Chapter 249: Provoking the Immortal Palace

The cyan figure, after repelling Han Li and the other two with a casual gesture, did not press the attack but instead flew down beside the white-haired elder's corpse, waving a hand to emit a cyan light that enveloped the body, as if trying to heal him.

But the white-haired elder's soul had already been utterly extinguished, not a trace remaining; now only a spent husk of a body remained, dead beyond death.

The cyan figure abruptly raised his head, looking at Han Li and the other two, his eyes filled with fury.

“You Wuchang Alliance scoundrels truly have audacious guts, daring to scheme against the Immortal Palace! You’re asking for death!”

"Immortal Palace!"

Han Li was startled upon hearing this.

"Fellow Daoist Lin Jiu, what is the meaning of this?" He looked at Lin Jiu and asked in a deep voice.

Lin Shiqi's expression also turned grim, and she looked at Lin Jiu with eyes full of reproach.

"Do not misunderstand, fellow Daoists. I know nothing about this, and I certainly did not intend to deceive you. The task I received was merely to kill that white-haired old man; the one who issued it did not explain his identity..." Lin Jiu said with a pained expression.

Han Li carefully observed Lin Jiu's expression, and seeing that he did not seem to be lying, he withdrew his gaze and began to ponder.

With a great enemy before them, they could not afford to fall into disarray.

At this moment, the cyan figure formed hand seals with both hands, and as a brilliant cyan light radiated from his body, streaks of cyan patterns emerged.

The specks of cyan light from the earlier three cyan orbs that had shattered and dispersed, along with the cyan light that once again emerged from the flowers, grass, and trees in the valley, surged wildly once more and merged into those cyan patterns, causing the figure's body to suddenly swell and in the blink of an eye transform into a cyan-armored giant over a hundred zhang tall.

When Han Li and the other two simultaneously released their divine senses to scan the cyan-armored giant again, they all drew in a cold breath.

The terrifying aura emanating from the giant at this moment was no less than that of the old man who had swallowed the Burning Infant Blood Pill, and even seemed to be slightly stronger, sending a chill through the hearts of the three.

"Soul-Stealing Return to Origin! Not good, this person is a Golden Immortal avatar, everyone be careful!" Lin Jiu suddenly shouted.

Although Han Li had already guessed as much, his heart still tightened upon hearing this.

Having spent many years in the Candle Dragon Dao, his knowledge was far beyond what it had been back then, and he was not entirely ignorant of the Golden Immortal realm; Soul-Stealing Return to Origin was one of its most distinctive features.

A Golden Immortal's control over immortal spiritual power far surpassed that of a True Immortal. During battle, the dissipated spiritual power could be recalled from a distance, greatly reducing the consumption of immortal spiritual power—this was precisely what made Golden Immortals so terrifying.

Judging by the techniques the person before them had just displayed, he was clearly a Golden Immortal who had mastered some kind of wood-attribute law, able to launch attacks by drawing on the surrounding wood-attribute spiritual energy. If they allowed him to continue cycling and recalling the consumed immortal spiritual power like this, it would spell trouble.

Just as these thoughts were turning in the minds of the three, the azure-armored giant had already lunged forward. Its massive form moved with astonishing speed; with a flash of azure light, it appeared before them as if by teleportation. Its fist, the size of a house, blazed with azure light as it punched down toward Lin Nine.

It was as if a thunderclap had exploded in the void, followed by an invisible shockwave that burst forth like a hurricane, radiating an immensely powerful fluctuation of laws.

Lin Nine did not dodge. Instead, he quickly formed hand seals before his chest.

The golden millstone before him blazed with light, instantly expanding to the size of a small mountain, and hummed as it spun rapidly, meeting the giant's fist.

A deafening, earth-shattering boom!

Azure and golden light collided, then violently exploded.

The golden millstone was sent flying by the punch. Lin Nine's body shook violently, and he was thrown backward like a tattered sack.

However, this golden millstone was no ordinary treasure. The force of its rebound caused the azure-armored giant to stagger, taking two steps back. The azure light on the surface of one fist seemed to scatter slightly, but as the cyan patterns on its arm lit up, the dispersed azure light gathered back again.

Before it could fully recover, figures flickered on the giant's left and right—Han Li and Lin Seventeen appeared.

Han Li gave a low shout. The black water light of the Heavy Water True Wheel in his hand blazed brightly, expanding further to the size of a house. It spun rapidly, emitting an overwhelmingly powerful gravitational fluctuation.

He formed a hand seal and pointed. The Heavy Water True Wheel transformed into a black rainbow, striking down toward the azure-armored giant.

On the other side, Lin Shiqi silently formed a hand seal and summoned a large seal, square and entirely earth-yellow in color, with a yellow coiled dragon perched on top, resembling the imperial jade seal of the mortal world, surrounded by dazzling yellow radiance.

Lin Shiqi rapidly muttered incantations under his breath and pressed his palm into the void.

The yellow seal burst with brilliant light, flashing and expanding a hundredfold, with a faint yellow dragon phantom appearing within the blinding yellow glow, crashing down toward the azure-armored giant.

Through their previous battles, the three had developed some默契 in their coordination.

The azure-armored giant, though unsteady, showed no panic. He flipped his arms and reached out both palms to grab the Heavy Water True Wheel and the yellow seal.

Both palms blazed with azure light, and countless azure runes surged forth, transforming into layers of azure ripples—over a dozen layers—that collided with the yellow seal and the Heavy Water True Wheel.

With a series of crisp cracks, the yellow seal broke through several layers of azure ripples.

However, this azure ripple technique, whatever it was, proved extremely tough; with each layer broken, the seal's descent slowed slightly.

Finally, after breaking through eight layers of ripples, the yellow seal exhausted its power, halted, and was seized by a sweeping azure giant palm.

Lin Shiqi's expression changed.

At the same time, on the other side, the Heavy Water True Wheel controlled by Han Li also collided with the azure ripples.

A series of tearing sounds rang out as over a dozen layers of sturdy cyan ripples were easily torn apart like paper before the Heavy Water True Wheel.

The True Wheel's speed did not diminish at all as it howled down.

The cyan-armored giant seemed somewhat surprised. Its giant palm turned, transforming from a palm into a fist, with cyan patterns flashing on its surface.

The shattered cyan ripples all shot back like a whale inhaling water, causing the cyan fist to instantly become somewhat more solid before it punched out fiercely.

Han Li let out a loud shout, his face suddenly turning blood-red as he rapidly formed hand seals like a spinning wheel.

The water dao patterns on the Heavy Water True Wheel suddenly brightened, operating at their peak. With a flash of watery light, a row of gleaming water blades emerged on the wheel's edge, spinning rapidly with a terrifying whirring sound, and struck the cyan giant fist.

A loud boom!

The cyan giant fist, having not fully recovered earlier, was now split in two by the blow.

The Heavy Water True Wheel spun rapidly, cutting all the way along the giant's arm, as if intending to cleave the cyan-armored giant in two.

The cyan-armored giant's expression changed sharply, seemingly not expecting the Heavy Water True Wheel's power to reach such a level. It opened its mouth wide.

A slender, dazzling cyan thread shot out, so brilliant it was hard to look at directly, emitting intense law fluctuations as it swiftly and silently wound around the Heavy Water True Wheel.

The Heavy Water True Wheel immediately stopped, and the watery blades on its surface shattered one after another upon contact with the cyan thread.

Taking advantage of this, the cyan-armored giant moved its feet, its massive form about to fly backward.

But at that moment, Han Li's hand seals suddenly changed. Black runes emerged on the surface of the Heavy Water True Wheel, intertwining with the cyan thread before both dissipated together.

Then the True Wheel swiftly followed up, spinning and cutting. With a series of metallic crashing sounds, before the giant could escape, it severed one of its arms cleanly at the shoulder. Then, continuing to spin wildly, it chopped the arm into tiny pieces, which turned into clusters of cyan light.

The cyan-armored giant steadied itself in the distance, glanced at the severed arm, and frowned slightly.

"You do have some strength. I underestimated you earlier," the giant said, gazing deeply at Han Li. Though anger still churned in its eyes, it had calmed considerably.

A layer of cyan light appeared at the severed arm. The cyan light from the severed arm immediately turned into a torrent of cyan light that shot back and merged into the wound.

After a flash and swirl of cyan light, the severed arm grew back, though the cyan patterns on it were somewhat dimmer than before.

Seeing this, Han Li waved his hand to recall the Heavy Water True Wheel. His face was pale, appearing greatly depleted of energy. He flipped his hand to take out an immortal jade stone to replenish his immortal power.

Activating the Heavy Water True Wheel consumed a lot of immortal power, but not to this extent. However, in front of Lin Jiu and the others, he dared not appear too relaxed.

Seeing Han Li's current state, Lin Jiu felt relieved.

The power of that black wheel was truly alarming, but seeing Han Li like this, apparently its activation greatly drained his energy, which put Lin Jiu somewhat at ease.

Lin Shiqi, however, did not notice Han Li's condition. He continuously formed hand seals, trying to recall the large yellow seal still firmly gripped by the cyan-armored giant's other hand.

But no matter how the yellow seal's surface flashed wildly or how it struggled, it could not break free in the slightest.

"May I ask which Golden Immortal senior of the North Cold Immortal Palace you are? We came here today only to carry out a mission, with no intention of opposing the North Cold Immortal Palace. Could there be some misunderstanding?" Lin Jiu said, looking at the cyan-armored giant after calming himself.

From the series of exchanges just now, he could tell that although the opponent was a Golden Immortal incarnation, it did not possess true Golden Immortal strength, at most equivalent to a True Immortal peak. Otherwise, none of the three of them would have survived.

The cyan-armored giant did not respond at all. Instead, it opened its mouth and spat out a ball of cyan light containing countless cyan runes, which shot into the yellow seal in its hand.

The yellow seal's surface flashed wildly, and in an instant, it was covered by a faint layer of cyan light. Rings of cyan light radiated outward, several times brighter than before.

Lin Shiqi's expression changed. The imprint within the seal was erased in an instant, and his spiritual connection with it vanished. That treasure no longer belonged to him.

"You!" Lin Shiqi roared in fury, lunging forward.

That seal was a treasured personal artifact, almost equivalent to a natal treasure. Having it snatched away was like losing an arm.

Lin Jiu wanted to stop him, but it was too late.

Lin Shiqi waved his hand, and five yellow pearls shot out. With a brilliant flash of light, they transformed into five hundred-zhang-tall earth-yellow mountains.

The five mountains spun and merged into one, forming a thousand-zhang giant peak that radiated ten thousand beams of yellow light. Dense yellow runes appeared on the mountain's surface.

Rumble!

An immensely heavy law fluctuation radiated from the giant peak, causing everything within a thousand li to suddenly become a hundred times heavier.

"Gravity law."

Han Li's body also felt heavier, but such gravity was naturally nothing to him. With a swirl of cyan light on his body, he immediately recovered.

The light from the thousand-zhang giant peak intensified once more, and it slammed down fiercely toward the cyan-armored giant, emitting a terrifying aura that seemed to destroy everything.

Han Li and Lin Jiu exchanged a glance and also lunged forward simultaneously.

As before, the two split up, flanking the cyan-armored giant left and right. The Heavy Water True Wheel and the golden millstone blazed with light, striking at the cyan-armored giant from both sides.

Since the opponent left no room for negotiation, they had no choice but to fight.