Chapter 1118: The Myriad Demon Flag and Old Devil Che
The golden light manifested from his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords danced like wagon wheels, keeping all of the surrounding demonic Qi at bay.
Seeing as the demonic didn't appear to be as difficult to deal with as he had imagined, Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief. However, his expression was still quite grave as he looked around incessantly.
Unfortunately, there was nothing around him aside from murky darkness.
"Your flying swords aren't bad at all. I'll take them and play with them for a while." A surprised elderly voice sounded from somewhere within the darkness. It was quite clear that the being who had held Han Li captive in this treasure had developed an interest in his swords.
Han Li faltered initially upon hearing this before a cold smile appeared on his face. He raised his hands and a ball of three-colored lightly abruptly slid out of his sleeve. The spiritual light receded and the Triflame Fan was revealed in his hand.
His opponent was clearly quite powerful, so Han Li had no choice but to take this battle seriously.
Right after the Triflame Fan appeared in his hand, the demonic Qi overhead suddenly began to tremor violently amid a loud howling sound. Demonic Qi tumbled like turbulent waves, creating a massive vortex in mid-air.
The vortex was completely pitch-black in color with a radius of over 100 feet. As soon as it emerged, it immediately began to rotate rapidly while emitting a sharp screeching noise.
A vast expanse of black light then shot forth from the center of the vortex, sweeping directly toward Han Li.
Han Li's heart jolted with shock upon seeing this and he knew that he had been plunged into a perilous situation. As such, he immediately made a hand seal to activate his sword arts.
A crisp ringing sound erupted from the golden light around him and the golden swords suddenly converged, forming a golden lotus flower that was constantly swirling with light as it slowly began to rotate.
Right at this moment, the black light came tumbling down and inundated the entire golden lotus flower.
As soon as the two made contact with one another, the sound of countless swords and blades clashing erupted, creating a very disturbing chorus of chaotic sounds that disrupted one's cognitive functions.
Han Li was abruptly struck by a sense of dizziness and at the same time, an immense force began to draw the golden lotus formed by his flying swords upward, trying to wrest it away from Han Li's control.
Han Li's expression changed slightly as he began to circulate all of the magic power within his body.
If he were an average mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, he really wouldn't be able to prevent his magic treasure from being wrenched away by this enormous suction force. However, after cultivating the Azure Essence Sword Art, his cultivation base was a lot more powerful than that of cultivators of the same stage. Furthermore, his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword had been refined on several occasions with rare materials added each time, thereby making it a treasure that normal magic treasures simply couldn't hold a candle to.
As Han Li activated his magic power and sword art with all his might, the golden lotus was finally able to withstand this burst of suction force. Even so, it was tremoring violently as it rotated incessantly, keeping the black light erupting from the vortex at bay.
At this moment, Han Li brandished his feather fan without any hesitation before waving it toward the vortex up above with a grave expression.
Three pillars of fire erupted from the fan amid a spluttering sound, crashing directly into the black light descending from above.
A quick succession of explosions rang out as the three-colored flames struck the black light, creating an effect that was akin to cold water being poured into hot oil.
It was clear that the three-colored flames were far more powerful than the black light and the pillars of fire were only stalled for a split second before easily vanquishing the black light. The flames then shot forth into the vortex up above, upon which they abruptly disappeared.
Han Li's brows furrowed as he looked up at the vortex overhead with rapt focus.
Moments later, a ringing sound began to emit from the center of the vortex and the black light around it began to swell and contract. An earthshattering boom erupted from its center.
All of the demonic Qi in a radius of several hundred feet surged toward it as if in a maddened frenzy, and the vortex disappeared amid a burst of brilliant black light.
Han Li's expression was quite grim as he stowed away is Triflame Fan. Even though he had vanquished the black vortex, there was no hint of joy or triumph on his face.
After all, that attack alone had expended close to 20% of his magic power and it didn't appear to have hurt his opponent at all.
"That's a spirit treasure replica? So it's you! Is your surname Han?" The elderly voice sounded again, this time tinged with a hint of surprise.
"How do you know about me?" Han Li's expression stirred slightly. He felt like he already knew the answer to that question, but he still decided to ask it anyway.
"Hehe! Your feather fan spirit treasure is far too easily recognizable. I heard you foiled one of my plans back on the Kunwu Mountain; what are you doing here in the North Night Palace now?" the elder voice asked.
"Kunwu Mountain? You're Fellow Daoist Che from the Myriad Demon Valley?" Han Li's heart jolted and his expression changed upon making that realization. He didn't know much about the Myriad Demon Valley, but it was naturally impossible for him not have heard about this valley master of the Myriad Demon Valley. Most people were oblivious to his true cultivation base, but even that Myriad Year Corpse Xiong was at the late-Nascent Soul Stage so according to Han Li's estimation, this old demon was most likely one of the few Deity Transformation cultivators in the human world.
Otherwise, the Myriad Demon Valley would've been wiped off the face of the Great Jin countless times already.
"That's right! I heard from Master Xiong that you have some sort of connection with Fairy Ling Long, who is an acquaintance of mine, and that you went to the ninth level of the Devil Suppressing Pagoda with her. Now that the perfect devil Qi on the ninth level has been sealed again you've appeared here safe and sound, Fairy Ling Long must have returned to the Spirit Realm already." At the mention of the Spirit Realm, the elderly voice trembled slightly as if with excitement as well as a hint of fear.
"Ling Long has indeed returned to the Spirit Realm using the Star Defying Plate. You know her?" Han Li asked with an uncertain expression on his face. At the same time, spiritual light flashed in his hand as he surreptitiously summoned the green wooden ruler. In his other hand, the fire cauldron that had been shrunk to only several inches in size also appeared.
The elderly voice suddenly cooled as it said, "I was just a nobody in the Spirit Realm who saw her occasionally from afar. Fairy Ling Long must have left something with you, right? I presume that you also have the Eight Spirit Ruler spirit treasure, right? Don't try to tell me the ruler was taken to the Spirit Realm by Fairy Ling Long. Unless it's been refined by the Artifact Imprint Technique, there's no way it could be taken to another realm through the boundary between realms."
Han Li's eyelids twitched but he didn't say anything. However, he unconsciously tightened his grip around the green wooden ruler in his sleeve.
"So what is it? Is my question difficult to answer or are you simply unwilling to answer?" The elderly voice became even more forbidding. At the same time, a burst of powerful spiritual Qi erupted from the surrounding demonic Qi, pressing down upon Han Li with immense force.
This fearsome cultivation base was something that could only belong to a true tenth grade demon beast, but Han Li's spiritual sense wasn't inferior to that of a late-Nascent Soul cultivator. As such, his body only swayed slightly before he was able to right himself and withstand the pressure crashing down from above.
"Hmm? You..." The elderly voice was slightly surprised this time.
Upon sensing this burst of vast spiritual pressure, Han Li narrowed his eye as a streak of light erupted from his pupils.
Han Li exhaled as a peculiar look appeared on his face, and he said, "I heard that you've been in seclusion for countless years in the Myriad Demon Valley and wouldn't leave unless if it were to take care of matters of the utmost importance. As such, the being here is not your actual body, am I correct? After all, how could the mightly Old Devil Che possess only so little spiritual power?"
"So what?" The elderly voice was completely cold and expressionless.
"I have no interest in your conflict with the North Night Palace and I have no intention of interfering with this matter. I only want to leave this place using the teleportation formation here. If you don't want me to join forces with the North Night Palace cultivators, then I suggest you let me go!" Han Li had also discarded all pretense of politeness as he threatened in a cold voice.
As long as there weren't any Deity Transformation cultivators around, he had nothing to fear.
Old Devil Che burst into raucous laughter before threatening in a sinister voice, "Haha, I haven't been threatened like this for many, many years. I heard from Master Xiong that our Divine Devilbane Lightning is quite powerful, but Divine Devilbane Lightning is only effective against demonic Qi. Do you really think you're a match for me now that you're trapped in my Myriad Demon Flag? If you don't want your body and soul to be destroyed, hand over the Eight Spirit Ruler and everything else that Fairy Ling Long left to you. If I'm in a good mood, I might consider letting you live."
Han Li heaved an internal sigh. It appeared that this Old Devil Che didn't see him as a threat at all and wouldn't let him leave without a fight.
The Myriad Demon Flag was something that he had heard about on many occasions. It was an extremely renowned replica that was closest to a true Divine Spirit Treasure. As such, it was no wonder that this old devil would be so confident in his ability to crush Han Li.
Seeing as negotiations were clearly going to get him nowhere, Han Li didn't waste any more time with words. He immediately raised his hand a ball of red light shot forth. It spun in the air before hovering several tens of feet above his head, where it remained, completely stationary.
That ball of red light was none other than the nameless fire cauldron.
Han Li made a hand seal and began to chant something.
Brilliant light erupted from the cauldron as it swelled drastically in size, reaching several tens of feet in diameter in the blink of an eye. At Han Li's behest, the lid of the cauldron came flying off. A ringing sound erupted from within the cauldron, following which fist-sized Fire Ravens rushed into the air. There were over 1,000 Fire Ravens summoned at once and they surrounded Han Li to create a vast expanse of red light.
Han Li didn't dare to underestimate the Myriad Demon Flag's power, so he unleashed all of the fire cauldron's power at once.
Not only that, but the Greatyin Fire Raven on his shoulder had also disappeared as it mingled with its brethren. Its appearance was completely identical to all of the other Fire Ravens, so no one else would be able to tell the difference.
Right at this moment, Han Li's chanting came to a halt. He let loose a low cry and all of the Fire Ravens began to blast crimson flame out of their beaks.
In the blink of an eye, waves of fire that were several tens of feet tall swept up around Han Li before crashing toward the nearby demonic Qi.
The entire space was transformed into a crimson sea of flames, elevating the surrounding temperature drastically!
As the demonic Qi made contact with the sea of fire, they immediately began to clash amid explosive booms akin to thunderclaps. Slowly but surely, the sea of fire was able to force back the surrounding demonic Qi.
"You think you can escape from my Myriad Demon Flag with such a pitiful trick? Stop daydreaming!" Old Devil Che chuckled coldly before unleashing a long howl that was surely audible even high up in the heavens.