The woman"s spiritual sense was disrupted and as a result, her flying swords, which were previously on par with Han Li"s flying swords, grew significantly weaker.
Han Li abruptly injected more energy into his sword upon seeing that as the dozen or so Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords began to exude golden light in unison, while circling around the sluggish ice swords.
A loud cracking sound erupted as almost half of the ice swords were snapped in half by the golden flying swords.
The remaining few ice swords also dimmed significantly and began to emit an insistent anguished screech, seemingly as if they had been severely damaged.
The woman in white had just regained her senses and was stunned to see her magic treasures being destroyed. She threw up several mouthfuls of blood essence from the backlash, but had no time to pay any heed to her own condition as she hurriedly summoned all of the remaining flying swords back to herself.
Otherwise, if all of the flying swords were destroyed, she would sustain far more severe injuries.
However, Han Li had already sprung into action. He wasn"t going to allow her to simply withdraw her swords without an impediment.
He quickly raised his hand and pointed toward the flying swords in the distance. As a result, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately began to pursue the fleeing ice swords. At the same time, the flying swords without any opponents flew through the air at an extremely fearsome speed, circling around to in front of the ice swords. Thus, the remaining ice swords were sandwiched between the swarms of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Han Li activated his sword art again and just when he was preparing to completely destroy the ice swords with his own flying swords, a thunderous roar suddenly erupted from overhead.
"Don"t you dare!"
Two streaks of black light then flashed through the air as two fierce black wyrms emerged from the snowflakes overhead. Each of the wyrms was around 70 to 80 feet in length and were extremely ferocious.
Han Li"s expression remained calm, as if he had already predicted this attack in advance. He continued to activate his sword art with one hand while suddenly raising his other hand, producing a s.h.i.+ny red scroll in the process.
A burst of spiritual light erupted as the treasure was unfurled.
A clear cry rang out from within the scroll as over 100 ancient runes that were golden and silver in color flew forth from within. As soon as those ancient runes emerged, they swelled drastically in size before transforming into countless b.a.l.l.s of light as they met the oncoming the black wyrms.
The two wyrms didn"t hold back either as they blasted streaks of black light from their mouths relentlessly and dove into the swarm of ancient runes.
Loud booms rang out incessantly as golden and silver light erupted on the wyrms" bodies. Not only did they shatter the black light on the bodies of wyrms, they even managed to send the two wyrms tumbling through the air.
Each and every one of those gold and silver runes possessed devastating power and the two wyrms were unable to withstand such a fearsome bombardment, thereby forcing them to revert back to their true form, which was a pair of short black halberds.
Han Li was elated upon seeing this and instantly injected even more magic power into his scroll.
The red scroll abruptly fluttered as more ancient runes emerged from within, encompa.s.sing a vast expanse of s.p.a.ce overhead before shooting forth through the air.
Black light flashed as the green-robed middle-aged man was forced to reveal himself amid the ruins with a dark expression on his face. He immediately raised a hand to summon the two short halberds back to him before flipping over his palm, upon which a small green flag abruptly appeared.
The flag was only several inches in size but as it was waved through the air, the runes on its surface instantly began to surge, summoning gusts of violent gale-force winds as the green-robed man disappeared.
As such, all of the ancient runes struck empty air. Han Li faltered upon seeing this.
On the other end, Han Li"s attacks directed against Bai Mengxin had also come to no avail as she had gritted her teeth and suddenly produced a pristine white mirror.
She aimed the mirror at the streaks of golden light that were Han Li"s flying swords, and she only had to brandish the mirror before a cream-colored pillar of light shot forth from its surface. The streaks of golden light were caught off guard and upon being illuminated by the pillar of light, layers of frosty ice began to appear on the swords. Most of the flying swords were thus sealed in blocks of ice.
Only then did the remaining few ice swords manage to escape and were instantly absorbed into Bai Mengxin"s body.
Han Li turned his gaze toward her and harrumphed coldly as he pointed toward the distance several times in quick succession.
Loud thunderclaps immediately erupted from the small golden swords as thin arcs of lightning surfaced along the swords. The blocks of Profound Ice were shattered by the might of the Divine Devilbane Lightning, and the flying swords were instantly freed.
Bai Mengxin"s expression changed drastically upon seeing this as she immediately turned her mirror toward Han Li.
A loud rumbling erupted behind Han Li as a pair of silver wings appeared. He merely spread and flapped the wings slightly before he disappeared amid a burst of silver light.
Bai Mengxin"s faltered upon seeing this and almost at the exact same moment, a violent gust of wind swept past her. An arm abruptly reached out from within the wind, latching on her arm and dragging her within. The wind then dissipated and she completely disappeared.
In the next instant, a silver arc of light flashed as Han Li emerged where Bai Mengxin had been hovering just a moment ago.
He looked at the empty air around him and a dark expression appeared on his face as a blue light flashed through his eyes. He abruptly raised a hand and a black streak of light shot forth from within his sleeve before disappearing in a split second.
A black streak of light abruptly flashed through the air several hundred feet away, upon which a m.u.f.fled groan rang out as a severed arm appeared, seemingly from thin air, followed by a stumbling green-robed figure. It was none other than the green-robed middle-aged man!
This man was clearly also quite a vicious character; even though one of his arms had been forcibly amputated, his other arm shot forth like lightning, grabbing onto the severed arm as he disappeared amid another gust of gale-force winds.
A cold light flashed through Han Li"s eyes, but he didn"t manipulate the black streak of light to keep pursuing that man. Instead, he raised a hand and the black streak of light disappeared on the spot before instantly reappearing in front of Han Li, as if by teleportation. It was a dagger that was several inches in length with inky-black light s.h.i.+mmering along its surface. This dagger was none other than the Devil Essence Dagger that was meant to be used by the humanoid puppet.
Han Li then hovered amid the wind and snow, constantly surveying his surroundings expressionlessly. Blue light was s.h.i.+mmering relentlessly within his eyes, as if he were searching for something.
Outside the illusion technique, elsewhere in the formation spell, the green-robed middle-aged man was hurriedly pressing his severed arm against his wound before quickly applying several talismans. A burst of white light circulated around the wound and the arm was reattached to his body.
The gree-robed man heaved a long sigh of relief after reattaching his arm. He then turned to Bai Mengxin with a concerned look as he said, "What a peculiar treasure. It appears that Junior Martial Sister Mengyao really wasn"t exaggerating; this cultivator with the Han surname really is extremely powerful. Junior Martial Sister Mengxin, are you alright?"
A heated flush appeared on Bai Mengxin"s pale face, and her voice was a little hoa.r.s.e as she said, "I"m fine. Even though my magic treasure was damaged, I managed to retain almost half of them, so all is not lost. However, I won"t be able to summon these Profound Ice Swords in battle again. Senior Martial Brother, restrictions are completely ineffective against this man, and he seems to possess an ability that allows him to see through illusion techniques! We tried to use the power of the restriction to obscure our presence, but it was completely ineffective."
Master Arctic Dragon"s entire body was glowing with blue light, but the golden light in his eyes was slowly receding as he said calmly, "I saw everything that happened just then; this opponent is indeed one that is not to be taken lightly. If it weren"t for the fact that the Heavenvoid Cauldron were concerned, I really wouldn"t want to make such a powerful enemy. However, we"ve made our decision already and there"s no going back. I"ve already dispelled the final shred of backlash from the world"s origin Qi. Next, you two will only have to a.s.sist me and I"ll put an end to this man"s life. In my current condition, I should be able to temporarily control all of the Profound Jade’s glacial Qi in the cave, albeit with some difficulty. No matter how powerful this man is, there"s no way he"ll be able to withstand such a vast amount of Profound Jade’s glacial Qi."
The green-robed middle-aged man was quite surprised to hear this. "But if you do that, we won"t be able to access the Profound Jade Cave for the next 1,000 years!"
Bai Mengxin"s expression also changed slightly.
Master Arctic Dragon looked into the distance at Han Li, who was trapped within the restriction, with a remarkably calm expression on his face. "There"s no helping it. You two have just fought him so you would have experienced his power firsthand. He"s clearly extremely proficient in the art of formation spells and all of his treasures and abilities are extremely dangerous. Aside from the Heavenvoid Cauldron, he also appears to have a spirit treasure replica fan that is also very difficult to deal with. Only through summoning the power of the entire Profound Jade Cave would I have absolute confidence in killing him. In comparison with the Heavenvoid Cauldron, not being able to access the Profound Jade Cave is a small price to pay."
The green-robed man and Bai Mengxin were still a little hesitant, but they didn"t speak further on the matter.
Master Arctic Dragon flipped his palm over and a Profound Jade badge abruptly appeared in his hand.
The mysterious runes on the badge were flas.h.i.+ng incessantly and there was an image of an ice-breathing Qilin carved onto the back.
Just as he was about to use the badge to prepare an attack, he took a cursory glance at Han Li, upon which his expression abruptly changed drastically.
"We"ve got trouble! He"s discovered the location of the formation core and is about to break free! You two, hurry and fortify the formation spell; buy me as much time as possible through any means necessary!"
The green-robed man"s expression also changed upon hearing this as he turned his attention to Han Li.
Sure enough, Han Li was making hand seals in the illusion technique and a huge golden sword several tens of feet in length had appeared above his head. There were countless arcs of lightning flas.h.i.+ng over its surface as it slowly came cras.h.i.+ng down toward a certain spot in the restriction.
The green-robed man"s heart jolted with shock and he knew that he had to act quickly. His sleeve flapped through the air as a green and yellow ball of light shot forth, hurtling directly toward the huge sword.
Bai Mengxin also raised a hand and the white mirror that had sealed Han Li"s swords in ice not too long ago appeared again. The surface of the mirror s.h.i.+mmered as several pillars of cream-colored light surged forth violently, aiming directly at Han Li.
It appeared that she was trying to attack Han Li so he would be forced to defend himself rather than target the formation core.
As for Master Arctic Dragon, he began to chant as the Profound Jade rose into the air. White light flashed along its surface, transforming it into a ball of dazzling light. Within the ball of light, the silhouette of a spirit beast was slowly taking shape.
At this moment, Han Li"s golden sword was already gathering speed as it came cras.h.i.+ng down.
He was extremely well-versed in the art of formation spells and that, in conjunction with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, made it an extremely simple task for him to break through a mere illusion technique.
However, in the next instant, the green and yellow ball of light appeared beneath his huge sword. At the same time, several pillars of cream-colored light came hurtling toward him from the wind and snow. Han Li"s lips twitched in response as a deriding sneer appeared on his face.