The snow eagle's body shattered into countless pieces along with the icicle fragments.
The green-robed woman who had just materialized from the breeze in pursuit froze for a moment at the sight, but soon let out a few cold laughs. Her jade-like foot pressed down on the white lotus beneath her, and a fierce gale instantly erupted from the petals, scattering all the surrounding thick fog in a single sweep.
Han Li narrowed his eyes, fixed his gaze on her hostilely beautiful face, and asked calmly: "Does the fellow Daoist not feel the loss of a treasure destroyed? Or does the fellow Daoist believe that what I've done is fundamentally incapable of destroying this treasure?" As he spoke, Han Li cast a seemingly casual glance or two at the blue icicle fragments scattered in midair, hanging there with an eerie refusal to fall.
"What do you think?" the green-robed woman replied flatly, then pointed a finger toward Han Li's side.
Immediately, the shattered ice around Han Li flickered with light in unison, and countless white specks of brilliance rose from the fragments, drifting upward.
Han Li was briefly taken aback, but he swiftly raised his hand and sent a sheet of azure radiance sweeping toward the white specks.
A series of muffled popping sounds rang out. The moment the white specks detached from the blue ice, they transformed into milky-white spiritual light and surged in a swarm toward the woman.
The azure glow swept through them and found nothing.
Seeing that his strike had failed, Han Li's expression darkened slightly, and he ceased his efforts rather than waste energy on futile actions. He simply watched coldly from across the gap.
The spiritual light rushed to the woman's front, immediately converging together, and in the blink of an eye condensed into a sphere of white light roughly the size of a head.
The green-robed woman's expression remained indifferent as she struck a hand seal and sent it into the sphere.
Dazzling white light flashed, and the cry of an eagle immediately rang out from within. Then the sphere warped and stretched, and the colossal snow-white eagle was restored before Han Li's eyes.
Han Li frowned at this, but then noticed that the eagle's bearing was nothing like its original vigor — instead it appeared rather listless and drained.
A contemplative look surfaced on Han Li's face.
It seemed that destroying the spirit of this treasure just now had not been without effect. The eagle was not invincible — he believed that if he could annihilate it a few more times, it would be enough to wipe it out completely.
The young woman saw how feeble the white eagle looked and beckoned without a word.
The snow eagle spread its wings and shot into the sky, tumbled once in midair, and reverted into the white silk ribbon, drifting gently downward.
It landed squarely on the woman and vanished without a trace.
"You suddenly stopped running and decided to try shaming me by destroying my treasure's spirit. There must be some trump card waiting here." The woman held the lamp in one hand, brushed the hair from her shoulder with the other, and asked in a detached tone.
Hearing this, Han Li was somewhat surprised, but after a moment of silence, his gaze flickered and he said: "Since the fellow Daoist already knew and still chose to pursue, your confidence in the treasure in your hand must be quite absolute. Might I ask the origins of this lamp? An ancient treasure in the form of a lamp — this is genuinely the first I've heard of such a thing."
Having said this, Han Li stared unblinkingly at the woman's jade-like features.
"Declined. Better to go on your way as a confused ghost!" The woman's beautiful face turned cold and she spoke without the slightest courtesy.
Then she parted her delicate lips and spat out a wisp of Nascent Fire from her mouth, spraying it onto the bronze lamp she held in one hand.
A faint green glow kindled upon the lamp, rising gently.
Han Li exhaled a slow breath and casually flipped both hands.
A green formation flag and a two-toned red-and-green formation disc — both long since prepared — materialized in his hands at the same time.
Han Li gazed at the woman across from him with deep meaning, then sent the small flag soaring skyward first. He quickly formed a hand seal and struck it, and a low incantation followed close behind.
The formation flag flashed once and instantly burst apart. A mass of green mist materialized out of thin air, spreading across dozens of zhang of sky.
With a gust that swept away the remaining clouds, the mist suddenly coalesced into a green mist-dragon over ten zhang long, which plunged downward toward the woman in a savage dive.
At the same time, the formation disc in Han Li's other palm released rays of green and red light. He tossed it beneath his feet, and it immediately dissolved into a plume of white mist that seeped into the ground and vanished.
In an instant, the fog sea in every direction churned and roiled, and from within it shot countless threads of green and red light, densely packed, surging toward the green-robed woman.
As for Han Li himself, he swept one wide sleeve, and a small silver bell swelled violently in the wind. After expanding into an enormous bell, it boomed with a resonant hum. It emanated silver sound waves even as Han Li drove it forward, sending it hurtling toward the space above the woman's head.
Since he could not close the distance to this woman, he would use the silver bell's toll to launch a formless assault. There was even a chance it might prove effective.
Of course, against the green-robed woman's unfathomable white lotus and the mysterious bronze lamp ancient treasure in her hand, Han Li's true killing blow was not any of these.
It was Yinyue, who had long since used an Earth Escape technique to slip silently underground.
At this moment, Yinyue had already spread out the Purple Treasury Net in secret, arranging it beneath the woman's feet with her at its center.
All she needed was the slightest moment of carelessness from the woman, and the lethal strike would fall.
The green-robed woman, though unaware that someone lay in ambush beneath her feet, paid no heed whatsoever to every restriction and attack Han Li had unleashed. She simply lowered her gaze to the faintly flickering green lamp in her hand, a strange, cold smile playing at the corner of her lips.
With unhurried grace, she raised one slender hand and deftly pinched the green lamp between two jade-like fingers. A flame no larger than a pea surfaced between her fingertips, which she plucked away with nimble precision.