Chapter 1351: Severance of Fixations

Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged at the sight of the five ghostly creatures, and five Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot out of his body amid a flash of lightning before racing toward the ghostly creatures as five streaks of radiant, golden light.

However, the bodies of the five ghostly creatures suddenly took on an insubstantial quality, and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords passed straight through them without inflicting any damage.

The five ghostly creatures were incredibly fast, and they reached Han Li in the blink of an eye before grabbing onto his body and preparing to sink their teeth into his flesh.

Han Li's first instinct was to release his spirit domain, but he caught himself as a faint smile appeared on his face, and the golden light that had begun appearing over his body suddenly faded away.

The five ghostly creatures sank their teeth into his body, sending blood splattering in all directions, while a burst of excruciating agony speared into his soul.

However, he remained standing calmly on the spot, as if he couldn't feel any pain at all, and he had even closed his eyes.

The eyes of the five ghostly creatures were glowing with excitement as they eagerly tore off chunks of flesh from Han Li's body, and before long, he had been reduced to a bare skeleton, but he remained completely unconcerned.

The five ghostly creatures grabbed onto his skeleton, yet right as they were about to wrench it apart, Han Li suddenly declared in a calm manner, "Fear is nothing more than illusion. If I am not me, then what do I have to worry?"

A faint glow began to emanate from his body as he spoke, and the five ghostly creatures clinging to his body were instantly reduced to ashes, while the pool of blood down below also vanished.

All of a sudden, Han Li was brought back to the black space with his body completely unscathed, as if the ordeal that he had just suffered had been nothing more than a dream.

However, before he even had a chance to catch his breath, his surroundings transformed once again.

This time, he appeared in a pink world, surrounded by countless stunning women. There were thin and delicate young women who fully exemplified the exuberance and beauty of youth, as well as more mature and voluptuous women who exuded a sense of ripe allure.

These women were all scantily dressed as they sang and danced around Han Li in a seductive manner, and any man could easily be forgiven for falling to their collective seduction, yet Han Li remained completely unmoved, and it was as if he couldn't even see the women around him.

Right at this moment, a young woman embraced him from behind as she breathed gently against his ear, and it was none other than Bai Suyuan.

"You captured my heart long ago, Senior Han. You also want me, but haven't acted on your desires because that would be unbefitting of someone of your status, right?" Bai Suyuan giggled in a voice that was dripping with allure.

Immediately thereafter, Yu Menghan sidled up against Han Li with desire smoldering in her eyes as she confessed, "Senior Han, I worked so hard in my cultivation to ascend to the True Immortal Realm all so that I could find you..."

Her arrival was followed by that of two more women, namely Yuan Yao and Yan Li.

"Brother Han, Big Sister Yan Li has also had feelings for you for a very long time, so you have to take responsibility for her," Yuan Yao giggled as she pressed herself tightly against his arm.

Yan Li was blushing deeply, but she also enveloped Han Li in a warm embrace.

All of the surrounding women had transformed into female cultivators that were past acquaintances of his, and they were all putting their most seductive qualities on full display.

"Relationships and women are nothing more than parting clouds. If I am not me, then why should I be attached?" Han Li declared in an expressionless manner, and all of the surrounding women transformed into a series of skeletons before disintegrating into dust, while the pink world reverted back to the black space from before.

However, in the next instant, the surrounding scenery transformed once again, and Han Li appeared in a majestic palace, seated within which were the Reincarnation Palace Master, Li Yuanjiu, Yue Mian, Bai Ze, and all of his other acquaintances from the Spirit Realm and the mortal realm.

All of them immediately rose to their feet before falling to their knees with looks of awe and veneration in their eyes as they collectively declared, "We pay our respects to the ruler of all realms, the one who stands at the pinnacle of the Great Dao!"

Han Li looked on in an emotionless manner.

"Bring them in!" a tall and imposing guard yelled, and a series of shackled figures stumbled into the palace from outside.

All of them were past enemies of Han Li's, including the likes of Qi Mozi, Shi Pokong, and Yin Chengquan.

The procession was led by none other than Gu Huojin, who was looking very disheveled, and his aura was also extremely feeble.

All of these people had already lost the flair that they once possessed. It seemed that their shackles possessed some type of restrictive power that completely sealed away their cultivation bases, reducing them to mere mortals.

All of a sudden, a hulking mountain of a man appeared behind them, wielding a gleaming cleaver, and with just a few swings of the cleaver, Gu Huojin and the others were all promptly decapitated, with their bloody heads falling to the ground at Han Li's feet.

However, once again, he remained completely unmoved.

"Why do you still not smile, Master? Could it be that there are still other enemies that you wish to see dead? Please tell me and I will find them, even if I must scour all of the realms under the heavens," the brawny guard implored as he fell to one knee.

"Power is nothing more than a pipe dream. If I am not me, then what is there to be enamored with?" Han Li declared, and the surrounding illusion dissipated again.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but there had been a subtle change in his mental state.

Having endured three consecutive illusions, he had severed three types of attachments, and that left him feeling a little weary, but also somehow lighter and more carefree than ever before.

Right at this moment, the surrounding scene changed once again, and he found himself standing atop a mountain of lifeless bodies, surrounded by a sea of blood.

All of the deceased were dressed in Reincarnation Palace and primordial land attire, and he was familiar with many of them.

The Reincarnation Palace Master, Gan Jiuzhen, Yue Mian, Bai Ze... All of them laid dead here with looks of horror and indignation on their stiff faces.

The entire air was filled with the suffocating stench of blood and decay, and it was all so realistic that it was indiscernible from reality.

"Han Li!"

A cold voice rang out from up ahead, and Han Li looked up to discover Gu Huojin standing in the distance.

"Do you see this? This is what happens to people who try to oppose me!" Gu Huojin sneered.

With a sweep of his sleeve, several figures appeared before him, all of whom were tightly bound. They were Nangong Wan, Violet Spirit, Jin Tong, Weeping Soul, Liu Le'er, Shi Chuankong, and Han Li's parents from the mortal realm.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but he quickly composed himself again.

"These are all very important people to you, are they not? Submit to me right now and vow to serve me for the rest of eternity or all of them will be subjected to terrible deaths before your eyes!" Gu Huojin declared with a derisive sneer.

Han Li remained unmoved.

"You probably think I'm bluffing, don't you?" Gu Huojin sneered as his eyes narrowed slightly, following which he pointed a finger at Shi Chuankong, and a blade of golden light instantly pierced through his chest.

His body was split into two, and the two halves fell into a puddle of his blood.

Han Li's expression changed slightly once again, but his composure quickly returned.

Immediately thereafter, two more beams of golden light shot out of Gu Huojin's fingertips, and Jin Tong and Weeping Soul also met their demise.

An unnatural flush appeared on Han Li's face, only to instantly fade away.

"So your friends mean nothing to you. In that case, what about this little girl by the name of Liu Le'er? I heard that she's like a sister to you. Are you going to just stand there and watch her die as well?" Gu Huojin sneered as he sent a beam of golden light piercing through Liu Le'er's body.

Han Li threw up a small mouthful of blood as he swayed unsteadily on his feet, but was able to steady himself.

"All that's left are your two dao partners and your parents. Who should I kill first? How about I give you the power of choice this time. You tell me who you want to have killed first, and you can leave the one who's most precious to you for last," Gu Huojin offered.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Han Li's cheeks were brightly flushed, and his breathing had become quite labored. His composed facade had finally been shattered, but he remained silent as he gritted his teeth tightly.

"How disappointing. If you're not going to make a choice, then I'll do it for you. Killing them one by one is too much of a hassle, so I'll just get rid of all four of them at once," Gu Huojin said as his hand began to glow with golden light again.

"Stop!" Han Li suddenly yelled, and Gu Huojin immediately stopped what he was doing as a bright smile appeared on his face.

"Have you finally come around? Kneel to me now and I can spare their lives!" Gu Huojin chortled with glee.

Han Li slowly stepped forward with his cheeks a fiery complexion of red, and sweat was pouring down from his forehead as he slowly strode over to Gu Huojin.

"Kneel!" Gu Huojin yelled, and Han Li duly obliged.

Gu Huojin erupted into gleeful laughter as he reached out to make a grabbing motion with one another, and five streaks of black light appeared above Han Li before attempting to burrow their way into his body.

However, the streaks of black light were unable to pierce into his body at all, and they struck him with a loud clang, as if they had just struck a wall.

Right at this moment, Han Li raised his head, and the red coloration of his face had completely faded away, turning his complexion as fair as jade.

Gu Huojin's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, a streak of translucent light appeared before him before slashing his body into two.

"Father, Mother, Wan'er, Violet Spirit, sorry to have allowed you to be used by that scoundrel," Han Li said, then swept a sleeve through the air, and the entire crimson space instantly collapsed.

Upon returning to the black space, Han Li stumbled slightly as a weary look appeared on his face.

He had become rather detached from the world over the course of his cultivation journey, but there were certain people that he still held very close to his heart, making his attachments to them far more difficult to sever.

Fate brings friends and family together, but fate also drives them apart. I am not me, you are ot you, and they are not them, so what is there to be attached to?

As this thought surfaced in his mind, the surrounding scene transformed once again, placing him in a putrid swamp, while he had transformed into a rotten corpse laying in the swamp.

His body was overrun with maggots and flies, and sections of his skeleton had been exposed as his decaying flesh gave way in those places.