Chapter 1648: Sneak Attack

**Volume 9: The Myriad Races of the Spirit Realm**

The Kylin shimmered with dark light, its form somewhat blurry, appearing as a mere illusion. Despite it being an illusion, the young woman's expression was unusually solemn. With a single hand, she pointed into the void at the Kylin, causing black runes to appear eerily, one after another, before disappearing into the Ink Kylin.

Instantly, the Ink Kylin, which had appeared menacing, found its fierce gaze dimming. Finally, with a pounce, it transformed into a ball of black light and shot forward. With a soft whoosh, both the young woman and the azure Kylin were completely enveloped and obscured by the black light.

"Heh heh, it's a good thing I remembered the burial place of this Ink Kylin from back then," the azure Kylin chuckled softly. "That's how I managed to refine this treasure using a wisp of residual qi from its remains. Because of our companion relationship, you also possess the Kylin's aura. Otherwise, with your current cultivation, you wouldn't be able to activate this treasure and would instead suffer a backlash."

"It's precisely because it's so rare that I'm hesitant to use this treasure," the Crystal Clan woman said with a bitter smile. "Otherwise, its power could at least save my life at a crucial moment."

Having said this, the woman no longer hesitated. Her figure moved, and amidst the flickering black light, she too vanished into the demonic energy.

Unknown to them, shortly after they disappeared into the demonic energy, a fist-sized, grayish-white stone suddenly flew up from a nearby mountainside. Although small, the stone spun and its surface abruptly shattered inch by inch, revealing a gleaming golden beetle. With a mere flash, it silently flew into the demonic energy passage.

Simultaneously, Han Li emerged from the demonic energy passage and quietly appeared at the entrance of a grand hall, where he intently surveyed the interior. The hall was circular and vast, spanning over a hundred zhang in diameter.

At the center of the hall lay a golden magic array over thirty zhang in size, flanked by twelve towering, dark stone pillars. These pillars were carved with grotesque, fanged demon patterns, unusually ferocious in appearance. From these carvings, plumes of dark demonic energy spewed forth, all drifting towards the center of the array. At the very heart of the array, a blood-red bed held a black giant ape, several zhang in length. The ape's fangs were bared, its limbs were unusually long, and three strange, yellow-glowing horns jutted skyward from its head. A purple wound, the size of a human head, marred its chest, revealing several ribs and a faintly throbbing, dark heart within.

Strangely, the giant ape's eyes were tightly closed. Dark light shimmered across its body as it slowly absorbed the surrounding demonic energy. Meanwhile, a layer of blood mist swirled from the crimson bed beneath it, continuously flowing into the giant ape's body.

Han Li stood at the entrance, coldly observing everything in the hall, showing no immediate intention to act. At that moment, his body was completely ethereal, making his presence difficult to detect even for those in close proximity. However, facing a being at roughly the mid-Integration stage, Han Li couldn't be certain that the Grand Unity Cleansing Talisman would perfectly conceal him. Thus, Han Li remained still at his current distance, silently observing the scene before him.

When the golden beetle flew out from the mountainside outside the cave abode, Han Li's expression flickered subtly, but a cold glint in his eyes quickly subsided, and he returned to normal. Before entering this place, he had, as a precaution, subtly left a Gold Devouring Beetle outside. This particular beetle, carrying a wisp of his spiritual sense, was one that had mutated after devouring peculiar stone pedestals.

In fact, ever since these mutated Gold Devouring Beetles were first found to possess tougher bodies and unusually heavy weight, Han Li's years of manipulation and study had revealed another innate ability unique to these variant spirit insects. This ability was "concealed breath and petrification." Han Li had discovered this mutated talent purely by accident while practicing his spiritual sense manipulation techniques. After burrowing into soil and rock, these Gold Devouring Beetles could mysteriously emit a surge of earth spiritual energy from their bodies, allowing them to subtly merge with the surrounding terrain. This meant that unless someone specifically knew the beetle's exact hiding spot, or possessed specially cultivated spiritual eyes capable of seeing through it, even the most powerful spiritual sense would fail to detect anything unusual as long as the beetle remained concealed within the earth. This unique ability was precisely why Han Li could so easily venture alone deep into the mountain's core.

While the demonic energy prevented him from precisely tracking the Crystal Clan woman's movements through the Gold Devouring Beetle, a vague spiritual sense connection informed him that she hadn't remained docile outside and was making subtle moves. Han Li wasn't particularly surprised by this development. When the woman first proposed exchanging Saint-grade demonic beast materials to repair the Extraterrestrial Demonic Armor, he had already suspected she was concealing something. She was clearly no ordinary Crystal Clan member; even if Saint-grade demonic beast materials were rare, once the demonic core was removed, it shouldn't have warranted such elaborate efforts from her, let alone practically gifting a treasure like the Extraterrestrial Demonic Armor. Later, after entering the Ink-Gold Mountain Range, despite encountering extremely dangerous situations multiple times, the woman showed no hint of giving up. Han Li was now nearly entirely certain.

Yet, he felt no anger regarding this. To Han Li, as long as the woman did not compromise his interests and genuinely repaired the Extraterrestrial Demonic Armor using a Saint-grade demonic core as promised, he would turn a blind eye to any minor hidden agendas she might have. Naturally, if the potential gains were sufficiently enticing, he wouldn't mind getting involved himself. While the woman possessed certain supernatural abilities, her cultivation was so low that Han Li was confident he could control the overall situation at any time.

He observed the hall entrance for the duration of a tea ceremony, finally confirming that the entire hall, aside from the magic array and the twelve surrounding pillars, contained no other restrictions. The giant ape before him was indeed severely wounded and appeared to be in a deep slumber. In that case, before the Crystal Clan woman's true intentions became clear, he wouldn't mind first securing the Saint-grade demonic core before him. As long as he avoided a direct confrontation, he was confident he could dispatch the demonic beast with a single sneak attack.

With these thoughts in mind and a cold glint in his eyes, Han Li finally decided to act. He took a deep breath, then flicked both sleeves. In one hand, over a dozen green spherical beads appeared with a flash of verdant light, while in the other, a thick stack of talismans suddenly materialized. He tossed them forward, and both hovered before him. Next, golden light flashed around Han Li, and two fist-sized golden beetles flew out from his body.

Having completed these preparations, Han Li formed a hand seal with one hand, and his body quietly solidified from its ethereal state. Throughout this process, he stared unblinkingly at the black giant ape in the hall. The ape remained completely motionless on the crimson bed, displaying no unusual reactions.

Han Li's expression relaxed slightly, and he pointed a finger at the stack of talismans before him. Instantly, these talismans silently drifted towards the hall's perimeter, then vanished quietly in all directions with a flash of silver light. The dozen-plus spherical beads also slowly flew towards the black pillars. However, upon reaching the tops of the pillars, as they neared the massive array, the green spherical beads abruptly halted, hovering several feet above each pillar without further movement. With a thought, the two Gold Devouring Beetles stealthily positioned themselves about a dozen zhang from the array, hovering menacingly in mid-air.

Having completed these actions, Han Li glanced at the black demonic ape once more. Seeing no movement, he hesitated for a moment, then suddenly waved his hand into the void in a corner of the hall. A spiritual light flashed, and a silver fire bird eerily materialized in the distance. With a spread of its wings, it vanished from its position. The next moment, the silver fire bird silently reappeared at the top of the hall, directly above the massive array, hovering motionless.

Han Li's expression was exceedingly solemn, yet his spiritual sense pulsed with decisive resolve. High above, the silver fire bird opened its beak, spewing forth a fine golden-silver thread. It was none other than the Spirit Vortex Evil Light!

The golden-silver thread moved with astonishing speed. It was so swift that no sooner had it emerged than it had already reached the array below. The massive array was certainly not set up there for no reason. A hum reverberated through the hall, and a layer of blood-red light instantly materialized above the array, completely obscuring the giant ape beneath it. However, upon contact with the light shield, the golden-silver thread effortlessly pierced through it as if it weren't there, appearing eerily on the giant ape's head in a flash. In a flash, the Spirit Vortex Evil Light was poised to pierce directly through the enormous skull. Witnessing a scene where a single strike was about to succeed, Han Li, from his vantage point, also held his breath.

Then came a resounding clang. The giant ape's seemingly bare body suddenly became covered in a solid layer of purple battle armor. The golden-silver thread struck the faceplate—as impassive as the ape's own face—and was repelled with a tremor. It produced an eerie, metallic clang!

Witnessing this, Han Li's face drastically changed. Without hesitation, he dropped all pretense. Golden light flashed around him, and a three-headed, six-armed golden Dharma Idol instantly manifested above his head. As he silently chanted incantations, two of the three heads opened their eyes, revealing chilling divine light. All six arms simultaneously swept through the air, then came together in pairs. In his gleaming golden hands, lights of various colors flashed, revealing three somewhat blurred, colossal swords. Though ancient in design and adorned with flickering runes, the three colossal swords varied in style and color. One was paper-thin and gleamed golden. Another was remarkably narrow and long, radiating a brilliant green. The final sword was unusually thick, blunt-edged, and as dark as ink.

"Strike!" Han Li uttered chillingly, his voice barely audible. Simultaneously, he formed a hand seal with both hands and pointed into the distance. Three soft 'thuds' sounded! Three sword lights of different colors slashed forth, instantly merging into a single three-colored stream that shot towards the black giant ape.

Almost simultaneously, the dozen-plus green spherical beads scattered across the black pillars dropped first, and with a flash of green light, burst open with earth-shattering roars. Thunderous roars erupted! In an instant, the twelve black pillars crumbled and shattered under the might of lightning, and the entire array was engulfed by green electric arcs. As the light shield met the electric surge, purple light and green arcs intertwined. The purple light shield instantly let out a mournful cry and shattered, allowing countless green electric arcs to savagely strike downwards. Simultaneously, the two Gold Devouring Beetles, having waited patiently, and the three-colored sword light arrived, flashing in to exploit the newly created opening.