Outside the heavenly gates, Han Li let loose an agonized cry as his entire body was flung up into the air, sending him crashing into the gates before sliding down in a defeated manner.
His sword-wielding hands had been stripped of all of their skin and flesh, reducing them to a pair of bone claws in a horrific sight to behold.
Meanwhile, Yue Qing had also withdrawn his giant sword, and five of the seven mountain runes on its surface had become rather blurry and indistinct, while the remaining two remained unscathed.
"I must admit that I'm rather impressed with how much of the Almighty Sword Array's power that you've been able to unleash," Yue Qing praised, and the derision in his eyes had been replaced with a look of appreciation.
"I haven't even been able to unleash a tenth of the Almighty Sword Array's power. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be standing here right now," Han Li said as he struggled to his feet before coughing up a mouthful of blood, while the skin and flesh on his hands began to regrow.
"I don't mean to brag, but if you had been restricted by my time law powers for just a little longer and allowed me to accumulate more power, then you may not have been able to withstand that last attack," Han Li continued as he casually stowed his completely spent Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords away, and the golden lightning cloud up above vanished alongside the golden heavenly gates.
"It appears that you've allowed my praise to get to your head," Yue Qing scoffed. "That was your final trump card, was it not? In that case, I suggest you surrender now to spare yourself of further punishment."
Han Li looked down at his own hands, which had already returned to normal, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he said, "I have one more trick up my sleeve. Would you like to see it, Senior?"
Yue Qing's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he was just about to respond when his expression suddenly changed slightly.
As it turned out, Han Li's spirit domain had remained intact this entire time, and the golden moon was still hovering behind Yue Qing, giving off waves of time law powers.
"I didn't think that this half-baked Oneness Tier spirit domain of yours would be this troublesome to deal with. Unfortunately for you, even if my cultivation base has been reversed by a million years, you're still no match for me," Yue Qing said in a cold voice.
"So you noticed right away. I intended to stall for a bit more time, but it looks like that's not going to happen," Han Li sighed.
"That's enough chit-chat! If you don't surrender now, then I can't guarantee that I'll be able to capture you without taking your life."
Ideally, Yue Qing still wanted to capture Han Li alive.
"If you want me to surrender, then I'll have to ask you to withstand one more attack from me," Han Li said with a smile.
As soon as his voice trailed off, thirty-six pillars of golden lightning suddenly erupted out of the wreckage of the Jade Flagon Peak down below, and a golden lightning cloud took shape again, while the golden heavenly gates also materialized for a second time.
A hint of surprise flashed through Yue Qing's eyes upon seeing this.
Back when Han Li had been crushed to the bottom of the Jade Flagon Peak by Yue Qing's earlier sword strike, he had already left his remaining thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords down there.
His original plan was to activate the second Almighty Sword Array as soon as the first one was was dispelled, using the element of surprise to strike him down in one fell swoop, but Yue Qing had displayed incredible power, and his forceful retaliation had caused Han Li to miss that opportunity.
Only after his hand had healed was Han Li able to make the hand seals required to activate the second sword array.
Standing outside the golden heavenly gates, Han Li joined his palms before raising them above his head once again, and a rumbling thunderclap rang out as the heavenly gates behind him began to open inward.
Just like before, balls of golden light drifted out of the heavenly gates before converging into palms of Han Li's hands.
A grim look surfaced in Yue Qing's eyes upon seeing this.
Even though he had been quite dismissive of Han Li earlier, in reality, he was quite wary of Han Li's Almighty Sword Array. Just as Han Li had said, if he had been allowed to absorb power from the sea of lightning within the heavenly gates as he pleased, then he really would've been capable of unleashing an attack powerful enough to pose a threat to Yue Qing.
With that in mind, Yue Qing naturally wasn't going to allow Han Li this opportunity.
He gave a cold harrumph as he closed both hands around the hilt of his giant sword, then launched himself directly at Han Li.
All of a sudden, a barrage of golden fireballs came raining down from the heavens like a meteor shower.
Yue Qing sliced through the first oncoming fireball with a slash of his sword, but more and more of them continued to rain down upon him.
The fireballs weren't particularly powerful, but there seemed to have been no end to them, and every single one was imbued with the time law powers of the Eon Divine Lamp and the Time Severing Torch.
After slicing through several dozen fireballs in succession, Yue Qing suddenly discovered that his movements were becoming slower and slower, as if he were being restricted by Han Li's Mantra Treasured Axis again.
At this point, radiant, golden light was already beginning to seep out from between Han Li's hands, and arcs of lightning were springing out of his entire body, but he knew that this was still nowhere near enough power.
The golden heavenly gates opened up a little further at his behest, and balls of golden lightning came flying out from within at around twice the rate as before, then converged toward the palms of his hands.
He let loose an agonized roar, and the skin and flesh on his face was beginning to tear open, with golden lightning erupting out of his body.
Jin Tong and Xiaobai both turned their attention to Han Li in unison upon hearing his strained cry, and Jin Tong frantically yelled, "Stop, Uncle! If you keep this up, your body is going to give out!"
As for Xiaobai, he didn't even get a chance to say anything before Pofeng's attacks were upon him again.
Wuhui had already been forced onto the back foot by Jin Tong, and he was able to take advantage of this window of respite to catch his breath before launching himself at Jin Tong with renewed vigor.
Han Li thought to himself as he gritted his teeth with all his might.
Even though Yue Qing had been slowed down significantly, he was still closing in steadily on Han Li, and he had also noticed the terrifying amount of lightning power that had accumulated in Han Li's body.
"This is it!" Yue Qing roared as a hint of killing intent surfaced in his eyes, and he raised a hand up toward the heavens, upon which a giant, murky, gray mountain appeared up above to withstand the barrage of golden fireballs.
At the same time, all of the runes on his giant sword lit up as he swung it horizontally at Han LI from afar.
Wave of ripples that were visible even to the naked eye appeared in the space up ahead, then swept toward Han Li with tremendous power.
A series of massive spatial rifts appeared high up in the heavens, and they remained open for extended periods of time.
With the spatial ripples rapidly closing in, Han Li still hadn't accumulated as much lightning power as he had hoped for. A wry smile appeared on his face as he prepared to prematurely unleash his attack, but right at this moment, a golden rune suddenly shot forth from afar before crashing into the waves of spatial ripples and exploding violently.
A burst of dazzling, golden light erupted forth, coupled with an almighty, primordial aura, and the spatial ripples were completely eradicated, while devastating shockwaves were sent sweeping through the air in all directions.
Close to the entirety of Raised Flagon Mountain was razed to the ground, reducing it to a set of barren plains, while Yue Qing was also sent flying back tens of thousands of feet.
After steadying himself, he immediately turned to Xiaobai with an astonished gaze as he exclaimed, "I knew you were a primordial true spirit!"
Xiaobai offered no response, and internally, he was feeling rather dismayed.
Bai Ze had told him that the golden talisman contained roughly a third of the power of an all-out attack from him, but it hadn't wounded Yue Qing at all.
While Yue Qing remained completely unscathed, Pofeng was given a massive fright. If that golden talisman had been used on her, then she would've most definitely already met her demise.
Even though Han Li hadn't been forced to directly withstand the attack, the explosion had taken place far too close to him, so he was unable to emerge unscathed.
His entire body was trembling uncontrollably, and in addition to his face, even his arms had begun to tear open, with arcs of golden lightning flashing incessantly within his wounds.
However, his palms remained stubbornly closed as he continued to accumulate more lightning power.
His vision was beginning to blur, and even his spiritual sense had become a little muddled.
"You must be close to your limits. If you release me, I can use my power to kill him."
A sinister yet tantalizing voice rang out in Han Li's mind.
Han Li knew that it was his wicked corpse soul speaking to him, and he offered no response.
At this point, almost his entire body had already turned numb, and the lightning power that he had accumulated was so vast that it was already out of his control, making it impossible to withdraw his sword array even if he wanted to.
If things were to continue like this, it wouldn't be long before his body imploded from the excessive influx of golden lightning.
Yue Qing could see that Han Li was nearing his limits, and instead of pressing any further, he merely remained standing still on the spot with a cold sneer on his face, waiting for Han Li to self-detonate.
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