Chapter 1121: Might of the Ice Phoenix
Even though Han Li was a little suspicious about how this Ice Phoenix was related to the Glacial Phoenix Flames, he didn't think too much about this matter. Instead, he felt that it was rather strange how Old Devil Che wasn't helping out the Ice Phoenix, but had chosen to suck himself into the Myriad Demon Flag instead.
That woman was clearly the palace master of the North Night Palace, the other late-Nascent Soul cultivator of the North Night Palace.
It appeared that she was significantly weaker than Master Arctic Dragon. At the very least, she had never cultivated any glacial flames. Otherwise, with the assistance of two mid-Nascent Soul cultivators, they wouldn't be struggling so arduously against a tenth grade Ice Phoenix.
The Ice Phoenix's white glacial flames were simply far too powerful. After the three North Night Palace cultivators were swept up in the flames, their powers were immediately debilitated drastically.
This was quite an eye-opening sight for Han Li. It was the first time that he had been made aware of the fact that glacial flames could be so powerful. The flames being unleashed by this Ice Phoenix were almost powerful enough to defy the natural order of heaven and earth!
In such a perilous situation for the three North Night Palace cultivators, Old Devil Che could easily step in and crush the three of them with the phoenix by his side.
Could it be that the Ice Phoenix and Old Devil Che didn't see eye to eye, so he didn't dare to emerge from the Myriad Demon Flag?
That was the only plausible explanation that Han Li could think of.
However, right at this moment, a surprising incident took place.
The demonic Qi around the massive flag in the air began to tumble as a section of a dead body and several damaged treasures fell from the flag, plummeting straight down into the hall.
Han Li was caught by surprise and given a fright, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that the incomplete corpse was clothed in North Night Palace attire, and it appeared that they had been quite a high-ranking cultivator in the palace; most likely a Nascent Soul elder.
A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this. Only then did he realize that he wasn't the only one to have been trapped in the Myriad Demon Flag; there were other North Night Palace cultivators trapped in there as well. It was no wonder that the flag was hovering in mid-air, but was only guarding this entrance.
Han Li was wondering how long those North Night Palace cultivators had been trapped in the flag.
Those who had lasted until this point without being killed in the Myriad Demon Flag had most likely unleashed some types of secret techniques that allowed them to temporarily contend with the might of the flag. Otherwise, with the might of Old Devil Che in conjunction with the power of the Myriad Demon Flag, there was no way that those cultivators could've lasted this long.
However, as long as there were still cultivators left unkilled in the flag, Old Devil Che most likely wouldn't be able to use the flag to pursue Han Li.
With that in mind, Han Li was greatly relieved as he continued to carefully examine the rest of the hall.
It didn't take long before he caught sight of a tall jade platform.
The platform was over 1,000 feet in width and 60 to 70 feet tall. From a distance, Han Li could see that there were three teleportation formations lined up next to one another on the platform, one of which was large while the other two were relatively smaller.
Han Li was ecstatic and just as he was about to spring into action, a peculiar look suddenly appeared on his face.
The humanoid puppet standing behind him abruptly feigned a grabbing motion toward a spot in the air.
Over 100 feet away from Han Li, the space there warped and twisted before a black dagger shot forth from within. It was none other than the Devil Essence Dagger that had gone missing in the demonic Qi space. The dagger had somehow managed to break free of the restriction on its own and returned to Han Li.
The puppet raised an arm and the Devil Essence Dagger disappeared in a flash into his sleeve.
Han Li raised an eyebrow slightly but didn't exhibit much of a reaction to this. Spiritual light flashed around his body as he transformed into an azure streak of light, hurtling directly toward that platform with the horde of over 1,000 Fire Ravens, his flying swords, and other treasures.
As long as he could escape from the Spirit Void Hall, he couldn't care less about whether the North Night Palace or the demon beasts emerged victorious!
Moments later, the azure streak of light reached the center of the hall. However, Han Li didn't pass through that area ostentatiously. Instead, he circled around toward the platform in a long arc.
However, due to the fact that most of the hall had been affected by the Ice Phoenix's glacial flames, Han Li had no choice but to activate a layer of Purple Apex Flames over his body as he passed through.
Thus, all of the white glacial Qi was repelled by the purple flames and were unable to affect Han Li.
"Celestial Ice Flames! You're a North Night Palace cultivator as well! Don't think that you can fool me just because your ice flames have mutated!"
At the center of the hall, the Ice Phoenix had witnessed Han Li escape from the Myriad Demon Flag while it was crushing the three North Night Palace cultivators. It was shocked that Han Li had been able to escape from the flag, so it had been paying some attention to Han Li this entire time.
As Han Li began to fly through the air as a streak of azure light, it became extremely wary, but seeing as Han Li was skirting around them, seemingly traveling toward an alternate destination, it decided to ignore him.
After all, the fact that Han Li was able to escape from the Myriad Demon Flag indicated that he was definitely no ordinary cultivator. If he didn't want to interfere in their battle, then there was no need for it to take on such a powerful enemy for no good reason.
However, as soon as the purple flames emerged from Han Li's body, the Ice Phoenix's eyes immediately turned crimson in color as it let loose a sharp cry. It seemed to have somehow been irked to the extreme by the Purple Apex Flames, and it had abruptly turned on Han Li.
Han Li faltered upon seeing the Ice Phoenix's newly-developed animosity toward him and before he had figured out what was happening, an extremely resentful cry erupted from the Ice Phoenix's beak as it violently flapped its wings toward him.
The ice feathers on its wings instantly shot forth like countless arrows before transforming into translucent flying swords, each of which was around half a foot long. There were about 500 to 600 such swords and they came flying toward Han Li like a torrential storm.
Han Li was given a massive fright at the sight of the oncoming attack.
Regardless of how powerful these translucent swords were, just the sheer quantity of them was enough to strike fear into one's heart. Furthermore, these flying swords had been transformed from the ice feathers of a tenth grade Ice Phoenix, so there was no way that they would be lacking in power.
Han Li didn't have much time to think. Not only did he not stop, he accelerated even further instead. At the same time, over a hundred golden swords and a dense horde of crimson Fire Ravens shot forth toward those translucent swords.
A series of resounding booms erupted as golden and white light shimmered and intertwined. Balls of crimson flames exploded one after another amid the vast expanse of white glacial Qi as the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword and Fire Ravens were able to keep the flying swords at bay.
With this split second of delay, the azure streak of light that Han Li had transformed into shot past the center of the hall, heading straight toward the platform in the corner.
"Huh?" The Ice Phoenix was rather taken aback. it didn't think that its attack wouldn't even be able to delay Han Li in the slightest.
However, this demon beast was far more resentful toward cultivators using Celestial Ice Flames than anyone could imagine. It had already equated Han Li with that man it had encountered in the past and as killing intent welled up in its heart, its massive body began to blur, creating three avatars that were completely identical to its true body.
Two of them immediately flew toward the three North Night Palace cultivators while the third spread open its ice wings, upon which brilliant white light erupted before it disappeared on the spot.
Han Li was naturally also keeping an eye on what the demon beast was doing and his heart jolted upon seeing that. He immediately forced himself to an abrupt halt and stopped in mid-air.
At this point, he was only just over 1,000 feet from the teleportation formations.
He didn't want to accidentally plunge into the mouth of that Ice Phoenix that had just disappeared in a moment of carelessness.
He rubbed his hands together with a dark expression before raising them both at the same time.
The sound of thunderclaps erupted as several tens of golden lightning arcs shot forth from his palms, each of which was around as thick as a thumb. The arcs of lightning unfurled to create a golden net that encompassed an area that 200 to 300 feet in radius with Han Li at its very center.
Almost at the exact same moment, roughly 100 feet away from Han Li, the space there warped and twisted before the Ice Phoenix emerged amid a burst of white light.
A ferocious look appeared on Han Li's face as he made a hand seal.
All of the golden arcs of lightning shuddered before immediately converging toward the demon beast.
The Ice Phoenix was slightly surprised to see this, but it wasn't flustered in the slightest as it opened its sharp beak.
A gust of white gale-force winds erupted from its mouth, which howled through the air, causing the golden net to be knocked off course and preventing it from descending.
The golden net was then torn apart by the powerful winds and disappeared moments later.
Han Li was astonished to see this and hurriedly tried to bring out the Eight Spirit Ruler that he was hiding up his sleeve.
However, the Ice Phoenix took the initiative this time as it spread open its wings and flapped them violently toward Han Li.
The sound of howling wind and explosive thunder erupted as a vast expanse of white glacial flames appeared in the air. The glacial flames took a split second to condense before transforming into a massive wave over 300 feet tall that came crashing down toward Han Li.
As for the Ice Phoenix itself, it had already dove headfirst into the white glacial Qi.
Its enormous body then disappeared into the glacial Qi amid a burst of white light, nowhere to be seen.
Han Li's lips twitched upon seeing this as blue light flashed through his eyes. He raised a hand to summon a ball of purple flames, which he hurriedly hurled in front of him.
A spluttering sound rang out as purple flames rose into the air, positioning itself in front of Han Li.
The glacial wave struck the Purple Apex Flames barrier without any reservation. The white and purple glacial flames clashed and intertwined. They were both glacial flames but they were completely intolerant toward one another, like water meeting fire. However, it was quite clear that the white glacial flames were far more powerful than the Purple Apex Flames. Moments later, the purple flame barrier began to tremor violently before falling toward Han Li.
Han Li's expression darkened further upon seeing this as he gritted his teeth. The Eight Spirit Ruler in his sleeve abruptly disappeared while he pressed his palms against the purple barrier of flames. All of a sudden, it was as if all of the purple flames over his body had found a vent as they surged over his arms and into the barrier in a frenzy. In the blink of an eye, the falling purple barrier was righted once again.
However, right at this moment, a white light flashed within the massive wave as a pair of talons that were over a foot in length appeared from the glacial flames, grabbing down toward Han Li's arms like lightning.
The talons were shimmering with glacial light and Han Li could tell that they were extremely powerful just by looking at them. Even though Han Li had cultivated the Brightjade Arts in the past, if those talons were allowed to strike their targets, his arms would be permanently disabled for sure.
However, Han Li seemed to have anticipated this attack in advance. All of a sudden, two clumps of azure threads shot forth from his sleeves, managing to keep the shape talons at bay.
Azure light then flashed as the threads rapidly wound themselves around the pair of talons, locking them firmly in place.