Chapter 962

Seeing the fire dragon instantly close in, Han Li’s face revealed a faint smile; a finger subtly trembled in his sleeve, and a streak of red light shot from his fingertip, vanishing in an instant. At the same time, thunder roared behind him, and a pair of silver-white wings suddenly appeared, flapping gently.

As silver light blazed forth and a pair of claws wrapped in red light were about to strike, Han Li’s figure vanished within the glow. The crimson fire dragon hesitated, and its attack landed empty.

Almost simultaneously, a sharp piercing sound suddenly reached his ears—soft, yet a crystal-clear red needle materialized beside the dragon, driving straight into its vital point between the eyes.

The crimson fire dragon’s body writhed with flickering firelight, barely slowing the needle before it pierced through in a flash—it was the extraordinarily sharp crystallized flying needle.

The needle moved soundlessly and with astonishing speed. Caught off guard, the dragon was struck beside its head, sending terror through its soul. With no time to think, it desperately twisted its head aside—but it was too late.

A soft crack echoed as the beast let out a shrill scream, clutching half its face with one claw, blood streaming between its fingers—the needle had pierced clean through its cheek, exiting the other side.

Though the needle was razor-sharp, it was forged from a fire-elemental core, so its innate power could not inflict serious harm. But at Han Li’s spiritual sense command, the needle instantly swelled several times in size, carving a hole the thickness of a thumb through its face—causing the beast unbearable agony.

Yet before the crimson fire dragon could rage in fury, a thunderclap sounded behind it; Han Li’s figure reappeared, and with a sweep of his arm, a golden light over a zhang long slashed down with ferocious force.

The crimson fire dragon’s heart sank; ignoring the searing pain on its face, its tail flared crimson, its body swelling nearly double in size, sweeping toward Han Li like a massive fan—intent on crushing him into pulp regardless of cost.

Han Li paused in surprise. This beast was truly a celestial creature—its reflexes were astonishingly swift. Most human cultivators could not even react in time to his thunder-dash ambush.

As he thought this, his spiritual sense shifted; the golden sword-light tilted slightly, striking first at the tail.

The moment the two met, the golden light cleaved through the red aura and struck the tail squarely.

The crimson fire dragon trembled, instantly concentrating all its demonic energy into its tail; scales and flesh turned translucent, vivid crimson.

With a thunderous boom, golden light and blood-red radiance clashed, blindingly bright; Han Li narrowed his eyes, blue sparks flickering in his pupils, clearly seeing the scene within.

The golden sword, formed from several fused flying swords, had failed to sever the tail in one strike—instead, it had split the scales and penetrated only one-third of the tail, temporarily halted by a hardened dragon bone.

Han Li’s eyes flashed; he formed hand seals to recall the sword for another strike—but suddenly, a tremendous suction surged from the tail, pinning the sword in place, immovable.

“Without your magic treasures, how will you defend yourself?!”

The crimson fire dragon let out a mad laugh, whirling its head around and opening its mouth; crimson flashes flared, and a fist-sized orb flickered into view within its jaws.

“Demonic core,” Han Li’s pupils contracted—he recognized it at once.

The beast, knowing it could not match Han Li in direct combat, seized the chance of trapping his life weapon and, with grim resolve, prepared to spit out its demonic core in direct attack.

Han Li’s face darkened; he roared aloud, his form blurring, then three identical Han Lis appeared side by side in a strange, synchronized emergence.

This sight stunned the crimson fire dragon; before it could discern which was real, all three Han Lis sneered, flicking their sleeves—three golden lights, each several chi long, shot forth simultaneously, slashing at the demon.

The demon was terrified; seeing three golden lights strike from three directions, it panicked and frantically spat its demonic core toward the central light, while its two claws flared crimson and split left and right to snatch at the other two.

Though it had witnessed the sharpness of Han Li’s swords, it did not believe all three golden lights were real—surely, like the three figures, two were illusions and one was true. If the demonic core blocked the real one, its life was safe; if it was false, its claws—harder than its tail—could endure the blow, letting it sacrifice one claw to block the true sword while using the demonic core to kill Han Li’s true body.

But the moment this thought stirred in the beast’s mind, a thunderous crash erupted—the red light from the demonic core blasted the opposing golden light back several zhang, revealing the true form of the sword.

“The central sword is real!” the crimson fire dragon thought, elated—but the instant this thought formed, the other two golden lights blazed fiercely, flashing once; both claws felt a sudden chill, then unbearable pain—each claw was severed nearly halfway, then shot forward like lightning toward the demon’s body.

“Ahh!” the beast shrieked, its body flickering with spiritual light, trying to recoil.

But beneath its feet, a purple lotus suddenly bloomed; as the lotus shadow flashed, a freezing aura erupted, solidifying all around—causing the dragon to shudder violently, its movement halting.

In that brief delay, the two golden lights blazed with blinding radiance, crossing in a slash around the dragon’s head—CRACK!—its massive head rolled cleanly from its neck; the thick scales along its throat offered no resistance whatsoever.

Earlier, Han Li had secretly formed hand seals with his sleeve-hidden fingers, channeling nearly all his spiritual power into the two flying swords, unleashing the full terrifying power of Gengjing—rendering the swords utterly invincible, unstoppable by anything.

At that moment, the other two “Han Lis” shimmered with blue light and vanished without a trace.

As the dragon’s head fell, Han Li’s hands moved without pause—he pointed again at the two flying swords; thunder cracked, and two thick golden arcs leapt from the blades, forming a golden electric net that descended overhead.

Almost simultaneously, from the severed neck of the corpse, a flash of crimson light erupted—a miniature red dragon, frantic and tiny, shot upward—straight into the golden net.

By the time it realized its mistake and tried to change course, the net had already sealed shut, trapping it like a bird in a cage.

The dragon’s soul was utterly terrified; it frantically spat streams of crimson flame at the net, desperate to break free.

But Han Li, prepared, snorted coldly; without moving, the net shrank rapidly, soon confining the dragon’s soul to a space barely a zhang wide. Instead of immediately detonating the net to annihilate it—as he would a normal cultivator—he flipped his palm, and a small emerald bottle appeared in his hand.

He gestured casually toward the net; countless fine golden threads shot out, weaving and coiling toward the center. The dragon’s soul twisted desperately to evade, but in such a confined space, escape was impossible—soon, it was bound into a golden silk ball the size of a fist, utterly motionless.

Han Li then held the small bottle toward the golden ball and gave it a gentle shake; a sheet of white light burst forth, engulfing the silk ball in an instant and sucking it into the bottle.

Only then did Han Li’s expression relax.

“Though the Spirit Shadow Technique is merely a minor art, it proves surprisingly useful in combat—no wonder the Golden Cloud Mountain regards it as a core inheritance.” Han Li murmured, then gestured toward the dragon’s corpse wrapped in flame; with a void grasp, the second golden sword flew back from the tail, and its head and body were drawn into a prepared storage bag.

As for the abandoned eighth-level demonic core, Han Li certainly did not forget it—he carefully stored it in a jade box.

The demonic clouds and fire sea, now deprived of the crimson fire dragon’s power, began slowly dissolving.

Han Li seized the moment, turning his gaze to the other battlefields—and his brow furrowed slightly.

The Core Formation cultivators fared better; outnumbering the seventh-level demons, they held their ground evenly, showing no sign of defeat. But the Nascent Soul giant on the other side was in dire straits—completely overwhelmed by the eighth-level blue dragon, barely holding on.

“An eighth-level demonic beast is rare indeed—let’s finish this one too.” Han Li’s eyes flashed with cold light; he muttered to himself, then his body blazed with blue light, preparing to fly off at once.

“Han boy, don’t be greedy. I’ve sensed other cultivators approaching—linger too long, and you won’t escape. The Southern Sea Sect went to great lengths to ambush these demons precisely for the eighth-level beasts. If you slay them all, they won’t let you walk away so easily.” The Great Expansion Divine Lord suddenly transmitted a voice.

“The Southern Sea Sect arrived so quickly? Then forget it. Though regrettable, I’ll leave now.” Han Li’s face darkened as he confirmed the news with his spiritual sense; before the last of the demonic clouds vanished, he disappeared from the spot, concealing his presence and slipping away silently.

Meanwhile, the eighth-level blue dragon sensed the crimson fire dragon’s death; enraged and desperate, it launched a frenzied assault, pushing the already overmatched giant to the brink of collapse. The giant inwardly cursed, his mind screaming to retreat.

At that moment, two spots of spiritual light flared in the distant sky; two groups of over ten cultivators each shot toward the battlefield from opposite directions.

Seeing this, the eighth-level blue dragon realized its doom; it forced down its fury, let out a piercing shriek, and without hesitation dove into the sea.

The other seventh-level demons, hearing the cry, also panicked and followed suit—but this time, neither the giant nor the other cultivators would let them escape so easily; they chased and tangled with them, preventing any from reaching the ocean.

Suddenly, the battle grew even fiercer and more perilous…

Han Li had no interest in the ensuing conflict; once he flew a hundred li away, he revealed his cultivation light and flew straight into the deep sea without looking back.

He needed to find a deserted spiritual isle on the sea surface to begin crafting the Great Expansion Divine Lord’s mechanical puppet.

Net