Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately vanished on the spot as a blurry shadow.

In the next instant, he reappeared directly in front of the door of light before disappearing into it. The giant ape puppet also hurriedly followed along.

Almost as soon as the puppet entered the door of light, the black and blue ball of light that was hovering in mid-air abruptly exploded.

The giant net that had encompassed the entire plaza also shattered without any warning before dissipating as specks of spiritual light.

In the next instant, white light flashed erratically from the door of light, and the surrounding space blurred before it also vanished.

Thus, the plaza was restored to its original appearance, but Han Li and the giant ape puppet were nowhere to be seen; it was as if they'd never even entered the palace in the first place.

Meanwhile, Shi Kun was only just over 100 steps away from reaching the summit, and he could already catch a glimpse of the entrance of the palace.

Liu Shui'er was a few hundred steps behind him, and the two of them seemed to have calmed down now that Han Li had already entered the palace ahead of them.

...

Han Li reopened his eyes and immediately appraised his surroundings.

After emerging from the door of light, he found himself situated directly in front of the main palace.

The gate of the main palace was rather mundane-looking, with only a few simple patterns engraved onto its surface. However, there was a giant plaque that was around 70 to 80 feet in length hanging above the gate, and there were a few ancient golden characters inscribed on its surface. Han Li focused his gaze on the plaque, and his heart stirred slightly in response to what he saw.

Even though he couldn't read this ancient text, it struck him as being rather similar to beveled silver text, so it was most likely golden seal text.

Unfortunately, there were extremely few beings in the Spirit Realm that understood golden seal text, so he hadn't been able to learn it from anywhere. Otherwise, perhaps he'd be able to glean some useful information from this plaque.

With that in mind, Han Li cast his gaze toward the gate in front of him before issuing another instruction to the giant ape puppet beside him using his spiritual sense.

The puppet immediately stepped forward at his behest, making its way up the stairs, then pressing its hands against the gates of the main palace to try and push it open, just as it had done with the previous palace gate.

However, things didn't progress as smoothly on this occasion.

As soon as the giant ape puppet's hands came into contact with the mundane-looking gate, a string of dull thunderclaps suddenly rang out. Immediately thereafter, a devastating aura that threatened to annihilate heaven and earth erupted from the gate

Even though Han Li was over 100 feet away from the gate, he was still quite alarmed by this sudden development, and he immediately conjured up a set of azure and white lightning robes around his body.

His upper body then twisted around, and even though his lower body remained completely still, he was somehow able to slide toward the side in a wraith-like manner.

Almost at the exact same moment, a burst of dazzling purple light flashed from the gate of the main palace. Arcs of purple lightning then erupted from its surface, hurtling forth several tens of purple lightning snakes.

The giant ape puppet was inundated by this purple lightning in a flash, and was instantly reduced to nothingness.

However, the arcs of purple lightning showed no signs of stopping there. After destroying the giant ape puppet, they changed directions and surged directly toward Han Li as if they had a mind of their own.

Han Li's expression changed drastically upon seeing this. If there were no flight restrictions in place, he'd naturally be able to unleash his movement techniques to evade this lightning. However, seeing as he was unable to rise up into the air, there was no way for him to dodge this attack no matter how agile he was.

In this dire situation, Han Li hurriedly raised a hand to summon a small crystalline shield.

The small shield then expanded to around 10 feet in size amid a flash of spiritual light, following which a burst of black Qi erupted from Han Li's body. A suit of sinister-looking devilish armor quickly emerged beneath the layer of azure and white lightning around his body, and it was none other than the repaired Heavenly Devilish Armor.

Purple lightning flashed, and all of the purple snakes struck the giant shield with immense power.

This crystalline shield was able to refract light-based attacks, and it had saved Han Li on many occasions.

However, the situation on this occasion turned out to be vastly different.

These purple arcs of lightning were clearly different from normal lightning as the giant crystalline shield was only able to refract about a third of the arcs of lightning, while the majority of the barrage continued onward to strike the shield.

Purple lightning exploded, and the giant shield was immediately inundated by a terrifying scorching aura.

An incredible scene then ensued.

The crystalline shield quickly began to melt in the face of the arcs of purple lightning, and it was reduced to a puddle of translucent liquid that dripped down onto the ground below.

Han Li was quite stunned to see this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the lightning robe around his body erupted forth as an azure and white net of lightning that intertwined with the purple lightning.

The arcs of lightning formed by the lighting robe were manifested from the tribulation lightning that Han Li had collected, so they were naturally far more powerful than normal lightning.

However, they were no match for the arcs of purple lightning. As soon as the two clashed, the azure and white arcs of lightning instantly shrank before vanishing as if they had been devoured by the arcs of purple lightning, thereby fueling the purple snakes rather than nullifying their powers.

Han Li's face paled upon seeing this, and he hurriedly swept both sleeves through the air, unleashing thick bolts of golden lightning that surged forth amid rumbling thunderclaps. However, he was already too late, and the purple snakes suddenly combined to form several bolts of purple lightning with diameters comparable to that of large bowls before viciously striking Han Li's Heavenly Devilish Armor.

An earth-shattering boom erupted as Han Li stumbled back while his entire body was enveloped by golden lightning. He immediately let loose a low cry of fury as his suit of devilish armor swelled in size while the patterns on its surface also emerged as if they'd sprung to life, forming countless black runes that clashed with the arcs of purple lightning

Contrary to their appearance, these mundane-looking runes were extremely powerful, and as soon as they clashed with the arcs of purple lightning, both exploded into gusts of scorching black and purple winds that revolved around Han Li in a frenzy.

When Han Li finally managed to arrest his own momentum and steady himself, not only had the purple arcs of lighting disappeared, the gusts of scorching winds around him had also abruptly vanished.

Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief and looked down at his suit of Heavenly Devilish Armor with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes. That surprise attack wouldn't have been able to kill him, but without this suit of devilish armor, severe injuries would've been unavoidable.

Even though he'd managed to survive that ordeal unscathed, he was still left in quite a disheveled state.

Han Li heaved a faint sigh as he looked down at the puddle of translucent liquid on the ground with a wistful expression. The crystalline shield had clearly been completely and utterly destroyed, so there was no way for him to possibly repair it.

After that, Han Li cast his gaze toward the gate of the main palace in a calm manner, and a hesitant look appeared in his eyes.

For such a powerful restriction to have been placed on this gate clearly indicated that there had to be treasures in there that the true immortal owner of this place held in very high regard. Even if he could break such a fearsome restriction, it would definitely take him a long time to do so, and if Shi Kun and Liu Shui'er were to get here during that time, all of his efforts could potentially benefit them instead. As such, it simply wasn't worth it for him to persist with this main palace.

Having made up his mind, Han Li immediately turned away without any hesitation and strode along a nearby path toward the closest side palace.

Even if restrictions had also been set up on these side palaces, they definitely wouldn't be as fearsome as the one on the main palace, so there was a good chance that he'd be able to break them in a short time.

As he traveled rapidly toward a side palace, he swept a sleeve through the air, and a ball of azure light flew out from within as he summoned another giant ape puppet.

Having learned his lesson from last time, Han Li summoned this puppet very close to the ground so it wasn't as heavily affected by the flight restriction.

Thus, the second puppet made a smooth landing before passing Han Li as it rushed toward the side palace.

Han Li followed along behind it in an expressionless manner, and no further mishaps occurred along the way as the two of them arrived safely before the side palace.

Aside from the fact that this side palace was only around a third of the size of the main palace, the two were completely identical in appearance. It simply seemed to be a scaled-down version of the main palace, and there was also a plaque above the gate with golden seal text inscribed upon it.

Han Li's eyelids twitched involuntarily at the sight of the mundane-looking gate, and after a brief pause, he retreated until he was around 400 feet away from the gate before finally drawing to a halt.

After that, he raised a hand to produce several talismans, all of which he quickly plastered onto his own body. Several layers of protective spiritual light of different colors instantly appeared in quick succession.

Immediately thereafter, Han Li made a hand seal with each of his hands, and golden lightning began to flash within both of his sleeves.

After adopting all of these defensive measures, Han Li transmitted an instruction to the puppet using his spiritual sense with a grim expression on his face.

The giant ape puppet immediately stepped forward, raising its arms before pressing its hands against the gate before it.

Han Li looked on with bated breath, only for the gate to be slowly pushed open without a hitch.

It seemed that no restrictions had been placed on this gate.

Han Li was naturally ecstatic to see this, but as a safety precaution, he urged the puppet to make its way into the side palace first.

Thus, the giant ape puppet walked into the palace and no mishaps occurred. Only then did Han Li heave a faint sigh of relief as the protective layers of spiritual light around his body vanished in a flash. At the same time, he quickly clenched his fists, and the golden lightning in his sleeves also disappeared in a soundless manner.

After that, he quickly made his way into the side palace.

After arriving in the side palace, the giant ape puppet was already standing beside the entrance in a completely motionless manner.

Han Li quickly cast his gaze around the palace, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face in response to what he saw.

At the center of the palace was a giant table that was as pristine white as jade, and a shimmering purple shrine stood on the table, within which was a blurry and indistinct deity statue.

Across from the statue were hundreds of yellow futons, and on top of that, there was an azure incense burner positioned at each of the four corners of the palace.

The faint scent of sandalwood wafted throughout the entire room.