In that mist-shrouded place, a wave of silver light rippled, revealing exquisitely crafted high-walled palaces and pavilions. Bridges of flawless white jade suddenly appeared between the mountain peaks, connecting them to each other, creating a scene of immortal splendor.

As soon as these strange sights emerged, the azure escape light arrived with a whoosh, then abruptly halted.

Fang Pan, clad in black, appeared from the escape light, standing against the wind. His gaze swept over the lifelike buildings and palaces below, and he snorted coldly, saying:

"Hmph! It seems you haven't been idle these past six months. I want to see what tricks you still have up your sleeve!"

With that, he leaped down, heading straight for the palaces, plunging into the misty fog and landing on one of the peaks.

Fang Pan closed his eyes, his eyeballs moving beneath his eyelids.

After a moment, he uttered a soft "Hmm," and abruptly opened his eyes.

He realized that he could no longer sense Han Li's specific location, only vaguely determining that he was nearby.

His eyes narrowed, his body remaining still, yet his figure blurred. Six identical clones emerged from his original body.

The seven Fang Pans were instantly enveloped in azure light, and they shot off in seven different directions.

The seven azure lights weaved through the immortal Qi-infused palaces, their figures flashing continuously. After a moment, they returned to their original location.

Their minds were connected, yet they had found nothing.

Just then, one of the Fang Pans seemed to notice something. He immediately bent down, reaching out to touch the ground.

"This is... a formation within a formation!" he said slowly, withdrawing his hand and frowning.

As soon as he spoke, the seven immediately stood back-to-back, forming a circle facing outwards.

Their figures moved simultaneously, and the black sabers in their hands flashed, creating seven giant saber lights that reflected each other and slashed in all directions.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."

Gusts of wind rose, and the seven sharp saber lights intertwined, conjuring countless saber shadows, like a black lotus of saber shadows blooming and rising into the sky.

The void above trembled, and the illusory pavilions and jade buildings flickered and distorted under the tearing force of this vast and unparalleled power.

Then, a series of "popping" sounds echoed in the void as the images of the palaces gradually blurred and disappeared, revealing the original appearance of the mountain peak.

The summit had been artificially leveled, and the ground was paved with white jade slabs engraved with strange runes arranged in a circular pattern. At the center of the runes was a carving of a bizarre, oddly shaped beast.

Around them stood over a dozen white stone pillars, each over a hundred feet tall, inlaid with many different colored crystals of various shapes, creating a dazzling and colorful spectacle.

The seven Fang Pans merged back into one, a dazed look flashing in his eyes as he looked at the flowing light of the crystals. Then, he suddenly turned his head and saw Han Li, dressed in green, standing hundreds of feet away, holding a circular array disk and tapping it rapidly.

Seeming to sense Fang Pan's gaze, Han Li looked up slightly, a slight curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.

The array he was activating was called "Chili Illusion Light Formation," a high-level illusion array he had found through the Unstable Alliance a few months ago, but it could only be used once.

For this, he had spared no expense, using up all the best spirit stones he had, even the two remaining Tu Sun Fruits and the two decent spiritual treasures in the storage bracelet that Gan Jiuzhen had given him.

It was said that this array was incredibly powerful. Even a True Immortal in the late stage, even one who had reached the Perfection Realm, would not be able to wake up once trapped within it unless they had cultivated to the Golden Immortal Realm. They would only sink deeper and deeper, eventually being trapped to death, unable to escape even with their Nascent Soul.

However, this array also had its flaws.

First, it took too long to activate, so Han Li had also set up a "Nine Palaces Heavenly Dry Talisman" outside of it to buy time.

Second, the person controlling the array had to use themselves as the array core, carrying the array disk and staying within the array, facing the array's trials alongside the trapped person, giving it a feeling of mutual destruction.

However, the person controlling the array had many advantages. If they could wake up first by chance, they could directly control the illusion array and attack the trapped enemy.

"Courting death!"

Fang Pan's pupils constricted slightly as he saw Han Li looking over. His figure suddenly blurred, and the black saber in his hand shot straight forward, stabbing towards Han Li's heart like a sword.

At this moment, sweat was already forming on Han Li's forehead. When Fang Pan's saber was less than a hundred feet away, he placed his finger on the array disk for the last time.

Fang Pan's eyes brightened, and the colored light on the surrounding stone pillars intensified, blurring his vision.

Before he could react, he felt his body empty, as if he had passed through an invisible barrier. After a stumble, he rushed into a dimly lit hall.

He glanced at the thick square pillars and the old braziers hanging on them, and at the burning, green flames within, and felt an indescribable sense of familiarity.

"Clang clang clang..."

The sound of iron chains rubbing together rang out abruptly in the silent hall, and a deep, hoarse, and majestic voice suddenly echoed:

"Audacious disciple, how dare you raise your saber against me! Are you trying to deceive your master and destroy your ancestors?"

Fang Pan felt a jolt run through his body when he heard this voice, and he lowered the saber that was pointing forward subconsciously.

He looked up at the wide, black chair ten feet away, and at the middle-aged man sitting on it, wearing a snow-white cloak and with a purplish complexion like a zombie, and called out a soft "Master."

However, he shook his head abruptly, his eyes regaining their sharpness.

"You are not Master. You are just an illusion conjured from within the illusion array," he shouted, raising the saber in his hand again, pointing it straight at the zombie man.

His figure moved, stretching out instantly, creating a series of blurred afterimages within the hall.

People constantly separated from those afterimages, and in the blink of an eye, seven identical clones surrounded and attacked the zombie man from all directions.

"You wretch, how dare you?"

The zombie man roared, and without any incantation or hand seals, a vast aura burst forth from his body, sweeping outwards.

"Clang clang clang..."

A series of low metallic clanging sounds rang out. The black chains that filled the entire hall around the zombie man suddenly seemed to come to life, vibrating and surging outwards like waves of black.

No matter how fast Fang Pan's seven clones were, they were all struck by the chains without exception, spitting out blood and falling to the ground.

"You little thing that I trained, do you think you can turn against me?" the zombie man said, glancing disdainfully at Fang Pan, who was prostrate on the ground.

Hearing this, the latter's heart was in turmoil. The zombie man's aura, methods, words, and demeanor were all exactly the same as his master's.

Could it be that the thing Han Li activated was not some illusion array, but a special teleportation array?

His originally firm belief wavered for the first time.

"Wretch, aren't you coming over here to accept your death?" the zombie man shouted again before Fang Pan could figure things out.

Fang Pan's expression changed uncertainly, and he couldn't help but hesitate...

Meanwhile, at the moment Fang Pan raised his saber and stabbed forward, Han Li's eyes also blurred and he fell into the illusion array.

He only felt a great "whooshing" sound in his ears as his body rushed rapidly into the sky.

At this moment, in the high sky, a giant expressionless face was gradually blurring. After a flash of dazzling purple light behind it, a long white crack slowly opened, and faint sounds of chanting emanated from within.

"The Gate to the Immortal World!"

Am I... undergoing tribulation to ascend?

Han Li never expected that the illusion he was facing would be reliving the ascension tribulation.

Just as he was surprised, he suddenly heard a deafening thunderclap above his head. A huge, seven-colored electric arc flashed down from the mouth of the giant face, which had already become almost invisible, and struck towards him in a single tremor.

A devastating aura swept over him!

Han Li subconsciously waved his hand, and a series of golden thunderbolts immediately shot out, meeting the seven-colored electric arc.

He looked down and saw that he was holding a dark green long sword in his hand, and a familiar, warm touch came from the sword.

It was the Profound Heaven Severing Spirit Sword!

Sensing the waves of pressure coming from above his head, Han Li hesitated slightly. Then, he shook his wrist holding the Profound Heaven Severing Spirit Sword, and his entire body immediately transformed into a dark green streak, rushing upwards to meet it.

A deafening roar echoed throughout the sky!

A round of dazzling light, obscuring the sky, flashed wildly in the void, and then shattered in a violent burst of laws.

Han Li's body fell from the sky.

At this moment, he was in excruciating pain. His entire body was like a charred piece of charcoal, covered in scarlet cracks, and his flesh was on the verge of collapsing.

The dark green wooden sword in his hand shattered into dust with a "pop" and dissipated.

The huge illusory face in the high sky solidified again, its face expressionless, its empty eye sockets revealing a coldness that looked down on all things, and then shattered with a bang.

Immediately afterwards, the Gate to the Immortal World, which had already been opened, suddenly closed, and a huge spatial rift suddenly appeared next to it.

Through the rift, Han Li saw an abyss that was incomparably deep, as if it could swallow everything.

There was no light in it, but it generated a strange attraction force towards him, making him feel close and have an uncontrollable impulse to enter it.