After hearing Han Li’s confident words and seeing him take out a cyan talisman before sitting down with closed eyes, Chen Qiaoqian and Zhong Weiniang also silently retrieved a red and a yellow talisman treasure from their storage pouches. They similarly sat cross-legged and began to activate them.
Chen Qiaoqian’s senior brother and Song Meng exchanged a bitter smile. Neither of them possessed their own talisman treasures. Although Chen Qiaoqian’s senior brother had a blue talisman treasure left behind by his late cultivation partner, he had only just acquired it and was not familiar with its power and effects. Naturally, he was reluctant to use it recklessly without proper understanding.
Thus, the two of them simply stood dryly by Han Li and the others, providing protection for the three as they focused on their techniques.
Meanwhile, the trapped Emperor Yue in the sky seemed to realize that his frantic, aimless thrashing was futile. He halted his movements, floating motionless in the air as he lowered his head in deep thought.
After a moment, Emperor Yue suddenly raised his head, a fierce expression on his face as he tore off the golden crown from his head. His long black hair cascaded loosely, swaying in the wind and covering half of his face. Against the backdrop of the bloodlight surrounding him, he appeared even more sinister and mysterious.
He took a deep breath and suddenly crossed his sharp nails over his wrists, slicing them open. A torrent of blood gushed out, all of it merging into the bloodlight around him. The crimson glow dimmed abruptly, turning a deep, dark red in an instant.
The nauseating smell of blood was now so potent that even Song Meng and the others, standing at a distance, could catch a whiff of it. Their expressions tightened slightly, but there was nothing they could do except watch helplessly as their enemy continued his ritual.
Once the color of the bloodlight around him had fully transformed, Emperor Yue opened his mouth and spat two streams of red energy onto his wrists. Whatever spell it was, the deep wounds immediately stopped bleeding, fading from red to pale before vanishing entirely. However, Emperor Yue’s face had clearly grown much paler.
A fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he reached into his robe and pulled out a plain, jet-black knife handle. The handle was not particularly large, about half a foot long, but it was dull, extremely worn, and entirely unremarkable.
Yet, Emperor Yue held it with utmost care, as though it were not an inanimate object but something exceedingly dangerous.
His eyes fixed on the knife handle, he began to murmur an incantation in a low voice.
The chant was soft and filled with obscure, difficult-to-understand syllables, but within its slow rhythm, a primitive, ancient aura seemed to permeate the air, evoking a sense of antiquity.
“What is he doing?” Song Meng asked in astonishment, watching from below.
“I don’t know, probably casting some powerful spell!” his companion replied, equally unable to decipher the chant and sounding worried.
Although neither of them understood the enemy’s intentions, the fact that Emperor Yue had resorted to self-mutilation and bloodletting made it clear that he was desperate and preparing to fight with his life on the line.
Just as Song Meng and the others grew increasingly uneasy, the rhythm of Emperor Yue’s chant quickened, and the ancient aura grew even more intense. A red light flashed in Emperor Yue’s eyes, and something astonishing happened.
The knife handle suddenly emitted a sphere of black light, levitating under its influence until it hovered about a foot above his head, where it remained suspended.
Seeing this, Emperor Yue grew even more cautious. His hands deftly formed a series of strange hand seals, causing black blood threads to emerge from the bloodlight around him. As soon as these threads appeared, they drifted rapidly toward the knife handle.
At first, only one or two threads appeared, but soon dozens, even hundreds, of them surged from the bloodlight, all flocking to the knife handle like moths to a flame.
In the blink of an eye, the knife handle was completely enveloped in a dense web of black blood threads. After writhing for a moment, they condensed into a sizable mass of foul blood, entirely encasing the handle.
Upon closer inspection, the blood appeared black with a hint of red, emitting a bizarre glow. Anyone who looked at it would feel an eerie sensation, as though their very soul were being drawn into it. It was profoundly sinister.
Yet, upon seeing this, Emperor Yue, who was still forming hand seals, revealed a look of delight.
Just as he dispersed the seals and prepared to take further action, the previously still black blood suddenly emitted a dazzling black light and began to writhe violently again. It rolled and expanded uncontrollably, appearing highly unstable.
At this sight, the delight on Emperor Yue’s face vanished, replaced by fear. He frantically glanced around before turning back to the blood mass, his expression growing even more terrified.
But soon, a look of determination crossed his face. He growled a few heavy syllables of the chant, then bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. A mouthful of foul blood, along with a fragment of his tongue, sprayed onto the writhing blood mass.
The black blood mass absorbed these foreign substances and immediately stabilized, its dazzling light dimming.
Still uneasy, Emperor Yue rapidly formed over a dozen hand seals like a windmill, hurling them all at the blood mass. With this, the last traces of light on the blood mass faded away.
Only then did Emperor Yue breathe a sigh of relief. After spitting out that mouthful of essence blood, he seemed to have aged over a decade in an instant, looking utterly haggard.
But he had no time to dwell on that. With a casual gesture, a significant portion of the bloodlight around him surged toward the blood mass. At the same time, he began another low chant, though his words were slurred due to the missing tip of his tongue.
The black blood mass, now coated in bloodlight, gradually elongated and transformed. As the final syllable of his chant ended, the jet-black knife handle reappeared, now forming a complete long knife with a blade composed of black blood. It radiated an astonishing bloodlust.
Upon seeing the knife, Emperor Yue’s face lit up with fanaticism.
Without hesitation, he reached out and grasped the knife handle, giving it a few experimental swings. Though it displayed no visible power, he seemed immensely satisfied.
After a deep look at the knife, Emperor Yue let out a triumphant roar and, together with the knife, transformed into a massive sphere of bloodlight. He charged directly toward the bamboo forest below, causing Song Meng and the others, who had been watching closely, to tense up in alarm.
At that moment, Han Li, who had been sitting with closed eyes, opened them. His gaze was cold and focused intently on the descending blood sphere.
Although Han Li had been channeling energy into his talisman treasure below, his powerful spiritual sense had allowed him to monitor Emperor Yue’s actions clearly.
However, the moment the black blood knife took shape, Han Li’s spiritual sense, which had been lingering nearby, was forcibly drawn toward the blade, nearly devoured entirely. Startled, Han Li swiftly retracted his spiritual sense. Fortunately, the suction was merely the knife’s innate property, with no active control from Emperor Yue, allowing Han Li to escape easily and return to his body.
Even so, he broke out in a cold sweat. Had his spiritual sense been truly absorbed by that evil blade, he had no idea what terrifying consequences might have followed.
Now, although Han Li understood the knife’s fearsome power, he had even greater confidence in the hastily arranged “Inverted Five Elements Grand Formation.”
After all, even Lei Wanhe, a Core Formation cultivator, had once said that breaking the original, unimproved “Inverted Five Elements Formation” would not be easy for him. Now, with this newly arranged, more powerful formation—even if incomplete—Han Li refused to believe that a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like Emperor Yue could break through it in a short time.
Thus, even with his eyes open, Han Li remained calm.
As these thoughts raced through Han Li’s mind, Emperor Yue’s bloodlight collided with the five-colored mist below. A loud screeching sound echoed as the mist easily blocked his advance.
But Emperor Yue, having anticipated this, grinned ferociously. He gripped the black blood knife with both hands and slashed viciously at the mist.
A sharp screech emanated from the knife, followed by a flash of soaring black light. The knife released a shocking black blade aura over ten zhang long. With a tearing sound, the mist was indeed sliced open, revealing a passage about three meters wide.
Overjoyed, Emperor Yue dashed through without hesitation. As black light flickered around his hands, he successfully broke into the mist.
“Ah! What do we do now?” Song Meng cried out in panic.
His companion, though silent, wore an equally anxious expression.
“No need to panic. That mist is only the first layer of defense. My formation isn’t so easily broken!” Han Li’s calm voice suddenly rang in their ears, instantly soothing their nerves.
However, they were also astonished. How could Junior Brother Han still have the focus to send a voice transmission while channeling his talisman treasure? He was truly formidable!
By now, Emperor Yue had broken through over ten zhang of the mist layer and could clearly see the Huang Maple Valley disciples below, including Han Li and the others activating their talisman treasures.
A sinister smile spread across his face as he flashed to a spot several zhang above Han Li’s head. With a light swing of the black blood knife, the ten-zhang-long black blade aura descended directly toward Han Li.
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