The crimson figure was none other than one of the Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang's clones!
"Don't celebrate too early! Don't forget the condition that we initially proposed to Yuan Cha," another identical clone reminded in a calm voice.
"Hmph, seeing as Yuan Cha is pursuing the same target as us, the condition we raised will naturally have to be changed. We can hand that man over to her, but we didn't promise to hand over his treasures to her as well," Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang harrumphed coldly in response.
"I'm not sure Yuan Cha would be willing to accept such an arrangement. We can split her some of the treasures, but we have to recover the Devil Sealing Lock and Purple Word Cauldron," the clone said with a shake of his head.
"Split her some of the treasures? That human brat clearly possesses many powerful treasures; are you willing to pass them up?" Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang asked with pursed lips.
"We have no choice. Don't forget that she has the backing of Liu Ji; now would not be a good time to mess with her," the clone replied in a solemn manner.
"Indeed, that Liu Ji is quite a big problem." A hint of wariness appeared on Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang's face.
"Alright, stop getting ahead of yourselves! We might not even be able to capture that human brat. He seems to have sensed our presence, so it most likely won't be possible to ambush him," the final clone said.
"He's sensed our presence? Surely not! We've already concealed everything with the All-encompassing Plate; there's no way that he'll be able to sense us unless he's a Grand Ascension cultivator. At the very most, he's only become suspicious that there's someone nearby. With Yuan Cha hot on his heels, he won't be able to remain here for long," Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang said in an unconvinced manner.
"Is that so? I don't think that's… Hold on, what is he doing?" The final clone faltered mid-sentence before letting loose a cry of alarm.
The expressions on the faces of the other two clones also changed drastically upon seeing what Han Li was doing in the image.
Han Li suddenly opened his massive beak to expel a shimmering golden ball of lightning, which swelled to around 10 feet in size in a flash.
The ball of lightning then shot forth directly toward the three clones as a dazzling bolt of lightning.
A loud thunderclap rang out, and the crystalline screen was pulverized into powder amid a crisp crack by the golden lightning.
"He really did discover the All-encompassing Plate! If we can't ambush him, then we'll just have to forcibly stop him!" Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang said in a cold voice.
The other two clones naturally offered no objections, and both of them began to make hand seals while uttering incantations.
At the same time, the ball of lightning transformed into a giant net that swept forward, and a white object appeared out of thin air.
This was a circular object that was over 1,000 feet in size, and it resembled a massive jade plate. Under the illumination of the white light emanating from the jade plate, a formation that was around 500 meters in size also emerged.
If Han Li hadn't stopped right as he did, he would've plunged headfirst into that restriction, and that was naturally quite an alarming realization for him.
The giant jade plate revolved on the spot, then released a dense white light barrier. After just a few flashes, the light barrier transformed into a wall of light with no end in sight to completely cut off Han Li.
However, a burst of exuberant light suddenly flashed from Han Li's body, and he transformed into another giant bird form that resembled the legendary true spirit heavenly phoenix!
This was none other than the Heavenly Phoenix Transformation of Han Li's 12 Awakening Transformations.
As soon as this bird emerged, it let loose a clear cry before flapping its wings, and spatial fluctuations erupted up ahead, following which a white spatial rift emerged.
Han Li's giant bird body flashed forward, and he instantly vanished into the rift.
In the next instant, an identical rift appeared beyond the white light barrier, and Han Li re-emerged in a wraith-like manner before immediately adopting his Kun Peng form again.
He flapped his four wings, and a resounding thunderclap rang out as he disappeared on the spot.
Several thousand feet away, another thunderclap rang out, and Han Li reappeared before continuing to fly away as an azure and white thread of light.
This process sounded like quite a lengthy and convoluted one, but it had actually only taken an instant, and before the three clones knew it, Han Li was fleeing into the distance again.
The three clones were naturally completely flabbergasted upon seeing this.
"That's impossible! How was he able to teleport away so easily in the face of the restriction from the All-encompassing Plate? Could it be that he's carrying some type of treasure that can counter the All-encompassing Plate?" one of the clones roared in a furious manner.
"No, it was because of his transformation. Don't forget that the All-encompassing Plate is unable to restrict spirit birds with innate spatial abilities such as phoenixes. What that brat just unleashed was clearly some type of heavenly phoenix transformation technique," Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang analyzed in a calm voice.
"Just how many transformations does this brat have? Even with Yuan Cha's assistance, it won't be an easy task to capture him," the final clone said with a dark expression.
Right at this moment, white light flashed from the distance, and a majestic stone hall appeared before hurtling directly toward the three clones.
"Let's set all that aside and give chase first!" Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang said without any hesitation.
"Indeed, we can't let him get away again. Otherwise, we may not get a chance to capture him again." The other two clones also nodded in agreement.
Thus, crimson light flashed from their bodies, and they instantly combined as one before injecting their power into the giant jade plate in a frenzy.
A faint buzzing sound rang out from the jade plate, and runes swirled over its surface before it shot forth as a ball of white light.
Close to 10 kilometers away, Yuan Cha was appraising everything that was unfolding while seated in her stone chair with a dark expression.
"What useless idiots! I can't believe those three clones couldn't stop that Han brat even after setting up an ambush! It appears I'll have to do everything myself," Yuan Chua grumbled to herself.
Meanwhile, Han Li was also internally lamenting his current situation.
Even though the enemies within the jade plate hadn't revealed themselves, he was able to identify who they were from the faint crimson light that had appeared when the treasure had been activated.
Now that he was being pursued by two Sacred Ancestors at once, Han Li had naturally completely cast aside all thoughts of turning around and facing his pursuers in battle, and was focused wholeheartedly on fleeing.
…
Two days later, Han Li found himself surrounded by several tens of mid-grade devilish beings.
These devilish beings were expelling devilish Qi out of their mouths and swinging their weapons through the air, unleashing barrages of attacks toward Han Li with all their might.
However, Han Li merely released a layer of golden lightning arcs out of his body, and all of the devilish beings were reduced to dust amid a resounding thunderclap.
After that, he immediately continued on his way, not daring to delay even for an instant.
A short while later, the jade plate and stone hall also rapidly passed through this place.
…
Five days later, over 100 devilish beings and over 1,000 low-grade devilish beasts appeared before Han Li.
On this occasion, Han Li plunged headfirst into the horde of beasts, and streaks of azure sword Qi erupted out of his body in a frenzy.
All of the low-grade devilish beasts and devilish beings were instantly destroyed while Han Li continued to flee rapidly into the distance.
At this point, the jade plate and stone hall were already close to 1,000 kilometers away.
…
10 days later, in the air above a murky grey mountain range, a giant golden ape that was over 1,000 feet tall rushed into an army comprised of hundreds of elite devilish beings and a dozen or so giant devilish beasts.
The giant ape swung its massive arms violently through the air, and none of the devilish beings or giant devilish beasts were able to withstand even a single attack.
However, they seemed to have received some kind of strict order; even though their numbers were quickly dwindling, they were still throwing themselves at the giant ape with no regard for their own lives.
A buzzing sound rang out from another direction, and two balls of white light emerged almost in unison before hurtling toward the battlefield.
The giant golden ape let loose a roar of fury before unleashing a burst of golden soundwaves that made the nearby space twist and warp violently.
In the blink of an eye, all of the devilish beings swept up by the golden soundwaves self-detonated on the spot, following which the giant ape transformed into a four-winged Kun Peng again before flying away.
…
Half a month later, Han Li had reverted back to his human form, and he was situated on the lakebed of an unknown lake, appraising the two devilish lords before him with a grim expression.
One of the devilish lords had an inky-black head, webbed hands, and several thick tentacles beneath its armpits that were waving incessantly. As for the other devilish lord, it had a pair of eyes that were as bright as lamps and a layer of shimmering azure scales all over its body.
Han Li took a deep breath before making a grabbing motion with both hands, summoning an azure and a black mountain before sending both of them hurtling directly toward the two devilish lords.
In the air above the lake close to 10,000 kilometers away, the jade plate and stone hall were hurtling toward Han Li's location one after the other.
…
Two months later, the four-winged Kun Peng was being harassed by a dozen or so shimmering crimson devilish beings above a peculiar steaming swamp.
Regardless of whether the giant Kun Peng unleashed bolts of silver lightning or lashed out with its talons, the crimson devilish beings were able to instantly regenerate before pouncing toward the giant bird again.
High up in the air around 1,000 kilometers away, the jade plate and stone hall reappeared.
