The moment "Marquis Nanlong" saw the Tiger Demon puppets materialize before him, he was briefly taken aback, but his figure barreled forward without the slightest hesitation.
A dozen-plus puppets flashed with white light and burst into motion as one, swift as the wind. After a flurry of shifting shadows, they had instantly encircled "Marquis Nanlong" in their midst, and dozens of claw-shaped rays of light slashed viciously at his body.
"Marquis Nanlong's" expression darkened. With a low growl, he completely ignored the claw-rays lashing at every part of his body. Instead, he swung both arms wide, and a pair of fists struck like lightning to meet the razor-sharp claws of two puppets lunging toward him from the front.
Two muffled thuds rang out. The instant the sharp claws made contact with the dark energy, they proved utterly incapable of damaging his fists. Instead, as the black energy surged outward, the claws and arms shattered inch by inch.
Yet the two puppets showed no fear of death, nor could their Magical Power be disrupted by the impact. Cold glints flashed as two more claws, in concert with the rest of the puppets, rained down upon him from above.
"Marquis Nanlong" let out a low, sinister laugh. His shoulders shifted slightly, and with a whoosh he vanished from the spot, leaving every claw-ray striking empty air. But almost immediately, two more muffled thuds rang out!
"Marquis Nanlong's" figure reappeared outside the encirclement, his hands pulling free from the chests of two armless Tiger Demon puppets. Though puppets had no hearts to speak of, sustaining such catastrophic damage, they immediately went out of control and plummeted from the sky.
Such was the hardness of "Marquis Nanlong's" fists that the Tiger Demon puppet bodies Han Li had so carefully crafted could not withstand them in the slightest.
However, this strike had merely been carried along with the momentum.
His true target, naturally, was Han Li, whose body had not yet recovered the ability to move. Therefore, after destroying two puppets in a single blow, he did not pause for an instant. Before the other puppets could close in, he flickered and appeared before Han Li, delivering a punch without the slightest hesitation.
Inside the barrier of light, Han Li still could not gather his Magical Power. Yet as he watched the fist shrouded in demonic energy bearing down on him, his expression held not a trace of panic. Instead, a faint, eerie look surfaced on his face.
Seeing this, "Marquis Nanlong" felt a jolt of suspicion and alarm. He was just wondering what Han Li intended when a barrage of explosive sounds like sharp drills erupted from directly behind his head — as though something had suddenly lunged at him from point-blank range.
"Marquis Nanlong" was startled. Before he could think, he pulled back his fist and violently swayed his body left and right in an eerie fashion. Countless afterimages burst forth, and his true figure vanished among them without a trace.
Where he had been standing moments before, countless green claw-rays descended from thin air, tearing those afterimages to shreds in an instant. Then green light flickered, and a creature covered in green fur with a skull-like face materialized from nothing. It stared coldly at "Marquis Nanlong" without a word. This was none other than the Heaven-Nighing Demonic Corpse that Han Li had secretly summoned under cover of his puppets.
"Marquis Nanlong" had been so focused on the Tiger Demon puppets that he had failed to notice the demonic corpse lurking to the side, and had nearly fallen to its ambush.
"A refined corpse?" "Marquis Nanlong" blurted out in surprise once he got a clear look at the demonic corpse.
At that moment, the remaining Tiger Demon puppets whirled back instantly, crowding around Han Li on either side. Han Li suddenly raised both hands, fingers splayed wide.
From one hand, brilliant golden light flickered as thick arcs of golden lightning crackled to life, peals of thunder roaring forth. In the palm of the other, a flash of purple appeared, and a small wisp of purple flame floated silently into view.
Having done all this, Han Li regarded the Devil Soul with an expressionless face.
"Marquis Nanlong" gave a cold snort at the sight. He knew the other's Magical Power had already returned to his control, and pressing the attack further would be pointless. What truly gave him pause, however, was that the other had already unleashed so much Evil-Suppressing Divine Lightning and still had not exhausted his supply — a fact that left him somewhat astonished.
If his memory served him right, before his sealing, the Evil-Suppressing Divine Lightning had indeed been devastatingly effective against their Ancient Devils. But those who possessed treasures containing it were exceedingly rare. Even among those who did, the lightning could at most be unleashed once or twice before the treasure was spent. Otherwise, when the Ancient Devils had crossed realms into the Human World back then, how could they have been utterly without rival for a time?
Yet this person before him seemed to possess an inexhaustible supply of the Evil-Suppressing Divine Lightning, wielding it without the slightest restraint. This was becoming troublesome.
What made him even more hesitant was the purple flame that had suddenly appeared in the other's hand. The moment he laid eyes on it, a chill ran through him. Though he did not know what this flame was, an instinctive sense of danger surged within him the instant he saw it. Clearly, this was no ordinary thing.
As for those mechanical puppets, he no longer gave them any thought.
After all, they could catch him off guard and pose a minor surprise, but in a real fight they would not amount to much. Even the strange demonic corpse with its peculiar aura was, at best, equivalent to an early-stage Nascent Soul opponent — nothing worth fearing.
With the Devil Soul possessing his body, "Marquis Nanlong" had failed to defeat his opponent in their first clash and could not help but pause to consider.
On the other side, Patriarch Linghu and the white-robed woman, upon seeing Han Li and "Marquis Nanlong" temporarily cease fighting, exchanged uncertain glances. Not daring to direct their Ancient Treasures to attack outright, they merely kept the five-colored pillar of light and the ring hovering above "Marquis Nanlong," poised and ready to strike. The ring — whatever treasure it might be — hummed faintly, pulsing larger and smaller by turns.
At that moment, a series of explosions rang out from one side of the sky. "Marquis Nanlong" turned his head in surprise to look.