Chapter 231: The Might of Heavy Water
As soon as the wooden puppet appeared, it instantly vanished on the spot, then appeared directly above Han Li an instant later in a wraith-like manner.
A burst of golden light flashed past as a golden-armored puppet that was over 30 feet tall emerged. The puppet was wielding a vajra pestle, which it swung down directly upon Han Li's head.
Han Li tossed a black ball in the direction of the Heavy Water True Axis, then turned around and raised an arm to combat the descending vajra pestle.
A layer of golden scales appeared over his arm as it clashed against the vajra pestle amid a resounding boom.
A shimmering golden fist struck the vajra pestle with tremendous force, sending a burst of even more powerful shockwaves sweeping through the air.
Before the sound from the clash had completely subsided, a deafening boom rang out from the Heavy Water True Axis as well, originating from the explosion of the ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning that Han Li had just tossed in that direction.
Violent arcs of silver lightning erupted in all directions, quickly encompassing the entire area within a radius of over 1,000 feet.
The ball of white light formed by the elderly man's flying swords was instantly scattered, while the Heavy Water True Axis remained largely unaffected and continued to plunge forward with unstoppable might.
Immediately thereafter, a string of loud booms rang out as five of the seven flying swords were crushed into dust by the tremendous weight of the Heavy Water True Axis.
The destruction of the elderly man's bonded flying swords instantly caused him to throw up a large mouthful of blood from the resulting backlash.
However, he had no time to wipe the blood from his lips as he turned to Han Li with an incredulous look on his face. There, cracks were beginning to appear on the surface of the golden-armored puppet that he had been nurturing in his body for countless years.
Only then did he realize that he was no match for Han Li, and he immediately fled the scene at an incredible speed, doing so in such a hasty and decisive fashion that he had even abandoned his two remaining bonded flying swords.
Almost at the exact same moment, the golden-armored puppet shattered into pieces.
"Elder Li, he's getting away!" Bai Suyuan yelled in an urgent voice.
Han Li took a glance in the direction that the elderly man had fled in, but wasn't in a hurry to set off in pursuit.
With a wave of his hand, he stowed the Heavy Water True Axis away, then drew the two remaining flying swords and the golden bead that was capable of transforming into that golden net into his storage bracelet as well.
Immediately thereafter, countless arcs of silver lightning appeared over his body, forming a circular lightning array with a diameter in excess of 100 feet in the blink of an eye.
An earth-shattering thunderclap rang out as the silver array vanished on the spot, leaving behind only a few arcs of silver lightning that quickly dissipated as well. Meanwhile, Bai Suyuan and the others were left to gawk at one another with astonished expressions.
A True Immortal cultivator was simply unfathomable in their eyes. The clash between Han Li and the elderly man had only lasted a few seconds, but they were already thoroughly astonished by what they had just witnessed.
High up in the sky close to 100,000 kilometers away, the elderly man had blood dripping down from the corner of his lips as he flew through the air as quickly as he could with a look of intense fear in his eyes.
According to the information that he had gathered before coming here, Han Li was supposed to have been an itinerant early-True Immortal cultivator who had only recently joined the sect, but he was far more powerful than what the elderly man had imagined. Granted, he hadn't unleashed all of his treasures and abilities, but he knew that if the battle had continued, then he would've perished for sure. Thankfully, it seemed that he wasn't being pursued.
Right as this thought crossed his mind, an earth-shattering thunderclap suddenly rang out in the sky above him.
The elderly man looked up to see a bolt of silver lightning that was as thick as a water vat crashing down from the heavens, and within the lightning was a deity-like figure that was descending from above with his long hair dancing all around him.
The figure was holding a black spear with lightning revolving all around it, and the spear was being plunged down viciously from above.
The elderly man was caught completely off guard, and he had no time to take evasive measures, so he could only hurriedly raise his hands and summon a scaled shield to protect himself.
A resounding boom rang out as the heavy water spear pierced straight through the shield, then continued downward and plunged through the elderly man's head.
Right at this moment, a tiny figure that was around three inches tall and was clad in a suit of golden armor suddenly flew out of the top of the elderly man's head in a flash.
Before Han Li had a chance to do anything, a layer of crimson light suddenly appeared over the tiny figure's skin, immediately following which its entire body erupted into a cloud of blood mist that vanished without a trace.
Han Li instantly released his spiritual sense to encompass the surrounding area in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers, but was ultimately unable to find anything.
He slowly withdrew the heavy water spear that he had impaled through the elderly man's body, then made a grabbing motion with one hand, and the storage bracelet on the elderly man's wrist flew into his grasp.
After securing the storage bracelet, he injected his spiritual sense into it to find that it contained a good collection of items, including several powerful treasures and around a dozen Immortal Origin Stones.
After stowing the storage bracelet away, Han Li flew back the same way he had come from as a streak of azure light, and by the time he returned, he discovered that Bai Suyuan and the others had been taken to a valley near Pine Fruit Mountain by Su Tongxiao.
Fang Yu and the other two groups of disciples were there as well.
Aside from Qi Huanyu's group, out of which four of the disciples had had their physical bodies destroyed, there were no other casualties, but everyone still had looks of lingering fear in their eyes.
At this moment, Su Tongxiao was seated on a giant rock in the valley, and his aura was rather unstable, indicating that he had sustained some injuries.
He immediately approached Han Li upon spotting him, then asked, "Did you manage to catch him, Brother Li?"
It was clear that he had already been made aware of what had just transpired here.
Han Li shook his head in response. "I managed to destroy his physical body, but his nascent soul got away using some type of secret technique."
"Thank heavens you arrived in time to protect the other disciples. I got complacent for a moment on my end and... At the very least, with that man's physical body destroyed, we haven't completely failed in our mission," Su Tongxiao sighed.
"Is there still a need to continue the trial at this point, Brother Su?" Han Li asked.
"An enemy True Immortal cultivator has already appeared, and there's no guarantee that he doesn't have accomplices nearby, so we'll have to conclude the trial as a safety precaution. Let's go back and report to the sect," Su Tongxiao replied.
"That sounds like it's for the best," Han Li replied with a nod.
Su Tongxiao suddenly drew a little closer to Han Li, then pulled out a storage pouch that he stuffed into Han Li's hand as he communicated through voice transmission, "By the way, I owe you my thanks for protecting the other two groups of disciples. You deserve a share of the offerings from the elders."
"You're far too kind, Brother Su."
Han Li raised no objections as he stowed the storage pouch away.
Given his contributions, he was indeed deserving of a share in these offerings.
In order to avoid further mishaps, everyone chose to return the same way they had come on foot rather than flying back.
Following this humbling incident, all of the disciples who regarded themselves as blessed prodigies were a lot more quiet, and even Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan had become quite sullen and dejected.
Su Tongxiao was leading the way, while the disciples trailed along behind him, and Han Li was bringing up the rear.
Perhaps it was because she had heard about the patriarch of her clan from her assailant, but Bai Suyuan was walking along in an absentminded manner, seemingly with a lot on her mind.
Meanwhile, Sun Ke was dragging his feet as he trudged through the snow, and after some hesitation, he decided to intentionally drop to the rear of the group so that he could arrive by Han Li's side.
Right as he was pondering what he was going to say, he was greeted by the sound of a familiar voice. "Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Sun."
Sun Ke faltered slightly upon hearing this, then hurriedly replied with a respectful expression, "Ah, so it really is you, Brother Li, I mean, Elder Li..."
"I hope you don't mind that I hid my cultivation base from you back on the Seafaring Lightning Boat," Han Li said with a smile.
"I wouldn't dare! I'm just surprised that you're an inner sect elder of the Blaze Dragon Dao. If I had known this sooner, I wouldn't have had to go through the trouble of offering so many treasures to establish connections in order to join the sect. Instead, I would've offered the treasures straight to you," Sun Ke sighed.
"I was also quite surprised to see you here. If I had known you were coming here, I would've accompanied you along the way. I still think about all of the fine wines in your collection, and I've been dying to get a taste of the Fire Drop Wine that you've been sharing with your fellow disciples," Han Li chuckled.
"I still have some Fire Drop Wine left, you can have the rest of it if you'd like, Elder Li," Sun Ke immediately offered without any hesitation.
Instead of replying to Sun Ke's offer, Han Li said, "I have a request for you, Fellow Daoist Sun."
Sun Ke faltered slightly upon hearing this, then prompted, "Please go ahead, Elder Li."
"I want to exchange a spirit treasure for the recipe of your Fire Drop Wine. Is that a trade you're willing to make?" Han Li asked.
A conflicted look appeared on Sun Ke's face upon hearing this request, following which he gritted his teeth as he said, "Truth be told, this wine is different from the other wines in my collection as it's a secret recipe that's been passed down in my clan for generations, and it most likely can't be found anywhere else.
“I did bring it out with me in secret, but giving the recipe to outsiders has always been strictly prohibited. However, you've already saved my life on two occasions, and I'm not an ungrateful person, so I can make an exception and give you the recipe."
"If you're going to give me the recipe, then I must give you a spirit treasure in exchange. Otherwise, people will say that I'm extorting disciples for my own benefit. This sword is quite a powerful treasure, and it's not so easy to use, so you have to practice diligently with it after you've refined it," Han Li said as he flipped a hand over to produce a storage pouch, then offered it to Sun Ke.
The storage pouch contained that golden longsword that he had taken from the Origin Mirage Beast.
An overawed look appeared on Sun Ke's face, but he didn't refuse the storage pouch. At the same time, he offered an ancient piece of paper and an intricate red wine flagon to Han Li in exchange.
Han Li stowed the flagon away, then took a glance at the recipe on the ancient piece of paper before making a copy using a jade slip and returning the original to Sun Ke.
The other disciples noticed this interaction, and upon coming to the realization that he seemed to have been on friendly terms with an inner sect elder, all of them were feeling rather envious of him.
Even though all of them also had True Immortals in their clans, they certainly didn't have the courage to interact with a True Immortal as equals.
In particular, from their perspective, it seemed that Han Li was more powerful than Elder Su, which meant that he most likely had a higher status in the sect as well. After all, Tang Chuan's group hadn't suffered any casualties under his protection, but four of the disciples in Qi Huanyu's group had had their physical bodies destroyed while under Su Tongxiao's protection.
A few of the female cultivators were also taking extra glances at Sun Ke.
Han Li was openly conducting this trade with Sun Ke in front of everyone with the objective of earning Sun Ke more respect from his peers, a fact that Sun ke had already caught onto.
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