Chapter 746: More Dire Straits |
The conical white immortal treasure sped through the air as a bolt of golden lightning, and all of a sudden, over a hundred identical immortal treasures appeared in the blink of an eye.
Every single one of them were surrounded by arcs of white lightning that were giving off tremendous power, and they took up virtually half of the entire hall as they descended upon Gui Mu and Yin Xu in an unstoppable barrage.
"Don't get cocky, you little rat!" Gui Mu sneered as he spread his fingers open before making a grabbing motion.
A ball of radiant black light appeared over his hand, releasing countless black vines that shot forth in a frenzy. Countless branches extended out of the vines to form a dense net, and all of the conical immortal treasures were instantly stopped in their tracks.
They were like fish that had been caught in a net, whizzing around within the net of vines in a chaotic fashion.
Right at this moment, Fox 3 made a hand seal, and all of the lightning cones released arcs of radiant white lightning to strike the net of black vines.
However, the net of vines only shuddered slightly, and all of the arcs of white lightning were instantly scattered, while the net remained completely unscathed.
Immediately thereafter, numerous black vines shot out of the surface of the net, instantly ensnaring all of the white lightning spikes trapped within it.
A cloud of what appeared to be black vapor then began to seep out of the vine before enveloping the lightning spikes, and it was giving off a nauseating odor of decay, much like the smell of a rotting swamp.
An urgent look appeared on Fox 3's face as he made a rapid string of hand seals, and the lightning spikes began to struggle with all their might.
Black light and white lightning clashed violently amid strings of rumbling thunderclaps, causing the nearby space and the entire hall to tremble and quake.
"Gui Mu! What do you think you're doing?" Yin Xu yelled in a furious voice.
Gui Mu's eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this, then hurriedly made a hand seal, and the black light emanating from the net of vines instantly receded.
Fox 3 pounced on this opportunity to redouble his efforts, and a burst of lightning law powers erupted out of the lightning spikes as they freed themselves from the net of vines in one fell swoop.
Just as they had predicted, Gui Mu and Yin Xu's hands were somewhat tied here.
All of a sudden, a burst of azure light flashed over Han Li's body, and in the next instant, nine azure flying swords appeared out of thin air in front of Yin Xu before hurtling directly toward him in unison.
Yin Xu's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and a layer of dark shadows emerged over his body, then swelled drastically to form a spherical black barrier around him.
The nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords struck the spherical barrier, plunging most of the way into it before being brought to an abrupt halt.
Yin Xu gave a cold harrumph as a series of black runes emerged over the spherical barrier, and vortex-like ripples appeared over the spots on the barrier that had been struck by the nine swords.
A burst of tremendous suction force surged out of the spherical barrier, attempting to suck in the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he remained calm and collected as he opened his mouth to release a ball of azure light.
The ball of azure light was giving off immense immortal spiritual power fluctuations, and it split up into nine, with each part vanishing into one of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Each burst of azure light contained a time law thread, and with this injection of power, the nine flying swords immediately began to tremble violently, which thick arcs of golden lightning flashed over their blades.
There were also time law runes present within the arcs of lightning, and the spherical black barrier immediately began to tremble violently as an explosive aura began to build from the clash between the black light and golden lightning.
Yin Xu immediately eased up on the pressure upon seeing this, while Han Li's Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords only glowed brighter and brighter, and it didn't take long before the spherical barrier was shattered into countless black shadows.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew back to Han Li in a flash, while Yin Xu looked on with a frustrated expression.
Before he had a chance to do anything, two dark red chains shot out of the space behind him without any warning, then began to wrap themselves around him like a pair of spirit snakes.
Yin Xu's body instantly transformed into a slender shadow that vanished into the surrounding darkness, only to reappear on the other side of the hall an instant later.
"You Luo, how dare you collude with these outsiders and betray our Infernal Region? Have you forgotten everything that our regional monarch has done for you?" Yin Xu accused in a cold voice.
"I..."
Weeping Soul shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and a conflicted look appeared on her face.
"Cut the chit-chat!" Han Li yelled as he made a hand seal, and a mountain of sword projections erupted out of his nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords before crashing down upon Yin Xu with tremendous sword qi fluctuations.
Yin Xu took a glance at the walls of the giant hall around him, and on this occasion, he thrust his palms forward to oppose the vast mountain of sword projections instead of taking further evasive measures.
A series of black shadows sprang out of the palms of his hands, then intertwined to form a black wave that clashed against the sword projections.
A string of muffled explosions rang out as the mountain of sword projections was vanquished, but the black shadows had also faded.
Yin Xu's complexion paled ever so slightly, but he recovered just a moment later.
He didn't dare to unleash too much power, and he had to ward off Han Li's attack while also minimizing the impact of the clash, which was far more difficult said than done.
"Now's not the time to be hesitating, Weeping Soul. We have to seize this opportunity!" Han Li communicated to Weeping Soul through voice transmission, then made another hand seal, and the swordlight emanating from the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords transformed into a series of azure lotus flowers, all of which hurtled directly toward Yin Xu once again with tremendous sword qi fluctuations.
At this point, Weeping Soul had also hardened her resolve again, and she swept both sleeves through the air to release a pair of dark red chains that shot forth toward Yin Xu like lightning.
Baili Yan also sprang into action, opening his mouth to release a ball of black fire, which transformed into a series of thick streaks of black swordlight aimed at Gui Mu.
Every single streak of swordlight had black flames burning over it, and they were giving off incredibly formidable baleful qi fluctuations.
Lights of all types of different colors were flashing within the hall as the battle raged on.
Just as they anticipated, Yin Xu and Gui Mu were very afraid of further escalation, and they didn't dare to unleash their full power or damage any part of the hall, so they had to be excessively cautious.
In contrast, Han Li and the others had no such inhibitions, and at times, they would intentionally unleash large-scale attacks to force the two Great Encompassment cultivators to stop them.
As the battle continued, Yin Xu and Gui Mu were feeling extremely frustrated as they weren't able to unleash even a fraction of their power.
However, they were still Great Encompassment cultivators, and their proficiency in the use of law powers far surpassed that of Han Li and the others, so they were able to quickly consolidate and slowly gain the upper hand.
Despite their best efforts, there wasn't much that Han Li and the others could do in the face of such an enormous cultivation base disparity, and they were slowly but steadily being forced onto the back foot.
At this point, the battlefield had already been reduced to just a small part of the hall, while the rest of the hall had returned to darkness.
On one side of the hall, Han Li and Weeping Soul were locked in battle against Yin Xu.
Right at this moment, Han Li and Yin Xu passed each other by like lightning, and a dull thump rang out as Han Li stumbled back with a long, bleeding gash torn into his shoulder.
Yin Xu also swayed momentarily, but then immediately steadied himself before lashing out at Han Li again.
The black light around his body rippled slightly, following which two thick black spear projections shot out of it, hurtling toward Han Li and Weeping Soul at an incredible speed.
The spear projections weren't giving off particularly formidable auras, but there was a layer of rippling black light over each of them that was giving off peculiar vibrations.
Han Li was still yet to steady himself, a grim look appeared on his face as he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords circling around above his head swelled drastically in size before clashing against the oncoming black spear projection in rapid succession.
A string of dull thumps rang out as the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords struck the spear projection, only for all of them to slide down its length, and the spear projection wasn't slowed down in the slightest as it continued to hurtle toward Han Li.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly sprang back in retreat. At the same time, radiant golden light erupted out of his body, while a layer of fine, purplish-golden scales emerged over his fists as he rammed them against the tip of the spear projection.
However, contrary to his expectations, there was no earth-shattering explosion. Instead, the black spear projection exploded without posing any resistance in the face of Han Li's fists.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which his expression changed drastically as he could sense a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations entering his body from the detonated spear projection.
Immediately thereafter, his entire body turned numb, while his immortal spiritual power circulation also became very sluggish, and was instantly rooted to the spot.
Weeping Soul was also in a similar situation, and right at this moment, Yin Xu made a hand seal, upon which tendrils of black shadows sprang out of Han Li and Weeping Soul's bodies to ensnare them.
At the same time, these shadows rapidly intertwined to form a giant black cage around them in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was only immobilized for a moment before regaining his mobility, but at that point, he had already been trapped in the cage.
These tendrils of black shadows were extremely resilient, and they had wrapped themselves around him in layers. On top of that, there were also bursts of tremendous pressure converging from all directions within the cage.
Meanwhile, Fox 3 and Baili Yan had also been ensnared by Gui Xu's ghost vines, which had formed tight cocoons around them.
In a matter of mere minutes, everyone had been captured, and the situation was looking dire once again.