Chapter 877: Victory and Defeat

Han Li casually pointed a finger at his opponent.

The blue firebird immediately spread its wings, transforming into a streak of blue light that shot forward.

Seeing this, Old Monster Jin's face darkened, and he was instantly furious. The opponent hadn't even summoned a magic treasure, only attacking with a single firebird. This was clearly looking down on him.

Enraged, Old Monster Jin instead began to laugh. Without a word, he quickly moved his fingers to form incantations, deciding to unleash his most powerful sword technique right from the start, aiming to decide the outcome in a single blow.

Above his head, three golden rainbows emitted a dragon-like cry. With a flicker, they abruptly vanished into thin air. In their place, a golden thread materialized before Old Monster Jin. Though extremely slender, it was several zhang long.

Golden light flashed continuously, and one golden thread after another surged forth.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of dense golden threads appeared, looking dazzlingly beautiful and exceptionally brilliant.

"Swords into Threads!"

A cold glint flashed in Han Li's eyes, and a look of surprise appeared on his face. Although his opponent was a sword cultivator, being able to conjure so many sword threads at once was truly astonishing.

He was indeed worthy of being the Grand Elder of the Ancient Sword Sect. Truly extraordinary.

At this moment, most of the cultivators watching below developed strange expressions upon seeing the curly-haired old man display such a divine ability.

"Spring Thread Slash!"

"Experience truly counts; he launched his signature move immediately."

"Fellow Daoist Han is being too careless; he might suffer some losses!"

The trio from Hundred-Refinement Pavilion, including Old Monster Blazing Fire, couldn't help but murmur amongst themselves upon seeing this.

The middle-aged cultivator who came with Old Monster Jin showed a hint of delight on his face, while Lü Luo's expression subtly changed. Elder Cheng and the female cultivator named Ming Xin remained calm and unperturbed.

At that moment, Old Monster Jin in the air let out a loud shout, striking a series of incantations into the golden threads before him.

Immediately, spiritual light flashed wildly, and the numerous sword threads transformed into a massive golden net that surged forth, perfectly engulfing the blue firebird flying towards it.

The golden net was over ten zhang wide, while the firebird was only about half a chi long. Anyone observing would feel it was overkill, like using an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken. But after the firebird plunged into the golden net, the scene that followed astonished all the cultivators below.

The blue firebird instantly exploded upon contact with the golden net, followed by a series of light flashes. A blue spiritual lotus materialized within the flames. This lotus, still budding, spun continuously within the net, while countless golden sword threads slashed towards it. However, they only stirred ripples in the spiritual light surrounding the lotus, unable to approach it in the slightest.

All cultivators familiar with the power of the "Spring Thread Slash" were horrified.

Seeing this, Old Monster Jin was filled with both shock and fury. Without thinking, he quickly changed his sword incantations and forcefully urged them.

The sword threads pulsed with golden light, becoming three-tenths thinner and longer. Each golden thread turned dazzlingly bright and instantly cut into the blue spiritual light, shattering it into fragments, poised to strike directly at the lotus.

At that moment, the lotus began to bloom petal by petal.

With a "poof," a mass of hazy blue frigid light emanated from the lotus petals, enveloping the space within a twenty-zhang radius. The light was so dazzling it was impossible to look directly at it.

Old Monster Jin immediately felt his connection with his flying swords sever. He could no longer sense them in the slightest. Greatly startled, he quickly focused his gaze.

A moment later, the curly-haired old man's face turned exceptionally grim.

At the location where the lotus had been, it had vanished without a trace. Instead, a massive block of blue ice appeared, encasing his three glittering golden flying swords, rendering them completely immobile.

Old Monster Jin inwardly cried out in alarm. With a flick of his hand, he slapped his storage pouch, and a hazy white jade pendant appeared in his grasp.

However, before he could activate this treasure, a thunderclap suddenly sounded behind him.

Old Monster Jin was greatly startled, but without thinking, he tried to fly away diagonally.

But in that instant, his protective spiritual light was easily shattered by something, like a piece of window paper. Immediately after, a hand flickering with blue flames mysteriously pressed onto his right shoulder, which he was about to raise. Half of his body was stunned and then completely lost sensation.

"Fellow Daoist Jin! Our match ends here. What do you say?" Han Li's cool, clear voice drifted from behind him.

"Fellow Daoist Han truly possesses immense divine abilities. This old man admits defeat!" Old Monster Jin, having been subdued in a single move, first felt his heart sink but then promptly conceded on the spot.

"Brother Jin, you are too kind!" Han Li seemed to chuckle softly. He lightly patted Old Monster Jin's shoulder and then withdrew his hand.

With that pat, Old Monster Jin immediately felt a warmth on his shoulder, and his body instantly returned to normal. Startled, he quickly turned his head and saw Han Li standing calmly about a zhang behind him. At some point, a pair of silver winged magic treasures had appeared on Han Li's back, with faint electric arcs flickering and dancing on them.

Old Monster Jin let out a long breath.

The opponent had actually controlled the power of extreme cold to such a subtle degree. It was truly incredible. Hadn't he heard that this person's principal magic treasure was a set of flying swords? And his main cultivation technique didn't seem to be ice-attributed. Could it be that the secret arts he casually used were already this powerful? This made it truly hard for him to believe!

"Kid Han, you haven't wasted this old man's guidance after all. To be able to manipulate the Profound Azure Ice Flames to such an extent, it's truly a pity you don't major in ice-attributed cultivation techniques," Grand Exalt Dayan suddenly said with a soft chuckle in Han Li's mind.

"Senior, please don't jest. While the ice flames are powerful, they are not yet enough to make this junior re-cultivate his main technique," Han Li calmly transmitted his reply. Then, the silver wings on his back silently dissipated and vanished. He then swayed slightly and transformed into a streak of green light, appearing beside the massive blue ice block.

With a seemingly casual flick of his sleeve, a wave of azure mist swept out. The blue ice dissolved and shrank within the shimmering light, transforming back into a hazy blue lotus.

This spiritual lotus floated lightly towards Han Li. After a brief flash, it vanished into his forehead, as if it had never appeared.

The three small golden swords, now free, buzzed weakly and transformed into three streaks of golden light, flying back towards Old Monster Jin.

It seemed that although they had not been sealed by the blue ice for long, the flying swords' spiritual essence had still suffered some damage.

Old Monster Jin's face, naturally, was far from pleasant. With a grim expression, he opened his mouth to retract the three flying swords. At this moment, Han Li was already gently descending towards the mountain peak.

From the moment the spiritual lotus formed by the Profound Azure Ice Flames froze the flying swords, to Han Li's mysterious appearance behind Old Monster Jin using his Wind-Thunder Wings, easily subduing his opponent, the outcome was decided almost instantaneously. This greatly disappointed several Nascent Soul old monsters who had hoped to watch a grand battle, but at the same time, they were filled with profound awe towards Han Li's divine abilities.

Moreover, Han Li hadn't even used a single offensive magic treasure, further highlighting that the disparity in their strengths was far from insignificant.

When Han Li landed on the mountain peak, although the cultivators had previously held various thoughts, they now dared not neglect him and respectfully came forward to greet him.

"Fellow Daoist Han's divine abilities are truly profound; the rumors are indeed not exaggerated."

"Congratulations to your sect; from today onward, it is the foremost sect of Mount Yunmeng!"

The ones speaking these words were, naturally, the old monsters from Hundred-Refinement Pavilion. Although their own ranking had dropped to the bottom, they seemed completely unconcerned by this, speaking instead with great enthusiasm.

The middle-aged cultivator from the Ancient Sword Sect had a somewhat grim expression, but facing Han Li's formidable display, he could only force a smile. He opened his mouth but said nothing. As for Ming Xin, apart from an initial flash of fear in her eyes, she now appeared calm.

Elder Cheng and Lü Luo, naturally, were overjoyed. After exchanging glances, both saw expressions of profound satisfaction on each other's faces.

After this battle, it was likely that the Fallen Cloud Sect would be able to firmly suppress the other two sects for a thousand years.

These individuals gathered around Han Li, inquiring about the divine abilities he had just displayed.

Han Li's demeanor towards the crowd was no different from before, but regarding the Profound Azure Ice Flames and the Wind-Thunder Wings, he merely mentioned them briefly.

Naturally, none of them dared to press for more details.

A moment later, Old Monster Jin also flew down from the sky. The Grand Elder of the Ancient Sword Sect had now regained his composure, as if the battle had never happened. He continued to converse calmly with the others, which made Han Li secretly admire him somewhat!

After reaffirming the division of interests among the three sects on Mount Yunmeng, these old monsters began to exchange insights on cultivation and trade rare treasures they had no use for.

However, with such a small-scale exchange of items, Han Li naturally didn't find anything that caught his eye. As for cultivation insights, he gained quite a bit from others.

No further incidents occurred after that, and the exchange finally concluded smoothly after most of the day had passed.

From the cultivation experiences of these Nascent Soul old monsters, Han Li genuinely gained some insights he hadn't noticed before. This made him secretly think that it would be beneficial to participate in such pure cultivation exchanges more often in the future, as they were extremely helpful for his practice.

After the exchange, Han Li proactively proposed visiting the Hundred-Refinement Pavilion's subterranean fire spiritual vein. This surprised Old Monster Blazing Fire, but he readily agreed.

Upon personally seeing the unfathomably deep subterranean fire pool before him, Han Li couldn't help but ponder by its side for a long while.

After another half a day, Han Li, Old Monster Jin, and the others eventually took their leave one after another, departing from Hundred-Refinement Pavilion.

Han Li and the two others transformed into three streaks of astonishing light and flew towards the Fallen Cloud Sect. Along the way, Lü Luo excitedly chattered nonstop, directly discussing with Elder Cheng about which spirit stone mines and rare material production sites they would take over. Some of these locations belonged to the Ancient Sword Sect, while others were occupied by the Hundred-Refinement Pavilion, but soon, a portion of them would become the Fallen Cloud Sect's property.

Although Elder Cheng wasn't as utterly ecstatic as Lü Luo, he also appeared to be in high spirits.

Han Li had no interest in discussing these matters and merely listened with a smile as the two conversed. However, unexpectedly, as they were nearing their sect, Elder Cheng suddenly spoke to Han Li from within his escape light:

"Junior Brother Han, this is all thanks to you! To be honest, Junior Brother, making our sect the foremost cultivation sect in Xi Country has been the long-cherished wish of several generations of our sect's elders. That it can be achieved in my lifetime is truly satisfying. Brother Lü and I have discussed this. This old man intends to hand over the position of Grand Elder of our sect to you, Junior Brother, after my passing. What do you think?"