The Elder Devil swung his newly split sabers and released countless palm-sized black crescents in a dense barrage towards Han Li. He took no notice of the other cultivators and was h.e.l.lbent on pursuing him alone.
This came as no surprise. Among the enemies that faced him, Han Li and Lin Yinping were the easiest to eliminate, but the Endless Sky Saintess Lin Yinping had Grand Imortal Xu with her.
Of course, the Elder Devil only concluded this because he never had an opportunity to fight Han Li at full strength.
When Han Li saw the devil’s overbearing a.s.sault, he maintained complete calm and waved his sleeve. Out produced a small s.h.i.+eld that moved in front of him, quickly expanding to protect his front.
He then glanced at the devil and let out a sigh.
The Elder Devil looked at his expression from a distance and shortly paused in surprise at his reaction, but then, he immediately sensed a strange spiritual pressure from underneath him.
Before he could glance down, he heard a slash and a silhouette wrapped in yellow made an abrupt appearance from the ground ten meters behind him.
Soon after, the figure let out a shout and swung down the huge silver axe she held in her hands.
This was the horned woman Gui Ling who had remained hidden underneath where Han Li originally stood.
Before the blade of the axe even fell, its fearsome spiritual pressure shook the nearby ground causing the earth to quake with foot-deep holes.
The Elder Devil’s face fell and no longer moved to a.s.sault Han Li. He hurriedly turned around and sliced his swords in a cross. Two huge blades of light surged out to meet the silver axe just in time.
Black and silver light erupted as the attacks collided. A shockwave of both icy and searing air bloomed in every direction.
The black light blades managed to temporarily stop the huge axe’s descend for just a second before disappearing.
During that delay, the Elder Devil clasped two of his hands in an incantation gesture. With the sounds of cracking bone, his body surged in size. His clothes tore away to reveal a layer of sleek armor made from foot-wide black scales.
Inky devilish Qi covered his wounds and his flesh squirmed beneath, quickly healing itself.
After turning in the air, an ominous glint flashed in his eyes and he took a deep breath. He opened his mouth to release a wide shockwave at the axe. When they collided against the huge silver axe, the sound seemed to become solid and blocked the axe from falling any further.
The devil suddenly let out an ancient incantation and the black scales covering his body brightened, igniting in a dense layer of impressive black-purple flames.
Gui Ling’s heart trembled at the sight and she jumped back. With a loud shout, her body ferociously expanded and a layer of green armor fitted around her.
The silver axe grew alongside her, glistening with a brilliant glow. She chopped down with even greater strength.
Her sudden growth had surprised the devil. Although his own form was larger than hers, he had no choice but to stop his incantation as he raised his blades to meet the axe.
Upon impact, the both weapons let out a resounding boom, shaking the air around them. Already on guard, the Elder Devil suffered no damage. Rather, he used the momentum of the attack to quickly fly backwards.
But as he retreated, he wore a mocking smile. The azure halberd in one of his hands lit up with black flames and he launched it towards Gui Ling’s body.
It traveled with an immense speed matched only by a shooting star. In the blink of an eye, it struck Gui Ling’s armor and flashed.
Before the Elder Devil regained stable ground, he began his incantation once more in preparation to employ even more vastly powerful techniques. The halberd alone wouldn’t be enough to exterminate that tenacious horned woman.
But at that moment, something entirely unexpected occurred.
A faint black light burned three meters behind the devil. An inch-long crystalline black blade appeared silently in the air. Then with a flicker, it disappeared without a trace.
The Elder Devil suddenly gained a terrifying premonition and was about to fly away.
But before he could even try, one of his heads felt as if it had been stabbed through, and his spiritual sense cut with agony.
No matter how powerful his was, the surprise attack halted his movements.
In that short delay, a nearly indiscernible red line appeared at the neck of one of the heads. Soon after, it tumbled to the ground without any warning, and a fountain of blood spurted from its vacant neck.
A distance away, Han Li was holding his hands in a strange gesture and his complexion was pale and exhausted.
The pain from the Elder Devil’s spiritual sense was from his Great Development Technique’s Soulfright Thorn, though it was a simplified version.
Although he hadn’t cultivated the last few layers of the Great Development Technique and its power was far less potent than the true Soulfight Thorn, it had a great effect on anyone caught unaware. As such, he called this attack the Spirit Stun Thorn to differentiate the two.
Although the technique was much weaker, it still left him completely dizzy after using it once.
The Elder Devil’s remaining head wore an expression of disbelief, and howled with pain and rage. Devilish Qi soon entirely coated his body.
The devilish Qi burst all around him before he disappeared from sight.
Sixteen meters away, an astonis.h.i.+ng change occurred.
A cloud of black Qi made a sudden appearance, followed by the maimed Elder Devil tumbling out from it. Although the loss of one of his heads hadn’t killed him, it severely injured him.
Gui Ling swinging down her axe; the beheading of the Elder Devil; his escape afterwards; all occurred in the blink of an eye.
The scene left the others completely dumbstruck!
Things had gone vastly awry to their original plan. They had intended on only distracting the devil so they could wait for an opportunity to use the teleportation formation to escape.
The thought of killing the devil hadn’t even occurred in their minds.
But now that it was a distinct possibility, how will their plan change?
In truth, Han Li actually planned on slaying the devil all along.
As for the strange blade that beheaded the devil, the cultivators up above hadn’t detected any signs of its appearance. When they wondered if the same could happen to them, they felt their hearts drop.
But in any case, the Elder Devil was out of luck! With so many cultivators attacking him at once, he had no opportunity to reprieve and was unable to make use of any of his greater abilities. Bafflingly enough, he was also gravely injured. Had the devil been able to make use of his secret abilities, it would be impossible for him to suffer in such state in a short amount of time.
The Elder Devil shot a hateful glance at Han Li on the sidelines before fleeing in the direction of the black-robed woman in a surge of black Qi. Under his current conditions, he had no further intention to risk his life to continuing the battle.
Han Li had different plans though, and a trace of derision smeared on his face.
A ball of silver light flared near the Elder Devil, followed by the sudden appearance of a silhouette.
Greatly frightened, the devil recoiled and prepared for the worst, binding himself in layers of boiling devilish Qi. But when he met the gaze of the newly-appeared cultivator, his body was enveloped in an entirely different world. He could sense nothing else apart from a pair of attractive purple eyes.
“A bewitchment technique!” With a spiritual sense comparable to a peak late-Nascent Soul cultivator, he was able to quickly recover. However, it wasn’t nearly fast enough, because an emerald streak suddenly appeared in front of him in a roll of thunder. He could clearly see golden lightning flas.h.i.+ng from it too.
“Divine Devilbane Lightning!” the Elder Devil cried out. Had he not been injured, he would’ve been able to deal with it well enough, but he could no longer afford to confront such an attack.
The devil waved his hand and devilish Qi condensed in front of him. Very rapidly, a small black s.h.i.+eld moved forward to block the green streak as he blurred away, intending on arriving ten meters away. But on the way, thunder called from his side.
“Not good!” The devil’s heart trembled. Before he could take action, Han Li appeared in a spark of silver lightning. He waved his sleeve and released dozens of small golden swords and a purple flood dragon at the devil.
The timing of Han Li’s attack was superb. The devil wasn’t able to dodge in the slightest.
Helpless, the devil’s head strangely twisted around in Han Li’s direction. Then, he opened his mouth and released a surging black shockwave. Two devil arms blurred, bringing forth his black blades to meet Han Li’s attack.
But when the devil least expected it, a small black dagger appeared in front of where he originally faced, and flickered out of sight.