"You've saved me the trouble of coming after you," Lu Ji remarked in an indifferent voice, then raised his silver longsword before taking a step forward, upon which he instantly vanished from the spot.

Immediately thereafter, countless streaks of swordlight crashed into the petals of the oncoming snow lotus flower projection, with thousands of clashes taking place in an instant. An ear-splitting screeching sound rang out from the clashing swordlight and flower petals, while the nearby space trembled violently.

"I'll see you on the island, Fellow Daoist Xue Han," Zhong Luan said, then flipped a hand over to summon a long black saber before jumping straight down from the black spirit boat, plummeting directly toward the nearest island puppet.

"I'm sure that won't take too long," Xue Han murmured to himself as he swept a sleeve through the air, and a palm-sized golden ring flew out amid a flash of golden light.

The golden ring then rapidly swelled in size to a diameter in excess of 1,000 feet before hovering in mid-air.

Xue Han then chanted an incantation, and dense layers of runes instantly appeared on the surface of the giant golden ring,...