Suddenly, black qi surged around Han Li's body, and a pitch-black suit of battle armor materialized into view.
Countless black runes emerged from the surface of the armor.
The seemingly bizarre blood-red light crashed into the black qi, but with a muffled "bang," it was repelled by the flashing runes.
The blood shadow stumbled backward in a roll, reverting to its original form.
A flicker of blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and he finally caught a clear look at the blood shadow's appearance.
Even after everything he had been through, his expression couldn't help but change.
At first glance, the blood shadow's face was a hideous ghost visage bared with fangs. But after a brief flicker, the ghost face shifted into Xiang Zhili's features, then blurred again and transformed into yet another man's face.
And Han Li recognized this man as well — it was none other than the Elder Hu who had entered the spatial node alongside Xiang Zhili.
The blood shadow's face flickered rapidly among these three countenances, flowing and shifting like water, unable to settle on any one form.
" Heavenly Devil Armor? Impossible! How could you possibly possess a suit of armor that only Heavenly Devils have!"
The blood shadow's body swayed several times before it finally steadied itself not far away, and words filled with extreme shock and fury rang from its mouth.
The voice sounded somewhat like Xiang Zhili's, yet it gave Han Li a bizarre sense of unfamiliarity.
Han Li snorted coldly through his nose, and his skin instantly turned a brilliant, gleaming gold, as if forged from pure metal. At the same time, golden scales surfaced across his body one after another.
"You think that putting on the Heavenly Devil Armor means I can't touch you!" The blood shadow's face flickered through several transformations once more. It let out an odd cry, and its body began spinning rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, a blood-red tornado erupted from the blood shadow's body and shot over a dozen zhang high.
The roar of thunder boomed within the tornado, and arcs of blood-red lightning crackled and flashed wildly, creating a terrifying spectacle.
Then the blood shadow uttered several strange incantations, and the tornado suddenly began to shrink at a rapid pace. In just a moment, it condensed into a blood-red rune the size of a head, hovering gently before the blood shadow.
Han Li's expression hardened slightly as he sensed the violent fluctuations radiating faintly from the rune.
A peal of thunder!
The blood-red rune spun rapidly, transforming into a bolt of blood-red lightning that cleaved downward.
A deafening boom!
The moment the lightning bolt made contact with the black runes, they flickered violently a few times before shattering entirely. The bolt struck squarely against the black devil armor.
With a muffled thump, the blood-red lightning vanished into nothing, leaving behind a palm-sized hole in the black armor.
A savage grin returned to the blood shadow's face. It let out an eerie laugh and then transformed once more into a streak of blood-red radiance, shooting forward at blistering speed.
Its speed was such that in a single flash, it arrived before Han Li, lunging straight toward the hole in his armor.
But at that very moment, a ripple of spatial fluctuation stirred nearby, and a massive golden hand materialized out of thin air right in front of the hole. Its five fingers spread wide and seized the blood-red streak — which had practically delivered itself — with lightning speed.
The blood light scattered, and the blood shadow reappeared within the golden hand's grasp. Its face was filled with terror, but it suddenly opened its mouth wide and spat a jet of blood flame directly at Han Li's face.
This move was extraordinarily vicious!
In his current state, unable to move even a fraction, and at such close range, under normal circumstances there would have been no way to dodge.
But the corner of Han Li's mouth twitched, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.
A flash of black light shot from between his brows, and a pitch-black vertical eye snapped open abruptly. A beam of dark light surged forth with lightning swiftness, striking the blood flame with perfect accuracy.
With a hissing sound, the surrounding space distorted. The two forces clashed briefly before vanishing together into the nearby void, disappearing without a trace.
The blood shadow was startled. Its body blazed with blood-red light as it tried to unleash yet another ability, but it would never get the chance.
The golden hand suddenly erupted with a layer of silver flame on its five fingers. With a single roll of the flames, the blood shadow was swallowed whole.
Shrill screams erupted from within the silver fire as the blood shadow struggled desperately. Its form stretched out bonelessly, then thickened, constantly shifting and deforming.
But no matter how it changed, the golden hand clung to it like bone to flesh, granting it not the slightest chance of escape.
After the span of a few breaths, the screaming cut off abruptly.
The blood shadow was reduced to ash within the flames.
In truth, this blood shadow had simply been unfortunate. Under normal circumstances, its intangible body would have been virtually impossible for ordinary treasures or abilities to contain or harm. However, this particular golden hand was a manifestation of the Brazen Saint True Body, and thanks to Han Li's significant growth in cultivation and repeated tempering, it had developed inconceivable power — enough to seize the blood shadow's intangible form out of thin air.
As for the Spirit Devouring True Fire, it had always excelled at devouring the energy of heaven and earth. Having swallowed several other types of flame along the way, it now possessed a particularly effective restraining power against demonic and evil energies.
This was how a blood shadow of considerable origin had been so easily refined into ash.
Han Li watched the whole affair, and the tension drained from his expression. The Destruction Eye between his brows slowly closed and vanished.
He then muttered an incantation, and the golden light across his body rippled in a wave. He opened his mouth and expelled a fist-sized sphere of light.
The sphere was wrapped in a layer of golden radiance on the outside, but within, a tangle of gray-white light threads intertwined.
The foreign object that had penetrated his body earlier had been forcibly gathered, suppressed using the power of his true essence, and expelled from within.