(Heh heh! The book will be going up for sale next week! To get myself in shape before then, from today until the listing date, I'll only be posting one chapter a day! Heh heh! It's only a few days anyway! Please be patient, everyone! This is a good chance for me to relax a few days and spend more time with Cao Cao — maybe even get some better inspiration! After months of non-stop writing, I'm honestly a bit tired!)
The woman in white saw that her artifact had worked, blocking Han Li's golden blade, and a smug expression spread across her face.
"I was wondering why someone would jump out beyond their means! So you've got a top-grade artifact — that explains it!" she sneered, but her hands didn't pause for even a moment. She flipped her hand and brought out a pink crystal orb, sending it hovering above her own head.
"That's not good! That crystal orb can corrode other people's artifacts! Junior Brother, stop her quickly — that's exactly how my artifact was completely destroyed!" The woman in yellow's face changed drastically, and she hurriedly warned him.
Han Li's heart lurched. Without a second thought, he raised his hand and flung the silver hook he had just readied, sending it streaking as a silver glow toward the woman's crystal orb.
The corner of the white-robed woman's mouth twitched slightly. She formed a strange seal with all ten fingers and fired a beam of red light into the crystal orb above her head.
The crystal orb, having absorbed the incantation, immediately blazed with red light and began spinning on its own. It sprayed out stream after stream of pink liquid, forming a cloud-like mass centered on the orb. Though it was only about ten feet across, it shrouded the sky above the woman in a rosy haze.
Han Li hesitated, not daring to let the silver hook fly directly into the red liquid. Instead, he steered it to dive straight toward the white-robed woman below.
At the same time, he quietly released another upper-grade artifact — the Azure Cord — letting it slither along the ground like a ghostly serpent, silent and imperceptible.
"Go!"
The white-robed woman suddenly pointed at the crystal orb, and a small portion of the liquid cloud detached and shot downward. It enveloped the silver light passing beneath it in an instant, slowing it down and forcing it to reveal its true form as the silver hook!
Seeing this, Han Li's heart sank. He gritted his teeth and abandoned the hook, instead commanding the Azure Cord that had arrived a moment later to wrap around the white-robed woman with eerie precision — trapping her completely, shield and all, into a tight bundle for the time being.
Although the white-robed woman possessed numerous treasures, she was caught off guard and couldn't immediately break free.
And in that moment, Han Li pulled out the talisman treasure "Golden Light Brick" without a shred of hesitation!
He had no confidence in how long the Azure Cord could hold her, but now was his only chance to gamble. He hoped he could kill her with the talisman treasure before she broke free.
That woman in yellow — though her looks were plain — was actually somewhat clever! Even without artifacts or powerful talismans at her disposal, she kept firing small spells like fireballs and ice spikes, hammering away at the liquid mass trapping the silver hook and that small mirror, hoping to free some of Han Li's artifacts and improve their chances of victory.
But unfortunately, these attacks were as useful as scratching an itch through a boot — utterly ineffective.
"Hmph! You think a mere upper-grade artifact can hold me? I'll show you how foolish you are right away!" Despite being trapped inside the Azure Cord, the white-robed woman spoke with unyielding arrogance.
Han Li couldn't be bothered to respond. He raised the "Golden Light Brick" talisman treasure, bracing himself for another massive drain on his magical power.
But just then, from the dense forest behind the white-robed woman, a terrifying burst of enormous spiritual energy suddenly erupted!
Han Li froze, and before he could even react, a blinding yellow radiance shot from the woods like a bolt of lightning. It pierced clean through Han Li's Azure Cord, the woman's shield, and the white-robed woman herself — all in one pass. The woman didn't even have time to scream before she fell dead on the spot.
Han Li was startled at first, but then something clicked in his mind. He moved to bolt away, but he was already too late.
A blue figure had already flickered through the air like a shooting star, arriving at the woman's corpse in just a few blinks. The figure snatched the storage pouch from her waist and then burst into hearty laughter, a look of wild delight spreading across his face.
Seeing that he had been a step too late, Han Li sighed in frustration. But for the sake of his life, he steeled himself and watched the newcomer's every move with cold, guarded eyes.
The man who had arrived was a middle-aged figure covered in facial scars. His eyes were narrow and long, his nose hooked like a hawk's beak, and his entire aura radiated a murderous intent that made anyone who laid eyes on him shudder and want to keep their distance. His cultivation was clearly at the peak of the thirteenth layer, which only made Han Li's heart grow heavier.
"Feng Yue — you're Feng Yue, the madman from Heaven's Bastion Stronghold!"
To Han Li's surprise, before the blue-robed man even opened his mouth, the woman in yellow cried out in terror. The look on her face suggested she had encountered some unspeakable demon — she was far more afraid than when the white-robed woman had been chasing her.