Han Li was rather surprised to see this, but his body immediately swayed, following which he abruptly appeared on the summit of the small mountain before tapping it with the tips of his toes.

Grey light immediately began to surge around the small black mountain, and it swelled drastically to 3,000 feet in size.

The elderly man had been able to just barely hoist up the small mountain in its former state, and his expression changed drastically in the face of this sudden development. His feet began to sink into the ground, and soon, he had been buried up to his calves.

This was an indication that the elderly man's strength alone wasn't enough to keep the mountain at bay, thereby forcing him to transfer some of the force into the ground beneath his feet.

Han Li looked on expressionlessly as he stomped down onto the small mountain again.

The Divine Essencefused Mountain was extraordinarily heavy to begin with, and with Han Li's assistance, the black mountain was able to crash down once again, completely crushing the elderly man beneath it amid a rumbling boom.

However, Han Li only became warier upon seeing this. He was certainly not going to be deluded into thinking that a Body Integration Stage being would be so easy to kill. Thus, he made a hand seal with one hand while his other pristine white palm pressed down toward the black mountain. Grey light flashed over the surface of the mountain, and it continued to expand at a dramatic rate. At the same time, a burst of five-colored flames also surged forth from his fingers before spreading over the ground at the foot of the mountain. A layer of five-colored ice was instantly formed, transforming the ground down below in a radius of several hundred feet into a frosty glacial land. At this point, the black mountain had already swelled to over 10,000 feet tall, making it comparable to a real mountain.

Even so, Han Li still showed no signs of stopping. Spiritual light flashed from his body, and he shot forth toward one side as a streak of azure light before abruptly disappearing into thin air.

Immediately thereafter, a burst of low buzzing suddenly rang out in the air around the black mountain. A series of small azure swords emerged before transforming into palm-sized azure lotus flowers amid a flash of azure light.

These lotus flowers rotated on the spot, and countless lotus flower projections surfaced around them before gradually taking on a more substantial form.

All of a sudden, lotus flowers had concealed the entire sky, and they formed a massive barrier of light to completely ensnare the elderly man within. Han Li had taken advantage of this brilliant opportunity to activate his Spring Dawn Sword Formation.

Right at this moment, a roar of fury erupted from beneath the mountain, following which a string of incantation chants rang out.

Wisps of crimson light suddenly surfaced in the surrounding air. In the beginning, there were only around a dozen or so of these wisps of light, but as the incantations were recited more quickly, more and more wisps of red light began to appear. Moments later, virtually the entire sky had been stained red by the crimson light.

At the same time, the temperatures in the surrounding area became extraordinarily high, hot enough to instantly reduce a mortal into human jerky.

At this moment, the incantations ceased, and the wisps of crimson light all surged into the layer of five-colored ice on the ground in a flash.

Immediately thereafter, rumbling booms akin to loud thunderclaps rang out from underground.

Moments later, pillars of crimson light that were each as thick as a large bowl broke through the layer of ice. The pillars of light only flashed a few times, and the layer of ice rapidly melted into nothingness.

The nearby ground was also instantly dissolved into a crimson liquid by the red light.

In just the span of a few breaths, a vast stretch of ground had been transformed into a massive lava pit.

The black mountain slowly descended into the bubbling lava, and it didn't take long for most of the mountain to be completely submerged.

"As expected, it looks like this won't be enough to kill you!" Han Li's indifferent voice abruptly rang out from all directions.

Immediately thereafter, the black mountain shrank dramatically within the lava pit, reducing itself down to around a foot in size before surging back as a streak of white light.

However, after it had traveled several tens of feet away from the lava, the elderly man's cold voice suddenly rang out. "I just so happen to be missing an ornamental treasure in my cave abode; this one's not bad."

As soon as his voice trailed off, a massive wave of lava over 100 feet tall erupted from the lava pit down below. Immediately thereafter, red light flashed, and the lava transformed into a massive crimson hand that caught the small black mountain in its grasp. Red light flashed from the huge hand as it attempted to drag the mountain back into the lava.

However, even though Han Li had already withdrawn most of the Divine Essencefused Mountain's power, its extraordinary weight was not something that could be easily moved by the massive hand.

Thus, the black mountain managed to hold its position in mid-air, even as the giant lava hand continued to exert pulling force toward it. However, at the same time, it was unable to fly toward the nearby azure light barrier as Han Li had intended.

At this moment, Han Li let loose a cold harrumph, and spatial fluctuations erupted around the massive crimson hand, immediately following which countless azure threads appeared out of thin air.

The azure threads flashed around the massive hand like lightning, instantly slicing its fingers into countless segments.

Thus, the miniature black mountain was freed, and it flew away as a streak of azure light again before disappearing into the azure light barrier after just a few flashes. The azure threads also abruptly disappeared as if they had never even appeared in the first place. "You certainly do have some tricks up your sleeve; no wonder you have the courage to face me in direct battle!" The elderly man didn't seem to have been irked by this development, but his voice was quite heavy and grim.

Almost at the exact same moment, the lava down below parted, and the elderly man slowly emerged from within. His body was flashing with red light, and he only stopped after rising up over 100 feet into the air.

He wore a cautious look on his face as he swept his gaze around him.

"This is a sword formation!" The elderly man's expression changed as he instantly identified the situation that he was in.

However, in the instant that the elderly man revealed himself, the azure lotus flowers around him began to shimmer with brilliant light, following which countless lotus petals shot forth. As these flower petals flew through the air, they instantly transformed into azure blades of wind that surged toward the elderly man from all directions.

The elderly man's expression darkened, and the red light emanating from his body abruptly swelled to form a crimson light barrier that shielded himself within. A string of spluttering sounds rang out as the blades of wind disappeared into the red light like moths diving into a flame. However, in the next instant, they were all reduced to balls of fire that incinerated them into nothingness.

This high-grade Jiao Chi being's fire-attribute cultivation arts were clearly extremely powerful to be able to ignite and incinerate even attacks manifested from wind.

However, seeing as the elderly man had already been trapped in his sword formation, that was certainly not going to be the extent of the attacks that Han Li had prepared for him.

In the instant that the blades of wind were proven to be ineffective, brilliant azure light flashed high up in the air above, following which a series of massive azure logs that were as thick as a water tank came crashing down from above. Upon closer inspection, one would discover that the logs were extremely dense and seemingly immensely heavy. However, the elderly man merely gave a cold chuckle as he swept a sleeve upward, sending the red light around his body hurtling toward the oncoming logs.

After coming into contact with the red light, the massive azure logs were all quickly reduced to plumes of smoke and ashes.

"Save your energy, brat! If your sword formation were of some other attribute, perhaps you'd be able to cause some trouble for me, but pure wood-attribute sword formations are completely ineffective against me; I can destroy this formation with ease!"

The elderly man suddenly let loose a loud cry as he abruptly made a hand seal. The red light around his body swayed, and pillars of crimson light suddenly shot forth in all directions, striking the azure light barrier in a flash. A scorching aura immediately permeated throughout the entire space that was enshrouded under the barrier of light. A triumphant look appeared on the elderly man's face.

In his mind, his powerful fire-attribute cultivation arts would be able to destroy this wood-attribute sword formation with ease. After that, he could press his cultivation base advantage to kill this unexpectedly troublesome opponent.

A string of dull thumps rang out, and just as the elderly man had expected, massive holes were punctured into the light barrier with ease.

Just as the azure lotus flowers around him were about to dissipate, his surroundings suddenly blurred, and the azure lotus flowers abruptly disappeared along with the light barrier. In the next instant, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar place with massive trees that were several hundred feet tall all around him. "An illusionary technique!" Despite the elderly man's vast reserves of battle experience, he was truly astonished on this occasion.

Illusionary techniques weren't all that uncommon in other formations and restrictions, but they were very rare in sword formations, which predominantly pursued maximal destructive power. At the very least, this was the first time that the elderly man had seen a sword formation with an accompanying illusionary technique.

However, the elderly man quickly recomposed himself before making a hand seal, upon which red light flashed from his body, and a pillar of crimson flames rose directly up into the air. He then opened his mouth to expel a white talisman, and the talisman disappeared in a flash before forming a gust of white gale-force winds that disappeared into the pillar of flames.

Having been fanned by the fierce winds, the pillar of fire that was only around 10 feet in thickness originally rapidly swelled to over 100 feet thick, creating a very formidable sight to behold.

The elderly man was situated at the very center of the pillar of flames, and he suddenly sat down with his legs crossed. At the same time, red light flashed above his head, and a massive projection of a sinister-looking beast that was entirely covered in crimson scales appeared.

In the instant that the projection appeared, all of the world's origin Qi in the nearby area was drawn to the elderly man at once. Pea-sized balls of five-colored light began to surface from the mountains, forests, and plants within a radius of several tens of kilometers. All of them surged toward the sword formation in a frenzy, as if they had been summoned there by something.

Countless specks of light came raining down from above, only to be instantly kept out by the streaks of azure sword Qi that erupted from the sword formation.

These specks of light exploded as they clashed with the sword Qi to form clouds of five-colored mist, but there were simply far too many specks of light to contend with!

Within moments, the mist that resulted from the explosion of these specks of light had become as viscous as liquid, thereby significantly slowing down the streaks of sword Qi and making them a lot more sluggish.

Almost at the exact same moment, the elderly man unleashed a massive pillar of fire that also began to wreak havoc within the sword formation. The countless massive logs raining down from above were reduced to smoke and ashes without being able to offer up any resistance.

These logs were only projections, but they had manifested from the pure wood-attribute spiritual power within the flying swords.

Regardless of whether these logs were real or not, there was no way that they'd be able to withstand such fierce fire-attribute attacks. All of a sudden, the surroundings blurred around the elderly man, and he reappeared in the real world.