Chapter 231: The Power of Heavy Water

The golden puppet had no sooner appeared than it vanished in a blur, only to reappear the next moment above Han Li's head like a ghost.

With a flash of golden light, a golden-armored puppet over three zhang tall, clad in bright armor and wielding a demon-subduing pestle, stepped forth and swung the pestle down at Han Li's head.

After tossing a black sphere toward the direction of the Heavy Water True Wheel, Han Li raised an arm and punched upward at the descending demon-subduing pestle.

Golden scales flipped up on his arm, which swelled by a full size, and it collided heavily with the demon-subduing pestle.

With a thunderous crash,

a gleaming golden fist struck the demon-subduing pestle with great force, stirring up an even more violent surge of air waves.

Before the sound here had faded, a deafening roar also erupted from the direction of the Heavy Water True Wheel.

The Heavy Water Pattern Thunderbolt that Han Li had just thrown exploded with a bang.

A ring of violent silver arcs immediately spread in all directions, enveloping an area over a hundred zhang in radius.

The white mass of light formed by the gaunt old man's flying sword bore the brunt and was scattered, but the Heavy Water True Wheel was largely unaffected, continuing to spin and charge forward.

Then came several bangs as five of the seven flying swords shattered under the immense force of the Heavy Water True Wheel, turning into powder.

With his life-bound flying sword destroyed, the old man felt his mind shaken and his blood surging, and he violently coughed up a mouthful of blood.

He didn't bother to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, and looked toward Han Li. A flicker of disbelief immediately crossed his face—the golden-armored puppet he had nurtured within his body for years was slowly cracking with fissures like broken porcelain.

Only then did he realize what was happening. He didn't even care about the two remaining flying swords. With a flash of escape light, he sped off into the distance without hesitation, at an astonishing speed.

At almost the same moment, the golden-armored puppet shattered with a crack.

"Elder Li, that fellow has escaped!" Bai Suyuan shouted from a distance.

Han Li glanced at the direction in which the old man had fled, but was in no hurry to give chase.

With a wave of his hand, he first put away the Heavy Water True Wheel, then collected the two remaining flying swords and the pellet that could transform into a golden net into his storage bracelet.

Immediately after, countless silver arcs of electricity appeared on his body, and with a flash, they transformed into a circular lightning formation over a hundred feet in diameter, with countless silver runes flickering within it.

With a thunderous roar that shook heaven and earth, the silver formation vanished without a trace, leaving only a few residual silver arcs flickering on the snowy ridge, which soon dissipated as well, leaving Bai Suyuan and the others standing there, looking at each other in bewilderment.

After all, True Immortal realm cultivators were far too distant for them; the brief exchange between Han Li and the other man, lasting only a few breaths, had been like lightning and flint, leaving their minds utterly shaken beyond measure.

Over a hundred thousand li away, above a snowfield, the gaunt old man, with blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, was frantically urging his divine abilities forward, speeding ahead as fast as he could.

His face was stern, and deep in his eyes lay intense fear.

Based on the information he had gathered before, this Elder Li was merely a newly joined early-stage loose immortal of the Candle Dragon Sect, but from their fight, this man possessed a True Wheel treasure and bizarre divine abilities. Although he had not yet used all his own means, he knew in his heart that if he continued to fight, he would surely die. Now, though he fled in panic, fortunately that man had not pursued him.

But just then, a thunderous roar suddenly sounded from the high sky.

The old man looked up and saw a silver arc of lightning as thick as a water vat plunging straight down from the sky. Amidst the flashing lightning, there was even a human figure, robes fluttering, black hair dancing, descending like a heavenly god.

In his hand, he held a black spear, surrounded by lightning, thrusting it down toward him.

The suddenness of the event left the gaunt old man with no way to dodge, so he quickly raised both hands and offered up a round shield covered in scales to block above his head.

With a loud bang!

The lightning-wreathed Heavy Water Spear pierced straight through the shield, driving down through the old man's crown and skewering him through and through.

But just then, a small figure about three inches tall, wrapped in a golden armor, suddenly flashed out from the old man's head.

Before Han Li could employ any means, a layer of blood light suddenly appeared on the surface of the small figure's skin, and then its form instantly transformed into a cloud of blood mist, dissipating and vanishing without a trace.

Han Li immediately released his divine sense, covering an area of tens of thousands of li in an instant, but found nothing and had to give up.

He slowly pulled out the Heavy Water Spear embedded in the old man's body, and with a grab of his hand in the void, the storage bracelet on the old man's wrist automatically detached and flew toward him.

The entire motion was as smooth as flowing water.

After grabbing the storage bracelet, he probed it with his divine sense and found that there were quite a few things inside. Besides several high-quality magic treasures, there were actually over ten immortal essence stones, which made this pursuit worthwhile.

Putting away the storage bracelet, Han Li's遁光 rose, and he flew back the way he had come.

But when he returned, he found that Bai Suyuan and the others had been brought by Su Tongxiao to a valley near Pinecone Ridge, where they were joined by Fang Yu and over ten disciples from the other two teams.

Except for Qi Huanyu's group, where four had their physical bodies destroyed, the other disciples had no casualties, but many still wore lingering looks of fear.

Su Tongxiao was now sitting cross-legged on a large rock in the valley, his aura somewhat unstable, as if he had been injured.

"How did it go, Brother Li? Did you catch that person?" As soon as he saw Han Li, he immediately came over and asked.

Clearly, he already knew what had happened here.

"That person's physical body was destroyed, but his nascent soul escaped using an unknown blood escape technique," Han Li shook his head and said.

"Fortunately, Brother Li arrived in time, and these disciples are mostly unharmed. I was careless on my end, alas... But destroying that bastard's physical body counts as some explanation to the sect." Su Tongxiao sighed.

"Brother Su, what do you think? Should the trial continue?" Han Li asked.

"With a True Immortal stage cultivator interfering in the trial, there's no guarantee he doesn't have other contingencies. To be safe, the trial must be terminated. Let's report back to the sect first." Su Tongxiao shook his head.

"That's fine too." Han Li nodded.

"By the way, this time thanks to Brother Li's intervention, you should have a share of the tributes from those elders." Su Tongxiao suddenly leaned in, took out a storage pouch from his bosom, pressed it into Han Li's hand, and transmitted his voice.

"Brother Su is too kind." Han Li said nothing more and put away the storage pouch.

After all, if he hadn't intervened in time, Su Tongxiao would likely be in a much more difficult situation now.

To prevent further incidents, everyone chose not to fly but to walk back along the original path.

After this incident, these disciples who considered themselves the darlings of heaven became more subdued; even Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan lost their earlier high spirits and grew much quieter.

Su Tongxiao led the way at the front, the disciples in the middle, and Han Li brought up the rear alone.

Perhaps because she had learned from that person that the Bai family's ancestor was still alive, Bai Suyuan, after thanking Han Li, walked alone in the middle of the group, looking somewhat preoccupied.

Sun Ke, walking and stopping, hesitated repeatedly before deliberately falling to the back of the group and quietly coming to Han Li's side.

Just as he was thinking about how to start, he suddenly heard a familiar voice: "Fellow Daoist Sun, it's good to see you again."

"Ah... it really is Brother Li... no, Elder Li..." Sun Ke was momentarily stunned, then quickly replied with a respectful expression.

"I concealed much on the跨海雷舟; I hope you don't mind." Han Li replied with a smile.

"How could I dare... I just never expected Elder Li to be an inner sect elder of Candlestick Dao. If I had known, I wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to find connections and offer treasures to others just to get a chance to enter the inner sect. I could have simply offered the treasures to you." Sun Ke replied with some regret.

"I didn't expect it either. If I had known you were coming, we could have come together. Speaking of which, I still fondly remember your fine wines. These past days, seeing you take out that fire-spittle wine from afar has made me crave it all the way." Han Li laughed heartily.

"Since Elder Li likes it, I still have some here; I'll give it to you." Sun Ke said without hesitation.

"Fellow Daoist Sun, I have an impertinent request. I wonder if you could agree?" Han Li didn't respond directly but changed the subject.

"Elder Li, please speak freely." Sun Ke was slightly startled.

"I would like to trade a spiritual treasure for the recipe of this fire-spittle wine. Would you be willing?" Han Li said directly.

"To be honest, Elder Li, this wine is different from other spiritual wines. Its recipe is a secret passed down through my family for generations; it's probably lost elsewhere. Although I secretly brought it out, my clan strictly forbids sharing it... However, you have saved my life twice now. Though my cultivation is low, I am not one to forget kindness. I'll give you the recipe." Sun Ke's face first showed some hesitation, but then he gritted his teeth and said.

"Since you gift me the recipe, I will also give you a spiritual treasure, lest people accuse me of bullying the weak. This sword is of high grade and thus hard to control. After you refine it, you must practice more, so as not to disgrace it." Han Li said, turning his hand and producing a storage pouch, which he handed over.

Inside the pouch was the golden sword taken from the mirage beast.

Sun Ke's face showed a trace of fear, but he didn't refuse and took the storage pouch, while handing over an old paper page of unknown material and a fiery red exquisite wine bottle.

Han Li first put away the wine bottle, then examined the recipe recorded on the old paper page for a moment, took out a jade slip to copy it, and returned the original to Sun Ke.

This scene was noticed by the other disciples walking ahead. Seeing that Sun Ke had a close relationship with an inner sect elder, they all became envious and looked at him differently.

Even if their own families had True Immortals, they wouldn't have the courage to interact with a True Immortal as an equal.

Especially in their eyes, this "Elder Li" seemed more formidable than Elder Su and likely held a higher position in the sect, since Tang Chuan's group under his protection had no major casualties, while Qi Huanyu's group under Elder Su's protection had four people whose physical bodies were destroyed.

Several female cultivators also looked at Sun Ke with a hint of something in their eyes.

As for Han Li, his generous transaction with Sun Ke in front of everyone was naturally intended to make the others regard Sun Ke differently, and the latter understood this tacitly.