Han Li grew silent in response to the scholarly man’s words, and his expression continuously shifted as he considered his options.

The two Righteous Dao cultivators tacitly glanced at each other before vigilantly watching Han Li.

Han Li smiled and serenely said, “Alright, since I have no immediate affairs, I will accompany you two!”

The two men’s expressions immediately relaxed. A trace of satisfaction appeared on the scholarly man’s face as he opened his mouth to say something.

At that moment, Han Li struck.

His right hand suddenly emerged from his sleeve, silently shooting six streaks of azure light towards the large man. At the same time, he waved his left hand, summoning a chain of five-colored copper bands in his palm. It started to release a muffled hum.

“You dare to attack?” The scholarly man quickly reacted. Upon seeing Han Li attack, he immediately spat out a square magic treasure several inches wide. It was flat and pitch-black, appearing to be an inkstone of sorts.

The robust man quickly moved as well and released a white jade stamp that glowed with white light. The magic treasure immediately increased several times in size as it met the six streaks of azure light.

At that moment, the scholarly man saw the copper bands in Han Li’s hand and shouted out a warning, “Be careful of the copper bands!”

The large man was unable to utter a response. The six streaks of azure light had released a clear ring before splitting into twelve identical swordlights. Six of the twelve lights then suddenly merged into a huge sword and fiercely cut down upon the white jade stamp.

The other six streaks of swordlight then changed direction and swiftly arced off to the side.

The large man was greatly alarmed. Without the time to think, he hastily formed an incantation gesture. Bursts of blue light with vivid talisman characters contained within them flourished around him. The flourishes of blue light wildly expanded and formed a barrier of blue light around the large man. The large man intended to directly receive the attack of Han Li’s Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

Of course, the scholarly man didn’t stay still as all of this happened. After he had initially shouted, he hastily pointed to the inkstone floating in front of him. It quickly swiveled and released a black fog. In a second, the fog had already reached the span of ten meters, flooding the nearby surroundings with the smell of ink.

Then without hesitation, the scholarly man cast an incantation seal, causing the black fog to rapidly condense into a flock of thirty pitch-black birds that were each about half a foot long. Then with a monstrous cry, they shot towards Han Li with a flicker of red light.

Han Li turned a blind eye to the attack, and had his copper bands sway several times before disappearing with a shimmer. He then summoned his ancient flower basket with a flip of his hand.

Seeing that Han Li was completely unconcerned with his attack, the scholarly man rejoiced rather than becoming angry. His Bewildering Inkstone was created from ancient refinement methods; it was only through sheer luck and tremendous effort that he had been able to successfully create it. He had nearly used up half of his life to save up for it, but he had no regrets. Ever since he acquired the Bewildering Inkstone, he had rarely met a cultivator of the same grade that could pose a threat to him. Even mid Core Formation cultivators found it troublesome. So long as the target’s cultivation wasn’t vastly superior to his own, they would be immediately trapped in an inescapable illusion after becoming enveloped by the ink fog.

The scholarly man couldn’t help but sneer as the birds shot towards Han Li. He clutched his hands in an incantation seal, intending to order his birds to rupture. But at that same moment, he suddenly heard a low hum next to his ear. His limbs and neck were suddenly clasped in copper bands. When they tightened, both his movements and his magic power were completely restrained.

At that moment, the scholarly man felt full of terror.

He had been on alert for the copper bands that had disappeared, but there wasn’t the slightest warning before they had clasped themselves onto his body. This situation was far beyond his wildest expectation. In that moment, the scholarly man was flusteredly thinking of any method to escape.

On the other side of the battle, azure light and white Qi interweaved amongst each other as the huge azure sword and the large stamp block collided with a boom.

The brilliant white Qi was able to easily overwhelm the azure light, causing the huge sword to only last for mere moments before collapsing. At that same instant, the other six streaks of azure light had already arrived at the strange barrier of talisman characters.

Muffled bangs sounded out as the six streaks of azure light collided against the blue barrier. Although the blue barrier flickered upon impact, it was still able to endure.

Han Li felt slightly surprised by this. It seemed that without the Divine Devilbane Lightning, his Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were somewhat lacking in strength due to how little time he had spent tempering them.

But before he could think any further, the black birds arrived before him.

Although they didn’t have the support of the scholarly man’s magic power, the inkstone magic treasure was still linked to his spiritual sense; their attack hadn’t relented in the slightest.

Han Li coldly snorted and the flower basket bloomed with light. The light wildly expanded and enveloped all of the birds without exception.

The scholarly man paled and shouted with disbelief, “Impossible! How can you have so many ancient treasures?”

It would already be extremely lucky for an ordinary cultivator to possess one ancient treasure. After all, most ancient treasures fell into the hands of Nascent Soul cultivators whenever they emerged, rendering it extremely difficult for a Core Formation cultivator to even lay their hands on one.

However, Han Li didn’t have the slightest interest in replying. He tossed away the flower basket. The flower basket then collided against the large stamp block and enveloped it with its light. Although the stamp wildly struggled to escape, it was to little success.

Afterwards, Han Li then flicked his fingers, ruthlessly shooting ten streaks of azure sword Qi towards the restrained scholarly man.

“Nooo!” The scholarly man could only shout in terror before his body swayed from the impact of the sword Qi. With his body torn to shreds, his life quickly faded away. As the Five Element Bands had sealed his true essence and cultivation, his doom was all but assured.

Then with a gesture, the Five Element Bands disappeared with a shimmer before reappearing into Han Li’s hand.

Han Li’s gaze coldly turned to the side.

Head laced with sweat, the large man clutched an incantation gesture in an attempt to retrieve his stamp as the six azure swords continued to hammer down on his blue talisman barrier. Of course, his effort was in vain.

The large man’s mind was shaken after having seen how easily his companion was dealt with. When he saw Han Li’s attention shift onto him, he felt his body break out in a chill.

He gritted his teeth and suddenly flew off as a streak of blue light, abandoning his own soul-linked magic treasure in a decisive move!

Han Li narrowed his eyes, and his copper bands disappeared from view once more. A moment later, they appeared above the fleeing man’s head.

The large man couldn’t believe his eyes as the five copper bands locked onto his body, passing through his blue barrier as if there was nothing there. At that same moment, the blue light surrounding him suddenly disappeared as he fell from the sky with a tumble.

A cold glint flashed from Han Li’s eyes. A streak of azure light fell from the sky and wound around the large man several times, cutting him into pieces.

Both of the two Starfall Coalition cultivators had already been slain by Han Li’s hand.

At that moment, Han Li effortlessly took their storage pouches and looked through them with his spiritual sense for a moment before calmly putting them away.

As for the masterless block stamp and inkstone magic treasures, Han Li helped himself to them as well.

With his hands behind his back, Han Li then lowered his head towards the ocean and said, “Fellow Daoist has been stealthily watching for quite some time. How about you come out for a fresh breath of air?” Although his voice wasn’t very loud, it could be clearly heard from a kilometer away.

A sea breeze blew past Han Li before the area returned to silence once more.

Han Li sighed upon seeing this. With a sullen expression, he said with an irritated tone, “Must I drag your esteemed self out from the sea myself?”

With Han Li having discovered his hiding spot, the concealed individual couldn’t help but flusteredly say, “Fellow Daoist, please wait. I am coming out right now.”