Now that they were activating it, it remained to be seen what the flag array could do, but the sheer power of the Great Geng Sword Array alone was enough to trap both Frenzy Slaves within it in an instant.
One of the Frenzy Slaves froze momentarily upon seeing this, but then a vicious gleam flickered through its eyes. Its limbs blurred, and it transformed into a faint blood shadow that vanished in a flash, attempting to forcibly break out of the sword array.
Clearly, with the cunning these Frenzy Slaves possessed, they knew that remaining trapped here would be anything but a good thing.
The Great Geng Sword Array was an extraordinarily profound formation. Despite the Frenzy Slave's uncanny speed, at a certain point along the array's edge, hundreds of golden threads materialized without warning and rolled forward in a surging wave.
A series of wet pops echoed through the air as countless chunks of flesh exploded outward from the void, then blurred and reassembled into the Frenzy Slave's form once more.
But before the creature could dash out of the sword array again, golden light flashed all around as dense golden threads reappeared and, swift as lightning, converged upon its body.
A flash of golden radiance, and the Frenzy Slave was sliced into innumerable fragments once more.
A thunderous barrage of pops erupted as every fragment exploded on its own, transforming into a blood mist that surged outward toward the edge of the sword array.
It was completely ignoring the sword threads that continued to slice through it from every direction.
Watching this from outside the array, Han Li's eyes narrowed with a sharp gleam.
His Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords possessed far more than this single ability. Without hesitation, he circulated his sword incantation, activating one of the swords' latent powers.
The golden sword threads, once shimmering and brilliant, trembled and shifted to a crystalline, snow-white hue. Waves of bone-piercing cold poured ceaselessly from them.
With this transformation, even though the blood mist was formless, once it was riddled by these ultra-cold sword threads, layers of ice rapidly formed across its surface. Then, with a sharp crack, the blood mist froze completely into a solid block of crystal ice, unable to move even a fraction.
A deafening crackle of thunder erupted as countless hair-thin arcs of lightning shot out between the sword threads. Enveloped in golden electrical light, the entire block of ice was utterly reduced to glittering powder that scattered everywhere.
The corner of Han Li's mouth curled upward, and he couldn't help but let a faint smile cross his face.
But in the very next instant, that smile froze.
The crystalline powder suddenly shimmer with a layer of blood-red light, then dissolved into droplets of liquid as red as fresh blood. Before the surrounding sword threads could slice through them again, every last drop shot backward in a rapid retreat.
Then, at the center of the sword array, a flash of blood light erupted, and the Frenzy Slave reformed once more.
This time, the blood glow around its body had dimmed slightly, but the change was barely noticeable.
The Great Geng Sword Array had forced the creature back, but it didn't appear to have sustained any real damage.
Han Li's wariness only deepened.
He said nothing, his Magical Power surging ceaselessly as he drove the sword array to its full tenfold power. Layer upon layer of golden threads materialized within the array, growing more numerous by the moment until thousands filled the space, all flickering in and out of visibility as they closed in from every direction.
The speed had more than doubled compared to before — in just a few moments, they would fully converge.
Seizing this opportunity, Han Li glanced sideways and saw that the woman surnamed Xiao, outside the sword array, had at some point closed her eyes.
She held the formation plate in one hand, her lips murmuring incantations without pause, clearly preparing some formidable technique that required this extended time to charge the flag array.
The thirty-six formation flags trembled continuously amid a churning sea of silver runes.
And these runes were all Silver Tadpole Script!
Han Li's expression shifted slightly, but just then, the other Frenzy Slave within the sword array made its move.
This one was completely different from the first. Its limbs hadn't moved a single step from the center of the array, but with a single beat of the wings on its back, dozens of blood-red tentacles sprouted from various parts of its body, each one several zhang long and impossibly thin.
Before Han Li could discern any pattern, the tentacles quivered and began to move in unison, churning into a vortex of blurred whip shadows like a torrential storm, wrapping the creature within.
From a distance, the mass of whip shadows resembled a colossal blood-red sphere, and it was expanding outward at a terrifying speed.
In the blink of an eye, the blood sphere collided with the sword threads closing in from all sides.
A piercing screech of friction rang out as golden light and blood-red radiance intertwined. Han Li's sword array, which had always sliced through everything before it, was actually being blocked head-on by this barrage of blood-red whip shadows.
Han Li's pupils contracted sharply. He formed a hand seal with both hands.
The endless streams of golden threads all around once again exuded a misty, bone-freezing cold that surged toward the blood shadow.
A cascade of muffled impacts echoed, and Han Li's expression soured.
The moment the pale cold made contact with the blood-red whip shadows, it was instantly repelled by an invisible force. Even where frost managed to form on some of the tentacles, the violent thrashing immediately shattered it into nothingness.
The cold was useless as well.
At that moment, a flash of blood light erupted from the Frenzy Slave's body, and dozens more tentacles shot out, joining the frenzied dance.
The blood sphere erupted with a deep, rumbling roar. The sword threads that had been holding their ground against the sphere now began to be driven slowly backward amid the interweaving dance of tentacles, and their retreat accelerated with each passing moment.