Chapter 1352: Depart from All Appearances

Han Li frowned slightly at the scene before him, then immediately closed his eyes and calmed his mind.

After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and murmured to himself:

“Body, hair, and skin—a composite form, brought together by causes and conditions; all is without appearance.”

With a tearing sound, everything around shattered again, returning to the black space.

Before he could rest, the surroundings changed once more, and a new phantom of attachment appeared.

All kinds of attachments came thick and fast, bizarre and varied, each one directly targeting Han Li’s heart.

With great constancy and great perseverance, he cut through one layer of attachment after another, enduring countless trials of illusions. Though his mind grew increasingly firm, his spirit was not indestructible; it had weakened to the extreme, and darkness flickered before his eyes.

He swung his mind-sword, once again cleaving through an illusion and returning to the dark space, but he was not freed.

At this moment, Han Li’s mind was dazed; he could no longer sustain the fight.

“A person walks in the world with countless attachments; thoughts arise from the mind. If the mind is not calm, thoughts are not clear. In your current state, you cannot break through this barrier.” A voice suddenly spoke—it was the green-robed Han Li.

“Countless…” Han Li’s body swayed slightly, a trace of bewilderment flashing in his eyes.

“Give up. Why toil so hard to advance? Sometimes letting go is the wise choice. Just like that Daoist Huyan, who abandoned the path of cultivation and lived in seclusion—how carefree he is now! Let go, let go…” The green-robed Han Li’s voice became gentle, whispering in his ear, tempting him.

Han Li’s eyes grew increasingly hazy, and his dazed consciousness slowly relaxed, like an extremely tired person encountering a soft bed, about to sink into deep sleep.

At that moment, a flash of lightning suddenly struck in his heart; his remaining will abruptly awakened, suppressing the feeling of exhaustion.

“Good technique! To strike when my mind is most weary. If my resolve were even slightly less firm, I would have failed. Cut!” Han Li’s eyes instantly became extremely bright, and he raised his hand and slashed through the air.

With a tearing sound, an invisible sword swept across, and the green-robed Han Li’s voice abruptly ceased.

And the surrounding black space tore apart with a crash, collapsing completely.

Han Li’s vision blurred, and he appeared in the Flower Branch Space.

“Finally…” He let out a long breath.

At that moment, a loud “boom” sounded!

A vast and gentle force merged into Han Li’s soul, sweeping away all its fatigue.

Not only his soul, but Han Li felt his entire body and limbs were extremely comfortable, as if after enduring countless hardships, he had finally achieved the true result.

This sense of accomplishment, this great joy, could truly only be experienced, not expressed in words.

And that force continuously transmitted itself, making Han Li’s power grow stronger and stronger, rising almost without end.

His body became light and airy, flying toward the sky, soon reaching an extremely high place.

At this moment, it was as if the entire True Immortal Realm lay beneath his feet, and the Demon Domain, the Gray Realm, and the Nether Realm were all likewise beneath his feet.

Han Li felt as if he had transcended everything and become an omnipotent being. His body continued to drift upward, as if about to ascend in broad daylight and enter another world.

"Not good!" At that moment, he suddenly woke up and suppressed the feeling of ascension in his heart.

The scene before Han Li's eyes changed, and he reappeared inside the Flower Branch Space.

This time, the Flower Branch Space was real.

"So that's it—the final trial is the obsession with power! How formidable! I almost sank into it. No wonder; we cultivators spend our entire lives pursuing powerful strength, and even a saint cannot be exempt!" Han Li thought with some lingering fear.

But his mind was now flawless, without the slightest gap. He raised his hand and waved.

"Come out!"

A mass of green light flew out from his body and merged into the Earth Deity Incarnation that he had placed nearby.

The void above the Flower Branch Space suddenly turned entirely golden, and that Heavenly Dao Gate appeared again.

Boom!

Countless golden lights surged out from within the gate, containing profound mysteries of the law of time, and once again poured into Han Li's body.

The primordial qi of heaven and earth within hundreds of thousands of miles around Han Li's seclusion site boiled and then converged, merging with the golden light falling from the Heavenly Dao Gate and pouring into Han Li's body.

The last immortal aperture on Han Li's body suddenly opened completely, and all one thousand eight hundred mysterious apertures lit up.

His entire body radiated dazzling golden light, forming a bright golden halo that submerged his body within it.

Waves of immense aura fluctuations emanated from within the golden light, growing stronger and stronger.

Not only aura fluctuations, but also waves of immensely powerful divine sense fluctuations spread from within the golden light, bursting outward in all directions.

At this moment, Han Li's cultivation level broke through, and the seventh layer of the Divine Refining Art finally reached perfection as a natural course.

…

Inside the Flower Branch Space, Gold Child suddenly woke up, and his figure flickered and disappeared.

The next moment, his figure appeared at the deepest part of the Flower Branch Space outside, holding a person in his hand—it was Nangong Wan.

A white beam of light shot out from the pavilion, soaring into the sky.

From within the light pillar emanated waves of immensely powerful divine sense fluctuations, surging like angry tides.

Gold Child's brow emitted a brilliant golden light, forming a layer of golden crystalline light screen that enveloped the two of them.

Waves of overwhelmingly powerful divine sense swept over, and the golden light screen immediately fluctuated violently.

"Has my husband successfully broken through?" Nangong Wan saw all this, a joyful expression appearing on her face as she asked Gold Child.

"Indeed, it seems not only has his cultivation broken through, but his Soul-Refining Art has also reached perfection. I never expected that even the mere aftershocks would be this powerful!" Jin Tong said with some alarm, rapidly forming hand seals to strenuously maintain the light screen before him.

Outside the secluded cultivation site. A dazzling golden light churned violently in the sky, engulfing everything.

Though the golden light was dazzling, it could not stop a white beam of light from flying out from within, disappearing into the void, connecting to some unknown place.

Inside the Reincarnation Hall branch of the Netherworld Realm, the void before the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk stirred, and a white beam of light materialized out of thin air, pouring into the disk.

The Six Paths Reincarnation Disk trembled violently, and streams of dim light flew out from it, seemingly containing countless images, merging into the white beam.

"What's happening?" A figure appeared before the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk—it was Gan Jiuzhen. She looked at the scene before her with a surprised expression.

The white beam did not last long; it flickered and vanished, disappearing into the void, and the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk returned to calm.

"This situation is very similar to the scene of the seventh level of the Soul-Refining Art reaching perfection that the Hall Master once described. Who could it be? Could it be Han Li?" Gan Jiuzhen's eyes lit up, then she turned and left, intending to contact the Reincarnation Hall Master to report this matter.

...

Inside the Flower Branch Space, Jin Tong struggled to maintain the golden light screen before her.

Her divine soul power was already relatively weak, but the fluctuations of divine sense emanating from the pavilion where Han Li was in seclusion grew stronger and stronger; she was about to be unable to hold on.

At that moment, the white beam of light shooting up from the pavilion flickered a few times and then vanished without a trace.

Jin Tong breathed a sigh of relief, formed hand seals, and dispersed the light screen before her.

The white beam had disappeared, but the golden celestial gate in the sky remained, with countless golden lights cascading down.

Feeling the power of the Great Dao laws within the golden light, Jin Tong's eyes flashed with shock.

When she had advanced to Dao Ancestor, she too had received the blessing of the Heavenly Dao's power, but compared to Han Li's current state, it was far inferior.

After this breakthrough, she wondered just how powerful Han Li's strength would become.

Time passed bit by bit. After a long while, the golden light above the Flower Branch Space finally receded.

Inside the pavilion, the golden light on Han Li's body gradually dissipated, revealing his true form.

He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze cold and devoid of any emotion, as if he were the embodiment of the Heavenly Dao.

Boom!

An overwhelming aura erupted from him, instantly annihilating everything nearby, reducing it to nothingness.

The Earth Deity Avatar's face showed terror, and golden light blazed from his body, forming a golden orb that enveloped him.

No sooner had he done this than the aura came crashing down.

The golden orb formed by the Earth Deity Avatar immediately fluctuated violently, shattering and disintegrating nearly half of it in an instant.

But everything else in the pavilion shattered with a crash, and then the entire pavilion vanished without a trace.

The immense might did not cease but continued to spread outward. Wherever it passed, everything turned to nothingness. Cracks appeared one after another in the entire flower-branch space, on the verge of collapse.

“Fellow Daoist Han!” The golden boy’s expression changed as he cried out in alarm. At the same time, his entire body blazed with golden light, which merged into the flower-branch space to stabilize it.

Han Li’s body trembled, and his eyes regained their vitality, no longer vacant.

Seeing the state of the flower-branch space, he moved his mind, and the emanating might immediately ceased, then slowly dissipated.

The golden boy breathed a sigh of relief and also formed hand seals to disperse the golden light.

The golden orb of the Earthly Deity incarnation flashed and vanished, revealing its true form.

“I never expected you to be able to cast aside all the obsessions in your heart so quickly and sever your self. I… have lost.” The Earthly Deity incarnation looked at Han Li and said with a sigh.

“As you said, thoughts arise from the mind. If the mind is not calm, thoughts are not clear. I am not I; there is no self-form, no self-mind. Therefore, obsessions are not my thoughts. Since thoughts do not exist, one departs from all forms.” Han Li looked at the Earthly Deity incarnation, his eyes flickering slightly, and spoke in a calm tone.

Unlike the good corpse and the evil corpse, though he had successfully severed this self-corpse before him, he still could not see through it.

“What do you plan to do with me? After all, I was born from you, and you cannot completely annihilate me.” The Earthly Deity incarnation asked.

“You are far from comparable to the evil corpse and the good corpse. Keeping you by my side would bring too many variables. I’m sorry, but I cannot take the risk.” Han Li said indifferently.

“Compared to you now, what does that amount to?” The Earthly Deity incarnation shook his head and laughed.

But Han Li paid him no heed; he flipped his hand and waved.

The Celestial Bottle appeared in his hand. As he formed a hand seal and urged it, the bottle immediately expanded, spinning unceasingly.

A stream of dark green light shot out from the bottle and vanished into the void ahead.

With a tearing sound, the void split open on both sides, revealing a crystalline wall.

Han Li formed a seal and pointed. Ripples stirred on the crystalline wall, and a vortex emerged, its interior flickering with various colors, leading to an unknown destination.

"A temporal passage? You want to banish me into the temporal turbulence? That suits me perfectly," said the Earthly Deity Incarnation, a glint flashing in his eyes.

"The matter I am about to undertake allows no margin for error. Go in peace," Han Li said. He waved his hand, sending forth a golden light that enveloped the Earthly Deity Incarnation and cast him into the crystalline vortex.

The Earthly Incarnation did not struggle; it flashed and vanished into the vortex, disappearing without a trace.

Han Li waved his sleeve, and the crystal wall vanished with a flash. The Vial of Heaven also returned to its original form, falling into his hand. He raised his eyes and looked ahead.

Nangong Wan and the Golden Boy flew over and landed before Han Li.

"Sorry for making you worry." Han Li smiled.

"It's fine, as long as you are well." Nangong Wan shook her head and said.

"Fellow Daoist Han, what should we do next?" the Golden Boy asked.

Han Li did not speak, but his gaze looked toward the void above.