A thunderous boom shook heaven and earth!
The entire barrier buckled violently inward. Hairline white cracks spidered across its surface, and it was about to shatter with a crisp crack.
Just then, the palm of the Perfected Master Heavenly Cauldron statue — the one cradling the small tower — suddenly emanated wisps of white light that swiftly sank into the barrier, causing the newly formed cracks to rapidly seal back to their original state.
With a muffled "bang," the dented area of the barrier snapped back to its original shape, forcibly flinging the azure miniature mountain away.
Han Li frowned upon seeing this, waved a hand, and recalled the miniature mountain back into his sleeve.
"Han Li, this Perfected Master Heavenly Cauldron statue is far from ordinary. The tower and statue complement each other perfectly. Back then, I exhausted every method I knew and still couldn't break through the seals they reinforced together." Beside him, Ice Soul was inwardly startled that a casual strike from Han Li had nearly shattered the barrier protecting the small tower, but she quickly offered her explanation.
"In that case, let's destroy the statue first." A cold gleam flickered through Han Li's eyes, though his voice remained flat.
A deep roar.
Golden light blazed across Han Li's body as his frame swelled wildly, transforming in an instant into a golden-furred giant ape over a dozen zhang tall. At the same time, a terrifying wave of spiritual pressure surged behind him, and a ferocious three-headed, six-armed dharma avatar materialized alongside.
Two soft sounds.
The giant ape flipped both massive palms upward, and two miniature mountains — one azure, one black — appeared in its hands. With a shake, they swelled to several zhang in height.
The giant ape's arms swept forward, and with terrifying, overwhelming strength, it hurled both mountains once more.
This time, the target was none other than the statue of Perfected Master Heavenly Cauldron.
The moment the two mountains left its hands, they blurred into streaks of azure and black, streaking toward the statue at a speed that threatened to tear one's eardrums with their piercing shriek.
A flash of crystalline light. The barrier that had previously enveloped only the small tower suddenly expanded, transforming into a massive crystalline dome that engulfed the entire statue.
Simultaneously, the long sword on the statue's back — previously motionless — trembled on its own.
Two hissing sounds rang out!
Two vast beams of white sword qi rolled off the statue. In a single flash, they struck the incoming mountains with lightning speed.
Two thunderous booms like rolling detonations.
The two mountains only shuddered slightly before their terrifying force crushed and extinguished both streaks of sword light, though their momentum was largely blunted in the process.
When they finally smashed into the barrier, the statue blazed with blinding white light— Causing the barrier to buckle slightly before it was about to bounce back in the same manner.
But by then, the golden-furred giant ape had already taken a single stride and vanished into the void.
The next instant, it reappeared in a blur above the barrier. The two fur-covered fists clenched slightly, and a layer of purple-gold radiance erupted as it hammered downward with savage force.
In a split second, dense, packed purple-gold fist shadows materialized with a thunderous howl, raining upon the barrier like a torrential downpour.
At first, the fist shadows pierced through the barrier in flashes, but as more and more strikes hammered down, the barrier's absorption capacity slowed drastically, and it was forced to rely on its own resilience to withstand the majority of the subsequent attacks.
Explosions erupted across the barrier's surface in rapid succession. Clusters of purple-gold fist shadows detonated, and the barrier itself began to flicker wildly.
The giant ape above bared its teeth in a savage grin, suddenly pulling its fists back as one hand swiftly formed a series of mudras.
The three-headed, six-armed Brahma Saint dharma avatar behind it condensed the golden light on its surface into a solid, physical golden body. Its arms moved, and six brilliant golden hands simultaneously pressed downward toward the barrier in an empty-air strike.
A deep rumble resonated.
Six radiant golden orbs of light materialized above the barrier out of thin air, then converged toward the same point in a flash, merging into a massive golden vortex.
Countless golden characters drifted out of the vortex while resonant Brahma chants echoed forth, and the entire formation plummeted downward with overwhelming, menacing force.
At that moment, a white glow flashed from the eyes of the Perfected Master Heavenly Cauldron statue, and two beams of crystalline light shot straight up at the vortex above.
But the golden vortex merely let out a deafening roar, and a colossal wave of force surged from within, slamming brutally into the already trembling barrier.
A sharp, squelching sound!
Layer upon layer of white runic formations suddenly surfaced across the entire statue, emanating even more blinding white light. The barrier convulsed violently but somehow managed to hold against the overwhelming force from above.
Yet the golden vortex continued to spin with maddening ferocity, hammering down waves of colossal force one after another with no intention of stopping.
Such terrifying attacks — however mystical the statue might be, there was no way it could withstand all of this.
After only a few breaths of time, the white light on the Perfected Master Heavenly Cauldron statue dimmed. Every single runic formation flickered and vanished simultaneously, and with a sharp "crack," countless fractures spread across its surface before it crumbled to pieces.
Without the statue's support, the seals maintained by the golden small tower alone stood no chance of enduring the colossal force raining down from above.