Chapter 1233: Slaying a Great Cultivator
Even though the black Qi was extremely dense, Han Li was still able to identify the devilish being within the black Qi.
They consisted of three tall and burly corpses in suits of black armor. One was wielding a shimmering yellow short halberd, the other was wielding a green spear, and the final one had a shimmering silver mace hoisted up on its shoulder.
The three corpses all had sharp fangs and green light dancing within their eyes. All of them seemed to possess Nascent Soul Stage power and particularly worthy of note was that corpse with the mace hoisted up on its shoulder; the devilish Qi emanating from its body was especially dense, suggesting that it was already at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage.
Han Li was slightly surprised by this development, but he wasn't fearful in the slightest as he summoned a small black vial before making a hand seal.
Five bursts of greyish-white light erupted from within the vial before transforming into five humanoid skeletons. As soon as they emerged, they began to let loose bursts of unsettling cackling. At the same time, an astonishing amount of greyish-white devilish Qi began to emanate from their bodies, giving them a very sinister appearance.
"Unbroken Cinque Devils?" The Yin Sifting Sect Master's heart sank upon seeing this. He and Old Devil Qian had been martial brothers for many years, so he was obviously able to immediately identify that these were his Unbroken Cinque Devils.
Just as bewilderment was surging through his heart, pairs of bone sabers appeared in the hands of the five devils at Han Li's behest, and those sabers came crashing down viciously without any hesitation.
As things currently were, the Yin Sifting Sect Master had no time for hesitation. He could only grit his teeth as the three armor-clad corpses within the black Qi rushed out toward the five devils.
Meanwhile, he rustled his sleeve to produce a black bead, then flipped over his other hand to summon a veil-like yellow object.
However, before the Yin Sifting Sect Master had a chance to use these two treasures, the three corpses had already clashed with the five devils.
Just as they were about to come into contact with one another, the three armor-clad corpses opened their mouths to expel three bursts of putrid green mist. This was the corpse poison that had been accumulating within their guts for countless years.
If a normal cultivator were to be struck by this poison, they would most likely lose most of their cultivation base if not be killed on the spot. However, the five devils weren't humans, and they saw no need to evade these bursts of green corpse poison. Instead, they also opened their mouths to blast forth bursts of glacial flames of different colors.
This wasn't a casual sparring match; Han Li was intent on killing this Yin Sifting Sect Master. As such, he immediately unleashed his five glacial flames, which had been cultivated to the height of their powers.
The five different-colored glacial flames intertwined with one another, creating a five-colored sea of fire that surged toward the three corpses.
Not only did the sea of flames completely vanquish the corpse poison, they went on to engulf the three oncoming corpses as well.
The fearsome armored corpses immediately slowed down significantly amid the five-colored sea of flames.
However, these corpses weren't completely pushovers. Even though they seemed to be moving at less than a tenth of their original speed, they were able to expel inky-black corpse Qi from their bodies to keep the glacial flames at bay, thereby preventing them from being inundated right away.
The five devils refrained from charging ahead upon seeing this. Instead, they retreated to several feet away while continuing to blast forth streams of glacial flames, thus ensuring that the three corpses remained trapped within the sea of flames.
The Yin Sifting Sect Master's expression darkened significantly upon seeing this.
These three armored corpse monarchs had been painstakingly nurtured by him for centuries and all of them possessed extremely powerful bodies and abilities. Never would he have thought that they would be nullified so easily by the Unbroken Cinque Devils, to the extent that they weren't even able to unleash a single one of their abilities.
Just what kind of flames were being blasted out of the mouths of the five devils? These five devils were clearly the same ones that Old Devil Qian had refined, so how had they managed to gain such extraordinary abilities after being taken by Han Li?
A sense of foreboding welled up in the Yin Sifting Sect Master's heart as his mind scrambled for answers. At the same time, he immediately tossed his two treasures into the air without any hesitation.
The yellow veil-liked treasures rotated in the air before instantly transforming into a massive net that was several hundred feet in size. The net seemed to have obscured the entire sky, and Han Li, as well as the Unbroken Cinque Devils, were all under its scope.
Meanwhile, the black ball flew slowly through the air in a completely mundane manner, flying behind the net in hot pursuit.
Han Li's brows furrowed as he immediately blasted a small azure cauldron out of his mouth.
He laid a hand onto the cauldron and a plume of azure threads shot forth from within amid a flash of spiritual light, creating a vast expanse of azure light that kept the massive net at bay, preventing it from descending any further.
At the same time, the Triflame Fan and the Eight Spirit Ruler appeared in his hands, and he waved the latter gently through the air.
A silver lotus flower immediately appeared beneath the black ball, and before the latter even had a chance to reveal its powers, it was completely immobilized on the spot, unable to advance even an inch further.
Han Li didn't know what that ball was, but a shiver ran down his spine for some reason when he saw it flying toward him.
As such, he immediately unleashed his Eight Spirit Ruler to trap that ball, and only then did he heave an internal sigh of relief.
The Yin Sifting Sect Master hurriedly tried to use his spiritual sense to withdraw the black ball upon seeing this, but it seemed to have been frozen in mid-air and completely failed to react.
The old devil was struck by the urge to cuss out loud!
This ball was no ordinary treasure, and he had intended to catch Han Li by surprise with it in order to bring him down in one fell swoop. However, he didn't think that Han Li's instincts would be so sharp. Not only was he not allowing the ball to approach him, he had also completely immobilized it. As such, the old devil's plan had completely fallen through.
Right at this moment, Han Li also sprang into action.
A loud thunderclap rang out as a pair of azure and white wings appeared on his back. He gently flapped those wings before disappearing soundlessly on the spot with his Triflame Fan held tightly in his grasp.
The Yin Sifting Sect Master's heart jolted upon seeing this! He hurriedly made a hand seal to summon the black Qi around him back to his body, creating a suit of inky-black armor in the blink of an eye.
He then let loose a low roar as resounding booms erupted all over his body. Countless arcs of blue lightning surfaced over his armor, making it appear as if countless shimmering blue snakes were roaming over his suit of armor, creating an extremely formidable sight to behold.
Right at this moment, spatial fluctuations appeared behind him, following which a humanoid figure appeared, seemingly out of thin air.
The Yin Sifting Sect Master didn't turn around, but he seemed to have anticipated this in advance as he abruptly made a hand seal. A burst of black light immediately shot forth from his back, appeared above the humanoid figure's head in a flash before crashing down with ferocious might.
It was an inky-black flying sword that was around a foot in length.
A loud clang erupted as the humanoid figure raised both of its hands. Two silver longswords were held within his grasp, and he used them to swat the flying sword away.
Only then did the Yin Sifting Sect Master turn around with a cold smile on his face.
However, his smile immediately stiffened at the sight of the humanoid figure behind him.
Even though the humanoid figure was completely identical in appearance to Han Li, there wasn't even a single trace of vitality in its body; it was like an inanimate object.
Just he was about to assess this "Han Li" with his spiritual sense, an arc of azure light flashed in the air overhead and the true Han Li emerged. He then immediately swept his Triflame Fan downward without any hesitation, sending a pillar of three-colored flames hurtling down below.
Even though this was the first time the Yin Sifting Sect Master had seen this fan, the terrifying fire-attribute spiritual power imbued within it alerted him to the fact that it was not to be taken lightly.
He bent his knees and his legs were like coiled springs, launching him backward in retreat at an astonishing speed.
Not only that, but during his retreat, he pointed a finger toward Han Li from afar.
The countless blue lightning snakes roaming over its body shot forth in a flash, hurtling toward Han Li amid a burst of explosive thunderclaps.
He then opened his mouth to blast forth an extremely smooth jade panel, which swelled drastically as it flew through the air. At the same time, he flipped over his other hand to summon a sharp golden spike. He hurled the spike viciously through the air, and it only flashed twice before it was upon Han Li, attempting to pierce through his body at an incredible speed.
A normal Nascent Soul cultivator definitely wouldn't be able to evade such a rapid attack, but after cultivating the Nine Gale Transformations, Han Li was able to twist his body to the side in an impossible angle as if he had no bones, thereby allowing him to easily evade the golden spike as it flew past him several feet away.
At this point, the Yin Sifting Sect Master was over 200 feet away from Han Li, and he was looking on at Han Li's contortion skills with astonishment in his eyes.
After Han Li's body returned to normal, he appraised his opponent with a cold expression before suddenly clasping his hands behind his back and letting loose a cold harrumph.
The Yin Sifting Sect Master was initially a little perplexed by Han Li's actions, but as soon as his cold harrumph reached his ears, he felt as if a sharp spike had been driven into his brain. The excruciating pain caught him completley off guard, and he doubled over with his hands clawing at his own head as his expression was twisted to the extreme.
This was the Spirit Stun Thorn secret technique that had been developed by the Monarch of Soul Divergence. Han Li had already reached the final layer of the Great Development Technique and his cultivation base was at the pinnacle of late-Nascent Soul Stage, so this Spirit Stun Thorn attack was virtually as powerful as it possibly could be. This was most likely what the Monarch of Soul Divergence would've been capable of at the height of his powers.
However, despite how powerful this secret technique, it was only effective when used in conjunction with the element of surprise. If a cultivator were aware of this secret technique beforehand, they would only have to use their powerful spiritual sense to guard their heads, and the technique would prove to be nowhere near as effective. Furthermore, the effect that this technique had on a late-Nascent Soul cultivator was quite short. Under normal circumstances, a great cultivator would be able to forcibly repress this pain and return to their senses in about two or three seconds.
However, what was rather strange was that after unleashing his Spirit Stun Thorn, Han Li remained standing on the spot, looking at the Yin Sifting Sect Master as if he were appraising a dead man.
The Yin Sifting Sect Master recovered even more quickly from the Spirit Stun Thorn than Han Li had anticipated, returning to his senses virtually in the blink of an eye before an expression of fury appeared on his face
Right at this moment, he was suddenly struck by the sense that something was amiss, and he hurriedly turned around, but it was already too late!
A cold sensation glanced past his throat as a black streak of light circled around his neck, following which his head came tumbling down onto the ground.