Chapter 681: Gray Realm Creatures

"It's my first time crossing swords with you alien races, and I was a bit curious, so I watched for a moment. That one over there is nothing special, but you are somewhat interesting—you actually carry some of our aura." The white-robed man glanced in the direction of the Blaze Immortal, then turned his gaze back to Han Li and spoke on his own initiative.

Han Li did not reply, his eyes fixed on the white-robed man as thoughts churned in his mind.

He noticed that while the other was forming hand seals, a faint gray light emanated from his body, exuding an aura very similar to that of Mo Yu when she had fully recovered in the Nethercold Immortal Mansion.

"Not answering? Heh... I hear you immortals have always regarded our Gray Realm as a desolate wilderness, an uncivilized alien species in a remote corner. But from what I see today, you seem inferior to us?" The white-robed man said with a laugh, a hint of contempt in his words.

With that, he bent down and sat cross-legged on the shoulder of the scaled beast. A gray light lit up in his palm as he pressed it against the golden lock on its neck, and the radiance emanating from the golden character on its forehead dimmed as if suppressed.

The scaled beast, bound by the golden lock, was immediately covered in a faint gray light, and its body began to move again.

"What kind of technique is this, able to suppress the time law power on the golden lock?" Han Li frowned, astonished inwardly.

Before his surprise could fade, a dozen or so green-skinned apes surged forward again, surrounding him.

Han Li flipped his hand, producing the gourd containing the Dao soldiers. He tossed it into the air and casually cast a spell.

The mouth of the gourd immediately shone with yellow light, and dark yellow beans shot out like rain. Upon landing, they flashed and transformed into hundreds of Dao soldiers, charging at the green-skinned apes.

"Oh, so these are your so-called Dao soldiers? Quite interesting..." The white-robed youth watched with keen interest, smiling.

"No need to protect me anymore. Go help Fellow Daoist Blaze." Han Li said, slightly lowering his head to the Essence Flame Firebird attached to him.

As he spoke, the silver flame armor covering his body retracted toward his head, eventually forming a silver flame bird on his shoulder. With a clear chirp, it flapped its wings and flew toward the Blaze Immortal.

At that moment, the Blaze Immortal was hard-pressed by several scaled beasts and green-skinned apes, barely holding his ground with the aid of the golden ancient mirror. He was already on the verge of retreat.

Only after the Essence Flame Firebird and the large group of Dao soldiers rushed over did his pressure ease slightly, allowing him to glance toward Han Li.

Han Li still stood facing the youth in the moon-white robe, sizing each other up, neither in a hurry to make a move.

"I hear you Gray Immortals have techniques to refine baleful aura into the body. Do you have techniques to expel baleful aura from the body?" Han Li raised an eyebrow and asked.

The white-robed youth raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised by the question. Then, as if thinking of something extremely amusing, he laughed heartily:

"Haha... No wonder your baleful aura is so heavy, almost comparable to ours. It seems you're also greedy for cultivation progress and somehow got your hands on one of our techniques, didn't you?"

"It seems soul search would be faster..." Han Li sighed lightly and said indifferently.

With that, he tapped the ground with his toe, and the Truth Dharma Wheel in his body rapidly reversed. His figure blurred and vanished from the spot.

The white-robed youth was momentarily stunned, realizing that Han Li had deliberately concealed his cultivation level in all his previous actions; his speed was far greater than he had estimated.

His eyes focused, gray light blazing in them. He clenched his fists tightly and let out a sudden roar.

A layer of solid, black baleful aura burst forth from his back, spreading out like a huge black shield, precisely blocking Han Li, whose figure had appeared there.

Han Li slashed his sword at the baleful aura black shield, and with a loud crash, his body was sent flying high.

He raised his hand and beckoned upward. The golden lock around the scaled beast's neck shone brightly, shifted slightly, rapidly shrank, and then clamped onto the gray immortal youth's ankle.

A golden character "Lock" lit up on his chest.

The gray immortal youth's body stiffened, and the black baleful shield behind him also froze, as if immobilized.

Han Li's eyes flickered. He did not rashly approach but instead turned his wrist and produced the emerald-green Profound Heaven Gourd, its mouth facing the gray immortal youth, the spiritual patterns on its surface lighting up.

With a heavy slap on the bottom of the gourd, a green vortex suddenly emerged at its mouth, accumulating a powerful force that instantly erupted.

Seeing this, the gray immortal youth's expression changed drastically. He stopped pretending to be restrained, gray light flaring around him. Twisting his wrist, he produced a palm-sized black token and tossed it upward.

The black token flew into the air and immediately expanded to the size of a shield.

On it was carved a beast head statue that Han Li had never seen before. With a flash of black light, its eyes lit up with a dark red glow, as if it had come to life.

Its mouth suddenly opened, revealing a blood-red vortex from which strange fluctuations emanated.

At the same time, accompanied by a thunderous roar, a flash of cyan sword light arrived in an instant.

It was the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword!

The next moment, a low growl came from the blood-red vortex on the token, and a blinding blood light sprayed out, striking the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.

A resonant clang rang out.

The emerald green light wrapped around the flying sword suddenly scattered, and its forward momentum vanished. The blood light also shattered and rolled back onto the token.

The gray immortal finally realized that this human was not simple. The smile left his face, replaced by extreme solemnity.

He twisted his wrist slightly, and a silvery-gray crystalline light appeared on his palm, as if he had put on an extremely thin silvery-gray glove. He grabbed the golden lock on his ankle and squeezed hard.

Under the silver light, the golden lock trembled violently, then its golden light converged. With a soft click, it was opened.

After recalling the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, Han Li took a deep breath and looked at the gray immortal with increased surprise.

He wondered what technique the other had used to suppress the law power contained in the golden lock, a ninth-grade immortal artifact.

He glanced at the Blaze Immortal, who, with the help of the Essence Flame Firebird and the Dao soldiers, had several green-skinned ape corpses lying around him and was fiercely fighting the remaining apes and scaled beasts, with no time to attend to this side.

"Our current situation is strange and unpredictable. I need to finish this quickly and figure out what's going on."

Having made up his mind, Han Li twisted his wrist, and a faint golden domain expanded, not too large, just enough to envelop himself, the gray immortal, and the scaled beast beneath him.

"Shift Shadow and Swap Forms..." Han Li silently activated the "Dharma Word Heaven and Earth" technique and murmured.

The white-robed youth, unaware of what was happening, felt a momentary blur. Somehow, his position had swapped with Han Li's, and he was suspended in midair.

Han Li, now standing on the shoulder of the scaled beast, raised his sword and cut off its massive head. A torrent of green blood sprayed out.

A few drops splattered onto the white-robed youth's face. He wiped them off, feeling the warm, sticky liquid—it seemed no illusion.

Looking at Han Li bathed in blood, a flicker of panic finally crossed his face.

At that moment, Han Li spoke again:

"Decapitate..."

With a slight sound, the white-robed youth felt a chill at his neck, and his vision spun wildly.

His head had separated from his body and was falling to the ground.

"No..." The already fallen head opened its mouth and shouted.

A silvery-gray light burst from his eyes, forming a three-inch-tall silvery-gray figure with indistinct features. Its body flashed with light, ready to teleport away.

But just as it was about to flee, it suddenly found the world reversed, and its physical body was still standing on the scaled beast's shoulder.

It then realized it had been deceived.

"Damn it..."

The silvery-gray figure's face showed shock and anger. A flash of escape light appeared on its body, and it tried to fly back into its physical body.

"Vortex Golden Light..."

At that moment, a low shout suddenly rang out.

A golden vortex suddenly appeared in the void, hovering behind the silvery-gray figure, from which faint Buddhist chants could be heard.

The silvery-gray figure felt the air around it tighten, and its escape light could no longer move.

Han Li naturally would not let it be swallowed by the vortex. He flew over, reached out, and captured it in his palm. With a cold gaze, a crystalline thread shot from between his brows, intending to forcibly soul-search the silvery-gray figure.

After a violent but futile struggle, a gray light suddenly lit up in the silvery-gray figure's abdomen.

Seeing this, Han Li sensed trouble and quickly tried to apply a restraint, but it was too late.

With a muffled bang, the silvery-gray figure exploded into fragments.

Han Li rubbed his hands in frustration and turned back to land on the scaled beast.

But unexpectedly, the beast, sensing its master's death, opened its mouth wide to devour the corpse.

Han Li snorted coldly. He combined the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords into one, condensing three golden thunder beads at the sword tip. He swiftly flew over and slashed at the ferocious beast.

With a thunderous roar.

The scaled beast's body, along with the ground beneath it, was cleaved in two. A large amount of green flame poured out, spreading in a green pool.

Han Li waved his hand, grabbing the gray immortal's physical body. After searching it, he did not find the black token used earlier, only a white bone bracelet on its wrist.

"Could it be a storage artifact?" Han Li wondered. He tried to refine it, but there was no response.

He casually put it on his own wrist, then waved his hand to open the Flower Branch Cave Heaven, directly tossing the gray immortal's corpse into the first floor of the pavilion where Mo Guang resided.

Then he immediately closed the cave heaven, withdrew his domain, and turned to rush toward the Blaze Immortal.

Working together, the two quickly eliminated all the remaining Gray Realm creatures.

Looking at the corpses strewn across the ground, the Blaze Immortal frowned and muttered to himself:

"Could these people all be from the Gray Realm?"