In a rush of wind, golden light flashed in front of the middle-aged man and the Goldflame Stone suddenly flew through the air. Slow to react, he reached out to grab it in his alarm but the Goldflame Stone flew out in a streak of light and into Han Li's grasp.
In that next moment, all of those present were stunned by what they saw. Han Li was holding the stone in a single hand and was carefully examining it while ignoring everyone else.
The middle-aged man's complexion turned pale with rage. He eerily stared at Han Li and uttered, "Give that to me and I'll let you live if you cut off your arm."
After Monarch Soul Divergence confirmed the Goldflame Stone was genuine, Han Li put it in his storage pouch with a flip of his hand. He then smiled towards the middle-aged man and said with an indifferent tone, "I also want this item. But I don't wish to give it to you or cripple myself. Would it be better for Fellow Daoist to just return without raising a scene?"
When the middle-aged man heard this, he grew even more furious and his hands tightened into fists. A foot-wide layer of white light suddenly shined around him as he was about to take action.
When the icy woman at his side saw this, she felt there was something amiss about Han Li. Using the language of the Great Jin, she asked, "Commander Gu, what's the matter? What is that strange item? If it isn't important, don't stir up any trouble."
When the middle-aged man heard this, he hesitated before sending her a voice transmission. When she heard this, she revealed an astonished expression. Her expression froze and she asked, "Is that true? Are you not mistaken?"
"I am absolutely certain I am correct," the middle-aged man said with excitement, "You should also know I was originally a tool smith and have looked through the Supreme Stone Records countless times as a result. If we bring this wondrous treasure back to the palace master, the merit we would receive would be far beyond what we would gain from returning the traitor and the Snow Crystal Pearl."
When the woman heard this, she looked at Han Li once more and verified he was truly only a Foundation Establishment cultivator. A cold light then flickered from her eyes and her heart was filled with killing intent. With a raised brow, the icy woman commanded, "Attack! Kill all of the Soaring Tribes members. Leave no witnesses! The Endless Sky Temple won't become hostile with our Nine Immortals Palace over a few low-grade cultivators and a couple hundred mortals. At worst, we'll merely compensate them for a fraction of the price." She then opened her mouth and spout out a streak of silver light, arriving in front of a Soaring Tribes Foundation Establishment cultivator in an instant.
Although the Soaring Tribes cultivator was protected by a blue barrier, it wasn't able to block the full powered strike of a Core Formation cultivator. As a result, a scream sounded out and he was split into two. The silver streak circled once in the air to reveal itself as a sparkling white dagger that was about a foot long.
As for the Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Great Jin, they immediately complied with the woman's orders and released their magic tools, attacking the remaining Soaring Tribes cultivators. As for the mortals farther away, they were left alone for the time being since they couldn't run.
When the Soaring Tribes cultivators saw the Great Jin cultivators attacking them, they felt both alarm and fury. However, one of them was at early Foundation Establishment stage while the other two were at Qi Condensation stage. Against the joint attacks of the six Great Jin Foundation Establishment cultivators, they were only able to resist for only a moment before being killed. After they were dealt with, the Great Jin Foundation Establishment cultivators approached Feng Yue's carriage to deal with him.
The icy woman showed indifference at the sight of this as she stood on the bat. But when she turned to look at the middle-aged man, her expression vastly changed.
When the middle-aged man heard the order to attack, he immediately spat out a flying sword and had it attack Han Li in a white streak.
Han Li sighed and flipped his hand in response, summoning a small pitch-black flag into his hand. With a wave, the flag surged and transformed into a black barrier that protected him from every side. When the silver streak struck the barrier, it was repelled and didn't cause the slightest damage.
Feeling anxious and alarmed at having his attack easily repelled, the middle-aged man quickly employed a sword art, causing the silver streak to circle in the air before turning into a ten-meter-long python. The python tightly wrapped around the light barrier and gaped its mouth wide open in an attempt to rip it open with its fangs. However, the black light barrier was completely unphased by the huge python's attempts to crush it.
When the icy woman had a good look at the barrier, her heart turned gloomy.
As she predicted, there was a reason why that Foundation Establishment cultivator would dare to contest a Core Formation cultivator over the item. With that in mind, the woman pointed to her dagger in the distance and the magic treasure trembled for a moment before fiercely striking down at the black light barrier in a streak of light.
The icy woman and middle-aged man exchanged a glance and then looked at the intact black barrier with astonishment.
The icy woman turned to her subordinates and sharply commanded, "Ignore the one in the carriage. Quickly set this one aflame!"
When the Foundation Establishment cultivators heard this, they released their fire-red spell banners into the air and created a cloud of flame into the sky once more. It slowly pressed down on Han Li's black barrier.
"Good, very good. This will save me quite a bit of effort." After Han Li said this, light flashed from the top of the black barrier, revealing a giggling black-green Nascent Soul. It was holding a small pitch-black flag in its hand.
"Nascent Soul! You... You're a Nascent Soul cultivator!" The icy woman felt as if she were struck by a hammer when she saw the appearance of the Nascent Soul. She then immediately pleaded, "We'll stop attacking and we'll immediately leave. We don't dare to contest for the item!" At that same moment, she commanded her dagger magic treasure to return.
But then, Han Li's second Nascent Soul wore a faint sneer and waved its flag. Suddenly, the flag surged to ten meters in height and enveloped everything nearby in a rush of dense black Qi, including the fire cloud and magic treasures.
As this occurred, all the Great Jin cultivators lost their mental connection to their magic tools and treasures.
"A Yin Sifting Banner? You're an elder of the Yin Sifting Sect!" When the middle-aged man saw the banner, he cried out with fright. Then with his body glowing with light, he took to the skies in a blinding streak, abandoning his magic treasure in the process.
When the icy woman heard the flag was the sect protecting treasure of the Yin Sifting Sect, she felt her blood run cold. Without another thought, she struck the huge bat with several spell seals and pressed down on it with her foot. The bat suddenly grew a third larger, brightly glowed with green light, and released a strange cry before tearing through the sky in a green streak. It flew in the opposite direction of the middle-aged man.
Accustomed to the devilish sect's habits of pursuing revenge, the woman didn't truly believe the Yin Sifting Sect Elder would truly cease his attack. She also felt hatred towards the middle-aged man for acting so meddlesome. If it weren't for him, they would've been able to return without a problem.
The Foundation Establishment cultivators were all frightened in a panic and scattered in every direction on their magic tools.
Azure light flashed from within the cloud of Devilish Qi and Han Li emerged above it. He looked at the fleeing Great Jin cultivators with cold intent.
He slapped one of the pouches at his waist and summoned a dozen half-foot-long streaks of light that took off after the six Foundation Establishment cultivators in groups of two. They were the Six-winged Frost Centipedes.
At that same moment, black light flickered from the banner, creating a meter-wide pitch-black hole in the air. A huge Gold Devouring Beetle wrapped in black Qi flew out from the hole with eyes flickering with crimson light. It suddenly unfolded its wings and transformed into a golden light as it quickly gave chase to the middle-aged man.
After the Gold Devouring Beetle flew off, the black-green Nascent Soul flew onto the Yin Sifting Banner and had it dive into the cloud of devilish Qi below.
The devilish cloud began to roil without end and released a shrieking pitch before charging through the sky. In a blur, the cloud appeared over a three hundred meters away and began to surge in the direction of the huge bat. As it left dense black smoke it resembled a devilish deity that descended upon the earth.
Han Li remained motionlessly floating in the air as he observed this all with indifference.
The Soaring Tribe mortals had fled into the distance when they saw their several immortals were killed. There were a few braver mortals that remained nearby, but they didn't dare to draw close to Han Li, given the power he displayed.
In nearly the blink of an eye, the Six-winged Frost Centipedes had chased down the six Foundation Establishment cultivators.
These cultivators were no match as even Core Formation cultivators would hold the centipedes' icy Qi in fear. They covered the cultivators in large chunks of ice, saving them for later to devour their primal soul.
The middle-aged man fled at a speed was no quicker than his Foundation Establishment subordinates as he no longer had his magic treasure. A huge insect was soon tailing after him. With a face of despair, the man was helpless as the Gold Devouring Beetle easily bit through his several barriers and bore into his body. The man then promptly fell from the sky in anguish before soon dying.
As for the icy woman and the huge bat, neither of them possessed a high cultivation, but the woman's spell seals and techniques mustered an extreme speed. However, Han Li's second Nascent Soul managed to eventually overtake them and envelope them with the black cloud, giving the woman a silent departure from this world.
By the time the second Nascent Soul returned, Han Li was fiddling with the Snow Crystal Pearl in his hands. When he turned to look at what the Great Jin cultivators left behind, he had a bewildered expression.