On the other side of the valley entrance, countless strange beasts of varying sizes and bizarre shapes surged in. Some were covered in scales and armor, others had bony horns on their heads, and still others were shrouded in black mist. Their numbers were immense, as they stampeded into the valley, heading straight for Shi Chuan Kong and Xie Dao Ren.

Any weak beasts trying to escape were trampled and torn to pieces, their screams and howls filling the air with a bloody stench.

"Fortunately, their auras aren't too strong. It seems we haven't attracted any of the really troublesome ones yet. Holding them off for a while shouldn't be a problem. The only thing I fear is that this will drag on for too long…" Shi Chuan Kong muttered, gazing at the raging tide of beasts.

With that, he spread his body and flew downwards, waving his hands repeatedly.

Streams of light shot out, each containing a formation plate and a formation flag, flying toward the path where the beasts were charging, constantly setting up the formation.

"Activate!"

Seeing the behemoths approaching, Shi Chuan Kong made a hand seal and shouted.

As soon as he spoke, a silver light suddenly shone, rising from the ground and forming a massive spatial barrier hundreds of feet wide. It stretched from one end of the valley to the other, creating a silver wall of light.

"Boom!"

A loud crash echoed as a giant black ape charged to the front and slammed violently into the silver wall.

The entire wall trembled violently, scattering shimmering silver light, but the wall remained motionless, without the slightest sign of cracking.

The giant black ape, whose aura was only at the early True Immortal stage, roared furiously, swinging its thick arms and smashing them wildly against the silver wall.

Immediately afterward, a giant green python and a cyan-purple spider rushed over and began to ram the wall, but no matter how they struggled, the silver wall remained as stable as Mount Tai, showing no signs of being breached.

Shi Chuan Kong exhaled softly, glanced at the silver wall, and directly sat down cross-legged.

"It's good to be back. Finally, I don't have to rely on Immortal Essence Stones to survive." With that, he formed a hand seal and calmly closed his eyes to meditate.

On the other side, Xie Dao Ren glanced at Shi Chuan Kong's movements, feeling slightly relieved. Turning back, he sheathed his "Thunder Slaying" battle blade and took a gourd from his waist.

He tilted the gourd and chanted softly. Then, he raised his hand and patted the bottom of the gourd.

A vortex of spiritual light suddenly appeared at the mouth of the gourd, emitting a bright yellow glow. Dark yellow beans rained down, flying out and falling to the ground.

A series of popping sounds like rain hitting banana leaves echoed from below as all the beans glowed brightly. Upon landing, they flashed with electricity and transformed into armored Daoist soldiers over ten feet tall.

Each wore ancient armor, engraved with thunder and lightning runes. Hundreds of them formed a neat square formation, with over a dozen such formations. Each held a weapon and marched toward the valley entrance with the same orderly discipline as the strongest army of a mortal dynasty.

Though the Daoist soldiers were silent, the sound of their synchronized footsteps was like thunder, shaking the earth. As they crashed into the torrent of beasts, they immediately cut it into a dozen combat groups and surrounded them.

The Thunder Armor Daoist Soldiers were slightly weaker than the beasts in individual combat, but their seamless coordination soon gave them the upper hand, causing the beasts charging into the valley to scream in agony as their ranks were shattered.

Xie Dao Ren hovered in the high sky, looking out at the mountains far beyond the valley, his brow furrowing.

He saw dust billowing there, indicating that a large number of beasts were gathering there.

He frowned and looked at the sky for a moment, a look of reminiscence flashing across his face. He quickly returned to his usual expressionless state and looked at Han Li.

At this moment, Han Li's eyes were tightly closed, seemingly unaware of everything around him. His body glowed brightly, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around him condensed into a huge white vortex. The vast spiritual energy fluctuations reached the sky, connecting with the dark clouds above, like a towering pillar standing in the valley.

At the center of the vortex, Han Li's body was lifted into the air by spiritual power. The acupoints on his body twinkled like stars, and his skin was as clear as jade, almost transparent. His bones and meridians were almost completely visible, with a faint golden glow.

Just then, he suddenly opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath, spitting out a cloud of murky black air. The surrounding white clouds instantly seemed to ignite like gasoline splashed with sparks, burning intensely.

The white clouds churned violently, as if countless white flames were growing within them, burning fiercely and constantly roasting Han Li's body, making it increasingly pure and transparent.

The leaden black clouds above the white flames also began to glow, with a five-colored brilliance shining through, creating a pleasant scene of clouds steaming and mist rising, filled with immortal energy.

After all, the Taiyi Jade Immortal sought a pure and flawless immortal body, like a perfect piece of jade.

In terms of physical strength, it was naturally far superior to a Golden Immortal. Each gesture carried the power of thunder, and the spiritual sense could also reach a new level. However, its essence lay in the return of the body's spirituality to its original state, making it more harmonious with heaven and earth, more aligned with the Great Dao, and more compatible with the laws, thereby making it easier to comprehend and accommodate the power of the laws.

It could be said that the purity of the Taiyi Jade Immortal's physique directly affected how far one could go on the path of comprehending the laws and cultivating the Great Dao.

The fact that Han Li could induce such a magnificent phenomenon of heaven and earth's spiritual energy steaming was naturally related to his previous experience of bathing in four Thunder Ponds to cleanse himself of baleful energy.

Drawn by the turbulence of heaven and earth caused by Han Li, Shi Chuan Kong awakened from his meditative state and looked over at him.

"To be able to induce such a spectacular scene, as expected of Daoist Li. He always manages to do things that surprise me." After a long while, he sighed.

With that, he shifted his gaze to the silver wall, his brow furrowing.

He saw that the cyan-purple spiders, regardless of size, were all exerting their strength to spray multi-colored webs onto the wall, covering it like patches of moss and weeds. The green snakes and spiders were also climbing up the webs with all their might.

"Roar…"

A wild roar echoed as the giant black ape climbed up the giant web sprayed by the largest cyan-purple spider. It braced its arms, flipped over the silver wall, drooling and its eyes flashing with bloodthirsty red light, charging straight toward Han Li.

However, before it could land, a silver light flashed, and its head exploded with a "bang," splattering large amounts of scarlet blood, covering the ground.

The death of the giant ape did not serve as a warning or deterrent to the other beasts. The remaining beasts still rushed toward the silver wall without regard for their lives.

In the deep fog of the valley, some enormous figures began to become clearer.

"Daoist brother, should I call you Daoist Xie, right?" Shi Chuan Kong flew up and said loudly to Xie Dao Ren.

Xie Dao Ren did not answer, but turned to look at him, expressionless.

"Judging from Daoist Li's posture, he won't be able to leave seclusion in a short time. More and more beasts will be attracted to this mountain range by the turbulence of heaven and earth's spiritual energy. The later it goes, the stronger they will be. You and I must work together to protect him. So you don't have to be too wary of me. I have no intention of harming Daoist Li in the slightest." Shi Chuan Kong said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Xie Dao Ren only nodded silently, without speaking or making any other movements.

"I hope this time I won't make a losing bargain…" Shi Chuan Kong sighed with a helpless smile.

With that, he flew away and landed on the silver wall. He turned his wrist, and a silver mirror the size of a human head appeared in his palm. He cast a spell with one hand, and silver rays of light immediately sprayed from the mirror, striking the dense mass of green snakes and spiders climbing up the wall. Wherever they passed, the bodies of the beasts exploded, with a mixture of foul-smelling mucus and blood.

Xie Dao Ren withdrew his gaze, re-gripped the two battle blades in his hands, and thunder rumbled on the blades, with flashes of lightning.

His body shot down and plunged into the ground at the valley entrance, disappearing from sight.

A moment later, rumbling sounds came from underground, and hundreds of thunder and lightning pillars shot out from below like fountains, blasting the ground at the valley entrance into a cloud of dust, shattering it into pieces.

Countless beasts that had just rushed to the valley entrance were caught off guard by the lightning fountains and were all killed.

With a loud "boom,"

A huge crack opened in the earth, and a snow-white centipede over a hundred feet long rushed out from underground. Its body flew into the air for a hundred feet before crashing heavily to the ground, its limbs completely broken, and its body covered in poisonous green blood, with an unbearable stench.

On its head, Xie Dao Ren stood silently, slowly withdrawing the Thunder Slaying battle blade that had pierced its head armor.

The Thunder Armor Daoist Soldiers in the valley had cleared all the beasts, and their own losses were not significant. Each formation basically maintained its full combat strength. Under Xie Dao Ren's command, they began to gather at the valley entrance, building a dense line of defense there.

……

In a flash, more than three months had passed.

The sky above the dark green valley rumbled, and lightning flashed in the clouds. A giant serpent with wings on its back was partially concealed in the clouds, its body flashing with red light, spitting out beams of black light in all directions.

Behind it in the clouds, a figure covered in golden lightning filaments flashed frequently, wielding two ancient battle blades in its hands. Lightning crackled on the blades as it continuously launched surprise attacks on the serpent.

The figure moved extremely fast, and each time it appeared, it would leave a huge wound on the winged serpent's body.

The serpent's dark green eyes were filled with resentment, but it could do nothing as its body was too large, and the other person was too fast for it to catch.

Just then, a flash of lightning occurred, and the figure suddenly appeared on the back of the winged serpent. Both hands simultaneously swung the long blades, and two giant blades formed from lightning fell on the base of the serpent's wings, slashing through fiercely.