A crescent-shaped beam of light, roughly the same as before, shot forth from the giant black sword!
As spatial fluctuations erupted, dense black threads materialized instantly around Bai Qi and swept toward him.
Meanwhile, above the phantom of the white-robed elder, dark devilish energy churned and rolled, from which a pitch-black demonic hand lunged downward with terrifying menace.
Bai Qi clearly hadn't expected Sovereign Yuan Yan to suddenly turn on him. His expression shifted drastically as his body flickered, unleashing a pale white protective spiritual light. He then opened his mouth and spat out a small dark-green shield.
No sooner had the shield left his mouth than it swelled enormously in the wind, expanding to over thirty feet in size. Its surface flickered with green light, and the faint phantom of a colossal turtle appeared upon it, sheltering Bai Qi within its embrace.
But that wasn't all. Bai Qi's true body hummed resonantly, and a massive silver bell surged outward from within him.
The bell was roughly ten feet in diameter, its surface gleaming with extraordinary brilliance, countless silver runes shimmering intermittently across it!
As the bell rang out, layer upon layer of silver ripples surged wildly outward.
With his life hanging by a thread, Bai Qi had summoned his natal spirit artifact in a desperate bid to defend himself.
But the fact that Han Li had once managed to survive a blow from the Black Demon Dagger with all his techniques at full force did not mean others could do the same.
The black threads converged toward the center with a deafening screech!
Whether the silver ripples or the colossal turtle phantom, the moment they made contact with the black threads, they were sliced apart like paper.
After a final tremor, all the black threads vanished in a flash.
The next instant, the silver bell shuddered violently as countless black rays burst across its surface.
The look of horror had barely surfaced on Bai Qi's face before he, together with the silver bell itself, was instantly shredded into countless fragments.
As for the phantom of the white-robed elder—though it contained a wisp of a Mahayana cultivator's soul, it possessed no Magical Power of its own. The descending black demonic hand seized and obliterated it with a single effortless gesture.
Whether it was Han Li or Patriarch Long, both were utterly stunned by this sudden turn of events.
The black-robed youth, however, remained expressionless as he flicked his sleeve toward Bai Qi's remains. A swath of black mist swept forth, snatched back several storage rings in a flash, and settled into his palm.
His divine sense swept rapidly through these storage artifacts, and Sovereign Yuan Yan's face darkened.
"That old monster was indeed on his guard. The Worldfall Stone isn't on this fellow, after all."
Muttering these words to himself, the black-robed youth turned his gaze back toward Han Li and the other two, a murderous glint flickering across his face.
"Which of you three is hiding the Worldfall Stone? Hand it over obediently, and this sovereign will make an exception and spare your lives!"
Hearing this, Han Li and the others exchanged bewildered glances.
"There must be some misunderstanding, Senior. If even our Spirit Race companion didn't have what you're looking for, how could it possibly be in our hands?" After a lengthy pause, Han Li let out a soft sigh and replied calmly.
"In that case, there's no reason for any of you to remain. You shall all perish before this Sovereign!"
Though Sovereign Yuan Yan had long anticipated this answer, hearing it spoken aloud still caused a vicious gleam to flash through his eyes.
The words had barely left his mouth when he abruptly swung the black giant sword horizontally before him and slashed it toward the sky above.
Immediately, black runes surged across the sword's surface, and a beam of ink-dark sword light launched from the blade, rocketing upward.
"No! Stop him—he's trying to breach the restriction and draw devilish energy into this place!" Patriarch Long's expression turned cold as he called out the warning. Without a moment's hesitation, he raised one hand and three small golden tridents, each about an inch long, shot from his fingers. With a single flicker, they transformed into three streaks of golden radiance.
Whatever these three golden tridents might be, the instant they were launched, they inexplicably traversed nearly a hundred feet and positioned themselves directly in the path of the black sword light.
A thunderous boom erupted!
The black sword light merely paused for the briefest instant before slicing through the three golden streaks like a blade through dried reeds.
The three streaks of gold scattered and tumbled apart, breaking into six pieces of lifeless trident that plummeted to the ground below.
But in that momentary delay, a five-colored radiance containing a crimson crystal bead came streaking through the air, slamming violently into the sword light.
It was the feather-robed young woman, who had gritted her teeth and deployed a one-time-use treasure she had been reluctant to expend.
The crimson crystal bead collided with the sword light, and a muffled boom resounded. A fire cloud the size of several acres erupted, painting half the sky red.
This fire cloud was entirely different from ordinary thunder-fire. Amidst the rolling crimson flames, faint threads of gold and silver shimmered in and out of visibility. The space beneath the cloud immediately turned hazy and blurred, and even the surface of the pond below trembled before beginning to boil with audible gurgling.
Even Han Li, hovering in the low sky, felt the surrounding air scorching around him, as if the entire Spirit Trapping Valley were about to ignite.
"The Nirvana Bead!"