Chapter 1501: Opportunity
As soon as the massive puppet emerged, crimson light flashed through its six eyes, and it abruptly made a grabbing motion to summon a huge crimson ax into his grasp, then swung it through the air with devastating force.
The massive ax came crashing down like a small mountain, and even before it had even struck anything, gusts of ferocious winds had been swept upon around it.
The silver arcs of lightning down below all tremored violently as a result, looking as if they were going to split apart.
A beastly roar erupted from within the lightning, and the arcs of lightning suddenly intertwined with one another as if they had sprung to life.
They converged to form a silver lightning sword amid a series of rumbling thunderclaps, then pierced straight up into the air.
An earthshattering boom erupted as the lightning sword struck the blade of the ax, upon which both of them shattered and disappeared into nothingness. Lightning then flashed once again as several azure claw projections that were each around 10 feet in length appeared before hurtling directly toward the Purpleblood Puppet.
The crimson-robed figure standing atop the puppet's shoulder harrumphed coldly upon seeing this. He opened his mouth to expel a mouthful of blood essence, then made a grabbing motion before swinging his arm through the air.
The ball of blood essence transformed into a crimson spear and hurtled through the air at his behest.
The crimson spear pierced through several claw projections in the blink of an eye, and was just about to disappear into the lightning down below when silver light suddenly flashed, and a projection of an Infernal Lightning Beast's head that had been expanded to several times its actual size emerged from within the lightning.
The projection opened its mouth to devour the crimson spear, then blasted forth an extremely thick arc of lightning in retaliation. The bolt of lightning transformed into a silver wyrm mid-flight, but right at this moment, crimson light flashed within the Purpleblood Puppet's eyes, following which two streaks of crimson light shot forth, striking the lightning wyrm with unerring accuracy. Both the lightning and streaks of crimson light clashed and disappeared in unison.
Following their first lightning-fast exchange, the Purpleblood Puppet and the crimson-robed figure appeared to be evenly matched with the Infernal Lightning Beast.
However, countless green threads suddenly shot forth from the blood mist in the air, instantly converging toward a single spot amid a flash of green light to form a slender humanoid figure standing atop a golden flower. It was none other than Mu Qing.
At the same time, fierce Yin winds swept up nearby, and the white-haired beauty also appeared.
Both of them wore grave expressions as they scrutinized the projection of the beastly head before them with intense unblinking eyes.
A ferocious look appeared on the projection's face upon seeing this, following which lightning flashed violently down below, and another similar projection appeared, except this one was slightly smaller, and the horn on its head was a little thinner than that of the first projection.
The white-haired beauty's expression darkened even further at the sight of the two Infernal Lightning Beast head projections, and she murmured, "To think that there were two Infernal Lightning Beast here. It had always been a mystery to me how Fellow Daoist Zhu had fallen here, but everything makes sense now."
"What's the point of thinking about such things at a time like this? The divine elixir here is connected to the spirit vein in this place, so we have to buy Liu Zu more time for him to sever this connection and secure the elixir. The three of us have no choice but to risk our lives here," the crimson-robed figure harrumphed coldly, seemingly in a rather foul mood.
Mu Qing and the white-haired beauty glanced at one another upon seeing this.
The crimson-robed figure's attitude wasn't all that strange. After all, any one of them would be absolutely furious if their avatar had been destroyed under inexplicable circumstances.
"Fellow Daoist Di Xue, it's been a long time since your avatar was destroyed outside, and that happened before the second Infernal Lightning Beat returned, so there must be a third party involved. They've either remained outside to ambush us as soon as we leave or they've entered this place as well. Perhaps they're right here in this hall, spectating our battle against these two Infernal Lightning Beast," Mu Qing said with a cold light in her eyes.
"So what if that's the case? We're too busy fending off these two beasts to worry about anything else. Speaking of which, I've been unable to detect the tracking mark I planted in Han brat's body this entire time, so it looks like he really was killed by the other Infernal Lightning Beast. That's a real shame," the white-haired beauty sighed.
"For the Infernal Lightning Beast to return so quickly indicates that Han brat is most definitely dead, so there's no point in thinking about him now. Our main priority is to take care of these two Infernal Lightning Beasts! Even though they're not very intelligent, their lightning-attribute powers are extremely troublesome for us to deal with. Only Fellow Daoist Liu Zu among us isn't susceptible to the powers of lightning, but he's also the only one who can sever the spirit vein, so we can only hold on to the best of our abilities here. As for the ones that killed my avatar outside, they've been too scared to reveal themselves even after all this time, so they're clearly not powerful enough for us to worry about. All we have to do is be a little more cautious so we don't get struck by any sneak attacks from those cowards," the crimson-robed figure said in a cold voice.
All of a sudden, one of the beastly head projections before them suddenly swelled dramatically in size before opening its cavernous mouth and hurtling toward the three demon monarchs. Meanwhile, the other projection lowered its head, and dazzling light flashed from its single horn as it blasted several thick bolts of lightning toward the trio.
At the same time, the two Infernal Lightning Beasts down below were summoning their powers of lightning to create more balls of silver lightning before hurling them toward the blood mist in a frenzy.
The white-haired beauty's darkened as a massive ghostly projection with a head of disheveled hair appeared behind her. Gusts of violent grey Yin winds erupted from the projection's mouth while countless azure threads shot forth from Mu Qing's body.
Neither of them dared to grow complacent in this perilous situation.
As for the crimson-robed figure, he merely stood still on the spot, but the Purpleblood Puppet beneath his feet had opened all six of its eyes as wide as it could to blast forth six pillars of crimson light.
At the same time, the blood mist down below tumbled and surged violently, sweeping toward the balls of lightning in retaliation.
Thus, the fierce battle between the three demon monarchs and the two Infernal Lightning Beast continued.
Tumbling blood mist and powerful flashes of lightning instantly inundated the three demon monarchs again while Han Li stood near the entrance of the hall with his brows tightly furrowed.
Without that cloud green Qi lurking in that corner, everything would be quite simple. All he had to do was rush in when the demon monarchs and Infernal Lightning Beasts were completely absorbed in their battles, then rescue the two women before making his escape.
All of the demon monarchs clearly held the Divine Infernal River Elixir in extremely high regard, so it was very unlikely that they'd risk jeopardizing all their plans by coming after him.
However, with that mysterious cloud of green Qi hanging there, Han Li's main concern was that it would step in as soon as he sprang into action. In that case, he would be in deep trouble!
Han Li didn't want to take such a risk, so his mind was rapidly scrambling for a viable alternative.
As time slowly passed, the Infernal Lightning Beast and demon monarchs began to unleash more and more of their abilities, and the battle had become extremely intense.
The two Infernal Lightning Beasts seemed to be aware that the demon monarchs were only buying time for Liu Zu, so the longer the battle dragged on for, the more violent and frustrated they became. As such, their attacks were also growing more powerful, and every single bolt of lightning erupting from their horns had become several times thicker than they were during the initial phase of the battle.
With every blast of lightning, one of the demon monarchs was sure to be forced back a few steps, and it was quite clear that the two beasts held a significant upper hand.
However, it was still an extremely difficult task for them to defeat the demon monarchs and evict them from this place in a short time.
Han Li surveyed the situation through narrowed eyes before slowly drifting through the air.
Regardless of what happened, he had to get closer to Yuan Yao and Yan Li first. As for what happened after that, he would just have to adapt as the situation continued to unfold. In any case, he had to save these two women.
In order to avoid blowing his cover, Han Li was naturally moving very slowly. All of the beings within the hall far outstripped him in terms of cultivation base, and even after using his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, there was still a very high chance that he could be discovered if a Body Integration Stage being were to focus their spiritual directly toward his general vicinity.
Thankfully, the demon monarchs and Infernal Lightning Beasts were far too busy engaged in battle to be searching through the hall with their spiritual sense.
Thus, Han Li was finally able to land beside the two women after skirting around the battle taking place within the hall, and he heaved a long sigh of relief before immediately turning his attention to Yuan Yao.
At such close quarters, Han Li was able to identify that there was a series of barely visible crimson lines running along the delicate skin on her face. These crimson lines were as thin as strands of hair, and without his spirit eyes to further enhance his vision, he wouldn't even have been able to see them despite how close he was standing to the two women.
Han Li's brows furrowed upon seeing this.
These two women had been restricted through the use of some kind of strange blood talismans, and it was quite clear that this was a type of extremely potent evil technique, so both his Divine Devilbane Lightning and Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames would most likely be quite effective here. However, he had stationed his Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven at the entrance, so his Divine Devilbane Lightning was the only tool available to him to lift this restriction.
Of course, this wasn't a good time to strike. If he were to break this restriction now, his cover would immediately be blown, and he couldn't afford for that to happen at this point.
With that in mind, Han Li withdrew his gaze before turning his attention toward the cloud of green Qi.
This thing definitely had something to do with those ghostly beings outside, and Han Li didn't believe for a single instant that it was merely a neutral bystander. This was most definitely not the right time to strike, so he could only engage this mysterious in a contest of patience.
As these thoughts flashed rapidly through Han Li's mind, he quickly decided to take a conservative approach.
Furthermore, the factor the most important factor to be taken into consideration here was that the most powerful being among the earth abyss demon monarchs, Liu Zu, was still nowhere to be seen.
Prior to ascertaining Liu Zu's location, Han Li definitely wouldn't dare to take any reckless risks.
Thus, Han Li turned away from the cloud of green Qi and fixed his gaze on the strange pond in the hall, wondering if Liu Zu was situated deep within this pond.
After all, this pond was the only place that anyone could hide within this palace.
Unfortunately, the mist hovering around the pond was capable of cutting off one's spiritual sense, so Han Li was unable to glean the situation within the pond. He could only sense that the white mist was imbued with abundant spiritual Qi, the purity of which he had never seen before. He felt as if just inhaling a lungful of this mist would save him several days of arduous cultivation.
This was why Han Li immediately determined that the water in this pond was the so-called Divine Infernal River Elixir.
Han Li was initially quite perplexed, wondering why the demon monarchs didn't simply scoop up the elixir in the pond before running away. After all, despite how powerful the two Infernal Lightning Beasts, there was no way that they'd be able to keep the demon monarchs from securing the divine elixir, particularly when they were situated directly over the pond.
However, Han Li quickly understood why this was the case after a brief moment of contemplation. The pond either had some powerful restrictions set up around it that even the demon monarchs were wary of or some other prerequisite had to be satisfied before they could try to secure the elixir.
Perhaps Liu Zu's absence had something to do with this.
With that in mind, Han Li was even more intent on waiting for the situation to unfold further.
Thus, he stood still beside the two women, waiting for the outcome fo the battle above the green pond or for the cloud of green Qi to finally do something.
Even though he couldn't repress the tracking marks in his body for too long, it was quite apparent from the intensity of the battle raging within the hall that it wasn't going to be a prolonged one, either. An opportunity could present itself at any moment.
Sure enough, after a short while, the two Infernal Lightning Beasts had finally lost their patience and begun to truly attack with all their might.