*Poof!* An unremarkable-looking palm pierced straight through the crimson light and struck the massive scarlet hand squarely.
The crimson giant hand — fully a dozen times larger than Han Li's own — was instantly penetrated by an irresistible invisible force. After a faint shudder, it silently crumbled to powder.
The colossal puppet's expression remained blank as the crimson glow across its body flared violently. Several phantom beasts — half-bull, half-tiger — materialized faintly around it, and with a savage roar, it lunged toward Han Li.
But in that same instant, Han Li's eyes flashed, and he opened his mouth to spit out a streak of azure sword light. It flickered once and appeared before the puppet as if teleporting, wrapping around its massive body in a single fluid motion.
*Thud!* The puppet's enormous torso, despite its spirit-light flashing wildly, could not withstand the blow. It was cleaved clean in half at the waist and toppled backward.
As for the phantom beast images that had just surfaced on its body, each let out a mournful whimper before dissolving into wisps of azure smoke and vanishing.
However, in the next moment, the two halves of the puppet's body were wreathed in surging crimson flames that erupted from the crystal formations on the ground. The severed ends flickered with scarlet light and spewed dense, fine crystal threads toward each other, which pulled violently together.
The puppet's two halves were instantly rejoined. The wounds on its surface flickered several times and then healed completely, as though they had never existed.
Han Li, upon seeing this, wasted no words. He simply pressed one palm downward through the air once more.
*BOOM!* An enormous golden luminous hand, large enough to cover an acre, materialized out of thin air above the puppet and descended with all five fingers spreading wide.
The colossal puppet felt its body suddenly bear a crushing weight, and then an overwhelming titanic force pressed down upon it without mercy.
White lines appeared all across the puppet's surface, and then the entire thing burst apart into a sphere of crimson light.
From within the explosion, a fist-sized golden orb shot out from the fragments, flickered once, and tore through the air as if to flee.
Han Li, as though he had anticipated this all along, let out a cold snort and abruptly curled his outstretched five fingers back, grasping at empty air.
*Whoosh!* The golden orb was instantly enveloped by a tremendous force. After a brief shudder, it was drawn into Han Li's palm as if by invisible hands.
Han Li lowered his gaze and saw that it was, in fact, a golden sphere covered in exquisite runes and small holes.
It rested on his palm as weightless as air, as though the inside were entirely hollow.
"So it really is different from ordinary puppets. The secret must lie entirely in this object." Han Li tossed the golden sphere up and caught it twice, a flicker of interest crossing his face.
Silver Moon, standing nearby, watched this scene and a bitter smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
She knew that Han Li's strength since advancing to the Mahayana stage had long surpassed anything she could truly imagine. But because there had never been any real benchmark for comparison, she had never been able to grasp just how powerful he had become.
The colossal puppet just now had been formidable enough that she knew — with absolute certainty — she could not have been its match. Yet before Han Li, it had been obliterated with nothing more than a casual raise and fall of his hand.
This finally gave Silver Moon a clear sense of the vast gulf between them, and her heart could not help but fill with deep emotion.
While Silver Moon was silently sighing, specks of silver flame reappeared in the void and then surged violently together.
*Thump!* The silver firebird materialized once more.
But this time, Han Li did not urge it to press onward. Instead, he stowed the golden orb, swept his spiritual sense outward in a calm, all-encompassing sweep, and then expressionlessly formed a one-handed seal.
*Poof!* The silver firebird raised its head and let out a clear, piercing cry. Its body surged and expanded with terrifying speed.
In the span of moments, a titanic creature over a hundred zhang long appeared at the center of the sea of fire.
The billowing walls of flame on all sides were forced back by the giant firebird, retreating to reveal a broad swath of open space.
"Absorb."
But Han Li did not stop there. He extended one finger and pointed at the silver colossus, uttering a low command.
*BOOM!* The thunderous sound roared as the firebird's two blazing silver wings beat down hard. Countless silver runes poured forth from them, and simultaneously a tremendous suction force swept outward in every direction.
The sea of fire that had been forcibly pushed back now hummed with a deep drone. Wave after wave of flame rolled and surged, coalescing into over a dozen fire columns that spiraled toward the enormous firebird.
The scarlet flames made contact with the firebird's surface and were silently absorbed into it.
And with each passing moment of absorption, the firebird's body grew still larger.
After no more time than it took to drink a cup of tea, the surrounding sea of fire had been devoured entirely, finally revealing the true face of the area beyond.
Silver Moon's gaze swept around, and her expression could not help but shift to one of utter astonishment.
The place where they stood was a vast elevated platform roughly a thousand acres in area, its surface paved with crimson crystals.
But surrounding the platform on all sides was an immense, seemingly endless depression filled with pit after pit of every conceivable size, packed tightly together.
And within each of those pits, various lights flickered — for every single one held a demon-crystal puppet, tall or short, of varying stature.
An army.