Han Li hovered in mid-air, carefully observing the scene within the lotus pond below. He discovered that the pink lotus flowers, seemingly scattered randomly throughout the pond, were actually arranged according to a unique pattern, forming a large-scale magic formation.

After a moment of contemplation, he suddenly swooped down. As he approached the water's surface, a purple crystalline light flashed in his eyes, scanning his surroundings.

Under the gaze of the Nine Nether Demon Eyes, the distribution of the plants within the lotus pond became even clearer.

Seeing this, a smile crept onto Han Li's lips. With a casual wave of his hand, a streak of silver flames shot out, transforming into a silver firebird in a flash. With a flap of its wings, it flew around the lotus pond like a silver shadow, scattering large swaths of silver flames like heavenly fire across the entire pond, instantly igniting all the lotus leaves.

Amidst the raging silver flames, there came a series of "crackling" sounds. Under the scorching heat of the refined flame firebird, the emerald green lotus leaves were reduced to ashes, and the entire lotus pond became lifeless and deathly still.

However, even so, the milky white mist that permeated the lotus pond did not dissipate, nor did the pink lotus flowers disappear.

Seeing this, Han Li nodded inwardly and gently beckoned with his hand.

A clear cry echoed from within the lotus pond, and all the silver flames surged back, transforming into a silver flame firebird, which flew towards Han Li. As it approached, it suddenly contracted, turning into a silver flame little man, bouncing and landing on his shoulder.

The silver flame little man looked around, his face filled with doubt, seemingly puzzled as to why Han Li had asked it to burn the lotus flowers but not completely destroy them.

It seemed that with just a little more effort, those pink lotus flowers would also have turned to ashes.

Just as it was puzzled, a slight change suddenly occurred within the lotus pond.

Around the pink lotus flowers, specks of green crystalline light began to appear, and then tender buds sprouted from them. The surrounding milky white mist also surged violently.

Before long, lush green shadows grew rapidly from the tender buds at a speed visible to the naked eye and continued to grow larger.

In the blink of an eye, the entire pond was once again filled with emerald green lotus leaves.

These were not illusionary projections, but were due to the extremely abundant water-based spiritual energy within the lotus pond, coupled with the assistance of the formation, which allowed these lotus leaves to be reborn instantly.

The silver flame little man's eyes widened at the sight, seemingly dissatisfied that the lotus pond dared to revive beneath its silver flames. Its body surged with fiery flames, ready to swoop down again and burn it all to ashes.

However, Han Li raised his hand and patted the silver flame little man's head, signaling it not to do so. Only then did the little man retract its flames and return to his body.

Han Li glanced around, his eyes flickering slightly.

After the previous probing, he had figured out the layout of the lotus pond. He strode several hundred feet across and came to a pink lotus flower. He raised his hand and thrust it straight down below.

As he raised his hand to grab, a blue light palm appeared in the void, and with a clenching of its five fingers, it pulled the pink lotus flower up by its roots.

Its roots shone with blue crystalline light, and a transparent blue crystal lotus was hanging from it.

As soon as the blue crystal lotus emerged from the water, the remaining pink lotus flowers in the lotus pond withered and decayed.

The lotus leaves still stood tall and upright, not immediately withering, but they had lost their emerald green luster and seemed to have lost their vitality as well.

At the same time, the milky white mist that had shrouded the lotus pond began to dissipate little by little in the gentle breeze.

Han Li did not look at the changes in the pond. At this moment, his gaze was fixed on the blue crystal lotus he was holding in his hands. Feeling the strong water-attributed law aura emanating from it, a smile crept onto the corner of his mouth.

A silvery light illuminated his right two fingers, and a silver light gate ten feet tall appeared before him.

After stepping out, he arrived at the golden lotus pond outside the bamboo building in the "Flower Branch" cave dwelling. He raised his hand and tossed the blue crystal lotus and the pink lotus flower connected to it into the pond.

The blue crystal lotus took root, and six pink lotus flowers soon sprouted within the small lotus pond, and water vapor billowed around.

A faint white mist began to rise from the surface of the water, and a gentle breeze seemed to arise within the cave dwelling, carrying the faint mist to all parts of the cave dwelling, causing the spiritual energy within the entire Flower Branch cave dwelling to surge again.

Mo Guang, who was originally cultivating with his eyes closed on the second floor of the bamboo building, was disturbed by this sudden change in spiritual energy and suddenly opened his eyes.

However, he only slightly examined the changes within the cave dwelling, then glanced at Han Li's location before closing his eyes again as if nothing had happened.

Over at the spirit herb garden, the Crab Taoist stood by the railing of a newly built bamboo building, looking towards this side with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Han Li stood in mid-air with his hands behind his back, a faint smile on his lips, letting the breeze caress his face, causing his clothes to flutter.

After a long while, he saw that there was nothing unusual and nodded in satisfaction.

With this thing, plus the previous golden lotus and formation, the circulation of spiritual energy within this cave dwelling would become even more active, which could greatly reduce the consumption of mid-grade immortal essence stones.

With this thought in mind, he stepped out of the Flower Branch cave dwelling, his figure soaring up, flying over the thousand-foot lotus pond, and continued to rush inward.

…

At the same time, in a certain part of the ruins of the Mantra Gate, there was a dense area of architectural ruins.

The ruins were scarred and desolate, with collapsed palace walls and broken beams and pillars everywhere, interspersed with a large number of corpses and remains of Mantra Gate disciples and Heavenly Court people, including some monks who had been quite highly cultivated in life. Even after an unknown number of years of death, their bones still glowed with a lustrous sheen.

In addition, in the center of these ruins, there was a relatively well-preserved huge palace. Its shape was quite strange, looking like a solidified crimson flame. Above the front door hung a huge plaque with the words "Flowing Fire Palace" written vertically.

Whether it was due to the special construction material of the palace itself, or whether there was an alchemy or refining furnace in the palace, even now, there was still a faint wave of heat coming from the walls, wave after wave, distorting the void in the places it passed.

At this moment, outside the main gate of the palace, roaring sounds were constantly coming.

A layer of purple spiritual domain and a layer of yellow spiritual domain were overlapping each other. Inside, a charming woman wearing a purple palace dress with towering peaks on her chest and an old man with a sallow face and a hunched figure like a consumptive ghost were fiercely fighting.

The charming woman was none other than Yan Ziyan, the City Lord of Illusion Mist City.

At this moment, her eyes were full of anger, and her tightly frowned brows squeezed the red mole in the center of her brow high. She held a purple jade pipa in her arms and quickly plucked the strings.

"Zheng zheng zheng"

Accompanying the sound of metal clashing against stone, one after another illusion mist condensed beautiful women appeared out of thin air. Each of them held a purple scimitar and floated towards the consumptive ghost.

The consumptive ghost flashed back and forth in the square in front of the palace, easily dodging the attacks of these illusion mist women.

Because his cultivation realm was much higher than his opponent's, his face was now free of fear, and instead was full of playful and admiring expressions, seemingly very receptive to the encirclement of these illusion mist beauties.

His slightly turbid eyeballs rolled back and forth, wantonly looking at Yan Ziyan's breasts and buttocks, and the corners of his mouth also carried a lewd smile, and he said happily:

"Hehe, City Lord Ziyan, you say that in this desolate ruin, there are only you and me, a lonely man and a widow. Wouldn't it be more interesting to do something romantic than to fight and kill?"

"You recognize me?" Yan Ziyan asked in a deep voice.

"Isn't she the big Chief Fu's mistress... Is there anything unknown about that? What? In the ruins of this Mantra Gate, you still want to use Fu Yuanhai's name to suppress me?" The consumptive ghost smiled indifferently and said.

"You are just a filthy thing that can only show off with your mouth. If you really have the guts, take off the skin of the Easy Robe Society and face me with your true face. I guarantee that after leaving this Mantra Gate ruin, I will call my mistress and visit your ancestors for eighteen generations." Yan Ziyan spat lightly and scolded loudly.

Although she said so, she did not dare to show the slightest contempt in her heart. The cultivation of the person in front of her was too much higher than her own. If the other party had not been deliberately teasing her, she would not have been able to support herself intact until now.

"Cough, since the beauty is asking for it, how can I refuse?" The consumptive ghost suddenly stood up straight, coughed pretentiously, and said with a smile.

Then, he grabbed the collar of his back and pulled it forward suddenly, directly tearing off all his clothes and a layer of human skin, as if by magic, and a handsome young man in white clothes emerged from it.

"How is it? Does this little student's appearance still catch your eye?" His appearance and figure were completely renewed, and even the way he spoke had changed completely, which was completely different from the previous appearance of the consumptive ghost.

A strange color flashed in Yan Ziyan's eyes, and she found that there seemed to be no traces of concealment on his body, as if he was really facing her with his true face. Her expression changed, and an ominous premonition rose in her heart.

This meant that the other party was confident that his true face would not be spread, and it also meant that he was going to kill her.

Seeing Yan Ziyan's expression change and remain silent, the consumptive ghost, who had turned into a handsome young man in white, licked his lips with his scarlet tongue and laughed heartily: "Don't worry, how can I bear to kill such a tempting and beautiful woman? Naturally, I will make her into a human pig and treasure her."

Upon hearing these words, Yan Ziyan could not help but feel cold all over. She tightly grasped the purple jade pipa in her hand, and suddenly plucked the pipa strings like pulling a bow and shooting an arrow, and suddenly plucked the pipa strings towards the white-clothed young man.

With a loud "buzz", a purple beam of light burst out from the pipa, turning into a huge purple-winged bat, making bursts of sharp whistles from its mouth, and rushing straight away.

In Yan Ziyan's purple spiritual realm, the bursts of subtle sound waves emitted by the bat's sharp whistle, layered and expanded, and tilted towards the front.