The green-faced, fanged demon's eyes flashed with vicious light. Without a single word, he hurled the bronze mirror in his hand high into the air, then suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a wad of essence blood. It dissolved into a cloud of blood mist and drilled straight into the bronze mirror.
The next instant, the bronze mirror began to hum with a deafening buzz. After blurring for a moment, it actually transformed amid a burst of light into a grotesque ghostly face the size of a pavilion, its eyes tightly shut, drifting lightly in midair.
The green-faced demon let out a shout and flicked a finger at the spectral visage.
The ghostly face's eyes snapped open, blazing with dazzling black radiance, and at the same time it unleashed a bone-chilling, sinister laugh. The next instant, its gaping maw split wide, and torrential black flames roared forth from within, blanketing nearly half the sky before them. The cyan escape light, seemingly caught completely off guard, was swept into the inferno in the blink of an eye.
"Seeking death, are they? Under the might of my Yandu Demonic Flames, not even a Heaven-defying Spirit Treasure could shield you for more than a few moments!" The green-faced, fanged demon spoke with wild laughter as he continuously formed seals below to drive the ghostly face.
Under his guidance, the pitch-black demonic flames had already converged into a mass, then condensed and surged skyward, transforming into a massive pillar of fire that pinned the cyan escape light within, raging and burning without cease.
"Is that so? If anyone else were trapped in these flames, they might not last long. But for me, breaking through is as easy as turning over my hand!"
A faint male voice drifted from within the black pillar of fire, followed by a melodious bird cry. A ball of silver light burst forth, paying the black demonic flames no mind whatsoever. It flickered and materialized atop the fire pillar, then with a soft *poof*, transformed into a massive silver bird dozens of zhang long.
The bird gleamed with brilliant silver light. As it spread both wings, every silver feather upon its body burst into roaring flames. The temperature in the surrounding void shot up dramatically, as though they had been thrust inside a blazing furnace, and the entire sky was illuminated a deep crimson.
From a distance, it appeared as though a silver sun had materialized out of thin air above the black pillar of fire.
"Not good!"
At the sight of this, the green-faced demon's heart clenched with alarm. He hurriedly formed seals with both hands, trying to unleash another transformation, but he was already too late.
The silver fire bird raised its head and let out a long cry, then abruptly dipped its head and opened its beak, drawing in a tremendous inhalation downward.
An astonishing scene unfolded!
The fire pillar below whirled and condensed, transforming into countless threads of black that surged madly into the silver fire bird's gaping maw. In just a few breaths' time, the colossal fire pillar had thinned to almost nothing, and a faint cyan figure emerged.
The figure appeared to have used no treasures whatsoever, standing quietly in the void with only his protective spiritual light deployed, yet the remnants of the black demonic flames could not penetrate that barrier in the slightest.
The green-faced demon sucked in a sharp breath, scarcely able to believe his own eyes.
No one knew better than he did just how fearsome his Yandu Demonic Flames truly were.
That his opponent could withstand these flames with nothing but his protective spiritual light almost immediately brought to mind Mahayana stage existences. Only those ancient monsters who had lived for untold tens of thousands of years could wield such power.
Could it be that this opponent really was one of those old monsters, and he had just happened to run into one? Even if not, this was certainly not an enemy he could hope to resist in the slightest.
The moment this thought crossed the demon's mind, his face turned deathly pale, and sweat drenched his entire body.
He suddenly leapt to his feet, jabbed a finger at the ghostly face above his head, and bellowed the word "Explode!" Then his shoulders swayed, and both arms detached from his body in a grotesque fashion. With two muffled sounds, they instantly dissolved into twin clouds of blood mist that enveloped his entire body.
At that moment, countless cracks appeared across the surface of the massive ghostly face high above. Amid flickering black radiance, it exploded apart, and countless thin black threads poured forth from within, shooting out in a dense barrage like a colossal net spanning the heavens, sweeping down toward the figure across from it.
The cyan figure was none other than Han Li, who had just arrived.
"Blood Escape Technique!"
Upon seeing the green-faced demon's desperate moves, Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly and murmured a couple of words. One palm struck upward toward the sky, while one sleeve casually flicked outward toward the distance.
A golden phantom hand the size of an acre materialized in the air above, its five fingers spreading wide as it clawed toward the colossal net.
A tearing sound rang out as countless black threads were forcefully ripped apart by the golden fingers. The entire giant net was torn to shreds with ease.
From the sleeve Han Li had flicked, a peal of thunder rumbled as a bolt of golden lightning shot forth, then vanished in a flash.
The very next instant — at the precise moment the demon within the blood mist was about to ignite the crimson glow upon his body and shoot backward — a thunderclap split the clear sky. A golden lightning arc materialized above the blood mist and descended with inconceivable speed.
The green-faced demon saw only a flash of golden light before his eyes. The blood mist above his head was swept away in an instant, and the golden lightning arc bore down mercilessly toward the crown of his skull.
"Run!"