A strange scene unfolded! As soon as the white silk touched the purple flame, it instantly halted, as if struck by a heavy blow. Han Li waved his arm, and the purple flame surged upward by a foot, swiftly engulfing the fine needles. The needles shimmered with purple light, one after another wrapped in layers of purple ice, and gradually losing their spiritual essence, they fell down. The jade hammer of jade green color that had also come toward him was merely brushed aside by Han Li's sleeve. After a flash of purple light, the hammer seemed struck by a tremendous force and immediately rolled over. Master Miao-Helo, in a hurry, chanted incantations to stop it, but to no avail—instead, the hammer's crystalline glow intensified, and within a moment, it was sealed within a block of purple ice. The Daoist's face grew increasingly grave. At this moment, the yellow-robed elder was nearly unable to believe his own eyes. A treasure he had always relied upon so heavily had been shattered so effortlessly—how astonishing! Seeing Han Li charge forward through the surge of purple flame, he hastily shook his sleeve, and a silver disc of magic power shot forth. Yet Han Li moved with the grace of the wind. As the purple flame rolled down, he was already at the elder's side. The silver wheel had just flickered twice when a flash of golden light passed through—it slipped silently into two halves, falling straight to the ground. The elder's eyes narrowed sharply. He opened his mouth, yellow light flashing, ready to expel his own life-supporting artifact. But even in that brief moment of hesitation, Han Li smiled coldly. One of his arms suddenly blurred, then vanished entirely from view. At the same instant, the elder felt a sudden tightness around his neck. A cool, strange hand unexpectedly rested upon it. As the purple glow flashed before him, his artifact—just about to be released—lost connection with his consciousness. "Ah!" The elder was terrified beyond measure. He barely managed to utter a cry of pain before his entire body was enveloped by spreading purple ice from the neck outward, completely immobilized. The face frozen in the crystal ice remained utterly still, filled with profound shock and fear. Han Li snorted a laugh, lifting the ice statue that had taken on human form with one hand, and then turned his gaze calmly to the others. The four cultivators at the Dan stage knew they could not intervene in the conflict between the Yuan婴 cultivators. Though they had already activated their protective artifacts, they remained at a distance, nervously watching. As Han Li swiftly subdued the elderly figure in the yellow robe, they exchanged glances and then, in unison, shouted, scattering like a flock of birds—each instantly transforming into a streak of light, summoning their treasures and fleeing. Even Han Li's primary target, Miao He Zhen, had managed to escape even faster than the four Dan-stage cultivators. When Han Li first seized the elder, Miao He Zhen's astonishment was profound—he had never imagined Han Li's capabilities to be so vast. Realizing that he was alone and utterly outmatched, he made a decisive move, transforming into a green streak and racing swiftly toward the stone city. The elder master had originally worried that the golden insect spirits scattered around would swarm in and interfere. Yet, these spiritual insects remained motionless, like puppets, allowing him to slip through their midst with ease. This left Miao He utterly astonished; without hesitation, she flashed several times, and her light trail appeared over a hundred paces away. Seeing this, Han Li said nothing, merely swept his long robe toward the four Jin Dan cultivators. Four beams of golden light shot forth, moving so swiftly they nearly caught up with the four figures in an instant. A series of cries of agony followed! The four Jin Dan cultivators, along with their protective artifacts, were enveloped by the golden light, spilling blood in great sheets, and their bodies and shattered relics tumbled down from the sky. At this moment, Han Li glanced once more at Miao He's light trail, now nearly vanishing at the horizon, and gave a quiet chuckle. Instead of pursuing, he raised his hand, holding the ice-carved palm, and the thunderous sound of the palm resonated. Several thick golden arcs surged forth, instantly forming a golden net that fully enclosed the ice-carved figure. A flash of electric light caused the ice sculpture to shatter as the golden glow collapsed, revealing a yellow Yuan-Embryo about a cun tall, with a face identical to that of the yellow-robed elder. The Yuan-Embryo looked startled, quickly pressing hand seals, and after a flash of luminous energy, vanished from its spot. Yet, at the very next moment, a thunderous roar erupted somewhere within the golden net, and the Yuan-Embryo emerged from the golden arcs, its instant-translocation technique unable to penetrate the divine barrier formed by the Bixie Divine Lightning. Han Li said nothing, simply reaching out with one hand toward the void of the golden net, which then suddenly contracted, shrinking into a golden orb that, with just a breath and a sigh, firmly imprisoned the Yuan-Embryo within. He then raised his hand, sending several scrolls flying to adhere to the Yuan-Embryo's body. The Yuan-Embryo's condensed spiritual energy instantly became immobile, unable to stir. Han Li then straightened his arms, no longer paying attention to the Yuan-Embryo, and narrowed his eyes once more, gazing toward the direction where the Master Miao He had vanished. Master Miao He had already drifted hundreds of zhang away by now, his internal qi flowing swiftly, enabling his speed to approach that of lightning. Yet even so, the Yuan Ying stage cultivator still occasionally turned his head to gaze back at the two, as if afraid that Han Li was catching up. Only when he saw the darkness behind him remain unbroken did his mind ease slightly, though he did not slow his pace at all. Instead, he spun his hand once, producing a green seal in his grasp, and began to channel his hand gestures to activate it. Unaware of the fact, at the very instant he turned his head, a faint silver flash passed through the trailing light of his flight, and a ghostly green figure materialized seamlessly. This figure seemed to drift lightly, yet remained perfectly aligned with the trailing light, never falling behind. He was none other than the humanoid automaton Han Li had secretly summoned earlier. Yet the elder monk remained oblivious, still focused entirely on the seal in his hand. The puppet raised its hand mechanically, and a silver fist surged forward without a sound. A crisp "crack" echoed as the red shield that had formed the elder's protective aura crumpled like paper, pierced through by the silver fist and striking directly against the elder's back, shattering his defensive luminous glow. When Miao He Zhen realized the anomaly behind him, his heart sank—yet he was too late to react. A sharp "pffft," the fist now streaked with fresh blood, appeared at the elder's chest, and as it suddenly withdrew, a blood hole the size of a bowl burst open. Miao He Zhen let out a thunderous cry of shock, his body then collapsing helplessly to the ground. The humanoid puppet calmly rubbed its hands together, then swept them downward, and a silver light net descended head-on. After a cup of tea's worth of time, it settled gracefully upon a nearby mountain peak, where Han Li had just been engaged in battle. Seeing a streak of silver light streaking across the sky and rushing toward them, a gentle smile spread across the puppet's face. A heavy thud echoed as a silvery light net enveloped the figure. The elderly master,妙鹤, adorned with colorful talismans on his body, was suddenly hurled from the sky and landed hard at the feet of Han Li. A flash of movement followed, and a humanoid automaton stood firmly behind Han Li. Only then did Han Li take a closer look at the now blood-streaked, nearly lifeless master, whose face bore a mixture of amusement and solemnity. Two hours later, a streak of jade-green light quietly emerged from Leikong Island, shooting steadily toward a specific direction and vanishing into the horizon within moments. As the light glided past, Han Li was seen holding the two jade-green storage bags in his hands, his face deeply thoughtful. These bags, obtained from both the elderly master and the scholar in the yellow robe, each contained over a hundred high-tier spiritual stones—originally intended for a quiet return to Biling Island. It seemed that Miao He, who had appeared to be well-integrated with the other powers on the island, had actually quietly aligned himself with the Nixing Alliance long before, with the intention of gradually establishing control over several nearby islands under the Alliance's support—Lei Kong Island being one of his key targets. The high-tier spiritual stones sold by Miao He's sect on Lei Kong Island were, in fact, secretly harvested from Biling Island by Nixing Alliance cultivators and then delivered directly to Miao He, to bolster his quiet expansion and strengthen his influence on Lei Kong Island. The yellow-robed elder, meanwhile, is another Yuan-Ci cultivator recently secured by the Nixing Alliance. Originally, he was the chief administrator responsible for overseeing another island, holding a status comparable to Miao He's. Like Miao He, he unexpectedly received a remarkable command—directed to gather all of his high-tier spiritual stones immediately and swiftly proceed to Biling Island, where there was an urgent matter requiring the use of both these high-tier stones and their Yuan-Ci cultivation expertise, with the added instruction to minimize disturbance among the other powers' cultivators. Since the matter was rather strange, and the old robe sage's island was extremely close to Leikong Island, they first joined forces with Miao He out of surprise, then set off together toward Bilin Island to support each other. Yet they had no idea that during their conversation about retrieving spiritual stones at the marketplace, a few sentences were accidentally overheard by Han Li. Though not fully detailed, Han Li clearly understood that the two had joined the Xisheng Alliance, were carrying a large quantity of spiritual stones, and intended to leave the city. Han Li already had a long-standing grudge against Miao He, and with the news that the two were carrying high-grade spiritual stones and had been pursued for a considerable time by the senior elders of the Xisheng Alliance, he naturally became even more determined to act. Immediately, he departed from the city and activated his secret technique, "Divine Awareness Expanded to a Thousand," releasing tens of thousands of gold-devouring insects, which were dispersed throughout the city to closely monitor the movements of Miao He and the others. As a result, he promptly intercepted the several individuals attempting to leave the island this evening. With his late Yuan Ying stage prowess, capturing two mere Yuan Ying stage cultivators was a breeze. Originally, he had achieved his objectives and could have immediately returned to the Inner Stellar Sea. Yet, unexpectedly, after conducting soul-searching on Miao He and the two others, he uncovered a crucial revelation: the once-very-likely-to-have-killed-him, the JI Yin Master, had also arrived in the nearby sea region—specifically, one of the elders of the Inverse Star Alliance stationed at Biling Island, guarding the mineral veins. There could be no doubt that the JI Yin Master was one of the most persistent and deeply resented adversaries of Han Li in the Chaotic Stellar Sea. Back in the Xitian Hall, had it not been for his sharp instincts and a fortunate series of coincidences, the old demon would have surely tortured him to death, possibly even leading to his demise. Thus, the JI Yin Master was absolutely one of Han Li’s foremost targets to eliminate. Now that he knows the old demon mage is actually on Biling Island, not far from here, Han Li naturally won't miss this golden opportunity to settle his long-standing grudge. Through soul-searching, Han Li has learned that there are four Yuan-Stage cultivators within the Nixing Alliance on the mountain of Biling Island—one at the mid-Yuan stage and three at the initial Yuan stage. These forces might be sufficient to intimidate the other two power groups on the island, but for Han Li at this moment, they are utterly insignificant. He is absolutely confident that he can quietly enter the island, kill Ju Yin Master without being detected, and then vanish without a trace, leaving no one the wiser. With these thoughts running through his mind, Han Li has no further hesitation and immediately heads straight for Biling Island. Three days later, Han Li finally arrives at a stretch of sea waters near Biling Island. (Second update!)