Chapter 319: The Four Blood Servants

“Not necessarily!” Han Li let out a cold laugh, his voice icy.

With that, he swiftly retracted his hand seals. The numerous magical instruments fiercely assaulting the cyan light shield let out a unified long whistle and shot up into the sky, converging mid-air.

This scene made Qingwen pause in confusion, unsure of Han Li’s intentions. But as a cunning old fox, he wouldn’t allow Han Li to cast spells undisturbed. Immediately, with a flash of light in both hands, he produced two golden rings radiating a chilling aura—clearly extraordinary items.

“Go!” Daoist Qingwen said in a low voice, without hesitation hurling the rings toward Han Li as two streaks of golden light.

Han Li’s eyebrows shot up, a fierce expression crossing his face as one hand grasped the White Scale Shield.

But before he could throw the shield, three green beams about a foot long suddenly flew in from the side, intercepting the two golden lights mid-flight and immediately engaging in a fierce struggle.

“Demon Daoist, have you forgotten about me?” Senior Brother Wang, while controlling the green beams, shot a friendly smile toward Han Li.

Seeing this, Han Li relaxed inwardly and returned the smile.

Qingwen, however, wasn’t as composed as the two of them. His face darkened, and his eyes began shifting uncertainly.

For the moment, he was at a loss.

After all, simultaneously controlling the Green Wood True Shield and the Golden Lock Rings had already occupied most of his spiritual sense. Unlike Han Li, he hadn’t cultivated the Great Development Art and couldn’t possibly control so many magical instruments with such ease.

Although he still had other powerful instruments on him, he didn’t dare use them lightly. Focusing all spiritual sense on controlling instruments was a major taboo for cultivators, as it left the user vulnerable to approaching dangers.

Moreover, Han Li’s ability to control over ten instruments at once was only possible because they were part of a set, effectively requiring the spiritual power equivalent to controlling just three instruments.

If they were over ten different top-tier instruments, given Han Li’s current cultivation level, no matter how strong his spiritual sense or how many split consciousnesses he had, he wouldn’t have enough spiritual power to control them.

Around five instruments was Han Li’s limit in terms of spiritual power consumption. This was also why he preferred using set instruments—they allowed him to fully utilize the power of the Great Development Art.

As for Han Li’s earlier ability to control the eight blades of the “Golden Silkworm Mother-Child Blades” during Qi Refinement, that could hardly be considered true instrument control. It relied entirely on the mother blade to command the child blades, with power and flexibility vastly inferior to his current capabilities—utterly incomparable.

Just as Qingwen hesitated, unsure whether to try another approach, Han Li had already completed his spell.

“Giant Sword Technique!” Icy words spilled from Han Li’s lips.

Then, all the magical instruments circling above Qingwen’s head emitted an extremely dazzling light.

As the multicolored radiance merged, it transformed into a massive, intertwined sword of gold, black, and red, hovering in the air. It was over a dozen zhang in size, astonishingly enormous.

This “Giant Sword Technique” was a sword control method Han Li had found on the golden page recording the complete set of Green Origin Sword Radiance techniques. It was also the only sword control technique Han Li could currently use with his Foundation Establishment cultivation, and its power was naturally extraordinary.

Although Qingwen and Senior Brother Wang’s instruments were still locked in combat, both now wore expressions of shock and awe. Even a fool could see the immense power of Han Li’s technique.

Qingwen inwardly groaned. Setting aside the two golden rings, he suddenly produced a gleaming yellow bronze mirror with a flip of his hands.

But at that moment, Han Li, his face frosty, pointed at the giant light sword.

The giant sword immediately descended silently from the sky with a fierce slash, carrying the astonishing momentum of cleaving both shield and person in one strike.

Witnessing this, Senior Brother Wang forgot to seize the opportunity to destroy Qingwen’s instruments while the latter was distracted. Instead, he stared blankly at the overwhelming momentum of the descending giant sword.

His mind was filled with frantic thoughts about whether he could withstand such a strike if it were aimed at him.

Daoist Qingwen, bearing the brunt of the attack, wore an extremely grave expression. He hastily tossed the yellow bronze mirror upward.

The mirror swiftly rose above the light shield, and with a flash of yellow light, emitted a yellow cloud about a zhang in size, obscuring the area above Qingwen. In the blink of an eye, the cloud solidified into a massive bronze shield, spinning rapidly above his head.

Han Li’s expression darkened. With a fierce hand seal, the giant light sword emitted a rumbling thunderous noise, its descending momentum growing even more terrifying. In an instant, it struck the bronze shield.

A massive explosion sounded. Although the bronze shield emitted a strong yellow glow, under the fierce assault of the giant sword, it held out for only a moment before letting out a mournful cry and shattering into pieces.

Unimpeded, the light sword continued its descent without pause, slashing onto the green prismatic shield and emitting a tremendous screeching sound of immense pressure.

Seeing the astonishing power of this inexplicable giant sword, Qingwen’s expression finally showed signs of panic.

His hands glowed with green light as he swiftly pressed them against the inner walls of the shield on both sides, desperately channeling spiritual power into it in an attempt to reinforce the Green Wood True Shield’s defense.

The tri-colored radiance of the giant sword and the green light shield below shone in tandem, soon accompanied by crackling explosive sounds. With Qingwen’s desperate efforts, the Green Wood True Shield actually managed to halt the downward momentum of the light sword.

Thus ensued a stalemate: Han Li urged his spell, wanting to use the giant sword to forcefully break the light shield and kill his opponent to avenge past treachery, while Qingwen desperately poured spiritual power into the shield, trying to hold out until the technique’s power was exhausted to save his own life.

At this moment, Senior Brother Wang on the side finally came to his senses. He quickly shattered the two golden rings and directed three green beams to fiercely charge at Daoist Qingwen.

He understood clearly that since Han Li and Qingwen were locked in a stalemate, even a little assistance from him could be the final straw to overwhelm the opponent, easily killing this Blood Servant with considerable power. Afterwards, he could rightfully claim a share of the treasures on the Blood Servant’s body.

The thought made him burn with even greater fervor.

But just as Senior Brother Wang indulged in his beautiful dream and Qingwen’s face changed dramatically, a yellow light flashed past Qingwen’s side like lightning. In the next moment, the Daoist vanished from his spot.

Han Li’s tri-colored light sword struck the ground, instantly creating a large pit a zhang deep.

Senior Brother Wang’s three green beams naturally also struck nothing, making him glance in fury toward the direction the yellow light had vanished.

Sure enough, Daoist Qingwen reappeared about twenty zhang away, still under his light shield, now accompanied by a young man in yellow robes who wore a lazy expression. Not at all perturbed by Senior Brother Wang’s gaze, the young man said casually, “This person once saved my life. I can’t let you kill him so easily.” Then, with a laugh, he turned to Han Li and said, “Brother Han, I never thought we’d meet again. Wu Jiuzhi pays his respects.”

This carefree young man was actually Wu Jiuzhi, the young cultivator who had tried to pickpocket Han Li years ago and had been caught. Now, however, his body faintly emitted a strange yellow light, and his cultivation had reached the early Foundation Establishment stage.

“Jiuzhi, this person walks a different path from us. Why waste words? Now that you’re here, the four of us can fight to our heart’s content,” Daoist Qingwen, having recovered from the earlier fright, shot a venomous glance at Han Li and said hatefully.

Hearing this, Wu Jiuzhi sighed and said no more to Han Li.

Qingwen, seeing this, suddenly let out a long-short-long whistle.

Upon hearing the signal, Tieluo and Bingyao, who were being besieged by Liu Jing and others, showed surprise and delight. They immediately leaped out of the battle and flew to Qingwen and Wu Jiuzhi’s side.

“What’s going on? Another one! This is trouble!” Liu Jing frowned upon seeing the suddenly appeared Wu Jiuzhi, immediately understanding the situation.

Earlier, five of them fighting two Blood Servants had been unable to injure the opponents, only holding a slight advantage. They naturally understood that these four Blood Servants were far from ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. Now that all four were gathered, dealing with them would be even harder.

Thinking this, Liu Jing cautiously called out, and the group gathered around Han Li and the other.

Han Li looked at Wu Jiuzhi, who had just appeared opposite him, his feelings indescribably mixed. Years ago, he had quite liked this eccentric and spirited youth. But fate played cruel tricks, and now the two were forced to be enemies fighting to the death.

“Demonic Transformation!” Qingwen and the other Blood Servants also knew that relying on ordinary magical instruments and spells against Han Li and the others offered little chance of victory. After all, the Yellow Maple Valley group outnumbered them—even two against one would be more than sufficient.

Thus, as soon as the four gathered, following Qingwen’s icy command, their bodies simultaneously emitted a blood-red light, transforming into blood-colored cocoons of varying sizes as they began their demonic transformation. It seemed they intended to wipe out Han Li and the others in one fell swoop.