Chapter 1997: Battle of Deep Heaven City (1)
However, this immortal secret technique would definitely take a very long time to cultivate, and it wasn't something that would yield any benefits for him in a short time, so he wasn't planning to make a start on it right away.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the two outer pages and carefully reviewed their contents for a while, and after ascertaining that there weren't any issues, he stowed them away before slowly closing his eyes.
He was going to get himself into prime condition before he began refining that Heavenly Halberd Talisman.
With that talisman up his sleeve, he should be able to ensure self-preservation no matter what mishaps arose in the upcoming battle.
Of course, this wasn't the only thing that Han Li was going to be relying on against that Xue Guang clone.
With his current enormous wealth of spiritual sense, he would be able to just barely control all of his unevolved Gold Devouring Beetles in battle.
If he were to release several thousand mature Gold Devouring Beetles at once, they would pose a substantial threat even to the Xue Guang clone.
Furthermore, he was preparing to practice the abilities enclosed in the Provenance True Devil Arts right away, and all of these abilities were extremely powerful.
On top of that, he had his Leopard Kirin Beast and Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles to assist him. With all of that up his sleeve, he should be able to ensure self-preservation even against the true body of a Sacred Ancestor, let alone a mere Sacred Ancestor clone.
With that in mind, Han Li gradually relaxed and entered a meditative state.
A period of silence ensued in the secret chamber, following which a low buzzing abruptly rang out, accompanied by the occasional resounding boom.
Half a month later, an ear-piercing ringing sound erupted within the secret chamber, and a golden pillar of light rose to the ceiling of the secret chamber, then appeared at the top of the stone pagoda right above Han Li.
The golden pillar of light was over around 10,000 feet tall, and as thick as a water tank. There was a giant halberd projection hovering above the pillar of light, and it was emitting an astonishing ringing sound.
Furthermore, there were thousands of shimmering silver runes dancing around the halberd projection, creating a mystical sight to behold.
In the next instant, the sharp ringing sound erupting from the halberd projection abruptly ceased, and at the same time, a burst of indescribably terrifying fluctuations surged forth in all directions.
As the fluctuations swept through the air, specks of golden light began to appear out of thin air.
These specks of light were only the size of grains of rice, but there were far too many of them to count, and they were surging toward the pillar of light in a frenzy.
Every speck of light was emanating extremely pure metal-attribute spiritual Qi, and all of the metal-attribute spiritual Qi in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers was being drawn to the pillar of light.
On top of that, the metal-attribute armor and treasures being carried by the patrolling guards and other cultivators in the area also began to release their metal-attribute spiritual Qi, all of which surged toward the golden pillar as specks of golden light.
These cultivators were naturally quite startled by this, and they immediately tried to prevent their treasures from leaking spiritual Qi, but no matter what they tried, their efforts proved to be futile.
Within mere moments, close to half of the metal-attribute spiritual Qi in their treasures had been lost, and the light emanating from them dimmed significantly. It was quite clear that if things were to continue like this, these treasures would soon be reduced to useless pieces of scrap metal.
All of the nearby cultivators were petrified to see this, but they could only look on in helplessness and despair.
Just as things the situation was truly about to get out of hand, the halberd projection suddenly shuddered, and all of the fluctuations it was releasing abruptly ceased.
The giant pillar of light then vanished on the spot, and at the same time, the leakage of metal-attribute spiritual Qi from the treasures in the surrounding area was also cut off.
If it weren't for the fact that the auras of these treasures had become extremely feeble, the cultivators in the area could easily be led into thinking that they had just experienced a hallucination.
Many people began to exchange bewildered glances with one another.
Of course, it was soon determined that the phenomenon that had just taken place had stemmed from Han Li's abode. Everyone naturally came to the conclusion that Han Li had been refining a certain treasure that required an enormous influx of metal-attribute spiritual Qi, and they certainly didn't dare to demand compensation from a late-Body Integration Stage senior, so they could only lament their ill-fortune.
None of the elders of the city witnessed this phenomenon, but they received news of it shortly thereafter.
They were rather surprised to hear about this, but didn't think much of it, and they didn't even send anyone to inquire Han LI about what had happened.
At this point, the devilish army was becoming more and more active, and it was quite apparent to all cultivators of Deep Heaven City that a battle was imminent.
Under these circumstances, the high-grade cultivators in the city naturally weren't going to concern themselves with something trivial like this.
Two months later, Han Li was seated in his secret chamber with golden light shimmering from his body. His eyes were tightly shut, and his hand were clasped in front of his chest with a golden and silver talisman held between them.
Above his head was a projection with three heads and six arms that was hovering at a low altitude. The projection's three faces were identical to Han Li's, and they each wore a different expression. Hovering above the six outstretched hands of the projection were six golden treasures of different descriptions, all of which seemed to be substantial objects with intricate silver runes inscribed all over them.
These treasures were all releasing different phenomena, and it was quite clear that not only were they extremely powerful, they also possessed vastly different abilities.
All of a sudden, Han Li's expression stirred slightly, and the golden and silver talisman abruptly disappeared from between his hands as he opened his eyes.
Almost at the exact same moment, the golden projection also vanished into his body.
A ball of red light then shot forth into the secret chamber before landing in Han Li's grasp.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as he appraised the ball of red light, then suddenly released his spiritual sense out of the secret chamber.
His enormous spiritual sense instantly swept through all of the levels of the stone pagoda before stopping in the hall on the top floor.
"Seeing as she's come here in person, the devilish army must've already begun attacking the city. Otherwise, she wouldn't disrupt my seclusion for no good reason," Han Li murmured to himself as a solemn look appeared on his face.
He waved a hand through to snuff out the ball of red light, then rose to his feet and flew out of the secret chamber as a streak of azure light.
On the top floor of the stone pagoda, a silver-robed woman was waiting for him with a concerned look on her face.
Qi Lingzi, Hai Yuetian, and the Ice Phoenix were standing nearby in a respectful manner.
This woman was none other than Fairy Silver Light, and her brows were currently tightly furrowed.
"Rest assured, Senior, I've already sent a voice transmission talisman to Master, so he should be here soon," Qi Lingzi reassured.
Fairy Silver Light nodded in response. "The devilish army has already begun to advance toward our Deep Heaven City, and an all-out battle is imminent, so it would be best if Brother Han can meet up with the elders of the city as soon as possible. You three can come with Brother Han as well; the elders will make sure not to send you out to battle too early, so you should have a greater chance of survival than the average cultivator."
"Thank you, Senior!" Hai Yuetian and Qi Lingzi immediately expressed their gratitude, and a grateful look also appeared on the Ice Phoenix's face.
Right at this moment, azure light flashed within the hall, and a humanoid figure suddenly appeared without any warning.
"Has the devilish army commenced their attack, Fellow Daoist? This isn't just another harassment attack, is it?" Han Li asked in a calm manner as soon as he appeared in the room.
"It's good to see you, Brother Han. The devilish army is indeed about to begin attacking the city, and they've deployed all of their devilish beasts and troops, so this definitely isn't just a harassment attack. Even that Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang clone seems to have appeared in the devilish army. I can see that your powers have received another significant boost as a result of your breakthrough, Brother Han; I can't even ascertain your exact cultivation base anymore," Fairy Silver Light said with an elated look on her face."Seeing as the situation is so urgent, I'll meet up with Brother Gu and the others right away. You can all come with me as well," Han Li said with a smile as he turned to his disciples and the Ice Phoenix.
The three of them naturally agreed, and thus, all of them immediately departed from the stone pagoda together, heading directly toward the direction that the devilish army was situated in.
After flying for a short while, the gigantic city wall of Deep Heaven City appeared in the distance, and there was an enormous palace that resembled an island hovering in mid-air just behind the city wall.
Han Li and the others flew toward the palace before landing on a massive platform in front of it, and there were already thousands of high-grade cultivators gathered on the scene. At the center of the platform was a stone pagoda that was over 1,000 feet tall, at the top of which stood several people; they were none other than the members of the panel of elders.
Han Li naturally had no intention of hanging around with the ordinary cultivators, and he issued a few instructions to his disciples and the Ice Phoenix before flying toward the pagoda with Fairy Silver Light.
The white-robed elderly man was ecstatic to see Han Li, and he immediately pointed toward the devilish army outside the city as he said, "Welcome, Fellow Daoist Han. Take a look over there; that should be the clone of Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang."