Chapter 774

The Yin-Yang Demons' eyes flickered slightly; a stench of corpse-qi surged around them. Suddenly, the two demons stood shoulder to shoulder and transformed into a green wind that howled away.

The direction was precisely where the Mulan Sacred Bird was located.

The cultivators instantly exhaled in relief. Facing such a monster that directly sucked the life-blood of the living, anyone would feel a chill down their spine.

The green wind formed by the demons appeared slow, yet moved at incredible speed—but halfway, it grew faint and insubstantial, gradually vanishing entirely, leaving no trace behind.

The others all showed expressions of surprise, glancing involuntarily at the long-haired old man who controlled the two corpses.

His expression remained unchanged, utterly unremarkable.

Seeing this, the other cultivators exchanged glances and calmed their hearts.

On the battlefield near the Fa Shi, the giant blue bird was calmly releasing demonic fire, pinning down the seven old men tightly.

Under conditions where it could harness celestial spiritual energy, the bird effortlessly gathered all fire-spirit energy within a ten-li radius around itself, effortlessly converting it into its cultivated blue demonic fire without consuming much of its own internal spiritual power. The longer the battle dragged on, the more fire-spirit energy it could draw upon.

This was the absolute difference between those above the Soul Transformation realm and those below it.

Otherwise, the cultivator from Tiannan who had achieved Soul Transformation could never have swept across the entire Tiannan region in such a short time, unafraid of being surrounded by multiple opponents.

At first, the Tai Zhen Seven Cultivators could still use the power of their ancient treasures to struggle against the demonic bird—but as time passed, not only was the Demon-Containment Array shattered, but they themselves were trapped within the raging flames.

Now they could only defend themselves, on the brink of collapse!

The demonic bird suddenly halted its flame output, its eyes flickering with surprise as it glanced left and right, as if sensing something.

Suddenly, it let out a clear cry. The bird spread both wings, and a ring of blue light erupted from its body, shooting out in all directions and instantly enveloping everything within a hundred-zhang radius.

A hissing sound arose, and a wisp of green smoke rose within the halo.

Then, the Yin-Yang Demons materialized within a faint, ethereal mist—they had been attempting to fly past the bird's head.

Their concealment technique exposed, the two demons immediately let out piercing shrieks. After rolling over, their bodies swelled violently, transforming into ghostly figures two zhang tall, with red hair and green faces. Their ten fingers trembled, shooting out dozens of gray light threads directly toward the giant bird.

The blue bird froze for a moment, then its eyes blazed with fury. Seeing the two demons attack, it immediately opened its mouth and spat out a colossal column of blue flame. Simultaneously, it spread its wings, and a hurricane of fire surged beneath it, raising ten-zhang-high waves of blue flame that engulfed the two demons.

The Yin-Yang Demons' cultivation method was unknown. Though clearly at a disadvantage, the fine corpse-qi rising from their bodies resisted the blue demonic flames and absorbed most of the attacks.

The pressure on the Tai Zhen Seven lessened. Instantly revitalized, they reconnected their seven treasures and unleashed their power once more.

Just as most believed the two demons would join forces with the Seven to confront the Mulan Sacred Bird, the demons suddenly flashed with gray light after two direct clashes. They feinted, then darted left and right, slipping beneath the giant bird and bursting out of the fire sea, charging straight toward the ancient lamp nearby.

The woman with the surname Le stood beside the ancient lamp, guarding it. Seeing this, her expression remained utterly calm; she cast a spell onto one of the ancient lamps.

Instantly, all nine ancient lamps glowed brightly, and another flame flew out from each.

As the demons rushed toward her, the nine lamp flames spun rapidly, then surged violently, transforming into nine small blue birds.

They spread their wings, their entire bodies wreathed in blue flame, and charged toward the demons.

The demons were extraordinarily fierce; they spat gray corpse-qi and turned their fingers into a blur of claw shadows, instantly engulfing the fire birds.

A flash of gray light and finger rays passed through—the nine fire birds were torn apart into fragments.

But in that brief delay, the giant bird overhead suddenly turned back, spewing a vast torrent of blue mist from its beak with lightning speed, instantly engulfing the two demons and dragging their Yin-Yang Corpse bodies back into the fire sea.

Seeing this, the Tai Zhen Seven felt their hearts sink.

At that moment, the withered old man far away smiled faintly, then turned and whispered something to the black-robed woman.

The black-robed woman's gaze shifted as she surveyed the entire battlefield. Seeing that both the Fa Shi and the cultivators showed signs of exhaustion, she nodded calmly.

Her lips moved slightly as she issued her command.

Immediately, a squad of black-robed figures flew out from the Fa Shi ranks. Each stood in a line, their waists bulging with seven or eight pouches each.

The black-robed woman opened her mouth and spat out a tiny, exquisitely crafted banner.

The banner was only two inches long, emitting a faint black glow—but once cast into the air, it grew with the wind, expanding to over a zhang in size.

The woman coldly pointed at the treasure. The black banner trembled, then shimmered with full-body black light, shooting upward as a streak of dark radiance—vanishing in an instant.

Moments later, a violent gale of dark wind swept across the entire battlefield, heavy black clouds piled up, blocking most of the sunlight.

Below, everything plunged into gloom.

All the cultivators engaged in battle froze in stunned silence.

Yet the squad of black-robed figures did not hesitate—they all hurled their waist pouches into the air, chanting incantations.

Thick black mist, mingled with waves of chilling wind, gushed from the pouch mouths, flooding the front area in moments, forming a vast, dark fog-sea. Within the mist, human heads surged and armor gleamed faintly—faintly resembling an entire army hidden inside.

This astonishing sight was naturally seen by the opposing cultivators, who immediately grew grim-faced.

Long Han clenched his brows tightly, sighing inwardly.

Soon after, all pouches had emptied their mist, and the army within slowly emerged, revealing its true form: each was a corpse clad in bronze armor, emaciated and devoid of flesh.

Though these corpses shuffled as they walked, their armor clinking incessantly, each glowed with green eyes, bared fangs, and possessed Foundation Establishment-level cultivation. The three tallest corpse-kings at the front even surpassed Core Formation, their eyes moving with unmistakable intelligence.

"Bronze Armor Corpses! How could there be so many? There are thousands!" cried a cultivator behind Long Han in shock and fury.

"Nothing unusual. The Mulan people have the aid of Jin's demonic sects. Having so many corpses isn't surprising. If these had appeared at the start of battle, we wouldn't have feared them. But now, both we and the Fa Shi are exhausted. If these Bronze Armor Corpses charge through our lines, Tiannan will surely lose. Only we can hold them back for now." Long Han spoke coldly.

Hearing this, the others exchanged glances and could only smile bitterly.

Even if these watching cultivators intervened, the opposing Fa Shi still had an equal number of troops untouched—they were already doomed.

As for the three senior cultivators and the Mulan Divine Masters, though their outcome was unknown, distant thunderous roars still echoed overhead, indicating fierce combat—neither side could gain an easy victory. There was no hope of aid from the three senior cultivators.

Just as Long Han and the other cultivators helplessly prepared to act, a thunderous beast roar suddenly echoed from afar. A brilliant silver light flared up in one corner of the battlefield, dazzlingly bright—and from within the radiance, a colossal beast suddenly appeared.

The giant ape stood over twenty zhang tall, its body pitch-black as ink. Its fur stood like arrows, its eyes burned crimson as lanterns, its nose grotesquely huge—it was a bizarre giant ape never seen before.

Upon appearing, the giant ape twisted its massive head toward the black mist where the Bronze Armor Corpses stood. It slammed its two long arms against its chest twice, letting out an excited roar, then kicked off with all four limbs. In a few leaps, it drew near the corpse group.

Upon seeing the giant ape approach, the Bronze Armor Corpses—without any command—part of them leapt into the air, spewing black mist from mouths and hands, forming a vast black cloud that descended upon the ape.

Though these corpses had low cultivation, the sheer volume of corpse-qi they released together should have forced even a Nascent Soul cultivator to avoid direct confrontation.

Yet the giant ape showed no sign of evasion. Instead, it lifted its head, and its enormous nose gave a light snort.

Two thick columns of yellow light shot from its nostrils, transforming into a torrent of yellow mist that swept toward the black cloud like lightning.

In a single motion, the black cloud was sucked in as if by a whale drinking the sea, offering no resistance as it vanished entirely into the ape's gaping maw.

The corpses, possessing extremely low spiritual awareness, were momentarily stunned.

Seizing the opportunity, the giant ape snorted repeatedly, and waves of yellow mist poured forth. This time, the mist struck the corpses directly—each corpse emitted fine black qi, all of which was sucked away by the yellow glow.

Corpses stripped of their corpse-qi instantly became lifeless matter, plummeting from the air. Midway down, they dissolved into clouds of gray smoke, vanishing into nothing.

In moments, hundreds of airborne corpses were swept clean by the giant ape. The ape extended its massive tongue to lick its upper lip, then turned its greedy gaze toward the remaining corpses on the ground.

The ordinary corpses remained unmoved, unaware of fear. But the three Core Formation corpse-kings stirred uneasily, their eyes filled with hesitation and dread.

All other cultivators and Fa Shi stared, dumbfounded by the giant ape's power.

The black-robed woman was terrified. She forgot to speak to the withered old man beside her. Her body instantly transformed into a streak of yellow light, shooting straight toward the giant ape. Seeing the ape open its mouth and yellow light flicker again in its nostrils, she flew into a rage, raised her hand—and with a hiss, a streak of purple light became a giant blade, over ten zhang long, slashing fiercely at the ape.

But before the blade reached the ape's body, a faint thunderclap sounded. A flash of silver lightning appeared—and a young man in blue robes materialized atop the ape's shoulder. His cheeks were covered in blood-red scales, and a single inch-tall horn sprouted from his head. He raised his hand, and a blue light shield shot out.

A deafening clang rang out as blue light and purple radiance clashed—the blue shield flew back, but the giant blade was halted. The young man in blue robes wobbled slightly on the ape's shoulder, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.

"Demonic cultivator!" the youth said calmly, gazing at the black-robed woman.

He rubbed his hands together—thunder cracked loudly—and thick and thin golden arcs suddenly appeared across his body, leaping and flickering, blindingly bright.

The young man was Han Li!

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