In addition to the talismans and chains, there were over a thousand palm-sized mirrors surrounding this gigantic object. Each one reflected yellow beams to weave together a strange spell formation enveloping it.

All of the surrounding space was filled with endless layers of cascading restrictions, radiating the air with faint light.

The object itself had the shape of a small mountain and showed no signs of change. If it weren't for the faint rise and falls of the surface, one would’ve believed it to be dead.

Contrarily, there was a whole other world right next to it.

This world was verdant and brimming with plants of all kinds, not to mention the choking spiritual Qi.

And at the very center, there was a beautiful palace a kilometer wide. From a distance, it appeared to be completely barren.

But if one looked at it from above, it would discover the palace was actually at the heart of a huge spell formation. There were eighty-one thirty-meter-tall altars erected near the palace, placed in various locations corresponding to the formation.

But most astonishing of all was a ten-meter-tall statue constructed from white jade enshrined at all of the altars.

These stone men were wearing golden armor and their hands were clasping large golden blades facing the palace. Their expressions were all solemn and lifelike.

However, the entire area was completely void of sound, as if this scene remained untouched for millennia. 

...

The Sevenstar Myrtle Formation had now been fully activated and explosions sounded out. It was a crucial moment for the formation’s collapse.

The seven pillars of purple light reached for the sky from the vast mist surrounding the area. Faint sounds of thunder and arcs of dense lightning would occasionally fly from the pillars and strike at various parts of the restriction.

The mist had condensed to the point where it completely blocked sight, and it would occasionally cry out with soul-shaking ghostly wails.

Han Li was now enveloped in coils of twisting lightning as he calmly approached a nearby pillar. As this happened, large pythons would condense from the surrounding mist and immediately attack, but the lightning surrounding him easily scattered them.

However, he didn’t appear happy at this in the slightest as the pythons continued their relentlessly assault.

Silver-white lightning would occasionally arc above his head, but he cared not for its frequency or power. Whenever it was about to strike him, he would simply redirect it to his side with the wave of his hand.

Suddenly, two nearly inaudible buzzes cleared from behind him. With a frown, he flicked his hand and two arcs of golden lightning shot out, followed by a scorched scent.

Han Li turned his head and saw two fist-sized wasps. Their bodies were burnt black and had fallen to the ground.

What was most eye-catching about them were the three-inch-long stingers that emerged from its tail.

Nevertheless, he had already killed forty of such insects with ease. At that start, he dealt with them using his nimble flying swords, but now, he resorted to Divine Devilbane Lightning.

But it wasn’t as if he had so much that he could squander it, but that the huge wasps were capable of damaging his swords. Although he didn’t know how venomous the wasp’s sting was, its green blood was extremely corrosive and damaged his sword’s spiritual nature upon contact.

Since he couldn't use them to kill the wasps, he tried low-grade fireball and icicle techniques to no avail. Fortunately, they had little resistance to lightning and were easily exterminated without consuming much at all.

In addition, there were also a few crimson bats that would occasionally attack. They appeared the same as an ordinary bat, but swordlight didn’t have much of an effect on them. He was only able to cleave through them with the actual edge of his swords, and even then, their flesh resisted for a moment before, much to Han Li’s shock.

His Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were incredibly incisive after being infused with Auric Essence. The fact that there was even a delay before his sword could cleave through the bats were a testament to their hardiness.

But in any case, these wasps and bats were rarely seen spirit beasts in the world and were incredibly hard to train. It was clear it took some effort into nurturing them, but without anyone controlling them, not even half of their potential strength was displayed.

It seems the cultivators ahead of them were paying great costs in order to delay them.

As these thoughts appeared through his mind, he arrived about thirty meters away from the pillar of purple light and could soon destroy it. 

But then, a huge purple bamboo at the entrance of the spell formation suddenly made a reappearance around the pillar. They rapidly grew all around him, engulfing him in a dense bamboo forest.

The pillar of light that was closeby had completely disappeared.

Han Li couldn't help but smile at the appearance of the illusion restrictions.

So long as he didn’t encounter a top-grade illusion like earlier, it wouldn’t be enough to stop him.

Blue light flashed from his eyes and the purple bamboo faded away to reveal the pillar of light that was originally there.

Then with a wave of his sleeve, eight flying swords shot out and circled in the air before letting out a clear ring. In a flash of light, a dense swordstreak cleaved through the bottom of the pillar.

With a huge explosion, the base of it disappeared.

At nearly the same time, the purple bamboo forest surrounding him had completely disappeared, exposing over four hundred meters of white jade brick floor.

Han Li took a glance at it and unconsciously raised his brow. He looked at the rest of the purple mist in the distance, seeing that only three pillars still shined. It appeared that three others had been one step ahead of him.

After a moment of thought, he took out a spirit stone and sat down, showing absolutely no interest in the other pillars.

As he recovered his magic power, he took this opportunity to properly collect what he would do when he encountered the Elder Devil.

Currently, there were many powerful cultivators gathered here with just as many monsters lurking nearby. Even with the grand puppet and Triflame Fan, he could lose his life in a single moment of carelessness.

After some thought, Han Li slapped his storage pouch and took out a rectangular brick that glowed with blue light. It was a reduced form of the crystalline slab he found in the stone stele earlier. 

The item was impeccably concealed. He had examined the stele for a long while and hadn’t discovered what laid inside. If it weren’t for the Armored Earth Dragon’s innate ability to find treasures, he would’ve completely missed it.

The crystal slab’s body was strange enough and clearly refined from a single kind of unknown stone. Without spiritual power, it was incredibly heavy, but with, it was as light as a feather.

But what most attracted his attention was the unknown ancient characters inscribed on the surface. Despite the many records Han Li read in the past, these letters were something he had yet to encounter.

Even so, he was able to recognize from the strokes and form that they came from an age even before what was commonly known as “ancient times”. It was an almost prehistoric treasure.

After examining the crystal brick for a while longer, he sighed and put it away.

At that moment, there were two explosions that came from the distance. Two more had been destroyed.

As for the last one, it faded away on its own without any intervention.

After the purple mist completely disappeared, the others came into view. Old Devil Qian’s furious voice then sounded out, “Where are those Sacred Poison Sect Elders? They actually dared slip past us!”

Han Li swept his gaze around and confirmed that they had all disappeared.

The large man from the group of vagrants angrily shouted, “Not only them, but that scoundrel Scatterwind disappeared as well. I knew he was planning to con us ever since he urged us to come inside!”

Bai Yaoyi sighed and pointed forward, “It is no wonder they shook us off. Take a look at our front.”

The others looked around and discovered the dozen of staircases that all led in differing directions.

Old Man Fu frowned and said, “It seems that these cultivators felt they could handle themselves and slipped away, intending to monopolize something.”

Old Devil Qian rapidly calmed himself and snorted, “So it was like that. Then I will be acting alone. Anyone who dares to stop me will meet with death.”

Afterwards, the cinque devils blurred and revolved around the jade tablets marking the destinations of the stairs. After reading it once through, they combined together and rushed up the stairs towards Kunwu Hall.