Chapter 2436: The Most Powerful Grand Ascension Stage Being Han Li’s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and he nodded in response before stowing the jade badge away.
There were naturally more items in the golden storage bracelet, including seven or eight treasures that he didn’t know the function of, as well as a stack of golden and silver talismans and a large pile of golden crystals.
However, he currently wasn’t in his own cave abode, so he couldn’t bring them out for closer inspection.
Thus, Han Li continued to wait, and a short while later, spatial fluctuations erupted nearby, following Jin Tong shot out of thin air as a streak of golden light before vanishing up Han Li’s sleeve in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, Jin Tong delivered a report to him through voice transmission, and his expression immediately eased upon hearing what it had to say.
Not long after that, a black line and a ball of crimson light appeared in the distance before reaching Han Li after just a few flashes to reveal Mo Guang and Huo Xuzi.
"Seeing as you’ve returned so quickly, I presume you’ve succeeded, fellow daoists?" Han Li asked with a faint smile.
"Hehe, of course. That man had some tricks up his sleeve, but he was never going to be able to escape from us," Huo Xuzi chuckled as he tossed two items toward Han Li.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of invisible force that held the items steady in mid-air before him.
As it turned out, one of the two items was a shriveled-up body of a Nascent Soul, while the other was a black storage bracelet.
"I’ve devoured all of the Nascent Soul’s essence, so he won’t even be able to go into the cycle of reincarnation. As for everything else he left behind, we have no use for them, so you can have them," Mo Guang said in an unhurried manner.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the shriveled Nascent Soul, and even though its face was severely distorted, it was clearly identical to that of Ming Zun. "Thank you for your hard work, fellow daoists; I suggest we leave this place right away."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he drew the black storage bracelet into his own grasp before stowing it away, flicked a ball of crimson flames toward the shriveled Nascent Soul to instantly incinerate it into nothingness.
Mo Guang and Huo Xuzi naturally had no objections, and thus, Han Li raised a hand to release an ordinary-looking azure flying carriage, which all three of them immediately got onto.
Daoist Xie made a hand seal and vanished up Han Li’s sleeve as an arc of silver lightning, following which the carriage flew away as a ball of azure light.
Three days later, some of the powerful beings of the He Lian Trade Guild stationed on the outskirts of Baleful Cry Point finally ventured into the area in a wary manner.
The entire landscape had been completely transformed, but of course, not a single living being was found.
Ming Zun hadn’t arranged for anyone to enter Baleful Cry Point aside from the Grand Ascension Stage beings and the people required to set up the formation. As such, these people had no idea whether Ma Liang was still alive or not and didn’t dare to linger in Baleful Cry Point for too long.
Thus, after only a brief examination of the area, they immediately scattered to deliver reports to all of the major powers on the continent.
Several months later, news of everyone’s demise in Baleful Cry Point was released by their respective races, as evidenced by the fact that their soul badges had all shattered.
This news spread like wildfire throughout the entire Tian Yuan Continent, and even some races on the other continents were soon made aware of this.
However, there wasn’t any evidence to indicate whether that true immortal had also perished during the battle.
As a result, the entire Spirit Realm was under a cloud of constant fear and apprehension, and no one knew if the true immortal would return someday to continue in his brazen killing spree.
Only after an entire year had passed was news of the true immortal’s demise released by the insignificant human race.
It was also stated that the manager of the trade guild, Ming Zun, had intentionally sacrificed some of the powerful beings in the Bipolar Annihilation Formation to enhance the power of the formation’s detonation, and that he had perished alongside the true immortal.
This piece of news was only half true, and it created a massive stir in the entire Spirit Realm.
All of the major powers in the realm immediately launched investigations to find that there was indeed a human survivor from the battle at Baleful Cry Point.
After this was verified, many of the Grand Ascension Stage beings of major races abandoned their cultivation and immediately traveled to the human race.
Some of them wanted to ascertain what had happened during the battle at Baleful Cry Point, but the majority of them were far more interested in the treasures left behind by the true immortal.
All of the other powerful beings aside from Han Li had perished, so there was no doubt that he had obtained all of the true immortal’s treasures.
All of the races on the Tian Yuan Continent were more subdued, not because they weren’t interested in those treasures, but because all of their most powerful beings had perished, so they knew that they wouldn’t be able to do anything to Han Li.
As such, they decided to lie low and observe for now.
In contrast, many Grand Ascension Stage beings from the other two continents were flocking toward the Tian Yuan Continent.
During the next year or so, many foreign Grand Ascension Stage beings had arrived at the human race and easily found the Boundless Sea where Han Li was residing.
However, regardless of what intentions these Grand Ascension Stage beings harbored, all of them were forced into retreat by Jin Tong and Daoist Xie as soon as they entered the Boundless Sea.
Many of the foreign races who were keeping tabs on the situation were quite stunned by this turn of events.
In a short span of time, over 20 foreign Grand Ascension Stage beings had visited the Boundless Sea in succession, but all of them returned empty-handed.
Thus, all of the other Grand Ascension Stage beings became more cautious, and the rest of the people who dared to venture into the Boundless Sea were all truly formidable beings even among Grand Ascension cultivators.
Even so, they were still easily dismissed by Jin Tong and Daoist Xie, and throughout this entire period of time, Han Li didn’t show himself even once.
This made many Grand Ascension Stage beings quite wary of Han Li, but also enraged the powerful beings who stood at the very pinnacle of the other two continents.
On this day, eight vastly renowned powerful beings from the Blood Sky Continent and Thunder Continent arrived at the Boundless Sea together.
On this occasion, Daoist Xie and Jin Tong made no effort to stop them, and they arrived directly at Origin Integration Island.
All of a sudden, an extremely formidable aura erupted out of the Azure Origin Palace at the center of the island, and Han Li emerged with Mo Guang, Huo Xuzi, Daoist Xie, and Jin Tong.
The eight powerful beings were stunned by the auras being released by Han Li’s group, and their confrontational demeanor immediately softened significantly.
They weren’t exactly fearful of Han Li and the others, but they knew that Han Li definitely wasn’t going to be someone that they could walk over as they pleased.
Han Li welcomed the eight powerful beings into the Azure Origin Palace with a smile, following which the gate swung shut, and an azure light barrier descended from the heavens to encompass the entire palace beneath it.
After that, Han Li and the others remained in the palace for three days and three nights.
During this time, loud commotions and bursts of formidable energy fluctuations would occasionally erupt within the palace, causing the azure light barrier to tremor violently.
However, after the three days passed by, the azure light barrier suddenly faded, following which the eight powerful beings emerged with dark expressions, and all of their auras had been diminished to different extents.
Han Li emerged from the palace behind everyone else with a faint smile on his face, and he seemed to have been completely unaffected.
"Fellow daoists, I’ve already sold you a True Soul Pill; it’s up to you what you decide to do with it. I hope that this puts an end to this matter. If anyone else tries to harass me or my brethren from now on, they won’t be met with such an amicable reception."
Old Man Copper Crow, whom Han Li had met on one past occasion in the Elder Devil Realm, was one of the eight powerful beings, and he replied with a wry smile, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Han; all of us are important figures in the Spirit Realm, and we certainly won’t go back on our word. Once we go back, we’ll do our best to dissuade others from visiting you."
After that, the eight of them rose up into the air and quickly flew away from Origin Integration Island.
Only after the eight streaks of light had vanished into the distant sky did Han Li’s expression ease slightly, and he turned to Jin Tong and Daoist Xie, and said, "If anyone else dares to force their way into the Boundless Sea, then there’s no need to hold back any longer. If you can capture them, then do so, but if not, then just kill them. Brother Mo Guang, Fellow Daoist Huo, as a safety precaution, I’ll get you two to patrol the area as well for the near future."
"Haha, leave it to us; we won’t let anyone else into the Boundless Sea," Mo Guang replied.
Huo Xuzi and the others didn’t have any objections, either.
Thus, all four of them left after being dismissed by Han Li.
Sure enough, no one else came to the Boundless Sea thereafter, and some of the Grand Ascension Stage beings who were lingering nearby also disappeared following the departure of the eight powerful beings.
Not long after that, a rumor about Han Li defeating eight of the most powerful beings in the entire Spirit Realm on his own began to spread, and countless races in the Spirit Realm were astonished to hear this.
After hearing about how Han Li had already sold a True Soul Pill to the eight powerful beings, everyone else abandoned any intention of visiting him.
In the wake of all of this, it became widely accepted that Han Li was the most powerful being on the Tian Yuan Continent, and there were even some who proclaimed that it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Han Li was the number one Grand Ascension Stage being in the entire Spirit Realm.