When the Elder Devil Qian saw Han Li blocking his path, his heart tightened, and the Blood Devil Pearl involuntarily paused.
Seizing the opportunity, the figure within the silver light behind him moved, summoning a fiery red miniature bow into his hand. With a pull of the bowstring, countless crimson arrows densely shot forth.
Simultaneously, Han Li grinned eerily at the old devil and raised his Three Flames Fan. With a phoenix’s cry, a three-colored flame surged from the fan, instantly transforming into a firebird that pounced toward the Blood Devil Pearl.
A pincer attack was thus formed.
Elder Devil Qian was greatly alarmed. Having witnessed the power of the Three Flames Fan before, he had no intention of facing it head-on. Yet, the attack from behind was equally deadly—he had already suffered a significant blow from it earlier due to a moment of carelessness.
With no other choice, the Blood Devil let out a shrill shriek and abruptly retreated backward. As the blood light flared, a murky ghostly face emerged on the pearl, spewing a jet of black gas that instantly condensed into a small, inch-long banner.
Under the howling wind, the banner expanded to several feet in size, exuding a chilling aura and shimmering with emerald light.
The Yin Luo Banner!
Han Li recognized it instantly. Apart from its denser demonic energy, it was nearly identical to the one he had obtained earlier.
As the grand elder of the Yin Luo Sect, it was no surprise the old devil possessed such a treasure. Han Li’s thoughts raced like lightning.
At that moment, the banner unfurled before the Blood Pearl.
A fierce yin wind erupted, and black mist spread as twisted, distorted ghostly heads emerged from the demonic energy, spewing phosphorescent flames to meet the incoming fiery arrows.
The arrows naturally struck the yin energy without mercy, resulting in a series of violent explosions.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Elder Devil Qian, concealed by the banner’s power, maneuvered the Blood Devil Pearl and Yin Luo Banner to one side, glancing back as he fled.
The firebird, wings spread wide, pursued relentlessly.
The old devil’s heart clenched with dread, and he steeled himself.
The Yin Luo Banner glowed fiercely with green light as a pitch-black hole appeared on its surface. A torrent of inky yin energy surged forth, and from it leaped a tiny ghost, barely an inch tall. The moment it left the banner, it rapidly expanded into a towering, green-faced, fanged demon.
Clad in glossy black armor and wielding a pitchfork tipped with green flames, the demon appeared fully armed and formidable.
Having been imprisoned in the banner for centuries, the demon let out an excited shriek upon its release, but its cry was abruptly cut short.
The three-colored firebird had already reached it.
Startled, the demon hastily spewed a jet of black yin energy and raised its pitchfork to block the firebird.
Unluckily for the demon, though its power was comparable to an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, it had been sealed for too long and failed to recognize the firebird’s true nature, mistaking it for an ordinary spirit beast.
With a muffled *boom*, the firebird exploded upon contact with the yin energy.
A mysterious halo flickered into existence, expanding and contracting before swelling to over thirty feet in diameter.
Within its radius, three-colored runes churned, annihilating the demon and the surrounding yin energy.
The Blood Devil Pearl, shielded by the Yin Luo Banner, narrowly escaped the blast.
Elder Devil Qian inwardly sighed in relief but winced when he saw the banner’s dimmed glow—its spiritual energy had been severely depleted.
The Yin Luo Banner, one of the sect’s most treasured artifacts, had lost its primary ghost and much of its ghostly mist to the three-colored halo.
In truth, the true might of the Yin Luo Banner could only be unleashed when all eighteen banners were gathered. With them, Elder Devil Qian believed he could even withstand a Deity Transformation cultivator.
However, the sect’s ancestral rules dictated that the banners could only be united during an existential crisis. Normally, they were held by the eighteen strongest cultivators in the sect—a rule even he, as the grand elder, could not override.
Worse yet, one banner had already fallen into enemy hands.
Gritting his teeth, Elder Devil Qian summoned another ghostly face on the Blood Devil Pearl, intending to swallow the weakened banner for safekeeping.
After witnessing the Three Flames Fan’s power, his wariness toward Han Li had lessened. Such a treasure must consume an immense amount of spiritual energy. Han Li had already used it once against the Hua Xian Sect’s female cultivators and again just now—he likely couldn’t wield it again so soon.
Otherwise, a few more strikes would have left the old devil with no escape.
But then, an unexpected change occurred.
A thunderous roar erupted from the silver figure in the distance as a streak of emerald light shot forth, vanishing mid-flight.
“Not good!”
Recognizing the attack, Elder Devil Qian’s heart lurched.
He had been caught off guard by this before—the emerald light contained the Evil-Suppressing Divine Lightning, which countered demonic arts. Last time, his protective blood flames had suffered heavy losses.
Determined not to repeat the mistake, the ghostly face swallowed the banner, and the Blood Devil Pearl blurred as it activated a secret technique.
A few feet away, the emerald arrow crackling with golden lightning reappeared.
With a thunderclap, the arrow pierced through the pearl’s illusion.
The “Blood Devil Pearl” silently dissipated—the real pearl had been teleported away at the last moment.
Ten yards away, a burst of blood flames erupted as the Blood Devil Pearl materialized.
But then, something bizarre happened.
Almost simultaneously, a faint black light flickered, and a crystalline black dagger silently appeared behind the pearl.
With a flash, the dagger sliced through the pearl effortlessly, its protective blood flames offering no resistance.
A crisp shattering sound echoed as Elder Devil Qian’s agonized scream rang out—the pearl crumbled into pieces.
“Impossible! How could the Blood Devil Pearl be destroyed so easily? Even the Tian E Divine Sword of the Taiyi Sect couldn’t do this… What is that dagger?!” The old devil’s voice, filled with disbelief and rage, sputtered from the remnants of the pearl.
With a final *boom*, the pearl exploded, revealing a Nascent Soul.
This Nascent Soul was grotesque—shrouded in a faint blood mist, clutching a small banner, and with five pitch-black skulls clamped onto its body, seemingly draining its essence.
Seeing his vessel destroyed, the Nascent Soul let out a piercing shriek. Wrapped in the Yin Luo Banner to fend off the surrounding Arctic Divine Light, it transformed into a black streak and fled.
The giant skeleton battling Gui Ling roared in response, disengaging and dissolving into five streaks of gray-white energy that raced toward the old devil.
Though the Blood Devil Pearl was gone, merging with the Five Child Devils would allow the Nascent Soul to possess one of them.
Gui Ling, unwilling to let them escape, shrank to normal size and pursued with a black-and-white streak.
The Five Child Devils and Gui Ling were still fifty to sixty yards away. If the Nascent Soul had a vessel or was outside the Arctic Divine Light, it could have teleported to them instantly.
But now, forced to rely on ordinary flight, it stood no chance against Han Li’s lightning-based movement.
Expressionless, Han Li flapped his wings and appeared directly in front of the black streak. Raising his hand, golden arcs crackled into a net that descended upon the Nascent Soul.
Recognizing the Evil-Suppressing Divine Lightning, the Nascent Soul spat a blood mist to momentarily block the net before veering sharply to the side.
Yet, a silver glow materialized before it, revealing a pale-faced middle-aged man in a yellow robe—Han Li’s humanoid puppet, holding the red bow.
Instead of attacking, the puppet’s eyes suddenly emitted dazzling purple light, rippling outward in hypnotic waves.
The Nascent Soul, entranced by the light, felt its spirit drawn in, suffused with warmth and lethargy.
“No! This is a soul-entrancing technique!” The old devil’s centuries of cultivation allowed him to snap awake instantly.
Horrified, he averted his gaze and rolled his protective black mist, attempting to flee in another direction.
But then, an unusual surge of spiritual energy above made him look up.
A small cauldron hovered there, emitting a faint blue glow.
Though he had never seen it before, his instincts screamed danger. Without hesitation, he shot away as a black streak.
The cauldron chimed softly, releasing a blue mist that swept toward the fleeing Nascent Soul.
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