A hint of despair also flashed over the woman's face, but she then immediately gritted her teeth as she prepared to use a restricted technique, preparing to sacrifice herself to take down as many devilish beings as possible.
However, she had only just made a hand seal when spatial fluctuations suddenly erupted up above, following which a gorgeous figure appeared amid a flash of silver light.
This came as quite a surprise to both the human cultivators and devilish beings, but before they had a chance to react, the silver figure turned toward the devilish beings, and harrumphed coldly, "To think that devilish beings would dare to set foot here; you must have a death wish!"
As soon as her voice trailed off, brilliant silver light erupted from her body, and countless translucent threads shot forth in all directions.
The surrounding devilish beings were greatly alarmed by this, and they immediately adopted defensive measures, but the translucent threads disregarded all of their defenses, then passed through their bodies, cutting them down like helpless weeds.
Even the snake-headed Spatial Tempering Stage devilish being had been slain, and as his body plummeted toward the ground, there was still a look of incredulity and shock etched on his face.
He was leading a group of powerful devilish beings in pursuit of some human cultivators who were far weaker than them, and he had thought that this would be a simple task, so to lose his life here was naturally a twist of fate that he would've never expected.
In contrast, all of the human cultivators were ecstatic.
They were immediately led down from above by the woman in the palatial dress, who said in an extremely respectful manner, "Thank you for saving our lives, Senior; if you hadn't stepped in, my brethren of the Xu Family and I would've all been killed by those devilish beings."
The silver figure seemed to be rather taken aback to hear this, and she asked, "The Xu Family? Is this the Xu Family that Fairy Ice Soul hails from?"
The woman in the palatial dress also faltered momentarily before replying in a careful manner, "Do you know our matriarch, Senior? We are all descendants of Matriarch Ice Soul!"
"I don't know Fairy Ice Soul myself, but I have a good friend who shares ties with your matriarch. How were you pursued by devilish beings all the way to this place?" The silver light around the silver figure faded, revealing the stunningly gorgeous Silvermoon.
During her time spent with Han Li, she had naturally been made aware of the existence of Fairy Ice Soul and the Xu Family, which was why she had suddenly adopted such a benevolent demeanor.
If she were facing another group of unfamiliar human cultivators instead, she would be far more aloof and distant.
The woman in the palatial dress was quite relieved to hear this, and she asked, "A good friend of our matriarch's? May I ask the name of the senior you're referring to? Perhaps I've heard of them as well."
Instead of answering her question, a peculiar look appeared on Silvermoon's face as she replied with a question of her own. "What is your name?"
"I am Xu Qianyu. If you have any instructions for me, feel free to issue them," Xu Qianyu hurriedly replied.
This woman was none other than the Fairy Xu that Han Li had acquainted himself with in Deep Heaven City, and since their last meeting, she had progressed to the late-Deity Transformation Stage.
"Xu Qianyu? Judging from your appearance, you must be the woman from the Xu Family that he once mentioned to me. In that case, I'll be employing your services here. This area is currently restricted from being accessed by all outsiders; patrol the area and make sure that no other people encroach upon this region," Silvermoon instructed with a smile.
Xu Qianyu was rather befuddled by this situation, but still immediately replied, "It's an honor for us to be able to offer our services to you, Senior. However, our cultivation bases are quite lackluster; if any powerful beings were to arrive here, we may not be able to stop them."
"That's alright, I'll give you a few talismans; use them if you encounter any enemies that are too powerful for you, and I'll arrive on the scene in an instant," Silvermoon replied.
"I see. In that case, we'll be sure to do our best," Xu Qianyu agreed with a nod.
A pleased look appeared on Silvermoon's face, yet just as she was about to say something else, silver light suddenly flashed in the distance, immediately followed by a burst of dull rumbling that made the ground down below tremor slightly.
"Alright, here are the talismans; I have to go now." Silvermoon's expression changed slightly as she swept a sleeve through the air to release several silver talismans, while she departed from the scene as a streak of silver light, quickly vanishing into the distance.
Xu Qianyu caught the talismans before casting a suspicious gaze toward the direction that Silvermoon had just disappeared in.
However, she then immediately turned around and ordered in an implacable voice, "You've all heard what that senior just said; split up into groups of five and head off in different directions to patrol the area."
"Yes!"
The majority of the group immediately gave affirmative responses, but there were a few who were exchanging hesitant glances with one another.
In the end, an elderly man approached the woman in the palatial dress, and said, "Qianyu, don't you think that that senior's actions were rather suspicious just now? And what was that commotion in the distance? What if we get swept up into some trouble if we were to follow her instructions?"
Xu Qianyu's expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and she countered, "I don't care what's going on in this area; that has nothing to do with us, and I'd advise you not to try and pry into these matters. Otherwise, that senior will be sure to take all of our lives. On top of that, even if we were to set aside the fact that that senior has just saved our lives, our powers are far too inferior for us to go against her instructions. I've been assigned as the leader of this group, so I'll be calling the shots here; there's no need for you to speak any further."
An awkward look appeared on the elderly man's face upon hearing this, and in the end, he could only reply, "Of course, forgive me for failing to consider our current situation properly."
The other few Xu Family cultivators who had also been rather hesitant before naturally didn't dare to oppose Xu Qianyu's instructions upon seeing this.
Thus, they split up into groups of three and departed in different directions.
Even though they were patrolling quite a large area, their flying treasures ensured that they could complete each lap in a relatively short time.
Xu Qianyu was flying along in an unhurried manner with four other members of the Xu Family when a streak of piercing light suddenly appeared in the distance before vanishing in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, another burst of loud rumbling rang out from the same direction.
Xu Qianyu couldn't help but cast her gaze toward that direction with a peculiar look in her eyes, but she didn't dare to look for too long and immediately urged the other cultivators to continue onward.
……
Meanwhile, the massive hole in the air above the basin had already swelled to hundreds of acres in size, and rumbling thunderclaps rang out as bolts of lightning that were as thick as water tanks came crashing down from above alongside pavilion-sized balls of lightning.
Lightning wreaked havoc over the entire sky, and even a Grand Ascension Stage being would be greatly alarmed by such an intimidating scene.
However, despite the fearsome barrage of lightning crashing down from above, there were three mountains arranged in a triangular formation above the basin, keeping most of the lightning at bay.
The three mountains were each over 10,000 feet in size, and one of them was releasing a series of grey halos that nullified all lightning upon contact.
Meanwhile, another mountain was releasing countless streaks of invisible sword Qi that eradicated one ball of lightning after another, while the final mountain was radiating dazzling five-colored light that caused all of the lightning to explode upon contact.
Beneath the three extreme mountains stood the gargantuan Provenance Golden Body, which was unleashing a torrential barrage of balls of golden light to destroy some of the lightning that managed to make its way past the trio of mountains.
Even further down below was a massive azure sword lotus that was around an acre in size, and all of the lightning that were able to bypass all of the previous lines of defense were instantly destroyed by the sword Qi within the lotus flower.
With all of these defensive measures that Han Li had meticulously set up, he had managed to remain unscathed thus far even in the face of the true lightning tribulation that had taken the lives of countless tribulation transcending cultivators in the past.
However, Han Li was well aware that the three extreme mountains were the primary reason for this.
Even though he hadn't completed all five of the Integrated Five Extreme Mountains yet, the three extreme mountains were still extremely effective in resisting tribulation lightning.
With these three mountains alone, Han Li was able to easily nullify most of the lightning tribulation, and the remaining tribulation lightning was being kept at bay by the Provenance Golden Body and azure sword lotus.
Even so, this was still proving to be quite a struggle for Han Li. Not only had his face turned very pale, there was a frail look on his face that suggested that he had already exhausted most of his magic power.
At this point, Han Li finally understood why Grand Ascension Stage beings were so rare in the Spirit Realm.
His magic power and physical body were far more powerful than that of the average late-Body Integration Stage being, and he had made such extensive preparations, yet even he was struggling to transcend this true lightning tribulation; what chance would other Body Integration Stage beings stand?
Just as Han Li was considering this notion, the true lightning tribulation reached its final moments. The edge of the massive hole flashed violently before suddenly beginning to shrink, while the sea of lightning within it was rapidly compressing into a ball.
After no more than 15 minutes had passed, a doomsday-like aura of destruction surged through the air, and a black and white ball of lightning took shape in the sky.
