Chapter 2449: First Mahayana

Han Li heard these words, his heart stirred slightly, he merely nodded his head, said nothing more, yet with a flick of his sleeve, he collected the broken jade tablet.

The contents of the golden storage bracelet were naturally not limited to these; besides seven or eight miscellaneous magical artifact-like treasures of unknown use, there was also a stack of gold and silver talismans and a large pile of pale gold crystals.

However, he was not currently in his own cave dwelling, so naturally it was inconvenient to take these items out one by one for close examination.

Thus, Han Li simply waited quietly in place.

About the time it takes to finish a meal, the nearby void suddenly fluctuated, and the Gold Devouring Insect King shot out as a streak of golden light; after a flash, it disappeared into one of Han Li's sleeve cuffs without a trace.

After Han Li's eyes flickered a few times, he carefully listened to the few low words transmitted by the Gold Devouring Insect King, and his expression relaxed somewhat.

At this moment, from the distant horizon came a "hiss-hiss" sound, a black line and a mass of red light tore through the air, and after a few flashes, they arrived near Han Li.

As the light faded, the figures of Mo Guang and Fire Beard Child appeared within.

"The two fellow Daoists returned so quickly—it seems you did not come back empty-handed." Han Li glanced at the two, smiled faintly, and asked:

"Hehe, that is natural. That brat, even if he has some tricks, how could he possibly truly escape from our two hands?" Fire Beard Child chuckled, raised his hand, and threw two items toward Han Li.

Han Li's eyes flashed, his sleeve flicked, an invisible force surged forth, and the two items immediately hovered steadily in the void before him.

They were indeed a withered Nascent Soul corpse and a dark-colored storage ring.

"This person's Nascent Soul essence and energy have been completely sucked dry by me; he probably doesn't even qualify for reincarnation. As for what he left behind, we two have no use for it, so I leave it to you, fellow Daoist." Mo Guang said calmly.

"Then I, Han, will not stand on ceremony. This time, I have troubled you two fellow Daoists. This place is not suitable for lingering; let us depart now." Han Li swept his gaze over the withered Nascent Soul corpse, noticed that although the face was twisted and deformed, it was indeed identical to Ming Zun's, and immediately nodded, saying:

As soon as his words fell, he made a grasping motion in the void with one hand, sucking the black storage bracelet toward him and vaguely storing it away; with his other hand, he flicked his fingers, a cluster of red flame shot out, striking Ming Zun's Nascent Soul corpse, instantly reducing it to flying ash.

Mo Guang and Fire Beard Child naturally had no objections to this.

Han Li raised his hand again, releasing what appeared to be an ordinary azure-colored flying carriage; the three figures moved, and all mounted it.

The Crab Daoist, however, pinched a seal with one hand; with a thunderous boom, he directly transformed into a bolt of lightning that vanished into Han Li's sleeve cuff.

The azure flying carriage was over ten zhang long; after a slight tremor, it transformed into a mass of azure light and shot through the air.

Only after three full days did some high-level existences of the Shang Alliance stationed outside the Ming Sha region, along with disciples of other powerful cultivators, grudgingly enter the Ming Sha region, all appearing timid and cautious.

Of course, aside from the earth-shattering, heaven-and-earth-upheaval-like massive changes to the entire land, they naturally found not a single living cultivator.

Initially, Ming Zun, in order to deal with Ma Liang, this true immortal, aside from the necessary personnel for setting up the formation and those Nascent Soul-level cultivators, had not arranged any extra personnel to remain behind.

These later arrivals, not knowing whether the encirclement target was still alive, dared not linger in the Ming Sha region; they merely hurriedly checked once over, then scattered in all directions to report back to their respective major powers.

After several more months, various tribes transmitted news that their experts' natal objects had shattered, all having fallen in the battle at Ming Sha.

This news spread rapidly and widely across the entire Wind Origin Continent; soon after, even other continental tribes heard of it.

As for whether the descending true immortal perished together inside, there is little concrete evidence to prove it.

Thus, the tribes of the Spirit Realm became increasingly anxious, fearing that this immortal might suddenly reappear and open a killing spree against any tribe.

Only after a full year had passed did news emerge from an obscure human tribe that the descending immortal had already perished in the self-detonation of the Two Instruments Annihilation Dust Grand Formation.

This news clearly stated that the former Shang Alliance chief executive, Ming Zun, had deliberately sacrificed some powerful cultivators to the grand formation, then used the amplification formation's self-detonation power to perish together with this true immortal.

After this half-true, half-false news spread, it naturally caused an uproar throughout the Spirit Realm.

After various major powers hurriedly investigated, they discovered that indeed, among those who participated in the battle at Ming Sha, there was a human cultivator, and this cultivator seemed to still be alive and active in his tribe.

After this news was confirmed, it naturally caused an uproar among many tribes; many great tribes and Nascent Soul cultivators immediately put down their cultivation and affairs, rushing straight to the human side.

Among them, some truly wished to ascertain what actually happened in the great battle at Ming Sha, but most came merely for the treasures left behind by that true immortal.

Other cultivators all perished in the great battle; only Han Li returned safely to his tribe, and the immortal's treasures falling into his hands naturally goes without question.

On the Wind Origin Continent, the tribes are relatively fortunate, for though their true experts have mostly perished, and though they are extremely eager for immortal treasures, they self-assess that they cannot possibly contend with Han Li's top-tier existence, so they can only temporarily refrain from acting and observe.

However, the Nascent Soul cultivators of the other two continents swarmed into the Wind Origin Continent.

As a result, within just half a year, many unfamiliar Nascent Soul cultivators came to the human tribe one after another, and easily found Han Li's residence at the Boundless Sea.

But surprisingly, no matter what schemes these Nascent Soul cultivators harbored in secret, upon entering the edge of the Boundless Sea, they were startled and driven back by the mere display of power from the manifested Gold Devouring Insect King and the Crab Daoist.

This startled many closely watching alien tribes, who all gasped in astonishment.

In a short time, over twenty alien Nascent Soul cultivators successively returned in disgrace from the Boundless Sea.

This immediately made the other Nascent Soul cultivators dare not act rashly; those few who still dared to come directly to the human side were, without exception, true experts.

Yet even these individuals, though not comparable to ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators, were still easily dispatched one by one under the combined efforts of the Crab Daoist and the Gold Devouring Insect King.

From beginning to end, Han Li never truly showed his face once.

Thus, although this caused many Nascent Soul cultivators to be terrified, it also provoked the true top-tier experts of the other continents.

One day, eight renowned top-tier experts from the Blood Heaven Continent and the Thunder Sound Continent jointly arrived at the Boundless Sea,

and this time, the Crab Daoist and the Gold Devouring Insect King offered no obstruction whatsoever, allowing the eight top-tier experts to directly enter onto the Elemental Union Island.

At the center, within the Azure Essence Palace, suddenly seventy-two bell chimes rang in succession, and a terrifying aura that seemed to tear heaven and earth shot up into the sky.

At the palace gate, a figure moved; Han Li, accompanied by Mo Guang, Fire Beard Child, the Crab Daoist, and the Gold Devouring Insect King, directly came out to greet them.

Upon sensing the aura emitted by Han Li and his companions, the eight top-tier experts from other continents were greatly startled, their imposing momentum unconsciously diminished by more than half.

Although they could not be said to harbor any fear at this moment, they also knew that Han Li's side possessed strength far from trivial, and certainly not as easily overcome as they had initially imagined.

Under Han Li's smiling greeting, the eight top-tier experts were directly invited into the Azure Essence Palace.

Subsequently, the palace gates were tightly shut, and a layer of azure light curtain descended from the heavens, enveloping the entire Azure Essence Palace within.

Han Li and his companions, along with the eight experts, remained inside for three days and three nights.

During this period, the Azure Essence Palace occasionally echoed with rumbling sounds, and waves of chilling fluctuations accompanied by dispersing energy caused the azure light curtain to flash and tremble incessantly.

But when three days had passed, the azure light curtain suddenly flashed and vanished; the eight top-tier experts emerged with somewhat unsightly expressions, their auras all weakened to varying degrees.

Finally, Han Li was escorted out with his retinue of disciples and followers, yet he bore a faint smile, showing no difference from before.

"Fellow Daoists, I have already sold you one True Soul Pill; how you distribute it is your own affair. However, I hope this matter ends here. From now on, if anyone dares to disturb Han Li and other tribesmen, do not blame me for turning ruthless."

"Han Daoist, rest assured. We eight, though we have some standing in our respective continents, having agreed to this matter, naturally will not go back on our word; we will do our utmost to dissuade others from coming to you, fellow Daoist." Said one of the bird-faced alien elders, with a bitter laugh.

Following this, the eight escaped together in their evasion lights, just as they had come, tearing through the air and vanishing, and in the blink of an eye, flew out of the Elemental Union Island's range.

After Han Li witnessed the eight evasion lights finally disappear into the sky, his expression eased slightly, but turning around, he spoke to the Gold Devouring Insect King and the Crab Daoist, who had transformed into golden small figures beside him:

"If anyone else intrudes into the Boundless Sea in the future, there's no need to be polite—capture them if you can; if not, just execute them on the spot. To be safe, Fellow Daoist Moguang and Fellow Daoist Huoxu, you two will also help patrol for a while."

The last two sentences, Han Li said politely to the dark-skinned youth and Huoxuzi.

"Haha, don't worry, this matter is entrusted to us few; we will absolutely not allow anyone else to intrude into the Boundless Sea again," Moguang said with a hearty laugh.

Huoxuzi and the others also wore expressions of complete indifference.

Thus, with a wave of Han Li's hand, the four of them simultaneously cast spells and vanished from the spot.

Thereafter, indeed no other powerful beings intruded upon the human race, and even some of the original Mahayana cultivators who had been loitering nearby disappeared one after another after the eight top experts withdrew.

Not long after, the rumor that Han Li single-handedly defeated the eight top experts finally spread from cultivators of some foreign continents, shocking countless spirit realm clans.

Furthermore, after hearing that Han Li had already sold a high-grade True Soul Pill to the eight top experts, these clans' high-level members completely abandoned their previous ideas.

And after that, for a long period of time, some foreign cultivators began spreading the saying that Han Li was the strongest being on the Wind Element Continent.

Even some foreign beings who held Han Li in high regard believed that calling him the greatest Mahayana cultivator in the Spirit Realm was not an exaggeration.