“Unexpectedly, I would encounter an illusion array anomaly here…” Han Li said with a smile, showing little panic.

“Fellow Daoist Li, you certainly have a big heart. This illusion array is no simple matter. I tried to break it using my clan’s secret spiritual art, but failed. If you have a way to break it, you should act quickly before it transforms into a killing array,” Shi Chuan Kong said to Han Li with a wry smile.

Han Li nodded and said nothing more, quietly circulating the Divine Refinement Art.

As his spiritual power increased, when he looked around again, he saw that the beautiful women with skin like congealed fat, who had been dancing gracefully, had all transformed into decaying, gaunt ghosts and skeletons, terrifying to the extreme.

“Hiss…” Han Li inhaled sharply in surprise.

“What, could it be that you can’t break it either?” Shi Chuan Kong asked.

“This illusion array does have some tricks, but breaking it shouldn’t be too difficult,” Han Li said with a confident smile.

As soon as he finished speaking, a sudden change occurred.

Those women who had transformed into decaying ghosts seemed to have discovered that Han Li was breaking the array. One by one, they dropped the pipa in their hands and reached out with their sharp, ghostly claws, pouncing towards him.

“Break!”

Han Li fully activated the fifth level of the Divine Refinement Art and roared.

The entire hall seemed to echo with a thunderclap. Even Shi Chuan Kong felt his heart jolt, and the ghost women who had not yet reached them exploded under the roar, turning into sparks of dark red light and dissipating.

However, even after the ghost women disappeared, the surrounding anomalies did not completely vanish. They were still in that magnificent palace.

“It seems that only by breaking the array hub can we completely exit the array… Fellow Daoist Shi, brace yourself,” Han Li said after a moment of thought.

With that, he supported Shi Chuan Kong’s shoulders, raised one foot, and stomped down heavily.

With a loud “boom”, the entire palace floor collapsed, turning into a bottomless black hole. Han Li and Shi Chuan Kong fell straight into it.

After a dozen or so breaths, they felt the sensation of falling disappear and regained their footing. When they looked around, they were back in the temple.

However, they were now standing in the center of the dried-up pond, and the stone arch bridge beneath them was broken, obviously shattered by Han Li’s stomp.

“It seems that the array hub of the illusion array was this stone arch bridge underfoot,” Shi Chuan Kong said thoughtfully.

Han Li nodded upon hearing this, and as he was about to speak, his expression suddenly changed, and he turned to look towards the rear of the temple.

There, on the six statues of halberd-wielding warriors kneeling on stone platforms, came a series of faint “cracking” sounds. Fine cracks, like the crackle on porcelain, appeared on their surfaces, covering their entire bodies.

Then, a red light flashed in their eyes, and the six identical heads seemed to come to life, turning in unison to look at Han Li and Shi Chuan Kong.

“Here we go again…” Han Li shook his head.

The six halberd-wielding warriors made a series of loud “cracking” sounds as pieces of stone skin peeled away from their surfaces, revealing the true puppet bodies beneath, and slowly stood up.

They held black halberds in their hands, with some patches of stone skin still clinging to their faces, revealing mottled marks.

After the six stood up, they very humanly stretched their necks, then gripped their respective halberds, and leaped towards Han Li and Shi Chuan Kong.

The six split into two teams in mid-air, with three each attacking Han Li and Shi Chuan Kong, separating them.

Han Li first retreated to dodge a thrust from one of the warrior’s halberds, then stomped hard on the ground with his feet. The Starmoon Boots suddenly exerted force, and his figure darted out like a ghost, almost instantly reaching the warrior.

With a twist of his wrist, he gripped the curved blade in a reverse grip and swept it towards the warrior’s neck.

However, before his blade could reach, the halberds of the other two halberd-wielding warriors on his left and right had already thrust over, one aimed directly at his throat and the other at his dantian.

Han Li was slightly surprised, but his footwork changed, and his figure spun in place like a top, deflecting the halberd aimed at his throat with a blade, while simultaneously kicking away the halberd aimed at his dantian.

Just then, a rush of wind suddenly arose behind his ear, and the halberd of the previous warrior was already thrusting towards the back of his neck.

Han Li abruptly tilted his head, dodging this perilous strike, but he was extremely surprised.

The coordination between these three puppets was simply more seamless than that of ordinary cultivators, and vastly different from those he had encountered along the way.

Fortunately, they were not too fast, otherwise, with such tight coordination, Han Li could not guarantee that he would not be struck.

While Han Li was secretly astonished, his hands and feet did not slow down. He grabbed the halberd thrusting from beside his ear, pressed down hard, and used the strength of his shoulder to hurl it away.

Before the halberd-wielding warrior could land, the Starmoon Boots on his feet exerted force again, and his figure flashed past, catching up in mid-air. A streak of white light swept across, slicing the warrior and his halberd in half at the waist.

On the other side, two warrior puppets attacked from the left and right, forcing Shi Chuan Kong into a corner of the pool.

Their two halberds thrust out in a crisscross pattern, blocked by Shi Chuan Kong who crossed his arms in front of his chest. The halberd shafts pressed down in a cross shape, trapping the latter firmly in the corner.

The remaining warrior puppet leaped from the broken stone arch bridge, gripped his halberd tightly with both hands, and stabbed towards Shi Chuan Kong’s chest.

Shi Chuan Kong’s injuries had not yet healed, and his strength and physique were far from their peak. He could not break free from the suppression and resist, and was about to be pierced through the chest by the halberd.

Han Li roared and his xuan窍 lit up under his feet. With a step into the void, his figure suddenly twisted, and the curved blade in his hand flew out, drawing a white arc in the air, striking towards the puppet.

Sensing the curved blade approaching from behind, the warrior puppet suddenly retracted the thrusting halberd and blocked it with a backhand, just managing to deflect the white curved blade.

However, in that instant, Han Li had already flashed over.

He suddenly raised a fist, and the Heavenly Fiend Suppressing Prison Art was activated. The xuan竅 on his arm lit up in a series of “bang bang bang” sounds, and he clenched his fist and punched down.

The halberd-wielding puppet only had time to turn half of its face before Han Li punched it on the head. The entire head shattered like a ripe watermelon.

“Careful!” Just then, Shi Chuan Kong suddenly exclaimed.

Hearing this, Han Li knew something was wrong and instinctively lowered his body, feeling a gust of wind sweep past the back of his head.

Before he could move from the spot, his shoulder suddenly slumped as he was struck by a force as heavy as a mountain. He crashed to the ground with a loud boom.

The temple pool instantly shattered, and Han Li was hammered into the ground like an iron nail.

Han Li had no time to see what had attacked him, and immediately used the force to dive downwards, as if using a earth escape technique, disappearing into the ground.

But then, the ground on the other side of the temple suddenly bulged, broke open, and Han Li’s figure reappeared.

He frowned, glanced at the previous position, but saw that it was empty. There was no one there, only the statue of the demonic man holding a long staff on the stone platform was gone.

Han Li’s eyes flashed, and he fully activated the Starmoon Boots on his feet, his figure immediately blasting forward.

The next moment, a long staff the thickness of a child’s arm slammed into the ground along the back of his head.

The earth shattered with a roar, and sparks and rocks flew everywhere.

Han Li suddenly turned around and saw the statue of the man with a pointed mouth and monkey cheeks, resembling the God of Thunder, holding the purple-black staff and suspended in mid-air, with a pair of black wings flapping behind him.

The God of Thunder puppet seemed to have some intelligence. Seeing that Han Li had dodged the previous attack, a look of annoyance appeared on his face.

His wings flapped violently, and a whirlwind that was hard to see surrounded his body. His figure instantly flashed over, and his speed was even faster than Han Li’s when using the Starmoon Boots at full power.

Han Li raised an eyebrow. This time, he did not choose to evade, but instead raised the curved blade in one hand and slashed towards him.

Seeing this, the God of Thunder puppet actually had a humanoid look of joy in his eyes. He raised the long staff to eyebrow level with both hands, and a layer of hazy white light enveloped the staff. It was actually also a Star Weapon.

But seeing it flash over in an instant, the long staff in his hand swung round and struck down violently, colliding with the snow-white curved blade.

“Clang”

Accompanied by a loud bang, a terrifying, overwhelming force crashed down.

Han Li’s arm shook violently, and the curved blade was instantly suppressed. The hand holding the blade also trembled violently.

He had to quickly raise his other arm, using both hands to support the blade, to resist this blow.

Han Li’s legs had already broken through the floor and sunk half a foot into the ground. His heart was even more shocked. He really didn’t expect this God of Thunder puppet to be so fast and powerful?

Before he could launch a counterattack, a change happened again.

Clusters of xuan竅 lit up one after another on the purple-black staff. With a “buzz” sound, a thick white lightning bolt burst out from it and suddenly struck Han Li’s forehead.

Han Li felt a burning sensation on his forehead, and his consciousness also trembled. His soul seemed to be shaken and uneasy. His body swayed, his hands also lost strength, and the purple-black staff knocked the curved blade away, slamming heavily on his shoulder.

His legs buckled, unable to support him, and his body leaned back and fell down.

Seeing this, the God of Thunder puppet walked forward, a cold look flashing in his eyes. He spun the long staff in his hand, preparing to smash it down on Han Li’s forehead.

Han Li had already activated the Divine Refinement Art at the moment of being hit. His eyes flashed with divine light, and he regained consciousness.

At this critical moment, he hurriedly pulled a small white shield from his chest and immediately blocked it in front of him, constantly pouring the power of the stars into it.

The white starlight on the surface of the small shield burst out wildly, supporting a white light curtain three feet square, barely protecting his body.