Chapter 1944: Battle of Heaven Reliance (9)

**Volume 10: War in the Demon Realm****Chapter 1918: Battle of Yitian (Part Nine)**

Category: Fantasy

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The next moment, a golden light flashed across Han Li's body. With a low roar, his physique rapidly expanded, and golden fur sprouted from his skin, instantly transforming him into a massive golden ape! He had, in fact, used the "Startling Sting" technique to transform into a Mountain Ape!

Without hesitation, the giant ape swung both arms, and the two extreme mountains in his hands shot out with a whistling boom, tearing through the air. They instantly reached the stone door and slammed into it violently. Two earth-shattering explosions resounded. A layer of golden light appeared on the stone door, followed by two dazzling, sun-like light masses that burst open with a rumbling sound. The golden light enchantment shattered into countless pieces almost instantly. Under this terrifying power, the stone door itself silently disintegrated into dust. Han Li's face was a bit pale, but his spirit was still good. After a golden glow swept past his hand, the seemingly profound enchantment, under the brute force of the giant ape and the terrifying might of the two extreme mountains, also instantly vanished into ashes.

Seeing this, the giant ape stomped his feet, transforming into a gust of wind as he charged through the shattered stone door. With a "whoosh," a massive silver fist materialized from the void ahead and struck fiercely. Before it even reached the giant ape, an invisible, immense force surged forward, enveloping him. Han Li, who hadn't yet stabilized himself, was startled but roared fearlessly. He raised an arm, and a similarly hairy, large hand moved to meet the attack. Golden lights flickered at the tips of his five fingers, and his entire hand instantly appeared to be forged from refined gold. With a "crack," the silver and gold fists collided. The silver fist let out a sharp crack, and its surface instantly developed countless cracks, shattering under the giant ape's single punch!

Just then, a strong wind surged above the giant ape's head, and another silver claw menacingly swept down. Without a word, the giant ape moved his other arm, and a golden palm struck out to meet it. The silver claw simultaneously burst apart with a roar. Having accomplished all this, the giant ape showed no intention of stopping. Blue light flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly opened his mouth, directly spewing a misty green light beam. It flashed past, piercing through a spot over 30 meters away. With a rumble, a silver figure stumbled and fell from the void. It was a silver puppet with missing hands, about 6.6 meters tall, its body inscribed with mysterious black runes! The giant ape reached out and grabbed at the puppet in the air. With a loud "chi-chi" sound of tearing air, ten intertwined green sword lights swiftly slashed towards it. The silver puppet instantly shattered into pieces!

Just then, fluctuations erupted in the nearby void, followed by a continuous "whoosh, whoosh" sound. Seven or eight identical silver puppets appeared. Han Li was slightly startled by this, but these puppets moved without hesitation, transforming into seven or eight silver glows as they charged forward.

Half an hour later, after a long roar, the golden ape swung his arms, and the two mountains, several meters tall, flew out of his hands simultaneously. With two rumbling sounds, two silver puppets instantly exploded in mid-air. The two extreme mountains flickered, vanished from their original spot, then reappeared eerily in the giant ape's hands with another flash, before vanishing again with a twist of his palm. On the other side, a dozen or so purple-patterned beetles circled and swarmed around several other puppets. The silver puppets then silently fell one after another, and in the blink of an eye, none remained.

Seeing this, the giant ape formed a hand seal with one hand. The golden light on his body receded, his form rapidly shrank, and he reverted to his human shape. On the bluestone ground below lay shattered silver puppet remains everywhere, numbering over twenty. Han Li glanced down, furrowed his brow, then quickly looked away, gazing into the void not far off, a hint of solemnity flashing in his eyes.

Though each of these silver puppets possessed power only equivalent to the early Nascent Soul stage, their sheer number on this floor was considerable. The first floor of this tower didn't seem large from the outside, but he had flown for a long time to reach this point. Along the way, he had killed over a hundred such silver puppets. If he hadn't transformed into the Mountain Ape, these silver puppets wouldn't have been able to withstand a single blow of his immense strength, and he also had to deploy his three spirit insects; it would have truly taken him a while to deal with them. Even so, this experience made Han Li realize he could no longer underestimate anything. After all, this was merely the first floor!

Pondering thus, Han Li's gaze swept upwards. At a height of only 200 to 230 meters above the ground, a layer of misty gray fog concealed everything. In his previous attempts, he had considered taking a shortcut, directly breaking through the barrier to the second floor. However, fearing that forceful destruction might affect the hidden "node" in this place, he had to abandon that idea. If the node had already merged with the pagoda's enchantment, acting so rashly could prove counterproductive. Han Li pondered, but he didn't linger. With a flash of his escape light, he shot towards the staircase ahead. Thirteen purple beetles buzzed, closely following him. With a few blinks, the green streak vanished without a trace. After a short while, in the seemingly empty void of that location, a golden light suddenly flashed, and a graceful figure silently emerged.

The figure wore a pink palace dress, her eyes like water; it was the middle-aged beautiful woman from the Yin-Yang Twin Yama. She gazed at the staircase where Han Li had disappeared, a trace of apprehension on her face. "This person indeed has some tricks up his sleeve, knowing true spirit transformation and possessing such powerful spirit insects to command! Luckily I followed; otherwise, with his divine abilities, it might have been impossible to stop him from escaping," the beautiful woman murmured. Then, raising a palm, a silver formation plate appeared, swirling in her hand before a sheet of silver light rolled down. Amidst the flickering silver light, the beautiful woman's figure blurred, transforming into a wisp of clear wind and vanishing.

On the second floor, a flash of green sword light! Two silver puppets, slightly larger than those on the first floor, were swept up by the surging sword light and disintegrated into piles of scrap metal that scattered everywhere. These puppets were fundamentally similar in appearance to those on the first floor, but their strength was comparable to cultivators in the middle Nascent Soul stage. Han Li pondered silently, continuing to fly forward expressionlessly, leaving behind a trail of puppet remains with his thirteen spirit insects.

On the third floor, at the staircase, more than ten puppets, now at the peak late Nascent Soul stage, once again surrounded Han Li, charging at him expressionlessly. The fourth floor...

On the sixth floor, Han Li floated forward leisurely, a hint of surprise subtly appearing on his face. The puppets appearing on the fourth floor had turned a reddish-gold color, each possessing abilities equivalent to the early Void Refinement stage, but their numbers had significantly decreased. The golden puppets on the fifth and sixth floors, in turn, possessed middle and late Void Refinement stage strengths, respectively. The golden puppets on the sixth floor were much more troublesome than the previous ones; even he had to employ quite a few methods and several great divine abilities to reach this floor in one go. If the previous highly regular arrangement held true, the puppets guarding this floor should most likely have been at the Body Integration stage. This put Han Li on high alert, preparing to face them properly.

However, since entering this floor, there had been no movement or obstruction whatsoever along the way. While this struck him as odd, his heart grew even more cautious. Fortunately, guided by the "Eye of Destruction" secret art, he had confirmed that the spatial node was on the seventh floor, likely not far ahead. This brought Han Li a degree of joy. Suddenly, the thirteen spirit insects following him let out sharp chirps, fluttering rapidly up and down around him. Han Li's heart tensed. He paused, stopping abruptly where he stood. At the same time, blue light intensely flickered in his eyes as he gazed intently in a certain direction. There, in the void, a surge of vibrant light rolled, and two tall figures, shimmering with seven-colored spiritual light, materialized. They emitted dazzling spiritual light and were, in fact, two nearly translucent, glass-like puppets! These two glass-like puppets were roughly human-sized, but their faces were blurred, and their surfaces were exceptionally crystalline and smooth. The moment they appeared, they gave Han Li an extremely terrifying sense of oppression.

"Indeed, quite interesting. But merely two early Body Integration stage puppets, devoid of any spirituality, trying to stop me—isn't that a bit too delusional?" Han Li swiftly scrutinized the two puppets from top to bottom. The sharp light in his eyes receded, and he let out a cold laugh. He immediately flicked his sleeve, and the two extreme mountains whistled as they were thrown out. The thirteen purple-patterned beetles, circling nearby, spread their wings and shot towards the two puppets. Then, with a turn of his hand, a silver ruler appeared. With a flick of his wrist, it shot out, transforming in a flash into a silver streak over 30 meters long, surging forward with formidable momentum. Although Han Li's words seemed dismissive, his attack was ferocious; he had no intention of wasting time with these two puppets.

Upon seeing this thunderous assault, the two glass-like puppets' four eyes glowed with shifting seven-colored spiritual light. Their bodies suddenly flickered and converged, and their four arms blurred as their four palms eerily pressed together. With a "poof"! Two masses of seven-colored light instantly erupted between their four palms, twisted, and then strangely transformed into a single seven-colored light sphere, which rapidly expanded. Initially only head-sized, after a few intense flashes, it abruptly became a seven-colored light barrier! The vibrant, colorful light immediately enveloped both their figures, and a low hum suddenly resonated. The light barrier actually vibrated at a frequency invisible to the naked eye, while countless runes of various sizes surged forth from its surface, emitting dazzling brilliance.

With a "bang," the silver streak, moving at an incredible speed far beyond ordinary imagination, arrived above the light barrier first, despite being released later, and slashed down fiercely. A bizarre scene unfolded! When it was still nearly 16 centimeters away from the light barrier, the void near the barrier suddenly blurred, and the silver streak trembled, unable to advance even an inch further.