However, just as golden light was beginning to flash from the blade segment, a loud cry that was filled with excitement and impatience suddenly rang out from within his sleeve.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, and a peculiar look appeared on his face before he immediately swept a sleeve through the air.
A strange cry rang out as a black bracelet flew out of his sleeve, and a streak of black light erupted from within it.
The black light then faded to reveal a small black monkey that appeared before Han Li; it was none other than the Weeping Soul Beast!
However, the Weeping Soul Beast was clearly far different from how it normally was at the moment. Before Han Li had even issued any instructions to it using his spiritual sense, it let loose a thunderous roar, and black light swirled around its body as it swelled drastically to become a ma.s.sive black ape that was over 300 feet tall.
The Weeping Soul Beast"s eyes took on a crimson color, and it thumped its ma.s.sive fists into its chest as it bared its sharp fangs. At the same time, a strange horn had sprouted from its head, and it had transformed into a ma.s.sive three-eyed ghostly being.
There were also three black bone spikes on its back that were extremely terrifying to behold.
"Xing Beast!"
A sharp cry of horror suddenly rang out within the darkness, and all of the miniature black-robed figures instantly disappeared as clouds of black Qi.
Han Li"s eyes widened with surprise upon witnessing this unexpected development, and he was also rather confused.
At this point, the giant ghostly being that was the Weeping Soul Beast seemed to have lost all semblance of sanity. After letting loose a thunderous roar of fury, spiritual light suddenly flashed from its third demonic eye, following which a crimson pillar of light pierced into the darkness up ahead in a flash.
A strange sound rang out, and Han Li was given quite a fright by what happened next.
Several hundred feet away, something appeared directly in the path of the pillar of crimson light, and the latter instantly transformed into a crimson chain.
The chain wound itself tightly around the object that had just appeared, following a loud thunderclap rang out as arcs of crimson lightning erupted from the chain.
A howl of anguish immediately rang out from the end of the chain, and a ball of black Qi with a radius of several tens of feet was forced to reveal itself amid flashes of crimson lightning.
The crimson chain immediately became very excited and instantly wound itself in a few more loops around the cloud of black Qi, as if it had captured a rare delicacy.
Rumbling thunderclaps erupted, and the black Qi howled incessantly, seemingly extremely fearful toward the arcs of crimson lightning. In just the span of a few breaths, it adopted a dozen or so different forms to try and escape with all its might.
The black-robed man and the black Kirin were among the forms that it adopted.
However, all of its efforts were completely in vain as every form it adopted was shattered by the arcs of crimson lightning, thereby reducing it to a cloud of black Qi over and over again.
Furthermore, the crimson chains adhered tightly to the ball of black Qi, refusing to allow it to escape. Thus, the black Qi could only thrash violently while howling in agony and fury.
Right at this moment, the Weeping Soul Beast sprang into action again. It suddenly made a grabbing motion behind it with one of its huge furry hands, and one of the three black bone spikes on its back suddenly disappeared without any premonition.
In the next instant, black light flashed from the Weeping Soul Beast"s hand, and the bone spike appeared in its grasp.
It then began to chant an incantation that Han Li had never heard before, and rows of s.h.i.+mmering golden text suddenly appeared over the bone spike, creating quite a mystical sight to behold.
The bone spike then began to tremor gently while emitting a buzzing sound, and it was also expanding at a gradual rate.
At the same time, golden waves surged backward from the tip of the spike, and a burst of scintillating golden light erupted. Some of the golden runes on the bone spike also appeared in the air nearby, hovering around in an unsteady manner.
Right in the instant when those runes had appeared, a burst of bone-chilling baleful Qi erupted from the bone spike.
"Golden seal text!" Han Li exclaimed in astonishment.
At the same time, a stunned voice also rang out from within the cloud of black Qi. "Heavenly Punishment Divine Spear!"
The difference was that Han Li was only purely shocked, yet the voice within the black Qi was filled with both shock and horror.
Countless thoughts raced through Han Li"s mind, yet before he could make sense of what was happening, a sudden turn of events abruptly.
Golden light suddenly began to swirl unsteadily around the cloud of black Qi, following which it rapidly shrank before quickly swelling again.
A dull thump then rang out as the cloud of black Qi self-detonated, and an inky-black halo emerged, forcing the crimson chains away.
Countless streaks of black light then took advantage of this opportunity to escape from those chains,
In this dire situation, the monstrous face had self-detonated most of its soul so that a small portion of it could escape.
However, an incredible scene then immediately ensued.
The crimson chains suddenly blurred after being forced back, then transformed into several tens of crimson threads that shot forth in a flash. Each and every crimson thread pierced through a streak of black light with unerring accuracy and incredible speed.
All of these streaks of black light were forced to revert back to b.a.l.l.s of black Qi amid anguished wails, and at the same time, they were immobilized in mid-air.
The crimson threads then converged and forcibly gathered all of the black Qi in one place, following which they transformed into a thick crimson chain that bound the cloud of black Qi again.
Immediately thereafter, the bone spike in the Weeping Soul Beast"s hand was hurled through the air as a streak of golden light.
It wasn"t traveling all that quickly, but the cloud of black Qi was completely immobilized, so it was unable to take any evasive measures. All of a sudden, an unfamiliar face suddenly appeared out of the black Qi.
In contrast with the white monstrous face from before, this face was of five different colors and had a pair of horns growing on its forehead. The entire face had been enshrouded within a ball of scorching crimson flames, and there were two b.a.l.l.s of rapidly revolving silver light within the black eyesocket,s striking the beholder with a dizzying sensation.
The monstrous face from before bore a slight resemblance to a human face, but this was a devilish face the likes of which Han Li had never seen before.
"Please spare me and stop that Xing Beast, esteemed immortal! I am a soul fragment of a Heavenly Devilish Sovereign, and I"m willing to submit to you and become your devilish servant!" The devilish face was completely desperate at this point, and was grasping at the final straw that could perhaps save its life.
"Heavenly Devilish Sovereign?" Han Li was quite startled to hear this, and he was rather tempted by this offer. However, he then cast his gaze toward the Weeping Soul Beast, and he could only heave a resigned sigh.
The Weeping Soul Beast had completely cut off its spiritual connection with him, and it seemed that it had been acting on pure instinct this entire time, so how was he supposed to control it?
Thus, the devilish face could only look on in despair as the bone spike pierced through its glabella, and scintillating golden light erupted from the puncture wound in a frenzy.
In the next instant, the golden light enveloped the devilish face, which instantly completely stiffened as if it had been turned into stone.
Following a crisp crack, the devilish face shattered with the golden hole at the center, disintegrating into countless five-colored fragments that hovered in a stationary manner within the black Qi.
The Weeping Soul Beast"s eyes lit up, and it let loose a cold harrumph to expel a burst of yellow light out of its large nostrils.
The yellow light swept forth to collect the black Qi and the fragments of the devilish face, then drew it all back into the Weeping Soul Beast"s waiting mouth.
The crimson chains disappeared thereafter, and the bone spike that had just been hurled suddenly reappeared on the Weeping Soul Beast"s back. However, the golden seal text on its had disappeared, and the black light emanating from it had also dimmed to the point that it was almost non-existence.
Much to Han Li"s surprise, right after devouring the devilish face, the crimson light faded from the Weeping Soul Beast"s eyes, and it blinked as if it were confused about how it had gotten here, then slumped to the ground, completely unconscious.
A layer of black light surged over its ma.s.sive body, and it reverted back to its small black monkey form, which was only around a foot in size.
At the same time, the spiritual connection Han Li had with the beast was restored.
Han Li faltered momentarily before sweeping his spiritual sense toward the little monkey, and he was quite shocked to discover that the Weeping Soul Beast"s energy and spiritual sense had been completely drained, as if it had just endured a fierce battle for three days and three nights.
Han Li was rather bewildered by this situation, and he simply couldn"t make sense of what had just happened.
The Weeping Soul Beast"s strange transformation and the devilish face"s claim that it was the soul fragment of a Heavenly Devilish Sovereign all had him feeling quite confused.
Furthermore, the fact that the devilish face seemed to have recognized the Weeping Soul Beast and referred to it as a Xing Beast only further exacerbated his befuddlement.
However, he was also aware that this was not the time to be searching for answers as all of a sudden, the black s.p.a.ce around him began to shatter amid violent tremors.
A ray of white light shone into this s.p.a.ce, and Han Li"s brows furrowed as he inspected his surroundings, only to find that there was no true Kirin essence to be seen.
He abruptly swept a sleeve through the air to stow the Weeping Soul Beast away ups his sleeve, then swayed and disappeared on the spot.
In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted in the air several thousand feet above the ground, and Han Li appeared amid a flash of azure light.
Down below was a grey face that was several thousand feet in size. The face was missing large chunks, and it was quickly collapsing in the wind.
Han Li quickly inspected his surroundings through narrowed eyes to find that Xian Xian was hovering in mid-air some distance below him. She had been completely immobilized before, but she seemed to be fine now.
There were several s.h.i.+mmering white flying sabers hovering around her, and she was looking on at the scenes unfolding before her eyes with astonishment etched on her face.
Not far away from her stood the silver-armored man with his hands clasped behind his back. There was a silver wyrm projection above his head, and the two of them seemed to be engaged in a tense confrontation.
Xian Xian took a deep breath before asking, "Brother Han, did you manage to kill the cave spirit?"
The silver-armored man was also appraising him with a hint of bewilderment in his eyes.
"Why do you ask? Is it so incredible to the two of you that I managed to kill that thing?" Han Li asked in an indifferent voice.
Xian Xian quickly recomposed herself before replying with a smile, "Of course not. I"m simply overawed that you were able to kill it so quickly, Brother Han."
Han Li merely smiled and didn"t offer any explanation.
At this moment, the silver-armored man suddenly asked in a cold voice, "Seeing as you"ve killed the cave spirit, where"s the true Kirin essence? Have you obtained it already?"