Han Li's pupils were bathed in golden light. He exhaled softly, activated the Mystical Art, and his immense divine sense surged forth. Piercing through the light barrier, it abruptly divided into seventy-two strands, directly stabbing into the golden lightning. He focused all his might to control the seventy-two Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords.

Under his mental command, the seventy-two flying swords trembled in unison. Their light gradually dimmed, and all the ejected golden arcs of electricity retracted bit by bit, merging into the flying swords until they completely vanished.

Han Li performed a hand seal, and the magic circle on the fire pit flickered a few times. The golden pillar of light shooting out from it gradually dissipated, leaving only the flying swords suspended in the flames.

He opened his mouth and inhaled sharply, and the Infant Fire fused within the silver flames instantly rushed back and was swallowed into his abdomen.

As the Infant Fire withdrew, the temperature within the flames dropped slightly. The Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords, once as clear as crystal, began to glow with a green light, gradually reverting to their verdant color.

On their blades, faint specks of golden light shone through, naturally forming clusters of golden纹路(wenlu) resembling thunderclouds, appearing both naturally formed and imbued with an ancient simplicity.

Han Li moved his hands in the void, leaving behind trails of golden afterimages. All the flying swords, as if imbued with sentience, broke free from the silver flames and slowly glided before him.

He brought his two fingers together and sliced across his palm, causing a globule of light golden essence blood to spill out, condensing into a golden blood orb the size of an egg. He scattered it with a palm strike, precisely dividing it into seventy-two drops, scattering one into each flying sword.

As soon as the essence blood touched the flying swords, it immediately seeped into them, disappearing without a trace.

At the same time, Han Li felt the connection between himself and the flying swords become even stronger. The discomfort he had previously felt due to the change in the flying swords' aura instantly vanished.

He waved his palm again, and the seventy-two flying swords flashed with green light, fluttering into the flames with ethereal grace, like summer fireflies, continuing to be forged.

After a moment, Han Li stepped forward, closed his eyes slightly, and began to inscribe the miniature arrays recorded in the animal skin ancient scroll onto the flying swords with his divine sense.

...

Half a year later.

The green light formation outside Floating Mountain was withdrawn, and Han Li walked out of the mansion gate, his face showing no emotional fluctuations, but his heart was quite delighted.

By this point, all seventy-two Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords had been completely refined. Their appearance and the aura they released were completely new. The mixed sword essence that had not been fully refined before had also been completely absorbed. The quality of each flying sword had been greatly improved.

What pleased him most was that the seventy-two flying swords, after being re-refined and infused with his essence blood, had become even more closely connected to him. He could clearly feel the astonishing spirituality contained within these flying swords.

This feeling was as if these seventy-two flying swords were not his magical treasures, but were connected to him by blood.

Being within the secret realm, he did not immediately test the power of the flying swords, but he knew without a doubt that it would be incomparable to the past.

On the square outside the mansion, Hu Zhen and the others had been waiting for a long time. After Han Li inquired about some matters within the secret realm and rewarded these people with some spirit stones, he told them to continue to do their jobs well.

Afterward, Han Li intentionally or unintentionally inquired about matters within the Candle Dragon Sect. However, most of these people had been staying in this secret realm, so they didn't know much.

Only one of the newly arrived disciples mentioned some things about the Candle Dragon Sect, which were all trivial matters, but from this, it could be seen that no major storms had occurred within the sect.

This made Han Li feel somewhat relieved.

Thus, time flowed by in relative peace and quiet.

Several years later, Han Li finally received definitive news from the Unpredictable Alliance, learning that Gu Jie had been turned back by a high-ranking member of the Unpredictable Alliance, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Not long after, the area outside his Floating Mountain was once again isolated by a封禁(fengjin) formation.

...

Time passed, and the years flowed by. In the blink of an eye, two hundred years had passed.

Within the Floating Mountain secret realm, outside a floating mountain peak shrouded in green light, seven or eight young men dressed in Candle Dragon Sect disciple attire stood suspended in mid-air with nervous expressions, appearing very anxious.

"What should we do? Senior Brother Hu... the fog rising within the Great Ravine is very unusual this time. In previous years, it would dissipate within a month at most, but this time, it has been more than three months, and it still hasn't dissipated. In recent days, it has even continued to spread upward. This..." A round-faced young man looked at the black-skinned young man named Hu Zhen and asked.

"Elder Li instructed before his closed-door cultivation that his cultivation was of great importance. If there was no urgent matter, we must not disturb him. If we rashly send a message to him and affect Elder Li's cultivation, who can bear the responsibility?" Hu Zhen said upon hearing this.

"But Elder Li has been in closed-door cultivation for nearly a hundred years this time. No one knows when he will come out. If something really goes wrong in the Great Ravine and affects the harvest of spiritual herbs, we will still not be able to explain it," the round-faced young man said anxiously.

The surrounding people nodded in agreement, as if they deeply agreed.

The black-skinned youth frowned and considered it carefully before saying:

"It is definitely inappropriate to send a message to Elder Li so rashly now. We must find out what is happening in the Great Ravine before we can make a decision. For now, we should closely monitor the changes in the fog and have everyone keep an eye on it to prevent the White Ghouls from invading on a large scale. I will find a way to investigate the situation inside. If it really doesn't work, we will have to disturb Elder Li."

"We can only do that..." The round-faced young man nodded and said.

Before he could finish speaking, his expression suddenly changed, and he looked up towards the top of the floating mountain peak shrouded in green light.

In the high sky, it seemed that a strong wind suddenly rose, blowing wisps of clouds and gathering towards this side. Soon, they gathered into a huge gray cloud stretching for hundreds of miles.

Within the cloud, faint streams of light lit up, initially flickering like shooting stars, but later the light grew stronger and gradually stabilized, actually emitting a dazzling five-colored light.

"Is this... is Elder Li about to break through his境界(jingjie)?" The round-faced young man murmured.

"It should be..." The black-skinned youth also said.

Before he could finish speaking, the clouds in the high sky spun wildly, and a five-colored beam of light condensed from the天地元气(tiandi yuanqi) of heaven and earth fell from the high sky, covering the entire mountain peak.

Everyone felt the surrounding air tighten, as if an invisible禁制(jinzhi) had suddenly appeared in the void, making them feel somewhat uncomfortable.

At this moment, a rapid and loud "嗡嗡(wengweng)" sound suddenly came from the abyss below.

"Not good, something's happening! Go!"

Hearing this sound, the black-skinned youth's face suddenly changed, and he shouted quickly.

With that, his figure flashed and flew down, heading straight for the Great Ravine below.

Seeing this, the round-faced young man and others did not hesitate at all, and they also lit up their遁光(dunguang), chasing after him.

The group flew down, passing hundreds of floating mountain peaks. Candle Dragon Sect disciples constantly joined them from the surrounding area, gradually gathering into an army of more than a thousand cultivators.

Among these people, except for the few leading them who were at the peak of Refining Void, most of the others were in the early stages of Refining Void. They had been stationed here for varying lengths of time, but the shortest had been several hundred years.

Everyone knew that the sound of "嗡嗡(wengweng)" meant that the range of the rising fog had exceeded the highest historical record, and a dozen more mountain peaks would enter the fog range. The rare spiritual herbs growing on them would be eaten clean by those White Ghouls.

After flying down for nearly a thousand miles, the black-skinned youth and others finally saw the thick fog that was as heavy as dark clouds.

Mountain peaks that would never enter the fog range in previous years were now mostly swallowed by the fog. Vague figures could be seen running and jumping on them, and low, hoarse roars were occasionally heard from within.

"How could this happen?" The round-faced young man said with a look of disbelief.

"Junior Brother Luo, the secret talisman that Elder Li gave you is on you. Go to the outside of the peak to guard it immediately. Once we can't hold on here, you must immediately cast the secret talisman and send a message to Elder Li," Hu Zhen frowned and said quickly.

"Okay," the round-faced young man immediately responded.

"Remember, Elder Li is at a crucial moment in breaking through his realm. You must not use the secret talisman before we retreat here," the black-skinned youth urged.

"Don't worry, Senior Brother, I remember," the round-faced young man nodded solemnly and said.

With that, his figure turned and shot straight up.

"All disciples, listen to my orders, immediately set up the Azure Light Sky Severing Formation," Hu Zhen looked worried, turned to look at the others, and shouted loudly.

"Yes," everyone responded in unison, their voices echoing back and forth in the Great Ravine.

Those Refining Void peak cultivators surrounding him immediately flashed their figures and scattered, each leading hundreds of disciples to fly to various places above the fog.

They waved their palms, as if they had rehearsed it countless times before, skillfully and neatly taking out a cyan banner, throwing it into the void in front of them, and then performing hand seals and chanting secret incantations.

As the sound of chanting rose, the runes on the thousand or so cyan banners lit up brightly, releasing trails of azure light that connected with each other, turning into a huge azure light curtain, blocking above the fog.

Within the Great Ravine, the thick fog was like a pot of boiling water, churning madly. The rolling fog began to rise sharply, and its speed was several times faster than before. In a short time, it caught up with the azure light curtain.

"呼呼呼(hū hū hū)"

A sound like a whirlwind sweeping or waves surging came from the depths of the Great Ravine. The surging fog crashed against the azure light curtain, causing the light curtain to fluctuate and sway violently.

The Candle Dragon Sect disciples above the light curtain tightly gripped the flagpoles in their hands, their bodies glowing brightly, desperately stabilizing the formation. Some of the disciples with lower cultivation were like lonely leaves in a storm, their bodies swaying uncontrollably.

At this moment, figures of human form continuously swarmed out of the dense fog, shooting upwards from below and violently hitting the azure light curtain, making a series of dull "砰砰(pēng pēng)" sounds.

The Candle Dragon Sect disciples looked over and saw that under the azure light curtain, ugly-faced White Ghouls were jumping up from the floating mountains like madmen, constantly hitting upwards.

The performance of these White Ghouls was extremely strange this time, simply incomprehensible. They looked as if they did not care about their lives at all.

Even more so, they directly crashed their heads open, spurting out many white, unknown浆液(jiangye).

"What exactly is going on..." Hu Zhen looked at this scene, his face becoming more and more unsightly, and murmured.