The condensed Taiji diagram merely spun once before erupting into countless overlapping phantom images that surged downward toward the blood-robed youth.
The blood-robed youth felt the surrounding air tighten as an immense torrent of force bore down on him from every direction, causing the blood-colored gale he had been channeling to let out a muffled boom before bursting apart and collapsing entirely.
The colossal power revolved in a swift spin, instantly forming a massive vortex that swept both the youth and the skeleton beneath him into its embrace, threatening to tear them apart into countless fragments.
The youth and his skeletal mount sank downward, unable to advance a single inch from where they were.
"Not good — a Profound Heavenly Treasure!"
The blood-robed youth's expression shifted dramatically, and he cried out in alarm, hastily thrusting the large black seal in his hand into the air.
The seal spun rapidly, swelling to the size of a pavilion, and unleashed ten thousand beams of black light as it smashed savagely toward the Taiji diagram.
A thunderous boom echoed through the sky.
The Taiji diagram wavered slightly, its surface flickering with radiance as it deflected the seal with a single bounce, sending it tumbling back with nothing to show for its effort.
The blood-robed youth clearly hadn't expected that single strike to breach the restriction. With a low growl, his body twisted at tremendous speed, and he plunged directly into the blood-colored skeleton beneath him.
The next instant, the skeleton's three heads opened their jaws in unison, each spitting out a different artifact — a black talisman, a purple jade pendant, and a sphere of crimson light.
The three objects had barely materialized before they simultaneously detonated with a muffled bang, each transforming into a stream of black demonic mist, a burst of purple radiance, and a shower of fine blood-red threads respectively, all drilling into the skeleton's body.
Immediately, three sets of eerie demonic runes in different colors surfaced across the skeleton's body, spreading over every part of its frame. Then, with a pained roar, the skeleton's body swelled to roughly double its original size, forcibly breaking free from a significant portion of the crushing forces binding it. The six dark demonic weapons in its hands swung together toward a single point with violent force.
A flash of black light, and a long-handled blade resembling a crescent-moon saber condensed into existence through their fusion.
The blood-colored skeleton's six green-glowing eyes flickered with a vicious gleam as all six crimson hands gripped the weapon's long handle, then hacked savagely upward at the Taiji diagram in the sky.
A beam of black blade-light over a hundred zhang long tore across the sky like a rift, vanishing into the Taiji diagram in the span of a heartbeat.
The Taiji diagram shuddered to a halt. A faint black line appeared at its center, and without a sound, it split cleanly in two — cleaved apart by sheer force.
The blood-colored skeleton felt the oppressive forces around it plummet by more than half. Overjoyed, it erupted with crimson light, preparing to soar skyward and escape.
But at that very moment, the silver-haired elder and Zen Master Jinyue in the distance spat out mouthfuls of essence blood without a word, pointing into empty space. The blood mist materialized and vanished in an instant.
The two severed halves of the Taiji diagram suddenly hummed with renewed intensity, several unfamiliar auras manifesting within them before the pieces overlapped and merged together in a flash of light.
The cracked diagram resealed itself as if it had never been broken, and once again began to rotate.
The blood-colored skeleton had barely transformed into a streak of crimson light and risen a dozen zhang into the air before a deafening rumble erupted. The restored, immense force smashed it back down, binding it once more on the spot.
The blood-robed youth's incarnation hidden within the skeleton was furious beyond words at this sight. Without a moment's hesitation, the long-handled demonic blade in its hands began wheeling through the air in a frenzy, hacking wildly at the sky.
Blade after blade of dark, hazy light shot upward like black dragons bursting toward the heavens, slashing and churning through the Taiji diagram ceaselessly.
Yet no matter how sharp or ferocious those strikes proved, the Taiji diagram merely shimmered with light and restored itself in an instant, keeping the blood skeleton locked in place with no hope of escape.
The price for maintaining this was that the silver-haired elder and Zen Master Jinyue continued to burn their essence blood to power the Taiji treasure. Blood poured from their mouths in streamers, and at a speed visible to the naked eye, their flesh and bodies withered and shrank, their appearance that of men pushing themselves to the absolute brink.
The blood-robed youth was horrified beyond measure. His thoughts raced, and then he gritted his teeth violently. Four of the six arms inside the blood skeleton suddenly erupted with a thunderous explosion, their shattered bone fragments swept up by a cloud of blood mist before coalescing behind the skeleton into a pair of enormous, blood-hazed bone wings.
The skeleton's two remaining arms formed different hand seals in rapid succession, and the great wings beat furiously. The body, which had been frozen in place, swayed slightly and once again rose into the air.
All of this seemed elaborate, yet it unfolded in the span of a single crack of lightning.
But the blood-colored skeleton's efforts were clearly a shade too late.
A piercing shriek split the sky as the golden giant eagle — condensed from Han Li's swarm of Gold Devouring Beetles — finally flashed into view, plummeting straight toward the skeleton's back with its talons raking downward.
"Not good!"
The skeleton's three heads shook wildly as it bellowed in alarm. The long-handled demonic blade hacked desperately toward the golden eagle while the bone wings behind it flapped twice at the cost of burning through Magical Power at a ruinous rate, its escape speed suddenly surging by more than half.