Chapter 2291: Puppet Army

With a soft thud, the seemingly ordinary palm pierced through the red light and solidly struck the crimson giant hand.

The crimson giant hand, more than ten times larger than Han Li's palm, was immediately permeated by an irresistible invisible force. After a slight tremor, it silently disintegrated into powder.

The giant puppet remained expressionless. The crimson light on its body suddenly intensified, and several phantom images of demonic beasts, resembling both oxen and tigers, faintly appeared on it. After letting out a fierce roar, it was about to lunge at Han Li.

But at this moment, a sharp glint flashed in Han Li's eyes. He suddenly opened his mouth, and a stream of green sword light shot out. With just a flicker, it instantly appeared before the puppet, coiling around its massive body. With a thud, even though the puppet's massive body shimmered wildly with spiritual light, it was irresistibly sliced in two at the waist, toppling over.

As for the phantom beast images that had just appeared on its surface, after each letting out a whimper, they all vanished into wisps of green smoke.

But the next moment, the two halves of the puppet's body, enveloped by the rolling crimson flames emerging from the crystals on the ground, saw a flash of red light at the severed edges. Dense crystalline threads then shot out from both sides, pulling them together with a sudden tug.

The puppet's two halves instantly reconnected. After the surface scars flickered wildly a few times, they healed as if new.

However, upon seeing this, Han Li, without a word, pressed his hand down in the air once more.

With a tremendous boom!

A glittering golden hand, vast as a field, appeared out of thin air above the puppet, and with its fingers spread, it slammed down.

The giant puppet felt its body suddenly sink, followed by a relentless, immense force pressing down.

After white streaks appeared all over the puppet's body, it completely burst apart into a mass of red light.

Amidst the explosion, a fist-sized golden light sphere shot out from the fragments, and after a flicker, it seemed to be attempting to escape.

Han Li, however, seemed to have anticipated this. With a cold snort, he suddenly retracted his outstretched fingers and made a grasping motion in the air.

With a 'whoosh'!

The golden light sphere was instantly enveloped by an immense force. After a tremble, it was conjured by Han Li into his palm.

Han Li lowered his head to look. It was a golden sphere covered in intricate runes and holes.

The sphere felt feather-light in his hand, with no discernible weight, as if it were completely hollow inside.

"'Indeed, it's quite different from ordinary puppets. The true essence must lie within this object,'" Han Li said. He tossed the golden sphere in his hand a couple of times, a flicker of interest crossing his face.

Silvermoon, witnessing this scene from the side, couldn't help but show a wry smile.

Although she knew that Han Li, after reaching the Grand Ascension stage, possessed strength far beyond what she could truly imagine, there had been no real standard for comparison until now. Thus, she had never truly grasped the full extent of Han Li's power.

However, the giant puppet they had just faced was so powerful that she knew she would have been no match for it. Yet, in front of Han Li, it was annihilated with barely a movement.

This made Silvermoon finally understand the vast disparity between herself and Han Li, and she couldn't help but feel a profound sense of awe.

Just as Silvermoon was secretly sighing, flickers of silver flame reappeared in the void, and then suddenly converged.

With a muffled thump!

The silver fire bird reappeared.

This time, Han Li did not urge the fire bird to advance further. Instead, after putting away the golden pearl in his hand, he calmly swept his spiritual sense around, and then, expressionless, formed a hand seal with one hand.

With a 'whoosh'!

The silver fire bird raised its head and let out a clear cry, its body suddenly expanding to an immense size.

In an instant, a behemoth hundreds of feet long appeared in the center of the sea of flames.

The rolling waves of fire around were forced back by the colossal fire bird, clearing a large, empty area.

"'Absorb!'"

Han Li, however, did not stop there. Instead, he pointed a finger at the silver giant bird in the air and let out a low command.

With a rumbling sound, the fire bird suddenly flapped its two gleaming silver wings, and countless silver runes surged out from them. At the same time, a tremendous suction force swept out in all directions.

The sea of flames, which had been forcibly pushed back, suddenly hummed loudly. As a wave of fire violently rolled, it transformed into more than a dozen pillars of flame that coiled towards the giant fire bird.

As soon as the crimson flames touched the fire bird's body, they silently merged into it.

And with every moment more crimson flame it absorbed, the fire bird's size grew a little more.

After about the time it takes to steep a cup of tea, the surrounding sea of flames was completely absorbed, finally revealing the true appearance of the nearby area.

Silvermoon swept her gaze around, and her expression filled with utter astonishment.

What she saw was that their location was actually a vast platform, approximately a thousand acres in area, whose surface was covered with crimson crystals. Surrounding the platform was an immeasurably vast sunken area, filled with countless deep pits of varying sizes.

Various spiritual lights flickered within these pits, and it was clear that they all contained demonic crystal puppets of different heights.

These puppets were clad in five-colored armor. Some held various weapons of different lengths, others carried or bore strange demonic artifacts, and there were even some monstrous beast-shaped puppets among them.

From a distance, these puppets exuded a formidable aura, numbering almost a hundred thousand.

Han Li raised an eyebrow, and a quick sweep of his gaze was enough for him to assess the condition of these puppets.

Most of these puppets were surprisingly of a high grade. The majority possessed strength at the Core Formation and Nascent Soul stages, while more than a tenth were at the Deity Transformation and Void Refinement stages.

But what was most striking were the dozens of top-tier puppets, similar in appearance to the giant puppet they had just destroyed.

Though these dozens of demonic crystal puppets were far from reaching the late Body Integration stage, they possessed strength at the early to mid-stages.

If such a massive force were brought to the outside world, it would probably leave many major powers speechless.

"'So, this Crying Spirit Old Ancestor was actually a Grandmaster in crafting demonic crystal puppets. This is truly an unexpected delight,'" Han Li said, rubbing his chin with one hand, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"'Brother Han, how do you plan to deal with these puppets?'" Silvermoon asked with a hint of eagerness. She had been left dumbfounded by the sight, but finally snapped out of her stupor upon hearing Han Li's words, taking a deep breath before speaking.

"'How to deal with them? Naturally, I'll take them all. Are we going to leave them for the later demon race?'" Han Li said without hesitation.

"'Good, then I'll help you collect them,'" Silvermoon said, extremely excited.

Naturally, Han Li had no reason to disagree, and he nodded with a light chuckle.

Without a word, Silvermoon moved her body, slowly rising into the air. With a lift of her fair wrist, several storage bracelets shot out as multicolored light spheres, flying towards a large group of puppets in one direction.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but after a flick of his sleeve, dozens of multicolored rings also shot out, circling high in the air before whistling off in several other directions.

As these storage bracelets spun rapidly, various colored glows surged out from them.

The demonic crystal puppets below, wherever the glow swept, blurred and vanished from their pits without a trace.

Although the number of puppets here was astonishing, with both of them working together, most of the puppets were quickly collected.

However, when it came to collecting the dozens of top-tier puppets at the Body Integration stage, the crystal light on their bodies flashed, and they showed signs of resistance against the spiritual light emitted by the storage bracelets.

Upon seeing this, Silvermoon let out a soft 'Oh?' but immediately became delighted rather than angry. With a flick of the fingers of both hands, streams of multicolored spell seals shot out, flashing and vanishing as they entered the bodies of the top-tier puppets.

After the giant puppets' bodies trembled slightly, they finally gave up their resistance and were likewise collected into the rings.

As the last puppet vanished from its pit in a flash, the entire colossal platform suddenly rumbled and began to sink into the ground on its own.

Seeing this, Silvermoon did not dare to delay, and hurriedly flew back, landing back on the colossal platform.

A strange look flashed across Han Li's face. With a raise of his hand, he willed the giant fire bird to dissipate into the air, then stood motionless with his hands clasped behind his back.

Amidst the rumbling, the colossal platform sank almost a hundred feet deep into the ground, before coming to a halt with a violent tremor.

But at this moment, both Han Li and Silvermoon looked in the same direction.

On the opposite gray-white stone wall, a plain, unassuming green stone door stood silently.

"'Let's go. I don't sense any more restrictive fluctuations inside. It seems this is the Crying Spirit Old Ancestor's true treasure trove,'" Han Li said, suddenly smiling.

Silvermoon nodded, a hint of excitement on her face as well.

The two immediately walked towards the stone door.

When they were just a few tens of feet from the door, Han Li raised his hand and pressed forward in the air from a distance.

The stone door, pushed by an immense force, silently opened inward.

Behind the door, a brilliant light erupted, revealing dimly a vast hall-like space. Within it were numerous long, rectangular stone pedestals, each seemingly laden with a variety of items.

A hint of joy flashed in Han Li's eyes, and he led Silvermoon, without hesitation, through the doorway.

Once inside the great hall, Han Li swept his gaze around, and only then did he clearly see everything within.

He saw that on the several tens of feet long stone pedestals, some held boxes and jade caskets of various sizes, while others directly displayed artifacts of different styles.

Some of these treasures shone brilliantly, dazzling the eyes, while others were ancient and dilapidated in appearance, looking utterly unremarkable.

Judging by the auras they emitted, every single one of these artifacts was a top-tier treasure that would drive people in the outside world into a frenzy.

However, Han Li only glanced around casually, his gaze completely drawn to the three stone platforms in the very center of the hall, which were taller than the other pedestals.

On these three exquisite stone platforms, three different items were placed.

A rust-covered ancient green *ge* (dagger-axe), a pale yellow gourd, and a jet-black flying boat, barely half a foot long.

After Han Li's spiritual sense swept over these three treasures, a look of profound emotion involuntarily appeared on his face.

Silvermoon's beautiful eyes flickered, and she was likewise drawn to these three treasures, her gaze filled with curiosity.