The small green silhouette hadn’t taken the slightest damage from Han Li’s strike and sneered at him.

Han Li scoffed, “It’s too early to be proud. If you truly wish to devour my Nascent Soul, it’s going to take more than a few arrogant words. If I guessed correctly, you can only consume the souls of low grade cultivators. To speak of consuming a cultivator’s Nascent Soul is pure fantasy. Perhaps you might’ve been able to do this in the past, but as of current you're far too weak and are only capable of assuming that strange form of yours. Enough rubbish, let’s see how you fare against these flying swords.” These words caused the small silhouette’s expression to vastly change, revealing malice from its eyes.

At that moment, Han Li pointed to the flying swords spiraling above him, and with a clear ring, twelve of the flying swords shot forward as streaks of azure light.

The small green silhouette stood in place with a sullen expression, as the dozen of azure swordlights spiraled around it and sliced its body up into countless pieces. However, these pieces simply remained floating in the air, shimmering with faint light, much to Han Li's surprise.

Suddenly, a bewildering chuckle rang out, as the floating pieces flashed with light before joining together as the small silhouette in its original form.

“Tch tch! Not bad, not bad! Your set of flying swords must’ve been refined from Golden Lightning Bamboo. Although I don’t know how you acquired so much of it, it truly is ridiculous to think of injuring me with those swords alone. You will come to know that my words aren’t born of arrogance.”

The silhouette seemed to have been completely infuriated by Han Li’s previous words, and it formed an incantation gesture with its hands as a blinding green radiance shined forth as it was about to unleash a technique. But before it could fully finish casting its technique, bright light flashed from above its head as the twelve flying swords simultaneously pulsed with lightning and formed a dense net of golden lightning that charged towards it.

“Humph! This junior still won’t give up! Did I not say that the divine lightning has no effect on me... Wait, what are you doing?!” The girlish voice became shrill as if it grew frightened.

The net of golden lightning didn't explode as it had anticipated. Instead, the net remained firm when it caught the small silhouette, and it unceasingly tightened around its body. The small silhouette knew that this was far from good, and its body flickered with green light in its utmost attempt to resist. However, its struggle was in vain as it was soon trapped in a large golden ball.

When Han Li saw this, he couldn’t help but wryly smile.

This net of Divine Devilbane Lightning was a technique that was founded by Han Li!

Because Golden Lightning Bamboo was exceedingly rare, only one or two stalks would be used in the formation of a magic tool. On top of that, since they had a limited amount of divine lightning the lightning was only reserved as a trump card against devilish and evil techniques. Making such a large net of lightning would require over ten stalks worth of Divine Devilbane Lightning to form, as such, none could’ve afforded to do this before Han Li.

Having controlled the Divine Devilbane Lightning for so many years now, Han Li noticed that in addition to an innate ability to subdue evil and devilish techniques, the lightning also possessed the wondrous effect of restraining the five elements. Regardless of whether it was the Sacred Asura Flames or Wind Spirit Energy, they had both been actively and securely subdued. This unexpected discovery was much to Han Li’s delight.

While he was still at the Core Formation stage, he was unable to use lightning nets as he wished because of his lacking cultivation, and had rarely used them in battle. But with his current vastly strengthened cultivation and spiritual sense, he no longer had such problems.

Although he didn’t know where this little silhouette came from, he knew that it was neither man or ghost; it was more akin to a strange variation of a cultivator’s Nascent Soul. With that thought, Han Li attempted to make use of the net.

Unfortunately for the silhouette, although it had heard legends of the Divine Devilbane Lightning, it was unaware of its hidden properties. Else, it wouldn’t have so casually received the attack with its body as a Demon Nascent. In the blink of an eye, this haughty figure had been easily confined.

Seeing that he succeeded, Han Li smiled and raised his hand, shooting out an azure mist to collect the golden ball into his hand.

The golden sphere faintly trembled and released furious, ear-piercing shrieks, “You dare to trap this old woman!? Quickly release me or else I will refine your soul and subject you to a fate worse than death!”

Han Li frowned and sullenly said, “Refine my soul? It seems your esteemed self still doesn’t understand your situation. Let’s talk about this again once you’ve properly calmed down.”

Claps of thunders rang out as lightning shot out from his hands again. These thin slivers of lightning wrapped layers around the golden ball, consuming nearly half of his swords’ lightning reserves. After further inspecting the enlarged golden ball, he wore a satisfied expression.

Paying no heed to the girl’s raving shouts from the golden ball, Han Li took out a white jade box from his storage pouch and shut it inside. He then took out a few restriction talismans and slapped them onto the box without any hesitation, putting a sudden end to the rant.

Han Li weighed the jade box in his hand and his expression was once again normal. After putting the jade box away, he glanced down at the soulless body of the fat cultivator and indifferently turned it to ash with a fireball before calmly flying in the direction of the small city.

A short moment later, Han Li leisurely made his way to the tavern and simply waited for the birth celebration to draw near.

Not long after, there was a shocking discovery in the State of Yuan Wu. The Duel Fiends Peng Yi, who were notorious murderers of vagrant cultivators, had completely disappeared from the country. Not a single trace of them had been found, which of course signified to many that they had died.

When this news spread, the vagrant cultivators in the country cheered. There were those that said they were disposed of by a sect they offended, while there was also word that they encountered an expert on their travels and were slayed as a result of their notoriety. For a time, all sorts of rumors flew around.

......

Tens of thousands kilometers away in the distant State of Tian Luo was the nest of the Six Devil Dao Sects. The Grand Spirit Mountains in the west of Tian Luo spanned over tens of thousands of kilometers without interruption. The mountains were steep and home to countless spirit beasts and exotic insects. It was the location of the Controlling Spirit Sect’s monastery.

In the instant that the Demon Nascent was sealed, an old man’s furious shout suddenly echoed from a pitch-black stone room, “Who is it!? Who dares to imprison the Wood Spirit Nascent! Servant quickly contact the Spirit Controlling Sect members in the State of Yuan Wu. If they are unable to find the Wood Spirit Nascent in three month’s time, then they will have to kill themselves for the sin of their failure. Also, they must act carefully not to let the Devilflame Sect catch wind of this matter.”

Although the old man was furious, his orders were concise.

“As you bid, Martial Senior. I will pass down the commands.” A man’s stern voice came out from outside the room.

The old man continued, “I’m not done! Also call for Yunzhi and Liu Yu’er to personally make a trip to the State of Yuan Wu. They both have wood attribute spiritual roots and have the most suitable bodies for the Wood Spirit Nascent, perhaps they will be able to feel something if they get closer to it. However, have the two women be careful. Whoever restrained the Wood Spirit Nascent is certain to possess great abilities. Those two won't be able to confront the culprit. So long as they find the person who imprisoned the Wood Spirit Nascent, I will personally come to deal with them.”

The man’s voice respectfully replied, “Yes, I will personally tell the two Junior Martial Sisters to go. This Martial Nephew will now take his leave.”

Soon after the man’s footsteps faded into the distance, a deep sigh filled the room and the darkness became silent once more.

......

Behind the concealment of the purple mist of the Purple Road Mountains, the Fu Clan Master Fu Tianhua, was in high spirits with a flushed face. He viewed all the juniors in his clan with a kind face, leaving his juniors feeling overwhelmed with favor. They were all used to him wearing a more stern expression.

This was of no surprise. The Marital Ancestor’s celebration of four hundred years of life was about to arrive. He was the oldest Core Formation cultivator in the clan, and even two of the Devilflame Sects’ enforcers were going to come today for his birthday celebration. This greatly increased the Fu Clan’s prestige.

The Fu Clan juniors didn’t dare to be negligent and were doing their utmost around the castle so that this birth celebration wouldn’t result in a loss of prestige for the clan ancestor.

After the Fu Clan ancestor made a round through the castle, he seemed quite satisfied. He then entered a side hall with a few juniors in tow.

The sharp-eyed, purple-robed Fu Clan Ancestor leaned against an armchair in the room and slowly said, “Qing’er! Have the honorable guests from the Devilflame Sect arrived yet? Is there something keeping them busy?” While his voice wasn’t loud, it was filled with dignity, suitable for the man who led the Fu Clan through over a hundred years of prosperity.

“Venerable Ancestor, the Devilflame Sect’s Senior Sun has sent over a disciple stating that he and Protector Mo will certainly arrive to offer congratulations. However, it will take one or two days more.” A pale forty-year-old cultivator helplessly replied in a hurry.