Upon seeing this, the Asura Spider Matriarch was so furious that she actually laughed. She uttered a single word—"Good!"—then abruptly rubbed her palms together before sweeping both hands upward.
Countless motes of crystal light erupted into existence, and a thunderous roar shook the air!
Densely packed spheres of multicolored light materialized before her in an instant, then shot toward the two opponents with an almost living intent, as though intending to engulf both Blood Burn and Black Scale in a single sweep.
In the blink of an eye, the three were locked in a furious clash of divine abilities.
The four adult Asura Spiders standing atop the stone city exchanged glances at the sight. After a brief exchange of voice-transmitted words, they simultaneously let out a low growl, sat cross-legged upon the ramparts, closed their eyes tight, and began murmuring incantations.
Beneath the chanting, the crown of each of their heads split open, and a mass of green light roughly the size of a washbasin shot skyward from each. The four masses swirled together in midair and condensed into the form of a colossal spider.
This spider was even larger than the one the Matriarch had conjured, though its body was somewhat translucent—something akin to a dharma manifestation.
The moment the enormous spider phantom appeared, it transformed into a streak of green shadow and hurtled straight toward the battlefield.
The four adult Asura Spiders had finally lost their patience and were preparing to lend their Matriarch a hand.
On the other side, Mo Jianli's expression darkened the instant he witnessed this. Without any visible movement, his body blurred and vanished silently from where he stood.
The next moment, spatial fluctuations rippled in front of the spider phantom. A cold, razor-sharp arc of sword qi tore through the air and slashed downward in a head-on strike.
The spider phantom immediately opened its massive jaws and spat out a crystalline net. The net unfurled and swept upward, catching the sword light and halting it in its tracks.
However, once the green light dimmed, the spider phantom was forced to halt in midair.
At that moment, Mo Jianli materialized from a shimmer in the air ahead, cradling a short sword. He eyed the spider phantom once, then without a second word, flung the weapon high into the sky.
In an instant, a deafening whistling filled the air!
Layer upon layer of sword shadows materialized from nothing, coalescing into a towering mountain of swords that hurtled downward toward the phantom.
The four adult Asura Spiders atop the ramparts—now in human form—changed the hand seals they were forming. The spider phantom lunged forward, passing straight through the mountain of swords as though it were no obstacle at all, and plunged directly at Mo Jianli.
Mo Jianli's heart tightened. A crystal-brick-shaped treasure orbiting beside him shot forward. He raised one arm and extended a finger, pressing it solemnly toward the phantom.
The crystal brick spun rapidly, erupted with brilliant blue light, and transformed into a Taiji diagram of light that hurtled toward the opponent.
The instant that finger thrust forward, a faint glimmer of black light flashed at its tip. The void before it suddenly darkened, and an invisible force collapsed inward as though the space itself were caving in.
A thunderous boom rang out.
The colossal spider phantom swept both forelegs forward. Countless claw-shadows materialized in the air, and the moment they met the Taiji diagram, a flash of cold light shattered it into fragments.
But in the very next instant, the phantom's enormous body slammed headlong into the invisible force. Its momentum halted, and it found itself helplessly frozen in place, unable to move.
A cold smirk flickered across Mo Jianli's face, and he suddenly spoke a single word—"Explode!"
The fragments of the Taiji diagram blazed with wild flashes of light, then detonated into a shower of blue motes.
A wave of incomparably frigid power immediately surged outward from the blast.
The spider phantom shuddered, and layers of ice rapidly crystallized over its surface. In the blink of an eye, it was encased within a massive block of blue ice.
Only then did Mo Jianli allow a look of elation to cross his face. He withdrew his extended finger, then grabbed at empty air with one hand. A pitch-black talisman appeared, and without a moment's hesitation he hurled it at the ice-sealed spider phantom.
A muffled boom resounded.
The black talisman burst apart in midair and conjured into a phantom of a bizarre beast with a dragon's head and a phoenix's body. Its enormous maw gaped wide as it dove savagely downward.
Before the phantom had even completed its descent, a soul-destroying wave of terrifying aura bore down—a pressure that no ordinary Mahayana cultivator could hope to withstand.
Through their spiritual sense, the four adult Asura Spiders sensed this and their expressions changed simultaneously. All four snapped their eyes open at the same moment.
In the same instant, the dragon-headed, phoenix-bodied phantom flickered once and vanished, plunging into the block of ice.
But in that fleeting instant, the spider phantom inside let out a muffled bang, dissolving into specks of green light that scattered outward. With another flash, every last speck had appeared outside the ice.
The black beast phantom swept through the ice and found nothing but empty space. It let out an eerie wail, then its body faded and dissipated into nothingness.
The motes of green light swirled and gathered together outside the ice, coalescing once more into four balls of luminous flame. Without a word, they streaked back toward the ramparts.
They flickered several times, then plunged one after another into the bodies of the four adult Asura Spiders, vanishing without a trace.
The four adult Asura Spiders' bodies shuddered, and sharp light flashed in each of their eyes.
The next moment, four streaks of rainbow light soared into the air from the ramparts. After a single sweeping arc, they dove straight at Mo Jianli.
Mo Jianli felt a pang of disappointment that his carefully orchestrated strike had failed to connect. But when he saw the four adult Asura Spiders charging in personally, his heart sank further—yet he let out a long, piercing cry, leapt forward, and transformed into a streak of white light to meet them head-on.
Behind him, spatial fluctuations rippled as a white tiger and a scarlet fire phoenix materialized in flashes, trailing the white streak and hurtling toward the four Asura Spiders. The two sides crashed together in an instant.