Han Li's expression remained unchanged. He simply raised one arm and spread his fingers wide, positioning his open palm in front of him.
In the instant that followed, a soft pop sounded from each fingertip simultaneously as five golden spheres of light shot forth. They swelled wildly in the wind, then merged together with a thunderous boom, transforming into a golden vortex the size of a cartwheel.
The vortex merely spun once, and an invisible wave of suction swept outward from within.
The oncoming invisible sound waves were instantly transformed into countless streaming motes and drawn inside.
But just then, the human-faced insect flickered and appeared near Han Li like a specter. Without a moment's hesitation, it shook its several razor-sharp forelimbs, which instantly blurred into a curtain of black lances that thrust downward toward Han Li.
Han Li narrowed his eyes at this, but let out a low shout and tapped the vortex before him with one hand.
The vortex instantly expanded and contracted violently, then burst apart in a sphere of golden light.
The next moment, a sharp hissing sound erupted as countless cyan threads shot forth from the golden light, piercing straight toward the human-faced insect.
The enormous creature's face flashed with ferocity. Rather than dodging, it actually seized the opportunity and drove those densely packed black lances forward with even greater force.
These black lances possessed some inconceivably mysterious power — with a single blur, they crossed over a dozen zhang and arrived mere inches from Han Li.
The insect, driven wild by its savagery, had formed the intent to deal Han Li a mutually destructive blow.
But Han Li was no ordinary man. While somewhat surprised by the creature's ferocity, there was no way he would allow that to happen.
His pupils contracted slightly, and one hand suddenly swept through the air before him.
After a few soft pops, over a dozen layers of gray light screens materialized in the air before him.
The next instant, those black lances plunged straight into the screens.
A tearing sound rang out!
The lances proved astonishingly sharp, piercing through all the screens in a single breath without any loss of momentum, and struck Han Li's protective spiritual light.
A piercing metallic grinding sound rang out.
Han Li's body surface instantly took on a purple-gold hue, while within, countless silver runic patterns shimmered faintly in and out of sight.
The black lances dimmed the instant they made contact and bounced away violently, unable to penetrate the spiritual light even slightly.
This defensive spiritual light, formed by fusing the Brahma Saint True Devil Art with the Hundred Meridian Treasure Refining Art, when unleashed at full power by Han Li, would likely leave even an ordinary Mahayana cultivator at a loss.
Moreover, although the human-faced insect was savage, it was still a notch below a Mahayana existence.
Meanwhile, those cyan crystal threads struck the insect's black carapace simultaneously like rain drumming against a fence, flashing through in an instant.
The human-faced insect let out a shriek as countless streams of dark green fluid sprayed from its body.
But the creature's face immediately twisted into a vicious snarl. After a low growl, a grayish-white light circulated through its body, and the tiny holes on its surface began closing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In just the time it took to blink a few times, all the wounds covering the insect were on the verge of fully healing.
Han Li let out a cold laugh at this, formed a seal with one hand, and uttered the word "Sever."
In that instant, the cyan threads that had pierced through the insect's body suddenly intertwined and condensed, coalescing into a hazy cyan flying sword. It circled at lightning speed, then swept around the insect's head in a single, unexpected pass.
The head atop the giant insect's neck immediately tumbled off. Then the cyan sword light blazed once more, engulfing the creature's remaining body.
Beneath the chilling sword light, the human-faced insect's body was instantly slashed and shredded into a rain of blood that scattered downward — even the Primordial Spirit hidden within had no time to escape.
These two savage giant insects had been annihilated in the blink of an eye.
Han Li gave a faint smile and recalled the cyan flying sword, then turned his gaze toward the other battle groups.
But the moment his gaze swept over, he immediately heard a shrill screech from that direction.
It was the giant insect facing Xie Lian, which had somehow been firmly clamped by three silver rings, rendering it completely immobile.
A streak of white light the woman spat out flashed past, cleaving the insect's body cleanly in two.
This Ancestor Xie Lian truly lived up to being Bao's twin sister — her powers were truly extraordinary, far beyond those of an ordinary Mahayana cultivator.
Han Li's eyes glimmered slightly as he turned these thoughts over in his mind.
Almost at the same time, a deafening rumble like an earthquake suddenly thundered from the other side of the sky, and the entire void shuddered violently.
Both Han Li and the just-victorious Xie Lian felt a chill in their hearts and hurriedly looked toward the source of the noise.