In the void roughly a li across, countless points of blue light suddenly surged forth once more. After flickering and coalescing, they condensed near Han Li and Daoist Crab into layer upon layer of crystalline figures identical to the eight that had appeared before — packed so densely there seemed to be well over a hundred of them.
"Impossible!"
The thought struck Han Li with a chill of alarm.
If these newly manifested figures truly possessed the same abilities as the previous eight, then he would be facing nearly a hundred enemies at the Demon Venerable level.
Even Yuan Sha, for all she was a Demon Clan Saint Sovereign, could not possibly wield such heaven-defying power.
Han Li took a deep breath. The blood-colored mark between the eyebrows of his giant ape form split open, and a swirl of black mist surged forth, coalescing into a pitch-black demonic eye that stood upright between them — the Destruction Dharma Eye!
The jet-black pupil of the demonic eye shifted slightly, and a sweep of its frigid gaze shot out in all directions simultaneously, scanning every crystalline figure around them.
"So that's how it is!"
A deep, rumbling roar erupted from the giant ape's mouth. One massive arm suddenly reached forward and grabbed at the empty void.
A ripple of spatial fluctuations spread outward. The front half of the arm blurred, then plunged into the void and vanished.
At the same instant, before one of the newly materialized crystalline figures, a flash of golden light erupted, and an enormous furry hand thrust out from the void, its five fingers shooting forward with lightning speed to seize the target.
A bizarre scene unfolded!
The crystalline figure — which had previously worn a blank expression — suddenly showed a look of panic on its face. Both hands snapped up to form a guard in front of its body as blue light blazed outward, condensing a pale blue ice shield out of thin air that spun in place before it. Then it stamped a foot and launched itself backward like a crossbow bolt.
This crystalline figure was completely different from the previous eight — it didn't dare to take the ape's grab head-on.
But Han Li's giant ape let out a thunderous shout that sent the surrounding void shuddering. The golden-furred hand on the other side suddenly became unstoppable, its five fingers splaying wide before clamping down and shattering the blue ice shield to pieces.
The arm surged forward another length with a muffled boom.
The crystalline figure retreating in panic felt the golden hand blur before its vision. Then its chest grew searing hot as a tearing pain drilled deep into its soul, and it couldn't help but let out a miserable scream.
Its face — which had closely resembled Yuan Sha's — changed in an instant, transforming into the pointed-eared, simian-cheeked visage of a Thunder God. With tremendous effort, it lowered its head and saw the golden hand had already pierced straight through its chest.
With a loud crack, silver flames erupted from the golden palm and engulfed the demon creature entirely.
The demon let out several more agonized shrieks before they cut off abruptly.
Only then did the golden hand give a shake and vanish into the void.
The golden-furred giant ape slowly retracted its extended arm.
And at almost the same moment the demon creature perished, every other crystalline figure scattered throughout the space erupted on its own, dissolving into motes of blue light that vanished into the void.
Below, Yuan Sha's expression shifted for the first time.
That crystalline creature was an extremely rare Crystal Image Beast she had raised — one that could not only wield extreme cold, but was especially adept at this heaven-defying ability to split into hundreds or thousands of copies. Under normal circumstances, so long as the main body couldn't be identified by the opponent, this beast could virtually sweep aside any foe below the Saint Sovereign realm with its myriad incarnations.
And Yuan Sha had used this beast to destroy countless powerful enemies over the years. But this time, barely a few breaths after releasing it, Han Li had easily identified its weakness and killed it.
This took Yuan Sha by surprise, and the faint contempt she had harbored largely vanished.
However, the Crystal Image Beast's life-bound demon core had long since been refined and fused with her own Primordial Spirit. Though its physical body was lost, a period of refinement with secret techniques upon returning would be enough to revive it.
So though Yuan Sha had raised her guard, she didn't show much anger.
"You do have some ability — no wonder you spoke with such bravado. But if you truly believe these little tricks of yours can let you stand against a Saint Sovereign, you are sorely mistaken. I don't know under what circumstances you encountered other Saint Sovereigns before, or whether there were restrictions or constraints in play. But here and now, with my full power unleashed, you stand absolutely no chance of victory." After speaking those cold words, Yuan Sha formed a single-handed seal. A flash of blue radiance blazed behind her, and a towering pillar of blue light shot skyward.
The next instant, a phantom projection of a giant wolf dozens of zhang tall materialized above the great hall, its entire body shrouded in shimmering blue light, its two eyes blazing with rolling purple flames.
A suffocating aura of terrifying power radiated from the phantom wolf, flooding the entire sky and pressing down upon Han Li and the others.
Han Li's giant ape form was struck head-on by the overwhelming aura. His body shuddered, and he was forced back several stumbling steps.
Though Han Li was unmatched among cultivators at the Integration stage, when facing the full pressure of a Mahayana-stage existence, even he had no choice but to retreat.
Beside him, Daoist Crab's expression remained unchanged, but one sleeve swept abruptly forward and a layer of golden light flashed into existence before them, shielding both himself and Zhu Guo'er within.
The terrifying aura bore down upon Daoist Crab, but the golden barrier before him merely flickered once and endured the pressure without difficulty.