A short half-hour later, a buzzing sound resonated through the void, and with a flash of green light, an emerald formation disk materialized in someone's palm. A stream of magical power flickered and vanished into it.
The next moment, the delighted voice of the tall Wood Clan man came through immediately: "Brother Han, are things still alright on your end? I've finished preparations over here and can activate the restriction. Bring those Saint Ancestor avatars into the mountain range now, and I'll activate the grand formation to trap them."
"No need to go to all that trouble — save the restriction for the next wave of enemies. Things are fine over here," Han Li replied flatly, one hand holding the formation disk while the other gripped a black axe he was examining with evident interest.
The axe was unmistakably the demonic weapon wielded by the gold-armored demon from before.
In the surrounding void, aside from Daoist Xie and the battered spirit body, not a single figure remained.
For miles around, the ground was pockmarked with craters, with not a single patch left intact.
Clearly, an even fiercer battle had erupted here not long ago.
"What — Brother Han, what do you mean by that...?" After a moment of silence, the Wood Clan man's voice came through the formation disk, tinged with shock and disbelief.
"The Saint Ancestor avatars from before have already been dealt with by me, Brother Xie, and the others working together. The restriction you're controlling should naturally be saved," Han Li replied with a light chuckle, giving the black axe a casual wave before it blurred and vanished from his grasp.
During the battle just past, he and Daoist Xie had dispatched the gold-armored giant and his two companions with little difficulty. However, since the three had been determined to flee, it had taken some effort to hunt them down and destroy them one by one.
"Brother Han and Brother Xie possess abilities far beyond what I could have imagined. Still, with this taken care of, our Number Two formation eye is completely secure," the Wood Clan man said with undisguised elation, his voice through the formation disk carrying a new note of deference.
Clearly, the strength Han Li had displayed made this Wood Clan Integration Stage cultivator no longer dare treat him as an ordinary peer — a hint of genuine awe had crept into his words.
Han Li offered a faint smile and was about to reply through the formation disk when a roll of muffled thunder suddenly rumbled from high above. All around, white light flashed wildly through the void as waves of spatial disturbance surged in from a distant horizon, sweeping past him in the blink of an eye.
Almost simultaneously, a low exclamation came from the formation disk.
The smile at the corner of Han Li's mouth froze. His eyes flickered for a moment before he slowly spoke into the disk: "Fellow Daoist Cao, was that disturbance just now the collapse of Formation Eye Number One?"
"Brother Han, your guess is correct. The reserve sacred tree shows that Formation Eye Number One has indeed been destroyed. Those demon Saint Ancestors launched simultaneous attacks on all three formation eyes after all," the Wood Clan man's somewhat bitter voice came through the disk.
"That was to be expected. It won't be long before we receive our second batch of visitors here as well," Han Li replied with a cold laugh.
"Brother Han, you and Fellow Daoist Xie should come back and rest a while. If more Saint Ancestor avatars do come searching for us, I'm afraid it will fall to you two to hold them off again. The more magical power you can recover now, the better," the Wood Clan man said after a moment of deliberation.
"That's a reasonable suggestion. Fellow Daoist Xie and I will head back for a brief rest then," Han Li said, nodding readily.
Without further discussion, he put away the formation disk, called out to Daoist Xie, and rose into the air.
In an instant, the two transformed into streaks of rainbow light and shot through the sky toward the center of the mountain range.
Below where they had been standing, green light suddenly blazed across the devastated ground. In moments, the cratered earth was covered in lush greenery, blanketed by countless blades of grass and shrubs. Countless trees sprouted before the eye at visible speed, growing into hundred-zhang giants that concealed every trace of the battle below.
……
A short half-day later, tens of thousands of miles from the mountain range in the empty void, a deafening roar suddenly erupted. A black line flashed across the horizon and vanished, unleashing an endless torrent of dark qi that rolled toward the mountain range in a surging tide.
Within that awe-inspiring maelstrom of black energy, a pitch-black, mountain-like pavilion could faintly be seen hidden inside.
On a platform atop the pavilion, seven demon cultivators — men and women dressed in various attire — stood in a row, conversing in low voices.
Each of them radiated an extremely powerful aura; they were clearly no ordinary demon lords.
"That old fool She and his lot are utterly useless. Our two groups succeeded without issue, but those few went off and produced nothing. They've left us with no choice but to make this extra trip," complained a tall male demon whose body emanated faint blue luminescence.
"In terms of actual strength, Fellow Daoist She and his four are probably not much weaker than the seven of us. Otherwise, they would never have been sent off on their own to deal with this formation eye. The reason they haven't succeeded is most likely because they've been trapped by some formidable restriction," a gracefully built woman in palace robes replied with a light laugh.
"Hmph, we and Fellow Daoist Sha's group both seized our targets easily. The fact that old fool She's side is the only one with problems only goes to show it's because those five are incompetent," the tall demon said, rolling his eyes in a manner that made clear he was on anything but friendly terms with the "old fool She" he was referring to.