Chapter 1024: Ten Thousand Pounds Pressing Down

The electric arcs on the Spirit Treasure's light barrier sensed Han Li's approach. With a thunderous roar, blinding light simultaneously shot down.

Han Li let out a low whistle. Behind him, a golden electric dragon flew upwards, self-destructing with a loud bang.

A giant golden net instantly materialized, shielding Han Li beneath it.

All the silver arcs struck the golden net, silently dissipating into nothingness.

"Han Li, it's you!""Elder Han!"

As Han Li retracted his escape light and revealed himself, Old Devil Gan and the middle-aged cultivator cried out almost simultaneously, one in anger, the other in surprise.

Han Li was startled by their words and couldn't help but glance back at the square-faced middle-aged cultivator. He saw a look of surprise on his face, but Han Li didn't recognize him.

Feeling a bit curious, he nonetheless continued his actions without pause. Amidst a phoenix cry, his Three-Flame Fan struck out a three-colored fireball, instantly blasting a large hole in the light barrier before him. Then, with a flicker of his body, he stood outside the barrier.

Only then did he feel a sense of relief and turn to glance back.

Outside the light barrier, Young Master Xu and Lin Yinping had just appeared on the platform. Upon seeing Han Li emerge on the other side of the restriction, their expressions naturally turned grim.

Han Li, meanwhile, sneered twice.

"Since so many of you have arrived," Han Li said, a strange note in his voice, "I'll find something for you all to do, lest you become too idle." Then, with a casual flick of his finger, a golden arc shot out with a thunderous crack.

The moment it touched the other silver arcs on the light barrier, the golden arc immediately fizzled and vanished into them. But the next moment, it strangely shot out from the other side of the light barrier.

With a "boom," the arc, swift as lightning, directly struck an inconspicuous stone pillar at the edge of the platform.

A muffled grunt immediately followed, revealing a Silver-Winged Yaksha, a Lion-Beast, and an ugly woman whose waist was as thick as a water bucket.

"Lion-Beast!" Young Master Xu instantly recognized the Lion-Beast, the most distinctive of the fierce beasts, among the three demonic creatures, and cried out, his heart chilling.

Lin Yinping and the others were startled by this revelation and immediately adopted a defensive stance.

"Grand Elder!"

Ge Tianhao and the others, who had just arrived, immediately spotted the Five-Son Concentric Demon within the light barrier and were overjoyed.

The three demons, forced out of hiding by the single strike, were utterly frustrated. The Silver-Winged Yaksha, in particular, recognized Han Li as the enemy who had nearly taken its life and ruined its plans, and couldn't help but curse inwardly. At the same time, it secretly wondered why its opponent could repeatedly see through its Wind-Concealment Technique, making it so incredibly passive.

Presently, under Young Master Xu's grim gaze, the three demons felt extremely awkward.

They weren't truly afraid of these human cultivators; instead, they had hoped these cultivators would break through a crucial restriction further ahead. But now that their presence had been discovered, they were at a loss as to how to proceed.

Young Master Xu's gaze swept over the Silver-Winged Yaksha and the ugly woman, his heart surging like turbulent waves and secretly filled with extreme dread.

The demonic energy emanating from these two transformed demonic beasts was truly astonishing, seemingly no less than that of the Lion-Beast. After briefly assessing the strengths of both sides, the young man secretly groaned and dared not to act rashly.

Meanwhile, Old Devil Gan and Elder Ye of the Ye family within the light barrier saw this startling change and wanted to stop, but the two bronze lions relentlessly continued their pursuit. Left with no choice, they could only continue dealing with them while warily putting distance between each other.

All parties, wary of each other, were temporarily locked in a stalemate.

Han Li, however, paid no attention to this chaotic situation. With a flicker of his body, he rushed further inside. Since he had this excellent opportunity to seize the treasure first, he naturally wouldn't hesitate.

After a few leaps, he stood before a mountain gate entirely constructed of exquisite jade.

This mountain gate was rather peculiar. Aside from two lonely rows of unknown giant trees on either side, there was nothing else; the surroundings were completely empty.

Through the widely open gate, along a pristine white stone path in the middle, a grand, ancient palace could faintly be seen over a thousand zhang away, appearing exceptionally majestic.

"It seems this is Kunwu Hall!" Han Li murmured. After a slight pause, his gaze swept around again, finally landing on the giant trees on both sides.

Each of these giant trees was twenty to thirty zhang tall. Both their branches and trunks were extremely withered and yellow, yet they inexplicably gave off a feeling of lush prosperity, which Han Li found slightly strange.

He carefully scanned the giant trees with his divine sense, finding nothing unusual. Both inside and out, the giant trees were indeed ordinary, without any abnormal fluctuations.

Han Li's brow furrowed imperceptibly, and his gaze finally left the giant trees.

A moment later, his divine sense scanned the entire mountain gate again. After confirming there were no hidden restrictions either, he no longer hesitated, stepping into the mountain gate and heading straight for Kunwu Hall in the distance.

But Han Li never expected that the moment his feet stepped about ten zhang onto the white stone path, he would suddenly feel a chill rising all over his body as an unusual sensation instantly enveloped him.

"Not good!" Han Li cried out inwardly. He wanted to shoot back, but it was already too late. Before he could even ascend, an immense pressure bore down on him, catching him off guard. His knees went weak, and he was about to fall directly onto the white stone ground.

Without thinking further, Han Li let out a loud roar. His body's protective spiritual light flared brightly, and a ball of radiant green light enveloped him. Only then did his body sink halfway down, kneeling on one knee.

At the same time, his entire body continued to tremble, and cracking sounds continuously erupted from within him, as if all his bones were being crushed alive.

Han Li's shock was immense!

His protective spiritual light only managed to alleviate a small portion of the immense pressure. Even though it was slightly better than before, he could only barely manage to stay upright, as if tens of thousands of jin of force were simultaneously pressing down on his entire body.

He believed that if he hadn't cultivated the "Ming Jue" and consumed the Heavenly Corpse Pearl, making his body's toughness far surpass that of ordinary cultivators, this single impact would have been enough to shatter all his bones, leaving him prostrate and utterly immobile.

Yet he had clearly searched the vicinity carefully, and no magical formations had appeared. How could he have inexplicably fallen into such a powerful restriction?

Han Li secretly groaned inwardly. Without further thought, incantations rapidly spilled from his mouth. At this moment, he couldn't even move a finger; to cast divine abilities, he could only rely on incantations to barely activate them.

In a blink, crackling sounds of thunder again echoed within the green light.

Amidst the flashing electricity, a layer of golden electric armor appeared on his body. Under its coercive effect, Han Li's body slightly swayed, and he gritted his teeth, attempting to slowly stand up.

But as he straightened up halfway, he felt the force on him suddenly intensify, pressing him back down onto one knee.

This time, Han Li's expression truly changed drastically.

While Han Li was trapped at the mountain gate, Old Devil Gan and the others downhill, due to the light barrier's obstruction and the mountain gate's high location, could only see Han Li seemingly swallowed by a group attack, unaware of the actual circumstances.

This naturally made all those coveting the treasure unable to restrain themselves.

"You beast, you truly seek death. I shall grant you your wish!" Old Devil Gan's furious voice suddenly came from within the light barrier.

Immediately, the five white shadows within the restriction suddenly gathered in the center, merging into a single white giant figure several zhang tall. However, it did not strike at the square-faced cultivator from the Ye family. Instead, its large hand suddenly flipped and swiped backward.

The white shadow flashed, and its arm instantly transformed into a white python, swallowing a bronze lion that was pouncing from behind. Then, the white python coiled its body, detached from the giant's form, and turned into a massive ball of light, completely trapping the bronze lion within.

No matter how the bronze puppet thrashed inside, spewing pillars of light, the ball remained utterly motionless.

On the other side, the square-faced cultivator also suddenly tapped the giant bone ring on his body.

In an instant, the ring shone with ten thousand rays of light, conjuring countless yellow ring shadows. But under the cultivator's spell, the giant phantoms suddenly vanished, only to reappear the next moment above the head of the other bronze lion that was pursuing the middle-aged cultivator. The countless ring shadows then unceremoniously fell, and circles of light instantly trapped the beast, causing it to flip over and fall immediately as they tightened.

However, the square-faced cultivator no longer looked at the bronze beast. Instead, he grimly stared at the white giant figure opposite him.

"Hmph! The Sky-Covering Bracelet indeed lives up to its reputation," Old Devil Gan's voice suddenly came coldly from the mouth of the giant white shadow. "According to rumors, this treasure is a replica of the ancient Spirit Treasure 'Moon Reflection Ring,' though it has never been confirmed. In my opinion, even if it's a replica of a Heaven-Penetrating Spirit Treasure, it's not much inferior to the original."

"Without this treasure to protect me, I, Ye, would have long since perished by Brother Gan's hand," the square-faced cultivator sneered. "But Fellow Daoist, now that you're tangled up, aren't you afraid that the young man just now will take all the treasures?" He then deliberately glanced towards the mountain gate.

"Oh! If Kunwu Hall's restrictions were so easy to break, wouldn't Fellow Daoist Ye have already entered the hall and taken the treasures? Why would I have caught up to you here?" Old Devil Gan's voice instantly turned icy. "However, Brother Ye just called that person 'Elder Ye.' Is he a cultivator from your Ye family?"

"Haha, I, Ye, must have mistaken him for someone else," the square-faced cultivator chuckled, his eyes subtly shifting, speaking in a way that left his sincerity unclear. "I don't recognize this person."

Old Devil Gan fell silent for a moment, seeming to gauge the truthfulness of the other party's words. But a moment later, he spoke again, coldly:

"Regardless of whether this person is truly related to the Ye family, he's an outsider from Tiannan; your Ye family couldn't possibly truly trust such a person. You've gone to great lengths to find Kunwu Mountain and open this seal; do you truly want the treasures to fall into an outsider's hands? Since I cannot do anything to you for now, and I have no interest in continuing this entanglement with you, why don't we cooperate to break this restriction first? Then, once we reach Kunwu Hall, we can each rely on our own abilities to seize the treasures!"

"Each rely on our own abilities! Good, I, Ye, had precisely this intention!"

To Old Devil Gan's great surprise, he had originally thought the other party would hesitate, but the square-faced middle-aged man agreed without a second thought.

This, in turn, made the Old Devil pause, then become somewhat hesitant.