Chapter 2314: Divine Mind Battle

"A Mahayana-stage being!" Han Li's heart tensed. His escape aura dissipated, and he stopped moving entirely.

The terrifying divine sense then swept back and forth within a ten-thousand-mile radius several times before finally receding, seemingly satisfied.

For a while, no further anomalies emerged from the depths of the mountain range.

"This divine sense doesn't belong to an ordinary adult Asura Spider," Han Li mused. "Could there truly be an Asura Spider here that surpasses common Mahayana beings? If such a being exists, approaching further would likely render standard concealment techniques ineffective against its divine sense. Yet, to project divine sense so far without any weakening, it must be utilizing some kind of amplification treasure." Han Li remained still, pondering deeply, a solemn expression on his face.

If it truly was a being comparable to a True Spirit, even he could not afford to ignore it.

After a long moment of contemplation, he finally made a decision. With a flick of his wrist, a purple talisman appeared. With a soft 'thud', it dissolved into swirling purple mist that enveloped his body. Countless runes then surged forth, transforming into a small patch of purple fog.

When the purple mist silently dispersed, the space it had occupied became empty. To avoid alerting anyone, Han Li had once again used the Grand Unity Pure Transformation Talisman.

With his body now in an ethereal state, he drifted unhesitatingly deeper into the mountain range.

While his ethereal state prevented him from achieving full escape speed, each subtle movement allowed him to traverse dozens of feet, and he entered the mountain range in mere moments.

Thanks to a wisp of divine sense he had left on the young woman, he could clearly sense her location, even though they were already a thousand miles apart.

Thus, Han Li was in no rush to close the distance, maintaining a steady, unhurried pace as he followed her.

However, after he had traveled only about ten thousand miles into the mountain range, his brows unconsciously furrowed.

He had initially assumed that since the Asura Spider's nest was situated here, other creatures in this mountain range would be exceptionally scarce, or at the very least, there wouldn't be any overly powerful entities.

However, after his divine sense discreetly swept the surroundings, he discovered dozens of exotic beasts at the Soul Transformation and Void Refinement stages, and two strange birds at the Integration stage, all within this single area at the mountain's edge.

One of the strange birds was entirely fiery red and as massive as an ox, while the other had steel-grey feathers and a grotesque fleshy growth on its head.

Both stood on a horizontal branch of a colossal tree a thousand miles away from him. One constantly scanned its surroundings, head held high and chest puffed out, while the other's eyes were half-closed, seemingly in a light slumber.

The remaining exotic beasts, transformed into half-human, half-beast forms, were divided into several teams and patrolled their respective areas.

It appeared that all these exotic beasts from the Minor Asura Realm had been subjugated by the Asura Spiders.

Han Li was not only surprised but also filled with wonder.

When the Spirit King and others had previously described the Asura Spiders, they had never mentioned their ability to recruit other exotic beasts.

It seemed either the Spirit King and his companions had initially underestimated the Asura Spiders' intelligence, or these creatures had undergone some mutation within the Minor Asura Realm. Otherwise, the current situation was simply too bizarre.

Furthermore, recalling the transformed Asura Spider that could assume human form even at the Void Refinement stage, the latter possibility seemed more probable.

Han Li silently pondered. He couldn't help but become even more cautious of the Asura Spiders, yet he continued to follow the young woman from afar, showing no signs of stopping.

After the time it takes to eat a meal, Han Li had traveled a million miles. He finally spotted, far in the distance amidst the mountains and a plain, a towering green stone city.

The city was constructed entirely from massive green stones, with walls hundreds of *zhang* high, yet its perimeter only spanned a few dozen miles. From a distance, it more closely resembled a fortress.

What was peculiar, however, was that aside from various green stone statues of exotic beasts, the towering city walls were eerily empty; not a single figure stood upon them.

Even stranger, the stone city had no visible gates whatsoever, completely encircled by its tall, impenetrable walls.

Blue light flickered in Han Li's eyes. Without employing his divine sense, he used his spiritual eyes to clearly observe everything outside the stone city.

However, when the blue light in his eyes flared, attempting to pierce through the city walls and glimpse what lay within, countless white runes suddenly appeared in his vision, followed by emerging white lotuses. These formations completely obstructed his sight.

"The Grand Transformation White Lotus Barrier! What is this?"

Han Li exclaimed in surprise, quickly retracting his spiritual eyes, and a look of astonishment once again appeared on his face.

The barrier phenomenon he had just witnessed was clearly a renowned, unique barrier technique from a major clan in the Spirit Realm, one capable of temporarily obscuring even the divine sense of a Mahayana-stage being. How could these Asura Spiders possibly deploy such a technique?

Before Han Li's astonishment could fade, a wisp of divine sense suddenly pulsed within his spiritual sea, and his expression instantly darkened.

Almost simultaneously, from the seemingly silent stone city, with a thunderous 'boom' that echoed like a bolt from the clear sky, a colossal, blood-red spider phantom, the size of a mountain, materialized out of thin air.

On this spider's manifestation, its two compound eyes, gleaming with a chilling light, merely shifted. Instantly, the terrifying divine sense that had previously appeared at the mountain's edge once again descended upon the area, sweeping everything within a ten-thousand-mile radius in a flash.

Unfortunately, despite its power, this divine sense found no anomalies when it swept over Han Li's ethereal form, retreating back into the colossal manifestation without success.

Failing to detect any anomalies, the spider's manifestation subtly betrayed a hint of anger. After a bone-chchilling snort, a hoarse female voice echoed from within the stone city:

"Which fellow Daoist has graced my Heavenly Spider City with their presence? Regardless of your intention in leaving a wisp of divine sense on my junior, as a guest, you are welcome to enter the city for a discussion."

The same words resonated repeatedly throughout the land, clearly audible to almost all beings across a significant portion of the mountain range.

Aside from the various exotic beasts already subservient to the Asura Spiders, who immediately trembled and prostrated themselves, the area around the stone city remained utterly silent; not a single human figure appeared.

"Very well. It appears you are confident in your superior concealment technique and have decided to oppose me. In that case, I shall await your esteemed presence within the city at any time." The woman's voice suddenly grew sharp, clearly filled with anger. Then, intense fluctuations erupted in the high sky, and the colossal spider manifestation dispersed and vanished.

The stone city immediately fell silent once more.

At that moment, Han Li, standing hundreds of miles away, gazed at the stone city, his eyes slightly narrowed. With a subtle movement of his lips, his vast divine sense immediately surged forth with overwhelming force, pressing down into the stone city without any concealment.

Above the stone city, a white light flashed, and a colossal white lotus phantom instantly materialized, colliding directly with Han Li's formidable divine sense.

Muffled 'booming' sounds continuously echoed and exploded in the sky.

Under the immense pressure of the divine sense, the white lotus immediately flashed wildly, distorted, and then exploded with a thunderous roar.

The divine sense Han Li unleashed constituted almost seventy percent of his total power, a force comparable to the combined divine senses of three or four ordinary Mahayana-stage beings.

Even though the Grand Transformation White Lotus Barrier was renowned in the Spirit Realm, it could not truly withstand the sheer crushing force of such potent divine sense.

Given the immense power of this divine sense, if it were to truly descend upon the stone city, all beings save those at or near the Mahayana stage would likely have their spirits instantly crushed and annihilated.

"How dare you!"

The previously hoarse female voice furiously resounded from the stone city once more. Simultaneously, her divine sense shot skyward, colliding heavily with Han Li's divine sense the very next moment.

A deafening roar, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, instantly reverberated above the stone city!

Waves of intense fluctuations emanated, as if threatening to shatter the very fabric of space.

The hoarse woman's divine sense was indeed formidable, far surpassing that of an ordinary Mahayana being. However, against Han Li's divine sense, amplified by the Soul Refining Art, it quickly found itself at a disadvantage after only a few clashes.

"Old ghost, why aren't you acting? How long do you intend to wait?" The hoarse woman, seeing this, was naturally alarmed and enraged, and immediately let out a sharp cry.

Han Li's pupils contracted the moment he heard this.

Almost simultaneously, a man's cold snort emanated from the stone city. Following it, another powerful, unfamiliar divine sense surged skyward from a certain corner of the city. After briefly merging with the woman's divine sense, they collectively resisted Han Li's crushing divine sense.

"Not an ordinary Mahayana either," Han Li thought. After his divine sense briefly clashed with that of the newcomer, a hint of surprise finally appeared on his face.

However, the next moment, when Han Li realized that even with both of them exerting their full power, they could barely withstand his divine sense, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

With a sudden hand seal, he increased the divine sense he was unleashing by another twenty percent, bringing it to ninety percent of his total power.

Another earth-shattering roar erupted in the sky.

The hoarse woman and the other unfamiliar Mahayana-stage being in the stone city were immediately seized with alarm.

Under the crushing pressure of Han Li's amplified divine sense, their combined divine power gradually began to falter once more.

"How is this possible? How can anyone possess such powerful divine sense? What is this person's origin?" The hoarse woman and the other male Mahayana-stage being couldn't help but think, a mixture of awe and fear rising within them.

Han Li, observing this, remained expressionless. Yet, his eyes flickered slightly as he pondered whether to add his remaining ten percent of power, delivering a decisive blow to heavily injure the two in the stone city.

After all, a divine sense confrontation was an extremely perilous affair, almost on par with a direct life-and-death struggle involving one's nascent soul.

However, the very next moment, fluctuations erupted within the stone city as several more divine senses, equivalent to those of ordinary Mahayana beings, surged skyward, aggressively heading directly for Han Li's divine sense.