dense, yet it remained completely transparent.
However, just because the Rong beings were unable to forcibly break this restriction didn't mean that he would be incapable of such a feat as well.
His brows furrowed slightly, and he suddenly flicked a finger to send a streak of azure sword Qi flying out of his sleeve, which then struck the light barrier.
The sword Qi was instantly repelled with a crisp clang while the light barrier remained completely unscathed.
Han Li wasn't all that surprised to see this, and he immediately opened his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames.
The Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames exploded against the surface of the light barrier amid a dull thump, but it couldn't do anything, either.
He then summoned his silver ruler and unleashed countless ruler projections that crashed down onto the light barrier…
Thus, he tried many types of treasures and abilities in succession, but none of them could even put a scratch on the silver light barrier.
After an extended period of contemplation, he even made the decision to have his golden body use the Profound Heavenly blade segment again, but the outcome of that made him completely give up on attempting to break this formation through brute force.
As expected, the silver light barrier was unable to withstand the power of laws unleashed by the Profound Heavenly Treasure, but in the instant that cracks began to appear on its surface, cracks also appeared on the stone wall shielded within it.
Han Li was immediately given a massive fright by this, and he hurriedly withdrew the attack from the Profound Heavenly blade segment, suffering backlash that almost damaged his true essence as a result.
As such, he also cast aside the plan to use Gold Devouring Beetles on the light barrier and sat down with his legs crossed to inspect the light barrier and the runes flashing on its surface.
Thankfully, Han Li was quite adept in the art of formations himself, and he had also overheard the two Rong beings outside mention Vast Glacial Badges. As such, after pondering the situation for a day and a night in the cave, he finally developed an inkling for how to break this restriction.
An elated peal of laughter escaped from Han Li's mouth, and he rose to his feet before sweeping a sleeve through the air to expel a ball of golden and silver light.
The ball of light transformed into an antiquated badge that was around half a foot in length before hovering in mid-air in a stationary manner.
