Chapter 1383: Crimson Ghost
The golden saber swayed before slashing through the air as a saber projection that was over 100 feet in length. The other green ring let loose a clear ringing sound before transforming into a massive green projection, and it also hurtled toward the crimson sword.
"Don't even think about it!" one of the Long Family cultivators yelled upon seeing this. He then patted a jade pendant that was hanging from his waist, and it transformed into a streak of white light that rose up into the air before manifesting a white barrier of light that enshrouded the crimson sword.
The saber and ring projections struck the light barrier with a resounding boom, and the barrier tremored violently. Countless runes surfaced over the barrier in response, keeping the oncoming treasures at bay.
Ye Ying's expression changed slightly as she immediately raised a hand and cast an incantation seal toward the golden saber. At the same time, she began to chant something, and brilliant light erupted from the saber as it slashed toward the light barrier.
Her actions appeared to be quite gentle and harmless, but a massive saber projection that was over 1,000 feet in length abruptly appeared in the air above the light barrier like a heaven-splitting blade.
The saber projection slowly descended, causing the surrounding air to tremor violently amid a piercing buzzing sound.
It was quite apparent that the saber projection would most definitely vanquish the light barrier if it were allowed to fall.
Right at this moment, the other Long Family cultivator harrumphed coldly and abruptly tore his own robes away, revealing a harrowing sight to behold.
His body appeared to be quite normal when sheathed in robes, but it was now revealed that there were seven or eight fist-sized crimson ghostly heads chomping down on various parts of his body, squirming incessantly in the process.
He let loose a sharp shriek, and three of the ghostly heads hanging from his body opened their large mouths before disappearing on the spot.
In the next instant, three balls of Yin Qi erupted forth above the white light barrier.
Within the inky-black Qi, three red ghosts with crimson hair that were around 50 to 60 feet tall emerged.
The three malicious ghosts looked up at the massive sword projection in the sky and, and two of them suddenly transformed into a pair of crimson longswords, which fell into the grasp of the ghost at the center.
The Yin Qi then swirled before disappearing into the two longswords as well as their ghostly wielder.
The malicious ghost immediately let loose an earsplitting howl as its body swelled to seven or eight times its original stature, reaching over 300 feet in size. It then raised the crimson swords in its hands, which had both also been enlarged to the same degree, and lashed out at the saber projection up above.
Red and golden light intertwined amid an earthshattering boom.
The descending saber projection was kept at bay by the two longswords, despite the stark contrast in size.
The saber projection was then completely vanquished and disappeared following the clash.
In contrast, the two ghostly swords and their ghostly wielder suddenly crumbled without any premonition, forming clouds of red mist that refused to disperse.
Right at this moment, a projection circled around in the air above before crashing down toward the malicious ghosts.
In the face of the oncoming attack, the crimson-haired ghost at the center remained completely unflustered. The clouds of crimson mist swirled to manifest the twin longsword as well as their ghostly wielder once again, and it appeared that they were completely unscathed.
The projection hurtled downward, but was easily kept at bay by the two swords before being swatted flying.
Ye Ying's face paled slightly as she witnessed this from afar.
She gritted her teeth and rustled her sleeve to summon three fist-sized balls of light that were yellow, red, and white respectively. The light then receded to reveal a flute, a zither, and a lute.
Ye Ying then pointed her fingers at the three treasures in rapid succession, and they began to shimmer with lights of different colors again as they shot forth through the air. During this process, they fused as one to form a three-colored streak of light, which hurtled toward the malicious ghost.
However, the streak of light had only traveled through the air for a short distance when four balls of Yin Qi erupted up ahead once again, following which four more crimson-haired malicious ghosts appeared.
In the face of the oncoming streak of three-colored light, they opened their mouths in unison to blast forth four bursts of black Yin Qi, all of which struck the streak of light, resulting in an evenly-matched impasse.
Ye Ying's heart jolted with shock upon seeing this, yet just as she was about to unleash another technique, a crimson shadow suddenly appeared in the air overhead. The shadow swept both arms through the air, and two thick bursts of sword Qi came crashing down with ferocious might.
The red ghost that was situated on the white light barrier had torn through space without her noticing, and silently teleported to a spot right above her head.
In a fit of shock and fury, Ye Ying's body swayed as she transformed into a streak of golden light, narrowly evading the attack as she hurtled back in retreat. At the same time, she waved a hand through the air, and the golden saber, as well as the green ring in the distance, immediately flew back toward her before launching a series of powerful attacks against the malicious ghost overhead.
The ghost displayed no signs of weakness, either, as it swung its pair of swords through the air to protect itself.
As such, Ye Ying was able to combat the seven ghosts with her five extraordinarily powerful treasures, but she didn't have any spare capacity to attack the giant crimson sword in the sky.
On the other end, Ye Chu had also released a dozen or so flying swords that sported an azure and yellow color scheme. These swords were currently locked in an intense battle against a horde of devilish heads released by the two Long Family cultivators.
All of these devilish heads were comparable in size to human heads, but they possessed no bodies, and were extremely sinister in appearance. All of them were blasting purple devilish Qi out of their mouths, creating a vast expanse of mist in the surrounding area with a radius of around 1,000 feet.
Even Ye Chu had been swept up in this devilish mist and despite unleashing several powerful abilities in quick succession, she found herself unable to extricate herself from this mist in a short time. As such, she could only release a layer of protective azure light to shield herself from the mist.
She cast an urgent glance around her, and her heart immediately sank as she witnessed the situation that Ye Ying was in. However, a thought then suddenly occurred to her and she turned her gaze toward another direction, upon which her expression faltered slightly.
The place that she was looking at was exactly where Han Li was situated.
At this moment, he had his hands clasped behind his back and remained completely stationary as he hovered in mid-air.
It wasn't that Han Li didn't want to join in on the action, it was just that there was a young woman in a black dress standing in his way with a hint of a smile on her face.
She was none other than Xiao Hong of the Black Phoenix Race.
Han Li seemed to be rather wary of her, and didn't dare to recklessly spring into action.
"This is a matter concerning our human race; are you trying to look for trouble by intervening in this conflict between our two true spirit families?" Ye Chu yelled in a cold and threatening voice.
"I can stand aside and detach myself from all this as long as you're willing to hand over your heavenly phoenix feather. If you're willing to do so, I'll leave this place right away," Xiao Hong chuckled.
Ye Chu's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and she immediately denied, "What heavenly phoenix feather? How would I have something like that?"
"Hehe, have you forgotten that a member of our demon race was also to the Wood Tribe as a spy? He sent news back to the demon race many years ago, stating that the Wood Tribe was in possession of three heavenly phoenix feathers, which could be used by a heavenly phoenix for resurrection purposes. Otherwise, why would a Spatial Tempering cultivator like you be willing to stay in the Wood Tribe as a spy for so many years? Now that even Young Mistress Ye has appeared here in person, you must've secured the heavenly phoenix feather already, right?" Xiao Hong said with a faint smile.
Ye Chu and Ye Ying both fell silent upon hearing this.
Xiao Hong chuckled coldly before turning her gaze toward Han Li again. "Brother Han, I know that you possess some extraordinary abilities, but it won't be easy for you to defeat me. How about we stand by and wait for the outcome of their battle to be decided before taking any further action?"
Han Li had naturally already gleaned the situation that the two Ye Family cultivators were in, and following a brief silence, he suddenly chuckled, "I really don't want to fight you either, Fellow Daoist, but if I wait for that Young Master Long to fuse the true spirit bloods, I'm going to be in great peril. Seeing as we were comrades for a while, I'll give you one last chance. Are you going to step aside or not?"
Xiao Hong's expression darkened, and her voice cooled as she replied, "I'll have to refuse!"
"Fine!" Han Li abruptly stepped forward, and his body blurred as he somehow covered a distance of over 200 feet in the blink of an eye. When he reappeared, he was only several tens of feet away from Xiao Hong, and he raised a hand to sweep a finger through the air, seemingly in a completely harmless manner.
Golden light flashed and a golden thread shot forth toward Xiao Hong. This attack appeared to be quite simple, but was actually quite troublesome to deal with. Han Li had only been able to unleash such an assault after unleashing his Shifting Smoke Steps and Nine Gale Transformations to their maximal extents. Even as a demonic cultivator, Xiao Hong was still given a massive surprise by Han Li's wraith-like movement techniques.
The golden thread was constructed from a burst of sword Qi, and it was so fast that it afforded her no time to evade, nor adopt any defensive measures. In this urgent situation, Xiao Hong could only abruptly open her mouth to expel a ball of black flames.
A dull thud erupted as the black flames were forcibly dispersed, but the sword Qi was also slowed down slightly as a result.
With this brief split-second respite, Xiao Hong was able to rapidly take evasive measures and as a result, the golden thread was only able to slice off a small piece of fabric from the hem of her dress. Meanwhile, she had already hurtled back for around 70 to 80 feet.
When she arrested her momentum and stabilized herself again, her eyes were filled with incredulity as she cast her gaze toward Han Li.
Han Li withdrew the streak of sword Qi without uttering so much as a single word, and at the same time, he laid a hand onto his own head. Grey Divine Essencefused Light rose up into the sky, hurtling toward his opponent at his behest.
At the same time, he pressed the palm of his other hand into empty air, and five white skulls immediately appeared around Xiao Hong. The five skulls opened their mouths to blast forth five types of glacial flames of different colors, all of which immediately combined to form a sea of five-colored flames.
After doing all that, a thunderclap erupted from Han Li's back as the Thunderstorm Wings appeared. An arc of azure and white lightning flashes, following which he disappeared on the spot.
When he reappeared, seemingly out of thin air, he was standing directly above Xiao Hong, and he swept his sleeves through the air to summon several tens of streaks of golden light.
As soon as Han Li had sprung into action, he had unleashed a ferocious storm of attacks that crashed down like a torrential downpour.
Xiao Hong was still slightly unsettled by Han Li's initial attack, and her heart was filled with shock and rage at the sight of the perilous situation that awaited her.
Without any pause for thought, Xiao Hong rotated on the spot and a vast expanse of black flames immediately erupted from her body, sweeping toward the five-colored flames. She then opened her mouth to summon an antiquated black mirror, from the face of which a swath of black light surged forth in a frenzy, keeping the oncoming Divine Essencefused Light at bay.
As for the streaks of golden sword Qi that were crashing down toward her with ferocious might, Xiao Hong raised both hands up into the air in response, sending forth a plume of white threads that created a massive protective net.
A cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this, and he activated his sword arts as the several tens of streaks of sword Qi multiplied to several hundred before sweeping downward in a frenzy.
The streaks of sword Qi presented a vastly intimidating sight to behold, and they seemed to be threatening to puncture the entire heavens.