The enormous earthworm let out an eerie shriek. Its smooth head split open in a grotesque fashion, revealing a gaping maw lined with fangs. But in the next instant, a flash of silver light erupted from within its mouth, and a thick bolt of lightning shot straight out.
It was the very heavenly thunder that the golden horn had absorbed earlier — now spat back in a single devastating burst, aimed squarely at Han Li, who stood beside the formation.
"Oh? It's even developed spiritual intelligence. Tsk, tsk — a mutated spirit beast, no question." Rather than showing alarm, Han Li's face lit up with delight.
He brought his hands together, rubbed them once, then thrust them outward. Two arcs of lightning as thick as arms shot from his palms, merged into one mid-flight, and surged forward to meet the massive silver bolt head-on.
With a thunderous boom, the golden and silver arcs intertwined like two colossal serpents, crackling and sparking where they collided. Tiny filaments of electricity danced between Han Li and the giant earthworm as a cascade of blinding flashes erupted, and the two attacks annihilated each other.
The beast seemed to grow even more furious. The golden horn atop its head blazed with light, drawing in vast swathes of nearby heavenly thunder and greedily swallowing it all — clearly preparing for another strike at Han Li.
But at that moment, Han Li let out a cold laugh. He opened his mouth, and a tiny golden sword flew out. Greeting the wind, it swelled in an instant into a golden radiance several zhang long and hurtled toward the beast's head.
The creature seemed to understand the danger. Its entire body glowed with a yellow light, and it made to shrink back underground. But in that very instant, the fire spirit threads that had been wrapped around its upper body suddenly flashed red. The threads, fine as hair a moment ago, thickened violently and transformed into crimson fire-ropes.
Each rope was as thick as a small tree. Then they all blazed to life at once, spewing cascades of flame that engulfed nearly half the beast's upper body in a sea of fire.
The creature panicked. The golden horn on its head, which had been absorbing the silver heavenly thunder, suddenly stopped. Instead, it reversed direction and sprayed a sheet of golden radiance at the flames.
Wherever the golden light passed, vast swaths of fire were swept up and devoured by the golden horn. The beast's horn could not only absorb heavenly thunder — it could devour flames as well.
But just as the beast had drained more than half of the fire, the golden radiance arrived. It shifted mid-flight and became a colossal sword that slashed down with devastating force.
The beast's head jerked upward. The golden horn grew to twice its size in an instant, and the creature met the great sword head-on with its horn.
A resonant clang rang out. Golden light blazed blindingly at the point of contact, and the great sword was flung aside by the golden horn — it had failed to cleave through.
Yet in that same moment, a flash of green lightning appeared above the beast's head. Han Li materialized there, spectral wings unfurled on his back. He raised a hand and launched another bolt of golden sword Qi with terrifying speed. The beast had no time to react before the golden light pierced clean through its body, punching a hole the size of a bowl's rim.
Bubbling, emerald-green blood gurgled from the wound. But the earthworm's body was simply too massive — what would have been a fatal blow for an ordinary cultivator was nothing more than a nuisance to this creature. All it did was send the beast into a blind rage.
With a roar from its grotesque mouth, the tentacles on its upper body contracted and lashed outward, transforming into countless fleshy whips that lashed toward Han Li in the sky above.
Han Li's expression darkened. Without a word, he formed a series of hand seals. In an instant, more than ten golden miniature swords erupted from various parts of his body. They spun in a dazzling vortex, then merged into a curtain of sword light that shielded him completely.
The moment the fleshy tentacles touched the wall of golden light, they were shredded into a rain of green fragments, unable to draw even a hair's breadth closer to Han Li.
At that point, Han Li murmured an incantation and pointed downward.
The dozen-plus golden swords below trembled, and each one split into seven. Every sword gave rise to six identical copies of golden sword light. Then, under Han Li's command, dozens of golden beams rained down in a dense, blinding torrent.
The beast was horrified. It opened its mouth and first spat out a wide sheet of silver lightning, followed by a furious barrage of crimson fireballs, desperate to stop the storm of sword light descending upon it.
Bang, bang, bang — the sounds came in rapid succession. Of the dozens of golden beams, nearly half were scattered by the silver arcs and flames. But the rest punched through the barrage, flickered, and arrived before the beast in the blink of an eye.
Before the earthworm could do anything, a piercing hum rang out. All the golden beams converged and fused together, forming a single sword of golden light more than ten zhang long in an instant. Then, with a flash, the beam — as thick as a water bucket — whipped around the earthworm's waist like a bolt of lightning.
A scream that seemed to shake heaven and earth erupted from the beast's mouth. Then, countless streams of green blood sprayed forth like a waterfall.
The earthworm's colossal body had been severed silently in two at the waist.
Just as Han Li thought it was over, an unbelievable scene unfolded.
The upper half of the giant earthworm — which should have been finished — suddenly lunged into the air the instant the golden sword light paused. Its massive mouth gaped wide as it lunged at Han Li with savage intent. At the same time, the lower half of its body flashed with yellow light, and fleshy tentacles sprouted from its surface, instantly transforming it into a mirror image of the upper half.
With a thud, the lower half dove headfirst into the earth and vanished without a trace.
"Thinking of escaping?"
Han Li was briefly stunned, but then his brows shot upward. His hands blurred through hand seals, and a single word left his lips: "Explode."
The thick fire-ropes coiled around the earthworm's body flashed red and detonated on their own.
With a deafening rumble, a mushroom-shaped firecloud billowed into existence, engulfing the upper half of the earthworm. Within the rolling waves of flame, the beast's wretched screams echoed — even its golden horn could not devour this much fire in time.
Meanwhile, the massive sword of golden light below spun in a wide arc and cleaved through the firecloud like a streak of lightning.