The young man was briefly startled by Han Li's bizarre appearance, but his forward momentum didn't slow in the slightest. Before he even closed the distance, the twin blades in his hands crossed in a midair slash.
Two streaks of pitch-black blade light erupted forth in a cross-shaped formation.
The moment the blade light appeared, the surrounding black mists churned violently and surged toward them in a frenzy.
In the blink of an eye, the two arcs of blade light swelled to more than double their original size, then flickered and arrived before Han Li.
Han Li's eyes narrowed. His hands blurred slightly, and two golden longswords materialized in his grasp. With a flick of his wrists, he drove them straight into the blade light without the slightest courtesy.
A peal of thunder rang out as golden arcs of lightning coiled around the swords' surfaces.
Two muffled sounds rang out. The moment the black blade light collided with the golden lightning, it crumbled inch by inch and vanished completely, as though it had been thoroughly suppressed.
"Ah!" The young man was greatly alarmed.
A cold smirk tugged at the corner of Han Li's mouth.
Clearly, the blade light this man had released contained a considerable amount of demonic energy — otherwise, even though his Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were formidable, they could not have shattered it so effortlessly.
In that case, this fellow had only himself to blame for picking a fight with him.
Han Li's thoughts raced. Before the young man could recover from his shock, the five-colored crystal wings behind his back swept once, and a ring of five-colored radiance suddenly erupted from his body.
The halo was dazzlingly brilliant. As it spun in a rapid circle, the five-colored light shimmered and blazed, as if a blazing sun had emerged from within Han Li.
"Ah!"
Even though the young man was half-demon, half-ghost, the moment his eyes were struck by that intense light, he instinctively squeezed them shut. At the same time, sensing that something was terribly wrong, he immediately halted his forward rush, stamped down hard, and shot backward like a crossbow bolt.
His retreating speed was even faster than when he had charged forward.
From within the five-colored halo, a crack of thunder rang out, followed by a flash of cyan-white lightning behind the young man. Han Li's figure materialized there with eerie suddenness.
His two arms moved. A piercing shriek tore through the air as the two longswords transformed into twin streaks of golden light and slashed downward.
The young man's eyes hadn't even opened yet, and his spiritual sense was slow to react, but an attack this brazen was impossible to miss.
Without a moment's hesitation, he hurled both blades behind him. They shot off as two streaks of black light.
Then he formed a rapid hand seal. The flesh on his body instantly disintegrated like ash, revealing a skeleton of extraordinary translucence, gleaming like pristine white jade.
The entire skeleton trembled once and released a layer of white light that enveloped his form completely beneath its shield.
Two thunderous booms rang out as the golden light formed by the two longswords was halted by the twin blades.
Han Li was not the least bit surprised.
The weapons formed from a Void Refinement stage demon's true body would naturally carry some measure of power — it would have been strange if they didn't. He had never expected that two flying swords alone would be enough to slay this creature.
The Manifestation of the True Devil Art behind him had already been in motion from the instant the twin swords were launched. Six arms swept outward, and countless fist shadows bloomed around him like golden lotus flowers. With another movement, they rained down upon the white light shield like a deluge.
Though they appeared to be ordinary fist shadows, each blow carried the inhuman, superhuman strength of Han Li's formidable physical body.
This storm of attacks relied entirely on brute force.
The moment the fist shadows struck the surface, the white light shield — which had seemed extraordinarily thick and solid — began to tremble wildly under the interwoven assault of white light and golden afterimages.
With a sharp crack, the entire shield shattered under the barrage of fists.
All of this had transpired in the span of a single breath. The demon had only just managed to twist its body around and open its eyes.
With its surface flesh entirely gone, its eyeballs had vanished as well, leaving only two green flames flickering in their sockets.
Seeing that the protective light shield it had relied on crumbled so easily, the demon was terrified out of its wits. Without thinking, it opened its mouth.
Several streaks of ink-black light shot toward Han Li at full speed. At the same time, the top of its skull let out a muffled boom as it split open on its own, and a round green bead sprayed forth, hurtling high into the air.
Meanwhile, the white-bone body it left behind broke apart and flew in every direction, then coalesced into a bone shield that streaked after the bead — clearly intending to cover its retreat.
This demon had quick enough wits. The moment it saw that Han Li's powers were extraordinary and that it was no match at all, it immediately decided to flee.
It had cultivated within this black mist for countless years and believed that as long as it could open up some distance, it could easily shake off Han Li without a trace.
But Han Li had already resolved to kill. How could he allow this demon to escape and leave behind a future threat?
With an icy snort, a flash of gray light swept across the space before him. The several streaks of black light spun within the gray radiance and vanished without a trace.
The sky full of golden fist shadows abruptly disappeared. Behind him, the Manifestation of the True Devil Art flashed with golden light. The six arms paused for just a moment, and six thick arcs of lightning materialized between the palms with a tremendous crack.
They condensed simultaneously, transforming the six golden arcs into six golden lightning-spears.
His arms blurred once more, and the six spears shot out in a single straight line.
The golden spears flickered and arrived near the bone shield. Runes swirled frantically around them as their razor-sharp tips struck the shield with devastating force.
After three thunderous explosions, the bone shield shuddered but managed to withstand the first three spears.
When the fourth one slammed into it, the shield could endure no longer and burst apart.