Streams of crimson and blue-green light shimmered into existence around the perimeter of the great hall, rolling like waves toward the icy woman at its center.
The Silver Bell's sonic assault reached her in the blink of an eye.
The woman facing them head-on didn't so much as flinch. She tapped the two flying swords hovering before her with a single finger. Black and white light flickered, and the swords spun gently in a single rotation through the air. A blast of freezing cold and searing heat erupted simultaneously, forming a bizarre dual-layered barrier of black and white.
White on the outside, black on the inside — frost and flame complementing each other.
When the silver shockwave struck the barrier, it vanished like a river of mud swallowed by the sea. The shield didn't so much as tremble, as though the attack had accomplished nothing at all.
But moments later, the crimson and blue-green restriction light converging from every direction crashed over the woman and her barrier alike, burying them completely.
It was then that Nangong Wan struck as well.
The Vermilion Bird Ring before her flashed with brilliant radiance and, with a sharp crackling sound, transformed into a colossal fireball that hurtled toward the center of the arena with tremendous force. At the same moment, one of her slender hands — which had been hanging still at her side — moved almost imperceptibly.
A streak of deep crimson shot forth and vanished in an instant.
Had Han Li's spiritual sense not been far too powerful, he would never have caught Nangong Wan's hidden attack.
A muffled grunt from a woman rang out from within the haze of light almost the instant the crimson streak was launched.
"Punishment of Evil Thorn — you actually used that to wound me! Clever move, Junior Sister. I'd always assumed you'd long since spent every last one. I never expected you to still have one left." The cold woman's voice was laced with fury and pain, as though she had suffered a far greater loss than the wound alone suggested.
Yet despite the hint of agony in her tone, her vital energy remained robust.
Han Li realized she'd sustained only a minor injury. Nangong Wan had most likely deployed the thorn simply to interrupt the woman's attempt to activate the token.
With the hall's restrictions already activated, Han Li flipped his palm, and the dark, craggy form of the Thousand Layer Peak appeared in his hand.
He hurled it skyward and rapidly formed several seals, sending streams of incantation light crashing into the miniature mountain.
By now, the icy woman shrouded within the haze of restriction light seemed to be temporarily trapped. Unable to dodge, she took the full brunt of the fireball conjured by the Vermilion Bird Ring. In an instant, seven or eight serpentine tendrils of flame — each as thick as a man's arm — lashed around her, writhing and tearing at her body.
The hall erupted into a raging sea of fire!
Just as the Thousand Layer Peak had swelled to a height of five or six zhang and Han Li was about to activate its full power, a soft popping sound echoed from the distance. A pillar of five-colored light, as thick as a bowl, burst from the heart of the inferno. Everything it swept past — restriction haze, hall flames alike — was scoured clean, as unstoppable as a battering ring crashing through bamboo.
A clear, resonant chime rang through the air. The nimble pillar of light froze in place.
A crystalline, deep-red circular ring spun furiously within the beam, trapped and unable to break free.
"The Luminous Treasure Mirror."
Han Li's eyes narrowed, his expression growing solemn as he murmured the name.
Before this woman's arrival, Nangong Wan had already briefed him on her senior sister's techniques and treasures, hoping to give him even a sliver of additional advantage in the fight.
The Luminous Treasure Mirror was the artifact she had mentioned most often — one of her senior sister's signature treasures, a genuine ancient relic of formidable power.
As it happened, the magic tool Han Li had obtained during the Blood Trial so many years ago — the Azure Condensing Mirror — was merely a simplified imitation of this very treasure. Its power didn't amount to even one percent of the Luminous Mirror's. And yet, even that pale copy had earned great renown among low-level cultivators and was widely regarded as a pinnacle-grade magic tool.
That alone spoke volumes about the true power of the Luminous Treasure Mirror.
Now, with the crimson and blue-green restriction haze and the raging flames alike scattered into chaos by the pillar of light, there was nothing left to restrain the enemy. The icy woman's figure emerged once more.
She stood within her black-and-white barrier, one hand forming seals while the other clutched the mirror.
Han Li's gaze locked onto the treasure mirror — a name that carried weight even among Nascent Soul cultivators.
The mirror wasn't large, roughly the same size as the Azure Condensing Mirror. But its entire surface was a lustrous, deep black. The front of the mirror was an abyss of darkness that gave off a profound, sinister feeling. Yet from within that void it projected a shimmering pillar of five-colored light. The stark contrast was almost unsettling to behold.