The pitch-black blade of light sliced through the protective barriers as easily as cutting vegetables, cleaving through several layers before they burst apart and dissolved into scattered motes of spiritual light.
After delivering that single slash, the demonic soul watched the three figures flee in different directions. Its gaze traced the streaking lights of their escape, and a look of contempt curled onto its face.
At that moment, over a thousand ice spikes had already filled the air above its head, raining down and encasing the area beneath them.
The demonic soul gave a slight wave of both hands, and the massive black blade in its grip flashed with light before condensing back into a blinding sphere. It then pulled its hands apart, and the black radiance stretched and thinned, instantly forming two black spears of light, each roughly two zhang in length.
Its arms swept forward one after the other!
One spear shot toward the elder, while the other was flung behind it, hurtling toward the silver-haired old man. As for the demonic soul itself, it stomped hard on the ground, and its form abruptly transformed into a streak of black light, shooting directly toward the Heavenly Crystal Master.
Shrill whistling pierced the air as the two black spears flickered and then bizarrely vanished mid-flight. Meanwhile, the demonic soul's body swayed several times, and like a ghost it appeared over twenty zhang away in the blink of an eye, instantly escaping the range of the ice spike attack.
The Nascent Soul elder who was fleeing at full speed heard the shrill whistle behind him. His heart jolted, and without time to think further, he thrust out the object he had already been gripping in his hand.
An eight-faceted silver medal shot out and expanded into a layer of silvery-white light that enveloped him completely.
Only then did the elder feel marginally relieved as he hastily turned to look behind him.
But all he saw was empty space — nothing was there.
The elder froze for a moment, still not understanding what had happened, when the shrill sound blared again from mere inches away. A flash of black light, and the black spear materialized with eerie unnaturalness less than a zhang from him, piercing toward the silver barrier with the speed of a thunderbolt before one could even cover one's ears.
Under the elder's horrified gaze, black light and silver radiance intertwined. But then the black spear twisted and vibrated violently, and with a soft "pu," the light barrier was punched through as easily as paper.
The spear then plunged into the elder's abdomen and detonated.
The elder couldn't even manage a scream before his body disintegrated into shredded flesh that sprayed in every direction. A Nascent Soul wreathed in a silver sphere of light appeared where he had been, its face blank with disbelief.
It still couldn't accept that its physical body had been destroyed so easily.
But in that brief moment of hesitation, the scattered wisps of black light from the explosion instantly coalesced back into a massive net that enveloped the Nascent Soul within it.
Only then did the Nascent Soul finally register the terror of its situation. It hastily formed a seal with both hands, and the silver light around it flickered wildly before it vanished from its spot, executing a teleportation technique.
The silver light flickered as the Nascent Soul plunged into the net and materialized once more.
The black silk net contracted without mercy, and in the blink of an eye it wrapped the Nascent Soul into a massive glowing orb. The orb then hovered in midair, perfectly still.
As for the other black spear that had been hurled toward the silver-haired old man, it too appeared behind the elder surnamed Cheng as if it had teleported.
The silver-haired old man's vitality had not yet recovered from before they entered the valley, and facing such bizarre attacks, he was even less capable of reacting. All he could do was silently cry "Not good!" as he prepared to release his Nascent Soul and flee for his life.
But just then, violent spatial fluctuations erupted beside the elder, and a blood-red sword light roughly a zhang in length materialized before the black spear.
The sword light was crimson as blood, its sinister energy surging skyward. Without any hesitation, it slashed straight into the black spear.
After a brief clash of black and red light amid the rocks, a booming explosion rang out, and both vanished without a trace, annihilated together.
The silver-haired old man's heart surged with joy, and he hastily looked toward Han Li. He saw that Han Li's face was pale as he slowly lowered the blood sword in his hand and managed a strained smile toward the elder.
"Senior Brother Cheng" was naturally filled with gratitude toward his junior martial brother Han. He then rallied all the magical power in his body and instantly flew to Han Li's side.
The other one, the Heavenly Crystal Master, was not nearly so fortunate.
When he saw the scene nearby — the elder's body destroyed and his Nascent Soul trapped — his face drained of all color in an instant. His streaking light of escape surged forward by another thirty percent.
But at that very moment, a figure flickered before him, and the bizarre silhouette of a two-headed, four-armed demon appeared.
The Heavenly Crystal Master's heart clenched. He immediately halted his escape light and, without a moment's thought, opened his mouth to spit out a crystal-clear small sword. Under the drive of his hand seals, the sword instantly split into dozens upon dozens of brilliant white sword lights that slashed wildly in every direction.
The demonic soul said nothing. Its body twisted in a bizarre fashion and vanished from where it stood, so all the sword lights struck nothing but empty air.
The Heavenly Crystal Master's heart sank. Spiritual light flickered over his body as he tried to vault upward. But he had barely moved when he felt the protective barrier around him shudder violently. At the same time, a series of muffled booms erupted, and the magical power within his body suddenly lost control and collapsed. His movement halted mid-flight.
"No good!" The Heavenly Crystal Master's face turned to ash. The sound of his shattered barrier followed immediately after.
A pitch-black demonic claw, trailing a hissing sound as it tore through the air, plunged through his abdomen and seized the Nascent Soul that was just about to escape from his Dantian.
The arm pulled free, and the Heavenly Crystal Master's limbs went limp as he lost all ability to move. Then black flames roared to life, engulfing the remains of his body in demonic fire and reducing it to a pile of flying ash.