Chapter 2186: Beetle Revolt
However, the lightning ball naturally wasn"t going to stop for anyone, and it continued to descend into the swarm of beetles.
Black and white lightning flashed violently, and many of the Gold Devouring Beetles were charred black before falling like rain out of the sky.
Even though Gold Devouring Beetles possessed virtually indestructible bodies, some of the weaker ones had still been dealt a heavy blow by the fearsome tribulation lightning, and even though they didn"t perish, they were knocked unconscious as a result.
As for the remaining Gold Devouring Beetles and beetle monarch candidates, they immediately awakened from their disoriented state after the bombardment of lightning.
The beetle monarch candidates let loose sharp cries, and all of the Gold Devouring Beetles instantly surged toward the ball of lightning, forming a s.h.i.+mmering golden ball around it before devouring the lightning with all their might.
In retaliation, even more arcs of lightning appeared on the surface of the ball of lightning before las.h.i.+ng out at the swarm of beetles.
Thus, the ball of lightning began to rapidly shrink from being devoured, but more and more Gold Devouring Beetles were being knocked unconscious before falling out of the sky.
After the span of just a few breaths, all of the normal mature Gold Devouring Beetles had fallen unconscious, with only the dozen or so Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles still clinging on doggedly while continuing to devour lightning with all their might.
However, the ball of lightning paid no heed to the Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles and continued to crash down toward Han Li.
At this point, the ball of lightning had already been reduced to only around a quarter of its initial size, but even so, it was still several tens of feet in diameter and imbued with astonis.h.i.+ng power.
Having been bought some time by the Gold Devouring Beetles, Han Li had managed to complete his Second Nirvana Transformation.
In the face of the descending ball of lightning, Han Li let loose an earth-shattering roar, and his body expanded drastically to several thousand feet in size as he reached up with all four of his substantial hands in unison.
Layers of silver spirit patterns immediately surfaced all over his body, then converged toward his four arms, forming a series of silver formations of different sizes.
All of a sudden, the silver light on Han Li"s six arms faded, and a set of s.h.i.+mmering silver armor appeared, covering all of his arms from shoulder to fingertips.
Upon closer inspection, one would discover that the armor was constructed from countless extremely beautiful scales, upon each of which was engraved a miniature formation that was giving off a mysterious aura.
Han Li had unleashed his Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra alongside his Holy Nirvana Physique and 12 Awakening Transformations, and this was the first time that he had ever done this.
Upon sensing the terrifying power that had gathered within his own body, Han Li was instilled with a great deal of confidence.
He drew back his four silver-armored hands, then slowly thrust them through the air, sending a sharp shriek erupting throughout the surrounding area.
His four hands then blurred as four ma.s.sive silver hand projections appeared out of thin air before striking the descending ball of lightning in unison.
Another earth-shattering boom ran out, and the giant hand projections clawed their fingers into the ball of lightning like silver hooks, while enormous power poured out of their palms to compress the ball of lightning from all sides.
The ball of lightning shrank rapidly in the face of the tremendous compression force, but it was also las.h.i.+ng out against the four giant hand projections with bolts of black and white lightning.
With every lightning strike that the ma.s.sive silver hands projections endured, the light in the eyes of the giant ape down below would dim slightly, and its aura would also wane by a fraction.
In the blink of an eye, the four giant hand projections were struck by hundreds of bolts of lightning, and Han Li"s aura had been whittled down by almost half.
However, right at this moment, Han Li let loose a thunderous roar, and the huge silver palm projections swelled to around twice their original size.
The four hands then spread their fingers before exerting a death grip around the entire ball of lightning, releasing a burst of piercing silver light while completely disregarding the retaliating bolts of lightning.
Countless five-colored runes surged out of the silver light, and the compression force exerted upon the ball of lightning abruptly increased by severalfold, causing it to explode.
Following the explosion, countless bolts of black and white lightning lashed out at everything in the surrounding area in a frenzy, and the four giant silver hand projections were instantly pulverized.
Han Li immediately threw up a mouthful of blood essence, and the armor on his four arms also shattered before disintegrating into specks of silver light.
Without any further obstacles standing in their way, all of the remaining bolts of black and white lightning descended upon Han Li like a torrential storm, instantly inundating his giant ape body.
The ma.s.sive ape swayed unsteadily in the face of the ferocious lightning strikes, but managed to steady itself in the end as the surrounding earth tremored violently.
After several rounds of bombardment, the black and white lightning finally exhausted all of its power, leaving the ground down below severely ravaged and injuries riddling Han Li"s entire body.
At this moment, most of Han Li"s purplish-golden scales had been torn away, revealing huge patches of charred-black golden fur, presenting an extremely sorry sight to behold.
Following the explosion of the black and white ball of lightning, the giant hole up above silently disappeared.
Thus, a peculiar silence descended upon the basin, and there was nothing left in the sky aside from the dense blanket of dark clouds.
"Haha, the true lightning tribulation really is as fearsome as the rumors suggest, but it"s still not enough to kill me..." A burst of hearty laughter suddenly ran out from down below, and the spirit patterns, golden scales, and azure horn on Han Li"s body quickly disappeared as he reverted back to his human form.
After that, Han Li slowly rose to his feet, then began to inspect his own body.
At this point, his face was completely devoid of color, but all of the wounds on his body had vanished without a trace, having been instantaneously healed by his insane regenerative abilities as he had undone his own transformation.
Of course, his internal injuries were actually still quite severe, and it would take him a long time to completely recover from them.
Right at this moment, a burst of loud buzzing suddenly rang out up above, and Han Li faltered slightly before looking upward.
There, he discovered the Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles flying through the air, completely unscathed.
As these beetle monarch candidates let loose this peculiar buzzing sound, loud buzzing also erupted from the ground as one unconscious golden beetle after another rose up into the air before gathering around the beetle monarch candidates in separate groups. On top of that, all of the groups were displaying intense hostility toward one another.
This was quite an alarming sight to Han Li, and he immediately tried to instruct all of the beetles to return to him, but his heart quickly sank as not even a single beetle heeded his call.
A grim look appeared on Han Li"s face, and just as he was about to unleash a secret technique to forcibly withdraw the spirit beetles, the dozen or so swarms of Gold Devouring Beetles suddenly began to attack the nearest swarm led by the beetle monarch candidates.
Tens of thousands of Gold Devouring Beetles converged to form a ma.s.sive golden cloud, then began to viciously tear at and devour one another amid a burst of loud rustling.
The dozen or so Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles were also devouring all of the nearby Gold Devouring Beetles in a frenzy, swallowing an entire beetle whole in just a few bites.
A peculiar look appeared in Han Li"s eyes upon seeing this, and he suddenly paused in what he was doing.
Just as he was at a slight loss for what to do, a burst of unsettling cries suddenly rang out from within the dark clouds up above, following which countless b.a.l.l.s of black light surged out in a frenzy.
Upon closer inspection, one would discover that these b.a.l.l.s of black light contained projections of ghostly heads. These projections were all of different sizes and colors, and their cries were of various different pitches, but all of them struck the listener with a sense of disorientation.
"There"s a Heavenly Devilish Monarch here!"
Han Li"s pupils contracted upon seeing this, and his expression darkened as he cast his gaze upward, paying no further heed to the warring swarms of beetles.
Almost at the exact same moment, the dark clouds up above surged violently, and a burst of delightful heavenly music rang out as grey threads of light emerged, then converged to form a grey mirror-like projection. Within the projection were halos of grey light, all of which slowly shone down toward Han Li.
The grey light in the giant mirror flashed slightly, and Han Li"s vision abruptly blurred, following which he found himself in a completely unfamiliar world.