The monk couldn't have anticipated this would happen.
Although the ten fiery threads didn’t penetrate the golden projection, red light flashed, turning themselves into bulky fire chains. Like a bolt of lightning, they instantly coiled around the projection and firmly trapped them.
When the monk saw this, he was stunned for a moment, then raising his hand and flicking in the air without any delay.
A white swordlight shot out from its tip and directly struck at the fiery chains.
A beautiful ring sounded as red and white light clashed together. The swordlight only left a pea-sized crack on the dense chains.
The silver-robed monk grew sullen at the sight.
When he saw the tri-colored fire raven and the purple flame wave race forward, the monk stomped on the white lotus below him, letting out a thunderous dragon’s roar and solemnly parting his arms outward.
The huge golden projection seemed to sense the monk’s anxiousness and radiated blinding golden light from its body. Its already gigantic size swelled and it grew until it was over twenty-five meters tall, pulling on the fire chains until it was nearly brought to the point of destruction.
The monk’s heart sank by what he saw next.
The fire chains grew alongside projection and didn’t suffer the slightest strain.
The monk formed an incantation gesture and the golden projection abruptly shrunk in size, yet the fire chains followed the transformation, remaining tightly wound around it.
In the following moment, the silver-robed monk’s expression massively changed as well.
When he saw the three-colored flame raven arrive near it as it remained defenseless, he tossed the jade bottle into the air.
The silver bottle spun once in the air before directly charging at the flame raven with its mouth pointed at it. Then, it brightly glowed silver and religious chants echoed from it, followed by a large wave of seven-colored Buddhist light directly wrapping around the oncoming flame raven.
The raven cried out and spread out its wings, evading it and arriving right above the silver-robed monk.
But soon, the light caught the raven and Buddhist light brightly shined, swiveling around the raven. With the raven wrapped tightly, it drew it back into the bottle. It seemed the light was the raven’s natural enemy.
The monk’s expression relaxed for a moment, then pointing at the bottle in the air.
The bottle trembled and spouted out another mist of Buddhist light. This time, it was aiming at the wave of purple flame trailing after the flame raven.
It appeared he intended on using this treasure to deal with both attacks.
But at that moment, Han Li uttered, “Burst.” The small silver bottle floating in the air violently shook and instantly warped in shape, its surface bending unevenly as its silver light slowly flashed. Muffled booms sounded from it, only growing louder by the second.
“Not good!” The silver-robed monk swept his spiritual sense past the silver bottle and discovered something astonishing. Soon after, the white lotus underneath him blurred and he disappeared.
All that was left behind was the meter-large lotus slowly turning in the air and the restrained golden projection.
At the same time the monk vanished, the small silver bottle flickered and let out a thunderous explosion.
A three-colored halo burst out from the silver bottle, destroying it in its entirety.
Talisman characters wandered in the air as the halo spread several times its size, completely submerging the white lotus and the golden projection.
The golden projection remained bound by the chains, unable to move a single inch. Although the golden projection was able to somewhat withstand the flames for just a moment, it quickly collapsed like foam. As for the lotus, it was instantly vaporized.
In an area over a hundred meters away, white light flashed, followed by the appearance of the silver-robed monk. His expression abruptly turned deathly pale in the exact moment the golden projection collapsed, and he coughed up some blood essence. At the same time, the golden color of his flesh greatly dimmed, clearly display his loss of vitality.
It appeared the bond he shared with that projection was much like that of a bonded magic treasure, linked to his blood and soul.
Han Li expressionlessly cast a spell seal and the roiling wave of purple flames suddenly transformed. In just a second, it took the form of a python over thirty meters long with a white pearl in its jaw and pounced towards the monk.
Before it even arrived in front of the monk, it stirred up icy gales and plummeted the temperatures nearby as if one suddenly found themselves in a snowstorm.
White light flashed from below monk, producing another lotus as the one he stood in before. His legs remained still but the lotus twirled several times and he reappeared thirty meters away. He let out a forced laugh and said, “Please stop! I won’t compare my skills with you further. I concede defeat against Fellow Daoist Han’s amazing abilities!”
After the monk took the initiative to admit defeat in their battle, he looked in the direction of the broken silver bottle with a trace of pity.
The bottle was a top-grade Buddhist treasure that he acquired with much difficulty. He felt deeply depressed that it was destroyed in a spar and was unwilling to continue the fight.
Although both parties hadn’t displayed their full powers, Han Li’s abilities were superior, and the monk suffered a few injuries as well.
When Han Li heard this, his gaze flickered and he waved his hand in the distance.
The python of purple flame suddenly froze and burned up into purple smoke. As for the white pearl remain floating in the air, Han Li commanded it to return to him along with the fire chains.
The two treasures flickered and vanished after entering Han Li’s body.
Han Li saluted the monk and calmly said, “You went easy on me,” before dropping to the ground.
Those at the gate looked upon Han Li with reverence.
Although the two were both grand cultivators, Han Li was able to easily defeat Buddhist Monk Yuan Zhi. It was likely Can Ku would share a similar result.
The young man, Monk Yan Zhu, met Han Li’s eyes and couldn't help but wear an odd expression. His previous calm was gone.
Although the silver-robed monk was no match for Han Li, the Hidden Fortunate Pavilion Master smiled openly and took the initiative to be friendly, “Your fight truly opened my horizons. I hope to one day reach your heights! Since you’ve won, I will be discreet about this. I’ll send someone to retrieve the miniature space refinement technique.”
“Sorry for the trouble, Pavilion Lord.” Han Li replied with a faint smile.
Can Ku repeatedly replied, “Of course”, and immediately took out a command token and handed it to a Core Formation behind him. He carefully gave his orders.
The cultivator immediately received the token with both hands and hastily departed below.
Apart from the Hidden Fortunate Hall, there were several other towering pavilions in the air. They were all built grandly. Previously, some people were leaving and entering them, but due to the recent battle between Han Li and the silver-robed monk, no one else appeared from them.
Carrying the command token, the Core Formation cultivator disappeared into one of the building below.
At that moment, the silver-robed monk took a calming breath and descended to the ground. He took out a white medicine bottle and tossed a fire-red medicine pill into his mouth.
“Master Yuan Zhi, are you well?” Han Li looked over and asked.
Yuan Zhi looked over at Han Li and casually smiled at him as if he didn’t mind the injuries Han Li inflicted on him. He aloofly answered, “I’m fine. With medicine pills, I’ll only need several months to recover. But I must say that fan of yours is no ordinary treasure. Even top-grade magic treasures couldn't damage my golden projection as much as your fan, and I wasn’t able to resist it in the slightest. It should be a spirit treasure replica, but not a genuine article.”
“The master is quite observant. My fan is indeed a spirit treasure replica.” Han Li answered with a chuckle.
When the silver-robed monk heard this, a faint smile appeared on his indifferent face. But just as he thought to say something Can Ku interjected. The fat old man rubbed his hands together and chuckled,
“Fellow Daoists, we may as well continue our discussion inside the hall. I happened to acquire a bottle of the Crossing Dragon’s Roar. It is said that when ordinary cultivators take a drink of it, it can accomplish about a month of dedicated cultivation. More importantly, the flavor is said to be exquisite beyond description. How about we taste it together?”
At that moment, he no longer appeared to be a pavilion lord, but rather a hospitable old man of humble origins.
“The Crossing Dragon’s Roar? I have heard of that wine’s name. It is said to be created from several rare fruits that have long been extinct from the mortal world. The wine is fragrant beyond all others. Fellow Daoist, please don’t be surprised. Although I hail from a Buddhist sect, I will find it hard to deny something of this value.” Yuan Zhi smiled upon seeing Han Li’s amazement and teasingly replied, “In the past, Fellow Daoist Can Ku became a guest elder of our sect by enticing him with tens of ancient spirit wines. But don't think he is a base monk. He respects all the other commandments.” His tone was friendly.
When Han Li heard this, his heart stirred and he silently smiled.
Then, the party entered the main hall.
