Soon, Han Li’s tortoise puppets pelted the surrounding area with over a thousand icicles. But with a loud shriek, the two black lances disappeared without a trace. As for the Elder Devil, his body blurred and reappeared seventy meters away, instantly escaping the range of the icicles.
At that moment, the unfamiliar old man heard a shriek from behind and felt his heart froze. Without another thought, he tossed out a silver octagon medallion he was keeping in reserve and formed a barrier of silver light around him. Having done this, he felt somewhat safer and hastily turned his head around to see that nothing was there.
The unfamiliar old man blankly stared at the scene. Before he even realized what was going on, a shriek sounded out right next to him. As black light flashed, he black lance suddenly rammed into the barrier. Black and silver radiance momentarily intertwined, and the black lance warped, piercing through the barrier and burrowing itself in the unfamiliar old man’s abdomen. It ruptured.
Before the old man could even scream, he was already dead, filling the nearby air with bits of his corpse. A silver ball of light then emerged where he originally stood, his Nascent Soul. It appeared in complete disbelief of what had just happened.
In that moment of delay, the black threads of light remaining from the eruption condensed into a net and instantly caught the Nascent Soul. The Nascent Soul revealed an expression of terror and it hastily formed an incantation gesture. It wildly flickered with silver light, disappearing in a display of instant movement.
But when the Nascent Soul reappeared, it ran into the net and the net tightly shrunk back, quickly suspending the Nascent Soul in a ball of black light.
As for the other black lance, it had arrived at Senior Martial Brother Cheng’s back in that very moment.
As Senior Martial Brother Cheng had yet to recover his strength from his last battle at the Dreamcloud Mountains, he was even less capable of dealing with this bizarre attack. He could only curse in his heart and prepare to materialize his Nascent Soul in order to escape.
But at that moment, a spatial fluctuation appeared behind Senior Martial Brother Cheng and a three-meter-long crimson swordlight shot into the black lance’s path. The swordlight was blood-red and was filled with an evil Qi.
The crimson swordlight chopped at the black lance, halting it as the black and red light overlapped in confrontation. Then, they disappeared in a violent explosion.
Senior Martial Brother Cheng then quickly flew towards Han Li with delight. With a deathly pale complexion, Han Li lowered the Blood Devil Sword and gave his Senior Martial Brother Cheng a forced smile.
Senior Martial Brother Cheng displayed obvious gratitude and arrived at Han Li’s side at the greatest speed he could muster.
Unfortunately for Daoist Heavencrystal, there was no one to save him. When he saw the unfamiliar old man’s Nascent Soul became trapped nearby, he turned pale and mustered even more speed.
But at that moment, the two-headed Elder Devil appeared in a blur.
Daoist Heavencrystal felt his heart drop and immediately spat out a small crystal sword. Under the command of a spell seal, the sword transformed into a barrage of brilliant white swordlights.
The Elder Devil’s body strangely warped as soon as the swordlights approached him and disappeared from sight.
Daoist Heavencrystal’s heart sank and his body glowed with light, intent on escaping. But just as he began to move, the light barrier protecting him greatly trembled as muffled thumps reverberated from it. At that moment, he lost control of the magic power in his body and came to a sudden stop.
‘Not good!’ With terror on Daoist Heavencrystal’s face, his protective barrier ruptured, followed by a jet-black claw piercing into his abdomen, ripping out the Nascent Soul from his Dantian before it could materialize.
The Elder Devil withdrew his arm from Daoist Heavencrystal’s limp corpse, only for it to burn into ashes by a black devilish flame a moment later.
Daoist Heavencrystal’s Nascent Soul was completely shaken with fear, but it acquired a chance to escape when the Elder Devil had relaxed his grip.
In that moment, the Nascent Soul rejoiced and without another thought, it glowed with white light, about to instantly escaping over thirty meters away.
But before he could complete the instant movement, the Elder Devil’s ghost head sneered and opened his mouth. A purple blur shot out and bore into the Nascent Soul’s body, the ghost head’s tongue. It dragged Daoist Heavencrystal’s Nascent Soul into his gaping mouth.
He chewed several times and the ghost head’s face pulsed with black light, revealing an expression of satisfaction. Afterwards, he beckoned to the trapped Nascent Soul nearby and it also shot into his mouth.
With these two Nascent Souls devoured, he felt the power of his soul greatly increasing. He then calmly turned around to looked at Han Li and Senior Martial Brother Cheng. He withdrew his extended tongue with a flick and revealed hunger on his face.
When Senior Martial Brother Cheng saw Daoist Heavencrystal and his good friend devoured by the Elder Devil, his face contorted in fear. He knew very well that if he hadn’t flown in Han Li’s direction and if Han Li hadn’t acted to assist him, he would’ve also met the same fate.
These Nascent Soul cultivators at the peak of the outside world were all dealt away in a single blow by this monstrous existence. Inconceivable!
For Han Li to have tangled with the devil for so long at only a slight disadvantage was a display of his immense abilities. His decision to rope in Han Li into the sect was only proven more correct as time went on.
As distress filled Senior Martial Brother Cheng’s mind, he couldn’t help but take a look at Han Li.
Han Li expression turned gloomy, but he was completely calm. He had already laid down the Aureate Sword Formation, and the rise in his battle strength had bolstered his confidence as well.
He glanced at the main Elder Devil’s battle a kilometer away and saw that it was steadily ongoing. He saw a pitch-black devil flame that reached out a kilometer wide and surrounded Wei Wuya’s green cloud, slowly refining and weakening it.
The poison cloud that was originally fifty meters wide was now only a third of its size and was on the verge of collapse.
Ancestor Linghu and the white-clothed woman were still safe for the time being inside the green cloud, but they were forced to resist the devilflames by using their own treasures to their utmost power.
Han Li inwardly sighed. He knew Wei Wuya and the others wouldn’t last long. However, he couldn’t afford to take them into consideration. He was forced to only focus on dealing with the two-headed Elder Devil in front of him. He would have to see if he could use the Aureate Formation to slay him first.
At that moment, the two-headed Elder Devil began to calmly fly towards him.
Han Li narrowed his eyes and he wordlessly raised his hand, releasing a jade talisman. A black ghost hand appeared in a flicker of light and moved to grab the oncoming Elder Devil. At that moment, Han Li swept his sleeve and summoned several tens of azure flying swords. They rang out, condensing in a pulse of brilliant azure light into a single huge blade that released an astonishing pressure.
Han Li formed an incantation gesture and pointed at the Elder Devil. The huge sword then disappeared in a blur and suddenly appeared above the devil's head, cleaving downward without delay.
The Elder Devil laughed with an odd tone and clapped his hands together, summoning a huge black blade. He then met the oncoming azure sword with his own.
When the Elder Devil saw the azure sword, he immediately realized it was one of Han Li’s bonded magic treasures and intended on shattering it, crippling Han Li’s soul.
As for the ghost claw, the devil disdainfully raised one of his hands and shot a stream of devilish Qi at it, instantly tying it down and preventing it from moving in the slightest.
The ghost claw attempted to tear the devilish Qi apart but it was no use; the devilish Qi was like maggots, whenever it split, it would form o
nce more and stronger.
Then, the black blade and the azure sword made contact, resulting in a deafening explosion.
Black and azure radiance clashed in blinding confrontation. The black blade muffledly groaned and began to warp and ripple. As for the azure sword, it was being gradually pushed back but it still remained in peak condition with the slightest damage.
The two-headed Elder Devil raised his heads to look at the blade and they both wore an expression of shock.
Although Han Li didn’t temper these Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords for a significant amount of time nor had he infused them with any Auric Essence, he had refined them with Refined Crystal, increasing their hardiness and durability far beyond ordinary magic treasures. Despite their somewhat lackluster strength, there were few things in this world that were able to break them.
As a result, no matter how the devilish Qi stirred the blade or the forms it took, invoking might that could break the greatest of blades, it wasn’t able to break the combined Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
In that moment of delay, the azure sword suddenly rang with thunder and countless arcs of golden lightning shot out from it. When they made contact with the black blade, the black blade quickly collapsed.
Without anything blocking it, the huge lightning-covered sword fiercely chopped down at the Elder Devil’s head.
Chapter 853: Trapping the Devil
The Elder Devil didn’t anticipate that the huge sword was made of Golden Lightning Bamboo. In his alarm, he hastily fled. In a flicker of black light, he appeared over thirty meters away and the condensed Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword missed its mark.
The devil stopped and his expression suddenly turned sullen. He clapped his four hands together and condensed two balls of black radiance. The black light flickered and the two balls of light transformed into two humming black lances.
The devil grinded his fangs together and slat out two clouds of blood essence onto the black lances. They suddenly trembled and turned blood-red. With this done, the devil’s two heads appeared somewhat listless as if having consumed a large amount of strength.
At that moment, the huge azure sword reappeared above the devil’s ghost head and chopped down without hesitation.
The Elder Devil raised his arms and launched both of the blood-red lances towards the cleaving sword. Two deafening booms sounded out as crimson radiance and golden lightning overlapped; the lances held firm against the huge sword and its Divine Devilbane Lightning.
Soon, the huge sword released a long wail and spun away several times as it was pushed back over ten meters. Light violently fickered from the sword and it became much dimmer.
Han Li’s complexion turned blood-red from his connection with the sword and pale in another moment before soon returning to normal. The sword had suffered damage from its spiritual nature and his soul had received of this damage as a result. Fortunately, his soul was immensely powerful and this level of damage wasn’t enough to influence him.
However, Han Li didn’t dare to allow this to continue and he pointed to the huge sword. With a humming ring, it transformed into several tens of azure streaks, flying back towards his body.
Seeing that the swords began to fly back, the devil harshly shouted, “Escaping? Those swords will be staying behind!” Then he waved at the crimson lances and in a flash of radiance, the crimson lances transformed into two crimson hands. They quickly chased after the swords with wind shrieking behind them.
Since he saw Han Li recklessly released so many of his Golden Lightning Bamboo magic treasures, he naturally couldn’t allow Han Li to easily retrieve them. He then spun and surrounded himself in a large cloud of devilish Qi before shooting after them in close pursuit.
When Han Li saw this, he inwardly rejoiced, but betrayed none of this emotion on his face.
When Senior Martial Brother Cheng saw this, he felt ill at ease standing idle and he summoned a small yellow sword in his hand, intending on providing Han Li some support.
Before he launched his flying sword, he suddenly heard a voice transmission from Han Li, “Senior Martial Brother Cheng, there is no need to act now. Wait until after the devil is trapped!” The old man was stunned by this and after some thought, he immediately stopped his actions, feeling a great sense of relief.
At that moment, the large crimson hands had nearly overtaken the azure swordlights and were only growing faster by the second.
Seeing the two crimson hand’s increasingly fervent pursuit to sweep up the swords, Han Li calmly launched a series of spell seals at them. The mess of flying swords released a resonating ring and suddenly binded together into a cloud of Qi, and they began to rush through the air, increasing their speed increase several times.
The two crimson hands ended up missing their mark as the small azure swords had arrived above Han Li and began to revolve in the air.
The Elder Devil was enraged by this turn of action. It was as if Han Li was deliberately playing with him. The devil’s expression deeply sank and he beckoned to the large crimson hands. The claws flew back and spiralled around him before flying into his hands as two crimson sabers.
Then, a harsh whistle sounded out from the devil’s mouth and over thirty meters of devilish Qi gathered together without warning and suddenly surged towards Han Li. The devil disappeared from sight, concealed within the mist.
Han Li frowned when he saw the roiling devilish Qi charge towards him. He raised his hands and golden arcs of lightning began to flicker across his arms, creating a large net of lightning to intercept the devilish Qi. Then his eyes flickered with blue light and he swept his gaze across it.
But immediately after, Han Li revealed an expression of shock. There was no trace of the Elder Devil within it. He then raised his head up towards the sky and also found nothing there.
Han Li was stunned and he touched his chin. His expression immediately changed when he thought of something. He immediately grabbed onto Senior Martial Brother Cheng’s arm and immediately took off.
At that moment, two streaks of crimson light flashed where Han Li originally stood and the Elder Devil appeared ten meters below. The devil’s heads wore an expression of surprise; he believed his sneak attack had a complete certainty of success.
Han Li inwardly cursed at the wicked ruthlessness of the Elder Devil. He actually thought to attack them from below. Were it not for his quick response or the Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he would’ve been cleaved into two. His own protective armor made from the tri-colored beetles and his light barrier couldn’t have withstood such a vicious strike.
To the side, Senior Martial Brother Cheng was dripping with sweat and his mind was filled with lingering fear.
The Elder Devil stood in place and saw Han Li’s expression changed several times. The devil sinisterly smiled as he looked at him and his silhouette blurred, shooting forward in a black streak of light. Han Li smiled at the sight of this.
The black streak shot ten meters out before golden light blossomed in front of it. An unremarkable golden thread appeared and flickered across it.
With a light bang, two of the crimson sabers appeared in front of the black streak, suddenly blocking the golden thread that had appeared. But a muffled thump sounded out and the black streak was knocked three meters back.The Elder Devil unsteady figure was revealed, his heads both displaying shock.
The golden thread then mysteriously disappeared. It was clear that the Elder Devil had finally been trapped within the Aureate Sword Formation.
At that moment, Han Li formed an incantation seal with his hands and he willed the Aureate Sword Formation to reveal itself.
Countless bewitching golden threads intermittently flickered all around the Elder Devil. They were entirely silent as they slowly grew closer towards the center.
The Elder Devil’s expression turned harse, realizing that he had fallen for Han Li’s trap, entering some sort of unknown restriction. In fury and alarm, he waved his sabers, launching several overlapping saber streaks towards Han Li�
�s position.
Several tens of golden threads flickered intermittently in their path, cutting the crimson streaks into countless segments and scattering them into specks of light.
The Elder Devil was stunned and wore a solemn expression. He coldly snorted and brought the crimson sabers together. Then in a blinding flicker of light, they condensed into a single huge blade. He held it with all four of his arms and began to slice it through the air at an exceptionally slow speed. The huge blade shining with blinding crimson radiance, it released a three-meter-long crescent that emitted an suffocating pressure.
This huge blade of radiance streaked thirty meters away before encountering a dense net of golden threads. The streak of radiance was able to make it a meter past the threads of light before thoroughly collapsing apart.
The Elder Devil was deeply alarmed.
The golden threads appeared in all directions and were slowly closing in on him. Even with only using the Aureate Sword Formation once before, Han Li was now far more skillful in using it.
Senior Martial Brother Cheng was delighted to see this. He was unaware Han Li possessed such unfathomable abilities.
At the center of the formation, the Elder Devil began to use various movement techniques in an attempt to escape the formation, from turning into threads of black Qi to thin black lines. However, all of these attempts were unable to make it past the golden threads with no exceptions.
He even split the huge blade into four long and slender ones, fluttering them together to form a crimson ball of light to protect himself as he charged forward. As a result, he was nearly cut into pieces by the incisive threads of golden light. Even at the crimson light’s greatest strength it was only able to block the golden threads temporarily.
The Aureate Sword Formation continued to close and the golden threads drew closer to the Elder Devil. When they were only about ten meters away from the Elder Devil, he raised his heads towards the sky and shrieked, one shriek coarse and deep, the other soft and high.
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