Those few Wood Spirits were startled. Some green light shimmered around their bodies, coalescing into wooden armor shields, while others opened their mouths and spat out clouds of green mist, all attempting to block the blood threads.
But these threads, refined from some unknown material, pierced straight through the defenses as if they were mere phantoms, flashing in an instant to sink into the bodies of the Wood Spirits.
The entire bodies of these Wood Spirits were immediately suffused with a bloody light, instantly shrouded beneath nets of blood-colored silk. For a moment, they were unable to break free.
At the same time, the two fragments of the ancient tree that Han Li had severed with his sword qi suddenly flipped over, transforming into two faint golden afterimages that lunged toward Mu Rui.
Mu Rui snorted coldly and casually pointed a finger at them.
Instantly, two streaks of silver light shot out, striking squarely upon the golden phantoms.
With two muffled booms, the golden figures exploded. Countless specks of brilliant golden light burst outward in all directions, enveloping this high-ranking Wood Spirit within.
With a loud roar, a magical formation composed of golden runes suddenly materialized around Mu Rui. Radiating intense spiritual light, it completely surrounded this Silver-rank Wood Spirit.
The purple glow in Mu Rui’s eyes contracted. He pressed his palms together, and a sphere of dazzling silver light emerged between them. Then, countless silver rays violently shot out in all directions.
Thunderous roars echoed as silver light and golden runes interwove and flashed. Those golden runes possessed some unknown and bizarre power; they managed to forcibly withstand the strike from this Silver-rank Wood Spirit, with only a portion of the runes being shattered.
This scene left the tall Wood Spirit named Mu Rui both startled and furious in his heart.
Without a second thought, silver light once again coalesced between his hands, forming a light sphere that looked far more blinding than the previous one.
But at this moment, seeing that the Silver-rank Wood Spirit and all the other high-ranking Wood Spirits were trapped, Han Li and Long Dong, though somewhat astonished, had no intention of waiting here to die. Overjoyed, they each unleashed their life-saving techniques, immediately shooting away in different directions.
Among them, the young woman performed a series of hand seals, rolled on the ground, and in an instant transformed into an extraordinarily resplendent fire phoenix. Surging black demonic flames wreathed her entire body as she charged into the crowd of Wood Ape Beasts. In her wake, no matter what weapons the giant apes used, they were instantly reduced to ash.
In the blink of an eye, this phoenix had broken through over a hundred zhang.
Meanwhile, Long Dong wore a grave expression. He swallowed a five-colored pill, then chanted under his breath. The winged battle armor reappeared around his body. As his wings spread, the phantom of a five-clawed golden dragon materialized upon the armor.
With a long, resonant cry, the dragon soared into the sky, circled, and then plunged back into Long Dong’s body.
Immediately after, the scarlet-mole youth’s body radiated intense golden light. He transformed abruptly into a golden rainbow over ten zhang long, tearing through the sky to escape. Within the golden radiance, the phantom of the five-clawed golden dragon twisted and coiled. Wherever the golden light passed, all obstacles ahead were immediately obliterated into a rain of blood that scattered through the air.
Compared to the earth-shattering escapes of the first two, Han Li’s movements were utterly silent. After a peal of thunder behind him, a pair of blue-white feathered wings materialized.
Then he opened his mouth and spat out several mouthfuls of scarlet essence blood. They swirled around his body, transforming into a thick mist of blood that enveloped his form.
The blood mist churned a few times, contracted sharply, and then a blood-colored shadow shot out from within. After several flickering movements, it pierced through the dense horde of Wood Ape Beasts as if it were intangible, appearing at the distant horizon.
With one final flicker, the blood shadow vanished completely.
The Blood Shadow Escape, executed by Han Li at the Deity Transformation stage, proved over twice as fast as both the Black Phoenix’s and Long Dong’s golden light escape.
From within their streaks of light in the distance, the two of them saw this and couldn’t help but be struck dumb.
The white-robed girl presented yet another spectacle. She merely flickered one hand, and a broken blade glowing with a brilliant crimson hue appeared in her grasp. Without any visible hand seals, she simply waved this blade lightly toward the direction where the Wood Ape Beasts were most concentrated.
Instantly, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the nearby space trembled violently. A blood-red blade beam, over a hundred zhang long and resembling a colossal pillar propping up the sky, slowly emerged from the void and descended in a deliberate, cleaving motion.
Where the blade beam fell, the Wood Ape Beasts shrouded beneath it fell into utter chaos, fleeing in panic. Inconceivably, the very instant their bodies began to move, they trembled and spontaneously combusted. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Wood Ape Beasts were reduced to flying ash amid crimson flames.
A clear, straight path appeared ahead.
Yet the enormous blade beam hadn’t even landed before it strangely flickered and vanished.
Just then, from the roots of the damaged ancient tree that concealed the jade slip, a fist-sized green fire bird suddenly shot out. With a flash, it transformed into a streak of green light and plunged into the white-robed girl’s body.
Seeing this, the girl’s face lit up with joy. She took a deep breath, her form blurred, and she vanished from her spot. A moment later, she reappeared in the middle of the path, only to disappear and reappear again, strangely materializing at the far end of the corridor.
Without another word, the girl transformed into a white rainbow that tore through the sky. Her flight flickered in and out of visibility, and in just a few breaths, she too vanished at the horizon.
This girl’s bizarre escape technique seemed to be in no way inferior to Han Li’s Blood Shadow Escape.
At this moment, the silver light in Mu Rui’s hands, still trapped within that golden rune formation, erupted once more.
This time, the power of the silver radiance was clearly incomparable to the last. With a single strike, it shattered and dissipated over half of the golden runes. Only a few remained, still circling tirelessly around the Wood Spirit.