The stemborer's baleful lightning was also extremely powerful and was imbued with the power of the law of destruction, allowing it to damage even Profound Heavenly Treasures, but both Daoist Xie and Bao Hua were very cunning, refusing to engage in direct clashes with it.
As a result, it was becoming more and more enraged as all of its attacks were being evaded.
Once Bao Hua unleashed her Profound Heavenly Spirit Domain to trap the stemborer, the tables were immediately turned.
The stemborer immediately unleashed its baleful lightning with all its might to try and escape from the spirit domain, but this Profound Heavenly Spirit Domain was an ability that only true immortals could truly master, and it was far too difficult for the stemborer to break out of.
The sea of pink flower petals trapped the stemborer firmly at the center of the spirit domain at Bao Hua's behest, causing it to become more and more sluggish despite the fact that it was resisting with all its might.
The stemborer had surrounded itself with arcs of grey lightning and a white light barrier manifested from its spiritual sense, but it was riddled with wounds and on the verge of defeat in the face of Daoist Xie and Bao Hua's combined attacks.
Han Li summoned his green longsword again upon seeing this, then slashed it through the air to unleash 12 green lines at once.
In the next instant, the 12 green lines appeared right beside the stemborer in Bao Hua's Profound Heavenly Spirit Domain in unison, then flashed past its body in a flash.
The light barrier and lightning around the stemborer were instantly wiped out of existence alongside the stemborer itself, and it was as if it had never been there in the first place.
Bao Hua was quite alarmed to see this, and only after carefully verifying that the stemborer was no longer in her spirit domain did she withdraw the spirit domain with tightly furrowed brows.
Spatial fluctuations erupted nearby, and Han Li emerged not far away, while Daoist Xie also reverted back to his human form before appearing behind Han Li.
Han Li cast his gaze toward Daoist Xie and was quite relieved to find that Daoist Xie was largely unscathed.
"Your powers are truly formidable, Brother Han; even with my spirit domain to protect me, it would've definitely been very difficult for me to withstand that slash," Bao Hua said with a slightly wary look in her eyes.
"You're far too kind, Fellow Daoist Bao Hua; the stemborer was already a spent force after battling the two of you for so long. Otherwise, there's no way I would've been able to strike it down so easily," Han Li replied with a nonchalant smile.
"It's not that simple." Bao Hua shook her head in response, but didn't say anything further.
Instead, she cast her gaze toward the spot where the stemborer had just disappeared with a perplexed look in her eyes.
"Looks like you've also noticed that something is amiss. It's clear that we didn't manage to actually destroy those stemborers. Setting that little girl aside, these two stemborers don't seem to be physical beings, either, and they're not that easy to kill," Han Li said as a grim look appeared on his face.
"Indeed, I always felt like those two stemborers were off somehow. Both of them possess powerful abilities, but are extremely limited; one of them possessed an incredibly powerful spiritual sense, while the other had such a formidable physical body that it was able to match me with just a single claw. However, the one-sided nature of their abilities was a weakness that we could exploit to defeat them," Bao Hua analyzed.
"If these stemborers were bred by the Stemborer Queen, then this is very strange. Considering how cunning the Stemborer Queen is, there's no way it'd do something so unintelligent," Bao Hua continued.
"Individually, those two stemborers were still manageable, but if their abilities were combined in a single stemborer..." Han Li chuckled as he left his sentence unfinished.
Bao Hua's face paled slightly as she drew a sharp breath. "If that had been the case, all of us would've been in severe trouble."
"I'm not sure if you noticed, but the little girl and those two stemborers don't seem to be allies; even those two stemborers seemed to harbor some animosity toward one another. Otherwise, if they had teamed up from the very beginning, it wouldn't have been anywhere near as simple to exploit their individual weaknesses," Han Li said with a meaningful expression.
"That is indeed rather strange. If they were bred by the Stemborer Queen, then why do they seem so hostile toward the Stemborer Queen's soul?" Bao Hua mused as her brows furrowed tightly.
"I don't understand that, either, but judging from how those two stemborers disappeared just now, they seem to have been conjured up through the power of projection," Han Li remarked.
"The power of projection? Are you saying that there are beings from other realms interfering with this matter as well? For a mere projection to be so powerful; could it be that true immortals are involved?" Bao Hua's expression changed significantly as this thought occurred to her.
"I'm not sure about that; this is only a suspicion of mine, and perhaps it's incorrect. However, if that really were the case, then the situation here is very complex. How about you communicate with the spirit of the ancient seal to see if it's found out anything," Han Li suggested.
"The spirit of the ancient seal has become very frail from the seal's power loss, and even I can't contact it now. Otherwise, the ancient seal will instantly fall apart," Bao Hua replied with a wry smile.
"In that case, it looks like we're completely in the dark," Han Li said with a grim expression.
"In any case, we can't turn back now. I still haven't received any news from our other two fellow daoists, so something's most likely happened to them; it looks like we'll have to venture down there ourselves," Bao Hua sighed.
"I'll abide by our agreement and accompany you down there, but if we encounter any insurmountable peril, I'm going to turn back right away," Han Li said with a serious expression.
"Of course, I'd do the same if our mission becomes too difficult to accomplish. Besides, I'm sure you're capable of leaving this space even without the Treasured Phoenix Spirit Plate," Bao Hua said with a knowing smile.
"I'm glad you understand that. Let's go down now," Han Li replied with an expressionless nod, then plunged into the water with Daoist Xie by his side. Bao Hua quickly inspected her surroundings, and after verifying that nothing was amiss, she also followed along.
Shortly after the three of them entered the water, a burst of faint spatial fluctuations erupted overhead alongside wisps of five-colored light. The five-colored light then quickly converged to form a tightly-shut giant five-colored eye.
......
Meanwhile, the giant stemborer carcass was hovering in the underwater abyss in a completely still manner, but two balls of devilish flames were burning within its eye sockets, and the flames were only becoming brighter and brighter.
Several broken treasures that were glowing with faint spiritual light hovered beside the carcass, one of which was a shattered jade badge, while the other was a black spear with cracks all over its surface.
These two were the elderly man and black-robed woman's most prized treasures, yet they had been strewn around like garbage, and it was clear that the two of them were most likely already dead.
Spatial fluctuations erupted above the carcass, and two blurry balls of light emerged in unison.
One of the balls of white light transformed into a giant rotund insect, while the other morphed into an almost transparent insect.
These were none other than the two insects that had just been slain by Han Li and Bao Hua.
However, their bodies had become far more indistinct, and their auras had also waned significantly, making them resemble a pair of projections.
All of a sudden, a silver-robed woman emerged from the devilish flames within one of the eye sockets of the giant carcass.
The woman had an elegant figure, and she looked much like a more mature version of the little girl that had just been devoured.
&nbs
p; Both of the blurry insect projections immediately sprawled down onto the ground in reverence.
The silver-robed woman cast a cold gaze toward the two projections, then harrumphed coldly, "Useless fools! I can't believe you're unable to deal with a few puny Grand Ascension Stage beings of the lower realms. Having said that, it's a good thing that they managed to wound the Stemborer Queen's soul. Otherwise, I may not have been able to completely devour it so soon. Now that close to half of my powers has recovered, I no longer have any use for you two; return my energy to me now."
The silver-robed woman raised a finger and pointed toward the pair of projections as she spoke.
Chapter 2242: Battle in the Spirit Domain
The two insect projections were very alarmed to hear this, and they immediately attempted to flee, but two shimmering black runes shot out of the silver-robed woman's fingertip, then vanished into the bodies of the two projections at an incredible speed.
The two projections let loose a collective agonized howl as they writhed with all their might to resist the black runes' power, but it was all to no avail as their bodies rapidly began to shrink.
Moments later, only a pair of balls of light were left hovering in mid-air.
The silver-robed woman swept a hand through the air, and the balls of light flew directly toward her.
She then opened her mouth to devour the two balls of light, and as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her aura seemed to have swelled to become around twice as powerful as it had originally been.
Moments later, she reopened her eyes, and her aura instantly returned to normal.
Right at this moment, she seemed to have sensed something, and she cast a cold gaze upward before returning to the ball of devilish flames within the eye socket of the giant carcass in a flash.
In the next instant, the carcass suddenly raised its head and let loose a shrill roar, upon which clouds of blood mist appeared around it before transforming into crimson threads that quickly adhered to the bones of the carcass.
One layer of crimson threads after another wound themselves around the carcass's bones before quickly transforming into blood, flesh, meridians, skin, and scales.
In the blink of an eye, the carcass had transformed into a three-headed giant insect.
The central head of the insect bore the appearance of the silver-robed woman, while the other two heads were mostly covered in five-colored scales with countless eyeballs of different sizes all over the tops of the heads, presenting a very chilling sight to behold.
As for the insect's body, it was as smooth and translucent as a flawless chunk of crystal. On its back were four pairs of beautiful white cicada wings with five-colored runes etched all over their surfaces.
As soon as the mountainous insect's body was reconstructed, the central head cast a cold gaze upward in silence.
As for the other two heads, their eyes were tightly shut, and they remained completely expressionless as if they were inanimate objects.
Moments later, three streaks of light descended into the abyss from above.
The lights faded over 1,000 away, and Han Li's trio was revealed.
At such a close range, Han Li and Bao Hua were naturally able to see the giant insect down below, and both of their expressions faltered slightly in response to this sight.
This giant insect was completely different in appearance from the body they had destroyed above the water, and what was most alarming to Han Li and Bao Hua was the central head of the insect, which bore a strong resemblance to the little girl.
"So this is the Stemborer Queen's body. It looks like we're too late; it's already awakened," Bao Hua said with a dark expression.
"It doesn't look like the body we just destroyed, but this should indeed be the Stemborer Queen's body," Han Li replied with a grim look in his eyes.
"Seeing as it's completely unscathed here, I can only assume that our two fellow daoists have already perished," Bao Hua sighed.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the broken treasures next to the giant insect, and he nodded with a solemn expression.
"So you three were the ones that harmed my clone and disrupted my rest." The central head of the giant insect suddenly spoke, and its voice was very pleasing to the ears, like that of a seductive maiden.
"Are you the Stemborer Queen? Have our two companions from earlier already fallen by your hands?" Bao Hua asked in a calm voice.
"Hehe, those two puny Grand Ascension Stage beings dared to attack me, so of course I had to devour them. Seeing as you three aren't willing to answer my question, I'll send you on your way just like I did to your companions," the central head of the giant insect said in a cold voice, but its words were accompanied by a mismatching seductive smile.
As soon as its voice trailed off, it opened its mouth to release a plume of grey threads, which transformed into a massive net that descended toward Han Li's trio from above.
The net was releasing a nauseating rank odor, and Han Li's trio appeared to be quite calm, but they were naturally very wary of the Stemborer Queen.
As the grey net descended toward the trio, Bao Hua immediately yelled, "Now!"
She then instantly flipped over a hand to conjure up a miniature tree amid a flash of green light, which quickly transformed into a massive pink tree that released countless pink flower petals to fill the entire space down below.
At the same time, Daoist Xie transformed into a giant golden crab that was around 100 acres in size, and a massive lightning net rose up from its body to oppose the descending grey net.
Meanwhile, Han Li made a grabbing motion, and the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword appeared in his grasp amid a flash of green light.
His body also swelled drastically in size as his Provenance True Devil Projection emerged, then transformed into its golden body form before fusing as one with him.
Purplish-golden scales began to appear all over his body alongside countless silver spirit runes that formed a series of formations of different sizes.
He then abruptly flicked his wrist, and countless balls of five-colored light suddenly emerged within the abyss before surging into the longsword in a frenzy.
A row of silver runes lit up on the blade of the sword, and the power of laws surged forth as 12 green lines swept through the air.
The 12 green lines were virtually connected to form a single line, and they instantly reached the giant insect before slicing toward it with devastating force.
It was clear that Han Li and the others had already devised a strategy to be used when facing the Stemborer Queen, and all of them had unleashed their trump cards in unison.
Daoist Xie was responsible for opposing the Stemborer Queen's attack, Bao Hua had been assigned the duty of trapping the Stemborer Queen, while Han Li was the one who was going to land the killing blow.
A normal Grand Ascension Stage being would most likely have no chance of surviving this combination attack, but the human face of the Stemborer Queen merely raised an eyebrow, and a flurry of energy fluctuations erupted from its body to sweep all of the surrounding flower petal projections aside.
Immediately thereafter, it raised a human arm and pointed a delicate finger forward.
Black light flashed as a shimmering black rune shot forth out of its fingertip to strike the green line at the very forefront with unerring accuracy.
The black rune exploded, and a burst of formidable power of laws swept forth.
As soon as the 12 green lines came into contact with this power of laws, they immediately drew to an abrupt halt before suddenly being repelled back to Han Li's trio.
Han Li and Bao Hua's expressions both changed drastically upon seeing this, and the former hurriedly slashed his longsword through the air again to unleash 12 more green lines.
The 24 green lines clashed and were destroyed in unison, but a burst of fearsome energy fluctuations continued to surge toward Han Li's trio.
Han Li raised his Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword, and several of
the silver runes on the blade lit up to absorb the oncoming energy fluctuations, but he was involuntarily forced back a few steps by the impact.
Using his Profound Heavenly Treasure several times in succession had eaten away a large chunk of his magic power, and his face had paled slightly to reflect that.
If a normal Grand Ascension cultivator had been in his shoes, they would've most likely already exhausted their magic power and suffered backlash from the Profound Heavenly Treasure.
"That's not normal repulsion; it's the power of reversal of the law of time!" Bao Hua exclaimed as she gritted her teeth and plucked off one of the thick branches of the floral tree in her hand, then quickly swept it through the air.
However, the Stemborer Queen seemed to already be prepared for this, and a grey halo abruptly erupted from its body alongside bursts of peculiar energy fluctuations.
The grey halo forced back a vast expanse of pink flower petal projections, and a grey rune suddenly appeared near the giant insect.
At the same time, a burst of power of laws struck the halo with devastating force, only to be repelled by the halo, which remained completely unscathed.
An incredulous look appeared on Bao Hua's face upon seeing this.
"Hehe, a Profound Heavenly Spirit Domain, eh? I didn't think that a mere lower realm Grand Ascension Stage being would be able to master such an ability. Unfortunately, this is only a faux spirit domain, so there's no way it'll be effective against me. How about this? Before I devour you, let me show you what a true Profound Heavenly Spirit Domain looks like," the Stemborer Queen chuckled as it suddenly made a hand seal with its front limbs, then chanted an incantation to make the grey halo around it rotate at a rapid speed.
All of a sudden, the halo vanished in a flash, and all of the light in the entire abyss dimmed significantly.
Chapter 2243: Grueling Battle
The entire abyss seemed to have been tipped upside-down; all of the surrounding seawater had vanished, while dark clouds had filled the entire sky up above, and a vast expanse of murky greyness that was tinged with specks of white light had appeared down below.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1284