The ribbon shined with dazzling white light as it circled in the air before transforming into a snow-white hawk that spanned about six meters in length, with eyes of flame and jet-black claws. It flapped its wings and it instantly disappeared in a flash of white light, reappearing a moment later above Han Li’s head. Then with a caw, it swooped down with its razor-sharp claws aiming at it.
The huge hawk was extremely fast. In Han Li’s alarm, he raised his hand out of instinct, shooting several ten arcs of golden lightning from his palm, forming a large golden net to meet in the incoming hawk.
When the white hawk saw this, its eyes ominously glinted and its wings trembled. The wind boomed. Countless blades of wind shot out in a dense barrage to meet the incoming net of golden lightning.
Explosions sounded out as golden and white light intertwined. Upon contact, the golden net had blocked a majority of the blades of wind, but they were too strong. The net of lightning was cut through, and several tens of wind blades shot towards Han Li with the huge hawk closely following after them.
“Yi!” Despite the astonishment betrayed from his eyes, the rest of his face remained expressionless.
He flicked his fingers, releasing over ten azure swordstreaks to meet the blades of wind. Soon after, he flipped his palm and a small blue shield appeared in his hand. With a slight tremor, the blue shield grew several times larger, extending to three meters in length. Lustrous blue light fluidly wandered from its surface as if it were truly made of liquid, making for an exceptionally odd sight.
At that moment, the azure swordstreaks had shattered the blades of wind and were about to strike the hawk. The hawk showed no fear and flapped its wings, sweeping away the azure Qi before continuing its sweep down towards the huge blue shield.
Han Li coldly snorted and pointed to the shield, causing it to shine with greater magnificence. Consequently, the hawk’s claws struck an icy surface, leaving only ripples behind.
But in that instant of delay, an icy glint flashed from Han Li’s eyes and he raised his hand. A black light suddenly emerged from his palm, transforming into a black-red hand that was three meters wide. It shot out at a speed greater than lightning and forcefully grabbed the huge hawk.
Woosh. Yin flames suddenly emerged from the hand and enveloped the hawk in pitch-black flames. The hawk attempted to escape its grasp as it miserably wailed and fiercely picked the hand.
Han Li grew relieved at the sight of this and turned his head towards the woman.
The woman didn’t appear to mind that her hawk was captured. Instead, she was muttering an ancient incantation with a solemn expression. Upon closer inspection, Han Li wasn’t able to understand it in the slightest, much to his shock.
Soon after, the woman spread out her fingers in the style of a lotus flower and white light began to flicker, forming what seemed to be a white lotus.
Although Han Li didn’t know what she was planning, she was still a mid Nascent Soul-stage cultivator. Anything that took an incantation this long was certain to be powerful. He couldn’t allow her to smoothly succeed.
Once that was thought, Han Li flung out his sleeve with a grave expression, summoning several tens of azure flying swords in a swarm. They then condensed together into a mist and charged towards the green-clothed woman.
Taking advantage of this delay, Han Li raised his other arm towards the huge hand that was tightly gripping the bird. The black-red hand suddenly gripped with further force and instantly dragged the bird before him.
Without a thought, Han Li spat a sliver of blue icy flame onto the struggling bird.
Crackling, the blue flame instantly covered the bird in a layer of sparkling frost. The resulting ice sculpture captured its desperate struggle in a lifelike image.
A trace of satisfaction appeared on his face. But just when he thought to collect it, he heard a series of divine rings in front of him. Blinding white radiance suddenly erupted from the woman, covering the surrounding area of three hundred meters under a layer of white light.
Han Li inwardly cursed and hastily looked at the strange scene from across him.
The green-clothed woman had finished her incantation, but now, the white lotus had left her hand and was floating three meters above her head. It continuously unfolded its petals as it shined with dazzling light.
As for the cloud of sword Qi that he unleashed, it was stopped about forty meters away from her as it attempted its hardest to make its way towards her. It seemed to be blocked by something invisible.
Han Li unconsciously narrowed his eyes.
Chapter 743: Battle to Break the Formation(5)
It appeared the white lotus wasn’t something that was created from a treasure, but was rather something that was formed from the woman’s own magic power. Han Li was truly amazed that something this powerful was solely produced by a technique. However, this amazement only lasted for only a moment. He took a deep breath with a sullen expression and quickly raised his arm, cover it in a layer of faint black Qi.
The black Qi appeared alive as it continuously lashed around and grew thicker. By the time it became pitch-black, Han Li’s expression grew stern. His arm quickly swelled, becoming three times as thick in the blink of an eye. Soon, a layer of dazzling crimson light began to cover the black Qi in an incredibly bizarre display.
At that moment, Han Li glanced coldly at the green-robed woman, and just as it so happened, the woman also raised her head to look at him, their eyes met. Then when her eyes saw Han Li’s monstrous arm, a cold glint shined from them.
“Go!” Han Li roared and dropped his arm, releasing a semicircular mass of black-red light. Once it left his arm, it grew to the length of ten meters.
It ripped through space as remnants of light dragged behind it, instantly arriving before the white lotus.
The green-robed woman raised her brow at the sight of the Yin Devil Execution and spat out a mist of lustrous white Qi onto the lotus. In an instant, a huge lotus mirage suddenly emerged from the white lotus, enveloping both itself and the woman.
In a flash of light, the Yin Devil Execution rammed into the lotus mirage and easily cleaved into it. But after travelling ten meters deep into the mirage, it slowed down before coming to a stop.
A trace of pride appeared on the woman’s face, but soon, her expression vastly changed. At that moment, she saw Han Li fling a black object at her. As soon as it left his hand, it began to exponentially expand and overbearingly pound downwards on both woman and lotus.
“The Thousandfold Mountain!” When the woman saw this huge towering mountain, she couldn’t help but shout its name. This ancient treasure was renowned amongst spell warriors. Even if a mid Nascent Soul-stage spell warrior like her were to use a secret Buddhist technique from antiquity, they wouldn’t be able to receive an attack from the mountain unscathed.
The green-robed woman formed a hand incantation without a further thought, immersing the white lotus above her, the small yellow cauldron, and herself in a fusion of white light. In an instant, the air surrounding the lotus became completely still before suddenly erupting with azure radiance. The woman came into view once more.
Despite no longer being sustained by the woman’s magic power, the lotus mirage grew dim and didn’t immediately fade away. It managed to last for a short moment before being completely scattered by the descending mountain.
Revealing not the slightest joy from his face, Han Li muttered, “Wind Movement Technique?” He then began to inwardly curse. He didn’t expect that this woman would be capable of a strange movement technique on par with his lightning movement. In this case, he wouldn’t be able to harm her unless he somehow trapped her.
He had managed to come up with a plan, but he felt unsure of it. She was as skilled with her wind movement technique as he was with his Thunderstorm wings. So long as he managed to keep up with her, he was confident that he would be able to easily wound her with the fearsomeness of the Celestial Ice Flames.
With that thought, Han L
i raised his hands and pointed to the black-red light and the tens of Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that had finally escaped their restraints. Quickly, they fiercely shot towards where the green-robed woman had appeared. Thunder then roared from behind Han Li and silver wings appeared from his back.
As for his Bluelight Shield, he waved both his arms and it quickly shrunk before flying back into Han Li’s sleeve. At that same moment, the huge black-red hand relaxed its grip on the white ribbon hawk, and it streaked towards the woman in a ball of black light.
But that was not the end of his preparations. He raised his arms once more, but this time, a blue flame emerged from his palm. It crackled with a wavering blue brilliance.
Finally, Han Li took it upon himself to personally close in on her, having done what he could to restrict her movements. In a flash of silver lightning, he disappeared, leaving only rolls of thunder in his wake.
When the woman saw Han Li release so many treasures in a single display, she felt her head suddenly ache. She originally believed that this measly early Nascent Soul cultivator’s power only extended to a few strange abilities. So long as these abilities were restrained, she should be able to smoothly deal with him.
But she didn’t expect that in a single move, he would unleash several powerful treasures in succession. In comparison, the only treasure she released had been restrained by her opponent. As someone who was used to being revered amongst the spell warriors, this embarrassment had given rise to fury. However, the woman clearly understood that since he possessed so many treasures, it would be difficult to injure him with ordinary techniques and treasures, let alone kill him.
When she saw Han Li flap his wings and disappear in a flash of lightning, she snorted and eventually came to a decision to exhaust a bit of her strength and finish Han Li off with one of her killing moves.
Of course, she couldn’t allow Han Li to easily approach her during this time. As she pondered this, the white lotus had dropped down onto her head and disappeared into her body. Just as this happened, Han Li’s figure appeared about ten meters away from the woman’s body in a flash of lightning.
With a blur of his body, he suddenly appeared three meters away from her and hastily extended his cackling blue palm against the yellow barrier that surrounded the woman’s body.
Han Li was confident that the wood attribute barrier placed by the cauldron would be broken by the Celestial Ice Flames. And his attack smoothly succeeded. However, the woman remained still and showed no indication that she was going to use her wind evasion technique. An unease filled his heart as a shiver spread across his back.
At that moment, the woman suddenly shined with a soft white radiance as lotus petal mirages blossomed from her body. And against expectation, the faint yellow light barrier that Han Li just struck had actually managed to withstand his attack. Just as the white light and the blue flames made contact, Han Li felt his entire arm tremble.
In the instant that the white brilliance shined, the lotus petals began to sweep towards him. Although they appeared slow, he wasn’t able to evade their attacks, and he could only helplessly stare as the petal struck his body.
Astonished, Han Li was struck back, a wave of pain assailing his chest.
He was launched a hundred meters away before he managed to barely stop himself, his body swaying. He glanced at the woman with alarm as he held his hand against his chest.
He glanced up and saw the green-robed woman was now standing above a lotus that spanned ten meters wide. White lotus petals were slowly fluttering all around her, and the woman herself was coldly staring at Han Li.
The treasures he had launched to attack her, they had been easily stopped by the pedals surrounding her. They were far more powerful than the lotus mirage from before.
At that moment, Han Li suddenly felt his throat become hot and he couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood. He wryly smiled in his mind. He had suffered quite a bit in that exchange.
Han Li then spat out the turbulent Qi in his body and slowly moved his palm away from his chest. He glanced down at his chest to see that his robes were already shattered, revealing a tri-colored luster that laid underneath. The battle armor had a huge dent in it with thumb-sized cracks on it.
Han Li felt his breath turn cold, and the pain he felt from his chest became far sharper. With a gloomy face, he raised his head to look at the green-robed woman. As a result, he saw both astonishment and disappointment from her face when she laid her eyes on his armor.
He coldly snorted and tore away at the remnants of his robe, revealing the beetle armor in its entirety. Then in an azure flash of light, he swept his hand across the armor, and repaired it with an unbelievable speed to its original condition.
Shock appeared for just a moment on the woman’s face, but her cold demeanor was soon restored as her killing intent against Han Li only grew stronger. Without further thought, she placed her palm against her chest and began to utter a cryptic incantation. A ball of azure light then flew out of her sleeve and dropped into her hand.
The light faded away to reveal an azure oil lamp of ancient and worn condition. It appeared even slightly blackened. The green-robed woman looked at the lamp with a faint reluctance to use it, but then she turned her eyes to fiercely glare at Han Li.
This scene left Han Li with a slight sense of dread. He didn’t know what kind of ancient treasure this bronze lamp was, and this was the first time he ever saw a treasure lamp. Various thoughts quickly passed by his mind before he decided to fly into the sky and recall his treasures. Then with a flap of his wings he disappeared.
He reappeared in front of the frozen ribbon hawk, and bluntly took it into his hand before disappearing once more, reappearing on the border of the dense mist.
The green-robed woman’s mouth dropped in amazement. Ever since she ascended to her current cultivation, she encountered many fearsome opponents that had been her match, but this was the first time she saw a high grade cultivator turn tail and run.
But when she saw Han Li take her ribbon hawk with him, she awoke from her stupor with fury. Grasping onto the lamp, she glided through the air on the white lotus, closely following him in a breeze. Afterwards, she entered the dense fog and disappeared without a trace.
Azure light flashed with each appearance of silver lightning, closely chasing after it. The sounds of thunder and wind intertwined. In an instant, Han Li lured the green-robed woman into an unfamiliar area of the formation.
It was there that Han Li stopped and glanced at the frozen ribbon hawk in his hand. With a cold chuckle, golden lightning flashed from his hand and shattered it.
Chapter 744: Battle to Break the Formation(6)
The ice-clad ribbon hawk shattered into pieces alongside the ice. But when the green-robed woman saw this while she was pursuing him, she coldly laughed and stamped down on the white lotus below her, causing it to scatter away the nearby mist with a wild gale.
Han Li narrowed his eyes, staring at her malicious expression. He calmly asked, “Is Fellow Daoist not heartbroken that her treasure was destroyed? Or do you believe my actions weren’t enough to destroy the treasure?” With that said, he casually glanced at the cleared air, not paying any attention to the shards of ice that were floating in the air.
“How about you tell me?” The green-robed woman pointed at Han Li. Insteadly causing the countless shards of ice at Han Li’s side to shine with white light.
Han Li was stunned and immediately raised his arm, unleashing an azure mist to engulf the glowing ice. But in that moment, the ice shattered and specks of white light escaped from them, each of them flocking towards the woman. The azure mist was too late.
Seeing that his attack failed, his face grew sullen, but he stayed his hand rather than waste his effort on attacks that might have no effect.
He saw that white light was condensing in front of her, soon reaching the size of a head-sized ball. With a spell seal striking the ball, a hawk’s cry immediately sounded out from the ball
in a blinding flash of white light before taking shape of the snow-white hawk from before.
When Han Li saw this, he frowned, but soon he took note of how its spirit was listless compared to before. He revealed a pensive expression at the sight. It seemed shattering the treasure did have some effect; the hawk wasn’t truly immortal. He was sure that after killing the hawk several more times, it would definitely turn to ash and scatter.
Despite seeing that the hawk had weakened, she wordlessly waved her arm and commanded it to take to the skies. It then twirled in the air before drifting back down as a white ribbon. Once it touched the woman’s body, it disappeared.
With one hand holding the lamp, she brushed her hair with the other. With a detached tone, she said, “Your sudden stop must’ve been to infuriate me by shattering my magic treasure. It seems that this place should be your contingency plan.”
Han Li grew silent for a moment before speaking with spirited eyes, “Since you already knew this and chased me, it seems you hold much confidence in the treasure in your hand. Perhaps you might tell me something of it. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a lantern-type ancient treasure.”
The woman’s face grew sullen. She said without reservation, “No, rather how about I send you off to the underworld!” She then opened her mouth and spat a ball of Nascent flame into the lantern. Specks of azure light then began to slowly rise up from it.
Han Li sighed and he swept his arms, summoning a green formation flag and a red-azure formation plate into his hands. He took a deep glance at the woman before tossing the small formation flag in the air. He quickly struck it with a small seal and hurriedly muttered an incantation.
The formation flag flashed with light, instantly causing a green mist to suddenly form. It extended a hundred meters around the sky and scattered with the wind before transforming into a forty-meter-long flood dragon of green mist.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 398