The sacred-grade demonic ape erupted with a dazzling purple radiance, its protective barrier instantly thickening several times over. It completely ignored the massive cyan hand and instead hastily raised its colossal sword horizontally above it, using it as a shield.
In the next instant, the golden beam struck the sword first with a flash.
A deafening thunderclap resounded as the sword trembled violently, countless golden arcs scattering like a spiderweb amidst a cacophony of sizzling sounds.
The demonic ape felt its arms sink as if a mountain had crashed onto the sword. Even with its immense strength, it struggled to hold on.
The power of the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning’s sacrificial thunder technique far exceeded its expectations. Combined with the relentless barrage of golden lightning from above, the ape found itself overwhelmed.
Panicked, the demonic beast inhaled sharply, summoning a surge of black-red mystic energy from its dantian. The energy dispersed, transforming into pure demonic power that surged through its meridians.
A series of explosive pops echoed from within the ape’s body as its form swelled by a third under the black-red demonic energy. Its arms, now enveloped in black-red light, thickened considerably.
The purple greatsword, which had been on the verge of slipping from its grasp, stabilized as its glow intensified.
Yet, judging by the ape’s grim expression, it was barely holding on.
At that moment, the massive cyan hand emerging from the ground followed the golden light’s descent, poised to engulf half the ape’s body.
The demonic ape paid it little heed.
Confident in its purple armor’s protection, it dismissed the hand as a mere illusion, harmless against its defenses. Moreover, preoccupied with the divine lightning, it had no attention to spare.
Gnashing its fangs, the ape focused solely on channeling its demonic power, desperate to escape the lightning’s onslaught.
It knew the sacrificial thunder technique was fearsome—even at its peak, it would hesitate to face it. But such power came at a cost; the technique couldn’t be repeated quickly. Surviving this wave would buy it time.
Yet, as the cyan hand brushed its protective purple light, the ape instinctively conjured a shield to block it.
A crisp shattering sound proved it wrong. Before it could react, an overwhelming force crushed the shield and transmitted through its armor, bypassing its defenses.
With all its strength devoted to fending off the lightning, the ape was caught off guard. Its robust frame couldn’t stabilize, and with a whoosh, it was sent flying sideways.
The cyan hand then revealed its true form—a pitch-black mountain shimmering with gray-white light: the Magnetic Divine Mountain.
Han Li had stealthily maneuvered it beneath the sword formation, disguising it within the array’s illusions for this ambush.
Even with its keen vision, the ape had no time to discern the ruse.
The mountain, reforged twice, was so heavy that not even Han Li dared take its blow head-on. Though the ape’s strength rivaled Han Li’s, the unexpected impact sent it reeling.
Han Li, anticipating this, swiftly gestured toward the distance.
The golden lightning beam, previously blocked by the sword, twisted unnaturally, slipping past the blade to strike the airborne ape squarely.
With a thunderous boom, golden arcs exploded into a net, ensnaring the ape before shattering into bursts of light.
Within moments, the ape was engulfed in golden lightning.
Meanwhile, the cyan arrows within the formation never ceased, intensifying the explosions.
But Han Li’s true killing move lay elsewhere.
Amidst the arrows, dozens transformed into hair-thin strands, piercing the golden light at blinding speed before vanishing into the opposite barrier.
From within the light, the ape roared in fury—the seemingly insignificant strands had wounded it.
Han Li, elated, wasted no time. With a tap to his crown, his three-headed, six-armed dharma form merged into the cyan barrier.
Simultaneously, his two shadow puppets vanished into his silhouette.
Above the formation, six golden fists materialized, crashing down like meteors, while below, two golden swords and a blade surged upward.
Just as the second wave was about to strike, a shrill cry split the light mass apart.
A blood-red streak shot out, darting through the formation before halting mid-air as a crimson silhouette—the ape’s nascent soul, gripping the jagged blade, now blood-red and sinister.
Below, cracks echoed as the golden fists and blades split apart. The cyan arrows dissipated, unable to reform.
The ape’s physical body reappeared, pallid and battered, its armor scorched and riddled with holes, forcing the soul to flee its vessel.
Han Li frowned. Despite his relentless assault, the ape survived.
“Good, very good!” the nascent soul hissed, eyeing its ruined body with purple flames of rage. “You’ve undone centuries of healing. Now, I’ll discard this flesh and claim yours as my avatar!”
With a flick of the jagged blade, a blood-light struck its own body.
The armor offered no resistance as the flesh withered into a desiccated corpse, its essence absorbed by the blade, now oozing black demonic energy and swirling with dark-red runes.
The ape hurled the blade skyward, chanting an archaic, savage incantation.
Han Li, sensing imminent catastrophe, activated the formation. Hundreds of lotus blooms emerged, firing cyan beams—all shattered by an invisible ripple from the blade’s resonance.
Aghast, Han Li watched as the ape, indifferent to the attack, summoned a towering purple phantom—a hornless, five-eyed giant ape, its chest emblazoned with a silver “mountain” sigil.
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