The golden haze rolled, and the six golden blades abruptly fused into one, transforming into a colossal sword dozens of zhang long that seemed to prop up the heavens itself.
After a flash of cold light, the demon's central head first registered a look of disbelief. A thin crimson line appeared across its neck, and the head promptly rolled free and tumbled down.
The demon had been beheaded by a single stroke of Han Li's sword.
But the giant ape's face showed no hint of triumph. Its massive body dove downward, six arms suddenly splitting apart, and the great sword divided back into six golden blades.
The six arms blurred as a piercing roar erupted. Countless golden threads materialized and rained downward in a dense curtain, clearly intending to shred the leading youth's maimed body to pieces.
An incredible scene unfolded!
The demon's battered form suddenly flapped all four wings on its back, shooting backward dozens of zhang in an instant. Simultaneously, the blood sea below churned, and countless arrows formed from congealed blood shot skyward, blocking every last golden thread raining from above.
At the same time, from the headless stump at its neck, a plume of black qi surged upward, and remarkably, another head identical to the original materialized in its place — though one of the eight green ghost heads on its shoulders had inexplicably vanished.
The giant ape, which had been about to press the attack, darkened in expression but did not slow its movements in the slightest. The five or six golden blades shifted and transformed into six entirely different weapons — rings, spears, maces, awls — and with a casual wave, countless bolts of golden thunder-fire surged from them, crashing toward the distant demon in a thunderous barrage.
The massive demon, having just lost a head, was clearly equally enraged. It let out a piercing shriek as its remaining seven heads began chanting incantations, while its two hands simultaneously formed a strange and profoundly complex seal.
A deafening howl erupted!
The blood sea that had been surging below suddenly began to swirl rapidly around the demon as its center. An enormous vortex formed in an instant, which then condensed into a colossal pillar of blood water that shot skyward.
The demon halted the seals in its hands and thrust one great hand downward, grasping at the pillar.
The blood-colored pillar flickered wildly, and after a thunderous boom, it solidified into a massive blood-red staff hundreds of zhang long, its surface inscribed with dark runic patterns.
The demon seized it without the slightest hesitation and swung the staff savagely toward the giant ape.
The rolling shadow of the staff immediately transformed into a blood-red hurricane that howled outward, while a foul, putrid stench billowed from the weapon.
Golden thunder-fire and the blood-red hurricane interwove and flashed, with rumbling explosions periodically erupting where they met.
The three-headed, six-armed giant ape saw this and its gaze turned cold. Raising all six weapons, it hurtled toward the demon with fearsome momentum.
The demon snorted coldly, held the blood-red staff horizontally, and stomped a single foot against the void, launching itself forward.
For a time, the two equally grotesque titans clashed in midair with a cacophony of clanging sounds.
Six masses of golden light and one blood-red shadow alternately blurred and shimmered with a thousand rays of radiance.
The sounds of battle were deafening!
Shortly after their hand-to-hand combat began, thirteen clusters of purple light and a thick gray shadow flashed in from both flanks, joining the fray.
They were none other than Han Li's purple-veined gold-devouring beetles and the gray giant serpent.
Their arrival naturally made the battle all the more intense, with buzzing and hissing sounds intermittently mixing with the thunderous roars.
Suddenly, an earth-shattering boom rang out as a multicolored halo of light emerged from the center of the battlefield. A terrifying wave of energy then spread outward in all directions, darkening the void wherever it passed and creating the sensation that space itself was collapsing.
At the very epicenter of that collapse, two figures stumbled and shot backward in opposite directions, not halting until they were two to three hundred zhang apart, each barely managing to stabilize themselves.
They were none other than the giant ape Han Li had transformed into and the demonified leading youth.
But at this moment, both of them cut rather sorry figures.
The giant ape's golden fur was singed and charred in many places, and of its six weapons, only three remained — all of them broken and reduced to jagged stumps.
As for the demon, it was drenched in its own blood, two of the ghost heads on its shoulders had been blown apart into a mangled mess of flesh and gore, and the blood-red staff in its hand had been split cleanly in two, severed by some powerful force.
It was clear that the demon had suffered a considerable disadvantage in the battle just past.
The golden-furred giant ape and the demon regarded each other from a distance, both carrying unmistakable wariness in their eyes.
Just then, another rumbling erupted from the center of the collapsed space. The five-colored radiance swirled, contracted, and expanded before detonating once more.
But this time, amid the explosive waves, over a dozen clusters of purple light shot out in a flash.
They were Han Li's purple-veined gold-devouring beetles.
On the other side, the gray giant serpent also tried to flee from the center of the explosion. But the moment half its body emerged from the collapsed space, an enormous suction force from behind swept it back into the depths.
Instantly, the light of the explosion completely engulfed the giant serpent.
Witnessing this, the demon's body suddenly churned with gray qi, and it could not help but open its mouth once more, expelling a mouthful of essence blood. Its complexion grew several shades paler.