"Boom!" A deafening sound erupted!

The overwhelming golden sword light pierced through the surrounding swirling mist, cascading down like a waterfall and crashing onto the Heavy Water True Wheels.

A rapid series of "ding-dong" sounds, like a sudden downpour, echoed from above.

Han Li's pupils constricted. With a single-handed gesture, he bellowed, "Hasten!"

With a "buzzing" sound, the Water Dao patterns on the Heavy Water True Wheels glowed brightly. A wave of dark light burst forth from the wheels, and dozens of strands of black heavy water shot out, intertwining and twisting into a massive vortex.

The golden sword light plunged into the vortex, unable to resist, and was instantly shredded into fragments.

"Go!" Han Li roared, abruptly swinging his palm.

The Heavy Water True Wheels suddenly shrank to the size of ordinary shields, and with a whistling sound, they drew a long arc of black light across the sky, shooting towards a wooden puppet.

The puppet remained motionless, forming a wide-bladed light sword outside its own sword body with a hand seal, and blocking the Heavy Water True Wheels.

As the two were about to collide, Han Li suddenly hooked his finger in the void, causing the Heavy Water True Wheels to spin rapidly in mid-air, bypassing the light sword and smashing into the puppet's head.

With a "crack" sound, heavy water black light gushed out from the puppet's head, causing it to explode. The remaining body seemed to have been instantly drained of all its strength, and it tilted to the side, collapsing to the ground.

The golden longsword in its hand, however, seemed to be summoned by something, its light brightening as it transformed into a flying rainbow, shooting towards the mountain peak.

The surrounding puppets ignored this scene, brandishing their longswords and charging towards Han Li and Lu Yuqing.

"No time to waste here..."

Han Li frowned deeply, summoning the Heavy Water True Wheels back to his palm, where they spun ceaselessly.

The Mantra Treasure Wheel within his body secretly reversed, altering the flow of time and causing his figure to blur.

A series of afterimages flashed across the stone steps, abruptly stopping.

Then, a continuous series of explosions rang out.

Of the remaining six puppets, four had already been decapitated, lying on the ground. Their four longswords, like the previous one, were drawn by an invisible force towards the mountain peak.

Han Li swayed slightly, regaining his balance. His complexion was pale, and he panted softly. The rotation speed of the Heavy Water True Wheels in his hand gradually slowed.

Simultaneously activating the Heavy Water True Wheels and the Mantra Treasure Wheel consumed too much Immortal Essence Power. Even he, in his current state, could not sustain it for long.

Lu Yuqing, who had been confronting two puppets, was momentarily stunned to find her opponents defeated. When she saw Han Li, her expression relaxed.

"Rumble!"

Just then, a loud noise suddenly came from the top of the mountain, and the entire peak shook violently.

Han Li's expression changed slightly as he looked up.

"Brother Han, there is no time to delay. You should go ahead and try to retrieve the flying swords. Leave this place to me, I have a way to deal with it..." Lu Yuqing suddenly said.

"Then thank you, be careful." Han Li hesitated slightly before saying.

After speaking, he tapped his toes on the steps, his figure once again surging upwards, quickly disappearing into the thick fog.

Seeing Han Li leave, the remaining two puppets were about to chase after him when Lu Yuqing flashed forward, blocking their path.

At this moment, her expression became somewhat strange. An unprecedented look appeared on her beautiful face, a mixture of indifference and confusion. Her eyes seemed to be filled with rising white mist, appearing somewhat moist and blurred.

With a flick of her wrist, she put away the azure feather fan, replacing it in her palm with a silver-white longsword. The style was ordinary, clearly not an Immortal Treasure, and its quality was much lower than the azure feather fan.

"Why do I suddenly feel that using a sword is not bad..." Lu Yuqing murmured, looking at the longsword in her hand.

Her tone was not joking, but seemed genuinely puzzled, as if she didn't understand why she wanted to use a sword.

...

After breaking through the cloud cover, the scenery on the mountain became clear. Han Li realized that he was still on the mountainside, and the stone steps continued to extend upwards, disappearing into the distance.

The rest of the way up was calm and uneventful.

Upon reaching the peak, Han Li followed a mountain path paved with bluestone slabs, heading towards the center of the peak. In the distance, he saw a Taoist temple-style building nestled among lush, jade-like green bamboo.

The temple was not large, consisting of only three courtyards. However, the white walls and black tiles were adorned with various brick-carved patterns, giving it a simple and unadorned charm.

Han Li, of course, had no time to appreciate these details. After confirming that there were no restrictions within the temple, he pushed open the black doors and rushed inside.

The furnishings inside the temple were very simple. The dozen or so halls in the first two courtyards were mostly empty, except for a few that enshrined gods of unclear origin.

Among them, there were two rooms that seemed to be alchemy rooms. In the center of each room was a pill furnace that had long been extinguished, with shelves on either side holding all kinds of bottles and jars.

Han Li merely glanced at them, not bothering to determine whether they were still usable. With a wave of his sleeve, he collected them all.

The last courtyard of the temple was far from the front, with a wide path paved with white stone slabs in between.

Han Li followed the path, walking slowly towards the innermost hall.

Outside the hall, seven or eight wooden puppets lay scattered haphazardly, identical to those he had encountered on the mountainside.

Han Li glanced around, then noticed that the doors, windows, and wooden rafters under the eaves of the hall were engraved with complex and dense runes, clearly a rather extraordinary defense restriction.

However, they had already been damaged. Many of the runes at key array points were cracked with sword marks, and traces of sword energy remained, indicating that they had been destroyed not long ago.

In the center of the hall's lintel hung a huge black plaque, with three large characters written in gold lacquer: "Ancestral Hall".

The Ancestral Hall of an Immortal Clan, like the Ancestral Hall in the Lower Realm, was actually quite different.

The Ancestral Hall in the Lower Realm was often used to enshrine the memorial tablets of the sect's ancestors. However, Immortal Realm cultivators had such long lifespans that the Ancestral Hall mostly housed treasures left behind by past masters.

These treasures were not necessarily powerful Immortal Treasures. More often than not, they were personal belongings that these senior masters carried with them during their cultivation in the sect.

These items had been imbued with the sect's incense and aura for the longest time, and were most closely linked to the sect. Thus, they became the items that many Immortal Clan leaders and elders liked to leave in the Ancestral Hall.

The Ancestral Hall was a place of inheritance and tradition, often gathering the sect's luck. It was rumored that the enshrined treasures, due to long-term exposure to incense and aura, could develop sentience on their own.

Some blessed descendants of the sect, when worshiping their ancestors in the Ancestral Hall, would occasionally encounter a situation where the treasure chose them as its master, often leading to unexpected fortune and fame.

The Wusheng Sword Sect's Ancestral Hall was furnished very simply. Two rows of ever-burning lamps were placed on either side, but the oil inside had run out, and the flames had been extinguished. In the center, four layers of offering tables were arranged in a terraced manner, from high to low.

"Judging by each layer representing a generation, the Wusheng Sword Sect has only been passed down for four generations..." Han Li muttered, feeling somewhat surprised.

However, when he thought about their method of recruiting disciples, he understood.

Han Li's gaze swept across the hall, finding only a few memorial tablets scattered on the second and third layer offering tables. The rest were just sandalwood trays, all empty.

Han Li's gaze lingered on the highest offering table for a moment. There was no memorial tablet of Wusheng Daoren, only a slightly longer sandalwood tray.

"It seems that Wusheng Daoren had not yet passed away when the Wusheng Sword Sect was destroyed..."

Just as he was pondering, a series of crisp and pleasant tinkling sounds suddenly came from the rear of the Ancestral Hall.

The sound was not loud, but it had a strange penetrating power, reaching all the way to where he was. Even without careful listening, he could hear it clearly.

His heart stirred, and he immediately left the Ancestral Hall, heading towards the back mountain along a bluestone path in the rear courtyard.

After walking for about half an hour, Han Li stopped at the foot of a vast, sloping mountain slope.

At his feet stood a half-person-high black stone, very inconspicuous. On it were written two large characters in ancient seal script:

"Sea"

Han Li stood at the edge of the slope, looking down. He saw a gleam of light reflecting from a field of green meadow. Taking a closer look, he raised his eyebrows and exclaimed in surprise.

In the dense, lush green grass below, countless flying swords stood upside down, their styles and colors varied. Most of them pointed to the sky, swaying gently in the mountain breeze like blades of grass. The collision of the swords created a series of crisp sounds.

Among these flying swords were slender ones like sewing needles, and wide-bladed greatswords as wide as doors. There were curved swords that snaked like serpents, and straight, single-edged bizarre swords... a variety of shapes and colors.

They had been stored in this Sword Sea for countless years, yet not a single one was damaged or rusted. Without exception, all of them sparkled with dazzling spiritual light.

Han Li's eyes scanned the Sword Sea for a long time, finally landing on a wide-bladed greatsword.

There, he saw his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, seventy-two of them neatly arranged, swaying gently in sync with the other flying swords.

However, when he called out to them with his mind, the frequency of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords' swaying immediately became chaotic, as if they were responding to him. However, they seemed to be suppressed by an invisible force, and never flew towards him.

Seeing this, Han Li's heart stirred.

He raised one hand, and with a "tearing" sound, a piece of clothing flew up. Wrapped in a gentle azure light, it silently crossed the black stone and entered the Sword Sea's range. Immediately, a layer of subtle light and shadow, barely visible to the naked eye, flickered around it.

Without making any sound, the piece of clothing disintegrated within the light and shadow, turning into powder.

Seeing this, Han Li stopped and frowned.