Han Li stared intently at the massive bell as it descended toward him. He extended one hand and gave the basket-shaped ancient treasure before him a gentle tap. The white mist it had transformed into instantly shot upward above his head.
At the same moment, a muffled "dong" echoed from the great bell.
The sound wasn't loud, but Han Li, who was positioned directly beneath the bell's mouth, felt his mind sink as his body swayed and he nearly collapsed.
Another sound-based attack — the type he hated most!
Han Li cursed inwardly but didn't dare slack off, immediately urging the ancient treasure hovering in the air.
With a flash of radiance, the basket's original form materialized within the white mist.
The basket then spun around rapidly, spraying out beams of white light that ensnared the silver bell and began pulling it toward the basket's interior.
The silver bell would hardly surrender so meekly. Blinding silver light erupted from its entire surface, and the bell chimed rang after rang without pause. However, since it was now enveloped on all sides by the white mist, Han Li found that although the sound still made him somewhat uncomfortable, he could at least remain standing — unlike before.
Only then did Han Li turn his attention away from the two ancient treasures battling overhead, shifting his gaze back to the man opposite him.
The Young Master of the Six Paths, his expression having regained its composure, was still mulling over the scene where his True Demon Avatar had been obliterated by the golden arc. His expression shifted abruptly, and he fixed Han Li with a sharp stare.
"Evil-Warding Divine Lightning! You possess a Golden Thunder Bamboo treasure!" Wen Tianren's voice was filled with shock and fury.
Aside from the legendary Evil-Warding Divine Lightning — said to specifically counter demonic arts and evil techniques — he could think of no other type of lightning that could possess such heaven-defying power, capable of instantly destroying his True Demon Avatar. Golden Thunder Bamboo — that very thing which had once stirred up a bloody storm of carnage — had appeared once more, and had even been refined into a treasure by the man standing across from him. This truly shook the Six Paths successor to his core.
Hearing Wen Tianren call out the name of the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning, Han Li's expression shifted slightly. But after a cold laugh, his face returned to its usual calm, and he simply continued urging the basket-shaped treasure above his head, intending to capture the silver bell first.
Seeing this, Wen Tianren naturally knew his guess had been correct, and his face turned somewhat pale.
As the successor of the foremost figure in the Demonic Path, his knowledge of the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators. He was especially wary of this divine lightning.
Moreover, after witnessing that even the Six Ultimate True Demon Art had been rendered completely powerless against it, he knew that the legends about this lightning's suppression of demonic arts were not the slightest bit exaggerated. As long as his opponent possessed this lightning, it was enough to render eighty to ninety percent of his demonic techniques useless.
Wen Tianren drew a deep breath, glanced at the expressionless Han Li standing before him, and his face grew dark as storm clouds. A thread of unease flickered through his heart.
He had a vague feeling that the person opposite him was destined to be his greatest enemy in life. Not only were his cultivation and treasures no worse than his own, but with the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning in hand, his techniques were thoroughly countered. This was something he absolutely could not tolerate!
"No matter the cost, I cannot let this man leave the island alive today. Only when the Golden Thunder Bamboo treasure is in my own hands can I truly rest easy." Wen Tianren stared at Han Li, his resolve hardening.
At this moment, the stunningly beautiful young woman standing farther away was utterly dumbfounded by the flurry of technique clashes and treasure exchanges between Han Li and Wen Tianren.
When Han Li had deployed the Gold Devouring Beetles, she had already guessed his true identity. Her heart had been shaken to its core!
In merely a few short decades, Han Li's cultivation had rocketed from early Core Formation all the way to late Core Formation — it was almost impossible for her to believe. But then she recalled that the legendary Void Heaven Cauldron seemed to be in Han Li's possession, and that helped ease her disbelief somewhat.
Even so, at the start of this confrontation she had held no hope for Han Li in his battle against Wen Tianren, expecting that he would hold out for at best a brief moment before suffering a crushing defeat and fleeing. She never could have imagined that after all this time, Han Li had actually gained a commanding advantage. And when his pale golden lightning had struck, smashing through Wen Tianren's demonic art in a single blow, the beautiful young woman had been so stunned that her mind could barely keep up.
Evil-Warding Divine Lightning! She had recognized the origin of the golden lightning almost before Wen Tianren himself had.
Because that half-section of thousand-year-old Sky Thunder Bamboo had been personally handed over to Han Li by her own hands. But how had it become ten-thousand-year-old Golden Thunder Bamboo? Had Han Li obtained new Sky Thunder Bamboo materials from somewhere else? That was the only explanation she could think of.
This stunningly beautiful young woman was none other than Fairy Zi Ling, whom Han Li had parted ways with at the Void Heaven Hall.
Her appearance had changed entirely, and she had somehow ended up at Wen Tianren's side — and from the looks of it, somewhat unwillingly at that. Who knew how many stories lay hidden behind that?