Seeing this, Han Li's heart lurched. He silently activated a set of hand seals within his mind.
The two mountain peaks swayed, then transformed into towers of light a hundred zhang tall, roaring as they pressed downward with overwhelming force.
Two deafening booms rang out. The surface of the barrier rippled violently, yet both mountain peaks bounced off just as before, leaving the barrier completely unscathed.
At the same time, the thirteen balls of purple light formed by the Purple-Veined Spirit Insects slammed into the barrier one after another.
The void near the barrier shuddered, as though attempting to fling the insects away just as it had the mountains.
But the thirteen insects let out a piercing shriek, their bodies swelling to a length of several feet. Their limbs extended, and a layer of silver light suddenly burst forth from each one. Like steel needles, they pierced straight into the void surrounding the barrier.
Though the void nearby continued to warp and tremble, the Purple-Veined Spirit Insects appeared rooted firmly in place, unmoving.
Not only that — the insects simultaneously opened their mouths and each spat out a golden thread as thick as a thumb. The threads vanished in a flash, passing directly through the barrier's bizarre defensive properties as though they did not exist.
The seemingly impenetrable seven-colored barrier immediately began to flicker. Waves of brilliant, prismatic light surged along the thirteen golden threads toward the insects.
In the span of a single breath, the barrier dimmed dramatically. Its droning hum dropped to a fraction of its former volume, and the spiritual energy within appeared to be draining away at a terrifying rate.
The two glazed-glass puppets seemed stunned for an instant, but they quickly reasserted themselves. Seven-colored light erupted once more from their joined hands, channeling a staggering flood of spiritual energy outward.
The barrier flashed and blazed back to full brightness, its hum swelling once again.
Yet the speed at which the thirteen insects were devouring the barrier's spiritual energy was clearly just as fearsome. Even with whatever other tremendous abilities the two glazed-glass puppets possessed, they did not dare separate their hands for even a moment.
The two sides had unexpectedly reached a stalemate.
Han Li stared, momentarily taken aback — then delight surged through him. He formed a sword seal with one hand, and seventy-two small azure swords shot from his body. They streaked upward and merged above the barrier, coalescing into a single enormous green blade ten zhang long.
"Sever!"
Han Li barked a low command, his fingers flicking toward the colossal sword repeatedly.
The great sword hummed and immediately descended in a streak of green light.
Perhaps the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords could not match the silver ruler in terms of transformation versatility, but in raw sharpness, the combined strike of all seventy2 swords was far beyond what the silver ruler could achieve. Moreover, as Han Li's lifebound treasure, the set had been painstakingly nurtured within his body for so many years that a sliver of spiritual awareness had awakened within them, granting them a faint quality of spatial severance.
Now, though the seven-colored barrier remained extraordinarily profound, most of its spiritual energy had already been siphoned away by the thirteen Purple-Veined Gold-Devouring Insects. Han Li felt confident — seventy or eighty percent certain — that this single strike would succeed.
What he did not expect was that at this critical moment, an unexpected turn of events unfolded.
At the very instant the green sword began its descent, a ripple of spatial fluctuation suddenly appeared above Han Li's head. A wisp of black light materialized and, in a flash, transformed into five enormous "suppress" characters arranged in a row.
Han Li heard a muffled boom from overhead as an immense force crashed down upon him — as though five great mountains had simultaneously fallen upon his body all at once.
Had his physical body not been far more robust than anyone could imagine, an ordinary human cultivator of the same rank would have barely survived the crushing force, their flesh and bones instantly disintegrating.
At the same moment, a small purple tripod silently appeared beneath Han Li's feet. A swirl of black light from its mouth produced three identical ancient characters meaning "fix," which flickered into view.
Han Li felt his entire body lock up, as though his limbs had been clamped in invisible steel bands. The Magical Power within him stuttered and froze.
But that was not all. To one side of Han Li's body, a flash of blue light heralded the sudden appearance of a transparent puppet resembling an ice sculpture. Its arm swung, and an enormous transparent blade several zhang long swept toward him in a gust of fierce wind.
From the other side, a haze of pale gold scattered to reveal the beautiful woman from the Yin-Yang Twin Slayers, her face twisted in a vicious grin. Both hands rose simultaneously!
A ball of green fire and a blood-red flying sword shot toward Han Li at the same time.
The green fire spun rapidly and abruptly transformed into a wheel-sized ghostly head with a blue face and bared fangs, lunging straight at Han Li with its fangs bared.
The blood-colored sword, after a single tremor, unleashed a shriek that set one's nerves on edge, radiating a thick aura of bloody killing intent as it cleaved downward.
This woman had relied on the wondrous restrictions of this place and the corresponding control plates in her possession to conceal herself from Han Li's spiritual sense and divine eyes. The instant the two Extreme Mountains and the spirit insects — the things she feared most — left Han Li's side, she had joined forces with another Spirit Severing-stage puppet to launch this deviously close-range ambush.
Her opening move was as ferocious as a thunderclap. She unleashed a multitude of techniques simultaneously, with the clear intention of killing Han Li in a single blow.
Faced with such a surprise attack of lethal ferocity, even Han Li's pupils contracted sharply. But he responded on instinct almost immediately.
Golden light blazed across his body's surface. His frame swelled to several times its normal size, and a coat of golden fur erupted across every inch of his skin. Once again, he had transformed into the form of the Mountain-Shaking Giant Ape.
In this colossal ape form, a wave of primordial strength surged through him. Whether the crushing weight pressing down from above or the tremendous force bearing up from below, nothing could restrict him in the slightest. The Magical Power within his body recovered to normal in an instant.