The morning mist had yet to clear from Hundred Refinement Peak when Han Li began practicing his newly comprehended "crystallized spiritual power" sword technique on the bluestone terrace. The Water Sword hovered beside him, its blade no longer a simple icy blue but coated in a dense layer of silvery-white crystal spikes-the tangible manifestation of late-stage Foundation Establishment crystallized spiritual power. Each spike contained spiritual power compressed to its utmost limit; slender as they looked, they could pierce metal and stone.
Whoosh! Sword light flashed, and a corner of the iron anvil a hundred feet away was sliced clean off. The cut gleamed smooth as a mirror, while lingering crystal spikes hummed and trembled in the air. Han Li drew back his sword and stood still, satisfaction flickering in his eyes. "Crystallized spiritual power really is formidable. Its attacks pierce and rend-perfect for pairing with the Space-Rending Formation Flags."
He was about to try another move when the Communication Jade Slip at his waist suddenly grew hot. He connected his spiritual sense to it and received an urgent message from Elder Sun: "Deacon Li, Mo Canglan has surrounded the Pill Pavilion with the Enforcement Hall! He claims you secretly refined forbidden pills and stole the formula for the Twelve-Turn Linglong Pill! Return at once!"
Han Li's figure flickered, and he appeared aboard the Flowing Cloud Shuttle. Driving it at full power, he reached the Pill Pavilion on Hundred Herb Island in only half a day. From afar, he saw that Enforcement Hall disciples had sealed off Medicine King Plaza before the pavilion. Dozens of Core Formation cultivators had formed a sword formation, their sword qi sweeping in every direction and stripping even the spirit herbs along the plaza's edges of their leaves and branches.
At the center of the plaza,