What made one's blood run even colder was that, on the back of the puppet's head, there was unmistakably another face — this one a faint purple. The face appeared ordinary enough, but both its eyes were shut tight, and the mere sight of it sent an involuntary shiver of horror down one's spine.
The moment the burly demon summoned the puppet to his side, a sudden change erupted within the golden light in the distance.
Amid the void between the giant ape, the colorful phoenix, and the silver roc, specks of golden light flickered and coalesced out of thin air into a faint golden infant, its features identical to Han Li's own. Its tiny body was encased in a suit of pitch-black demonic armor, and dozens of inch-long cyan miniature swords orbited and danced around it.
This was none other than Han Li's Natal Nascent Soul.
The instant the nascent soul took form, the giant ape, the colorful phoenix, and the silver roc all flared with brilliant light in their eyes. Simultaneously, their bodies lurched forward, hurtling toward the nascent soul.
With a thunderous boom, blinding golden radiance erupted. A towering, three-headed, six-armed figure materialized on the spot.
The figure was bathed in dazzling golden light. Every inch of its skin and face was covered by a layer of faint golden scales, and atop its head jutted a single cyan horn. Between its brows, a pitch-black demonic eye manifested in a sinister display.
When the figure raised its head and cast a glance toward the demon giant, the face barely visible behind those golden scales was unmistakably Han Li's. Yet he looked somehow terrifyingly alien at this moment — his pupils held not a shred of expression, and within them gleamed a faint streak of gold-blue radiance.
The demon giant met that gaze for the barest instant, and his eyes instantly burned as though pierced by needles. Shocked to his core, he involuntarily shut them tight.
And right at that moment, the golden figure across from him casually raised one hand and pressed it gently downward through the air.
A muffled boom detonated without the slightest warning before the giant — a colossal force crashed into him like a volcanic eruption.
Though his eyes had not yet reopened, the demon giant's spiritual sense still registered the terrifying power contained within that force. His expression changed sharply. The blood-colored flames wreathing his body surged madly forward to form a barrier, and in the same breath, a pitch-black token appeared in his hand. He activated it, and it expanded to several zhang in size, positioning itself before him like a massive shield.
Pfft!
Both the curtain of blood-colored flame and the enormously enlarged black token shattered on contact with the nameless force, crumbling apart like paper — and the overwhelming power surged onward, straight toward the demon giant's true body.
The demon giant's eyes snapped open, his gaze filled with incredulous horror. But in the very next instant, that horror transformed into a look of fierce savagery. With a thunderous roar, he stamped both feet down as though striking solid ground, clenched all ten fingers into fists, and punched directly into the oncoming force.
Black light flashed. Two black fist-shadows shot from his hands and inflated to several times their original size, slamming into the colossal force with everything he had.
A muffled boom — and the two black fist-shadows were obliterated in an instant, utterly futile against the onslaught, like a mantis trying to stop a charging chariot.
The giant's body convulsed. He was sent hurtling backward like a straw dummy, tumbling through the air for over a dozen zhang before he managed to twist mid-flight and barely regain his footing. Even then, he staggered several steps backward before he could fully dissipate the lingering force.
By this point, the demon giant's face had turned crimson, as red as a drunkard's. Unable to hold back any longer, he opened his mouth and spat out a glob of pitch-black essence blood.
The golden figure's seemingly casual strike just now had wielded a heaven-defying power capable of toppling mountains and draining seas — a single blow that had wounded the demon giant, the one hailed as the mightiest Demon Venerable of the demon race, right on the spot.
"The Nirvana Sacred Body! The Power of Ten Thousand Origin! Impossible — how could a mere human cultivator possibly master our Sacred Realm's supreme technique!" The demon giant didn't even bother wiping the blood from the corners of his mouth. His eyes bulged nearly out of their sockets as he stared fixedly at the distant figure, his voice a hoarse rasp, as though he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.
The moment those words left his lips, the distant golden figure swayed — and then it too opened its mouth, spitting out its own mouthful of essence blood.
However, this blood was a pale gold in color, and the instant it was expelled, it dissolved into nothingness upon contact with the wind.
"The Power of Ten Thousand Origin — roughly speaking, yes. Since you've forced me to resort to this technique, I naturally cannot allow you to remain alive in this world any longer." The scales across the golden figure's face receded all at once, revealing Han Li's deathly pale countenance. His eyes, meanwhile, regained a measure of vitality as he spoke in a calm, level voice.
"A backlash force! So you haven't actually mastered this supreme technique — you merely forced its activation. Judging by your state, you can't possibly use that level of attack more than a few times." The demon giant let out a long breath upon witnessing this, the tension draining from his features as he muttered to himself.
"Indeed, I can't use it many times. But a single additional strike may be enough to annihilate you outright." The demonic eye between Han Li's brows flashed once, and a strange, eerie smile appeared on his face.
No sooner had he spoken than golden light surged across Han Li's body. Countless golden runes poured forth from his skin in a torrent. At the same time, one hand swept across the crown of his head, and five orbs of golden light shot outward. After a brief, spiraling rotation, they transformed respectively into the phantom forms of a giant ape, a colorful phoenix, a silver roc, a golden peacock, and a golden dragon.
The moment these five phantoms took shape, each let out a resonant cry of its own. Then, moving as one, they flickered and plunged directly into the body of the demonized Han Li.