Han Li flew out of the mass of crumbling golden sword qi, and as soon as he emerged, a burst of golden light instantly erupted out of his body to form a golden spirit domain that was several dozen kilometers in size.

At the same time, eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot out of his body before vanishing into thin air.

Hua Jing could sense the flow of time slowing down around him, and he immediately unleashed his own spirit domain, which was filled with flashing lights and countless flower petals, presenting a dizzying sight to behold.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He then hurriedly made a hand seal, and a pillar of yellow light shot down from the copper mirror above his head to encompass his entire body.

At the same time, a giant yellow bell that was over a hundred feet tall appeared around his own body, and he had only just adopted these defensive measures when the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot out of thin air to strike the yellow bell around him.

The giant bell shuddered violently, and the yellow light radiating from it flashed erratically for a moment, but then quickly settled down again.

Hua Jing was rather taken aback to see this.

By his estimates, the eighteen flying swords may not have been able to break through the bell projection around him, but they definitely should've been more powerful than this.

Right at this moment, a giant fist that was covered in purplish-golden scales emerged above the giant bell amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, then gently struck the bell.

A resounding clang rang out as the giant bell was instantly smashed into pieces like porcelain, following which Han Li emerged out of thin air, having already unleashed his Holy Nirvana Physique.

Bursts of strange power were constantly infiltrating his mind from the nearby spirit domain, attempting to disrupt his senses, but he was able to retain his mental clarity thanks to his tremendous spiritual sense, and his other five fists slammed into the pillar of yellow light around Hua Jing in unison.

An earth-shattering boom rang out as the space within a radius of several thousand feet warped significantly, and all of the yellow beastly heads around Hua Jing instantly exploded, while the pillar of yellow light was also shattered.

Even though Hua Jing hadn't been directly struck by the oncoming fists, just the shockwaves alone were enough to send him flying like a leaf in a storm, and blood gushed out of his mouth as he fled into the distance with an alarmed and fearful look on his face.

However, despite his best efforts, he was still only able to move very slowly in Han Li's time spirit domain.

A look of resolve flashed through his eyes as he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence into the copper mirror above his head, and a layer of crimson light instantly emerged over its surface before descending into his body.

Immediately thereafter, his body swelled drastically in size, while his skin took on a bright red coloration. Veins began to bulge all over his body, and his speed was enhanced by roughly twofold.

At the same time, dozens of identical streaks of yellow light appeared in the nearby space before fleeing in all directions.

All of the streaks of light were giving off identical auras, making it impossible to tell which one was the real Hua Jing.

Han Li harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him before releasing waves of golden ripples that spread through the air to encompass all of the streaks of yellow light, instantly immobilizing them.

Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, but right at this moment, a tremendous aura erupted out of one of the streaks of light up ahead.

The aura excelled far beyond Hua Jing's, almost reaching the Great Encompassment Stage, and it was still steadily elevating.

All of the golden ripples near that streak of yellow light began to buzz and tremble, looking as if they were on the verge of giving out.

Han Li hurriedly made a hand seal upon seeing this, and the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly shot forth through the air before converging toward that streak of yellow light.

In the blink of an eye, Hua Jing's body was reduced to a pile of mincemeat, and the tremendous aura that he was giving off instantly faded, restoring the nearby golden ripples to normal.

Han Li heaved another faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, and he reverted back to his human form.

After that, he swallowed a couple of pills, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure light, which swept up Hua Jing's remains and the yellow copper mirror.

At this point, the crimson light on the mirror had already faded, restoring it to its original color.

Han Li picked up the mirror with an intrigued look in his eyes.

This mirror was most likely Hua Jing's bonded treasure, and it was what he used to hypnotize others. Not only was the mirror capable of hypnotizing us, he had even used it to hypnotize himself at the end, allowing him to fully tap into his own latent potential to attain power that was close to the Great Encompassment Stage.

If it weren't for the recent strides that Han Li had made in his Spirit Refinement Technique, he may not have been able to withstand Hua Jing's hypnotism.

With a sweep of his sleeve, a burst of green light shot out to sweep up the mirror before sucking it into the Profound Heavenly Gourd.

After that, Han Li flicked a finger through the air to release a streak of azure light into Hua Jing's remains, and it quickly re-emerged with a yellow nascent soul.

A hint of killing intent flashed through his eyes as he grabbed onto the nascent soul, and he was just about to crush it when he suddenly stopped what he was doing and turned to take a glance at Shi Chuankong.

After a brief hesitation, he opened his mouth to release a ball of silver flames, which quickly flew in a circle around the yellow nascent soul, forming a series of fiery silver runes that imprinted themselves to its body.

Han Li then swept a sleeve through the air to release another ball of flames, which quickly incinerated Hua Jing's remains into ashes, leaving behind only a suit of black inner armor, a yellow bracelet, and carving of a yellow beastly head.

Han Li raised an eyebrow as he drew the carving into his grasp.

It was only around the size of a human hand, and it was extremely intricate and life-like.

This was most likely what had just unleashed those formidable bursts of yellow light.

Even though the carving had a jade-like appearance, it felt more like something that had been carved out of bone.

He played with it for a moment before stowing it away to be examined some other time.

Han Li then also stowed the suit of black inner armor and the storage bracelet away, and only after that did he withdraw his spirit domain and Mantra Treasured Axis.

As soon as the golden ripples vanished, a horrified look immediately appeared on the face of Hua Jing's nascent soul, and a burst of yellow light emerged over its body.

However, right at this moment, silver flames shot out of the silver runes emblazoned onto its body, incinerating the yellow light and leaving a scorch mark on its body.

The nascent soul let loose an agonized howl while trembling violently.

"I've set up a true flame restriction on your body. That was just a warning. If you try any more funny business, I'll kill you right now," Han Li warned in a cold voice.

Hua Jing's nascent soul shuddered as it instantly fell still.

Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to recover his eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, then flew over to Shi Chuankong and the others.

"Let's be civilized about this, Fellow Daoist. There's no bad blood between us, we only just so happen to be serving different masters in conflict with each other. I'm sure you're protecting Shi Chuankong in exchange for some form of compensation. Out of all of the Holy Monarch's children, Shi Chuankong is the least remarkable one.

“I'm serving Her Highness, Shi Jingyan, and she possesses a tremendous amount of connections and resources, far more so than Shi Chuankong. On top of that, she's always looking out for more capable subordinates, so why don't you defect to her camp instead? I'm willing to put in a recommendation for you, and with your powers, you'll surely flourish under Her Highness.

“Whatever compensation Shi Chuankong has given you, Her Highness can double it, no, triple it!" Hua Jing implored in an urgent voice, trying to convince Han Li into defecting.

Han Li completely ignored Hua Jing's offer as he ordered, "Undo your Flower Mirror ability."

"You don't seem to be from our devil race. Instead, it looks more like you're a cultivator from the True Immortal Realm using devilish cultivation arts, so I'm assuming you don't know much about the current state of our Holy Realm.

“Right now, there's a very important event taking place in Night Sun City, and all of the princes and princesses are locked in a battle that concerns the fate of the entire Holy Realm. For High Zenith cultivators like ourselves, joining the wrong camp will spell instant death, so you have to think carefully..."

The nascent soul's voice was becoming more and more urgent as it spoke.

"Undo your Flower Mirror ability," Han Li repeated in a cold voice. "Don't make me say it a third time. I'm sure killing you would automatically undo the ability anyway, right?"

Hua Jing's nascent soul looked up at Han Li with its mouth gaped open in panic and agitation, and it was at a loss for words.

A cold sneer appeared on Han Li's face, and the silver fire runes on the nascent soul's body instantly began to light up.

Black scorch marks were beginning to appear on the nascent soul's body, and it hurriedly yelled, "Alright, alright, I'll undo the ability right away! Please spare me!"

Immediately thereafter, it made a hand seal, and a strange red symbol appeared on the foreheads of Shi Chuankong's trio before fading away.

Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, and the silver flame restriction on Hua Jing's nascent soul subsided at his behest, following which several translucent chains flew out of the glabellas of Shi Chuankong's trio before vanishing into his body.

Their eyelids fluttered slightly before they opened their eyes, and all of them were looking deathly pale.

Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release three balls of azure light that fused into their bodies, and their complexions instantly improved slightly as they sat up from the ground.

"What happened just now, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong asked with a dazed expression, seemingly having no recollection of what had just transpired.

The dark-skinned elderly man and the woman in the red dress were also looking very confused.

All of a sudden, a thought sprang into Shi Chuankong's mind, and he hurriedly asked, "Where's Hua Jing? Did he get away?"