When the fire flood dragon closed the distance in the blink of an eye,
As brilliant silver light erupted, just as a pair of claws wreathed in red radiance were about to strike his body, Han Li's figure vanished within the glow. The Crimson Fire Flood Dragon's attack hit nothing but air.
Almost simultaneously, a sharp whistling sound pierced the air right beside it. The sound was faint, but a crystalline red needle materialized out of thin air next to the flood dragon, aimed straight for the vital point between its brows, and stabbed down with vicious force.
The fire radiance churning around the Crimson Fire Flood Dragon could only slightly impede the object before it flashed through. It was none other than that extraordinarily sharp crystallized flying needle.
The flying needle moved silently and with inconceivable speed. Caught completely unaware, the Crimson Fire Flood Dragon was terrified to find the needle had already reached its side. With no time to think, it desperately tried to jerk its head aside—but it was a beat too late.
With a soft sound, the beast let out a piercing scream and clamped a claw over most of its face as blood streamed between its fingers. The flying needle had pierced clean through the flood dragon's face and shot out the other side.
Though the needle was exceptionally sharp, it had been refined from a fire-attribute demon core, so the accompanying supernatural power naturally couldn't inflict devastating damage on the flood dragon. However, as it pierced through the cheek, Han Li had infused it with a surge of spiritual sense, causing its size to multiply severalfold in an instant. The resulting hole in its face was as thick as a thumb, and the pain was agonizing.
But before the Crimson Fire Flood Dragon could work itself into a rage, a crack of thunder erupted right behind it. Han Li's figure materialized, and with a sweep of his arm, a golden radiance roughly ten feet long slashed down with menacing force.
The Crimson Fire Flood Dragon's heart sank. Forget the searing pain in its face—it whipped its tail, the red light on it flashing wildly as it swelled to more than twice its original size, sweeping toward Han Li like a massive fan, threatening to crush him into a pulp in a single blow.
Han Li was momentarily stunned. This beast truly deserved to be called a spiritual creature of heaven and earth—its reactions were inconceivably fast. Under a lightning-escape ambush from him, few ordinary human cultivators would have had time to mount any defense.
With these thoughts, he sent a command through his spiritual sense, tilting the golden sword radiance slightly to strike the tail first.
The moment the two clashed, the golden radiance cleaved straight through the red glow and struck the flood dragon's tail solidly.
The Crimson Fire Flood Dragon's heart shuddered. It hastily channeled all its demonic power into its tail, and both the tail and its scales turned a translucent, vivid crimson.
After a tremendous boom, golden light and crimson radiance collided, blinding in their brilliance. Han Li narrowed his eyes, and a blue light flickered within his pupils as he instantly discerned the situation within.
The golden sword, formed from several of his merged flying swords, had failed to cut clean through the tail. After splitting the scales, it had only penetrated a third of the way in, temporarily blocked by a particularly hard flood dragon bone.
Han Li's gaze flickered, and he formed hand seals to recall the flying sword and strike again. But at that moment, a tremendous suction force emanated from within the tail, locking the sword firmly in place so it couldn't move even a fraction.
"Without your treasures, let's see how you defend yourself!"
The Crimson Fire Flood Dragon's eyes flashed with crazed intent as it let out a wild laugh. It whipped its head around and opened its jaws wide. A piercing red glow flickered as a fist-sized orb materialized within its mouth.
"A demon core!" Han Li's pupils contracted slightly as he immediately recognized it.
The beast seemed to know it couldn't match Han Li head-on, and seizing the chance created by trapping his bonded treasure, it steeled itself and prepared to launch its demon core directly as an attack.
After a momentary change in his expression, Han Li let out a great shout. His figure suddenly blurred, then split—three identical Han Lis materialized eerily, standing side by side.
This scene naturally gave the Crimson Fire Flood Dragon a moment's pause. Before it could discern which was real, all three Han Lis sneered in unison and flung their sleeves, shooting three golden beams, each several feet long, from within simultaneously, slashing ferociously toward the vile dragon.
The vile dragon was startled. Seeing three golden beams hurtling toward it from three directions at once, it panicked. In haste, it spat its demon core to meet the central beam while its two claws blazed with red light, splitting left and right to seize the other two beams.
Though it had already witnessed the sharpness of Han Li's flying swords, it refused to believe all three golden beams were real. Surely, as with the three opponents, two were false and one was genuine. If the beam blocked by its demon core turned out to be the real one, its life was assured. And if it wasn't, its claws were harder than its tail—it would endure severe damage to one claw to temporarily hold off the real flying sword, while using its demon core to kill Han Li's true body directly.
Unfortunately, the moment this thought turned in the beast's mind, a thunderous boom rang out. The red light of the demon core blasted the opposing golden beam back several zhang, revealing the true form of the flying sword.
"So the central sword was real!" The Crimson Fire Flood Dragon rejoiced at the sight. But the moment this thought appeared, the other two golden beams erupted with blinding radiance. In a flash, both claws felt a sudden chill, followed by unbearable pain. The golden beams sheared off more than half of both claws in an instant, then shot like lightning toward the vile dragon's body.
"AAAGH!" The beast let out a shriek, spiritual light flickering across its body as it tried to dodge backward.