After absorbing the remaining world's origin Qi in the air, the Provenance True Devil Projection swelled over 1,000 feet taller.
Meanwhile, Han Li's Nascent Soul and physical body were seated in a still manner down below, focused wholeheartedly on refining the world's origin Qi they had just absorbed.
Even with Han Li's powers, he had only managed to forcibly absorb the energy into his own body, and only following a refinement process would he be able to temporarily enhance his own powers.
However, this amount of energy was no issue at all for the gargantuan Provenance True Devil Projection; it had devoured the incoming five-colored light with ease, and it was only continuing to expand.
After a span of only around 15 minutes, the golden projection had swelled to close to 10,000 feet tall, standing like an immovable golden pillar between heaven and earth.
At this point, the spirit tide was beginning to subside, and it soon completely disappeared, following which the Nascent Soul flew toward Han Li's body as a streak of golden light.
The two combined as one again, and Han Li slowly opened his eyes.
As he sensed the magic power in his body that was on the verge of overflowing, he murmured to himself, "It worked! This should make my breakthrough a little easier to achieve."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately made a hand seal before closing his eyes, and bright golden light radiated from his body as golden scales appeared all over his skin.
At the same time, an azure horn that was around half a foot in length appeared on his head.
The golden vortex in the air shattered amid a crisp crack, while an aura that was around twice as fearsome as it had been rose up from Han Li's body.
The clouds in the sky were all dispersed by this aura, allowing several rays of radiant sunlight to filter through.
At this moment, Han Li was rapidly making a series of hand seals while chanting something, and two additional golden heads and four extra golden arms appeared on the sides of his body.
At the same time, the color of his golden scales darkened and began to radiate a purplish-golden light.
He had activated his Provenance True Devil Arts to their maximal extent, and his enormous magic power was beginning to surge toward his bottleneck like a string of giant waves. However, it seemed that there was an invisible dam within his body, keeping the magic power firmly at bay.
It seemed that the process of breaking through the bottleneck definitely wouldn't be a short one.
Han Li continued to attack the bottleneck while sensing the changes taking place within his own body, and he had already prepared himself for a prolonged struggle.
A month later, Silvermoon was standing atop a mountain peak, appraising the basin from afar in an expressionless manner, but on this occasion, Zhu Guo'er had joined her.
Han Li had caused a massive commotion when commencing his breakthrough, and that was naturally detected by Zhu Guo'er, prompting her to rush over to the basin to see what was happening.
At this point, the basin had been enshrouded under around a dozen light barriers, and even though she was injecting magic power into her own eyes with all her might, she was still unable to see anything.
"Senior Ling Long, is Senior Han alright? It's been such a long time; could anything have gone wrong?" Zhu Guo'er asked in an urgent voice.
"The entire area has been enshrouded under the restriction, so I can't see anything, either. However, his aura is becoming more and more powerful and is virtually on par with that of my grandfather, so he should be fine," Silvermoon replied in an indifferent manner before sitting down to meditate.
Zhu Guo'er's heart eased slightly upon seeing this, but she was left feeling rather speechless by the sight of Silvermoon's display of indifference.
A short while ago, she had been extremely concerned about Han Li, yet she had suddenly completely detached and aloof. If she weren't aware of the fact that Silvermoon was being affected by her cultivation art, she would've been very confused by this turn of events.
On the other mountain peak, Daoist Xie was peering into the light barriers in the distance with silver light flashing within his eyes, and a peculiar look suddenly appeared on his face.
All of a sudden, the entire basin tremored, and all of the light barriers shuddered violently as a string of earth-shattering booms rang out.
Golden light flashed, and around a dozen thick pillars of light erupted out of the light barriers, scattering all of the dark clouds up above.
A fearsome aura then swept forth in all directions, and even Daoist Xie's pupils contracted slightly upon sensing it.
"He's done it! His aura has already reached the Grand Ascension Stage; whether he'll succeed or not will depend on whether he can transcend the upcoming heavenly tribulation," Daoist Xie murmured to himself, seemingly very familiar with Han Li's current situation.
As soon as his voice trailed off, all of the light barriers shattered, revealing a golden projection that was over 10,000 feet tall. At the foot of the projection was a ball of purplish-golden light, within which Han Li stood with his arms crossed.
Currently, Han Li was still in his devilfied form, but his entire body was bloodstained and riddled with countless thin gashes that were rapidly healing at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.
What was even more peculiar was that Han Li had grown significantly taller, and his limbs had also become noticeably more muscular, transforming him into a towering musclebound man.
At this point, the massive crystalline platform had already been destroyed, leaving only the severely ravaged ground down below, which looked as if it had been impacted by some type of tremendous force.
Han Li's eyes were tightly shut as he stood within the ball of light, and silver spirit patterns were roaming all over his body. He remained completely still, but upon closer inspection, one would discover that there were veins bulging on his forehead, and all of his muscles were squirming incessantly, as if his body were struggling to contain some type of fearsome power.
On top of that, the terrifying spiritual pressure he was radiating had made all of the space within a radius of several kilometers congeal, and if any living being were to enter the area, they would instantly be crushed to a pulp.
In the air above, the scattered dark clouds began to converge once again, and balls of five-colored light flashed within the blanket of clouds while rapidly expanding at an alarming rate.
After the span of just a few breaths, the five-colored balls of light had swelled to around an acre in size each, concealing almost all of the dark clouds behind them.
"The five-elemental tribulation is coming!" A hint of emotion seeped through Silvermoon's indifferent facade as she spoke.
Zhu Guo'er still had no idea what was going on, but she could tell from Silvermoon's reaction that this was no ordinary phenomenon, and she was also staring intently into the distance.
At this moment, Han Li's aura had become so fearsome that even the air around him was beginning to warp and blur slightly.
All of a sudden, Han Li raised his head and opened his eyes before looking expressionlessly up at the sky.
Almost at the exact same moment, the five-colored balls of light up above turned a golden color, following which countless streaks of golden light came raining down like a torrential barrage of sharp blades.
"Golden Astral Qi!" Han Li exclaimed at the sight of these streaks of golden light, but there was no fear in his expression as he abruptly swept a sleeve around himself.
Around a dozen incantation seals were instantly released before vanishing into the nearby space, and in the next instant, the formations he had set up were all activated as one light barrier after another emerged to shield him within the basin.
A burst of loud rumbling rang out, and the storm of golden light fell upon the outermost light barrier before instantly exploding, causing the surface of the outermost light barrier to ripple and flash incessantly.
After no more than 15 minutes, the outermost light barrier was completely destroyed by the storm of golden light.
As a result, the formation that had released the light barrier was also rendered defunct.
The golden light instantly fell upon the second light barrier, and the process was repeated…
Thus, what seemed like a never-ending storm of golden light continued to fall, and each streak of light was no less powerful than the average flying sword.
In the face of such a ferocious assault, five light barriers were quickly destroyed.
However, right at this moment, Han Li made a hand seal, and the massive projection behind him clenched its fists before lashing out upward.
Fierce winds were immediately swept up as pavilion-sized fist projections appeared outside the light barriers, then hurtled directly toward the giant balls of light up above.
Even before the fist projections came into contact with the streaks of golden light in their paths, the latter were instantly shattered, and the fist projections quickly struck the golden balls of light.
A string of metallic clangs rang out as one fist projection was repelled after another, while the golden balls of light abruptly exploded into countless specks of golden light.
As a result, the storm of golden light instantly ceased.
However, in the next instant, the specks of golden light turned an azure color, then converged to form balls of azure light that were no smaller than the golden balls of light.
At the same time, a powerful natural aura began to radiate from the azure balls of light.
