This Minor Extreme Palace Elder was truly remarkable — it was unclear what body-tempering technique he had cultivated, but in the instant the Demonic Marrow Flying Blade flashed and was about to pierce the crown of his skull, his neck twisted sideways with impossible speed, stretching over a foot longer like some monstrous creature. The sight was utterly eerie.
A flash of black light, and the blade sliced clean through most of Lord Hanli's neck, severing head from body. A skull tumbled to the ground with a dull thud.
The golden battle armor that had been condensed over his body, along with the blue ice dragon in the distance, both collapsed and vanished in an instant.
Han Li's face broke into a smile at the sight, but that trace of amusement had barely formed at the corners of his mouth before it froze.
That was because the severed head suddenly emitted a burst of golden radiance that enveloped it, and after a single spin, shot straight toward the qilin phantom hovering above.
Seeing this bizarre scene, Han Li was naturally startled. But he immediately realized what was going on.
The opponent's Nascent Soul had been concealed within the head.
His expression darkened as a layer of faint green luminescence surfaced on his face, and he spat out a single syllable: "Break."
The voice was soft, but the moment it reached the severed head, Han Li's spiritual sense felt as though it had been pierced by a sharp awl — waves of searing pain tore through him.
The head let out a piercing scream, blood streaming simultaneously from its ears and nose.
Without a body to support it, Lord Hanli — his vitality already greatly depleted — proved utterly incapable of withstanding the full force of Han Li's Spirit-Seizing Stinger.
The head wobbled in midair, the blue flames enveloping it flickering unsteadily.
It was then that the black short blade flashed once more, materializing directly above Lord Hanli's head.
With an expression of pure terror frozen on the severed face, the blade eerily vanished. In the next instant, it reappeared on the other side of the head.
A thin line of blood emerged across the center of the face, growing wider by the moment.
Almost simultaneously, a peal of thunder rang out as Han Li materialized several zhang from the head in a crackling arc of silver lightning. Without a word, he rubbed his palms together, then thrust them both forward.
A deafening crack erupted as a massive net of lightning descended overhead.
The head split cleanly in two, and a ball of blue light — containing Lord Hanli's Nascent Soul — shot out from within.
The Nascent Soul opened its small mouth and spat out a gleaming blue flying sword.
The sword surged in size with the wind, transforming into a weapon over ten feet long in the blink of an eye, and slashed without mercy at the golden net.
Before the massive blade even fell, the terrifying spiritual pressure emanating from it had already set the golden net shuddering violently.
Han Li's expression shifted slightly. With a thought, the golden arcs shooting from his hands thickened considerably.
With a thunderous boom, the blue radiance and golden light collided. The blue greatsword proved to be formidable indeed — after several savage slashes, it forcibly tore a gap in the golden net.
Though only about a foot wide, it was more than enough for the Nascent Soul following close behind.
The moment the Nascent Soul formed a hand seal, its form vanished from where it stood with a sharp whistle.
Over ten zhang outside the golden net, a flash of blue light announced the Nascent Soul's reappearance. It had actually employed a teleportation technique, escaping in the blink of an eye.
A trace of relief — the look of one who had narrowly survived death — crossed the Nascent Soul's features as it waved one of its small, pale hands toward the greatsword behind it.
The blue flying sword abruptly shrank in size, intending to follow through the gap and escape.
A cold gleam flashed through Han Li's eyes. He let out a cold snort, formed a series of hand seals, and the lightning net nearby erupted with thunder while simultaneously contracting. The gap that had just appeared vanished in the blink of an eye, while countless golden arcs converged upon the blue flying sword, layer upon layer, densely packed.
Though the sword had been refined by Lord Hanli over many years and its power far exceeded that of ordinary magical treasures, under the barrage of golden arcs it was already on the verge of collapse — its spiritual light flickering between bright and dim before being completely swallowed by the golden radiance.
Han Li then waved a single hand, and the Void Heaven Cauldron materialized before him, floating in the air. With a backward flick of his finger, a stream of azure threads shot from the cauldron and swept toward Lord Hanli's Nascent Soul over ten zhang away.
Lord Hanli — who was desperately trying to retrieve his lifebound treasure — was alarmed by this. He cast one last reluctant glance at the flying sword, then gritted his teeth as a flash of blue light enveloped him and he vanished once more.
In the next instant, the Nascent Soul appeared beside the Qianlan Cauldron to the other side. This time, after a moment's hesitation, it turned to look back, its gaze falling on the qilin phantom hovering where it had originally been.
Though its technique had been forcibly interrupted and its physical body destroyed, the Mystic Jade Token caught within the qilin still flickered with spiritual light, completely unaffected.
But at that moment, a faint azure figure drifted beside the qilin phantom, its cold gaze fixed upon the Nascent Soul without a trace of emotion.
The moment Lord Hanli's gaze met those eyes, a shudder ran through him and his heart sank. The last flicker of desperate hope within him was extinguished entirely.
With a soft swoosh.
The Nascent Soul no longer hesitated. It threw itself at the small cauldron, plunging into its depths and vanishing from sight. The cauldron then emitted an eerie cry, suddenly shot into the air on its own, and after flashing several times in succession, appeared at the passage leading to the cave entrance. As for the stream of azure threads, they had no way of catching up with a Nascent Soul that had teleported multiple times, and dissipated midway through the chase.