In the instant that the two clashed, ripples surged over the surface of the enormous light formation, and its center also tremored violently as if it were about to be shattered at any moment.
The light formation was indeed extremely profound, but even so, it was unable to withstand the power of the Revolving Golden Light.
A hint of elation appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, but his expression then quickly changed as in the next instant, the strange sobbing sound emanating from the center of the light formation suddenly became louder.
Immediately thereafter, the 81 huge pillars of light tremored before crumbling away in unison.
A terrifying aura that threatened to devour the entirety of heaven and earth then erupted from the light formation, and a giant silver hand reached out of the center of the formation amid violent flashes of five-colored light.
The silver hand then spread its five fingers and slowly raised up the golden vortex, completely unaffected by the enormous force emanating from within the vortex.
Han Li's face immediately paled upon seeing this terrifying aura.
"Impossible! This aura belongs to a Grand Ascension Stage being! There's no way such an absurdly powerful ability could exist in this realm!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, the sobs ringing out from within the light formation abruptly cut off, and the entire formation itself crumbled into nothingness like an illusion.
At the center of where the formation had once stood, there now stood a gargantuan creature that was 3,000 to 4,000 feet in size.
It had two heads and eight wings, with a humanoid upper body, yet the lower body of a bird.
The two heads belonged to the Lightning Beast and Shopkeeper Yu. The eight wings on its back also consisted of the Lightning Beast's original six wings, as well as the wings of the Five-colored Peacock.
What was even more formidable was that bolts of five-colored lightning were revolving around its body, and under the illumination of this lightning, the creature was made to look even more sinister and fearsome.
The head that belonged to Shopkeeper Yu cackled while the silver hand that was carrying the golden vortex abruptly released a torrent of five-colored lightning.
An earth-shattering thunderclap rang out, and the golden vortex was torn into shreds by countless bolts of five-colored lightning.
A panicked look suddenly appeared on the three faces of the Provenance Golden Body, immediately following which golden light flashed violently around its body, and it gave a muffled groan as it swayed unsteadily.
It was quite clear that the destruction of the Revolving Golden Light it had unleashed had inflicted backlash on the golden body.
Thankfully, the backlash had only affected the golden body, and Han Li remained unscathed, but even so, he was feeling even more astonished as he could now confirm that this gargantuan creature really did possess Grand Ascension Stage powers.
Otherwise, even a being at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage wouldn't be able to tear the Revolving Golden Light apart so easily.
With that in mind, thoughts of fleeing the scene immediately crept into Han Li's mind. Even though he still had trump cards up his sleeve, he certainly wasn't naive enough to think that he would be able to oppose a Grand Ascension Stage being.
However, he abandoned the thought as soon as it appeared in his mind. This enormous creature had eight pairs of wings and could control that strange five-colored lightning, so it definitely possessed powerful movement techniques as well. As such, the chances of Han Li being able to outrun it were very slim.
Before the giant beast's cackling had even cut off, Han Li had made his decision. He quickly made a hand seal, and a loud thunderclap rang out behind him as a pair of translucent wings surfaced on his back.
He flapped those wings, and balls of silver lightning began to appear beneath his giant ape feet before exploding one after another.
Silver arcs of lightning flashed, and a giant lightning formation took shape. Han Li was enshrouded under countless bolts of lightning, and his giant ape body began to blur as he prepared to teleport himself away.
However, in the next instant, his expression changed drastically.
The two-headed creature down below suddenly let loose a loud cry, then flapped its eight wings in unison, and an enormous burst of the power of laws erupted from its body, instantly encompassing a radius of close to 10 kilometers.
Almost at the exact same moment, the light radiating from the lightning formation beneath the giant ape instantly faded, and the teleportation was cut off.
Han Li immediately drew a sharp breath upon seeing this.
At this moment, Shopkeeper Yu's head turned to the giant ape with a cold mocking expression, and scoffed, "Hmph, this Lightning Beast may not be the same as the Lightning Beasts of the True Immortal Realm, but after I injected my true spirit power into its body, it's still able to control some laws of lightning; you're just digging a grave for yourself if you try to use lightning in my presence!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, the giant beast's other head let loose a sharp piercing cry, and a resounding boom rang out from within the lightning formation. Immediately thereafter, a dozen or so thick bolts of lightning sprang forth like silver chains and bound the giant ape, catching it completely off guard.
As soon as the lightning bound the giant ape's body, all of them exploded in unison, inundating the ape in a huge ball of lightning.
The giant golden ape immediately let loose a thunderous roar, raising both of its fists up into the air while golden light erupted from its body in a frenzy. The silver lightning was instantly dispelled by the golden light, then vanished amid a loud thunderclap.
As soon as the ape emerged from the lightning, it immediately shrank down and reverted back to its human form in the blink of an eye.
Han Li then looked up at the two-headed giant beast with an extremely dark expression on his face.
In the next instant, he took a deep breath, and a golden blade segment abruptly appeared in his hand. At the same time, he swept the sleeve of his other arm through the air, and over 1,000 golden flowers surged forth from within.
These were none other than his mutated Gold Devouring Beetles.
When they first emerged, they were each only around the size of a human thumb, but they quickly expanded to the size of human fists, and with over 1,000 of them clustered together, they created an extremely harrowing sight to behold.
At this moment, a burst of black Qi also suddenly flew out of the Provenance Golden Body's body and vanished into Han Li's body. Meanwhile, the Provenance Golden Body dissipated into specks of golden light amid a dull thump.
In the next instant, golden light flashed from behind Han Li, and the Provenance True Devil Projection appeared once again.
At the same time, an azure figure and a ball of white light also abruptly emerged, separating from Han Li's body before revealing themselves to be that other green-skinned Han Li, and a beautiful woman in white.
The former was Han Li's spirit body, while the other was his sentient puppet, Doll.
Han Li brandished the golden blade segment before himself, then looked up at the giant two-headed beast in an expressionless manner.
"Oh? So you possess mature Gold Devouring Beetles as well? You sure have quite a few trump cards up your sleeve, but do you really think a mere 1,000 such beetles can harm me? Perhaps if you had several tens of thousands of these beetles, I would be somewhat fearful, but with what you have now, haha..." Shopkeeper Yu's head guffawed in a mocking manner, but upon closer inspection, one would discover that despite his display of bravado and arrogance, he was staring intently at the golden blade segment in Han Li's hand.
Even though Han Li hadn't yet injected his power into the Profound Heavenly blade segment, Shopkeeper Yu could still sense that it was no ordinary item due to his ability to sense the power of laws.
Of course, none of this managed to escape Han Li's notice, and even though his expression remained unchanged, he was very disheartened to see this.
He had originally planned to use this blade segment as a trump card to unleash a surprise attack, but now that his opponent was clearly displaying wariness toward it, the chances of that plan succeeding were significantly reduced.
However, there was no way that his opponent could be aware that he really did have tens of thousands of Gold Devouring Beetles up his sleeve, as well as the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword that was sealed within his arm.
If he were to use those two items at the right opportunities, there was a chance that he would be able to escape.
After all, even though the giant creature before him possessed early-Grand Ascension Stage powers, it wasn't a true Grand Ascension Stage being, so it was naturally significantly weaker than a true Grand Ascension Stage being.
Furthermore, if he were to use his Profound Heavenly Treasure in battle, perhaps he would be able to attract the attention of Qing Yuanzi, who was also situated in this infernal river. If Qing Yuanzi could arrive on the scene to save him, then he wouldn't have anything to fear.
With that in mind, Han Li raised his blade segment and prepared himself for a battle of life and death.
The giant two-headed beast raised both of its head in unison, and one of its heads let loose a sharp piercing cry, while the other guffawed in a disdainful manner.
The juxtaposition of high and low pitches stuck the listener with a spine-chilling sensation.
At the same time, the giant beast flapped its eight wings viciously in unison, and all of its silver feathers stood up on end. Immediately thereafter, an earth-shattering boom rang out, and countless bolts of five-colored lightning erupted forth in all directions.
When these bolts of lightning first left its body, they were only around as thick as human arms, but they quickly swelled to several thousand feet in thickness.
Resounding thunderclaps erupted one after another, and the entire space was transformed into a realm of five-colored lightning.
The power of laws also surged throughout the area, and even though Han Li had seen many things during his tumultuous cultivation journey, he still couldn't help but be stunned by the scenes unfolding around him.
A cold light flashed through his eyes, and he immediately prepared to use his Profound Heavenly blade segment.
However, right at this moment, something completely unexpected took place.
Just as he had tightened his grip around the blade segment, the urgent and clear cry of an ape suddenly rang out from within his sleeve.
Immediately thereafter, black light flashed, and a black spirit beast bracelet shot forth, then barged into the domain of lightning up ahead in a flash.
The two-headed giant beast was rather taken aback by this.