Chapter 777

"How dare you hide yourself near the lit Yuanming Lamp? You're asking for death!" The woman didn't approach to inspect, only murmured softly.

For her, knowing the opponent was a cultivator from Tiannan was enough.

Since she lit the ancient lamp, five or six cultivators have tried to seize it.

Ever since the giant bird was summoned by the ancient lamp, the nine lamps have burned continuously without extinguishing—anyone could sense something strange about them. Some cultivators, confident in their concealment techniques, naturally came to extinguish the lamp.

None escaped; all were slain by the woman using the lamp's flame.

At this moment, Han Li was only a few hundred zhang away from the woman. Seeing the unknown cultivator ahead casually obliterated by her, he felt a chill.

His previously slow-moving figure silently came to a halt.

Although the woman's muttering was too faint to hear, Han Li's exceptional spiritual sense still caught most of it.

Han Li gazed at the ancient lamp nearby, stroked his chin, and fell into deep thought.

It seems this ancient lamp is truly extraordinary—it can summon a demonic bird and even dispel concealment techniques.

This is going to be troublesome.

Han Li's expression fluctuated for a long while; then his eyebrows twitched, and he suddenly had an idea.

He reached into his storage bag with one hand, pulled out several items, then glanced at a spirit beast pouch at his waist and smiled faintly.

……

During this time, the woman of the Yue clan had significantly heightened her vigilance.

She sat cross-legged before the ancient lamp, her lotus shadows flickering faintly, her bright eyes fixed on the lamp, linking her spiritual sense to it to sense every movement within dozens of zhang around.

Suddenly, a white glow flared up a hundred zhang away, and over a dozen towering giant apes suddenly appeared.

Their blatant appearance startled the woman of the Yue clan, who frowned in surprise.

After appearing, the giant apes did not advance but lined up, raising their hands.

Dozens of colored beams of light shot forth.

"Puppet technique!"

The woman paused briefly, recognized the origin of the giant apes, furrowed her brow, and cautiously scanned her surroundings.

She detected no master controlling these puppets.

She paid little heed to the light attacks, merely flicking her fingers—lotus shadows shimmered and effortlessly blocked the beams.

Then the woman moved, plucking another flame from a different ancient lamp.

This time, she did not immediately launch the flame, but held it gently in her palm, letting it float lightly.

The woman of the Yue clan stared at the ancient lamp, her eyes flickering, preparing to wait and respond to any change.

Moments later, her expression shifted, and without hesitation, she blew a breath of spiritual energy toward the flame in her hand.

The flame flickered with a pale green glow and vanished mysteriously from her palm.

Only then did the woman turn her head, fixing her gaze on a spot dozens of zhang away.

With a soft "puff," a figure suddenly appeared, instantly engulfed in a sphere of green light.

At the woman's finger gesture, green flames immediately ignited upon the figure.

The woman's lips curled into a cold smirk.

"Huh? Why hasn't it been consumed yet?" Her smile froze as she realized the man wasn't instantly reduced to ashes like the others, nor did he struggle at all.

She was startled and stared intently.

"This man is... no, it's a puppet!"

The figure within the green flame resembled Han Li, but his expression was blank, his movements stiff—clearly a dummy, seemingly immune to the green flames, showing no signs of burning.

"Trouble!" The woman instantly realized what was happening.

She frantically turned back toward the ancient lamp, trying to reconnect her spiritual sense to it.

But that brief delay was enough.

Twenty zhang away, another figure appeared in a flash of green light; a low thunderous boom sounded, and the figure vanished again within the lightning.

Seeing this, the woman of the Yue clan was filled with fury and alarm; she simultaneously formed hand seals and hurled several spells toward the ancient lamp.

But it was already too late.

A flash of lightning appeared beside the ancient lamp, faintly revealing a human silhouette.

Then a massive black-and-red hand shot out from the light, growing to over a zhang wide in an instant, and seized one of the ancient lamps.

"How did he know which lamp was the true one? Only the caster can identify the real lamp—even a late-stage Core Formation cultivator cannot discern the truth."

Seeing this, the woman of the Yue clan was even more terrified and enraged.

At such close range, the giant hand struck the lamp almost simultaneously with her spells.

The ancient lamp flickered with green light, about to change, but the giant hand snatched it up, extinguishing its flame with black yin fire.

Simultaneously, the other eight copper lamps trembled, their spiritual light flickered, and their flames vanished one by one.

The ancient lamps instantly dissolved into clouds of spiritual energy, scattering.

"No!" The first female master of the Mulan clan turned pale as death.

Clenching her teeth, she raised both hands, sending a vast array of lotus shadows toward the black hand, trying to reclaim the lamp.

But the black-and-red hand had anticipated this; as soon as it seized the lamp, it immediately retreated without hesitation.

Yet a cold snort echoed through the lightning, thunder roared again, and just as the black-and-red hand vanished into the light, the figure and the hand disappeared perfectly in unison—only to reappear beside the puppet trapped in green light, holding the stolen lamp.

It was Han Li, who had stealthily infiltrated while she was distracted.

"You won't escape."

The woman of the Yue clan glanced anxiously toward the green bird; seeing the sacred bird hadn't vanished yet, she calmed slightly and screamed loudly.

Immediately, green light erupted around her, transforming into a gentle breeze as she chased after him.

Han Li's face darkened; a flash of white light appeared in his hand as he stored the lamp in his storage bag, then his Wind-Thunder Wings flared, and he vanished, reappearing dozens of zhang away.

At that moment, the wind formed by the woman reached the exact spot where he had just stood.

Han Li's eyes flashed; he formed a hand seal and uttered a single word: "Boom."

The puppet within the green light suddenly spat out a green orb, striking the barrier of green flame—BOOM! Golden arcs and green flames exploded together.

The explosion not only obliterated half the puppet but also engulfed the nearby woman of the Yue clan.

The woman's lotus shadows automatically activated their protective ability; though her mind was flustered and unprepared, countless lotus petals shimmered and forcibly blocked the blast.

But the thunder pearl hidden within the puppet was no ordinary device.

Though she escaped death, the force hurled her back several zhang.

Her wind-dodging technique was momentarily disrupted.

Han Li sighed softly; though disappointed, he didn't hesitate—he flared his wings and vanished again, fleeing swiftly into the distance.

By the time the woman of the Yue clan regained her footing, Han Li had already fled over a hundred zhang away.

The Mulan female master gritted her teeth, ready to pursue, when the half-destroyed puppet before her suddenly emitted a strange buzzing sound.

Startled by the surprise attack, she quickly turned to look.

The broken puppet's body glowed intensely green, then instantly disintegrated into countless tricolor flying insects soaring into the air.

The woman was startled but had no time to deal with the insects; she immediately activated her white lotus defense, attempting to charge through.

But the tricolor insects instantly coalesced and reshaped into several large tricolor shields, relentlessly slamming into her.

Every time she tried to form a hand seal to use her wind-dodging technique, wave after wave of impacts disrupted her spellcasting.

The woman flew into a rage, casting multiple spiritual spells, only to discover they couldn't harm the insects at all.

Only then did she realize: aside from their color, these tricolor insects were identical to Golden-Biting Insects—apparently mutated variants.

Slightly startled, she immediately reached into her storage bag for a wooden spirit artifact to trap them.

But at that moment, the insects buzzed loudly and scattered in all directions.

The woman froze, then her face changed; she urgently looked toward the distance.

She saw that Han Li had already used his concealment technique—his trace was completely gone, impossible to locate.

The woman's face flushed and paled alternately; she floated alone in midair, utterly at a loss.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the green bird had just blasted through the old man's ancient treasure defense with a green fireball.

It felt triumphant and prepared to dive down and crush its foe, when suddenly it sensed its spiritual energy draining wildly.

Startled, the bird forgot its prey and quickly turned its head.

It realized that the ancient lamps, once floating in place, had vanished entirely.

The giant bird panicked; it let out a piercing cry, rapidly shrinking in size, and the fire spirits it controlled instantly slipped from its grasp.

The green flame sea below churned violently, then vanished at once, revealing the seven True Cultivators with stunned expressions.

Meanwhile, the Twin Demons, now freed, immediately transformed into a torrent of green wind and lunged at the now-weakened green bird.

The demonic bird, now reduced to only a few chi in size, glared at the Twin Demons with bitter resentment, offering no evasion.

With a "plop," before the Twin Demons could reach it, the bird exploded into countless green spiritual lights and vanished.

The Twin Demons froze, stunned.

"What just happened?" The old man, barely escaped, cried out in delight.

He had exhausted every last bit of spiritual energy and had thought he was surely dead.

"Look over there—it seems the artifact they used to summon the demonic bird malfunctioned; all the ancient lamps are gone," the lead elder sighed in relief, glancing toward where the lamps had been.

His face bore the same expression of relief after narrowly escaping death.

If this had dragged on any longer, even he might have lost his life!

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