Chapter 1386: The Sword Formation and the Blood Sword
The sword formation was set up in mere moments, and as Han Li injected his spiritual power into it, a burst of astonishing spiritual pressure immediately rose up in all directions.
With the giant crimson sword at the center, countless glittering golden threads appeared in an area with a diameter of over 1,000 feet. All of these golden threads were slowly converging toward the center.
Even though neither of the Long Family cultivators had seen the Aureate Sword Formation before, their heart's still stirred with unease upon seeing this.
After glancing at once another, the cultivator who was wielding the crimson book suddenly made a hand seal. The crimson book flipped over a few pages in rapid succession, following which 10 crimson devilish shadows erupted forth and hurtled toward Han Li.
Even though they didn't believe that Han Li would be able to destroy the giant crimson sword, they certainly didn't want to allow him to attack the sword without inhibitions or impediment, either.
These crimson devilish shadows were all extremely blurry, and they appeared in the air close to Han Li following flashes of red light. However, Han Li was prepared for them well in advance, and he let loose a cold harrumph as he rubbed his hands together before raising them into the air.
Following a string of thunderclaps, a dozen or so arcs of golden light shot forth, striking these crimson shadows in a flash.
Most of these devilish shadows were destroyed amid howls of anguish, and the remaining few were also forced back as they let loose cries of agony.
Seeing as these devilish shadows had been summoned by a Spatial Tempering cultivator, they were naturally quite powerful and extremely potent against normal cultivators. They feared no physical attacks nor powers of the five elements, so they were extremely troublesome to deal with for the average cultivator. However, due to the dense devilish Qi that they were carrying, they were completely dominated by Han Li's Divine Devilbane Lightning.
Of course, they were only vanquished so easily as the improvements in Han Li's cultivation base had made his Divine Devilbane Lightning vastly more powerful than it had been in the human world. If Han Li was only at the Nascent Soul Stage, these devilish shadows would've most likely been more than capable of taking an attack of that nature from Han Li.
Han Li's display of abilities came as another surprise to the four cultivators who were locked in battle.
However, on this occasion, Han Li didn't wait for the Long Family cultivators to summon anything else. Instead, he took the initiative as the Weeping Soul Beast beside him harrumphed to send forth a streak of azure light, attacking the seven crimson-haired malicious ghosts that were fighting Ye Ying.
These seven malicious ghosts were quite powerful, but they naturally couldn't compare to the Faceless Ghost Monarch. As the azure light swept through the air, three of them were immediately reduced to clouds of red mist that were forcibly devoured by the Weeping Soul Beast. The other four immediately teleported to over 1,000 feet away, thereby avoiding what would've been certain death.
As such, the pressure on Ye Ying was significantly eased.
She was naturally elated by this development, and she turned her attention to the giant crimson sword that was caught at the center of the sword formation, then toward the two Long Family cultivators. She then immediately sent her five treasures to assist Ye Chu in battle.
Even with their combined powers, the two Long Family cultivators were only barely able to keep Ye Chu occupied. With the inclusion of Ye Ying's five treasures into the battle, the surrounding purple mist in the air was being quickly forced back.
As such, neither of them had any spare capacity to attack Han Li as they each summoned a small red drum and a blue metal ruler respectively.
As the drum was played, a swarm of crimson ghostly hornets was manifested within the purple mist before sweeping forth amid a loud buzzing sound. Meanwhile, the blue metal ruler twirled on the spot, suddenly tearing open the nearby space to summon a massive octopus-like devilish creature. As soon as the creature appeared, it swept its eight tentacles toward Ye Chu and Ying with all its might, and only then were the two Long Family cultivators just barely able to stabilize the situation.
Meanwhile, the Weeping Soul Beast continued to hunt down the four fleeing malicious ghosts with its soul-devouring light. The malicious ghosts didn't dare to face the Weeping Soul Beast in battle, but the latter didn't seem capable of chasing down the former in a short time, either.
Han Li was reassured upon seeing this, and continued to inject more power into his Aureate Sword Formation.
Without intervention from the Long Family cultivators, he was confident in his ability to destroy this spirit treasure using his sword formation.
Freed from all inhibitions, Han Li was finally able to put the true power of the Aureate Sword Formation on full display. The countless golden threads finally converged and fell upon the crimson sword.
As the golden threads sliced into the giant sword, the horrendous sound of metal grating on metal erupted.
Spiritual light flashed from the giant sword in a frenzy as golden and crimson light intertwined with one another. However, the crimson sword then immediately attempted to rise into the air, trying to force its way out of the sword formation.
However, there were even more golden threads waiting for it in the air above. As such, the giant sword only managed to rise up for several tens of feet before being forced to descend once again.
Without any avenues for the escape, the sword could only continue to withstand the power of the sword formation. Even though it was a spirit treasure, without anyone to wield it, there was no way that it would be able to withstand the might of the sword formation for too long.
Mere moments later, the spiritual light emanating from the sword began to dim in the face of the countless golden threads, and it emitted an anguished ringing sound.
However, there was no end to the golden threads around it, and they were only becoming brighter and sharper. The sword formation was clearly still growing in power.
The two Long Family cultivators were stunned upon seeing this from afar, and they unleashed several secret techniques in quick succession, sending forth malicious ghosts and devilish heads to try and stop Han Li. In contrast, Ye Ying and Ye Chu were ecstatic, and they no longer held back as they unleashed an unrelenting assault to keep the two Long Family cultivators as well as the ghosts and devils they'd summoned at bay.
It would be quite difficult for them to defeat and kill the two Long Family cultivators, but keeping them occupied was a relatively easy task.
As such, the two Long Family cultivators could only continue to stew in rage and frustration as they fended off the attacks from Ye Ying and Ye Chu.
The spiritual light continued to be whittled down by the power of the sword formation. All of a sudden, Han Li was greeted by a furious voice transmission from Long Dong.
"Brother Han, do you really want to foil my plans? If you destroy this sword, then you'll be a sworn enemy of our Long Family from now on. Do you really think the Ye Family can protect you?"
Han Li completely ignored him and continued to manipulate his sword formation.
"What benefits have the Ye Family promised you? If you can switch your allegiance, I'm willing to offer twice those benefits." Long Dong switched strategies as his voice took on a beseeching tone.
However, Han Li continued to ignore him, and Long Dong ceased his voice transmissions upon seeing this. The crimson sword continued to hover in mid-air, withstanding the relentless assault from the countless golden threads.
When the final speck of spiritual light finally faded from the surface of the sword, a series of thin cracks finally appeared upon it. The cracks weren't very deep, but an immeasurable number of them were being inflicted, and it appeared that the giant sword was going to be shattered at any moment.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, but a thought quickly occurred to him as his expression changed drastically. He let loose a loud cry as his body hurtled back as a streak of azure light, completely abandoning the sword formation in his hasty retreat.
Almost at the exact same moment, the cries of a dragon and a phoenix erupted from within the crimson sword at the same time, following which it exploded amid a resounding boom.
A scorching red sun appeared in the air, radiating scintillating white light in all directions.
As soon as the golden threads in the sword formation came into contact with this white light, they completely shattered and crumbled. Within the span of just a single breath, the sun had swelled countless times in size, encompassing an area with a radius of several thousand feet. Even the two Long Family cultivators, as well as Ye Ying and Ye Chu, were affected by this explosion, and all four of them were given a massive fright.
Thankfully, they were situated quite far away from the crimson sword to begin with, so they had ample time to withdraw their treasures and abilities before fleeing the scene.
The power produced by a self-detonating top-grade Divine Spirit Treasures was most likely quite fearsome even to a Body Integration cultivator. If it weren't for Han Li's quick thinking, he would've most definitely perished in that explosion already.
At this moment, he was situated several thousand feet away from the white sun, looking on with a set of pale features.
Even though he had withdrawn his flying swords during his retreat, a dozen or so of them were withdrawn a little too late, and the power of the explosion had damaged their spiritual nature. He was going to have to nurture them for a period of time in the future to facilitate a full recovery.
Thankfully, all of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had many types of precious materials, such as Refined Crystal, infused into them. Otherwise, they would've all been completely destroyed as part of that explosion.
Han Li looked on at the scorching sun with an intense unblinking gaze as blue light shimmered within his eyes.
The scintillating sun was far too bright for a normal cultivator to stare directly into, but that didn't seem to faze him at all, and he could clearly see everything that was going on within it. All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly as he spread open his wings, disappearing on the spot as an arc of azure and white lightning.
In the next instant, Han Li reappeared out of thin air before grabbing the air down below with a palm that was as pristine white as jade.
Five bone rings immediately surfaced on his five fingers before disappearing in a flash.
Five bursts of glacial flames were blasted from his fingertips, creating a sea of five-colored flames that enshrouded a vast area down below.
A crimson shadow that was around a foot in length suddenly appeared. It was a vibrant red blood dragon with an incomplete blood phoenix clamped tightly within its mouth.
A small portion of the blood phoenix's body had disappeared, and the remaining portion of its body remained completely motionless in the blood dragon's mouth, as if it had lost all of its spiritual nature.
Within the glacial flames, the blood dragon was scurrying around in a surreptitious manner, clearly attempting to flee the scene using the chaotic explosion to cover its tracks. However, never would it have thought that Han Li had an ability like the Brightsight Spirit Eyes. Not only was its location immediately identified, Han Li had even summoned his five glacial flames to ensnare it.
With its body trapped within the five glacial flames, the blood dragon was moving at less than a tenth of its original speed, and all of its movements had become extremely slow and sluggish.
A cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and the five glacial flames immediately swept back toward him, carrying the blood dragon within it.
At the same time, Han Li opened his mouth to summon the Heavenvoid Cauldron, which was enshrouded in a ball of azure light.