Han Li's Mountain Giant Ape transformation had long since surpassed what it was during the Battle of Yitian, having advanced along with his cultivation.
The strength of his ape form, though still far from matching that of a true Mountain Giant Ape, already wielded thirty to forty percent of its might. Coupled with the devastating throwing force of the two Extreme Mountains, it was naturally not something a merely half-dragonized Lord Azure Dragon could withstand.
The moment Lord Azure Dragon made contact, he was sent flying by the tremendous divine force hidden within the two Extreme Mountains!
Had he not quickly retracted his hands upon sensing the turn of events and spat out an extraordinary treasure to save his life, not only would all ten fingers have been shattered, but both arms would have been mercilessly snapped clean off.
Even so, the true essence within his body was now reversing its flow, every meridian racked with excruciating pain, and for the moment he found himself unable to mobilize more than half of his magical power.
At that instant, the giant ape's eyes flashed with a fierce glint. It took a sudden, massive step forward, its body blurring as it shrank back to roughly human size, and with that single stride somehow crossed over a hundred zhang in a flash, appearing not more than a few zhang from Lord Azure Dragon.
"Third strike!"
Han Li's voice suddenly issued coldly from the giant ape's mouth, and one arm blurred as it struck toward his opponent.
Lord Azure Dragon's face went pale with shock. With no time to think, he formed a hand seal with one hand, about to deploy some technique to retreat— But at that very instant, a bone-piercingly cold snort suddenly rang in his ears!
Lord Azure Dragon felt thunderous roaring explode in both ears while a sharp, spike-like pain lanced through his mind. With a muffled groan, he couldn't muster even the slightest wisp of his remaining magical power.
From the giant ape, a terrifying wave of killing aura surged skyward. A massive golden fist hurtled like a gale toward Lord Azure Dragon's head.
Before the golden fist had even truly made contact, a tremendous pressure already bore down on Lord Azure Dragon, nearly robbing him of breath.
With the divine strength of Han Li's giant ape form, if this fist landed squarely, Lord Azure Dragon's head would absolutely shatter on impact—half-demonized body or not.
Lord Azure Dragon's mind screamed that this was dire, but with his body beyond his control he simply could not react. Terror twisted his features.
However, as a Body Integration cultivator, he naturally had several trump cards for self-preservation.
A flash of white light, and a crystalline shield flew out from his body, instantly positioning itself in front of him.
At the same time, every scale on Lord Azure Dragon's body contracted, transforming in an instant into a misty-green suit of battle armor that enveloped his entire form.
These two layers of defense would have been more than sufficient against the attacks of any ordinary Body Integration cultivator.
But under the blow of the giant ape's golden fist, they crumbled like paper.
A flash of golden light, and with a tremendous crash the crystalline shield shattered piece by piece.
The golden fist shifted and struck squarely upon the green battle armor.
The armor hummed, and from within it a phantom azure dragon emerged, fangs bared and claws spread, lunging to meet the golden fist head-on.
But in that same instant, the golden fist's light vanished and it disappeared into the void—replaced by a golden vortex roughly a chi in diameter.
The vortex merely spun, and an inconceivable tearing force surged wildly outward.
The moment the azure dragon phantom made contact, it was instantly ground to dust by the golden vortex!
The battle armor, at the very instant the phantom vanished, hummed once more and dissipated into nothing.
The golden vortex, with a flash, once again transformed into a massive fist shadow that hurtled toward Lord Azure Dragon's head.
This time the fist shadow was utterly silent, yet the threads of killing intent it carried could be clearly perceived even by the cultivators outside the barrier.
Lord Azure Dragon's face, shrouded by the fist shadow, had already twisted into a mask of agony, his complexion turning ashen.
"Fellow Daoist Han, don't!"
"Brother Han, stop!"
The group outside the stone platform, witnessing this, were struck pale with shock, and almost simultaneously shouted for him to halt.
The next instant, with a tremendous boom, the golden fist shadow grazed past Lord Azure Dragon's ear and struck an empty patch of ground on the stone platform.
What no one noticed was that in the instant the golden fist shadow flashed past, something as fine as a single hair shot out from within it, plunging into Lord Azure Dragon's ear before vanishing without a trace.
The entire stone platform shuddered as the spiritual light of its restrictions flashed wildly, and a crater roughly a zhang deep materialized on its surface.