Chapter 1224: Concealed Power

Initially, Han Li's fist projections had fanned out in an area with a radius of several hundred feet around him, but that was rapidly shrunk down to only several dozen feet, and it wasn't going to take long before he was inundated by the approaching trees.

His expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was feeling rather dismayed. As expected, the tide was quickly turning against his favor as the battle dragged on longer and longer.

With a flick of his wrists, a pair of giant, black swords appeared in his grasp.

The swords were twenty to thirty feet in length each and as wide as a door, and both of them were giving off a glacial aura.

Engraved onto each sword was a star array in the shape of a dragon, and there were over two hundred star designs in each array.

These two swords were Chang Qi's Black Dragon Swords, and they were forged from Heavenly Meteor Iron, packing immense destructive power.

Han Li begun swinging the pair of massive swords through the air with a loud roar, and even though he wasn't able to unleash their innate power as he hadn't had the time to refine them, just the swords alone were far more destructive than his fist projections, instantly shredding all of the trees that drew close to him.

After taking another gargantuan breath, Han Li let loose a second roar, but this time, the soundwaves were condensed into a single stream that was directed at Sikong Jian.

All of the trees in the path of the stream of white soundwaves were completely pulverized, clearing out a path that was around ten feet wide.

Han Li charged at Sikong Jian like a speeding arrow along the path, and the latter hurriedly joined his palms together to conjure up a ball of dazzling, green light, then thrust his palms forward to send the ball of light hurtling through the air before fusing into the surrounding trees.

A green giant that was several hundred feet tall instantly materialized, and bursts of tremendous wood law power fluctuations erupted out of its body, causing the nearby space to tremble and quiver.

The green giant was wielding an enormous, green saber that was roughly the same height as itself, and it swung the giant saber at the stream of white soundwaves.

A loud explosion rang out as the stream of white soundwaves was eradicated by the green saber, and the latter was only slowed down for a moment before continuing to sweep toward Han Li.

The green giant seemed to be able to draw upon the power of the entire spirit domain, piling immense pressure on Han Li.

At this point, Han Li was already not far away from Sikong Jian, and he had no intention of engaging the green giant in battle, but a clash was unavoidable, so he could only lash out with his Black Dragon Sword.

The sword clashed against the giant saber, and both weapons were instantly snapped into two upon impact.

Despite this, Han Li displayed no intention of backing down, and he abruptly vanished from the spot before immediately reappearing right in front of the green giant's head while sweeping his other Black Dragon Sword through the air.

The green giant was instantly decapitated, and Han Li used its shoulder as a platform to launch himself toward Sikong Jian.

However, the green giant's body suddenly exploded, and countless green branches shot out from within before wrapping themselves tightly around Han Li.

These branches were riddled with green runes and were far more resilient than the trees from before. On top of that, they were giving off a burst of tremendous devouring force that was rapidly leeching away his immortal spiritual power.

An alarmed look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this. The immortal spiritual power currently in his body had been borrowed from Chang Qi, and if it were to be stripped away by the branches, then his cover would be blown.

With that in mind, he knew that he couldn't conceal his own physical prowess any longer, and all of the close to one thousand eight hundred profound acupoints over his body lit up in unison.

A burst of devastating power erupted out of his profound acupoints, snapping all of the tree branches clinging to his body.

A stunned look appeared on Daoist Master Chun Jun's face upon seeing this, and he exclaimed, "This is remarkable!"

"Indeed. Our Heavenly Court has also developed some Profound Immortals, but it's very difficult for them to advance in their cultivation, so very few of them have even managed to open one thousand profound acupoints. I wonder how he was able to get to this point," Immortal Envoy Feng Tian remarked in an intrigued manner.

A mixture of shock and elation had appeared on Immortal Lord Heavenly Star's face as he took a gloating glance at Huo Yuan, while the latter remained silent with a steely expression.

As for Zhou Xianyang and the other Prominent Mountain Sect cultivators, they had already been stunned into silence.

They had already been astonished by the power displayed by Han Li during his previous battle, and never had they imagined that he was still holding back so much.

On the platform, an alarmed look appeared on Sikong Jian's face as he hurriedly channeled his spirit domain with all his might, attempting to bind Han Li with his tree branches, but in his current state, he was too powerful to be restrained, and he was tearing through the branches in his path with ease.

Right as Han Li was about to tear his way out of the branches altogether, a look of resolve appeared in Sikong Jian's eyes, and a burst of blinding, green light erupted out of his body.

The spiritual pressure emanating from his body instantly swelled to unprecedented heights, revealing his true cultivation base at the mid-Great Encompassment Stage.

However, his aura was rather unstable, indicating that he had only recently made a breakthrough.

So he really has already reached the mid-Great Encompassment Stage!

Zhou Xianyang's expression instantly darkened upon seeing this, and his elation at Han Li's tremendous display of power quickly faded away.

In his eyes, an early-Great Encompassment Stage opponent would still be manageable for Han Li, but a mid-Great Encompassment cultivator was surely too much for him to overcome.

In contrast with the surprise and dismay displayed by Zhou Xianyang and Zhao Yuanlai, Daoist Master Chun Jun and the others remained composed and unflustered, as if they had already been aware of this.

Sikong Jian flicked his fingers through the air in rapid succession, and a series of translucent, green threads shot out of his fingertips, then transformed into numerous green rings that vanished into the branches around Han Li.

The branches instantly swelled to around twice their original thickness, and they were able to much better withstand Han Li's immense power.

Right as Han Li was about to unleash another Purgatory Roar to free himself, a series of green trees suddenly materialized out of thin air around him in rapid succession before wrapping themselves around him, instantly forming a huge cocoon that was several hundred feet tall and giving off tremendous wood law power fluctuations.

Immediately thereafter, Sikong Jian flipped a hand over to produce a green, wooden ruler with fiery red patterns all over its surface, and it was giving off formidable wood and fire law power fluctuations in equal measure.

More and more green rings continued to fly out of his body before fusing into the green ruler, which began to radiate green and red light, while the wood and fire law power fluctuations surging out of it only grew in potency.

Sikong Jian pointed the ruler directly forward, and the tip of the ruler shuddered slightly as a ball of green light emerged, at the center of which was a crimson flame.

Two bursts of law powers were clashing violently within the ball of light, producing a sharp, screeching wound, but they didn't completely erupt.

All of a sudden, the ball of green light shot forth through the air at Sikong Jian's behest, and initially, it was only the size of a human head, but it quickly swelled to the size of a house and crashed into the green tree cocoon before vanishing into it.

A burst of violent fire law power fluctuations came surging out of the cocoon alongside rays of dazzling, crimson light, and the tree cocoon instantly erupted into flames.

At the same time, it shrank down to only a fraction of its original size while also taking on a perfectly spherical form, and incredibly ferocious wood and fire law powers were clashing violently within the cocoon, but were also somehow enhancing one another in a symbiotic relationship.

"That's the Divine Wood Flame Orb!" Chi Meng exclaimed upon seeing this.

"Isn't that the signature ability of Immortal Lord Wood King, the Dao Ancestor Envoy of the Heavenly Wood Dao Ancestor?" Daoist Master Chun Jun asked.

"That's right. With his mastery over both the laws of wood and fire, Immortal Lord Wood King was able to perfectly combine the two to create this Divine Wood Flame Orb ability. With this ability, he was able to hold his own in battle against a late-Great Encompassment and two mid-Great Encompassment cultivators when he was only at the mid-Great Encompassment Stage.

“Unfortunately, he became too arrogant for his own good and committed a transgression for which he was punished by the Profound Fire Dao Ancestor. The punishment left him with severe injuries, and he fled the scene, never to be seen again. It seems like he must've met his demise at some point.

“That wooden ruler is most likely the Wood King Ruler, Immortal Lord Wood King's bonded immortal treasure. The fact that Sikong Jian is in possession of it indicates that he must've received Immortal Lord Wood King's inheritance. With that in mind, it's no wonder that he was able to reach the mid-Great Encompassment Stage in spite of his limited aptitude.

“This Divine Wood Flame Orb of his is still far from perfect, and he was only able to unleash it by relying heavily on the Wood King Ruler, so he's still far from reaching the same heights as Immortal Lord Wood King," Chi Meng analyzed.

"Even so, this Divine Wood Flame Orb is still a very formidable ability. Looks like there's still some life in this battle," Daoist Master Chun Jun remarked.

As soon as his voice trailed off, an earth-shattering boom rang out from the platform.

As it turned out, the Divine Wood Flame Orb had suddenly exploded, sending red and green light erupting in all directions.

The entire surrounding space was completely destroyed, then collapsed to form an all-devouring black hole that was several thousand feet in size.

The platform creaked and swayed violently under the immense pressure emanating from the black hole, and it would've already been razed to the ground had it not been for the fortifications made earlier by Daoist Master Chun Jun.

At this point, Han Li had already been swallowed up by the black hole and was nowhere to be seen.