Countless Gold Devouring Beetles swarmed out of the bag, instantly forming a tri-colored swarm of enormous proportions that blanketed the sky above Han Li's head — spanning a good twenty to thirty zhang across, an intimidating sight to behold.
"Hm?" A startled voice rang out.
A cold gleam flickered through Han Li's eyes, and he turned his gaze toward a stunningly beautiful young woman in the distance.
The girl covered her rosebud mouth with one hand, her eyes full of astonishment — and beneath that, an unmistakable trace of joy.
Han Li was momentarily taken aback, still puzzling over why she would wear such an expression, when two thunderous booms erupted from another direction.
Startled, he had no time to dwell on the matter and snapped his gaze back.
He saw a bronze ancient shield flashing with white light fly out from within the purple cloud, easily deflecting the attacks of both greatswords.
Seeing this, Han Li silently sighed.
He had never had the time to properly refine these flying swords. They relied solely on the uniqueness of their materials, allowing them to rival the magical treasures of ordinary Core Formation cultivators in power.
But now that his cultivation had advanced to the Late Core Formation stage, the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords' power was glaringly inadequate by comparison. Even with the Giant Sword Technique deployed, they posed no significant threat to cultivators of the same rank.
Even so, Han Li sent out a pulse of spiritual sense and ordered the two flying swords to continue their frenzied assault around the purple cloud — slashing and whirling ceaselessly — but every strike was blocked by the ancient shield.
At the same time, a low droning issued from Han Li's mouth, and the army of Gold Devouring Beetles above his head hummed in response, then merged into a massive insect cloud that surged toward the purple cloud in a wild torrent.
He did not know what this purple cloud was, but with the Gold Devouring Beetles' innate ability to devour all things, nothing could withstand their collective assault.
"Hmph! Insect control — you're courting death!" Inside the purple cloud, Wen Tianren watched the terrifying insect cloud descend from the sky and showed not a shred of fear. Instead, he let out a cold snort and revealed a look of undisguised contempt.
Han Li heard this and felt not anger but delight.
If the man treated the Gold Devouring Beetles as ordinary spirit insects, he was simply seeking his own demise! The moment the swarm landed on the purple cloud, it would be the end for him.
Han Li was secretly sneering when, just as the insect cloud alighted upon the purple cloud, Wen Tianren within the cloud softly uttered the word: "Go."
A shocking scene unfolded!
Golden light erupted from within the purple cloud, and countless golden threads burst outward in every direction, lancing into the insect cloud that surged forward from all sides.
Immediately, soft popping sounds filled the air as innumerable insect corpses rained down from the sky like a dense hailstorm.
Those golden threads seemed to be the bane of the Gold Devouring Beetles. Bodies that could withstand even magical treasures were pierced through and destroyed by these threads without the slightest resistance.
Witnessing this, Han Li was naturally both alarmed and furious. He hurriedly let out a sharp, piercing cry.
The insect swarm turned at once and fled back.
But the golden threads showed no mercy, pursuing the retreating swarm with deadly precision. More and more beetles tumbled from the sky in droves.
Han Li's expression was grim beyond measure. Without a moment's hesitation, he slapped his storage pouch and flipped his hand, producing a basket-shaped ancient treasure.
Without the slightest pause, he hurled the basket into the air.
In an instant, it flashed with white light and transformed into a cloud of white mist that surged directly toward the golden threads.
Seeing the white mist pass harmlessly through the insect swarm and plunge straight into the mass of golden threads, Han Li's eyes flashed with a strange light. His hands flew through a series of incantation seals, and the white mist began to rotate at great speed, its radiance blazing.
The golden threads that had been shooting toward the insect cloud were immediately checked the moment the white light enveloped them, their movement stalling and their speed dropping dramatically.
Seizing this opportunity, the insect cloud pulled away and flew back to the spirit beast pouch at Han Li's waist.
But Han Li's expression remained ugly, for in that brief exchange, nearly ten thousand tri-colored Gold Devouring Beetles had been lost. Had the basket-shaped ancient treasure not intervened, the swarm would not have been entirely annihilated, but the casualties would have been catastrophic.
What in the world were these golden threads, and what manner of magical treasure wielded such devastating power?