The white-haired old man suddenly turned his head, only to see three people wearing strange masks standing at the open palace gate.

The leader held a golden long sword in his hand, covered in brightly lit runes, flashing with dazzling golden light.

"Who are you?" the white-haired old man asked sternly, his expression grave.

Lin Jiu merely sneered, not answering, and with a flick of his wrist, the golden long sword swept out horizontally.

"Zheng..."

Accompanied by a sharp ringing sound, a narrow golden sword light flew out from the sword, abruptly lengthening and sweeping towards the white-haired old man.

Upon seeing this, the old man did not dodge but instead stood in front of the pill furnace.

He waved his hand, and his wide sleeves billowed violently. A foot-long purple-gold lightning serpent immediately darted out, colliding with the sword light.

A thunderous boom echoed.

The purple-gold lightning serpent suddenly exploded, transforming into thousands of tiny arcs of electricity that scattered in all directions. The golden sword light also disintegrated, breaking into countless fragments of sword light, which shot out in all directions.

"Bang bang bang"

A series of explosions rang out continuously, countless stones scattering and flying. The entire stone hall was instantly blasted into dust.

Before the dust could settle, another sword light arose, this time from Han Li.

He held a silver-white flying sword in his hand, and with a tap of his toes on the ground, his entire person soared into the air, chopping down at the white-haired old man.

This sword was obtained from a previous Unstable Alliance mission and was a magical treasure cast primarily from Starlight Adamantine Silver. Although far inferior to the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, it was still useful temporarily.

In terms of cultivation, he wasn't the highest here and naturally didn't want to stand out too much.

After all, he had previously helped Lin Jiu and the others sneak in, which could be considered a contribution. If he kept a low profile here, the two of them naturally wouldn't say much.

The silver flying sword shone brightly, and hundreds of continuous silver sword shadows connected in the high sky, like a huge silver waterfall pouring down towards the white-haired old man.

"Haste!"

The old man shouted lowly, raising one hand, fingers spread, the thumb-sized round bead in his palm suddenly blazed with light, instantly enlarging a hundredfold, transforming into a pale golden beast-patterned shield, blocking above his head.

At the same time, he conjured a purple-gold lightning whip in his other hand, suddenly whipping it towards his left side.

A sound like rain hitting plantain leaves, "pi pi pa pa," constantly came from the beast-patterned shield.

Golden light constantly flashed on the shield's surface, revealing dense crisscrossing sword marks, yet it still barely managed to block all the sword shadows.

On the other side, a thunderous roar erupted in the direction the lightning whip had been swung. Two majestic purple-gold lightning serpents, intertwined with each other, shot away, striking Lin Jiu, who had flashed over from that side, blocking him as well.

"Hehe, prepare to die."

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out above the white-haired old man's head.

Lin Seventeen, wearing a rat-headed mask, suddenly appeared ghost-like from the void, holding a pitch-black spear in both hands, stabbing down at the white-haired old man below.

With a "whoosh,"

The violently burning flames beneath the multicolored pill furnace suddenly surged upwards, and a fire dragon suddenly leaped out, baring its fangs and claws, pouncing towards Lin Seventeen.

A terrifying heatwave rushed towards him!

Upon seeing this, Lin Seventeen retracted his spear tip, changing the stab to a chop, wielding the spear in mid-air, creating a vast expanse of dense black spear shadows, smashing down fiercely at the fire dragon, his figure then taking advantage of the momentum to shoot backward.

With a "boom!"

The spear shadows and the fire dragon made contact and directly exploded, erupting into a sun-like ball of scarlet-black light in mid-air, flashing with dazzling light.

This series of attacks seemed long, but in reality, it was completed almost in an instant.

The white-haired old man forcefully withstood all three of Han Li's attacks, not retreating a single step, still protecting the pill furnace he was refining behind him.

Lin Seventeen flew backward and landed hundreds of feet away, unaffected, after a moment of relief, a cold smile surfaced on his face from under the mask.

With a twist of his wrist, the black spear drew a beautiful arc in his hand, the spear tip then reversing, "zheng" as it pierced into the ground.

The white-haired old man stood there, holding the lightning whip in one hand and with the other behind his back, his eyes vigilantly scanning the three people.

The beast-patterned shield, its spirituality damaged by Han Li's earlier strikes, had already been put away. His empty hand was concealed in his sleeve, and a golden talisman covered in spiritual patterns had quietly slid out into his palm.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly, staring fixedly at the old man. Seeing his lips slightly part, as if he was about to speak, he immediately raised his hand and tossed.

The silver long sword in his hand immediately flew out, flashing once more, transforming into hundreds of silver sword shadows, rapidly streaking towards the white-haired old man.

The hundreds of silver sword shadows flew out dozens of feet, then suddenly flashed, further dividing into countless dense, tiny sword energies, enveloping the white-haired old man entirely.

Upon seeing this, the old man had no choice but to temporarily stop his chanting, tossing out the lightning whip in his hand.

The purple-gold light on the lightning whip suddenly blazed, and a series of dragon roars suddenly emanated from it.

Then, the purple-gold lightning on it suddenly surged wildly, directly transforming into a hundreds-of-feet-long dragon, its body entwined with purple-gold lightning, writhing and twisting in mid-air, its tail sweeping wildly, releasing a sky full of electric light.

Accompanied by dense crackling sounds, the sky full of sword shadows and sword energies that Han Li had unleashed were swept away cleanly by the purple-gold lightning dragon.

Although much of the electric light on the surface of the purple-gold lightning dragon had also been consumed, after the old man performed several hand seals in succession, it once again roared towards Han Li, its lightning even more wildly surging.

Upon seeing this, Han Li flew backward, a look of panic flashing across his face.

Just then, the sound of air being torn apart resounded loudly!

A golden sword light, more than a hundred feet long, with an unstoppable power of pure gold elemental law, chopped down, and the soaring sword qi that erupted from it even separated the clouds in the high sky, splitting a chasm like a natural moat in the middle.

The person wielding the sword was naturally Lin Jiu, who was now suspended in the high sky, his entire body enveloped in a layer of golden light, emanating an indescribable world-shaking sharpness, as if he himself were an unparalleled sharp sword that could split mountains and sever seas.

While retreating, Han Li's gaze swept over Lin Jiu, and his heart stirred slightly.

It seemed that this person was undoubtedly Xiong Shan.

Seeing the golden sword light chop down, the white-haired old man desperately raised both hands upwards, and the purple-gold dragon immediately abandoned its pursuit of Han Li. Its body suddenly turned, and the entire body of electric light blazed wildly, opening its mouth to bite towards the golden sword light.

"Keng..."

A slightly muffled sound rang out, and the purple-gold dragon was split in two by the golden sword light, then collapsed and dissipated, transforming into a sky of interwoven and dense purple electric nets.

And after this chop, the golden sword light, although it did not directly collapse, had also greatly diminished in sharpness, and was then blocked by the sky of purple electric light, and could not fall any further for a time.

Just as the white-haired old man wanted to do something, the ground behind him suddenly shook violently, and a huge crack directly split open, followed by a black spear that shot out from it, heavily smashing into the pill furnace.

A loud "clang" echoed, directly shaking the nearby void into ripples.

The pill furnace, as if struck by a heavy blow, was instantly knocked away, whistling as it tore through the sky and smashed into the ground more than a hundred feet away, tumbling far before barely stopping.

This furnace was forged from an unknown material, and its surface was not damaged at all by this blow, but the five-colored radiance on it flickered, dimmed, and finally faded away, returning to its original pure gold color.

Earlier, Lin Seventeen saw that the old man seemed to be fully focused on protecting the pill furnace, so he thought about destroying it to disrupt the old man's mind. At this time, taking advantage of the opportunity when he and Han Li were entangled with him, he secretly drove the black spear into the ground, and the result was a complete success.

The white-haired old man turned his head abruptly. When he saw the golden pill furnace rolling on the ground, his face suddenly changed drastically, his eyes widened, and he let out a shrill cry:

"No..."

Han Li and the other two couldn't help but stagnate, and stopped in place for a moment.

"This old man's ten thousand years of hard work has been destroyed today. Since I can't refine the pill, I'll take you all with me to be buried. You all have to die, you all have to die..." The venomous color in the old man's eyes grew stronger and stronger, and his entire person seemed to have completely lost his mind, constantly shouting.

With a flip of his palm, he suddenly took out a dark red pill and sent it into his mouth, but instead of swallowing it, he directly chewed it up with his teeth and swallowed it.

Upon seeing this, a ominous premonition arose in Han Li's heart.

"Crap! That's a Soul-Burning Blood Pill..." Lin Jiu's expression changed, and he exclaimed.

As soon as he finished speaking, the white-haired old man let out a series of eerie "giggling" laughter. The color of the skin around his body gradually darkened, and soon turned into a dark red color like pig liver.

And his sunken eyes became brighter and brighter, and even a little bit of golden light shone out from them.

"Fellow Daoists, be careful. This person has taken a forbidden medicine that can simultaneously burn the nascent soul's essence and blood. His cultivation will increase greatly in a short period of time. It is not impossible to forcibly cross that threshold and obtain Golden Immortal cultivation!" Lin Jiu retreated hundreds of feet, and reminded.

Upon hearing Lin Jiu's words, Han Li and the other two hurriedly retreated as well.

"Hiss hiss hiss..."

Accompanied by a series of strange sounds, wisps of faint red steam began to emerge from the white-haired old man's body. The entire person looked like a crab that was about to be steamed.

With a "whoosh," the white-haired old man's figure suddenly disappeared.

At the position where he had been standing, only a ball of red mist that had not yet dissipated was left, slowly floating upwards.

However, in the next instant, in front of Lin Seventeen hundreds of feet away, a figure suddenly flashed out, raising his fist and smashing it fiercely towards his face.

Caught off guard, Lin Seventeen didn't have time to clench his fist, so he could only raise a palm to block in front of his cheek.

"Bang!"

He only felt a mountain-like force crashing down on him. His palm felt a burning pain, and didn't block much force at all. The back of his hand heavily pressed against the mask outside his cheek, and the entire person was knocked backward, heavily hitting the black cliff wall on the side of the valley more than a thousand feet away.

"Rumble" a series of loud noises.

This mountain, more than several thousand feet high, instantly exploded and crumbled, and chunks of house-sized boulders scattered and flew around. In the blink of an eye, most of the mountain disintegrated into dust.