Chapter 289: Negotiations Falling Through

Qilin 9 was furious, and he was naturally unwilling to let his two assailants get away. "You think you can just attack me as you please, then leave when you see fit?"

As soon as his voice trailed off, he flipped a hand over to produce a golden talisman before waving it through the air, and the talisman immediately burst into golden flames, which transformed into an expanse of light that enveloped his entire body.

Immediately thereafter, he vanished from the spot without any warning, and through his spiritual sense, Han Li was able to detect that he had teleported to several thousand kilometers away to intercept the woman in red.

He then cast his gaze toward the direction that the thin old man was fleeing in with a hint of mockery in his eyes.

In the next instant, he withdrew his Heavy Water True Axis back into his body, following which arcs of silver lightning emerged around him, then erupted all around him to form a lightning array that was around 10 feet in radius in the blink of an eye.

Tens of thousands of kilometers away, the thin old man was flying through the air above the Thunderstorm Sea with his entire body enveloped in a murky layer of light.

"That was some terrible luck! Why did I have to run into those two freaks? If I hadn't escaped when I did, I would've died back there!"

All of a sudden, the old man's brows suddenly furrowed tightly, following which he drew to an abrupt halt before shooting back over 10,000 feet in retreat.

A burst of loud rumbling rang out in the sky ahead of him, and a vast expanse of lightning emerged out of thin air before transforming into a circular lightning array.

Countless arcs of lightning flashed incessantly amid a rumbling thunderclap, following which the lightning faded to reveal none other than Han Li.

"I've already made up my mind to take no further part in all of this. Seeing as we're both members of the Transient Guild, would you be able to let me go this time, Fellow Daoist?" the old man implored.

Han Li was in no hurry to strike, and he smiled as he replied, "There's no personal vendetta between us, so I'm not interested in a fight to the death, either, but you almost killed my companion just now, and I can't just let things slide. Shouldn't you be leaving something behind as compensation?"

"In that case, how do you want to settle this?" the thin old man asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"If I'm not mistaken, that's a 30,000-year-old Thistle Spirit Flower that I'm sensing on you, right?" Han Li asked with a smile.

Back when the trio of Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators first arrived on the island, Han Li had already sensed that the thin old man was carrying 30,000-year-old Thistle Spirit Flower thanks to his enormous spiritual sense, and right there and then, he had decided that this was something he was definitely going to secure as the stamen of the Thistle Spirit Flower was one of the ingredients listed on his dao pill recipe.

The thin old man's expression instantly darkened slightly upon hearing this.

He was indeed carrying a Thistle Spirit Flower on his body, and due to the fact that it was a live specimen, he couldn't put it in his storage bracelet. On top of that, he had obtained the flower not long before coming on this mission, so he had temporarily stored it in a special jade box.

However, he had already cast several seals onto the jade box, so no one should've been able to detect it.

Could it be that this man possesses spiritual sense superior even to that of a Golden Immortal?

The old man's heart jolted slightly as this thought occurred to him, but he then dismissed the notion.

Han Li's aura suggested that he was only at the mid-True Immortal Stage, so in the old man's eyes, there was no way that his spiritual sense could've been so formidable. Instead, he was most likely carrying some type of special treasure that allowed him to detect spirit medicines.

With that in mind, the old man swept his spiritual sense through the surrounding area to ensure that there was no one else nearby, then unleashed his enormous aura in full force as a cold smile appeared on his face. "You're biting off more than you can chew, Fellow Daoist! Do you really think you can just walk all over me as you please?"

Han Li had already identified that the one among the trio with the highest cultivation base wasn't that burly man at all, nor was it that voluptuous woman. Instead, it was this sly old man who had been concealing his true power this entire time.

Instead of attacking Han Li right away, the old man had initially tried to avoid a battle by putting on a façade of weakness, so it was clear that he was someone who held no regard for his own dignity and prioritized survival and profit above all else.

If he had been willing to give up his Thistle Spirit Flower, Han Li would've naturally been happy to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but seeing as the negotiations had fallen through, a battle was unavoidable.

There was no one else present, and Han Li was confident that he would be able to take down his opponent in a one-on-one battle.

With that in mind, he made a hand seal with both hands, and his Heavy Water True Axis instantly appeared behind him amid a flash of black light, then rose up while revolving rapidly before hurtling toward the old man at his behest.

A series of black ripples that were visible to the naked eye spread through the air in the wake of the axis, and it was as if they were threatening to tear the very space apart.

The thin old man spread his hands open to summon a three-colored ring upon seeing this, and the ring transformed into a vast expanse of ring projections that sped toward the Heavy Water True Axis.

However, the Heavy Water True Axis was far heavier than he imagined, and it was able to tear through the countless layers of ring projections with unstoppable force before crashing into the ring itself with a loud clang.

The three-colored ring was only able to hold itself intact for an instant before exploding into pieces, and the thin old man shuddered from the backlash as an unnatural flush appeared on his face.

At the same time, he made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a large yellow flag that was over 20 feet in length appeared in his grasp.

The image of a vast desert with three suns hanging above it was emblazoned onto the flag, and it was giving off a parched and scorching aura.

The old man took a step forward with his hands clenched tightly around the flag's shaft, then swept the flag forcefully through the air.

The surface of the flag rippled as a vast expanse of yellow sand surged forth in a frenzy, sweeping toward Han Li in an all-encompassing wave that inundated everything within a radius of close to 100,000 feet.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as blue light flashed within them, but he was still unable to see his surroundings clearly. He felt as if he had been swallowed up in a sandstorm that was severely limiting both his visibility and his spiritual sense, rendering him unable to detect his opponent's location.

Right at this moment, the old man's voice suddenly rang out from behind him. "Have a taste of my Three Sun Pass!"

As soon as Han Li turned around, he immediately spotted three balls of dazzling white light hurtling rapidly toward him from three different directions, releasing waves of scorching heat as they raced through the air.

His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he was just about to take some evasive measures when he suddenly noticed that he was unable to move.

He looked down to find that a layer of white crystals had crept over his calves without his detection, and it had frozen him to the spot like a layer of ice crystals.

Immediately thereafter, the same material began to appear over his shoulders, arms, and chest, and it was rapidly spreading over the rest of his body.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered that these were countless tiny grains of translucent sand that had been scorched into a semi-transparent crystalline material by the three suns. The material quickly spread to his neck, immobilizing his entire body.

Han Li was alarmed by this turn of events, but he didn't panic. Azure light surged over his body ,and he was just about to break free from the crystalline material when he spotted the thin old man abruptly appearing beside him, plunging a green dagger toward his glabella.

He gave a cold harrumph as a hint of golden light flashed through his eyes, and he released a burst of tremendous spiritual sense to encompass the entire surrounding area in a radius of several dozen kilometers.

The thin old man had already reached Han Li, but he noticed that a circle of extremely tiny runes had appeared around each of Han Li's pupils, and he reflexively slowed down as a safety precaution.

Right at this moment, Han Li's voice rang out with the volume of an enormous gong being struck. "Let heaven and earth be cleansed!"

His words were like an almighty decree, and all of the yellow sand immediately subsided. Even the dark clouds hanging in the sky had vanished, and it was as if the entire area really had been cleansed.

"Impossible!" the thin old man exclaimed with an astonished expression as he hurriedly darted back to open up some distance between himself and Han Li.

"Let heavenly fire descend!" Han Li declared, and a streak of white light descended upon him from the heavens, transforming into a burst of silver flames that enveloped his entire body.

"This is impossible! Not even a Golden Immortal can speak things into reality as they please! Who are you? Take the flower!" the thin old man yelled in a horrified voice while continuing to dart back in retreat?

A cold smile appeared on Han Li's face as he scoffed, "Don't you think it's too late to be saying this now? Let there be lightning!"

In the next instant, a vortex of dark clouds appeared in the sky out of thin air, and lightning was flashing incessantly within the vortex amid a string of rumbling thunderclaps.

All of a sudden, a bolt of blue lightning that was as thick as a water vat came crashing down upon the thin old man from above.

The old man hurriedly dodged to the side, yet he had only just barely evaded the first bolt of lightning when countless more came crashing down from the heavens like a relentless storm, cutting off all avenues for escape or retreat.

At this point, the old man was so shaken up that he had completely lost all will to fight, and as he continued to evade the bolts of lightning that were falling from the heavens, he had also summoned a golden talisman, which he was planning to use to facilitate his escape.

However, right at this moment, Han Li abruptly vanished from the spot, only to appear behind the old man without any warning in the next instant, and a layer of golden scales appeared over his arm as he plunged his hand straight through the old man's heart.

The golden light in his eyes then gradually faded as he withdrew his spiritual sense, and all of the blue lightning in the sky vanished to reveal the yellow sandstorm that had been raging this entire time.

"It was all an illusion..." the thin old man murmured to himself with a wry smile as the light in his eyes gradually began to fade.

However, a burst of golden light then erupted out of his glabella alongside a burst of powerful energy fluctuations.

At this point, the old man knew that he wouldn't be able to escape, and he had decided there and then to detonate his own nascent soul.

A cold gleam flashed through Han Li's eyes as a burst of silver light erupted out of his arm amid a loud thunderclap, and the eruption of silver lightning instantly destroyed the old man's nascent soul, following which his body fell completely limp and lifeless.