Chapter 770: The Border War (8)

After probing with his spiritual sense, the brocade-robed giant was revealed to be at the Nascent Soul late stage! He was a Mulan Divine Master! But weren't there only three Divine Masters in Mulan?

Han Li's heart recoiled. Before he could even comprehend what was happening, the brocade-robed giant raised a hand and seized the thunder pearls hurtling down from the void.

Han Li's mind snapped alert; without hesitation, he pointed a finger, and the thunder pearl immediately spiraled, attempting to change course.

But the motion was slightly too late.

A massive blue hand suddenly materialized above the thunder pearl and snatched it up with lightning speed.

There was no way to evade it!

Han Li's eyebrows lifted; without delay, he formed two hand seals and detonated the sealed thunder pearl.

Golden and blue light erupted within the giant hand, and both the hand and the thunder pearl instantly vanished into nothingness.

The brocade-robed giant snorted coldly, but a flash of blue light crossed his face, and his expression returned to normal.

Han Li made no move to flee; he merely stared coldly at the opponent in silence.

The brocade-robed giant looked up at Han Li and spoke calmly:

"You are Han Li—the cultivator who possesses the Golden Thunder Bamboo magic treasure!"

"Mulan is said to have only three Divine Masters—then who are you?" Han Li did not answer the giant's question but asked another instead.

"Good! Knowing I am a Mulan Divine Master and still remaining so composed—you must indeed be the person Master Zhong spoke of. I am Tian Zhong, the fourth Divine Master of Mulan!" the brocade-robed giant said without emotion.

"Fourth Divine Master? I've never heard of such a thing. But your transformed hand couldn't even contain one of my thunder pearls. You must have just entered the late stage—not even stabilized your realm yet!" Han Li glared at the giant bluntly. At the same time, he casually pointed at the array of swords before him; instantly, the swords rang in unison, forming a vast expanse of blue-hazed light that shielded Han Li's front.

"I did indeed only recently ascended to the late stage. But do you truly believe you can fight me? You're awfully arrogant," the brocade-robed giant sneered, a mocking curl lifting his lips.

"He alone cannot, but what if I join in?" A melodious female voice suddenly came from the side.

Han Li froze for a moment, then burst into joy.

"Who!" The brocade-robed giant was startled, his eyes darting as he demanded sharply.

"I never expected that after merely a hundred years, Master Tian has ascended to the late stage. Truly astonishing! I wonder if your abilities have grown as much as your realm."

As she spoke, a flash of white light appeared, and a red-clad beautiful woman materialized in midair beside them, gazing coldly at the brocade-robed giant.

"So it's Madam Feng. But if you've come alone, aren't you worried about Lord Long Han's safety? You two always fight side by side," the brocade-robed giant said, his expression shifting slightly.

"Don't worry—my husband among a thousand cultivators, even your Divine Masters couldn't touch him. I'd very much like to test the fourth Divine Master's abilities. Han Daoist, go rescue the other cultivators." The woman's final two sentences were directed at Han Li; then she raised her hand, fingers spreading, and a crystalline crimson vial appeared in her palm.

Before she could cast a spell to activate it, the vial flashed crimson, engulfed in a torrent of blazing fire that floated gently upward.

"Fire Spirit Vial!" The brocade-robed giant's face darkened with seriousness as he murmured under his breath.

Upon hearing the woman's words, Han Li did not hesitate; he shot upward as a streak of blue light.

The brocade-robed giant's expression turned grim; he removed a spirit beast bag from his waist and tossed it into the air. A burst of aura erupted, revealing two identical winged beasts—covered in blue feathers, with tiger heads and eagle bodies.

"Heavenly Tiger Beasts!" Han Li gasped, recognizing the creatures' forms.

These were extremely rare flying beasts of the Mulan grasslands, skilled in earth and wind spells, notoriously difficult to deal with. These two appeared to have reached the Core Formation late stage—far from negligible.

At that moment, the two Heavenly Tiger Beasts suddenly spread their wings and vanished in a flash of blue light. The next instant, they reappeared—one before, one behind Han Li—watching him with predatory intent.

Han Li halted his flight abruptly.

"Teleportation!" Han Li inwardly groaned. He'd heard these beasts possessed teleportation, but he hadn't believed it true.

Now, getting rid of these two beasts would be no easy task!

But Tian Zhong wasn't done—he shifted his body, and a humanoid blue shadow separated from his back, stepping forward as if it were a living person.

The blue shadow was identical in form to Tian Zhong, but its body was entirely composed of shimmering blue light, its face blindingly radiant, as if nothing more than a phantom.

"Astral Projection!" This time, the red-clad woman showed a flicker of surprise.

She wasn't astonished that he had an astral projection—but that such a bizarre one, she had never seen before.

The blue shadow flashed and shot toward Han Li's side.

The red-clad woman made no move to intercept, for the brocade-robed giant had already spat out a crystalline five-colored wheel and addressed her:

"Now I can properly test my skills against both of you."

With that, he pointed at the wheel; it instantly transformed into a swirling rainbow cloud and sped toward the woman.

Seeing this, she grimaced and cast a spell, striking the Fire Spirit Vial before her.

The treasure trembled slightly, then blazed with intense red light, spewing countless searing flames—flames unlike ordinary fire.

Each flame moved as if alive, scattering and coalescing, then twisting into several crimson giant snakes that lunged fiercely at the incoming colored clouds.

Hearing the thunderous crash behind him, Han Li knew without turning that the woman and Tian Zhong had clashed.

He glanced at the strange blue shadow before him, then at the two predatory Heavenly Tiger Beasts, and sighed.

He knew he couldn't rescue the other trapped cultivators unless he defeated these three non-human foes.

And now even these two extraordinary figures had intervened—clearly, no one else had the strength to reinforce this front. Had he known this, he'd have given Yin Yue more thunder pearls from the start, letting her quietly rescue others. Now, that chance was gone.

All he could do now was defeat these three enemies immediately, then consider anything else.

Thinking this, Han Li reached to his waist, pulled out a spirit beast bag, and hurled it into the air. A vast swarm of golden Golden-Consuming Beetles poured out, forming a golden cloud that hovered above.

Without hesitation, Han Li cast a spell, sending it into the insect cloud, which vanished from sight.

A buzzing rose; the cloud split into three golden mists under flashes of blue light, charging toward the three enemies with ferocity.

"Golden-Consuming Beetles! If they were mature, I'd fear them somewhat."

The blue shadow sneered, speaking in the exact same voice as Tian Zhong, showing no surprise at all. The two Heavenly Tiger Beasts, upon seeing the beetles, instantly spread their wings and retreated over twenty zhang away, their faces filled with fear.

At that moment, the blue shadow opened its mouth and spat three beams, each as wide as a bowl. Each blast dimmed the shadow's blue glow slightly; after three blasts, its form had shrunk by three inches.

The three beams shot with incredible speed, striking the insect cloud precisely.

"Puff! Puff! Puff!" Three flashes of blue light appeared—three glowing spheres, each a zhang in diameter, trapping all three swarms of beetles inside.

Han Li was startled; without thinking, he pointed at the three clouds. Instantly, the beetles swarmed the inner walls of the spheres, gnawing furiously.

Moments later, Han Li's face turned grim.

These blue barriers were astonishingly resilient—the beetles were gnawing at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Only now did he realize: all three blue spheres were composed of pure wood spiritual energy. That they could temporarily trap the Golden-Consuming Beetles was not surprising.

Yet the blue shadow's sealing technique, combined with the Heavenly Tiger Beasts' teleportation, left him feeling bound and helpless.

Could this fourth Divine Master have been sent specifically for him? Han Li stood motionless, yet inwardly muttered uneasily, a sense of dread creeping in.

Han Li's guess was nearly spot-on.

Before the battle, the Mulan high command had indeed assigned the task of eliminating Han Li to Tian Zhong, and even lent him the elderly Zhu family's Heavenly Tiger Beasts and several other treasures specifically effective against Han Li's abilities.

But initially, none had expected Han Li to join the gambling duel, so Tian Zhong had simply forgotten the matter.

When Han Li reappeared, slaughtered a group of Law Masters, and destroyed the physical body of a Grand Master, Tian Zhong immediately recognized him.

Whether to prevent Han Li from rescuing the cultivators trapped in the blood dome or to kill him and give the Yin Luo Sect a proper accounting, he had no choice but to come.

But unbeknownst to him, Long Han—who had been monitoring the blood dome—had also noticed Han Li breaking free, and had immediately risked sending Feng Bing.

If Han Li truly rescued the other cultivators, this battle would swing decisively in their favor.

Seeing the Golden-Consuming Beetles immobilized without making any progress, Han Li was deeply frustrated.

But before he could launch another attack, the two Heavenly Tiger Beasts, seeing the beetles trapped, lost their fear. With flashes of blue light, they vanished from their original positions.

Han Li sneered, flicked his sleeve, and the blue shield flew out again; he pointed at the array of swords before him, and sword qi erupted, swirling around him in a impenetrable wall.

Blue light flashed—the two Heavenly Tiger Beasts reappeared, one on each side of Han Li, and each spat a blindingly bright orb from its mouth.

Han Li's eyes flashed with cold fury; the sword array instantly split into two, surging left and right to meet the orbs.

After two muffled explosions, the swords effortlessly shredded the orbs, then swept toward the beasts.

The beasts, seeing this, showed no alarm. Their eyes flickered with cunning, and they vanished again, teleporting far away.

Han Li was furious, about to command the swords to pursue—when the blue shadow moved.

At that same moment, Long Han and the emaciated Law Master, stationed on either flank, simultaneously gave orders and unleashed their secret weapons.

Among the cultivators' ranks, seven white-haired Nascent Soul cultivators each held an ancient treasure and calmly flew out from behind Long Han.

On the Law Masters' side, the long-unseen female musician stepped forward from the ranks, her expression grave, approaching the emaciated elder. At his signal, she carefully withdrew the bronze ancient lamp from her storage bag and held it in her palm.