[Note: From now one, the Endless Sky Saintess will be more often referred by her name Lin Yinping rather than her title.]

“If that’s the case, I would be honored to spar with Brother Xu. But right now?” Han Li looked at Ge Tianhao and the others and shook his head with a mysterious smile.

Grand Immortal Xu, the white-robed youth, maintained his calm and coldly said, “Oh? From Brother Han’s tone, you seem quite confident. I heard you killed a Yin Sifting Sect Elder at the peak of mid-Nascent Soul stage, is that true?”

When the Yin Sifting Sect Elders heard this, their expressions shifted.

Han Li pursed his lips, “What more is there to be said? I did kill a Yin Sifting Sect Elder in the Heavenly South. Could it be that that Fellow Daoist Xu plans to act on behalf of their sect?”

After staring at him for a while, Immortal Xu said, “Your abilities must’ve been unordinary to kill someone at the peak of your cultivation grade. If it weren’t for the vicious grievances between us, I would’ve wanted to befriend you. I heard you used a bizarre cauldron to seize the doppelganger of our holy beast and our legacy cauldron. So long as you hand over your cauldron to me, I am willing to mend the relationship between you and our temple. Of course, if you also agree to return the Ghost Sifting Banner, I am willing to resolve any grudges there as well. What do you think?”

“What are you doing, Brother Xu? He...”

Just as Lin Yinping was about to say something else, the white-robed youth waved his hand and interrupted her, “The Saintess doesn’t need to meddle in this. This is what I’ve decided!”

Ge Tianhao and his fellow elders glanced at each other in alarm and also kept silent.

When he heard them mention the Heavenvoid Cauldron, Han Li refused without a thought, “ I can’t even consider handing over my cauldron. You can go ahead and attack.”

“Since Fellow Daoist Han rejected my kindness, do not blame me for being merciless.” A trace of resignation appeared on Grand Immortal Xu’s face and he sullenly trembled his sleeve, suddenly producing a green jade scepter into his hand.

With a wave of the scepter, it brightly glowed with green light, and he resolutely glared at him.

Han Li formed a hand gesture in response and thunder suddenly rang out from his back, followed by the emergence of a pair of silver wings. Then with a flick of his wrist, a feather fan appeared in his hand, shining with gold, silver, and red light.

When faced against so many opponents, Han Li couldn't hold back and would have to use his most formidable treasure from the start.

Grand Immortal Xu almost immediately noticed the fan was unordinary. Its fearsome spiritual pressure alone caused his face to sink.

Ge Tianhao also saw that the fan was something grand and hastily said, “Fellow Daoist Xu, let’s attack simultaneously and capture him.”

Afterwards, he waved to his two fellow sect elders before waiting for a reply from Grand Immortal Xu, and the three prepared themselves, releasing their own treasures: two weirdly-shaped flying swords and a bone saber that flickered with flame.

With a change of expression, Lin Yinping waved her sleeve and summoned a cloth with an embroidered silver sash of silk into her hand.

Grand Immortal Xu frowned when he saw this and silently stared at Han Li’s Triflame Fan.

In the blink of an eye, the five were prepared with a joint attack.

However, Han Li wasn’t about to be drawn without his own say. With a ring of thunder, he disappeared in a flash of silver and reappeared at a stairway over thirty meters away.

When they saw this, the Yin Sifting Sect Elders immediately set off as two blue streaks and a green streak, followed by a mass of silver threads that filled the air from Lin Yinping.

However, Grand Immortal Xu was already ahead of them. His robes calmly ruffled as he appeared over thirty meters ahead, no slower than Han Li’s lightning movement. The jade scepter in his hand grew vague and released an unknown beast with a horse’s head and a serpents body in a flash of green.

Han Li sighed and his expression suddenly turned cold as he waved the fan towards them.

A regal cry soared through the sky, and a phoenix appeared from the fan in a burst of gold, silver, and red. It unfolded its wings and fiercely charged forward.

A massive explosion erupted. A bright halo of tri-colored talisman characters appeared, filling the plaza with soft light and a colossally suffocating pressure.

In the face of it, Grand Immortal Xu muttered, “Not good,” before waving his scepter in front of him. The strange creature immediately shot out and circled around him, producing a green barrier.

The two flying swords and the bone saber were too slow and were drawn into the halo. The dense barrage of silver threads Lin Yinping produced from her embroidered cloth immediately dissolved as well upon contact. However, the halo didn’t stop there, pulling back for just a moment before violently expanding in an instant, shattering nearly half the plaza in its brilliant radiance before melting the white jade stone.

Such power and aura could only be described as world-shattering.

Han Li ignored this as he had no further intention of staying. With a flap of his wings, he shot up the stairway in several flashes of silver lightning. Along the way, he took out a small bottle and poured a drop of Myriad Spirit Milk into his mouth.

Although the Triflame Fan’s might was astonishing, he didn’t believe that a single strike could exterminate the lot of them. He reckoned that he would catch them unprepared at most and caused them a bit of suffering. Since he was outnumbered, he planned on evading them for the time being.

Just as it so happened, the closest stairway to Han Li had been the one leading to Kunwu Hall. He did feel somewhat apprehensive by this, but there wasn’t much of a choice. Although Old Devil Qian was ahead of him, so long as he drew support from the mountain’s restrictions and features, he should be able to shake off his pursuers.

He then quickly made his way to the top of the stairway.

...

The huge tri-colored halo only lasted for a moment before completely fading away. The group had all been driven to the edges of the plaza and were worse for wear.

Ge Tianhao, in particular, made for a sorry sight.

Although the bone saber wasn’t his bonded magic treasure, he had spent much effort into refining it and was connected with his spiritual sense. As a result, his soul was wounded when the saber was disintegrated, despite managing to mostly escape the range of the halo’s influence.

But even so, that power still swept across him and immediately scattered his protective light, scorching his arm black.

As for his fellow sect elders, they were somewhat better off. They quickly severed their mental connection to their flying swords when they saw things had turned amiss. As such, they were completely safe from the attack apart from burnt hair and clothes.

Lin Yinping had been standing the farthest away, and her embroidered cloth hadn’t suffered much damage apart from a loss of spiritual Qi. Additionally, a large black shield had appeared in front of her, completely blocking her from view.

As for the Grand Immortal Xu, he had been the closest, but the barrier his green scepter made allowed him to escape the blast unharmed.

However, the youth was wearing an unsightly expression as he looked at the mess he tightly held in his hand.

The treasure was fractured and let out a crisp ring before shattering into sparkling fragments.

The scepter was thoroughly destroyed by the tri-colored halo before it could display its true might.

“Just what was that fan? Could it be a Divine Spirit Treasure?” As Ge Tianhao spoke with furious alarm, he took out a salve for his wounded arm.

As for the two old black-robed men, their complexions were pale with trepidation.

Grand Immortal Xu stared at the distant stairway with a hazy expression and snorted, “I fear you wouldn’t be alive if it was. It should be a replica. With that treasure in his hand, it is no wonder he was so calm when facing us.”

Ge Tianhao astonishedly said, “That was the power of a replica?”

Grand Immortal Xu asked, “What’s so strange? This should be expected.”

A black-robed old man said with wavering eyes, “With such a powerful treasure, he will be far more troublesome than we anticipated. Should we continue our pursuit?” It was clear the fan’s power had shaken him.

Grand Immortal Xu calmly replied, “Fellow Daoist, relax. Given how powerful the fan is, it must consume a significant amount of magic power. That was why he fled. So long as we give chase before his magic power has a chance to recover, he won’t be able to use it again. This is a prime opportunity to kill him.” Then, he slapped a pouch at his waist, releasing the Keen Spirit Peacock in a glow of rainbow light.

He deeply sighed and coldly shouted, “We go up the mountain! If he escapes, there will be no end to the trouble!”

He then led the way up with the rainbow peacock closely flying after him.