The one who had been captured was the white-browed young man.
Black light was flas.h.i.+ng around his body as he desperately tried to keep the red threads at bay, but his efforts proved to be futile.
A sinister look appeared on the elderly Daoist priest"s face as he slowly made his way toward the young man.
At this moment, a few sharp cries erupted from within the city as several streaks of light of different colors hurtled toward this location.
The white-browed young man was naturally aware that more Shadow Tribe beings were converging toward the scene. Upon arriving at this realization, an expression of horror appeared on his face as he let loose a thunderous roar. The black light around his body began to circulate rapidly as his body swelled drastically in size. At the same time, a pair of inky-black wings appeared on his back, and his hands transformed into a pair of black metal talons.
In this dire situation, he had transformed into his half-demon state and was preparing to fight for his life.
For demonic cultivators like them, their best weapons were naturally their powerful bodies. Furthermore, the Dark Falcons were one of the seven major demon sub-species, so they were certainly no slouches. He swiped his sharp talons through the air around him, and streaks of black light erupted forth, tearing through the red threads around him.
The white-browed young man was naturally ecstatic to see his talons proving to be so effective.
He was confident that as long as he could sever all of these red threads, he"d be able to escape using the movement techniques that were unique to his Dark Falcon Race.
However, before he had a chance to continue swiping his talons through the air, his expression changed drastically, and his face was drained of all color.
All of those severed red threads joined together again in a flash, and it was as if nothing had been done to them in the first place.
A deriding sneer appeared on the elderly Daoist priest"s face, and his body blurred before he appeared in front of the white-robed young man, seemingly out of thin air. He then laid a hand on the back of his own head, and a vibrant red shadow slowly emerged.
"A crimson shadow! You really are from the Shadow Tribe!" The white-robed young man was plunged into complete despair at the sight of the crimson shadow.
Crimson shadows of the Shadow Tribe were comparable to Spatial Tempering Stage beings among human cultivators. This was not an opponent a Deity Transformation demonic cultivator could stand up against.
"Hehe, you possess quite a powerful body. I"ll be taking it from you now. Don"t worry, though, none of your companions will be able to get away. All of them will join you on the other side soon." Red light flashed within Master Purple Cloud"s eyes as a sharp and unfamiliar voice escaped from his mouth. The crimson shadow above his head then flashed before pouncing viciously toward the young man.
At the same time, the red threads punctured the protective black light around his body, binding him in an inescapable snare.
Despite his immense strength, the young man was unable to move, even in the slightest, and could only look on as the crimson shadow flew toward him. "Don"t even think about it!"
The white-robed young man was in complete despair, and he knew that there was no way for him to survive this ordeal. A hint of insanity appeared in his eyes as he abruptly clamped his teeth together, biting off half of his own tongue in the process. He then opened his mouth to blast forth a thumb-sized black bead that was encased in black blood.
As soon as the bead left his body, the young man"s eyes immediately became dull and lifeless. At the same time, his body began to shrivel and shrink, and he was instantly reduced to a white-haired elderly man.
That bead was none other than the demon core that the young man had been arduously cultivating for countless years.
The bead was emanating an extremely violent aura within the black blood before expanding and shrinking, then detonating on the spot.
An expression of shock appeared on the elderly Daoist priest"s face, and not only did the crimson shadow above his head hurtle back in retreat, his body also rushed back along with it.
An earthshattering boom erupted as a fist-sized ball of black light appeared. The ball of light flashed once before expanding to over 100 feet in size, and it was still swelling with all its might, sweeping up gale-force winds that whipped up the desert sand into the sky to create several yellow wind dragons.
The elderly Daoist priest"s body swayed before stopping over 100 feet away, and his eyes narrowed with a cold expression on his face.
The black light immediately came surging toward him. The elderly Daoist priest"s expression darkened as he suddenly let loose an unintelligible cry.
A ma.s.sive red shadow appeared out of thin air without any premonition amid a resounding boom. The shadow then plunged into the black light before shrinking like lightning.
A peculiar turn of events unfolded immediately thereafter!
The yellow wind dragons were instantly vanquished, and the black light disappeared without a trace along with the white-browed young man. It was as if they had never even appeared here.
Only then did the elderly Daoist priest heave a sigh of relief, but a frustrated look immediately appeared on his face.
He didn"t antic.i.p.ate that the white-browed young man would still have the ability to self-detonate his demon core even after being captured by his restriction.
Right at this moment, a few streaks of light appeared nearby before receding to reveal eight cultivators.
"There was a minor mishap, and they didn"t fall for the trap, so it"s going to be a little troublesome. However, I released the shadow incense earlier, and all of them have been affected by it to a light degree, so the effects should persist for around two hours. I"ll be taking the Shen [1. In Chinese mythology, the Shen beast is a shapes.h.i.+fting dragon or sea monster believed to create mirages.] beast with me to chase down that accursed brat who foiled our plans. I"ll leave the other three to all of you," the elderly Daoist priest instructed in a sinister manner.
"Yes, My Lord!" The eight cultivators bowed in response before splitting up into three groups, flying off in pursuit of Long Dong, Xiao Hong, and Ye Ying.
In contrast, the elderly Daoist priest wasn"t in a hurry to set off. Instead, he let loose a relentless ghastly roar that could be heard even in the heavens above and made the surrounding air vibrate audibly.
He then swept a hand toward the city gate, following a dozen or so grey shadows emerged from the bodies of the Foundation Establishment cultivators there, all of which disappeared into his body in a flash. Those cultivators slumped to the ground as soon as the grey shadows left their bodies.
Immediately thereafter, an incredible scene ensued.
All of the mortals and children beside the lake vanished like illusions amid his thunderous roar. The entire small town also began to s.h.i.+mmer like a mirage as countless streaks of black Qi rose into the air from countless different locations. Soon, the ground and all of the city walls had been obscured under the black Qi, and a piercing cry erupted from within.
The elderly Daoist priest"s roar drew to a halt as he swept a sleeve expressionlessly toward the black Qi, blowing it away in the blink of an eye by sweeping up gusts of violent winds.
A two-headed monster that was over 100 feet in length then appeared before him. It had two golden and silver snake heads and the green body of a frog. Its four crimson eyes were extremely unsettling, and the mere sight of them was enough to send chills running down the beholder"s spine.
The golden snake head opened its mouth and spat out the remains of a body.
The white-browed young man"s body and beast core had been devoured by this beast, and the small town, along with the mortals as well as most of the cultivator there, had been manifested by this beast.
The elderly Daoist priest"s body swayed, and he abruptly disappeared on the spot. However, in the next instant, he reappeared atop one of the snake heads.
"Go!" He delivered a cold instruction.
The two snake heads of the giant beast immediately let loose frog croaks as it leaped into the air, transforming into a burst of black Qi that streaked into the distance.
It was traveling in the direction toward which Han Li had fled.
A crimson streak of light was hurtling through the air, within which a beautiful young woman wore a grim expression as she fled for her life.
All of a sudden, her expression changed as she rustled her sleeve to produce an azure jade badge, upon which was embedded a white bead. However, the item was shattered and appeared to have been completely ruined.
The young woman took a deep breath before flicking a slim finger toward the bead, upon which, the bead exploded into a white powder before disappearing.
She then stowed away her jade badge, and the red light emanating from her body brightened as she accelerated even further.
However, after an hour had pa.s.sed, her expression suddenly changed as she abruptly cast her gaze behind her. There, in the extremely far distance, two streaks of spiritual light were flas.h.i.+ng rapidly toward her.
The two then combined as one, and they were clearly traveling at a far faster speed than she was.
An indecisive look appeared on her face, but as the streak of light drew closer and closer, a cold light flashed through her eyes as she abruptly stopped cold in her tracks.
As such, it didn"t take her pursuers long to appear just several hundred feet away from her. The spiritual light then receded to reveal a man and a woman.
Both of them were quite young, and the man was extremely handsome while the woman was exquisitely beautiful. Furthermore, both of them bore a close resemblance to one another, but they were wearing stiff and wooden expressions on their faces.
Seeing as she already knew that these were merely puppets possessed by the Shadow Tribe beings, Xiao Hong naturally wasn"t going to pay any heed to their outward appearance. She merely glanced at them were a frosty expression before immediately making a hand seal. All of a sudden, two b.a.l.l.s of black flames emerged from her sleeves before transforming into a couple of Fire Ravens that hurtled directly toward her two a.s.sailants.
The Shadow Tribe duo harrumphed coldly in unison as several streaks of grey light shot forth from their backs at the same time, heading directly toward the black flames without any hesitation.
The grey light and black flames clashed amid a resounding boom.
Xiao Hong raised her eyebrows as she suddenly rolled onto the ground. Brilliant black light then began to emanate from her body, and it was so bright that it was impossible for one to look directly at her.
The cry of a phoenix then rang out as a ma.s.sive spirit bird emerged from the black light, circling around in the sky before spreading its wings to attack the two Shadow Tribe beings.
This bird was completely glossy black in color with a brown crest on its head. Its eyes were like bright emeralds, and it was none other than a black phoenix that was around 30 to 40 feet in length.
Expressions of shock appeared on the faces of the Shadow Tribe duo, and after exchanging a glance at one another, both of them laid a hand on their own heads at the same time. Immediately thereafter, two green shadows appeared before pouncing directly toward the black phoenix.
Spiritual Qi erupted violently as resounding booms rang out incessantly.
Almost at the exact same moment, Long Dong was also being pursued by a pair of cultivators.
In the face of the two green shadows that had ditched their physical bodies, a deriding sneer appeared on his face as yellow light flashed from his body. The suit of yellow scale armor that he had used once before surfaced again, along with the pair of bronze wings on his back. He then rubbed his hands together, and a peculiar crimson longsword suddenly appeared within his grasp.
The sword was three feet in length with a dragon hilt and a phoenix blade. Crimson light was circulating over the entire sword, making it appear as if it had been manifested from fresh blood.
The crimson mole on the corner of Long Dong"s lips appeared to be especially vibrant in that instant, and he wore a serious expression as he gently slashed his longsword toward the two oncoming green shadows.
The sword sliced through the air soundlessly, but the two green shadows suddenly let loose howls of anguish. Countless white threads then surfaced all over their bodies, and spiritual light flashed as both shadows were instantly reduced to countless fragments.
Long Dong slashed his longsword through the air once again, and the white threads flashed before those fragments completely vanished.