When the bearded man saw Han Li sending a talisman his way, he didn't worry at all. The wooden attribute protective shield on his body offered astonishing defense, and ordinary attacks were beneath his notice.
Moreover, given that the opponent was merely a novice at the eleventh layer of cultivation, he didn't believe the man could possess any powerful talismans. At most, they would be mid-level talismans at best.
So he continued walking forward nonchalantly, opening the mouth of his pouch as if about to release something.
But when he was unexpectedly trapped in place by a yellow light barrier and recognized it as the "Earth Prison technique," the bearded man's expression changed slightly. He sensed something was amiss.
At that moment, a bizarre green snake with a pair of purple fleshy wings shot out from his pouch. The moment it appeared, it let out several strange cries and began violently ramming against the yellow light barrier, making it tremble continuously. The creature seemed to possess considerable strength.
Seeing this, the bearded man felt a glimmer of hope and removed another pouch, intending to release another spirit beast to help break through the Earth Prison together. He believed it wouldn't take long for him to break free!
Once out, he would personally pluck out the opponent's ribs one by one to vent his fury.
Han Li paid no attention to his trapped enemy. Instead, he flashed forward, charging toward the man from Celestial Mantle Citadel. His movement was so swift that he seemed to flicker in and out of visibility along the way, even leaving behind a series of afterimages, making him appear utterly ghostly.
Simultaneously, his hand lightly tapped the storage pouch at his waist. The original "Gold Beetle Swarm Blades" suddenly swapped for a different, smaller magical treasure, which he gripped tightly in his hand.
At this point, the man from Celestial Mantle Citadel finally woke from his pleasant dreams. The moment he saw this bizarre sight, his face changed dramatically. He hastily retreated and flipped his palm, producing a talisman paper in his hand.
Han Li was still at least eight or nine zhang away from him, which brought him some relief—he had enough time to activate the talisman.
However, before he could infuse the talisman with spiritual power, he was startled to see Han Li, who was charging toward him, suddenly give him a mysterious smile. Then one hand waved gently toward him, as casually as greeting an acquaintance. At the same time, he felt a slight itch on his neck, as if a mosquito had bitten him.
The man from Celestial Mantle Citadel froze, still not understanding the opponent's intentions, when everything began to spin around him. Then his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
"Brother Yan!"
The bearded man from Spirit Beast Hill, standing on the other side, had his eyes wide open and had witnessed everything clearly. He couldn't help but cry out in shock.
He had seen with his own eyes that when Han Li charged to within several zhang of his friend, he merely waved his hand lightly, and his多年的挚友's head tilted to one side. The head rolled across the ground, separating head from body. The headless body continued retreating a few steps before collapsing, spurting blood fountains several feet high.
The bearded man felt his limbs turn cold, with cold sweat beading on his back.
The method his opponent used to kill his friend was too bizarre! How could he kill someone from a distance without any magic at all? He had seen it clearly—the opponent truly hadn't used any spells.
"Kid, when I get out of here, I'll slice you into a thousand pieces!" Though he felt cold sweat seeping from his forehead and was filled with the sorrow of watching a fox mourn the death of a hare, the bearded man forced himself to put on a fierce appearance to bolster his courage, stubbornly holding on.
But in reality, he had already decided that the moment he broke free from the Earth Prison technique, he would flee immediately. A gentleman takes revenge after ten years, after all!
This kid in front of him was too sinister. Not only did he possess high-level Earth Prison technique talismans, but he could also kill people invisibly. He was truly difficult to deal with! Avenge his friend was important, but his own life seemed even more precious!
The seemingly fierce bearded man turned out to be a cowardly fellow who bullied the weak and feared the strong! This was truly unexpected!
Han Li naturally had no idea what his opponent was thinking. He only saw that the man had released another beast resembling a pangolin, which, along with the strange snake, was violently attacking the yellow light barrier. The bearded man himself had also summoned a pair of iron rod-shaped magical treasures to assist the two spirit beasts in pounding the barrier, causing it to flicker between brightness and dimness.
It seemed the Earth Prison technique wouldn't last much longer!
Realizing this, Han Li immediately took out the treasure talisman "Golden Light Brick," held it aloft in one hand before his eyes, and stared at it intently, focusing his mind to activate it. He didn't dare use any ordinary magical treasures! The opponent was, after all, a thirteenth-layer expert. If one strike failed to kill him, there would be huge trouble once he broke free! He still remembered how difficult his battle with "Senior Brother Lu" had been, and Senior Brother Lu had only been at the twelfth layer at the time!
Although he had just taken advantage of surprise to eliminate another twelfth-layer opponent with the transparent silk threads, that didn't mean the now-wary bearded man would let him succeed so easily!
Trapped under the Earth Prison technique, the bearded man saw Han Li's strange举动 of holding the treasure talisman and grew anxious. He drove the pair of black iron rods even harder! But the yellow light barrier of the "Earth Prison technique" was truly formidable! Even though it had been deformed and dimmed to the point of imminent collapse, it still stubbornly maintained its integrity! The bearded man was almost furious enough to vomit blood!
At that moment, he suddenly felt an astonishing surge of spiritual energy rush skyward from Han Li's direction. He couldn't help but slow his movements and look up.
He saw brilliant golden light erupting from Han Li's hand as a golden, rectangular object slowly rose and hovered in midair. The spiritual energy surging skyward emanated from this very object!
"A treasure talisman!"
The bearded man's face changed dramatically as he cried out in terror. He had actually recognized the origin of the Golden Light Brick.
But he didn't know that Han Li's face had also turned pale, his expression one of alarm. Because the hovering object was desperately draining his internal spiritual power, continuously and inexhaustibly, with no way to stop it. It seemed determined to drain Han Li completely before it would cease.
Cursing inwardly, Han Li endured the pain while mentally cursing the Myriad Treasures Pavilion for selling him this object. "This isn't some treasure talisman—it's clearly a life-draining vampire!"
However, when about one-third of his total spiritual power had been drained, the treasure talisman finally stopped its frantic behavior and calmed down. Control returned to Han Li's hands.
At this point, Han Li didn't hesitate for a moment. With a point of his finger, the Golden Light Brick treasure talisman immediately shot forth, hurtling directly toward the bearded man still trapped within the Earth Prison technique, leaving him pale as earth and terrified out of his wits.
The golden brick grew with the wind, expanding in the blink of an eye to the size of an entire room. Spiritual energy swirled around it as golden light radiated in all directions, its momentum truly terrifying. When it reached above the bearded man's head, the golden brick descended like a small mountain, crashing down without mercy.
"BOOM!"
"AH!"
Following a tremendous crash and the bearded man's miserable scream, the entire ground shook violently.
Han Li felt both surprised and pleased, with a slightly odd expression on his face.
Could it really be that simple? Had he just eliminated a thirteenth-layer opponent? Han Li found it somewhat hard to believe.
He retrieved the treasure talisman, and the Golden Light Brick immediately reverted to its original form, flying back into Han Li's hand. Where the golden brick had struck, a massive pit over ten zhang wide and more than one zhang deep had appeared! The bearded man and his spirit beasts had already been reduced to a mass of pulp, impossible to distinguish from one another.
Facing the Golden Light Brick, whether it was the yellow barrier of the Earth Prison technique or the bearded man's protective green shield, they might as well not have existed—they couldn't block it for even a fraction and were crushed together.
He was truly dead! Han Li felt somewhat dazed. It was like throwing a punch only to find nothing there to resist it.
Was it that the bearded man was too weak, or that the "Golden Light Brick" was too powerful? Han Li Couldn't determine for the moment. However, making such a tremendous commotion meant this was no place to linger—that much was certain!
Han Li only remained in a daze for a brief moment before coming to his senses. He destroyed the two corpses, then took the five or six storage pouches he had unexpectedly found and departed the area, leaving the One-Line-Heaven section behind.
Ahead lay a large forest, another excellent location for ambushes and killing. Before entering, Han Li decided to find a place to rest and recover his depleted spiritual power, so he could protect himself!