Chapter 1030: Sneak Attack

The tortoise demon and the other two demons dismounted from its back. They immediately shimmered with spiritual light, transforming back into their original forms. Their ugly faces appeared exceptionally pale, suggesting they had expended considerable vital energy passing through the Golden Magnetic Divine Light.

The three demons instantly darted towards the main hall without hesitation.

At this moment, Old Devil Qian, in his blood shadow form, had already flown in ahead of them. The three demons clearly saw countless silver threads pierce through the blood shadow, riddling its body with holes. However, the blood shadow simultaneously erupted with dazzling crimson light, continuously repairing itself even as its body was being damaged.

Despite this, Old Devil Qian's blood shadow form did not pause, disappearing into the North Pole Primordial Light in a flash.

Witnessing this, the three demons dared not delay any further. As if they had already discussed a strategy, the Lion-Beast suddenly shifted, taking the lead, and simultaneously opened its gaping maw.

A silent golden sound wave sprayed from its mouth. Wherever it passed, all the silver threads instantly snapped into pieces.

Following closely, the Silver-Winged Yaksha vigorously flapped its wings. A surge of green strong wind erupted from its wings, combining with the golden wave to immediately blow the broken silver threads away, making them vanish.

Thus, under the continuous sweeping of the two abilities, a "clearance" finally appeared. The three demons seized the opportunity to rush into it, then slowly made their way towards the deeper parts of the main hall.

Outside Kunwu Hall, Lin Yinping's beautiful face turned grim. In an instant, the only ones remaining to continue destroying the gigantic trees were her group and Ge Tianhao's party.

She bit her pearly teeth slightly, her delicate brows furrowed, and she turned her head to speak to the young man surnamed Xu: "Brother Xu. We..."

"Saintess, there's no need to rush. Our main target is merely that young man surnamed Han. The treasures in this hall are of no consequence to us. Besides, so many people have already gone in. How could those treasures be easily monopolized by anyone? We'll just finish destroying these giant trees, then guard the hall entrance," the young man surnamed Xu said indifferently, while continuously attacking a giant tree with his jade flying sword.

"Haha! Brother Xu's words make sense!" Ge Tianhao also clapped his hands and laughed aloud. "Even if others obtain treasures, they'll still have to come out through the hall entrance. Although we can't enter the North Pole Primordial Light, if they want to leave easily, they'll have to ask for our permission!"

Lin Yinping looked at the silver light threads within the main hall. After a moment of thought, she calmly nodded.

The other two black-robed elders, hearing this explanation, also found it reasonable. Their anxieties about gains and losses lessened considerably. They likewise diligently continued attacking the giant trees.

In a flash, a "boom" echoed. A giant, scorched yellow tree over ten zhang tall toppled under their assault.

At the same time, Han Li let out a long breath in the depths of Kunwu Hall, turning to glance at the dense silver light threads behind him.

"Those ancient cultivators were truly cunning," he murmured. "To have intentionally set up another illusion array within the North Pole Primordial Light... If I didn't have the Spirit Clarity Eyes, it would have been quite troublesome to get out." Only then did Han Li turn his head to look forward.

His current position appeared to be the latter half of Kunwu Hall, an area not particularly large. Directly opposite him, two rows of over ten wooden chairs of various styles formed what seemed to be a council chamber.

At the end of these wooden chairs, another pale golden chair was placed in the very center. Beside this chair stood a green table, about a zhang tall.

The chair was unremarkable, merely carved from ordinary gold-thread spirit wood. However, the table was entirely emerald green, as if dripping, and exuded abundant spiritual energy, clearly not an ordinary item. Moreover, it was currently enveloped by a layer of green light, and through this light, several objects could be faintly seen resting on the jade table.

These must be Kunwu Hall's treasures!

Han Li raised an eyebrow and scanned his surroundings. The area was empty, with nothing particularly eye-catching. Finally, his gaze returned to the front and, looking up, fell upon a certain object.

On the hall wall behind the pale golden chair, an inconspicuous painting was hanging: a "Three Figures Gazing at the Moon" picture.

Three blurry figures—a monk, a Daoist, and a Confucian scholar—were depicted in a bamboo forest, seemingly conversing under a full moon.

Because the painting was only about a foot in size, its colors slightly yellowed and faded, and showed no spiritual light, Han Li initially didn't notice it. But now, he stared at it motionless, his eyes narrowed, completely engrossed.

After a long while, Han Li lowered his head, a thoughtful expression on his face.

He hadn't discerned anything unusual about the painting just now, and his spiritual sense scan also showed it to be ordinary. Yet, he still vaguely felt something strange about it. How could a mundane item be hanging in such a place?

His expression fluctuating, Han Li suddenly lifted a hand with a determined look. A golden light, a zhang long, shot out and fiercely slashed at the painting, the sword light bursting forth.

Amidst the flashing golden light, the "Three Figures Gazing at the Moon" painting was torn to shreds, its fragments scattering down through the air.

Seeing this, Han Li was taken aback.

"Was he just overthinking it?" Han Li wondered, feeling a little puzzled.

However, having already acted, he naturally wouldn't hold back now.

Han Li promptly flicked his sleeve, and several fist-sized fireballs appeared before him. After a slight intake of breath, he was about to use his spiritual sense to launch these fireballs, intending to burn the remaining painting fragments clean.

But just then, Silvermoon's startled cry echoed in Han Li's mind without warning: "Master, look out!"

Han Li was startled. Although his spiritual sense detected no anomaly, his body blurred without hesitation. Seven or eight identical illusory figures instantly materialized, making it impossible to distinguish Han Li's true body for a moment.

Almost simultaneously, the bluestone ground a zhang behind Han Li exploded. Amidst the debris, spiritual light flashed rapidly, and several illusory figures were pierced from behind by golden-silver spikes. However, from one of them came a sharp "clang" sound. The golden-silver spikes were blocked by something and bounced back. It was a golden-silver pointed shuttle-shaped magic treasure.

That figure also stumbled from the impact, but immediately blurred and vanished from its spot. The next moment, it reappeared at another location six or seven zhang away. Turning its head, it revealed Han Li's face, filled with extreme shock and anger.

If he hadn't summoned his Earthen Shield earlier and placed it behind him, he might have been severely wounded.

Therefore, even though Han Li usually kept his emotions hidden, he now felt a wave of lingering fear. Fury surged within him. He instantly reached back, and a shimmering silver small shield appeared in his hand. With a flick of his other sleeve, dozens of golden miniature swords transformed into a dense rain of sword light, flashing and shooting towards the ground beneath the pile of debris opposite him.

As a result, a woman's light laugh emanated. Immediately, a flash of thorn-like light appeared, and a gigantic golden-silver object emerged from underground. So many sword lights struck this object, yet strangely, they all flashed and missed.

Seeing this, Han Li's heart skipped a beat, and his anger immediately subsided by more than half. He quickly focused his gaze.

The golden-silver giant object was actually a shuttle several zhang long. Its surface shimmered with golden light, as smooth as a mirror. He couldn't tell what material it was made of. From its shape, this object was identical to the treasure that had just ambushed him, only many times larger.

"Fellow Daoist is truly extraordinarily vigilant! Such an attack actually failed to land. Tsk tsk, what cultivation method are you practicing, Fellow Daoist? Could you tell this little sister a thing or two?" The golden-silver small shuttles that had just attacked Han Li instantly spun and flew back the moment the giant shuttle appeared, disappearing into it. Simultaneously, the young woman's surprised voice emanated from within the giant shuttle.

With a face as dark as water, Han Li recalled his flying swords. His thoughts raced like lightning. Suddenly, his body shimmered with spiritual light, and he instantly transformed into a green rainbow, shooting directly towards the nearby table.

Since other cultivators had arrived, he naturally intended to seize the treasures first. Otherwise, if he got entangled in a prolonged fight, more and more cultivators would pass through the North Pole Primordial Light. The hope of obtaining the treasures would become very slim.

However, as Han Li lunged forward, he also felt a strange sensation. The woman's voice was completely unfamiliar; it definitely wasn't any of the people or demons he had seen outside the hall earlier. Could it be that other cultivators had entered Kunwu Mountain so quickly and had even passed through the North Pole Primordial Light ahead of Old Devil Qian and the others?

All these thoughts flashed through Han Li's mind in an instant. Amidst the young woman's greatly surprised exclamations, the escape light he had transformed into covered a distance of over twenty zhang in a flash, and he was about to reach the space above the table.

Just then, the space above Han Li's head suddenly stirred. A green mist flashed, and a blue sash, covered in surging runes, suddenly appeared. It then pressed down fiercely without delay.

This gigantic sash was five or six zhang wide. It appeared right beside him, catching him completely off guard. Even with Han Li's formidable abilities and numerous techniques, he was instantly enveloped by it. For a moment, he was completely trapped!

Everywhere Han Li looked, green light shimmered. Cursing inwardly, he hastily shook the Yuan-Gang Shield in his hand. A layer of white light shield instantly appeared around his body, prioritizing his self-protection.

Outside the blue sash, a woman strangely appeared on top of it. It was Lady Mu of the Transformation Immortal Sect.

This woman had witnessed the power of Han Li's Three-Flame Fan, so she naturally knew that the blue sash couldn't trap Han Li for long. Upon seeing her ambush succeed, she dared not delay. Her body flickered, and she transformed into a white rainbow, flying directly to the table.

With a raise of her hand, a silver token appeared in her palm, radiating silver light. A sheet of silver mist sprayed forth, striking the green light shield precisely.

The seemingly formidable barrier of light, under the illumination of the silver mist, dissolved and dispersed like snow melting in spring sunlight. In the blink of an eye, it vanished without a trace, revealing the true appearance of several artifacts on the sacrificial table.

There were four stacked blood-red wooden plaques, a small purple sword, a palm-sized demon-subduing staff, a crimson-glowing scroll, and a jade-green imperial seal with a lifelike five-clawed true dragon carved on its surface.

Seeing these items, the woman's face lit up with joy. After her gaze lingered briefly on the imperial seal, she immediately flicked her long sleeve, intending to collect all the items into her spatial bag.