Chapter 1323: Thousand Soul Bell
Even though it was impossible to identify the caliber and ability of the treasures based on its appearance alone, generally speaking, cauldron, lamp, and mirror treasures all had some special abilities that were very hard to defend against.
In particular, the Heavenvoid Cauldron was emanating spiritual pressure far beyond that of a normal treasure, so Han Li's opponent immediately became quite wary. He had a feeling that this battle wasn't going to be a very easy one.
With that in mind, he immediately unleashed the first attack without any hesitation, hoping to seize the initiative.
At the same time, he made a hand seal, and the specks of blue light around his body receded, transforming into grains of shimmering blue sand that rose up into the sky. These grains of sand then began to multiply at a staggering rate, obscuring the entire sky in the blink of an eye.
Simultaneously, the massive silver wheel also vanished within the cloud of sand.
A loud cry erupted as the cloud of sand came crashing down toward Han Li, creating a sound akin thunderclaps from the countless sand particles grating against one another.
Han Li's eyes narrowed upon seeing this, but he didn't immediately take any action. The golden lotus flowers twirled around him before flying up to meet the oncoming attack.
As the lotus flowers flashed through the air, countless rays of light began to emanate from them, making them appear just as formidable as the blue sand cloud.
As soon as the sand came into contact with the lotus flowers, the latter instantly expanded drastically to around 10 feet in size each, rotating rapidly in the sky. Their petals were like sharp blades, forcibly tearing through the sand cloud amid a string of resounding booms.
The 72 golden lotus flowers had managed to stop the oncoming blue sandstorm dead in its tracks.
A hint of surprise flashed through the eyes of Han Li's opponent, but he then chuckled coldly as he cast an incantation seal.
Silver light suddenly flashed within the sand cloud as a massive silver wheel emerged, crashing down with violent force and striking one of the 72 golden lotus flowers.
A sinister smile appeared on the man's face.
This Metal Severing Wheel was refined using a rare material sourced from the primordial world, Dark Gold Sand. The wheel's sharpness was unmatched and its destructive power stood well above that of normal flying swords and flying sabers. Ever since he had refined this treasure, they had helped him slice through countless flying sword treasures unleashed by his enemies.
Those golden flying swords did appear to be quite powerful, but they shouldn't stand a chance against the silver wheel.
A string of clangs rang out in rapid succession as dazzling golden and silver light intertwined with one another. The two treasures appeared to be evenly matched.
The man's expression changed slightly upon seeing this.
All of a sudden, the golden lotus flower suddenly spread open its petals to encapsulate the entire silver wheel.
An anguished screech sounded from the wheel before it was shattered into countless pieces and disappeared into the lotus flower.
Before the man had a chance to recover from his shock, Han Li pointed a finger toward the massive cauldron hovering before him. The lid on the cauldron immediately flew off of its own accord, following which countless streaks of azure light swept forth from within. The azure strands flashed past the golden lotus flowers, latching onto large clumps of the blue sand in the sky before dragging them back into the cauldron.
Han Li had taken these measures as fast as lightning, and when his opponent finally returned to his senses, some of his blue sand had already been abducted into the cauldron, and his connection with those grains of sand had been completely severed.
"Spirit treasures!" the man exclaimed.
The blue sand and that Metal Severing Wheel were both treasures that he had personally refined.
Aside from spirit treasures, no other treasures would be able to forcibly take them from him. Now that they had been taken away, over a century of arduous cultivation had gone to waste.
With that in mind, he immediately opened his mouth to expel a fist-sized ball of blood essence.
He extended his index finger and dipped it into the ball of blood essence, using it as ink to inscribe a crimson rune into the air. He then slammed a hand toward the rune, following which it disappeared in a flash.
However, in the next instant, the rune reappeared only around 10 feet away from Han Li, having already transformed into a massive azure ghostly head with a pair of sharp horns before pouncing toward Han Li.
It appeared that he was trying to use this surprise attack to force Han Li to stop acquiring the blue sand and silver wheel treasures.
Han Li was in the process of making hand seals while the Heavenvoid Cauldron assimilated the blue sand at his behest. As soon as the ghostly head appeared, it rushed toward him with ferocious might, but he remained completely unflustered as he abruptly opened his mouth. An arc of golden lightning shot forth from within, striking the ghostly head with unerring accuracy, causing it to vanish into a cloud of azure smoke.
Even an avatar of the elder devil didn't dare to take an attack head-on from the Divine Devilbane Lightning, so this ghostly head naturally stood no chance at all.
Han Li's opponent faltered upon seeing this. A thought then occurred to him, and his expression darkened significantly.
At this point, the strands of azure light from the Heavenvoid Cauldron had already taken half of the blue sand in the sky.
A bone-chilling harrumph sounded as Han Li's opponent furrowed his brows, then made a strange hand seal. At the same time, what sounded like Buddhist chants rang out, following which he slowly pointed a finger toward the air before him.
The grains of blue sand that were locked in a fierce battle with the azure light and the golden lotus flowers suddenly became completely stationary. Immediately thereafter, brilliant spiritual light erupted as the grains of sand began to expand drastically.
In the blink of an eye, these tiny rice-sized grains of sand transformed into head-sized blue rocks, all of which were translucent and giving off vibrant blue light. These glittering and translucent rocks immediately came crashing down from above, finally causing the freely-rotating golden lotus flowers to slow down. Even the strands of azure light from the Heavenvoid Cauldron also became unable to draw in these heavy blue rocks.
Han Li faltered upon seeing this before casting his gaze toward his opponent.
He discovered that the man's entire body was radiating brilliant spiritual light while his hair danced in a frenzy around him. There was also white light flashing from within his visible orifices, and it was quite clear that he was using the power of his essence.
Han Li's expression darkened as he laid a hand onto the top of his own head. All of a sudden, murky grey light erupted forth before sweeping through the air. The incredibly heavy blue translucent stones in up above immediately became almost completely weightless before being forced to revert back to their sand form.
The grey light rapidly swept forth, completely capturing all of the grains of sand in the air.
Not only did this turn of events cause the expression on the face of Han Li's opponent to darken even further, even the perpetually emotionless armor-clad cultivator outside the light barrier revealed a hint of surprise for the first time. It was quite clear that Han Li's Divine Essencefused Light had even drawn the interest of this Spatial Tempering cultivator.
"What ability is this? Why is it able to wrest away my Blue Crystal Sand?" the man asked with a vicious expression.
"Do you think I'll tell you?" Han Li chuckled with a carefree expression. In his eyes, this man was only acting so cocky because his cultivation base far outstripped that of Han Li's. However, Han Li didn't know who this man was, and he also appeared to have a Spatial Tempering Stage master. As such, he was rather cautious in his approach and had no intention of killing this man just yet. Otherwise, he would've already retaliated with a relentless storm of attacks, giving his opponent no chance to even catch his breath.
Of course, this was also a sign of Han Li's extreme confidence in his current set of abilities.
With the Divine Essencefused Light, Aureate Sword Formation, and Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flames, he wouldn't be fearful in the slightest even if he were to come up against a late-Deity Transformation cultivator.
An indecisive look appeared on the man's face. Han Li's abilities were far more powerful than he had anticipated, and defeat was not an option for him. With that in mind, he finally made a decision as he flipped both hands over at once.
On one hand, a palm-sized yellow copper badge appeared with white mist swirling around it, making it impossible for anyone to glean its actual appearance. On his other hand, a silver talisman appeared, and it was filled with beveled silver text runes!
Han Li's pupils immediately contracted upon seeing this as he activated his sword arts.
The golden lotus flowers that were circling around overhead suddenly converged toward the center, forming a super massive golden lotus flower that was over 100 feet in diameter, and the gargantuan flower hurtled toward the man at Han Li's behest.
As for the murky grey light up above, it came crashing down to create a grey light barrier that formed a secure cocoon around Han Li.
At this moment, Han Li's opponent raised both hands at once, and the copper badge immediately hovered into the air. At the same time, brilliant white light erupted from the badge and a projection emerged from within before rapidly expanding.
A half-naked giant of a man that was around 20 feet tall soon appeared.
The giant was carrying no weapons, but its skin was like translucent green jade and there was spiritual light shimmering in its eyes. It was a humanoid puppet.
Meanwhile, the silver talisman exploded into a ball of silver mist that was around a foot in size.
The silver mist materialized into a giant black wolf with a pair of sinister green eyes, which were cast toward Han Li in a completely expressionless manner.
After summoning these two creatures, Han Li's opponent still wasn't content. He took a deep breath and his face suddenly turned as crimson as blood. He laid a hand onto the top of his own head, and blue light flashed up above as a blue Nascent Soul appeared, holding a black bell that was around an inch in size.
"That's the Thousand Soul Bell! Has Eccentric Ming gone senile? How could he lend such important treasures to his disciples?" The armor-clad cultivator outside the light barrier displayed no reaction to the puppet, nor the giant black wolf, but his brows furrowed and his expression immediately darkened at the sight of the bell in the blue Nascent Soul's hands.
"Senior! This is a treasure that I borrowed from my master; I'm not breaking any rules here, right?" The blue Nascent Soul chuckled as it spoke in an infantile voice.
"Hmph, of course not. However, the Thousand Soul Bell is an extremely powerful treasure, and you'll only barely be able to use it through the help of a secret technique. Even if you come out on top in this battle, you'll sustain severe injuries for forcibly using power beyond your capabilities. Are you sure you want to do this just for a plot of Spirit Land?" the armor-clad cultivator asked in a cold voice.
"Thank you for your words of caution, Senior, but I've naturally thought long and hard before making this decision," the Nascent Soul replied. The massive golden lotus flower was almost upon it, and it immediately hurled forth the black bell in its hands in response.
At the same time, the green puppet began to rush toward Han Li, expanding even further with each and every step it took.
After reaching the halfway point between Han Li and his opponent, it had already swelled to more than twice its original size.
Meanwhile, the giant black wolf swayed before disappearing on the spot as a burst of black mist.