Chapter 425: Sealing Spirit Pillar

In the distant sky, a massive cloud of insects, dozens of yards long, had appeared unnoticed, almost coloring half the sky gold and silver. A tremendous buzzing sound emanated faintly from this insect cloud.

Beneath the insect cloud, Han Li stared expressionlessly at the strange man, his gaze icy cold, as if looking at a dead man. He uttered a single word: "Go!"

Instantly, the enormous insect cloud descended upon the strange man like an oppressive storm cloud.

The strange man's limbs felt cold. This swarm, at least ten times larger than before, was utterly impossible for him to resist. Overwhelmed with horror, he immediately decided to retreat.

With a grimace, he gestured, transforming the flower basket into a wisp of white mist that returned to his hand. He then unleashed two blood-red incantations towards the two ghostly heads, softly muttering an obscure spell. Without even bothering to retrieve the battling flying sword, he immediately turned and fled.

The strange man's decisive retreat surprised Han Li.

The two ghostly heads spat out several bursts of fierce phosphorescent flames and were about to flee after him, but Han Li would not let them escape so easily.

Under his command, the colossal insect cloud instantly engulfed them. No matter how much phosphorescent flame they spewed, every drop was immediately devoured by the tens of thousands of Gold Devouring Beetles.

Immediately, countless Gold Devouring Beetles covered the ghostly heads.

Seeing this, Han Li knew they were finished. Just as he was about to recall the Gold Devouring Beetles and pursue the strange man, two massive explosions suddenly rang out.

Where the ghostly heads had been submerged, they had actually self-detonated, and a large number of Gold Devouring Beetles were momentarily enveloped in emerald green flames.

Han Li was startled at first, but then he quickly relaxed.

Through his spiritual sense, he perceived that apart from a few hundred Gold Devouring Beetles at the very center being destroyed by the strange fire, most of the swarm remained unharmed.

This showed that these not-yet-fully-mature Gold Devouring Beetles were not completely immune to damage; they could still be destroyed if the limit was exceeded.

Nevertheless, Han Li was greatly satisfied. After all, the Gold Devouring Beetles had forced two extremely powerful ghostly heads to self-destruct upon their first strike. He believed that ordinary Core Formation cultivators would be no match for the swarm.

Thinking this, Han Li, without another word, transformed into a green rainbow. He gathered the sky-filling Gold Devouring Beetles and directly pursued the fleeing strange man.

Han Li's intention was simple: since he had already forged a deep enmity with this strange man, he naturally wanted to eliminate his opponent once and for all. How could he let this person easily slip away right under his nose?

At the same time, Qu Hun, at his thought, transformed into a yellow light and flew into Han Li's green rainbow, joining the pursuit.

As for Hu Yue, Jin Qing, and the others, they remained rooted to the spot, exchanging bewildered glances. They seemed unable to immediately accept the fact that Han Li alone had forced the strange man to flee in disarray.

The strange man's escape technique was quite remarkable. Even with Han Li fully exerting his Green Radiance Sword, the distance between them gradually widened. In the blink of an eye, the two figures had covered dozens of miles, one behind the other. They were on the verge of leaving the desolate island's boundaries.

Seeing this, Han Li's eyes flashed with cold light. After taking a deep breath, seven palm-sized, emerald green small swords suddenly shot out from his body.

After circling his body, the small swords whirled around and merged to form a single massive green sword.

Han Li's figure flickered, and he, along with Qu Hun, appeared on the giant sword.

The green light intensified. Han Li, moving at nearly half his previous speed, transformed into a ten-yard long emerald green rainbow and soared through the sky.

After the time it takes to steep a cup of tea, Han Li caught up.

Gazing at the dark light frantically rushing ahead, Han Li, his face stern, raised his hand. Two identical emerald green small swords shot forward, and simultaneously, Qu Hun's Primordial Chaos Bowl also transformed into a yellow light and launched out.

The strange man fleeing ahead had clearly noticed Han Li's relentless pursuit. Thus, just as Han Li and Qu Hun released their magical artifacts, he immediately sent out a skull, which lunged forward with its mouth wide open. The strange man, without a glance, turned his head and continued flying on his artifact.

In the strange man's mind, the skull's obstruction would at least buy him some more time.

Han Li's expression darkened, and he silently formed a sword incantation. The two flying swords flickered with green light, suddenly transforming into four indistinguishable sword rays. Two of these, along with the Primordial Chaos Bowl, flew directly towards the ghostly head. The other two silently merged into a single foot-long flying sword, which instantly accelerated and shot stealthily towards the strange man's back.

The merged flying sword was incredibly fast, reaching the strange man's back in an instant.

However, the strange man seemed to sense something and suddenly turned his head. He immediately spotted an emerald gleam only five or six yards away.

The strange man's face instantly turned pale and bloodless.

Thinking quickly, he opened his mouth and spat out a cloud of black mist towards the flying sword. He then hastily conjured his escape light, intending to flee to one side.

Under Han Li's command, the flying sword unhesitatingly plunged into the black mist. A faint golden electric arc suddenly sprang forth, instantly dispersing the black mist completely.

Then, with a flash of green light, the emerald flying sword, meeting no resistance, plunged into the strange man's chest.

The strange man, still unwilling to believe it, looked down at the flying sword, an expression of disbelief on his face. Before he could utter a single word, he was utterly disintegrated into ashes by the faint golden electric arc.

Han Li quickly moved forward, his figure flickering several times. He grabbed three items in his hand and then calmly examined them.

Besides the ancient flower basket treasure and a storage bag, there was also a glowing red scroll. Judging by the hidden spiritual energy it contained, it was clearly no ordinary magical artifact, even if it wasn't a primeval ancient treasure.

Han Li, secretly delighted, gently unrolled the scroll and was stunned.

After staring at the depicted object for a long time, Han Li slowly closed the scroll again. A thoughtful expression appeared on his face. Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Han Li silently flew towards the skull.

The black skull, now without its master, floated motionlessly in the air. Although its malevolent aura had not diminished, it had completely lost its original spiritual essence.

After observing it, Han Li frowned slightly.

To be honest, it was the first time he had encountered such a peculiar item.

He vaguely felt that this item was not of good origin, yet he felt a reluctance to part with it. After a moment of hesitation, he still decided to store it separately in a jade box.

After circling the vicinity once more, Han Li then flew back with Qu Hun.

On their way back, Han Li met Jin Qing and the others who had come to assist.

As soon as they saw Han Li and Qu Hun flying back unharmed, they were pleasantly surprised and immediately gathered around them.

"Fellow Daoist Han, where is that demon? Did he manage to escape?" Jin Qing couldn't help but ask.

"I have already eliminated him!" Han Li stated calmly.

"Eliminated? That's wonderful! I observed that this person was brimming with malevolent energy; if he were to harass us endlessly in the future, it would truly be extremely troublesome," Jin Qing said with a sigh of relief after hearing this.

However, Hu Yue and the cultivator surnamed Jian, who were nearby, subtly changed their expressions. Their gazes towards Han Li couldn't help but contain a hint of awe.

After all, in the cultivation world, the capable were always respected.

The group then immediately flew back to where Fairy Shi was anxiously awaiting them.

The group reunited, and after a brief discussion, they still decided it would be best to break the formation quickly, to prevent any further unexpected complications that might arise from prolonged delays.

So, the group took their positions again, and after Han Li regained his composure, he reactivated the formation flags and plates.

The process of dismantling the last restriction was unusually smooth. When the crimson light shield shattered, not a single "Winged Fiend" managed to escape; all were utterly annihilated by the water-attribute magical artifacts in their hands.

The group wore expressions of delight, then all looked towards the peculiar stone pillar exposed in the center.

Since there was no longer any restriction hindering them, with their divine sense and eyesight, even without approaching the stone pillar directly, they could still see everything on it with perfect clarity.

The runes on this stone pillar were extremely strange; from top to bottom, eight massive ancient symbols were spirally inscribed. There were also countless peculiar patterns, and the entire pillar was embedded with many rare Yin-Yang Jades, evenly distributed, shimmering with faint black and white light.

The group stared, momentarily stumped, then exchanged glances before falling into deep thought, desperately trying to recall relevant information.

"Spirit-Sealing Pillar."

In just a few moments, Shi Die, who had the lowest cultivation level, gasped and exclaimed the pillar's name.

Han Li and the others paused in surprise upon hearing the name. Then, they all exchanged bewildered and skeptical glances.

"Fairy Shi, you haven't mistaken it, have you? Is this really a Spirit-Sealing Pillar?" Hu Yue couldn't help but ask, his voice a little dry.

"Absolutely no mistake! I have a formation manual in my cave dwelling that specifically describes Spirit-Sealing Pillars. The shape and runes of this pillar are exactly as described in the manual. Don't mistake it for an ordinary stone pillar; it's actually forged from a mixture of over a dozen extremely precious artifact-refining materials. Just this one pillar is worth five to six thousand spirit stones." Shi Die gazed at the pillar, her eyes gleaming with excitement.