Chapter 1384: Crushing the Black Phoenix
The white net of threads was quite robust, but in the face of such a vast number of attacks, it began to tremor violently in the span of just a few breaths, and its white light began to flash erratically, making it appear as if it would crumble at any moment.
Meanwhile, the black flames were only able to withstand the sea of five-colored flames for a short while before being completely overwhelmed, following which the five-colored flames continued to sweep toward Xiao Hong.
As for the black light emanating from the antiquated mirror that she had summoned, it was almost immediately vanquished by Han Li's Divine Essencefused Light.
The Divine Essencefused Light continued onward, quickly inundating the mirror. The antiquated mirror struggled desperately within the vast expanse of grey light, but it quickly became completely dull and lusterless as if it had lost all of its spiritual nature.
Thus, the Divine Essencefused Light swept downward without any further impediment.
Xiao Hong was extremely stunned by these developments.
She was aware that Han Li was far more powerful than his cultivation base suggested, but never would she have thought that he would be this powerful. It had quickly become very clear that she was no match for him.
She gritted her teeth before rolling onto the ground without any further hesitation. Spiritual light flashed around her body, and black flames rose into the air for over 100 feet.
Amid those flames, a proud black phoenix that was around 10 feet in size emerged. It let loose a loud cry that speared directly into the heavens, and it spread open its wings to create a white rift of light.
The phoenix's body swayed before it disappeared into this rift.
As such, the countless streaks of sword Qi that had just destroyed the white net of threads, as well the five-colored flames and Divine Essencefused Light all missed their target.
"Spatial abilities!" Han Li harrumphed coldly. Black light flashed from his glabella as his third demonic eye appeared.
The eye fixed its gaze on a certain direction, upon which a thin black thread flew through the air and disappeared in a flash.
Han Li flapped his wings at the same time and disappeared amid a loud thunderclap. Immediately thereafter, Han Li reappeared over 300 feet away amid a flash of azure and white lightning.
Almost at the exact same moment, a dull thud abruptly rang out several tens of feet below him. Spatial fluctuations erupted there as the black phoenix was forced to reveal itself, stumbling in an unsteady manner as it looked up at Han Li with astonishment in its eyes.
"Law Destruction Eye!" the phoenix exclaimed with incredulity in its voice.
Before it had a chance to gather itself, a bone-chilling harrumph sounded overhead.
The black phoenix's body tremored violently upon hearing this harrumph, and it almost plummeted straight out of the sky.
Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li opened his mouth to blast forth a small azure cauldron.
A crisp ringing sound erupted from the cauldron as its lid flew off of its own accord. Countless azure threads erupted from within the cauldron, sweeping downward amid a vast expanse of azure light.
The black phoenix was aware that it was in danger, but its body felt completely leaden and immobilized. It could only look on in shock and horror as its body was bound tightly by the azure threads.
Han Li's body swayed, and he abruptly appeared right before the black phoenix in the next instant. He swept a sleeve through the air, and a massive inky-black hand shot forth like lightning, clamping around black phoenix's neck in a vice-like grip.
At this moment, the black phoenix finally recovered slightly from Han Li's Spirit Stun Thorn attack, and it began to struggle with all its might. Not only was it attempting to thrash violently to escape the azure threads, a layer of raging black flames had also surfaced over its body.
Those azure threads immediately showed sights of melting in the face of those flames.
A blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this, and a layer of golden scales suddenly appeared along the arm connected to the hand that was clamped around the black phoenix's neck, as well as his face. He clenched his five fingers together in one powerful motion, sending an immense force surging into the phoenix's throat.
The phoenix was struggling valiantly a moment ago, but it almost passed out from Han Li's strangulation.
Han Li then let loose a loud cry, causing the air around him to tremor and ring. Immediately thereafter, he abruptly flapped his wings, and he hurtled toward the ground like a shooting star with the black phoenix's neck still caught firmly in his grasp.
The black phoenix was completely at Han Li's mercy and powerless to resist.
Moments later, an earthshattering boom erupted as the figurative shooting star crashed violently into the ground, creating a massive crater that was over 100 feet in size.
Azure light flashed as Han Li appeared in the air above the crater. At the very center of the crater, the black phoenix was lying limply at the bottom in a completely stationary manner.
Even though Xiao Hong possessed the powerful body of a demon beast, she still completely passed out after copping such a heavy blow.
Han Li looked down at the black phoenix with a cold and contemplative expression for a while, but decided against taking Xiao Hong's life in the end. Instead, he made a grabbing motion down below, following which white light flashed from the black phoenix's body, and a storage bracelet was drawn into Han Li's grasp.
He flicked the five fingers on his other hand, and several talismans shot forth before disappearing into the black phoenix's body. He then pressed his hand into the air, and spatial fluctuations erupted as a small black mountain appeared above the crater. Grey light flashed as the mountain rapidly expanded to several hundred feet in size, then slowly descended toward the ground.
Following a loud rumbling boom, the black phoenix was completely sealed under the black mountain.
The massive weight of the Divine Essencefused Mountain coupled with its inherent Divine Essencefused Light ensured that there was no way for Xiao Hong to escape on her own.
As such, she had been captured alive by Han Li.
This process appeared to have been a rather lengthy one, but it had actually only taken Han Li the span of a few breaths to completely subdue this demonic cultivator, who actually possessed a superior cultivation base compared to his.
As for his decision to leave her alive, that wasn't because Han Li was being chivalrous or couldn't bear to kill a woman. It was just that with other witnesses around, he didn't want to forge a vendetta against one of the seven major demon sub-species.
He wasn't part of a vastly powerful true spirit family like the Long Family or the Ye Family, so he had to act with caution.
In reality, as a demonic cultivator of direct lineal descent in the Black Phoenix Race, Xiao Hong naturally had more treasures and abilities than the ones that she had displayed. However, Han Li's blitzkrieg tactics had completely caught her off guard, thereby resulting in her being captured so easily.
Otherwise, in a normal battle, Han Li would still be able to win, but he'd have to unleash a few trump cards in the process.
A faint cry of surprise rang out from the distance.
Han Li turned toward that direction, and was immediately greeted by a pair of astonished eyes.
Those eyes belonged to none other than the middle-aged Long Family cultivator who was using the black scroll. He was currently appraising Han Li with a shocked look on his face, clearly stunned that Han Li was able to defeat a late-Deity Transformation cultivator with such outrageous ease.
The other Long Family cultivator also cast his gaze toward Han Li upon hearing his comrade's cry of surprise.
There, he discovered Han Li hovering at a low altitude above a small black mountain. Xiao Hong's aura could be detected underneath the mountain, but it had become extremely feeble, and this situation also brought a hint of surprise to his face. However, he then immediately harrumphed coldly as he patted a crimson pouch that was hanging from his waist. A buzzing sound rang out from within the pouch, following which a crimson ball of light shot forth into the air, heading directly for Han Li.
The actions taken by the two Long Family cultivators naturally also drew Ye Chu's attention to Han Li. She was naturally ecstatic at the sight of Han Li's crushing victory, and she opened her mouth to blast forth an arc of azure lightning that struck the crimson ball of light. The ball of light tremored and suddenly transformed into a massive ghostly head, pouncing toward her with a violent expression, forgetting its intended target in its fit of rage.
Han Li was naturally not going to squander such a brilliant opportunity. A thunderclap erupted from his back, and he shot forth as an arc of azure and white lightning.
Following a few flashes in quick succession, he suddenly appeared beside the massive crimson sword hanging in the sky.
At this moment, the Blood Crystal Mohe Sword was flashing with a peculiar crimson light, and was encased in that robust white barrier of light.
The other Long Family cultivator's brows furrowed as he swept a palm toward Han Li from the distance. His actions appeared to be quite gentle and nonchalant, but a glittering and translucent hand of light suddenly appeared above Han Li. It was around 10 feet in size and flashed toward Han Li like lightning.
Before the massive hand had even struck Han Li, a gust of fierce winds were swept toward him with such ferocity that he was struck by a sense of asphyxiation.
Han Li's eyelids twitched, but he didn't release any treasures. Instead, brilliant golden light erupted from his body as he clenched his fists and aimed a vicious strike into the air.
In the instant that the two fists lashed out, they transformed into black and white in color and began to flash with mysterious spiritual light.
He was going to combat the attack manifested from a secret technique unleashed by a Spatial Tempering cultivator with his body alone.
The Long Family cultivator was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately injected more power into that hand, causing it to swell even further as it crashed down toward Han Li.
Following the sound of a gong being struck, the seemingly unstoppable white hand was brought to an abrupt halt. Immediately thereafter, a crisp crack akin to the sound of chinaware being shattered rang out as the hand of light crumbled before vanishing as specks of spiritual light.
Han Li's fists were held high above his head with golden light flashing all over his body, which appeared to be completely unscathed.
The Long Family cultivator's cold smile immediately congealed upon seeing this.
However, Han Li had no intention of having a staring contest with him. He swept his sleeve through the air to hurl forth a couple of silver beads, which immediately swelled to around the size of large bowls. The two beads then flew directly toward the white light barrier, and indistinct thunderclaps could be heard churning within the beads.
These were none other than a pair of the lightning beads that Han Li had refined.
Just as the lightning beads were about to crash into the barrier of light, spatial fluctuations suddenly rippled in the air before it, following which an inky-black ghostly arm appeared.
The two silver beads struck the arm and immediately exploded.
Two thunderous rumbling booms erupted as countless arcs of silver lightning shimmered and intertwined, instantly encompassing the entire area with a radius of over 200 feet. Even though the white barrier of light hadn't been directly struck by the lightning beads, it still tremored violently from the astonishing might unleashed by those beads, and it appeared as if it could shatter at any moment.
A small portion of the lightning beads' power had still managed to strike the light barrier. Han Li narrowed his eyes and before the power of lightning had dissipated, he flicked his 10 fingers through the air in rapid succession.
Streaks of golden sword Qi immediately whistled through the air, heading directly toward the white barrier of light.
In the light barrier's current state, it would definitely be shattered if it were to be struck by those streaks of powerful sword Qi.
A monstrous roar suddenly erupted from within the lightning, following which a dozen or so black shadows instantly shot forth from within, striking the streaks of sword Qi with unerring accuracy.
All of the streaks of sword Qi immediately dimmed before being reduced to nothingness.