Chapter 1043

This time, the ancient demon's mind and spirit were completely drawn to Han Li, who had suddenly appeared behind it. When the demon marrow refining flying knife appeared again, its perception was clearly a beat slower than before. With the flying knife's strange evasion speed, by the time the ancient demon's face turned pale with shock and tried to dodge again, it was already too late.

The same scene played out once more at the ancient demon's neck—blood lines surfaced, and the demon's other head rolled off cleanly.

Seeing this, Han Li naturally felt great joy in his heart. But before his smile could fully appear, the headless ancient demon's hand-held twin blades did not scatter and vanish as expected; instead, they rose up and transformed into two streaks of black light that shot toward Han Li. Immediately, a fierce wind arose, and the headless demon's body turned into a thick cloud of demonic energy that exploded outward.

Although Han Li was startled, he would not let his captured prey truly escape. Without hesitation, he formed a hand seal with both hands, and the purple fire dragon he had originally shot out likewise exploded with a bang.

The purple flames, about an inch in size, spread throughout a ten-zhang radius, falling like rain.

Meanwhile, dozens of golden small swords tangled together densely, instantly reducing the two black blades to nothing. Immediately after, the flying swords rang out in unison, and golden arcs of electricity shot from them, forming a vast golden net that descended head-on to meet the purple flames.

A loud "Zhi la" sound rose up!

Most of the demonic energy had no time to flee far before being frozen solid by chunks of purple ice. The remaining black energy slammed into the golden electric net, and with a thunderclap, it naturally dissipated into nothing.

Seeing this, Han Li remained cautious, forming hand seals with both hands and softly uttering the word "burst" from his mouth.

The entire golden net exploded outward, countless fine electric arcs striking downward. The purple ice instantly shattered and collapsed beneath them.

The black energy within the shattered ice, along with the countless strands of ancient demon essence hidden therein, were naturally swept away completely.

Several treasures fell from the demonic energy.

When Han Li saw two items wrapped tightly in black silk, his eyes lit up.

He flicked his finger, and two golden arcs shot out, instantly dispelling the black silk to reveal two golden small swords, their surfaces somewhat dull, as if their spirituality had suffered considerable damage.

These were precisely Han Li's two lost Qing Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords.

Overjoyed, Han Li hastily tried to stimulate them with his spiritual sense; the two flying swords sprang up and flew into his hands on their own.

The heart Han Li had been holding finally relaxed considerably.

Fortunately, although the flying swords had been sealed by the ancient demon for years, their inner spirituality had not been completely lost; with just a little re-refinement, they could be restored to their original state immediately.

At this moment, in the distance, the Xu-surnamed youth and the Winged Yecha, among others, watched wide-eyed as Han Li had just wounded the ancient demon, then pursued and, in two or three moves, truly beheaded and destroyed it—so completely that even its primordial spirit did not escape. They stared at each other, seeing a trace of fear in each other's eyes.

As for the newly appeared humanoid puppet, these few were naturally bewildered, not knowing where Han Li had summoned such a powerful cultivator from. Earlier, when everyone had teleported in, there had been no such person. Could this person's evasion technique be so superb as to simultaneously deceive so many?

Thinking this, they naturally felt even more uneasy in their hearts.

But they were not ordinary people; they immediately suppressed this thought deep in their hearts and, without prior agreement, instantly launched an attack on the restriction below.

Around the black teleportation formation stood several formation flags, forming a gray light shield that isolated the formation within.

It was precisely this restriction that rendered the teleportation formation at the other end ineffective.

Various attacks howled as they smashed downward.

Spiritual light flickered, and after the booming rumble, to everyone's astonishment, the gray light shield formed by the flags proved extraordinarily tough. Whether it was the Winged Yecha's killing soul threads, the lion-beast's pair of sharp claws, or even the Xu-surnamed youth's green light ball with pearls within, striking it only produced a faint ripple. Those seemingly simple seven or eight gray flags merely swayed within the restriction and remained unaffected.

This scene made the few people, who had originally thought the path out would now be smooth without the ancient demon as an obstacle, all feel their hearts tighten suddenly.

The lion-beast, whose temperament was the most violent, seeing its claws ineffective, immediately flashed a ferocious light in its eyes. Without hesitation, it opened its blood-filled maw, and a golden sound wave shot out from its mouth, finally causing a deep dent in the shield wall, as if it could barely hold on.

Seeing this, the Xu-surnamed youth moved his spiritual sense, and the Lingxi Kong Que perched above his head flapped its wings, releasing five-colored spiritual light that swept through the fierce wind. Meanwhile, Lin Yinping pinched with her jade fingers, spitting out one silver light ball after another from her mouth, which struck the shield in succession. Adding to this, the Winged Yecha suddenly condensed countless killing soul threads into a giant serpent, which lunged forward with a vicious final strike.

Everyone knew whether they could escape this place depended on this one strike, so they gave it their all, holding nothing back.

In an instant, astonishing spiritual light flooded and submerged the restriction beneath it.

The gray-white light shield finally emitted a cracking sound, and at that very moment, Han Li and Gui Ling rose on their escape light, flashed a few times, and flew back here.

The humanoid puppet, however, hid itself, vanishing without a trace.

Han Li's arrival seemed calm and peaceful, but it made everyone else feel greatly wary. And just as the several formation flags let out a mournful cry and snapped in half simultaneously, numerous figures suddenly moved, all rushing at once into the formation.

But after several clusters of spiritual light exploded in mutual collision, several figures simultaneously fell down.

At this very moment, they began attacking each other, driving others back.

"Han Daoist, what do you mean by this!" the Xu-surnamed youth's face turned iron-blue as he held the green pearl in one hand, staring angrily at Han Li and demanding an explanation.

"What do you mean? You should ask Xu Daoist yourself." Han Li said with a half-smile, several golden swords floating motionless before him, while one hand gripped the Three-Flame Fan that made others' hearts tremble with dread.

"The first batch to be transmitted must include me—I cannot trust you human cultivators!" the Winged Yecha said coldly to Han Li and the other, her flesh wings wrapped around her body for protection.

"Haha, that's just difficult—this small teleportation formation can transmit at most two people at once. If those who leave early accidentally destroy the outer formation, those left behind would have to wait for death." Han Li's smile faded, his voice turning icy cold.

As he spoke, the lion-beast and Gui Ling, among others, also slowly approached.

Under mutual wariness from the three sides, they reached a temporary stalemate here.

At this moment, a cold, sharp female shout echoed from the distant palace direction!

"How dare you slaughter my holy kin before my eyes! Not a single one of you shall leave!"

That voice was icy and piercing, not loud in volume, yet after traveling far, it rang clearly in everyone's ears—indeed, it was the voice of the black-robed woman.

At this very instant, the incarnation of the Holy Ancestor of Yuan Cha, upon sensing the ancient demon's death, had felt this event. But only now had she just recovered, and in great anger, she spoke thus.

At this moment, the black wind banner in her hand exerted nearly half its power, pressing the Nine True Subduing Demon Grand Formation into disarray. Even the Eight Spirit Rulers above the palace, buzzing with sound, drove eight spirit beast phantoms to appear near this demon, joining in its encirclement. Yet under the near-heaven-defying offensive and defensive power of the black wind banner, the Holy Ancestor's incarnation could not harm her in the slightest.

This woman had originally planned to first resolve the subduing demon grand formation, then subdue the Eight Spirit Rulers. But upon seeing her only subordinate die so unexpectedly, she was instantly filled with the Holy Ancestor's killing intent.

The black-robed woman's face sank like water; she sprayed several mouthfuls of essence blood into the air onto the small flag, then flicked her fingers repeatedly, releasing one spell decision after another.

The small flag emitted a piercing black light, its size suddenly swelling wildly—in the blink of an eye, it became a giant banner over ten zhang long and as thick as a bowl's rim. Purple runes flowed endlessly across its surface, black energy coiling around it.

Nearby hurricanes, upon sensing this banner's transformation, similarly gained greatly enhanced power. The evil wind sweeping through actually scraped the altars in the Nine True Subduing Demon Formation into inch-long fragments. Several golden knives, meanwhile, spun chaotically in the wind, and it seemed the Nine True Subduing Demon Formation was about to be broken.

As for the Eight Spirit Rulers, before this woman truly approached the palace, their power would not be fully displayed—only the eight phantom beasts they transformed into circled her, attacking nonstop. But under the black wind banner, they were likewise blown east and west by the soaring wind pillars, their forms unstable.

On another side, the Xu-surnamed youth and the Winged Yecha, among others, heard the black-robed woman's chilling words and felt the sudden, tremendous change in the wind, their hearts tightening. Had it not been for the three sides glaring at each other like tigers, they would have surely rushed straight into the teleportation formation to flee.

"Let Daoist Gui Ling and Daoist Lin go first through transmission. Daoist Gui Ling is a demon beast, and Daoist Yin and the others are old acquaintances; moreover, I am confident Daoist Gui will not abandon me and leave. If Daoist Lin goes first, Daoist Xu can also feel more at ease. Then the second batch—Daoist Shi Qin and Daoist Xu—will transmit, and I and Daoist Yin will go last. Hurry and begin—delay invites change!" Seeing the palace direction thunder with deafening roars, the sky filled with dark clouds, and over ten black wind pillars intertwining and merging in the air, even the nearby air beginning to tremble slightly, Han Li felt a faint bad premonition. Without further thought, he spoke sharply.

The Xu-surnamed youth and the Winged Yecha likewise sensed this space's anomaly; even if some still harbored reservations, now there was no better plan. Delaying further would likely mean being wiped out in one sweep. After exchanging a glance, they nodded slightly.

Immediately, under Han Li's command, Gui Ling and Lin Yinping shot forward, about to enter the transmission formation.

But who would have thought—just as they stepped in with one foot, white light flashed within the transmission formation, and a figure appeared in its center. Someone had actually transmitted in from outside at this moment.

This caused Han Li and the others to stare wide-eyed, speechless!

And at this very moment, a clear, cold voice came from the center:

"Chaos Opens Heaven!"

As the words of this life fell, a pitch-black light pillar like ink shot up from the distance, and after the light pillar paused strangely in midair, the entire sky suddenly split into two halves along the light pillar as a boundary—one side remained bright and sunny, while the other was engulfed by an endless black curtain that swept in, quickly covering most of the sky and arriving above Han Li and the others in an instant.

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