56: Han Li's Knife

Qingyang Ruins, the setting sun like blood.

The collapsed city walls cast grotesque silhouettes in the twilight, and rubble and white bones were scattered across the charred land.

A strange scent, a mixture of blood, char, and the sweet, cloying smell of new demonic liquid, permeated the evening breeze.

Deep within the ruins, in the direction of the royal manor's cellar, the creaking of metal conveyor belts and the muffled roar of drilling from deep underground could faintly be heard.

Near the cellar entrance, a relatively flat patch of scorched earth had been cleared.

More than fifty Vajra Battalion warriors, clad in grotesque demonic gold armor, stood solemnly like cold metal statues.

Dark gold armor covered their entire bodies, sharp ramming horns at the joints glinted with cold light, and only bloodshot, crimson eyes, filled with fanaticism and a hint of imperceptible fatigue, peeked out from beneath their helmets.

They had just endured the inhumane torment of Body Tempering with demonic liquid and the tragic deaths of their exploding comrades, and now, following Wang Linger's unpracticed commands, they were practicing the simplest slashes and blocks.

Heavy profound iron battle blades swung in their hands, creating a dull whooshing sound, and each step caused the ground to tremble slightly.

A murderous Aura, almost tangible, permeated the air above the formation.

“Left slash! Block! Right chop!” Wang Linger's clear voice, tinged with a hint of nervousness, echoed in the twilight.

The hem of her ice-blue dress was stained with dust as she looked at this army of destruction, which she had personally selected and witnessed being born, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

Suddenly!

Buzz—!!!

An indescribable, vast, and pure pressure, like the opening of Heaven and Earth, yet carrying an absolute will of rules, descended without warning!

It instantly enveloped the entire Qingyang Ruins!

This pressure was not overbearing, but like invisible tons of mercury, it heavily pressed down on the Soul of every living being!

The air instantly solidified!

The wind stopped!

The creaking of the demonic liquid assembly line deep in the cellar, the drilling roar of the Ironclad Earthworm, the heavy footsteps of the Vajra Battalion warriors… all sounds vanished instantly!

As if a mute button had been pressed!

The Vajra Battalion warriors' movements suddenly froze!

As if an invisible giant hand had gripped their throats!

The dark green demonic runes flowing on their demonic gold armor instantly dimmed!

In their crimson eyes, the fanatical Battle Intent was extinguished as if by ice water, leaving only extreme terror and fear originating from the instinct of life!

The pseudo-gold spiritual power they had just Awakened within their bodies, like startled mice, instantly retreated deep into their Dantian, trembling madly!

Wang Linger was even more thunderstruck!

Her delicate body trembled violently, her face instantly drained of all color!

She felt like a small boat in a storm, ready to be crushed into dust by this vast will at any moment!

Spiritual Pressure of the Foundation Establishment Stage?

No!

Far more terrifying than any Foundation Establishment Cultivator she had ever seen!

It was a kind of… indifference and majesty… close to the Origin rules of Heaven and Earth!

Mo Yuan stood atop the Stone-skinned Turtle's head, the Aura of his Chaos Lightning Body instantly climbing to its peak!

Dark gold and Chaos gray light surged wildly beneath his skin, resisting the omnipresent terrifying pressure!

He suddenly looked up, his dark gold pupils sharply constricting, locking onto the west side of the ruins—the top of a half-collapsed bell tower!

There, at some unknown point, a figure had appeared.

The person wore the simplest green cloth robe, his figure not tall, even somewhat ordinary.

His face was common, the type that would be hard to find again if lost in a crowd.

Only his eyes, deep as ancient wells, calm and unmoving, seemed to reflect the rise and fall of ancient stars.

He stood there casually, without any earth-shattering Aura emanating, yet he seemed to become the center of this Heaven and Earth!

That vast pressure, like a sea of stars, originated from him!

Han Li!

He had finally appeared!

Han Li's gaze calmly swept over the area below.

As his eyes passed over the group of Vajra Battalion warriors clad in demonic gold armor, exuding the fierce Aura of exhausted life, a very subtle ripple appeared in the depths of his calm, ancient-well-like eyes.

It was not disgust, nor anger, but a kind of… cold… with a hint of imperceptible… pity?

Like a creator looking down at creations gone astray.

His gaze finally landed on Mo Yuan, who was atop the turtle shell.

His flat voice, not loud, yet clearly penetrated the solidified air, flowing into everyone's heart like cold spring water:

“Trading life for power, the Evil Path.”

Six words!

Like six invisible blades of judgment, they fiercely stabbed into the minds of all Vajra Battalion warriors!

And also pierced through the cold sense of control surrounding Mo Yuan!

“Roar!” A Vajra Battalion warrior seemed to be completely enraged by this contemptuous judgment, forcibly breaking free from part of the pressure's restraint, letting out a beast-like roar!

The pseudo-gold spiritual power, gained by overdrawing his life, erupted wildly within him, and the dark green demonic runes on his demonic gold armor instantly lit up!

He violently crushed the scorched earth beneath his feet, raising his heavy profound iron battle blade with both hands, and with a scream that tore through the air, charged towards the green figure at the top of the bell tower—recklessly attacking!

The dark golden figure dragged a violent afterimage in the twilight!

“Seeking death!” Wang Linger exclaimed in shock!

The eyes of the other Vajra Battalion warriors also burst with fierce light, eager to move!

Facing this strike, which contained the full power of a pseudo-gold Spiritual Root and was enough to cleave through refined iron, Han Li didn't even bat an eyelid.

He simply, very casually, as if brushing away a speck of dust, raised his right hand.

No light!

No spiritual power fluctuations!

He simply joined his fingers like a blade, and with a vague swipe in the air, aimed at the charging Vajra Battalion warrior!

His movement was understated, like cutting paper.

Hiss—!!!

An invisible Qi blade, condensed to the extreme, with edges as smooth as a mirror, seemingly composed of the purest space itself, instantly tore through the solidified air!

There was no earth-shattering explosion!

Only an extremely subtle, yet Soul-freezing, tearing sound!

The Vajra Battalion warrior, who was charging in mid-air with a powerful Aura, along with the incredibly defensive demonic gold armor he wore, was as if thrown into an invisible cutting Domain!

Puff!

From the Baihui acupoint on his head to the Huiyin acupoint between his legs!

An absolutely smooth, absolutely straight, invisible cut instantly pierced through his entire body!

His charging momentum suddenly halted!

His crimson eyes were filled with an unbelievable blankness.

The profound iron battle blade he held high, along with the demonic gold armor, helmet, and body… silently split into left and right halves along that invisible cut!

The cut surfaces were as smooth as a mirror, one could even see the slightly wriggling internal organs and neatly severed bones inside!

The two halves of the corpse, with gushing hot blood and fragments of internal organs, heavily crashed onto the charred ground!

Making a dull thud!

Instant kill!

Absolute crushing!

Like stepping on an ant!

Silence!

A deathly silence enveloped the ruins!

The ferocity that had just ignited in the eyes of all Vajra Battalion warriors was instantly replaced by boundless fear!

As if doused with a basin of ice water, they felt bone-chillingly cold!

Their proud strength, their demonic gold armor which they regarded as life itself, was as fragile as paper in the face of the opponent's understated “blade”!

Wang Linger covered her mouth, her eyes filled with extreme terror and despair!

She finally understood the insurmountable chasm that lay between herself and Mo Sect, and this seemingly ordinary man!

Mo Yuan stood atop the turtle's head, the Aura of his Chaos Lightning Body fluctuating violently the moment Han Li made his move!

Dark gold and gray light clashed wildly beneath his skin!

Han Li's “blade” seemed casual, yet it contained exquisite control over the rules of space!

It was an absolute crushing of power!

And even more so… a negation of his Dao!

“Evil Path?” Mo Yuan's hoarse voice was like sandpaper rubbing, every word steeped in cold killing intent and defiance, “In a chaotic world… to survive… power… is… the Righteous Path!”

His demonic hand, flowing with Chaos gray light, suddenly rose, his palm aimed at Han Li!

Deep within his palm, the dark gray Chaos Lightning Seed projection and the purple-gold lightning talisman phantom simultaneously lit up!

The Aura of destruction condensed wildly!

“Swarm… Storm!”

A cold thought, like a thunderclap, instantly pierced deep into the cellar!

Buzz—!!!!

The cellar entrance exploded with a roar!

Like a volcano erupting after being suppressed for ten thousand years!

One hundred thousand Venomous Stinger Worker Bees!

Converging into a dark red death storm that blotted out the sky, they defiantly rushed out!

They were not in their peak condition, their carapaces bore tiny cracks left from resisting the heavenly tribulation, and their Aura was weak.

But under Mo Yuan's relentless urging, and with the wailing of the magic bottle on the verge of shattering, they erupted with an unprecedented, mad will, a mixture of despair and destruction!

The abdomens of the one hundred thousand Venomous Stinger Worker Bees contracted wildly!

Their crimson stingers at the tail were like crossbows poised to fire!

Innumerable streams of viscous, deeply purple, dark green, pale white, and other bizarrely colored concentrated corrosive venom, like a deadly downpour, instantly mixed, collided, and reacted in the center of the swarm!

Sizzle—!!!!

An indescribable terrifying reaction instantly erupted!

In the central area where the one hundred thousand streams of venom mixed, space seemed to twist as if corroded by strong acid!

A viscous, foul-smelling, Chaos gray-black, churning with countless poisonous bubbles and corrosive toxic fumes—poison cloud storm—instantly formed!

At the edge of the storm, space emitted a “hissing” sound as if being corroded!

Wherever it passed, even the residual scorched earth of the heavenly tribulation was instantly eroded through, revealing the molten glazed layer beneath!

“Kill!” Mo Yuan spat out cold syllables!

Boom—!!!

The terrifying poison cloud storm, over a hundred zhang in diameter, like a world-destroying behemoth released from Hell, carrying the destructive will to corrode all things and devour life, defiantly swept towards the green figure at the top of the bell tower!

Wherever the storm passed, the air was dyed gray-black, and light twisted and annihilated!

The broken walls and ruins below silently melted away like ice and snow!

This was Mo Yuan's most extreme and reckless destructive counterattack he could currently unleash!

A death storm ignited by using the Origin of one hundred thousand Venomous Stinger Worker Bees as fuel!

Facing this poison cloud storm, which was enough to make even Golden Core Cultivators' scalps tingle, a faint hint of surprise finally flickered in Han Li's calm, ancient-well-like eyes.

He seemed not to have expected Mo Yuan's counterattack to be so mad and… effective.

He did not meet it head-on.

His figure, like a weightless willow catkin, at the moment the poison cloud storm struck, drifted backward extremely naturally, as if merging with the wind!

His movements seemed slow, yet they were extremely fast, instantly moving him out of the storm's core coverage area!

At the same time, he raised his right hand again, spreading his five fingers, and vaguely pressed down in the air towards the sweeping gray-black poison cloud storm!

Buzz—!!!

A vast and pure green spiritual power light pillar, like the Nine Heavens Milky Way descending, instantly erupted from his palm!

The light pillar was not an attack, but transformed into an enormous green light wall, flowing with profound life runes, like the toughest dam, standing in front of the poison cloud storm!

Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle—!!!!

The world-destroying poison cloud storm fiercely crashed against the green light wall!

Like a red-hot branding iron pressed onto ten-thousand-year-old profound ice!

An extremely piercing corrosive sound instantly filled Heaven and Earth!

Gray-black toxic fumes and highly poisonous foam furiously eroded the light wall!

The green light wall vibrated violently, the life runes on its surface flickered wildly, and even tiny cracks appeared at its edges!

Behind the light wall, the remnants of the Qingyang Ruins, swept by the escaping toxic gas, instantly turned into pus!

However, Han Li's spiritual power seemed endless!

Though the light wall was tottering, it firmly resisted the most violent impact of the poison cloud storm!

Firmly locking the vast majority of the destructive toxic power outside the light wall!

In the core of the storm, after erupting their venom, the Aura of the one hundred thousand Venomous Stinger Worker Bees plummeted instantly!

Over thirty percent of the Worker Bees' carapaces instantly became covered in cracks under the violent energy backlash, like shattered glazed glass, screaming as they fell from the sky, turning into charred remnants!

The remaining Worker Bees were also tottering, like candles in a gale!

Stalemate!

It only lasted for three breaths!

The energy contained within the poison cloud storm finally began to recede!

Its volume visibly shrank at a speed perceptible to the naked eye!

Han Li stood behind the light wall, his green cloth robe flapping in the toxic gale.

His deep gaze pierced through the churning poison clouds, once again falling upon the figure with a violent Aura atop the turtle shell.

In his eyes, the hint of surprise had vanished, leaving only deeper calm and… an indescribable complexity.

Mo Yuan stood atop the turtle shell, his demonic hand still raised, the lightning seed and lightning talisman in his palm flickering erratically.

His cold eyes stared fixedly at the green figure behind the light wall, watching the rapidly shrinking poison cloud storm, watching the tens of thousands of poison bee remnants falling like dregs below.

“Retreat!” Mo Yuan's cold thought was instantly given!

Buzz!

The Stone-skinned Turtle let out a low and weary roar!

The dim emerald and dark gray lightning runes on its profound black turtle shell instantly lit up!

A condensed defensive light shield instantly expanded!

At the same time, its massive body unhesitatingly turned around, its four legs exerting force, crushing the ground, and it charged towards the depths of the ruins, in the direction of the cellar, with a booming sound!

Its speed was extremely fast, yet it carried a resolute determination, like a brave man breaking his own arm!

The Dark Moon Rabbit's ethereal blue figure merged into the shadows, and the Thunderclap Sparrow's silver wings rapidly vibrated, following closely behind the turtle shell!

Wang Linger and the surviving Vajra Battalion warriors awoke as if from a dream, scrambling towards the cellar entrance with the fear of having escaped disaster!

The poison cloud storm completely dissipated.

The green light wall slowly receded.

Han Li stood atop the bell tower's wreckage, watching the Stone-skinned Turtle carrying Mo Yuan quickly disappear into the depths of the collapsed royal manor ruins, then looked at the charred remnants of poison bees covering the ground below and the neatly cut corpse of the demonic gold armor.

The evening breeze ruffled his green cloth robe, making it flap.

He slowly withdrew his gaze and looked towards the dark eastern sky, in the direction of the Seven Mysteries Sect of Yue Country.

In his deep eyes, there was no ripple, as if the earth-shattering poison cloud storm just now was merely a gentle breeze passing over water.

“Trading life for power… is ultimately not the Righteous Path…” he murmured softly to himself, his voice dissipating in the wind, carrying a hint of a sigh that no one could understand.

His figure slowly faded as if merging into the twilight, eventually disappearing.

Above the ruins, only devastation remained, and the remnants of the poison bees… silently telling of power and its cost.