When Feng Bing saw Cultivator Bai break out from the blood barrier, she shouted with roused spirits, “Fellow Daoist Bai! You’ve come at a great time. This is the fourth Moulan Divine Sage. Quickly help me tie him down so Fellow Daoist Han can free the others.”
The woman surnamed Bai icily glanced at Tian Zhong and she maliciously said, “The fourth Divine Sage? So you had a hand in this trick as well.”
“I didn’t think that apart from that youngster, that there would be someone else able to break through the blood barrier as well. It seems those from the Yin Sifting Sect are unreliable.” Tian Zhong didn’t respond to Cultivator Bai’s question and instead muttered to himself instead.
“You’re courting death!” Seeing that she was ignored, Cultivator Bai’s complexion grew ashen with fury. She formed an incantation seal with her hands and gathered together a vast, shining white mist, launching it towards the Divine Sage with astonishing momentum. When Feng Bing saw this, she pointed to the Fire Spirit Bottle and launched an attack from the other side.
Han Li no longer hesitated and spread his wings once more, reappearing near another blood barrier. Although he felt certain that he could kill the azure doppelganger given the power of the Spirit Subjugation Talisman, it was more important to free the cultivators for the sake of the war.
With the blood barrier before him, Han Li summoned a lightning bead into his hand with a wave of his hand.
“Be careful, Master!” Just as Han Li was about to throw out the lightning bead, he suddenly heard Silvermoon from the back of his mind.
Han Li’s heart trembled, and he instantly tossed out the lightning bead, striking down at the blood barrier in a fierce streak of azure light. But in that same moment, a head-sized ball of azure flames had moved to intercept him. With an expression of shock, he saw the ball of flames swiftly strike at the lightning bead.
With a pop, the lightning bead was silently engulfed by the flames and with a series of shifting flames, it turned into a foot-long azure firebird that floated in the air.
Han Li wore a stern expression at the sight and he formed a hand incantation, detonating the lightning bead within the firebird’s body. However, the bird’s body merely swayed from the explosion and suffered no true damage; it merely stared at Han Li with a slightly swollen body.
When Han Li saw this, he was greatly alarmed and looked up to see a series of azure fireballs approaching him from the direction of the Moulan Sacred Bird. When they drew near the crimson barriers, they transformed into azure firebirds in the blink of an eye and they each began to surround the blood barriers.
At that moment, Han Li realized the firebirds were most likely related to the Sacred Bird. It is no wonder why the lightning beads had strengthened them as they were formed from the lantern flames to begin with.
Not far from the Sacred Bird, Spell Warrior Le was coldly staring at Han Li. The two’s gazes met. Now realizing that the sacred bird had to do with her, he grew furious.
However, when Han Li saw the nine ancient lanterns floating at her side, Han Li couldn’t help but narrow his eyes, pondering as he calmly gazed at the blazing flames. As for the azure firebirds, they didn’t have any intention of attacking him. They merely circled around the blood barriers.
At that moment, Silvermoon appeared at Han Li’s side in a flash of white light. With an apologetic tone, Silvermoon said, “Master, please forgive me for being of no use during your previous battle. Those Heavenly Tigers were far too intelligent. I would’ve been found out if I drew too close of them.”
“Enough. You’ve done all you could.” Han Li shook his head and calmly said, “Nevertheless, you should take these two lightning beads. See whether or not you can sneak past them and rescue the cultivators inside. Use the two of them and see if you can free even one.”
Silvermoon received the two lightning beads and respectfully said, “This servant will do her utmost.” She then concealed herself in a flash of white light.
Han Li then turned around and glanced in the direction of Tian Zhong. Scarlet flames and icy white mist were intertwined as rainbow light occasionally flashed from within. At the moment, it was difficult to say who held the advantage. As for the azure doppelganger, it had disappeared at an unknown time, unknown as to whether it was fighting within him or if Tian Zhong had withdrawn it, relieved at the fact the Sacred Bird had personally assisted him.
Han Li shook his head and then glanced at the tensome azure firebirds with a fierce intensity. Crimson-azure light shining from his body, he raised both of his hands and summoned the blue light shield. Afterwards, he formed a hand incantation and enlarged the shield, blocking his front as he summoned another lightning bead with the flip of his hand.
Then with claps of thunder from behind him, Han Li blurred and reappeared forty meters in the air. Having yet to throw the lightning bead in his hand, the firebirds all around him shot towards him. In the blink of an eye, a shroud of azure flame appeared in the air, submerging Han Li within it.
At that moment, Long Han’s gaze moved away from Han Li. He had originally hoped that Han Li would be enough to free the trapped cultivators and regain momentum over the battle. But when he saw the Sacred Bird release several firebirds towards Han Li, he grew sullen and knew that their chances weren’t good.
He then turned his gaze to the spell warriors in the distance and he saw that although the Seven Great Truths Cultivators managed to hold down the azure demonfire from the Moulan’s Sacred Bird, they clearly wouldn’t last much longer. Although it only possessed late Nascent Soul cultivation, it had the abilities from Deity Transformation stage.
“Release the Yin Yang Devils. Tell them to not busy themselves with killing and have them deal with the ancient flames instead.” With a sullen voice, Long Han released the last card he had hidden up his sleeve.
“Yes!” A Harmonious Bond Sect cultivator who had been waiting at his side immediately flew off to deliver the message.
After an uproar, two eerie coffins, one black and one white, were summoned forth. Sixteen male and female disciples from the Harmonious Bond Sect all sat down around the two coffins and began to cast incantations and spell seals, striking at the coffins with various spell seal and beginning the process of releasing the coffin seals.
As the incantation continued, the talismans on top of the black-white coffin began to tremble and the coffin thumped as if limbs were knocking against the wood from within. When Long Han heard this, he couldn’t help but raise his brow. He had heard quite a bit about the Harmonious Bond Sect’s Yin Yang devils.
It is said that these two corpse devils were once a pair of Dao companion elders from a previous generation. They both possessed early Nascent Soul stage cultivation but they had betrayed the Harmonious Bond Sect for some reason or another and turned to the path of the Ghost Dao, transforming themselves into living corpses.
Later when the two made great sweeps in their cultivation, they wished to exterminate the Harmonious Bond Sect, killing over a hundred disciples before they were finally captured alive by several sect elders. By taking advantage of an ancient technique to erase their consciousness, they were refined into the legendary Yin Yang Corpse Devils. It is said that the Corpse Devils were immensely powerful, even more powerful than when they were once alive.
As these thoughts appeared in Long Han’s mind, the sounds from the coffins grew louder and louder with the talismans growing fewer with each spell seal that strikes it. As for the thirty-two Harmonious Bond Sect disciples that surrounding the coffins, their faces grew more uneasy as their incantations continued, their gazes focused on the talismans remaining on the coffin. With a pop, the final two talismans flew off of the coffin and the Harmonious Bond Sect disciples immediately scattered from the scene.
At that moment, an explosion occurred from the coffin, filling the air with a fishy scent with the appearance of two vague silhouettes, one black and one white. They shot out from the coffins and disappeared off into different directions.
The slowest of the male and female disciples released a blood-curdling shriek. Two people in Daoist robes had pounced on the two disciples and tore out their throats, drinking the blood essence that poured out. When the other Harmonious Bond Sect cultivators saw this, they sighed with relief and stopped.
As for the cultivators from the other sects, they couldn’t help but reveal their shock.
An old man with draped hair walked out from the sect division and calmly said, “Good. Since the devils have consumed the blood essence of a virgin male and female, they won’t suddenly feed on any others.”
Afterwards, he raised his arms to the two silhouettes and revealed two green-bronze plates engraved with talisman characters. The two plates then shot streaks of grey light towards the corpse devil’s heads, embedding inside them.
The two corpse devils trembled and ceased sucking up the blood. They slowly stood up and stiffly flew over to the front of the cultivator army. At that moment, their true appearance could be seen, arousing many cries of astonishment.
The Yin Yang Corpse Devils were actually a young man and woman, both possessing delicate appearances. The man had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes while the woman possessed an elegant dignity. But in contrast to their lifelike features, their eyes were completely lifeless.
Were it not for the remnant blood still dripping from the corner of their mouths, they would’ve appeared to be a common pair of Dao companions. However, they released an indescribable odor of decay nearby them, bewildering anyone who smelled it.
The old man with the draped hair poured spiritual power into the bronze plates and suddenly, the grey light began to envelop the two corpse devils. They remained silent and still as the old man quickly chanted an incantation, the bronze plate in his hand slowly floating in the air.
Suddenly, the old man struck the bronze plates with two spell seals, causing both of the bronze plates to emit thumb-thick beams of light into the foreheads of both of their foreheads.
A radiant light suddenly shined from the two corpse devils’ eyes.
The old man with draped hair put away the bronze plates and pointed to the huge azure bird, commanding, “Go!”
Chapter 778: A Huge Ape
The Yin Yang Devils turned their gaze and suddenly stood side by side before turning into a gust of green wind, a rotting stench left in their wake. It appeared they were heading in the direction of the Moulan Sacred Bird.
The cultivators immediately sighed in relief. They felt more confident with these blood-sucking monsters at their front.
The corpse devils’ green winds appeared to travel slowly, but in reality, they were amazingly quick. In the blink of an eye, they had already traveled halfway and gradually disappeared from sight. The others glanced at this with astonishment and they couldn’t help but turn their gaze to draped-haired old man controlling the two corpses. He appeared entirely calm, much to the relief of the many cultivators watching him.
On the spell warrior’s side of the battlefield, the huge azure bird was calmly releasing its demonfire to rigidly suppress the Seven Great Truths Cultivators.
Able to take advantage of the world’s spiritual Qi, the bird was able to easily gather all the fire spirit power within a five kilometer radius into its body, easily transforming it into azure demonflame without the need to consume spiritual power from its body. Additionally, as time went by, it was able to draw in even more fire spirit power. This was the difference between Deity Transformation stage and what is lower. It was for reasons like this that whenever a Deity Transformation stage cultivator appeared in the Heavenly South, they were able to sweep across the continent without fear of anything else.
From the very beginning, the Seven Great Truths cultivators were only able to tangle down the beast with the might of their magic treasures. But as time passed by, not only was the Devil Isolating Formation broken, but the surging flames that were trapped had escaped as well. As of current, it took them all their might to preserve their own lives.
It was then that the demon bird ceased its flame and bewilderedly glance around as if it had felt something strange. With a sudden cry, the bird spread out its wings and an azure ring of light surged around it covering an area of over three hundred meters.
With a crackle, a nearly indiscernible cloud of green smoke appeared amidst the light. Afterwards, the Yin Yang Devils appeared from within.
With their concealment broken, the two devils harshly shrieked and shuffled about before undergoing to transformation. With red hair and green skin, their bodies grew to six meters in height. Their fingers trembled, launching several tens of threads of grey light towards the huge bird.
The azure bird paused before screeching in fury. When it saw the devils’ attacks, it opened its mouth and shot out a pillar of azure flame from its mouth. At that same moment, it spread out its wings and engulfed its body in a storm of azure flames, sweeping up a forty-meter-tall wave of azure flame to the two devils.
Through some unknown technique, the Yin Yang Devils were able to overcome this attack by emitting threads of undead Qi, allowing them to withstand the attack of demonflames and continue their assault.
With the focus from the Sacred Bird being taken off of the Seven Great Truths cultivators, they were able to join their treasures together in renewed spirits and display their strength once more.
Just as the two corpse devils and the Seven Great Truths cultivators were dealing with the Moulan’s Sacred Bird, the two corpse devils suddenly flashed with grey light and darted behind the huge bird, making its way past the sea of flames and directly towards the ancient lanterns not far away.
When Spell Warrior Le saw this, she calmly struck one of the lanterns with a spell seal, suddenly stirring the lanterns to release an ember of flame. In the blink of an eye, nine embers began to twirl around one another before suddenly transforming into nine azure firebirds. They spread their wings and met the two devil’s charge.
The two devils met them in a fierce display. Grey undead Qi drifting from their mouths, their fingers turned into claws before tearing apart the firebirds as they blurred from sight, their claws pulsing with grey light.
But in that moment of delay, the huge bird suddenly turned its head to the two corpse devils and spouted a huge azure cloud from its mouth, sweeping them inside it. In the blink of an eye, the Yin Yang Devils were caught inside another sea of flame.
When the Seven Great Truths Cultivators saw this, their hearts sank.
At that moment, the shriveled old spell warrior saw this in the distance and smiled before speaking to the black-robed woman. The woman then turned her eyes to the battlefield and nodded, noticing that both spell warriors and cultivators appeared equally exhausted.
Her lips moved, giving the command. A group of black-robed men flew out from the spell warrior camp, arranged in a single row. Each of them carrying seven bulging bags at their waist. With this, the black-robed woman opened her mouth and spat out a small exquisite flag. It was only two inches large and shined with faint black light, but as it traveled through the air, it expanded to the size of three meters.
The woman coldly pointed at the treasure and soon, the black flag trembled and shined with black light as it streaked through the sky, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye. A short moment later, the entire battlefield was enveloped in a dark wind as black clouds began to cover the sky, spreading darkness throughout the battlefield.
When the cultivators in battle saw this, they couldn’t help but look up in alarm.
With the sky blackened, the black-robed men tossed out the storage pouches from their waist. Incantation leaving their lips, dense black fogs and eerie winds spouted out from the bags. In the blink of an eye, the land was covered in a black mist with vague, shuffling silhouettes emerging from within it. Scales glittered from them as if they were armored troops.
This astonishing scene was to the dread of the cultivators who watched it. Long Han in particularly had frowned tensely as he
inwardly sighed.
Soon, the bags finished emitting the mist with armies slowly emerging from within. The silhouette’s true appearance finally became clear. They were fleshless corpses armored in copper.
Although these refined corpses swayed as they walked with their armor clanking as they moved, each of these corpses had eyes shining with green light, exposed fangs, and a cultivation at Foundation Establishment stage. There were even three larger corpse lords that possessed Core formation cultivation, their shifting eyes displaying a deeper intelligence.
A cultivator from behind Long Han screamed with alarm, “Copper-armored Corpses! How can there be so many of them? There are thousands of them!”
Long Han coldly said, “Its nothing! With a Devilish Sect from the Jin Empire assisting them, these armored corpses come as no surprise. If this were the start of the battle, we would have nothing to fear. But now that we’ve exhausted ourselves with the spell warriors, the Copper-armored Corpses will certainly defeat us. All we can do is head out and deal with them.”
When the others heard this, they glanced at each other and bitterly smiled. Even if they were to leave their posts and attack, the spell warrior would release their reserves as well. The battle would be already lost.
As for the three Great Heavenly South Cultivators and the Moulan Sages, the battle was yet to be concluded; the sounds of their battle could still be heard from up above. In this fierce battle, it was unknown which side had the upper hand. They couldn’t be relied upon.
Just as Long Han and these other cultivators found themselves in a moment of helplessness and were preparing themselves to fight, they suddenly heard explosive howls from a distance. Silver light shined upon the entire battlefield when a huge beast appeared amidst the light: a seventy-meter-tall ape with hair as black as ink, fur as sharp as arrows, eyes as lit like crimson flames, and a horrendously-shaped nose.
When the huge ape appeared, it turned its head to look at the Copper-armored Corpses down below. It hammered its chest before excitedly roaring and smashing its limbs on the ground, chasing towards a nearby group of Copper-armored Corpses.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 418