What was going on? Under theSpirit Eye, Han Li couldn't see any trace of the Devil Soul, and his heart sank.
But he took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the unease rising within him, then spiritual light flickered wildly over his body as he mobilized every shred of his spiritual power, pouring it in torrents toward both eyes.
Instantly, a crystalline, piercing blue glow bloomed in his twin pupils, pushing the Blue Clear Spirit Eye to its absolute limit.
This time, after sweeping his gaze across the area, Han Li finally detected something. His expression changed. Behind him, more than a dozen giant turtles flashed with spiritual light simultaneously, and over a thousand ice cones of uniform size shot out in a sudden volley, blanketing a small area to one side entirely within their range.
Black Qi materialized abruptly beneath the rain of ice cones, and the two-headed, four-armed Devil Soul materialized with a look of surprise on its faces. Three of its arms now gripped newly acquired treasures — a dharma banner, a ring, and a small sword. Seeing the sky full of ice cones hurtling down, all three weapon-bearing arms swept outward in unison.
A small mirror spat out a torrent of black radiance that rolled outward, the small sword slashed several times and unleashed sweeping arcs of dark, razor-sharp sword Qi, and as for the ring it had just acquired — somehow it already knew how to use it — a gentle shake sent countless ring-shaped afterimages flying out in a dense barrage, their momentum terrifying.
The sky full of ice cones hadn't even finished descending before these treasures' power shattered them all to fragments in midair. A cloud of white, frigid mist instantly spread across more than thirty feet, and the temperature plummeted.
But the Devil Soul standing within it paid no attention whatsoever. Instead, it gave a sinister laugh and flickered, its figure vanishing once more within the dark light.
Han Li's face looked rather grim. He extended the tip of his tongue slightly to moisten his upper lip.
This ancient demon's soul was quite possibly the most dangerous opponent he had ever faced since stepping onto the path of immortal cultivation. One slip, and he could perish right here.
Though he had pushed the Blue Clear Spirit Eye to its maximum, the Devil Soul — concealed within that demonic light — appeared as a blurry, indistinct shape. Even when it flickered and darted at high speed, Han Li couldn't lock onto its precise position; all he could see was a faint shadow flitting back and forth. Only when the Devil Soul slowed or paused could he barely keep track of it.
In this situation, Han Li had clearly fallen to a disadvantage. Moreover, maintaining the Spirit Eye at full power placed an enormous burden on his eyes and couldn't be sustained indefinitely. The moment his Spirit Eye weakened even slightly, he would lose sight of even the demon's shadow.
Han Li felt frustrated deep down. The only solution was to break through the creature's concealment within a short window or force it to abandon this trick — to make it believe that hiding within this demonic light was useless against him.
Otherwise, fighting a cat-and-mouse battle against such an elusive opponent would make even Han Li's scalp tingle with dread.
While these thoughts raced through his mind, Han Li's hands never stopped. He slapped the spirit beast pouch at his waist, and a massive swarm of Gold Devouring Beetles surged out with a humming buzz.
Han Li didn't direct the insect cloud to attack anything. Instead, with a low whistle from his mouth, the cloud erupted with a thunderous hum and scattered outward into countless golden dots.
In the blink of an eye, the area spanning more than sixty feet around Han Li glittered with golden light as Gold Devouring Beetles filled every corner.
This way, even if Han Li couldn't use the Spirit Eye to track the Devil Soul, the moment this creature entered the swarm's range, it would be immediately detected — there would be no need to fear a sudden ambush.
Just as the beetle formation had been set up, a cold snort echoed from nearby.
Then, from where the sound had come, the Devil Soul's black light flickered and it reappeared — only this time its front head stared at the golden specks of the beetle swarm surrounding Han Li, and its expression turned ugly.
But immediately, this demon's brows bristled downward. With a shake of its head, the grotesque, ferocious ghost-face suddenly swapped positions to face forward, staring straight at Han Li while letting out a chilling, sinister laugh.
Han Li's heart clenched, and wariness surged to the forefront of his mind. He watched as the ghost head across from him opened its massive jaws wide, and a huge swathe of black ripples shot out soundlessly.
Wherever those ripples passed, nearby Gold Devouring Beetles were swept involuntarily into their wake, tumbling and swaying before plummeting from the air one after another.
In an instant, the beetle formation Han Li had deployed around himself had a large gap torn open facing the Devil Soul, leaving a wide, empty void.
The ghost head grinned broadly, flashing Han Li a cruel, vicious smile, then its body flickered and it lunged forward.
But Han Li's face darkened. He abruptly raised his hand, flicked his middle finger, and a small golden sphere the size of a walnut shot out silently.
Its speed was astonishingly fast — in the blink of an eye, it reached the ghost head's forehead.
This was a technique Han Li had comprehended during the illusionary realm induced by the Creation Pill: a method of manipulating lightning. By compressing the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning into a ball and launching it by surprise, its velocity could far exceed that of a normal lightning arc, and its power was amplified as well.
Caught off guard, the Devil Soul was genuinely startled. The lightning sphere was simply too fast — dodging or deploying any other ability was out of the question. In desperation, it could only open its mouth wide and shoot out a purple shadow that flashed like a venomous serpent, crashing directly into the golden lightning sphere.
With a muffled boom, golden light flickered and the lightning sphere detonated. The purple shadow was flung back with a sharp whistle. The acrid smell of something burning rapidly spread through the surrounding air, and the ghost head let out a pained grunt from its mouth, its gaze toward Han Li turning venomous.
The purple shadow it had just launched was none other than its extraordinarily long, grotesque tongue. Though Han Li didn't know why this tongue wasn't repelled by the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning's suppressing properties, the sheer force of the lightning had still inflicted considerable damage to its tip — it had taken a painful blow.
Seeing that his sudden sneak attack hadn't produced the desired result, Han Li showed no surprise on his face. But immediately, he let out a cold laugh, and a clear, resonant cry issued from his mouth.