"A single Mother-Child Corpse Yin Thunder won't be enough to break through the remaining restrictions on this formation right now." Daoist Sanquan's brow furrowed as he offered the reminder.
"I'm well aware of that. Take a look, fellow Daoist!" Huang Yuanzi flipped a single hand, and three thumb-sized round beads materialized in his palm. They were grayish-white throughout, threaded with countless fine crimson veins that gave them a deeply unsettling appearance.
"Three Corpse Yin Thunder! You've truly spared no expense for this venture, fellow Daoist." Daoist Sanquan started in surprise, but a satisfied expression quickly spread across his face.
"Let's move quickly. Since Bumie has already broken through their secret technique, that person may arrive at any moment," Huang Yuanzi said decisively.
"Rest assured—with these three Corpse Yin Thunder, breaking the remaining restrictions will be instantaneous." Upon hearing this, Daoist Sanquan burst into hearty laughter.
He then opened his mouth and spat out three command tokens of different colors, pointing a single finger at them. The three tokens immediately blurred, swelled wildly in the wind, and each expanded to roughly ten feet in height.
The Daoist formed a seal with one hand, and behind him the three massive serpent heads opened their maws in unison. Three streams of differently colored light shot forth and vanished into the tokens—one into each.
The three enormous tokens immediately began to hum with a deep buzz. Countless rune patterns surfaced from within, spinning and coalescing before transforming into hundreds of small, densely packed banners roughly a foot long—three to four hundred in total. Each one was crystal-clear and translucent, its surface shimmering with resplendent radiance, and upon each faintly clung a thread of the power of law.
Standing atop the archway, Huang Yuanzi watched this spectacle. His pupils contracted slightly, and one of the three grayish-white beads resting quietly in his palm trembled before shooting forward into the air.
……
In another stretch of void, Han Li gazed at the cyan crystal sphere before him. Fissures were now appearing across its surface. The black dharma eye between his brows had already faded, but a trace of cold light surfaced on his face.
"To have detected my presence from so far away, it's considerably more impressive than the average Mahayana cultivator. But judging from that single strike alone, their cultivation is still far below powerhouses like the Asura Spider Clan Mother. The question is whether they possess any other secret techniques or divine abilities."
After murmuring these words to himself, Han Li flipped a hand, and a pale golden talisman appeared in his palm. He raised it with a single motion, and it transformed into a streak of golden light that vanished into the void. Then he stood motionless where he was, as though quietly awaiting something.
After an indeterminate period of time, a ripple appeared before Han Li. With a soft pop, a ball of golden flame materialized out of thin air and blazed up fiercely. From within came a startled woman's voice:
"Brother Han? Is that you? What are you doing nearby?"
"Fairy Yan. It's you. How did this messaging talisman end up in your hands? I recall leaving it with Yuan Yao when I departed." A flicker of surprise crossed Han Li's face at the sound of the voice, but his tone remained measured as he asked.
"Brother Han, it really is you! Leave this place immediately! My master is undergoing her Heavenly Tribulation, and three Mahayana-stage enemies are attacking the formation outside the valley. If you get dragged into the middle of it, you won't survive. As for this messaging talisman—Yuan Yao gave it to me for safekeeping. She's currently assisting our master in resisting the tribulation and has no way to attend to anything else." Yan Li's voice was first filled with joy, then abruptly turned frantic, and she cried out at Han Li in urgent alarm.
"So it really is Fellow Daoist Qing Yuanzi undergoing tribulation. If that's the case, then I should actually—" A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face, and he began to offer a brief explanation.
But before he could finish his sentence, three thunderous booms erupted from the direction of the distant valley.
Three grayish-white suns, each a thousand zhang in diameter, blasted skyward from the ground. Sheets of gray radiance unfurled into colossal waves that swept outward in every direction.
Near the gray suns, countless enormous light banners flickered into existence, spraying dense webs of luminous threads in all directions. Wherever the threads passed, huge ghostly specters with hideous faces were pierced clean through and reduced to flying ash.
The blood-red fog sea that had previously shrouded everything in impenetrable darkness dissipated in an instant, utterly vanishing.
"Impossible! The first Celestial Fiend Formation was broken so quickly? They—" Yan Li's voice turned utterly terrified, and the golden sphere of light, seemingly affected by the upheaval, flickered violently several times before bursting apart on its own.
Yan Li's remaining words were cut off abruptly.
Han Li's brow furrowed. His gaze swept toward the valley, and without further hesitation he formed a single hand seal. Light enveloped his body and he transformed into a cyan streak, launching himself into the sky.
A sharp crack split the air!
The cyan streak flickered a dozen times and traversed dozens of li in the blink of an eye, arriving near the valley. When the light faded, Han Li's figure solidified high above the ground, and he swept his gaze downward.
The three gray suns had already dissipated and vanished. The rolling gray-white shockwave, carrying searing heat with it, had likewise swept away and disappeared.
Huang Yuanzi and the other two Mahayana cultivators had already revealed themselves, hovering above the archway, lifting their heads to scrutinize him from below.
"Who are you? Have you come for Qing Yuanzi?" Huang Yuanzi's eyes flickered several times before he spoke.