These Buddhist phantoms had been barely discernible at first, but after a brief moment, their golden light blazed forth and they solidified into corporeal statues.
Each one gleamed with brilliant gold, as though forged from pure red gold.
"Dharma Aspect Golden Body! No — just simplified imitations." The blood-robed youth was momentarily taken aback, but after sweeping them with his spiritual sense, he let out a disdainful cold laugh.
"Even simplified golden bodies, eighteen of them are more than enough to subdue demons and banish evil," the old monk said calmly. His hands snapped into a rapid seal, and a halo of seven-colored light several zhang in diameter materialized behind his head.
The moment the eighteen golden Buddhist statues were swept by that seven-colored halo, their eyes snapped open and they stirred to life, raising their arms and stretching their legs.
The blood-light incarnation's expression darkened. Without a word, he reached behind his head with one hand.
A piercing screech rang out, and an enormous blood-red skull materialized in a sinister fashion. It stood fully five or six zhang tall, its bones translucent and crimson, wreathed in countless strands of ashen-white qi. The instant it appeared, it let out a furious roar that spewed blood-light, and a wave of baleful energy shot skyward.
The silver-haired elder wasted no time. He swept the seven-colored feather fan toward the distant blood-light incarnation with a mighty swing, then flicked his wrist and sent five gleaming silver concentric rings hurtling outward.
The seven-colored feather fan was precisely the spirit treasure Han Li had once replicated during his time in the mortal realm — the Seven Flame Fan.
That replica had helped him slay countless powerful enemies back then, and now that the genuine article was unleashed, its might was naturally unstoppable.
The fan's surface rumbled as countless scarlet runes surged forth. A scarlet firebird erupted from it — barely a foot in size at first, but after a few flickers it had swollen to ten zhang across. The firebird merely fluttered its wings, and every feather erupted with seven-colored flame. Searing heat instantly filled the entire sky, and sphere after sphere of seven-colored light descended upon the blood-light incarnation.
As for the five silver rings, the instant they were thrown they transformed into five colossal rings arranged in a row — as though five silver full moons had appeared in midair — and descended with a droning hum.
Zen Master Jin Yue moved no slower than the silver-haired elder. With rapid chanting on his lips, the eighteen golden Buddhist statues surrounding him flickered and vanished.
The next instant, golden light flared around the blood-robed youth, and over a dozen statues appeared soundlessly. Though their limbs did not move, invisible waves of tremendous force pressed inward toward the center from every direction.
The blood-light incarnation's face was grim, but after a cold snort, billowing clouds of blood-colored demonic qi rose from his body. Both sleeves swept outward, and countless blood-colored spheres of light shot off in every direction. Simultaneously, the blood-colored skull behind him blurred and transformed into a phantom that hurtled toward the seven-colored firebird.
For a time, thunderous booms erupted around the blood-cloud as the silver-haired elder and his companion — relying on the superiority of their treasures and the power of their formations — clashed with the Holy Sovereign's incarnation.
…
A thunderous boom!
Han Li felt both hands grow hot as the two mountain peaks, each over ten zhang tall, slipped from his grasp and went flying, while his body shuddered and shot backward over ten zhang. He flipped through the air before steadying himself and hovering motionless, though a faint, unnatural flush of crimson flickered across his face before vanishing.
The demon giant opposite him also staggered backward a good ten zhang, the pair of dark green great maces he had conjured earlier slipping from his grip and spiraling away.
On the other side, the three-headed, six-armed Golden Body was locked in a fierce battle with a creature pitch-black as ink, something like a mountain demon.
As fists and feet flew, one side erupted with blinding golden light and relentless explosions while the other churned with demonic qi, shooting out piercing black radiance in every direction accompanied by shrill, piercing shrieks.
Yet whether it was the Brahma Saint Golden Body or the humanoid monster opposite, every blow that landed on the other's body was swatted away as carelessly as one might shoo a fly. At most, the struck party's body would shudder a few times before lunging back into the fray, as though both possessed indestructible diamond bodies.
"Not bad, not bad. To actually fight me to a standstill using only physical strength alone — this is genuinely a first for me. But if this is the extent of your power, then there's no point in continuing." The demon giant shook his slightly stinging wrist, the manic gleam having already faded from his eyes, replaced by a thread of cold ruthlessness.
"Don't you think you talk too much?" Han Li replied flatly upon hearing this, his expression unchanged. The vast spiritual power circulating within his body swept through him, and the minor discomfort vanished in an instant.
"Hmph. I was feeling unusually generous and thought I'd let you live a few moments longer. Since you won't appreciate it, I'll send you on your way right now!" The demon giant let out a wild laugh. The demonic shadow that had been hovering faintly behind him solidified, taking on a tangible form — an enormous demonic lion with three heads.
Once the demonic lion's form became clear, a wave of aura vastly more imposing than before radiated from the giant's body. At the same time, the blood-armor covering him hissed as a layer of blood-colored flame engulfed him entirely.
The giant let out a savage grin, slowly raised both hands, splayed all five fingers toward Han Li's position, and gently closed his eyes.