“Scram!” Emperor Yue snarled menacingly.
A sphere of bloody light swiftly circled the puppets before he let out a long roar and shot after Han Li and the others like a blur, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Moments later, the motionless puppets abruptly shattered and plummeted from the sky, dismembered beyond recognition.
Han Li, now above the formation he had set up, sensed everything clearly through his detached consciousness. Though regretful, he wasted no time and signaled the others before diving straight down into the bamboo grove below.
As Han Li and his companions descended, Emperor Yue, slightly delayed by the puppets, caught up in a flash. He clearly saw them vanish into the bamboo grove, which both puzzled and delighted him.
Hovering above the grove and seeing no sign of them emerging, Emperor Yue smirked coldly. With a wave of his hands, a fragment of his bloody light split off and shot downward. It expanded rapidly mid-air, soon enveloping the entire grove in an eerie crimson glow.
As the blood light silently encroached upon the bamboo grove, Emperor Yue wore a smug expression. His protective demonic light would trap them, allowing him to activate a secret technique to dissolve everything within. They had walked into their own doom—he felt no guilt.
His hands moved in a dazzling display as he formed hand seals to activate the technique. But just then, a blue-white light barrier emerged from the bamboo grove, effortlessly holding back the descending blood light. Emperor Yue froze, his face turning cold.
“So they had a plan after all—they set up a formation here!” he thought angrily. “But it’s no matter. A hastily arranged formation can’t be that powerful. I’ll just refine them along with the formation! They must not escape the royal city.”
With his mind made up, he decisively activated the secret technique. The blood light, now held at bay, glowed brilliantly and pressed downward, halting its retreat.
Not stopping there, Emperor Yue lightly traced a line in the air over his body, releasing another massive blood light that merged with the one below. The crimson curtain grew even brighter and thicker, emitting a faint, nauseating scent of blood.
A look of satisfaction crossed Emperor Yue’s face as he continued to unleash a series of hand seals, each merging into the blood light below. The blood curtain surged outward, enveloping the entire bamboo grove. The deep red light pressed down relentlessly, but the blue-white barrier within held on stubbornly, seemingly on the verge of collapse.
Seeing this, Emperor Yue finally relaxed. For him, eliminating Han Li and the others was only a matter of time—they were trapped like birds in a cage. The real challenge was how to handle the aftermath.
“It seems I can no longer remain emperor of Yue. I’ll have to disappear and start anew,” he thought with some regret.
As Emperor Yue pondered his escape, Song Meng and the others in the bamboo grove were on edge. They had followed Han Li’s instructions to retreat here, trusting in his strength, but now found themselves trapped in a seemingly hopeless situation. The formation around the grove was on the brink of collapse, and they were surrounded by the oppressive blood light.
“Junior Brother Han, is this your backup plan?” Song Meng asked incredulously, his voice trembling.
“Yes, is there a problem?” Han Li replied calmly, not turning his head as he watched the scene above.
Song Meng’s face turned pale, and Zhong Weiniang and Chen Qiaoqian’s brother, who had lost his partner, didn’t look much better. Only Chen Qiaoqian, glancing at Han Li’s composed expression, showed a thoughtful glint in her eyes.
“Han Li, if you have other tricks, now’s the time to reveal them. Don’t keep us in the dark! I refuse to believe this is all you prepared,” Chen Qiaoqian said coolly.
The others perked up at her words, turning to Han Li with renewed hope. Given his meticulous nature in battle, it seemed unlikely he would make such a reckless move.
Han Li looked down at them and smiled faintly. “Don’t worry. Since I brought you all here, I have a plan.” He reached into his storage bag and pulled out a small cyan-purple flag covered in intricate symbols—clearly no ordinary magical tool.
“Is that a formation flag?” Zhong Weiniang exclaimed in surprise. Formation disks and flags were rare in Yue Kingdom.
“Senior Sister is quite knowledgeable,” Han Li praised lightly, confirming her guess.
This boosted the group’s confidence. It seemed Han Li indeed had more preparations.
Under their watchful eyes, Han Li rubbed the small flag between his hands, causing it to expand several times its size and emit a faint cyan-purple glow. Holding it horizontally, he muttered an incantation and shouted, “Activate!” The flag shot off in one direction and vanished.
He then took out three identical flags from his storage bag, repeating the process until all four had flown to their respective positions and disappeared.
After completing this, Han Li coldly glanced upward and produced an apricot-yellow formation disk. Though it appeared dull and unremarkable, he held it solemnly above his head and gave it a slight shake. A thick yellow light pillar shot upward, striking the blue-white barrier.
Almost simultaneously, four other light pillars—gold, cyan, red, and blue—shot up from the other directions and merged into the barrier.
The faltering blue-white light stabilized instantly upon absorbing the five-colored pillars, emitting a faint tidal sound that grew louder and faster, soon resembling continuous thunderclaps that shook the soul.
The protective barrier gradually shifted colors, transforming into a five-colored glow that held firm against the red light’s assaults, unwavering like a rock amidst stormy waves.
Seeing this, Song Meng and the others breathed a sigh of relief, realizing Han Li’s formation was far more formidable than they had imagined. Their survival seemed assured.
Above, Emperor Yue, after repeatedly failing to break through the barrier with his demonic techniques, grew uneasy. His face hardened with hesitation before he suddenly stomped his foot and recalled the blood light, which flowed back into him like a receding tide. Without delay, he transformed into a blood light and shot skyward at an astonishing speed.
But as quickly as he left, he returned even faster. After circling the sky, he found himself back where he started. Unbelieving, he attempted to escape several more times, but each time he only managed to travel a few dozen feet before circling back. His initial shock soon turned to sheer terror.
Watching from below, Han Li sneered coldly while Song Meng and the others stared in astonishment. Zhong Weiniang clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood without her notice.
Chen Qiaoqian’s expression was a mix of surprise and something more complex.
Han Li had no time to explain the intricacies of the “Inverted Five Elements Formation.” Instead, he summoned his White Phosphorus Shield and tortoise shell artifact, circling them around himself. “If any of you have Talisman Treasures, activate them now! We’ll attack together and finish him off! Trapped in this formation, he won’t escape anytime soon!”
His tone was brimming with confidence.
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