Speaking of which, the reason why Han Li was able to kill the Golden-Robed Man transformed by the Mirage Yuan Beast with a single strike was not just a moment, but a premeditated act.

When he was about to cut off his own arm due to the illusion for the first time, he had already secretly activated the Divine Refining Technique to see through its true form hidden within the Sword Dragon. The illusion and the Golden-Robed Man were just deeper layers of illusion.

He used a trick within a trick, combining the seventy-two Green Bamboo Cloud Peak Swords into one within his body in advance. Taking advantage of the opponent's complacency, he launched a sudden attack, achieving success with a single blow.

Han Li made a grabbing motion with one hand, and all the Green Bamboo Cloud Peak Swords flew back, circling slightly before disappearing into his body.

He glanced at the corpse of the Golden-Robed Man floating on the lake, flew down, gently touched the water surface with the tip of his toes, causing a ripple, and then stood steadily on the water.

He bent down, probed the man with his divine sense for a moment, then raised his right hand, pointing like a knife, and stabbed it into the lower abdomen of the Golden-Robed Man, suddenly digging out a walnut-sized purple-black demon core from it.

Without the demon core, the corpse of the Golden-Robed Man suddenly swelled and enlarged.

The surface of the corpse's skin quickly showed dense golden scales, and the golden dragon robe he was wearing was quickly torn apart. The entire body gradually elongated, eventually turning into a hornless and clawless dragon-shaped beast, slowly sinking towards the depths of the lake.

Han Li hesitated slightly, moved his body, cast a water-avoidance spell, and plunged into the lake.

He swept his gaze across the bottom of the lake and saw the corpse of the Mirage Yuan Beast sinking towards a palace at the bottom of the lake.

The Cloud-Veiled Lake was a hundred zhang deep, and the light at the bottom of the lake was very dim. However, the palace was an exception, its entire body was crystal clear like white jade, emitting a bright white light, looking like a crystal palace.

Han Li came close to the palace and found that its periphery was covered by a nearly transparent light membrane, which seemed to be a restriction similar to a water-avoidance spell, completely isolating the lake water.

He did not immediately enter, but moved his body and came to the corpse of the monster. He probed with two fingers, inserted them into its body, and pulled out its beast tendon with a sudden pull.

Han Li remembered that the person from the Unstable Alliance had said that this monster might still have the bloodline of the Mirage Dragon. He thought about refining it, but after tossing around for a long time, he couldn't extract a single drop, and finally had to give up.

After stripping the usable materials from the monster's corpse, he returned to the front of the palace. After casting a spell, he easily passed through the outer light membrane shield and came to the palace gate.

He saw that the crystal palace in front of him was lined with corridors and columns, and the eaves were flying up, covered with various patterns of flowers, birds, fish, and insects. It looked extremely delicate, not like a monster's nest at all, but more like a fairy mansion.

Han Li raised his hand and placed it on the palace door, pressing down suddenly.

There was a "chi chi" sound.

The two white jade stone gates, each three zhang high and one chi thick, slowly opened inward.

Han Li's eyes flickered slightly, and he walked in through the open gate.

The interior of the entire hall was sparsely furnished. There were only two rows of circular stone pillars arranged side by side on both sides of the hall. Around these stone pillars were piled up several small mountains of objects, colorful and dazzling.

He glanced at the objects and couldn't help but be secretly amazed.

Those piles of small mountains were actually all kinds of spirit stones and magical treasures. Among them, there were both high-quality magical treasures and ordinary magical instruments, mixed together, making people dizzy.

He then remembered that what he had seen at the Falling Sand Sect a few days ago was not that the sect was too badly damaged, but that the magical treasures and instruments in the sect had been rolled to this place by the Mirage Yuan Beast.

This beast obviously had a habit of collecting treasures. Most of these accumulations were accumulated by him over the years by slaughtering cities and destroying sects. Now they were all making wedding clothes for himself.

Han Li carefully searched among these small mountains for a moment, and suddenly caught a glimpse of a semi-transparent object protruding from behind a golden dragon chair in the depths of the hall.

He immediately walked over quickly and went around behind the dragon chair.

He saw a snake-like thing, like a snake slough, protruding from behind the dragon chair. It was clear and transparent, looking like some kind of crystal. However, it was not cold and hard to the touch, but rather had a soft and韧ness like silk.

Undoubtedly, this thing must be the spiritual shell shed by the Mirage Yuan Beast.

Han Li immediately put the spiritual shell into the storage bracelet, and then took out several storage rings and began to count the treasures piled up like mountains in the hall, taking them all into his own.

After counting for half a day, the storage rings on his hand and the storage bracelet on his wrist were filled with these treasures.

Most of them were spirit stones, and most of them were low-grade and mid-grade spirit stones. As for high-grade spirit stones, there were very few, only six or seven hundred in total.

If the remaining spirit stones were converted, it would be estimated that another three or four hundred high-grade spirit stones could be exchanged.

It seems that the sects nearby are not very large in scale. This is not surprising. If they really had enough strength, they would not have been occupied by this beast for so many years, causing havoc.

In addition, there were more than a hundred magical treasures and hundreds of magical instruments, as well as some strange spiritual materials, but there were no spiritual medicines.

Needless to say, those magical instruments, and among those magical treasures, there were many that were of acceptable quality. Naturally, Han Li would not need them, but they would be quite suitable to be given to Meng Yungui and others.

As for the golden long sword used by this beast before, he confirmed again and found that this sword was a golden Tongtian Spiritual Treasure, and its grade was not lower than the original Green Bamboo Cloud Peak Sword.

Among the treasures hidden by the Mirage Yuan Beast, the number of spiritual materials was not large, but some of them emitted a very peculiar aura. Although Han Li couldn't recognize them, he also knew that they were not ordinary things.

Especially the several head-sized dark golden metals, which were obviously not artificially made, but the surface was inlaid with many dense petal-like patterns, and there was no ordinary metal's cold feeling to the touch, but a little warmth.

In the next few days, Han Li did not leave immediately, but took advantage of being outside the territory of the Zhulong Dao, summoned the Green Bamboo Cloud Peak Sword and activated it many times, performing the several sword formations he had learned from the *Qingyuan Sword Art* one by one.

Its power has naturally been greatly improved and is not the same as before, which made him quite satisfied.

Until the moment before leaving Cloud Lake Island, Han Li handed over the task of killing the Mirage Yuan Beast that he had received from the Unstable Alliance, which surprised the person wearing the deer-headed mask, as if he couldn't believe it.

Han Li naturally wouldn't explain anything more. After directly taking out the demon core of the Mirage Yuan Beast for the other party to check, the other party was surprised and delighted, and immediately paid the Immortal Essence Stone happily.

Speaking of which, the reason why he accepted this task was mainly because it was a side trip. After all, he would not really wait ten years for the Mirage Yuan Beast to go out. On the other hand, it was because he felt a trace of compassion in his heart for this beast that harmed the common people.

……

Several months later.

As soon as Han Li returned to the Zhulong Dao, he went directly to the Taixuan Side Hall without any delay.

The place was still empty, and the gray-robed old man was sitting behind the red desk, his eyes blurred, as if he was dozing off. Hearing footsteps, he opened his eyes a crack.

"Oh, it's you kid. Why are you back so soon? Could it be that you think the task is difficult to complete and plan to use merit points to compensate?" The old man sat up straight, yawned, and said lazily.

Han Li didn't say anything, waved his hand, and took out a storage bag, placing it on the red desk.

The old man was slightly startled, picked up the storage bag and released his divine sense to scan it slightly. The sleepiness in his eyes disappeared instantly.

"Hehe, kid, you really didn't disappoint the old man's expectations. You completed the task so quickly. Not bad."

"It was just luck. When I got there, the Mirage Yuan Beast happened to be out, so I completed the task smoothly." Han Li said, downplaying the matter.

"You kid is really lucky, but luck is also a kind of strength sometimes." The old man looked Han Li up and down, chuckled a few times, not knowing if he really believed it.

He then put away the spiritual shell of the Mirage Yuan Beast, and then took out a cyan jade book and a jade pen, drew a few strokes on it, and then took Han Li's elder token.

With a flash of white light, there were already two hundred more merit points inside.

"Okay, your first task is completed. Go back and have a good rest, and remember to come and pick up the second task in a few days." The old man returned the token to Han Li and said.

"Thank you, senior. I will now receive the next task." Han Li said directly.

"The kid is quite diligent, unlike those old fritters who procrastinate." The old man glanced at Han Li and nodded.

Hearing this, Han Li couldn't help but touch his nose.

Time is not abundant for him, so he has to hurry up.

The old man said, taking out the cyan book and flipping through it again. After a while, he stopped on a page and slowly opened his mouth and said:

"There is a more urgent task here, so I will assign it to you."

"But what is the task?" Han Li asked unhurriedly.

"The sect has a not small fire yuan crystal mine in Huoyun Ridge in the southwest of Guyun Continent. Recently, the miners there have often disappeared for some reason, making the mine have to be temporarily closed. An elder in the Mahayana stage stationed there entered the mine to investigate, but also disappeared, so he reported to the sect, requesting to send an inner sect elder to investigate the cause, and also transport back the fire yuan crystals from the past ten years. This task should not be difficult, but the task reward is not small, 180 merit points." The old man said, shaking his head.

"Understood, since the task is urgent, I will set off now." Han Li said, nodding.

Saying that, he handed over the token without saying a word and received the task, and turned around and walked outside without any delay.

"Interesting kid..." The old man looked at Han Li's back and said with a grin.