Han Li was on his way back to his cave abode when he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then turned back to look into the distance with a bewildered expression.
In the air above Deep Heaven City, seven ma.s.sive crimson stars had suddenly emerged, tainting the entire heavens a fiery crimson color.
Even through the layers of restrictions that enshrouded Deep Heaven City, he could still sense wisps of a scorching aura.
All of the guards in the city, as well as the normal cultivators who were meditating in their abodes, naturally also rushed out to appraise this phenomenon with astonishment in their eyes.
As a Body Integration cultivator, Han Li was able to sense far more than other cultivators with his spiritual sense, and as he looked into the distance, a rare hint of wariness flashed through his eyes.
He could sense that these seven crimson stars were imbued with enormous powers of laws that were capable of severely wounding or even killing him, so how could he not be alarmed?
Right at this moment, red light suddenly swirled over the surfaces of the seven stars, following which an extremely profound and ma.s.sive formation emerged in mid-air with the seven stars at its center.
The formation was of a fiery red color and encompa.s.sed close to half of Deep Heaven City. Immediately thereafter, the powers of laws of heaven and earth rippled violently, following which all seven of the stars abruptly blurred before transforming into a ma.s.sive Fire Raven projection that swooped down from the heavens amid a clear cry.
An earth-shattering boom erupted, and tremors ran through the entirety of Deep Heaven City. A crimson mushroom cloud then rose up from beyond the city wall, swelling to over 100,000 feet tall.
Even from this far away, Han Li could still clearly see the devastating mushroom cloud, and it created quite an awe-inspiring sight to behold.
The scorching flames from the mushroom cloud were kept at bay by the golden light barrier, and it was as if two different worlds had appeared on either side of the barrier.
On one side, everything remained completely unchanged, while the other side had been completely transformed into a sea of flames.
The waves of fire surging out from the mushroom cloud stretched for hundreds of kilometers, and all of the devilish beasts swept up by the flames were instantly reduced to ashes without being able to offer any resistance.
As for those devilish humans, they were naturally able to resist somewhat with their devilish treasures to protect them, but there wasn"t enough time for them to escape an attack that covered such a vast area, and they were also quickly incinerated amid bloodcurdling cries of agony.
Meanwhile, a layer of dense spiritual light instantly appeared over the bodies of the five gargantuan devilish beasts to keep the flames at bay, but it was quite clear that they wouldn"t be able to last long in the face of such fearsomely high temperatures, either.
The giant black devilish bird quickly rose up into the air, and with just a single flap of its wings, it transformed into a ball of black light that flew back to several tens of kilometers away. After just a few more flashes, it had escaped outside the range of the entire sea of flames at an incredible speed.
The giant crimson ape stomped both of its feet violently into the ground, propelling itself up into the air like a reverse shooting star. It then transformed into a gust of fierce wind that swept away into the distance, forcibly parting all of the flames in its path.
Even though it was slightly slower than the black devilish bird, it wasn"t far behind and quickly escaped from the sea of flames as well.
As for the two white snails and three-headed purple python, they were clearly far more maladroit and were nowhere near as lucky.
Even though they were also traveling as quickly as they could, they only managed to cover several hundred kilometers of ground before the protective spiritual light around their bodies gave out, and they were also swept up by the flames amid thunderous howls of anguish.
Not long after the fall of these three gargantuan devilish beasts, two streaks of light, one purple and one green, rushed out of the sea of fire, then continued to fly away without any pause and only stopped after flying for close to 10,000 kilometers away.
These were none other than the purple-armored man and the green-robed elderly man. As a pair of Body Integration Stage devilish beings, they were able to escape with their lives despite that horrific attack.
However, judging from their charred clothes and singed hair, it was quite clear that it had been a very close call for them as well.
They turned back and cast their eyes toward the sea of flames with expressions of thunderous fury. The purple-armored man spat through gritted teeth, "I didn"t think that the humans would use this kind of attack against us; they sure do think highly of us!"
"Indeed, that was quite unexpected; the humans normally wouldn"t use this type of trump card against mere devilish beasts. An enormous amount of spiritual power would be required to unleash such an attack; have they really gathered that many spirit stones or is the leader of the human cultivators in this city just a madman?" the green-robed elderly man also murmured with his brows tightly furrowed.
"Hmph, who cares if the leader of the human cultivators has gone mad or not? The issue at hand is that all of the devilish beasts we brought with us have perished here with the exception of those two giant devilish beasts; we"re definitely going to be punished for this," the purple-armored man sighed in a resigned manner.
"That may not necessarily be the case. The mission we were a.s.signed is to test out this city"s defenses and try to provoke the most powerful attacks possible. We managed to goad them into unleas.h.i.+ng such a fearsome retaliative attack against us, so we"ve completed our mission with flying colors. As such, I"m sure that even if we do get punished, it won"t be a very severe punishment," the green-robed elderly man countered in a calm manner.
"I certainly hope so. Thank heavens we didn"t bring any of our race"s elite troops with us. Otherwise, our losses would"ve been far more severe," the purple-armored man said with a wry smile.
"There"s no need to be so depressed, Lord s.h.i.+; our army was only wiped out as we were completely unfamiliar with what defensive measures the humans had prepared. When we return, we definitely won"t fall for the same thing again," the green-robed elderly man consoled.
"Indeed, if I"m given another opportunity, I"m definitely going to exact my vengeance! I haven"t been reduced to such a sorry state for a very long time! For now, let"s go back and report our findings." The purple-armored man cast one final resentful glance at Deep Heaven City before flying away again, not waiting for a response from the elderly man.
The green-robed elderly man also cast a frosty glance at Deep Heaven City before giving a cold chuckle and flying away as well.
As for the two giant devilish beasts that had also managed to escape, they had been extremely alarmed by their near-death ordeal and continued to fly away in a blind panic even after emerging from the sea of flames.
In the blink of an eye, peace and quiet had returned to the area.
However, no one had noticed that on a mountain over several hundred kilometers away, there was a translucent crystal ball hovering high up in the air while incessantly flas.h.i.+ng with faint spiritual light.
At the same time, in one of the giant pyramids in a devilish city countless kilometers away, there were over 20 high-grade devilish beings seated in two rows on either side of a hall.
At the end of the hall was an inky-black chair, upon which sat a crimson-robed middle-aged man.
The man had a very graceful and handsome appearance, and he appeared to be completely identical to a normal human.
At the center of the hall was a head-sized crystal ball that was hovering in mid-air, and it was extremely similar in size and appearance to the one near Deep Heaven City. Within the crystal ball, the images of the sea of flames raging in front of Deep Heaven City were being depicted.
Everyone"s attention was focused on the scenes unfolding within the crystal ball, and the crimson-robed man remained completely expressionless, so it was impossible to tell what he was thinking, but all of the other high-grade devilish beings wore different expressions.
"Sacred Ancestor, Lord s.h.i.+ and Fellow Daoist Lü are truly useless; they lost all of their troops to a mere restriction! We must punish them severely when they get back," a handsome man with a short corkscrew horn on his head suddenly said in a cold voice.
"You"re being too harsh, Brother Ban. Fellow Daoist s.h.i.+ and Fellow Daoist Lü haven"t made any errors; even if we had led that army in person, the result would"ve still been the same. No one could"ve envisioned that the humans would retaliate in such a fierce manner. In any case, we managed to goad the humans into revealing one of their trump cards, and all it cost us were some low-grade devilish beasts. If you ask me, they should be rewarded for their efforts instead," a devilish man with a near-transparent face countered.
"I"m afraid I can"t agree with you there, Lord Xuan. Even though those low-grade devilish beasts are nothing more than cannon fodder, losing so many at once is still quite a heavy blow for us. On top of that, there were three rare giant devilish beasts that perished alongside them as well, and they hadn"t served any purpose before they were killed. If no punishment is given for something like this, then it would set a very bad example," the man with the short horn said with a hint of cold mockery in his eyes.
"Hmph, are you saying that you would"ve been able to do better, Brother Ban? We all know that you and Fellow Daoist s.h.i.+ are sworn enemies; who knows if you"re proposing a punishment for them for your own personal gain?" the devilish man with the transparent face chuckled coldly in response.
It was quite clear that they weren"t on good terms with one another, and all of the other high-grade devilish beings were displaying different reactions to their fiery exchange. Some remained expressionless and merely ignored their argument, some sighed with furrowed brows, and some looked on with their intrigued smiles on their faces.
Of course, there were also several other high-grade devilish beings who joined in on the debate, and the hall was quickly plunged into a chaotic state.
"That"s enough!" the crimson-robed man on the black chair yelled in an expressionless manner.
All of the arguing voices in the hall immediately died down, and the devilish beings who had partic.i.p.ated in the argument immediately extended respectful bows toward the crimson-robed man before falling silent.
"I"ll see to those two in person when they get back. I gathered all of you here to appraise the defenses of this Deep Heaven City, and to devise a strategy to conquer the city as quickly as possible. The other armies have all been mobilized now, and I don"t want to fall behind the others," the crimson-robed man said in a cold voice.