Han Li's vision had been obscured by the sword sea earlier, and by the time he saw the blood-colored sword light, it was already too late to dodge.

At this critical moment, he swiftly recited incantations in his mind, and the Refinement Art activated, launching the Soul Shocking Spike.

At that moment, Xiong Shan felt a cold snort suddenly ring out in his mind, the sound icy and incomparably chilling, freezing his entire sea of consciousness in an instant, causing him to briefly lose his senses.

The blood-colored sword light that was stabbing straight at him suddenly trembled near Han Li's vicinity, also experiencing a brief pause.

But it was this momentary change that altered the entire battle situation!

Han Li's True Essence Treasure Wheel reversed rapidly within his body, the Wind and Thunder Wings behind him fanned swiftly, and the Azure Luan bloodline within his body was simultaneously stimulated. His figure blurred, and he appeared on the side of the blood-colored sword light. The five flying swords in his hand focused on a single point on the sword light, and stabbed down.

With a loud "bang"!

The blood-colored sword light exploded violently, and a fierce shockwave surged out, causing Han Li to vomit blood and fly backward for hundreds of feet, crashing into the torrent of ten thousand swords.

At the same time, from the exploded blood-colored sword light, pieces of black iron flew out, colliding with each other in mid-air, and re-condensing into a black iron scroll.

A figure stumbled out of the void, hair disheveled, face ashen.

It was none other than Xiong Shan.

His chest had been torn open, revealing a gaping, blood-soaked hole. His heart had been completely mangled. Dark red, fine lines covered his body. It looked complete, but in reality, it had already been torn into countless pieces by sword energy.

At this moment, he looked crazed, propping himself up with his long sword, taking step by step in the void, toward the "Myriad Sword Iron Scroll".

However, with each step he took, with each inch he moved forward, a piece of flesh would fall from his body. By the time he reached the iron scroll, he had become a mere shadow of his former self, leaving only a snow-white, crystalline skeleton.

With a "snap"!

The golden long sword grasped in the skeleton's hand also shattered, turning into countless fragments that scattered and fell.

With a "whoosh"!

A golden light flew out from the top of the skeleton's skull, transforming into a nascent soul figure the size of a few inches, looking wearily at Han Li, who was standing firm hundreds of feet away. A hint of doubt flickered in its eyes, and it murmured:

"Is this...fate...?"

Having said that, the nascent soul turned into a golden light, and dissipated.

Han Li gazed at all of this from afar, and could not help but sigh in his heart.

In truth, he held little hatred for Xiong Shan. In some ways, they were even kindred spirits. If not for Xiong Shan's deep obsession with him, he would not have wished for this battle at all.

With Xiong Shan's death, the high-altitude sword formation instantly lost control. All the flying swords suspended in the high sky fell like a torrential rain, returning to the Sword Sea of No Life.

Han Li's figure darted upward, first casually summoning Xiong Shan's storage bracelet, then extended a palm, grabbing the Myriad Sword Iron Scroll in his hand. Afterwards, his figure rose and fell several times, and landed again on the suspended altar.

He glanced at the iron scroll in his hand, only to find that it looked like a broken porcelain piece, covered with extremely deep cracks, as if he could completely break it with a little force.

Han Li pondered for a moment, his expression slightly changing.

At this point, he couldn't help but hesitate.

Earlier, he had also seen the myriad phenomena within the golden light curtain, knowing how to activate the Sword Refining Formation. However, he was somewhat worried about this iron scroll, wondering if it could still serve as the formation hub, supporting him to complete the sword refinement, given that it was so broken.

He thought for a moment, sat down cross-legged, placed the iron scroll aside, took out a medicinal pill, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

After a long while, he stood up from the ground, picked up the Myriad Sword Iron Scroll again, and exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

"No matter what, I'll try it, and it'll be considered fulfilling your unfinished wish." Han Li said slowly, his eyes slightly narrowed, looking at a certain point in the void.

With that, he tossed his hand, and the black iron scroll glowed, flying back to the top of the altar.

As he chanted incantations in his mouth, his hands changed like wheels, and the clouds beneath the altar were re-ignited, turning into a red sea of fire.

……

At the same time, somewhere in the Netherfrost Immortal Mansion.

In the high sky, a jade flying chariot ten zhang long flashed with azure light, speeding past.

At the front of the flying chariot, a slender man stood tall, holding a circular compass-shaped magic treasure in his hand. It was enveloped in a layer of white cloud, but in the center was a red light spot, constantly flashing.

"Oh? Could it be those dung beetles from the Samsara Hall?" the man murmured in some confusion.

The two golden-armored puppets holding long halberds behind him remained standing still, without the slightest reaction.

……

On the mountainside of the Sword Sect of No Life, Lu Yuqing held her silver long sword upside down behind her, looking up at the peak.

Thick clouds still obscured the field of vision. Earlier, she could hear constant loud rumbling from above, and feel the amazing fluctuations coming from above, but now it had stopped for a long time.

It seemed that something had happened there, but it had finally returned to calm again.

At her feet, those wooden puppets had long since collapsed, scattered all over the ground.

Lu Yuqing's eyes flickered slightly. After hesitating again and again, she raised her footsteps and began to slowly walk up the stone steps, gradually moving away towards the peak.

……

I don't know how long it took.

Above the suspended altar, Han Li's body was surging with azure light, and he was covered in sweat.

His seventy-two Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords were now suspended above the hollow area in the center of the altar, arranged in a special shape, like a sword array. Golden electric filaments surrounded each other, emitting bursts of current surge.

In the raging flames below them, rays of various colored sword essence constantly floated up, pouring into the sword bodies.

As time went by, there were fewer and fewer sword blades in the Sword Sea below. The Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords absorbed more and more sword essence. The aura exuded from the seventy-two flying swords became more and more intense.

Han Li kept a close watch on all of this, and his heart became more and more nervous.

When the last dozens of sword essence surged into the sword bodies, and were decomposed and swallowed by the entangled golden electric light, a "crack" sound suddenly came from the high sky.

"It's over..." Han Li's heart tightened, and he exclaimed.

As soon as his voice fell, the Myriad Sword Iron Scroll suspended in the high sky bloomed with dazzling golden light from the cracks, and it looked like it was about to collapse.

Having learned from Xiong Shan's example, Han Li knew very well the consequences of the iron scroll collapsing. He quickly rolled up his sleeves, wanting to pull the Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords out of the altar, and flee away.

However, as soon as his mana fluctuations touched his natal flying swords, a burst of electric light mixed with boundless sword energy shot out from the sword bodies, shattering his sleeves into powder.

His body also felt a burst of numbness, and he couldn't move for a while.

At this moment, the storage bracelet on his wrist suddenly flashed with white light, and a strange jade tablet, slender in shape and the size of a palm, flew out of it, heading straight for the Myriad Sword Iron Scroll.

"That is..." Han Li's eyes narrowed, looking at the object, wondering.

However, he soon remembered where the object came from, which was obtained from Qi Heng, the Saint Puppet Gate elder.

When Qi Heng fought with him back then, he had also used the Seven Killing Sword Formation from the Sword Sect of No Life. If that were the case, the strange jade tablet was likely to be originally the property of the Sword Sect of No Life!

While Han Li was surprised, he saw that the jade tablet suddenly shone brightly, becoming extremely transparent. Inside it, golden filaments condensed into four ancient seal characters:

"Sword Gall of No Life"

After the golden characters appeared, the white jade tablet merged with the light of the Myriad Sword Iron Scroll, gradually becoming one.

There was only a loud "boom".

The light in the curtain above the altar suddenly dimmed. A thick dark cloud, which did not know where it came from, covered it over. Blue and purple light flickered frequently inside, and there were bursts of rolling thunder.

The eight dragon heads on the surrounding eight coiling dragon giant pillars suddenly flashed with golden light in their eyes, and suddenly seemed to come to life, exuding bursts of monstrous aura, as if they were about to ascend from the eight giant pillars in the next moment.

Immediately afterwards, the eight dragon mouths opened one after another, spewing out billowing red flames toward the center of the altar. Large swaths of flames converged in mid-air, turning into a rolling sea of fire.

Seeing this, as soon as Han Li's body regained consciousness, he immediately flashed out and stood suspended outside the altar.

The raging flames in the sea of fire poured down, instantly engulfing the entire altar.

At the same time, a thunderclap came from the high sky. A blue and purple lightning waterfall hung down from the dark clouds, submerging into the blazing flames, and continued for a long time.

In the electric light and flames, the Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords could no longer be seen at all, and even the divine sense could not penetrate into them at all.

The sword-forging furnace for melting ten thousand swords had truly formed at this point!

Han Li's expression was complicated, and he sat down in the distance, gazing intently at it.

Time passed, and three days had passed.

On the eight coiling dragon giant pillars around the altar, the eight dragon heads still opened their mouths wide, spewing out billowing red flames towards the altar.

The sea of fire that engulfed the entire altar was several times larger than it had been three days ago.

In the mid-air, a blue and purple lightning waterfall still hung down from the dark clouds, blasting into the blazing flames, and the range was much larger than before.

Han Li stood near the sea of fire, his complexion was calm. It seemed that the injuries he had suffered in the previous battle had recovered, but his expression was vaguely anxious.

This sword refinement had taken such a long time, completely out of his control. He wanted to speed up the process, but he couldn't intervene. He could only wait by the side. Fortunately, Xue Han and the others had not appeared.

Inside the Taoist temple below, a beautiful girl in black was standing here gracefully. It was Lu Yuqing, who had come here at some unknown time.

The girl walked around the Taoist temple as if strolling in a leisurely courtyard, sometimes stopping in front of a dilapidated pavilion, and sometimes squatting down in front of a dry well that had long been covered with moss.

Her beautiful eyes often looked at the surrounding environment, with some daze, and some indescribable fascination.