Han Li narrowed his eyes, then suddenly flipped his hand, and a slender yellow gourd, barely an inch high, materialized in the palm of his hand before being thrown forward. The gourd inverted, revealing shimmering runes on its surface, and then rapidly expanded in size, swelling into a colossal form within moments—growing as large as a house. Han Li pointed a single finger at it. A deep rumbling sound erupted inside the gourd, and from within, countless points of crystalline light burst forth—each a translucent, bean-sized grain of sand. These were the Lishada Jin Gang sands Han Li had obtained during his time in the realm of magic. The grains rolled through the air, then suddenly multiplied—first from one to many, then from many to thousands—transforming into a vast, shimmering sea of crystal sand. "Go," Han Li said, shaking his sleeve with a cold, low command. The crystal sand immediately surged forward, rolling out in a sweeping wave toward the opposite side. In an instant, two great seas of sand collided in the sky, producing a harsh, cracking sound, and simultaneously radiating two brilliant, sharp streaks of yellow and crystal light. The yellow sand surged wildly, constantly shifting into various forms of mythical beasts—tigers, leopards, jackals, and wolves—then charged furiously toward the crystalline sand, tearing and crashing into it. Yet the crystal sand sea remained as deep and vast as an endless ocean, undisturbed. No matter how strangely the yellow sand transformed, it merely caused each grain of its own sand to rotate slowly, steadily grinding every grain of yellow sand it encountered into fine fragments, shattering them completely. The clash between the two forces quickly established a clear hierarchy. The yellow sand sea shrank visibly, reducing to half its original size within just a few breaths. Before the two flesh palms had truly descended, two layers of nearly transparent white luminescence burst forth from the palms. An instantly suffocating, viscous force immediately enveloped Han Li. Han Li arched his brow, extended his hand into the air, and in the palm, a long, jade-green sword several feet in length materialized. With a flick of his wrist, he swung it upward. A flash of jade-green light! A streak of green light several dozen feet long shot skyward, then vanished, striking hard against the milky-white luminescence. A deep thud! The green and white lights swirled and trembled, and the green streak was forcefully rebounded. Seeing this, Han Li smiled rather than being startled. Suddenly, his arm thickened considerably, and purple-gold scales emerged on the surface of his skin. Then, he drove his fist upward with great force. Yang Lu, observing this, briefly displayed a grim smile, then her shoulders trembled suddenly, and two additional powerful forces surged into the two flesh palms. At once, he lowered his palm, and the milky-white glow intensified, becoming more brilliant and piercing, thickening the viscous force enveloping Han Li by several degrees. This beast clearly intended to crush Han Li completely in a single strike. As soon as Han Li's seemingly frail fist made contact with the milky-white glow, a network of countless silver patterns instantly shimmered to life, radiating an astonishingly terrifying power. A thunderous roar erupted! The two layers of milky-white glows shattered simultaneously, and Han Li's two flesh palms were violently separated. When the powerful force struck the beast, its massive form trembled, and it involuntarily stepped back. After taking several dozen steps, it finally steadied itself, now gazing at Han Li with genuine astonishment and fury. With a low roar, it opened its mouth and expelled a spherical gust of white, misty wind, the diameter of which reached a zhang. After a brief flicker, the wind sphere materialized mere inches away from Han Li. At that moment, the immense wind pressure carried by the wind sphere suddenly erupted into a sharp, piercing cry in the surrounding void. "Boom!" Han Li's purple-gold arm blurred into a mere outline, and the massive wind sphere too was thrown aside, only to burst into a brilliant white sun-like splendor at a distant spot on the ground, its powerful shockwave unfolding like a scroll and nearly leveling everything within a wide radius. Yang Lu watched this scene, her face turning pale with concern. "Pfft! Pfft!" The sound resounded powerfully. With every step the demon took, his form grew suddenly larger. It took him over a dozen steps to finally reach his destination, now towering no less than the Yang Lu. "This is truly my strongest form—the real battle has only just begun. As a true spirit, I wonder if you can withstand several of my attacks." The voice of the words emanated from the demon god formed by Han Li. As he spoke, a jade-green glow flashed across one of his arms, and a dark green wooden sword materialized instantly in midair. With a mere flick of his wrist, ripples of law-based energy spread outward in concentric waves. "A true demon's body, a treasure of the Heavenly Primordial!" Even Yang Lu, known for his broad experience, could hardly contain her breath upon seeing Han Li's transformation and the sword in his hand. Her heart sank deeply. A thunderclap from the clear sky caused all the sword lights to vanish. Suddenly, a colossal silver sword, stretching over a thousand paces, emerged above the flame cloud and plunged downward. A strange roar echoed within the flame cloud, and a monstrous dragon, covered in long crimson manes, surged forth, spewing bursts of lightning and fire directly at the silver sword. As the silver light flashed, the giant sword transformed into a shimmering veil of silver, cutting the entire flame cloud in two. Then, the sword blurred and vanished instantly, leaving behind a plain gray-robed man standing in its place. The man was drenched in sweat, half of his body seemingly gone, with his wounds blackened and bloodless, yet he remained motionless, his face showing a clear sense of lingering apprehension as he gazed upward at the strange dragon. "The fire-hair beast—truly, such a holy creature born of fire exists in the world. It seems this one was brought here by the immortal from the celestial realm." Alas, merely a puppet with no spiritual intelligence—otherwise, unless the Nine-Rank True-Annihilation technique was summoned, victory was utterly impossible. Yet even thus… The gray-robed man lowered his gaze, gazing at the body, which, despite the continuous application of recovery spells, showed no signs of improvement, and could not help but smile sadly. At that moment, the strange dragon, previously motionless in the sky, shuddered and instantly burst into countless fragments, from which waves of crimson flames surged forth, sweeping outwards in all directions. The gray-robed man was startled, and without hesitation, let out a long, resonant cry, transforming once more into a towering silver sword that pierced straight through the sea of flames. It took a full cup of tea’s worth of time before the crimson sea of fire gradually diminished and finally began to dissipate and fade. Then, as a ripple of disturbance spread from where the dragon had once stood, the gray-robed man reappeared silently, surveyed the surroundings, and upon seeing that nothing remained, his expression darkened like still water. He paced in place, his expression shifting between gloom and uncertainty, before finally sighed deeply and stamped his foot with sudden force, vanishing in a streak of swordlight. "...Fire-Needle, it seems we've failed." Ma Li murmured the words almost inaudibly, looking utterly surprised. "Hmph. If you hadn't refused to lift the divine soul seal binding me, I wouldn't have been able to unleash even a tenth of my strength. How could a mere mortal from the lower realm possibly defeat me?" A sharp, delicate voice echoed simultaneously from the nearby void. A gentle ripple of energy surged a few zhang ahead of him, and several egg-sized crimson fire orbs materialized silently. Then, with a sudden flash toward the center, a small red figure coalesced into being, gazing expressionlessly at the true immortal before him. "Hmph. I'll lift your seal—on this plane, you may dream of nothing more. Unless you return to the Celestial Realm, I won't risk doing this. That you're even conscious for a moment now is already a remarkable achievement. But soon, I'll have you once again plunged into deep slumber. With your strength and this indestructible body, I shall be well-served. Ma Liang hummed as he spoke. As soon as he finished, he exhaled, and a shimmering golden aura surged forth. Upon touching this aura, the crimson figure's cold expression gradually faded, returning to its original hazy, listless demeanor. Ma Liang shook his sleeve, and several golden scrolls fluttered out, adhering tightly to the figure. Then he produced a blue jade box, opened it, and, as he waved it toward the front, a stream of white vapor rose, gently lifting the figure and drawing it into the box. Ma Liang lifted the box and, raising his hand to gaze upward, unconsciously furrowed his brow. At this moment, although thunderous clashes still echoed across the sky, both the eight five-clawed blood dragons and the four blood-colored giants had been completely overwhelmed. Under the resolute prowess of several great cultivators and the four black nio beasts, they were forced to retreat to the vicinity of the Blood River, relying on the continuous infusion of vast true energy from the river to barely maintain their stances. Clearly, however, this resistance could not last much longer. Ma Liang surveyed the various battlefronts along the midsection of the Blood River, then turned his gaze to a nearby, palm-sized luminous screen. On that screen, a colossal demon with three heads and six arms held a towering emerald great sword in one hand and the half-remnant body of a giant beast in the other. "A true demon form, a treasure of the Heavenly Primordial. I never expected the guardian at the heart of the formation to be so formidable—neither of them has yet been subdued. It seems this time, we cannot simply unseal the seal once more." "However, since we've now located the target's whereabouts, there's no need to hold back anymore." Ma Liang murmured to himself, then with a single hand motion, instantly revealed another golden script.