Even though Han Li knew that the Golden Crab's attack would certainly be extraordinary, he had never imagined it would be so devastatingly sharp!
Before any spatial fluctuations could even spread, the golden light transformed from the golden scissors had already arrived right before him, and it was far too late to cast any escape techniques.
With the terrifying power displayed by the golden scissors, he feared that no defensive treasure could withstand it.
In a flash of shock and fury, Han Li's mind raced like lightning. He let out a sudden roar, raising the arm that held the sealed Provenance True Treasure. Dark green runes surged across the surface of his skin as he slashed at the void with his hand as though it were a sword, and a swath of azure sword light immediately swept outward.
Facing the piercing golden light attacking from the other side, Han Li flipped his other palm, and his skin instantly turned a purple-gold hue.
Spreading his five fingers wide, a torrent of five-colored cold flames rolled out. As they condensed, they transformed into a five-colored ice shield that blocked his front. At the same time, a grayish haze of light surged from his body as the Protonic Radiance also formed a layer of luminous barrier to protect his frame.
Not stopping there, he quickly opened his mouth and spat out a silver fireball that shot straight toward the golden light.
A thunderous boom erupted, followed by a sharp crack!
One beam of golden light shattered the azure sword light, but when it struck the arm covered in dark green spirit runes, it bizarrely bounced off without leaving so much as a scratch.
The golden light on the other side, however, cleaved through the five-colored ice shield and the gray luminous barrier with unstoppable force. It only faltered slightly when struck by the silver fireball, but immediately flashed onward and sliced across Han Li's waist. His protective spiritual light was as useless as tissue paper against it.
Blood miasma scattered, and the two halves of the corpse immediately plummeted from the sky.
The golden light swept downward in a curl, instantly shredding the two halves of the body into fragments, and a rain of blood scattered down below.
The golden-robed man witnessed this scene and immediately burst into laughter:
"Ha! And here I thought he was so powerful. He perished with just a single blow from the Holy Crab. For Bao and Yuan Yan to have been threatened by someone like you—it seems they've both become trash since I last saw them."
"First strike at fifty percent failed to eliminate the target. Second strike at one hundred and twenty percent power—activate!"
But just then, a droning voice caused the golden-robed man's laughter to cut off abruptly.
The moment the voice fell, the Golden Giant Crab raised both of its massive claws skyward simultaneously. Layer upon layer of golden runes surged wildly from within its body, spinning frantically in the air before condensing into a colossal runic sphere a hundred zhang in diameter.
The sphere was staggering in size, its surface gleaming with dazzling golden light!
At that moment, the void rippled about a hundred zhang away from the rain of blood, and a faint cyan figure materialized without a sound.
The figure glanced at the nearby rain of blood, then at the Golden Giant Crab and the massive golden runic sphere hovering in the sky. His face was deathly pale.
It was none other than Han Li—the very person who should have already perished.
The golden-robed middle-aged man witnessed all of this, first frozen in shock, but quickly gaining a look of understanding. He let out a sinister laugh and spoke:
"So you possess a rare treasure that can take your place in death. I'll grant that you got lucky this time, but you're still dead with the Holy Crab's next strike. All you've done is drag out your wretched existence for a few more moments."
Han Li paid no heed to the golden-robed man's mocking words, his gaze fixed solely on the floating sphere above the Golden Giant Crab, his expression exceedingly dark.
The massive creature's previous strike—while he had managed to block half of its power by drawing upon a fraction of the Provenance True Sword's might—had shattered through the rest of his defenses as easily as crushing rotten wood.
Had he not urgently burned a small portion of his vital blood essence to activate the tribulation-substituting puppet refined from a piece of Weeping Spirit Bloodwood—which had absorbed that half-strike for him—he would have not only died but been utterly dismembered.
Now that the Golden Crab had unhesitatingly conjured another golden runic sphere of such tremendous size, it was obvious that the next attack's power would be far more unfathomable. With shock and fury churning in his heart, Han Li took a deep breath and no longer hesitated to unleash his ultimate life-preserving technique.
With a low roar, Han Li formed a hand seal with one hand. Golden light blazed brilliantly across his body as his frame suddenly expanded, transforming into a colossal golden-furred giant ape over a hundred zhang tall. Behind him, golden light churned as the three-headed, six-armed Profound Sage Avatar flickered into existence.
Beyond that, the giant ape slapped the crown of its head with one arm. The skull split open, and a half-foot-tall golden Nascent Soul flew out from within.
The Nascent Soul's small face was taut with tension as it chanted a few incantations in a low voice. Immediately, brilliant light erupted nearby as the True Dragon, the Rainbow Phoenix, the Thunder Roc, and several other avatar manifestations appeared one after another.
After circling in the air, all of the avatar manifestations—including the Profound Sage Avatar—charged toward the Nascent Soul.
A thunderous boom echoed forth, and golden light blazed with blinding intensity!
The giant ape's body instantly began to shrink, and as the light subsided, it transformed into a figure roughly the size of an ordinary person.
This figure was suffused with brilliant golden radiance—both skin and face were sheathed in a layer of faint golden scales. A single azure horn protruded from the top of his head, and between his brows, a pitch-black demonic eye eerily materialized.
The face barely visible behind those golden scales was none other than Han Li's own!