"How dare you!" The boy saw that the other party — merely a soul possessing someone else's body — had the audacity to kill right before his eyes. His brows shot up, and the startling rainbow before him shuddered, transforming into countless glistening red threads that shot toward True Lord Tiansha.
The old man surnamed Jiang's face also changed drastically. He hurriedly spat out a yellow flying sword to shield his entire body, then pushed off with both feet and hastily retreated.
He didn't dare take head-on the swift and vicious strike of a sect master.
A sinister smile appeared on True Lord Tiansha's face. His direction suddenly shifted, and in a flash he ricocheted to the white-robed young woman's side. His purple claw grabbed ruthlessly toward her arm.
The young woman in white, already somewhat dazed because the scholar had turned out to be a spy, was caught completely off guard by True Lord Tiansha's sudden sneak attack. Her face went pale. Without a moment to think, she hurled the long-faced old man to the ground, formed hand seals with both hands, and a streak of green light shot from her sleeve as she desperately tried to block the strike.
But amid a burst of wild laughter, True Lord Tiansha merely feinted once more. His giant hand reversed course and swooped for the long-faced old man on the ground, drawing him into its grip with a powerful suction. Then, clenching his free hand into a massive fist flickering with purple light, he delivered a backhand blow directly into the incoming fiery-red sword threads.
A muffled impact sounded. The old demon was forced back two steps, but he used the momentum to drift lightly back to his original position, the long-faced old man dangling from his grip.
The long-faced old man, somehow subdued, immediately sprang to his feet and bowed to True Lord Tiansha: "Thank you, True Lord, for saving my life!"
"Hmph! If we weren't short on hands here and I feared it might jeopardize the greater plan, why would I bother saving some junior from the righteous path? Whether you can keep your life depends on your own abilities." With a cold snort, True Lord Tiansha finished speaking, then shot explosively toward the blue-surnamed boy once more.
This time, he truly intended to pin the boy down, buying time for Du Dong and the others to escape.
"Go! I've tampered with the restrictions outside. Their power is less than a tenth of normal — we can break through easily!" The long-faced old man proved to be a decisive one. After shouting to Du Dong and the other man, he was the first to charge toward Old Man Fu and his companions by the stone door.
Du Dong and the scholar were overjoyed. One released two white flying swords, the other was shrouded in black light. The three linked up and surged forward together.
Old Man Fu and his companions had no intention of letting the three escape. They unleashed all their treasures and surged forward to meet the assault.
In an instant, the cultivators in the cave split into two groups and clashed. Roars of fury and explosive blasts surged simultaneously amid a kaleidoscope of radiance.
Seeing this, Han Li, watching from the side, judged the timing was right and sprang into action without further hesitation.
With a shake of the wolf-head ruyi in his hand, a flash of yellow light enveloped his body. He quickly activated the Earth Escape technique, silently sinking toward the roots of the Spirit Eye Tree.
At this moment, every cultivator in the cave was preoccupied with battle. Naturally, no one suspected that someone else was playing the fisherman who profits from others' struggle.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Han Li arrived beneath the Spirit Eye Tree. A pale golden barrier of light blocked his path.
A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes. Han Li raised both hands, his ten fingers radiating brilliant green light, and pressed them silently against the barrier's surface.
Golden and green light immediately intertwined, and the entire barrier trembled faintly.
Under normal circumstances, any disturbance to this metal-element barrier would have been instantly detected by the cultivators guarding the spirit tree. But now, locked in fierce combat, no one noticed the barrier's subtle changes.
A short while later, seeing his hands had forcibly penetrated into the golden light, a flash of joy crossed Han Li's face. The green light from his hands surged, and he suddenly wrenched his hands apart.
A thin, long slit tore open in the barrier wall.
With a whoosh, Han Li's body eerily elongated, and with a flicker he slipped inside the barrier. The golden light silently sealed shut behind him.
Looking at the spirit tree roots before him, a rare look of delight appeared on Han Li's face.
Though the Spirit Eye Tree's main trunk looked nothing like an ordinary tree, its spirit roots were shaped much like those of any normal tree — just with an unusually vivid green hue.
A tremendous explosion boomed from the surface above, followed by the clatter of falling rubble. Violent tremors even shook the area around Han Li. It seemed someone had unleashed a devastating technique.
At that moment, Old Man Fu's frantic voice rang out from above: "Chase after them! We absolutely cannot let them escape like this!"
The sound of aerial pursuit cut through the air, followed by True Lord Tiansha's hearty laughter: "Fellow Daoist Lan, how do you find the power of my 'Purple Luo Mysterious Art'? Though I'm channeling through a borrowed body, as long as I'm willing to spend this body's vital blood, keeping you occupied for a while is child's play."