After a brief moment of contemplation, his lips suddenly tremored a few times.

His voice instantly rang out in the ears of the Ice Phoenix, who was situated thousands of kilometers away, and even though it was only a brief voice transmission, an ecstatic look immediately appeared on her face.

The Six-winged Frost Centipede immediately sensed what was going on, and asked, "What's going on? Who's that communicating with you?"

"Fellow Daoist Han is calling me from the formation core just up ahead; would you like to come with me to see him?" the Ice Phoenix asked with a smile.

The Six-winged Frost Centipede's expression changed drastically upon hearing this. "What? He's the one guarding this formation core?"

"So? Are you going to come with me or not?" the Ice Phoenix asked.

"If I were to go with you, who would look after this formation plate? If you want to see him, then go on your own," the Six-winged Frost Centipede replied in a cold voice.

"Brother Han asked me to relay a message to you: if you want to die, then stay here, but if you want to live, then come with me to see him. As for this true spirit, he'll deal with it if it manages to break out of this formation," the Ice Phoenix said.

A cold look appeared on the Six-winged Frost Centipede's face upon hearing this. "What does he mean by that? Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"I've already delivered the message; it's up to you whether you believe it or not," the Ice Phoenix said before flying away as a streak of light.

The Six-winged Frost Centipede made no effort to stop her, but he looked on with a hesitant expression, and after a long while, he gritted his teeth, and said, "Fine, seeing as you've already seen me, I'll go and meet you. In any case, I've progressed to the Grand Ascension Stage as well, so there's no need for me to fear you!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, three pairs of transparent wings appeared on his back, and he flew away as a ball of translucent light, leaving the white light formation down below unattended.

Without the Six-winged Frost Centipede manning the formation, it immediately dimmed slightly and seemed to have lost around 30% of its power.

The giant figure within the formation instantly detected this and began to struggle even more violently, causing the entire formation to tremor and quake.

......

"Brother Han, it's so good to see you here," the Ice Phoenix said in an ecstatic manner as she appeared above the altar.

Due to Han Li's instructions, the guards surrounding the altar made no effort to stop her and continued to stand still on the spot.

At this point, Han Li had already risen to his feet, and he smiled as he said, "Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Ice Phoenix; your cultivation base has improved significantly. As expected, your Ice Phoenix Physique is truly remarkable."

"Surely you jest, Brother Han; my improvement is nothing compared to yours. Even during my journey, I had heard much about your spectacular feats," the Ice Phoenix said with a smile as she slowly descended from above, landing in front of Han Li.

"I would rather not have earned this reputation. Otherwise, no one would seek me out to do something so dangerous. Oh, the Six-winged Frost Centipede is coming over as well. Hold on a moment while I speak with him," Han Li said as he cast his gaze into the distance with blue light flashing within his eyes.

The Ice Phoenix had no objection to this, but a wary look appeared on her face as she cautioned, "Be careful, Brother Han; the Six-winged Frost Centipede has become quite powerful after reaching the Grand Ascension Stage. In particular, he possesses a certain movement technique that allowed us to even outrun that true immortal for quite some time."

An intrigued look appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this. "Oh? A movement technique that could outrun even a true immortal? I'd like to see that for myself if possible."

Right at this moment, a ball of translucent light shot forth from afar, and the guards around the altar immediately began preparing for battle, only to be reassured by Han Li that this was an ally rather than an enemy.

Thus, the Six-winged Frost Centipede also appeared above the altar with a dark expression, then said, "If you wanted to see me, why didn't you come to me? Do you really think I would believe your baseless threat?"

"If you didn't believe me, then why did you follow Fellow Daoist Ice Phoenix here?" Han Li countered.

"Hmph, you said you were willing to take care of that true spirit, so why would I continue to stall it for you? I want to see if you're truly as powerful as all of the rumors proclaim," the Six-winged Frost Centipede harrumphed coldly in response.

"Is that so? You seem to be very confident that I won't be able to do anything to you. Have you forgotten the blood contract power that I planted in your body?" Han Li asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Hehe, I would be wary of that blood contract power had I not reached the Grand Ascension Stage yet, but now that our cultivation bases are comparable with one another, there's no way that power will be able to affect me," the Six-winged Frost Centipede said.

"You really have become very confident after becoming a Grand Ascension Stage being. However, I'm afraid you've misjudged the situation," Han Li said.

"How so?" the Six-winged Frost Centipede asked with a completely unconvinced expression.

"I can still easily subdue you using the blood contract power!"

As soon as Han Li's voice trailed off, he immediately made a hand seal, and bright blue light flashed within his eyes, as if his pupils had transformed into a pair of miniature blue suns.

At the same time, a burst of enormous spiritual sense surged toward the Six-winged Frost Centipede, who was quite alarmed by this turn of events.

He immediately shot back in retreat while preparing to unleash a secret technique in retaliation, but right at this moment, Han Li gave a cold harrumph.

The sound wasn't very loud, but the Six-winged Frost Centipede felt as if a thunderclap had exploded right within his mind, causing him to falter slightly during his retreat, and this split-second delay was enough for Han Li's spiritual sense to completely inundate him.

At the same time, Han Li uttered the word "restrict", and the Six-winged Frost Centipede felt as if a certain point in his mind had exploded, instantly sending peculiar energy fluctuations surging throughout his entire body.

As a result, his body was completely numbed and immobilized.

The Six-winged Frost Centipede didn't even get a chance to say anything before his mouth and tongue were also completely numbed, and he could only look on helplessly with a horrified expression.

Only then did Han Li undo his hand seal in an unhurried manner, and at this point, the Ice Phoenix was already thoroughly stunned.

She knew that the Six-winged Frost Centipede was definitely no match for Han Li, but never did she think that Han Li would be able to restrict him without even having to battle him.

"How did you do that, Brother Han?" she couldn't help but exclaim.

"He made a grave error in underestimating the restrictive power of the blood contract, and he thought that it wouldn't be able to affect him now that he's also at the Grand Ascension Stage. Generally speaking, this would be correct, but he couldn't be more wrong if he thinks this general rule applies to me," Han Li replied with a faint smile, intentionally refraining from mentioning that this was a result of his spiritual sense being several times more powerful than that of the Six-winged Frost Centipede.

The Ice Phoenix could tell that Han Li was withholding some details, but she knew that it would be unwise to ask further questions.

All of a sudden, Han Li asked, "I heard that you two had been pursued by that true immortal this entire time; how did you end up in that situation?"

"That's a long story that began back when the Six-winged Frost Centipede abducted me in the primordial world..." The Ice Phoenix delivered a recount to answer Han Li's question.

"... Thus, the Six-winged Frost Centipede and I were confronted by Ming Zun and the others and forced to act as lures again."

"So that true immortal wanted to take you and the Six-winged Frost Centipede as its spirit servants, and it pursued you two because it had been provoked by the Six-winged Frost Centipede. On top of that, he planted some type of mark in your bodies that allows him to track you down regardless of how far away you are, is that correct?" Han Li confirmed.

"That's right. The Six-winged Frost Centipede and I have examined our own bodies on multiple occasions, but were unable to find any marks, so we speculated that the marks had most likely been planted on our souls, completely escaping our detection," the Ice Phoenix replied with a wry smile.

"In that case, perhaps I could help you out," Han Li suddenly said with a smile.

An ecstatic look intermingled with a hint of incredulity appeared on the Ice Phoenix's face upon hearing this. "Really? We had consulted Ming Zun about this earlier, and even he was unable to do anything."

"The mark had to have been planted in a hurry, so even if this is an immortal technique, it wouldn't be some type of profound secret technique; he was most likely only able to do this by relying on his powerful spiritual sense. As such, I should be able to erase the mark as long as my spiritual sense isn't inferior to his by too much. If you trust me, I can give it a try right now," Han Li replied in a calm manner.

"I'd be more than willing to accept your help, Brother Han; please go ahead," the Ice Phoenix said without any hesitation.

"Alright, open up your mind to me and don't reject my spiritual sense," Han Li said as he pointed a finger at the Ice Phoenix.