"Hmph, that will only work if the other fellow daoists are willing to cooperate. What if we make our move and they seize the chance to teleport away?" Han Li snorted and sent a voice transmission back.
"Brother Han, please rest assured. I placed a small restriction on the Phoenix Spirit Disc I gifted them beforehand. With a single thought from me, the disc will be temporarily rendered unusable. Once the others learn of this, they will naturally understand the gravity of the situation."
Bao smiled faintly, then revealed a piece of news that left Han Li momentarily stunned.
After that, her lips moved slightly as she actually sent voice transmissions to the others.
Han Li's gaze shifted, sweeping toward the archaic-looking elder and the black-robed woman.
Sure enough, the moment these two received Bao's brief transmission, the expressions on their faces froze for an instant before fury surged. They shot Bao vicious glares.
But Bao remained composed as ever, even offering the two of them a faint smile.
The elder and the black-robed woman were seething with rage, one could well imagine. If not for the fact that they were still facing a terrifying enemy, a complete falling-out with Bao right on the spot would have been entirely possible.
At that moment, however, the young girl gave them no further time to deliberate. After savoring the taste of the man's Nascent Soul, her gaze flickered as she swept it over those below. She let out another giggle and spoke:
"Have you decided how you'll compensate me? How about this — hand over all of your Nascent Souls, and I'll eat one or two more. That should be enough. The rest of you can leave safely. What do you think?"
"You underestimate us. Do you really think such an obvious attempt at sowing discord will work on us? If you kill one more, the rest will truly be at your mercy." Bao replied calmly, and without the slightest hesitation, she made a casual grasping motion with one hand through empty air.
Instantly, the earth-yellow nail embedded in the black crystal trembled and vanished without a trace.
In the next moment, the Earth Emperor Nail appeared silently in Bao's palm, its yellow light flickering.
"Oh? So you've decided to fight me. How interesting. Surviving a single strike from me without dying is a sign of some ability. But the Nascent Soul I most want to eat right now isn't yours — it's this person's." The young girl shook her head with a grin. "My, my — such tremendous spiritual sense. That Nascent Soul must be a hundred times more delicious than the last one." She extended a thin finger and pointed at someone below.
Han Li's expression shifted subtly. The person the girl's bony finger was pointing at was none other than himself.
Bao and the others were taken aback as well.
Judging by the Moth Mother's words, Han Li's spiritual sense was apparently far more formidable than Bao's, a former ancestor.
This came as a surprise to everyone.
"So you've decided my Nascent Soul tastes better! If you have the ability to take it, by all means, come and get it." The strange look on Han Li's face vanished in an instant, replaced by a faint, indifferent smile. He seemed entirely unbothered by the girl's threat.
Bao and the others watched from the side, their faces betraying nothing, but they could not help feeling a measure of admiration in their hearts.
Facing the threat of such a terrifying existence as the Moth Mother — not just anyone could remain so calm and carry on with a smile.
"You said it yourself. Then I won't be polite. I'm going to savor the taste of your Nascent Soul." The young girl licked her pink lips twice with her tongue, then suddenly smiled with childlike innocence. Her fists clenched violently and her figure transformed into a blurred shadow that shot downward at tremendous speed.
The velocity was so extreme that the instant Han Li heard the whistle of air splitting, the shadow had already arrived at arm's length. A fist wreathed in rolling black flames thrust forward, seeming to tear through the void itself as it pierced straight through Han Li's chest.
The shadow solidified, and the young girl's form reappeared, her face still wearing that cheerful smile.
But in the very next instant, the smile on the girl's face faltered. A green line of light, without the slightest warning, slashed out from within Han Li's body. In a single flash, it cleaved the girl's body clean in two from the center.
Only then did the Han Li whose chest had been pierced by the fist dissolve into a burst of golden light that exploded outward.
In another patch of void a dozen zhang away, spatial ripples appeared, and another Han Li stepped out with a completely expressionless face. In his hand, a verdant green longsword trembled faintly, threads of law force emanating from it.
"A Profound Heaven Treasure — that longsword of yours truly is a Profound Heaven artifact! No wonder you survived that strike. It seems taking you down will require a bit more effort."
The soft giggling laughter drifted over once more.
A bizarre scene unfolded. The girl's body, split in two, showed not a drop of blood. Instead, the two halves hovered motionless in the void, and both mouths grinned simultaneously as they spoke:
But the eeriness of that smile was enough to send a simultaneous shiver down the spines of the archaic elder and the black-robed woman, their hearts flooded with horror.
Just then, Bao suddenly raised one hand, sending the Earth Emperor Nail shooting outward. At the same time, her lithe body twisted, and with a flash of pink light, she vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, the archaic elder and the black-robed woman heard Bao's voice transmission ring in their ears: "What are you two waiting for? Unless we act now as I described, only by destroying the Moth Mother's true body can any of us truly escape with our lives! Brother Han and I cannot hold off this Primordial Spirit avatar for long."
The hesitant expressions on the archaic elder's and the black-robed woman's faces shifted several times. They exchanged a glance, then gritted their teeth. Twin streaks of light shot forth simultaneously as they plunged into the water below.