Bing Qianren only had a chance to scream a few more times before his body was completely devoured by the Gold Devouring Beetles, leaving only a Nascent Soul that was enshrouded within crimson light, holding on for dear life by frantically controlling eight black badges.
The only reason it hadn't already perished was because Han Li had instructed the Gold Devouring Beetles to hold back.
The Nascent Soul was completely petrified and began to beg for mercy, but Han Li completely ignored it and waved a hand through the air to draw a crimson bracelet into his grasp from afar.
This was none other than Bing Qianren's storage bracelet.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the bracelet, upon which his brows furrowed slightly. There were indeed treasures in there, but no sign of the three holy bricks.
"Fellow Daoist, I'll give you the holy bricks if you release me!" Bing Qianren's Nascent Soul yelled in desperation.
"You don't think I can find the three holy bricks myself?" Han Li chuckled coldly as he turned toward the Nascent Soul with blue light flashing through his eyes.
As soon as his voice rang out, the Gold Devouring Beetles immediately sprang into action again and converged toward the Nascent Soul.
The eight black badges were indeed quite profound, but they were no match for the mature Gold Devouring Beetles and were instantly destroyed.
The Nascent Soul was then devoured amid an anguished cry, and when the beetles flew back again, three long translucent bricks were revealed.
"So he was hiding these holy bricks in his Nascent Soul. If I hadn't used my spirit eyes to examine the Nascent Soul, I would've been fooled by him," Han Li murmured to himself as a faint smile appeared on his face.
He then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that carried the three bricks back to him.
Not only did the four holy bricks contain all of the cultivation arts used by a Sacred Ancestor, they also contained the map to a set of secret treasures, so he naturally wasn't going to pass up on them.
At this moment, a burst of explosions suddenly rang out behind him, and they were growing louder and louder.
Han Li's expression changed slightly as he turned around, upon which he was greeted by the sight of Old Man Yang and Devilish Lord Jin Hu battling a giant purple cauldron several hundred feet away.
The cauldron had released several massive runes, which were, in turn, releasing countless golden and silver runes, and layers of purple light had completely surrounded the two devilish lords.
The cauldron was none other than the Purple Word Cauldron, and Han Li had released it while taking care of Bing Qianren.
Old Man Yang and Devilish Lord Jin Hu had tried to escape during Han Li's battle with Bing Qianren, but they were trapped by the Purple Word Cauldron.
The two of them struggled with all their might, with one of them releasing powerful green fiery wyrms, while the other had his golden gourd raised aloft, releasing balls of dazzling golden light that revolved around his body.
However, the ancient runes flying out of the Purple Word Cauldron were imbued with unfathomable power, and they nullified all of the opposing attacks while forming layers of restrictions in the nearby area that made it impossible for the two devils to escape.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this.
As expected of an incomplete Profound Heavenly Treasure; just the Purple Word Cauldron alone was able to trap the two Body Integration Stage devilish lords with ease. Furthermore, if he were to control the treasure in person, it would become more than twice as powerful as it currently was.
Old Man Yang and Devilish Lord Jin Hu had naturally witnessed Han Li's crushing victory over Bing Qianren, and their hearts immediately sank now that he had turned his attention toward them.
They weren't as naive as to think that Han Li would decide to let them go, and he was so powerful that they couldn't even muster up the urge to oppose him.
"Brother Jin, if we don't go now, we won't have another chance!" Old Man Yang yelled in an urgent manner.
Immediately thereafter, around a dozen top-grade devilish tools erupted out of his body amid a burst of green flames, and all of them exploded in unison.
A string of earth-shattering booms rang out, and the powerful energy fluctuations from the detonating devilish treasures forced back all of the nearby restrictions.
Old Man Yang immediately felt his own body become significantly lighter, and he fled as a streak of green light without any hesitation.
Devilish Lord Jin Hu also gritted his teeth and sprang into action.
He arms tremored, and the giant golden gourd that he was holding suddenly transformed into a shimmering golden Kirin projection amid a dull thump.
The Kirin projection opened its mouth and expelled bursts of fearsome golden flames that melted through the restrictions set up by the Purple Word Cauldron.
Immediately thereafter, Devilish Lord Jin Hu was swept up by the Kirin projection and also fled the scene.
"Oh? I can sense a fire-attribute Kirin aura from that treasure; that's rather interesting," Han Li murmured to himself with a hint of surprise in his eyes, and he immediately made a hand seal before sweeping a sleeve through the air.
The swarm of Gold Devouring Beetles instantly converged to form a giant blade that was over 100 feet in length at his behest before setting off in pursuit of Old Man Yang.
At the same time, Han Li swept his sleeve through the air again, releasing an azure sword projection that sliced the Kirin projection in half along with Devilish Lord Jin Hu.
Devilish Lord Jin Hu let loose a howl of anguish, but immediately made a hand seal, upon which the blood essence flowing out of his body fused into the projection as clouds of blood mist.
The Kirin projection that had been sliced apart instantly regenerated before flying away with Devilish Lord Jin Hu again.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he yelled, "Come out!"
A golden blur shot forth out of his body before landing on the ground, revealing itself to be a small golden beast.
"Go on, I'm sure his treasure will be useful to you," Han Li instructed.
"Thank you, Master. That treasure of his seems to contain some spirit bones of a Fire Kirin, so it would indeed be immensely beneficial to me," the Leopard Kirin Beast replied in an elated voice.
It then swelled to around 10 times its original size in a flash before rushing off in pursuit.
With the Leopard Kirin Beast's speed and powers, it would have no issues taking care of a wounded devilish lord.
In the blink of an eye, four streaks of light had disappeared into thin air while hurtling toward two different directions.
As for Han Li himself, he descended upon a giant rock down below and began to meditate.
Around 15 minutes later, Han Li's expression stirred slightly as he reopened his eyes, just in time to see the swarm of Gold Devouring Beetles racing back toward him from the distance.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense toward the swarm of beetles, upon which a faint smile appeared on his face, and the swarm dispersed at his behest before all of the beetles flew back up his sleeve as golden flowers.
Immediately thereafter, a roar rang out in another direction, and the Leopard Kirin Beast also returned.
After just a few flashes, it appeared directly above Han Li, then transformed into an adorable little girl who appeared to be five to six years of age, and her face was deathly pale as she hurriedly said, "Master, we have to run!"
"What happened? Did you let that devilish lord get away?" Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this.
"No, I already killed that man, but there's a beast tide! No, not a beast tide, it's an insect tide! There are lots and lots of devilish insects coming this way!" the little girl said in a horrified manner as she frantically waved her little arms.
"An insect tide?" Han Li's heart jolted upon hearing this, and he immediately cast his gaze toward the direction that the Leopard Kirin Beast had just returned from, only to find that there seemed to be nothing amiss.
Han Li was rather perplexed by this, yet just as he was about to pose further questions to the Leopard Kirin Beast, the situation suddenly took a drastic turn.
The distant sky abruptly dimmed, and a green line appeared before instantly becoming thicker, surging toward Han Li as a vast expanse of green mist.
Han Li was quite alarmed to see this, and he immediately released his spiritual power as blue light flashed within his eyes.
The blurry and indistinct mist immediately became clearer in his eyes, and he could see countless small chartreuse devilish beasts within it. These beasts had the butterfly bodies and lion heads with chartreuse fur all over their bodies, and eyes that were as red as blood.
"Butterflytail Beasts! Why have they appeared here? Is this the insect tide you were referring to?" Han Li asked as his expression eased slightly.
Butterflytail Beasts possessed lethal poison that posed a huge threat even to the average Body Integration Stage being, but he had cultivated the Chaotic Myriad Poison Body, granting him immunity to all poisons, so he had nothing to fear.
"Not them; behind them!" the little girl yelled as she continued to wave her arms frantically.
"Behind them?" Han Li faltered slightly as he peered into the distance beyond the green mist, upon which his expression changed drastically.
A purple cloud had appeared behind the purple mist, and in the beginning, it was only several kilometers in size. However, following the span of just a few breaths, it had spread to encompass the entirety of heaven and earth, and there was no end to it in sight.
As soon as the green mist came into contact with the purple cloud, a sharp hissing sound rang out, and tens of thousands of dismembered Butterflytail Beast limbs instantly rained down from the green mist, while thin and sharp insect limbs that were around the length of chopsticks fell out of the purple cloud.
