Chapter 1772: Leaving the Thunderclap

Suddenly, black mist billowed around Han Li, and a dark battle armor materialized.

Countless black runes emanated from the armor.

The strangely glowing blood light slammed into the black mist, only to be repelled with a "bang" as the runes flashed.

The blood shadow stumbled backward, revealing its original form.

A blue light flashed in Han Li's eyes, and he finally saw the blood shadow clearly.

Even after enduring so many trials and tribulations, his expression couldn't help but change.

The blood shadow's face, at first glance, was a ferocious, fanged ghastly mask. But after a flicker, the ghastly mask transformed into Xiang Zhili's face, and then, blurring once more, it became the face of another man.

Han Li recognized this man; it was Old Devil Hu, who had entered the spatial node with Xiang Zhili back then.

The blood shadow's face rapidly shifted and flowed between these three countenances, like running water, utterly unable to fix itself.

"Heavenly Demon Armor? Impossible, how could you possess armor that only Heavenly Demons have?"

The blood shadow swayed a few times, finally steadying itself not far away, uttering words filled with extreme shock and fury.

The voice was somewhat like Xiang Zhili's, yet it also gave Han Li a strangely unfamiliar feeling.

Han Li snorted coldly, his skin instantly turning a dazzling gold, like pure refined gold, as golden scales emerged across his body.

"You think this Heavenly Demon Armor can protect you from me?!" Seeing this, the blood shadow's face cycled through several changes before it let out a strange shriek and began spinning rapidly.

In an instant, a crimson hurricane shot skyward from the blood shadow, soaring dozens of feet high.

Thunderous roars filled the hurricane, and crimson lightning arcs flashed wildly and erratically, its momentum astonishing.

Then, after uttering a few strange incantations, the hurricane swayed and quickly began to shrink. In mere moments, it transformed into a blood-red rune the size of a human head, hovering gently and motionless before the blood shadow.

Han Li felt the raw, violent fluctuations faintly radiating from the rune, and his expression grew solemn.

A clap of thunder split the air!

The blood-red rune spun, transforming into a crimson bolt of lightning that cleaved forth.

With a resounding crash!

The lightning bolt met the black runes; after a few intense flashes of light, it shattered the black runes and struck the black demonic armor squarely.

A muffled thud followed as the crimson lightning bolt vanished into thin air, leaving a palm-sized hole on the black armor.

The blood shadow's malevolent grin reappeared; with a strange cackle, it transformed back into a crimson streak of light and shot forward.

Its speed was astonishing; in a single flicker, it was before Han Li, lunging directly for the hole in the armor.

However, just then, a ripple spread through the nearby void, and a golden hand materialized out of thin air at the very spot of the hole. With fingers splayed, it swiftly grasped the crimson streak of light that had delivered itself right into its grasp.

The blood light dissipated, and the blood shadow reappeared within the golden hand. Terror was etched on its face, but it suddenly opened its mouth and spewed a stream of blood flame directly at Han Li's face.

This move was exceptionally sinister!

Han Li was currently unable to move even an inch, and given the extremely close proximity, it should have been impossible to miss according to common sense.

But Han Li's lips curved into a cold smile.

A black glow flashed between his eyebrows, and a dark vertical eye abruptly opened. With a flash of black light, a dark beam shot out with lightning speed, striking the blood flame accurately.

With a "whoosh!", the nearby space distorted. The two briefly intertwined, then vanished into the nearby void without a trace.

The blood shadow was startled, its body blazing with blood light, intending to cast another divine ability, but it had no further opportunity.

A layer of silver flames suddenly erupted from the golden hand's five fingers. With a single roll, it engulfed the blood shadow.

Piercing screams of agony abruptly erupted from within the silver flames. The blood shadow struggled desperately, its form elongating and thickening as if boneless, constantly shifting and changing.

But no matter how it transformed, the golden hand clung tightly to it like a parasite, preventing it from escaping its grasp in the slightest.

After a few breaths, the screams abruptly ceased!

The blood shadow simply vanished into nothingness within the flames.

To be fair, this blood shadow was rather unfortunate.

Originally, with its formless body, ordinary treasures and divine abilities could neither trap nor harm it. However, that golden hand was formed from the Brahma Holy Golden Body, and after Han Li's cultivation had greatly advanced and it had been tempered multiple times, it possessed incredible power, capable of seizing the blood shadow's formless essence from thin air.

As for the Spirit-Devouring True Flame, it was originally proficient at devouring the energies of heaven and earth. Furthermore, having devoured several other types of flames, it gained even more miraculous restraining effects against demonic entities and malevolent qi.

This was why the blood shadow, which originally had quite a significant background, was so easily refined to ash.

Han Li witnessed all of this, a relaxed expression replacing his solemn one. The Eye of Annihilation between his brows slowly closed and disappeared.

He then chanted incantations under his breath, golden light swirling around his body, and opening his mouth, he actually spat out a fist-sized orb of light.

This orb was enveloped in a layer of golden light, but inside, grey-white threads of light were intricately interwoven.

The foreign object that had just entered his body had actually been forcibly gathered and suppressed by his true essence and then expelled from his body.

This was only possible because his cultivation had greatly advanced, and his Brahma Holy Demonic Art was nearing completion; otherwise, he could not have achieved this feat.

As soon as the grey-white orb was expelled, his body naturally returned to its normal state.

Without a word, Han Li pointed at the silver flames.

Immediately, the Spirit-Devouring True Flame "whooshed" up from the golden hand, sweeping the orb into itself.

The golden hand, with a flash of light, then dispersed into nothingness.

The grey-white orb flickered a few times within the silver flames, then vanished into thin air.

At this moment, Han Li's gaze shifted, sweeping over the bloody, mangled remains on the ground a few feet away, and he couldn't help but sigh softly.

Although he still hadn't fully understood what calamity Xiang Zhili had encountered, that such an evil entity as the blood shadow was hidden within him, the physical body was indeed Xiang Zhili's without a doubt.

Moreover, judging from the bizarre changes in the blood shadow's face, it seemed to have devoured and assimilated the nascent souls of both Xiang Zhili and Old Devil Hu into a single entity.

If it weren't for the fact that when he first met Xiang Zhili in Cloud City that day, the sleeping Soul-Devouring Beast suddenly became restless, making him vigilant, he probably wouldn't have discovered the abnormality of "Xiang Zhili."

Originally, even if this "Xiang Zhili" truly had issues, as long as he didn't provoke Han Li, Han Li wouldn't have bothered dealing with him.

However, in two consecutive encounters, this "Xiang Zhili" had displayed clear malicious intent towards him.

Naturally, Han Li harbored murderous intent, which was why he kept the appointment.

But because he wasn't completely certain that "Xiang Zhili" truly had a problem, he first waited for the other party to make a move.

And with an alert mind, Han Li, whose cultivation had greatly advanced after the Guanghan Realm, was naturally confident that he wouldn't be ambushed by the blood shadow.

In fact, even if he hadn't used the Golden Body and Spirit-Devouring True Flame just now, he possessed several other means to break through the recent crisis and easily destroy this evil entity.

After all, the physical cultivation of the possessed Xiang Zhili was too vastly different from Han Li's.

This meant that even if the blood shadow had self-destructed Xiang Zhili's body and absorbed most of the essence blood from it, it couldn't unleash many divine abilities.

Han Li stood silently in place, his emotions churning.

Xiang Zhili, a human existence at the very pinnacle of the Human Realm, met such an end; it was truly regrettable.

He wondered if he and Old Devil Hu were truly killed in the spatial node, or if they encountered the blood shadow and had their bodies occupied after entering the Spirit Realm.

If it was the latter, it would naturally be even more lamentable.

Han Li sighed, and with a gentle flick of his sleeve towards the ground.

Immediately, a wave of crimson fire shot out. Wherever the firelight swept, the bloody remains instantly turned into a wisp of green smoke and vanished.

As for the so-called "Giant Spirit Talisman," it had long since turned into a pile of flying ash and dissipated the moment the blood shadow was vanquished.

Han Li had originally wanted to study the grey-white light threads, seeing how potent they were, but he could only let the matter rest.

Below, he did not linger long in this place. After making several grasping motions towards the surrounding mountain peaks in the void.

Immediately, an almost imperceptible ripple spread through the air around the mountain peaks, and a dozen rays of light of various colors shot out, each flashing and disappearing into his sleeve.

These were precisely the dozen or so formation flags he had previously deployed!

These flags had just formed a simple array, merely one that concealed spiritual energy fluctuations.

The moment "Xiang Zhili" arrived at the peak, Han Li had secretly activated this array, masking the aura of the battle that had just erupted. Otherwise, even though this place was a full hundred miles from Fujiāo City, it would still have been clearly discernible to some powerful beings in the city.

Now, with this array providing a slight concealment, while it couldn't completely eliminate traces of the conflict, high-level beings wouldn't be able to sense it too clearly.

A beam of light rose, and Han Li transformed into a green rainbow, soaring into the sky. After circling once above the peak, he broke through the air and sped towards Fujiāo City.

Not long after, a patrol of armored soldiers flew to this location from another direction. However, after searching around the mountain for a while and finding little, they could only leave in frustration.

Upon returning to Fujiāo City, Han Li immediately secluded himself in his residence, no longer venturing out easily.

Over the remaining ten-plus days, Qianjizi and the other two finally sent the remaining missing materials to Han Li successively, truly appearing to honor their promises.

Han Li naturally accepted all of them without ceremony.

A month later, Han Li finally emerged from his residence and headed straight for the tallest mountain peak in Fujiāo City.

It was said that this mountain peak housed some of Fujiāo City's most important buildings and concealed secrets unknown to outsiders.

Half a day later, the entire mountain peak suddenly trembled, and a gigantic pillar of light erupted from a certain location within its core, shooting straight into the highest heavens.

But after a few flashes, the massive light pillar flickered and vanished instantly.

Although this phenomenon caused a stir among some of the nearby non-human races, who discussed it curiously for several days.

As time passed, everyone cast the matter aside and went back to their own busy affairs.

Meanwhile, in a hidden location on another continent, an unknown distance from the Thunderclap Continent, a similar pillar of light shot into the sky. Then, as the light pillar converged, a figure appeared at the center of a massive formation.