A pair of dull thumps rang out, and in the instant the crimson-furred giant's fists struck the extreme mountains, they instantly exploded into two clouds of blood mist.

The giant's entire body shuddered violently as it was sent flying backward involuntarily by the force of the impact, but the pair of extreme mountains instantly appeared on either side of the giant before mercilessly converging toward the middle.

A massive rumbling boom erupted as the two extreme mountains crashed into one another, and a bloodcurdling howl rang out before instantly being cut off.

All of a sudden, four balls of light suddenly shot forth out of the blood mist between the pair of extreme mountains, then desperately fled in different directions.

Those were none other than the Nascent Souls of the four Spatial Tempering Stage devilish beings.

"It's too late to try and get away now!" Han Li harrumphed coldly as he thrust a giant furry palm toward the distance, and the space within a radius of around half a kilometer around the pair of extreme mountains warped violently from the force of his palm.

The four Nascent Souls didn't even get a chance to cry out before they disintegrated into specks of spiritual light, and a faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he quickly reverted back to his human form.

The surrounding Wood Tribe beings were completely dumbfounded by what they had just seen, and Fei Xiaoxi's reaction wasn't much different.

The powerful foe that was on the verge of overwhelming her had been slain by Han Li in what seemed like the blink of an eye, and this was simply incredible for someone as proud as she was.

However, just as she forced a smile onto her own face and was about to say something, a burst of buzzing suddenly rang out from within Han Li's sleeve.

Han Li's expression changed slightly as he immediately released a ball of green light out of his sleeve, which landed in his hand and revealed itself to be a formation plate.

He quickly pointed his finger at the formation plate a few times, following which he was immediately greeted by Cao Ji's panicked voice.

"Bad news, Brother Han; five devilish beings suspected to be Sacred Ancestor clones have been detected nearby, and they're rapidly approaching our formation core. I've already activated all of the restrictions to slow them down, but I'm afraid it won't delay them for long. Have you taken care of the current set of enemies yet?"

Fei Xiaoxi and the other Wood Tribe beings were greatly alarmed to hear this, and Han Li's expression also darkened slightly as he asked in a grim voice, "Rest assured, I've already taken care of the devilish beings here. Can you confirm that the approaching devilish beings are Sacred Ancestor clones and not just normal devilish lords? "

"That's great to hear! Judging from the powers displayed by the five devilish beings, they should all be at the late-Body Integration Stage; aside from Sacred Ancestor clones, there's no way that there would be such a large cluster of such powerful devilish beings. This group should be different from the ones that attacked the third formation core; it seems that the devilish army really has deployed all of these clones to attack our three formation cores. Would you be able to stall them and buy me some time, Brother Han?" Cao Ji asked in an urgent yet hopeful voice.

"Do you have something up your sleeve, Fellow Daoist Cao?" Han Li asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"If you can stall those Sacred Ancestor clones for an hour, I'll be able to absorb enough energy from the formation to use a secret technique that'll allow me to combine as one with the backup tree and unleash a powerful restriction to temporarily trap those Sacred Ancestor clones," Cao Ji hurriedly replied.

"If such a thing were possible, how was the third formation core destroyed so quickly?" Han Li asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"The Sacred Ancestor clones had arrived too quickly for the fellow daoists at the third formation core to use this secret technique, so they were overwhelmed before they could do anything," Cao Ji replied with a wry smile.

"I see. Brother Xie and I will do our best to hold the Sacred Ancestor clones off for an hour; teleport us to an area near them," Han Li replied with a faint smile.

Cao Ji was greatly reinvigorated upon hearing this, and he was clearly very confident in the restriction. "Alright, if you can buy me that much time, then I'll be able to protect this formation for sure."

"Fairy Fei, I'm sure you heard Fellow Daoist Cao's message; go back to protect the formation core and leave the Sacred Ancestor clones to Brother Xie and myself. You can all go back with her as well," Han Li said to Fei Xiaoxi and the Wood Tribe beings as he stowed his formation plate away.

Fei Xiaoxi had only just recovered somewhat from her astonishment, and her expression changed a few times before she sighed, "Alright, I'll leave everything to you and go back to protect Brother Cao then."

Before Han Li could say anything in response, she immediately made a hand seal and flew away as a streak of light, followed closely by the Wood Tribe beings who had accompanied her.

Han Li looked on at their departing figures with a calm expression, but a cold smile soon appeared on his face.

"Five Sacred Ancestor clones, eh? That'll be quite a handful. I'm sure other Sacred Ancestor clones will also get here soon. Let's go, Brother Xie; if we can kill all of these Sacred Ancestor clones, then I'm sure the morale of the devilish army will be severely dampened."

As soon as his voice trailed off, Han Li waved a hand toward Daoist Xie, who instantly vanished on the spot before arriving beside Han Li.

In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted all around them, and countless specks of light converged to form a colorful formation beneath the duo.

Han Li stood at the center of the formation and casually cast an incantation seal toward the edge, following which both of them were inundated by a flash of light and disappeared in a flash.

Shortly after their departure, the colorful light formation also disintegrated amid a dull thump.

......

High up in the air close to 100 kilometers away, five high-grade devilish beings in different attire had just laid waste to a restriction comprised of a sea of flames, and they were just about to advance onward when Han Li and Daoist Xie suddenly appeared before them amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.

The five devilish beings faltered slightly before cold smiles appeared on their faces, but they didn't attack right away, choosing to inspect Han Li's duo with intrigued expressions instead.

Han Li also appraised the five devilish beings in an expressionless manner to find that there were three men and two women.

One of the men was a heavily wrinkled green-robed elderly man with a pair of remarkably long eyes that were flashing with a cold light. The other two were both burly armored men with hideous features, giving off ferocious baleful auras.

As for the two women, both of them were extremely beautiful. One of them was quite petite and gave off an indescribable sense of allure, while the other was quite tall and slender with a cold expression, and a pair of black feathered wings on her back.

"Two late-Body Integration Stage beings, eh? Who's going to take care of them?" The green-robed elderly man was the first to break the silence.

"Time is of the essence; with each passing moment, hundreds of our brethren are being killed, so leave these two to me and go on ahead," a golden-armored burly man with a pair of horns on his head replied before suddenly making a grabbing motion, upon which a giant black ax that was several tens of feet in length appeared in his grasp.

"Alright, with your powers, you should be able to take care of those two with no issues. Let's keep going," the elderly man replied with a nonchalant nod, then vanished as a gentle breeze.

The other armored man had an extra eye on his glabella, and he stomped a foot onto the ground and vanished into thin air as a thick bolt of lightning, while the two devilish women exchanged a smiling glance before preparing to leave as well.

Almost at the exact same moment, the ax-wielding burly man abruptly raised his giant ax before swinging it viciously toward Han Li and Daoist Xie.

An inky-black blade projection that was several hundred feet in length was instantly unleashed, and it hurtled directly toward Han Li's duo like lightning, leaving a trail of white spatial cracks in its wake.

"None of you are getting away!" A cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he made a hand seal, and a giant projection with three heads and six arms appeared behind him amid a flash of brilliant golden light.

The projection opened its six eyes, and a massive golden sword appeared in each of its hands before immediately being slashed through the air in unison.

Six golden sword projections instantly swept forth, then suddenly vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye.

At this point, the black ax projection had also arrived, and in response, Daoist Xie stepped forward in a nonchalant manner, positioning himself in front of Han Li before raising a finger and casually pointing it at the oncoming ax projection.