Chapter 1005

Besides the talismans and chains all over its body, the area around this colossal creature was also filled with thousands of palm-sized copper mirrors, emitting hazy yellow light pillars that formed a strange magical array, intertwining and flashing, which perfectly trapped the colossal creature inside.

In the entire space where the colossal creature was located, layer upon layer of restrictions surged like endless waves, with faint spiritual light flickering everywhere.

And this creature, whose blurry form resembled a small mountain, showed no change at all; if not for occasional slight undulations on its surface, anyone would have taken it for a dead object.

On the contrary, in an adjacent space nearby, it was another world entirely.

There, lush greenery spread everywhere, with strange flowers and exotic grasses filling the air, the spiritual energy so abundant it left one stunned.

And in the midst of this fairyland-like place stood a magnificent palace hundreds of zhang wide. From afar, the palace lay silent, as if utterly empty.

But if one stood above the palace and looked down, one would discover that the palace was actually built at the center of a massive magical array, with eighty-one small altars, each about ten zhang high, constructed nearby, scattered throughout the array.

What was most astonishing was that each altar bore a stone statue several zhang tall made of white jade.

These stone statues were each clad in golden armor, their hands clasped around an unknown golden-colored giant blade, facing the palace, their expressions solemn and extraordinary, as if they were living beings.

Yet all this was eerily silent—whether the palace or the stone statues, they seemed to have existed in this state for countless thousands of years.

Utterly mysterious, strangely extraordinary!

At this moment, at a certain location on Mount Kunwu where the Purple Astra Seven Stars Array had been laid, the array roared and exploded continuously, having reached the critical moment of breaking the formation.

Seven purple light pillars shot up into the sky from the boundless purple mist, from above came low rumbles of thunder, and thick arcs of electricity occasionally sprang from the surface of the pillars, striking various points within the array.

The mist had grown so dense that one could not see five fingers ahead, and at times came the eerie wails of ghosts and wolf howls that disturbed the mind.

Han Li's body was surrounded by golden light, his expression unchanging as he slowly approached one of the light pillars; the surrounding purple mist transformed into bowl-thick giant pythons, which, upon nearing him, were instantly severed by the golden light into several segments, then dissipated back into mist.

Yet seeing this, Han Li's face showed not the slightest joy, for from the purple mist immediately emerged more purple pythons lunging forward.

As for the silvery-white arcs of electricity that occasionally struck down from above, no matter how thick, he paid them no heed; whenever an arc was about to strike him, he waved his hand, covered in golden arcs, and all the arcs were instantly drawn aside, utterly ineffective.

Suddenly, two low, almost inaudible hums sounded behind him; Han Li frowned, turned his head without looking back, and flicked his wrist, sending out two fine golden arcs; after two thunderclaps, a burnt smell followed.

Han Li then turned his head and saw two fist-sized giant peaks, pitch-black all over, plummeting straight down from low altitude.

These giant peaks were not only astonishing in size, but their entire bodies were covered in beautiful yellow patterns, and the poisonous spines on their backs were over three inches long, making one shudder at the sight.

But Han Li had already slain thirty or forty of these spirit insects in the mist; aside from the first few he killed with his flying sword, the rest were slain by his Heaven-Defying Divine Thunder.

It was not that his lightning defense was so abundant he could squander it freely, but rather that these giant peaks initially gave him a small setback.

Although he did not know how potent the poisonous sting on the bee's tail was, the bee's entire body of emerald-green insect blood possessed extremely strong corrosive properties; when Han Li's flying sword accidentally brushed against some, its surface immediately became pitted and uneven, even damaging the sword's spiritual nature somewhat.

Thus, Han Li naturally refused to use his flying sword to kill these bees; yet, since these bees also had some resistance to low-level spells like fireballs and ice cones, he could only kill them one by one with golden arcs.

Fortunately, these bees, though numerous, had virtually no resistance to his Heaven-Defying Divine Thunder—almost instant death upon contact.

Han Li's divine thunder did not seem to have been consumed much either.

Besides these fist-sized giant peaks, the purple mist also contained several blood-red strange bats attacking Han Li; aside from their color, these bats looked no different from ordinary bats.

But after Han Li slashed at one with his flying sword, the sword light failed to kill the bat; only after the sword's body passed through did he feel a pause, then the bat's body was split apart.

This made Han Li secretly startled.

Knowing that his Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Sword, after being mixed with Geng essence, could be called incredibly sharp—capable of cutting through lesser flying swords as easily as grass and trees—yet killing these bats was not easy; now he saw how hard their bodies were.

Whether giant bees or blood bats, they are among the most common spirit insects and beasts in the cultivation world; yet they have been bred to be so difficult to deal with, showing how much effort must have been spent on them. And now, to cooperate with the array, they have been placed here without anyone 'manipulating' them, so the power of these giant peaks and blood bats has not even been half unleashed.

It seems the cultivators ahead, to delay time, truly did not spare any expense.

As he pondered, he had already come within ten or so zhang of that purple light pillar ahead; it seemed just a few steps more, and he could destroy the pillar afterward.

But at that very moment, the original purple giant bamboo, which had disappeared since he entered the array, suddenly reappeared around the light pillar, then after a blur rapidly expanded outward, in the blink of an eye surrounding Han Li in dense bamboo shadows.

That light pillar, which had been within arm's reach, instantly turned into blue smoke and vanished without a trace.

There were actually illusionary restrictions set up near these light pillars; Han Li was first startled, then the corner of his mouth twitched into a light smile.

As long as it was not the top-tier illusionary transformation technique like the ancient phantom metamorphosis he had encountered before, ordinary illusionary restrictions could not trap him.

Han Li, without a thought, had his pupils flash with blue light; instantly, all the purple bamboo before him turned into illusions, and the light pillar reappeared in its original position.

He shook his sleeve, and seven or eight golden-colored flying swords shot out, circled once in the air, then with a clear ring transformed into a single golden-colored giant sword; golden light flashed, and a thick sword beam suddenly struck the base of the light pillar.

With a booming sound, after the base was destroyed, the light pillar instantly vanished.

And almost simultaneously, the purple mist bamboo forest beside Han Li—whether illusion or real restriction—completely vanished in large patches centered on him, clearing a vast open space of a hundred zhang wide, revealing the white jade tiles on the ground.

Han Li lowered his head to glance, his brow unintentionally twitching, then he lifted his gaze toward the distant place still shrouded in purple mist.

He saw that the remaining six light pillars now only had three left; the other two, he did not know, had apparently been destroyed by those two people before him.

Han Li fell silent for a moment, with no intention of going over to destroy the other light pillars; instead, he took out a spirit stone and sat cross-legged.

Taking this opportunity, he wanted to think carefully about his countermeasures after the ancient demon's appearance.

Now, in this mountain, gathered cultivators, demons, ghosts, and monsters were truly numerous; he had the Three-Flame Fan and a late Nascent Soul puppet, but one careless move, and he might still face grave danger to his life.

Han Li, while restoring his magic power, had his eyes flicker as he pondered.

After an unknown time, Han Li suddenly moved one hand to his waist storage bag and 'felt' it; instantly, a bluish-hazy rectangular object appeared in his hand—exactly the reduced crystal tablet he had found earlier in the stone stele on Mount Kunwu.

Speaking of it, this object was indeed extremely hidden! Even with his powerful spiritual sense, staring at that stele for half a day, he had found nothing hidden within. If not for the Earth Armor Dragon's innate talent for recognizing treasures like gold and stone, he would never have discovered this object.

And this crystal tablet itself was also quite strange: it looked as if it were some unknown essence refined into a whole, yet before being infused with spiritual power, it was extraordinarily heavy; but once spiritual power was infused, it instantly became light as air, as if it were nothing.

Yet all this was not what attracted Han Li most; what he cared about most were the several lines of unknown ancient script inscribed on the tablet. Although these characters were from ancient times, Han Li's eyes went dark—he did not recognize a single one; they were a kind of ancient text never recorded in any classic.

Nevertheless, even so, Han Li could confirm through the form of these ancient characters that their appearance dated back even further than the so-called 'ancient times' he knew; this was truly a genuine antique, and absolutely a rare treasure.

Han Li weighed the crystal tablet in one hand, then sighed; a flash of light and shadow appeared on his hand, and he immediately put it away.

At this very moment, almost one after another, two consecutive sounds came from the array in the distance, and two more light pillars were destroyed.

And the sole remaining light pillar, without even needing Han Li and others to go destroy it, simply dimmed and vanished on its own.

Thus, this array, which could be called miraculous, was finally broken by their joint efforts.

After all the purple mist illusions had completely vanished, the figures of the others also appeared, but immediately, a voice of furious anger came from the sky: that of the Dry Hehuan Hehuan Lao Mo.

"Where are the four fellows of the Poison Saint Sect! They actually knew this array, quietly slipped through it and escaped!"

Han Li glanced over and indeed saw that the four elders of the Poison Saint Sect had completely vanished.

"Hmph! Not just them, that petty Zheng Wei is also missing. I said he dragged us all in together, and indeed from the start he was plotting something sinister." That Nascent Soul-era burly man cursed angrily, his face full of rage.

"No wonder those few people suddenly broke away from us and went off alone. Look ahead, will you?" Bai Yaoyi sighed, her jade finger pointing forward.

At that moment, the others also noticed that at one end of the square beneath their feet, there were indeed a dozen or so stone steps, each leading in a different direction.

"It seems those few people thought that as long as they didn't take the same path as those cultivators ahead, or split up their forces, they could handle things on their own. That's why they slipped away alone, hoping to monopolize something, I suppose!" The old man with the surname Fu also frowned as he spoke.

"Hmph, that's fine too. I've long wanted to act alone. Whoever dares to block me from taking the treasure, I'll kill them." Gan Hehuan Lao Mo quickly regained his composure.

Then, as the five white shadows flickered, they each paused two or three times in front of every jade tablet, examining all the steles. After that, the five white shadows, without hesitation, gathered together and flew straight toward the stone steps marked Kunwu Palace.

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