Chapter 1309: The Giant’s War

It turned out that during the previous battle outside the valley, although the Xutian Xuanspirit was immensely powerful, it never expected that the techniques of Huangliang Lingjun and the Huan youth were complementary. After a prolonged entanglement, it felt as though it was facing a perfected Void Refinement cultivator.

Startled, Xutian immediately realized there was no chance of victory and decisively withdrew with the other spirit beings without further delay.

Otherwise, the Huan youth and Huangliang Lingjun wouldn’t have been able to arrive in the valley so quickly.

At this moment, the one-eyed giant, still half-buried in the ground, seemed to recall something upon seeing so many people. A fierce glint flashed in its eye as it raised its head and let out a thunderous roar. Then, lowering its head, its single eye suddenly emitted a blinding white light, shooting out countless white threads that enveloped both Huantian Qi and Huangliang Lingjun nearby.

“Hmph, so it has fully refined the Luoyang Crystal. But mere fire threads won’t harm us—wishful thinking,” Huangliang Lingjun muttered coldly. With a flick of his sleeve, the octagonal mirror-like treasure reappeared, instantly expanding to human size and blocking in front of him.

The white threads struck the mirror, causing it to glow brilliantly as they were reflected back onto the giant’s massive body. However, upon contact, the threads simply vanished into its flesh without causing any harm.

Beside him, the Huan youth similarly used his own spiritual mirror to deflect the incoming white threads.

Seeing its attack ineffective, the giant let out a low growl and ceased firing the threads. Instead, it spread its fingers like a massive fan and swept directly toward Huangliang Lingjun and the Huan youth.

Before the strike even landed, a violent gale surged forth.

Huangliang Lingjun’s expression darkened as he opened his mouth, spitting out a white paper fan. Grabbing it, he swung it fiercely against the incoming giant hand.

Instantly, a white wind materialized, clashing with the gale and preventing it from reaching them.

As the giant’s hand swept toward him, the Huan youth rubbed his palms together, conjuring a gray lightning bolt. The bolt twisted and transformed into an unremarkable gray longsword—narrow, sharp, and dull in appearance.

Simultaneously, the youth began chanting, his refined face sprouting yellow fur as his eyes turned a sinister green.

With a loud shout, an overwhelming spiritual pressure erupted from him. With a mere flick of his wrist, a gray streak shot forth.

“Pfft!” The streak expanded to several feet in length before slicing into the giant’s thumb.

The blade was so sharp that the thumb silently dropped off, causing the giant to roar in pain and instinctively retract its hand. Its single eye bulged with rage, veins of bloodshot fury appearing.

It glared at the Huan youth, its ugly face twisting with fury.

After delivering the strike, the gray blade dissipated, and the youth’s face paled, as if the attack had drained him significantly.

“Be careful, fellow Daoist. That strike seems to have truly enraged it. It’s about to get serious now. I wonder how much of its injuries have healed—if fully recovered, this will be troublesome,” Huangliang Lingjun remarked, watching the giant’s crimson eye as he dispersed the gale with his fan.

“No need to remind me. I was merely testing its true strength. Since it was so easily wounded, it’s just an ordinary giant. We can handle it confidently,” the Huan youth replied coolly, observing the giant’s retreating hand.

But before he finished speaking, a green glow emerged from the wound on the giant’s hand. Flesh and blood rapidly regenerated, and in moments, a perfectly intact thumb regrew, flexing as if nothing had happened.

The Huan youth gasped in shock.

“Indestructible Body!” Huangliang Lingjun murmured, his pupils contracting.

At that moment, the giant slammed both hands onto the ground, causing the entire Chaos Valley to tremble violently. Its body rose from the earth, doubling in height as it fully stood up.

To the dismay of Huangliang Lingjun and the Huan youth, the giant immediately reached into the soil and pulled out a massive black stone club.

The club was absurdly large, nearly half the giant’s height, and faint green light shimmered on its surface—indicating it was forged from the legendary Qingling Sand, a material heavier than refined iron of the same volume.

A weapon like this, even without being a spiritual treasure, would be something few mid-Void Refinement cultivators dared to face head-on.

“It has a weapon? This just got serious. We’ll have to go all out,” Huangliang Lingjun muttered, his face twitching.

“No need to say it—I know. Let’s not allow this monstrosity to escape,” the Huan youth said expressionlessly. He then let out a low cry.

Almost instantly, a fist-sized moth appeared in a flash of colorful light—Huantian Qi’s spirit insect, the fully matured Illusory Flame Moth!

The moth trembled before rapidly expanding to several feet in size amidst radiant light.

Meanwhile, the youth’s body hunched slightly as yellow beastly fur sprouted across his skin. His frame swelled, his features twisting into a half-beast, half-human form.

Huangliang Lingjun, meanwhile, sat cross-legged and struck his own head, releasing a yellow radiance that carried out a half-foot-tall Nascent Soul clad in silver armor. The Nascent Soul wielded a green sword in one hand and a white jade seal in the other, its appearance indistinct from a real person.

The Nascent Soul suddenly opened its eyes and hurled the seal, which expanded to the size of an acre before crashing down toward the giant’s head.

Simultaneously, the semi-beastified Huantian Qi shot forth like a streak of light, his claws tearing through the air as crystalline claw marks materialized, slicing toward the giant with a sound like rending space. His form then merged into the claw marks, vanishing eerily.

The giant roared furiously, its single eye firing crimson beams while it swung its stone club at the descending seal. With its other hand, it grabbed a chunk of earth, molding it into a massive boulder before hurling it at Huangliang Lingjun.

The claw marks and crimson beams collided in a thunderous explosion, followed by the deafening impact of the club against the seal—

The battle had truly begun!

Han Li, hidden in the air, watched the clash between the two cultivators and the giant, his brow furrowed.

This was a battle between Void Refinement cultivators and a legendary ancient giant. Every movement of the three caused fluctuations in the surrounding spiritual energy.

Huangliang Lingjun’s Nascent Soul, now outside his body, absorbed vast amounts of spiritual energy into the seal before each strike, amplifying its power. Otherwise, even the seal’s innate might couldn’t withstand the giant’s club.

The semi-beast youth, now a streak of crystalline light, flickered in and out like a vortex, constantly drawing in spiritual energy.

As for the one-eyed giant, its mere breathing unconsciously drew in massive amounts of spiritual energy—far more than the other two, though less refined.

For the first time, Han Li observed a Void Refinement-level battle up close, subconsciously comparing it to his own cultivation techniques—and gaining unexpected insights.

Just as he was engrossed, his expression shifted. He turned sharply toward an empty patch of sky.

Though his spiritual sense detected nothing, his spirit-washed eyes faintly discerned a nearly transparent figure standing there, also watching the battle below.

“Xutian!” Though Han Li couldn’t see clearly, only a being of the spirit race could hide so perfectly.

Han Li smirked inwardly. The more chaotic the situation, the better his chances.

As he stared silently, the shadow suddenly lifted its head—glancing directly at Han Li’s position.

Han Li’s heart skipped a beat.

But the shadow soon looked away. Whether it had truly spotted him or it was a coincidence remained unclear.

Narrowing his eyes, Han Li’s expression darkened.

The battle below raged for half a day. Under the destruction wrought by the giant and the two Void Refinement cultivators, the Chaos Valley was utterly transformed—pockmarked with craters, its once-gray mist completely dispersed by their overwhelming spiritual pressure.

The violent fluctuations in spiritual energy caused the surrounding sky to shift wildly—dark clouds and torrential rain one moment, clear skies and scorching sun the next, followed by blizzards, wind blades, hail, and falling debris.

Only a few Nascent Soul cultivators, like the palace-robed woman, dared to watch from afar. The rest had long fled the valley, fearing for their lives.

Though the one-eyed giant still fought ferociously, Han Li could see that under the deliberate guerrilla tactics of Huangliang Lingjun and the Huan youth, it was nearing exhaustion. Its movements had slowed, and defeat was inevitable.

Sure enough, when the Huan youth severed another of the giant’s toes—this time without regeneration—both cultivators’ eyes lit up. The battle was finally ending.