However, Fairy Huaxi suddenly twisted her slender body, turning around with practiced ease as if she had anticipated the move all along. A palm wrapped in crystalline sand shot forward to meet the strike lightning-fast.
With a resounding boom, the two palms collided squarely.
After the golden flames of the crystal sand detonated, both figures shuddered and stumbled backward several steps.
"I knew you old devil would try something like this. It seems you haven't suffered enough — I'll make you—" Fairy Huaxi's normally beautiful face twisted into a ghastly, livid expression. She had barely shouted two sentences when her look suddenly shifted to one of sheer terror. Her entire body quivered, and a withered, greenish hand burst through her chest from behind, gripping firmly.
Between those skeletal fingers was a tiny figure struggling desperately, its face and expression identical to Fairy Huaxi's, though twisted in agony.
Patriarch Wugou had already flickered into existence before the woman's Nascent Soul, his expression cold and impassive as he stared down at her in silence.
Only then did a ripple of spatial disturbance stir behind the woman, and a faint, nearly invisible green shadow materialized.
At almost the same moment, in the golden sea of fire on the other side, the golden fire figure that had been launching rings of attacks at the Extreme Mountain suddenly vanished with a soft "pfft."
Without opposition, the Extreme Mountain crashed downward. The entire sea of fire crumbled and dissipated amid a cascade of thunderous rumbles.
"You actually mastered the Spirit Proxy Technique… otherwise I would never have ended up like this. But don't celebrate too soon — husband and wife are birds of a single fate. If I'm perishing here, you won't continue living in this world either. Don't forget the Shared Life Restriction I placed on you." After struggling desperately for a few moments with no hope of escape, Fairy Huaxi's Nascent Soul finally ceased all resistance in utter despair. Yet her voice dripped with venomous hatred as she spoke to Patriarch Wugou.
"Is that so? Since you feel that way, then go in peace. I broke the restriction you placed on me years ago. I simply endured until now for the sake of that thing in your sleeve." A strange gleam flickered in Patriarch Wugou's eyes, but his voice remained flat and emotionless.
"That's impossible — ahh!"
Fairy Huaxi's Nascent Soul gasped in shock and screamed in a frenzy, but the cry had barely left her lips when the green shadow let out a soft "pfft" and transformed entirely into a golden fire figure. It lunged forward, engulfing both the Nascent Soul and the woman's body in an instant, reducing everything to ash.
Patriarch Wugou's pupils contracted slightly, but he immediately composed his features and made a grasping gesture in midair with one hand.
A tearing sound rang out from within the golden flames, and a pitch-black formation plate flew out, landing squarely in his palm.
Patriarch Wugou examined the object in his hand for a moment, then blew a single breath upon it.
A muffled sound immediately followed!
The formation plate began to weather away at a speed visible to the naked eye, ultimately dissolving into a column of thick black smoke that hovered in place.
Patriarch Wugou inhaled sharply, drawing the black smoke into his body. After checking his interior for a moment, a faint look of relief — as though a great burden had been lifted — finally crossed his eyes.
Meanwhile, the rolling golden flames condensed once more, reforming into a hazy green figure that stood in the same spot.
With a muffled crash.
The sand shield had at last melted entirely into liquid, but the silver flames that should have been surging inward suddenly trembled and, inexplicably, froze solid in place. Even the massive firebird had folded its wings and halted in midair.
Only then did Patriarch Wugou's gaze shift, casting a glance toward the colossal golden ape nearby.
The great ape — Han Li's transformed body — regarded Patriarch Wugou with an equally measured, inscrutable stare. After a brief pause, it spoke in a deep, resonant voice: "I don't know exactly what happened between you two, but I can make a fair guess. Now that you're the only one left, do you still intend to fight?"
"Of course there's no need. In my current state, Cultivator Heavenly Cauldron's techniques hold no particular use for me. Besides, you haven't even shown half your strength thus far, have you? This old ancestor naturally has no intention of truly angering you. I'll be taking my leave first." Patriarch Wugou replied blandly. The green figure beside him merged into his body and vanished. He then flicked his sleeve, and a layer of radiant light swept across his body, transforming him into a streak of brilliant light that tore through the sky. In just a few flickers, he had disappeared beyond the horizon.
Han Li felt a trace of surprise. He hadn't expected Patriarch Wugou to leave so decisively, and naturally saw no reason to intercept him.
On another side of the battlefield, an earth-shaking explosion thundered through the sky.
Han Li turned to look, and saw that the blood-red misty sea in the distance had somehow already dispersed, once again revealing the Fan Sheng Golden Body and the Nine-Eyed Blood Toad within.
The two stood facing each other from a hundred zhang apart. One had grown dim in its golden glow and was missing a head and two arms. The other was covered head to toe in grievous wounds — of its nine blood-red eyes, only five could still open, the rest weeping continuous streams of blood.
The pair presented the picture of a thoroughly mutual devastation.
As for the other two pockets of battle, the roar of thunder and the crackle of detonations still rang out without pause, the fighting raging on in full fury.
Han Li chuckled inwardly. His transformed ape body surged into motion, heading straight for the Nine-Eyed Blood Toad.
At that moment, the Nine-Eyed Blood Toad let out a deep, weary sigh: "Brother Han, there's no need to continue. In this battle, the three of us have lost. We won't trouble your companion any further."
The moment its words fell, fresh waves of blood mist billowed from the Nine-Eyed Blood Toad's body, and every wound across its form began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.