"So it's the technique of a corporeal avatar. Truly marvelous, I'll give you that. But I do find it curious — given your current state, just how much of your original powers can you still retain?" The giant ape's pupils suddenly flared with a brilliant blue light as it looked Ancestor Wugou up and down, a strange expression crossing its face.
"What… do you mean by that?" Ancestor Wugou's gaze contracted sharply from across the way. For the first time, he spoke — his voice was incredibly hoarse, as though he hadn't uttered a single word in countless years — but the expression on his face remained as wooden as ever.
"You don't know, do you? When Han here uses these spiritual eyes at full power, everything within ten thousand li and up to the nine heavens can be seen with perfect clarity. You may have used a secret treasure to conceal the corpse qi on your body, and you can even move about freely like a living person — but the necrotic flesh on your body absolutely cannot escape my perception. I'm simply very curious, fellow Daoist — how did you end up in this state? Was it by your own will, or were you placed under some kind of restriction?" The thunderous voice rolled out from the giant ape's mouth, causing Ancestor Wugou's pupils to contract once more. The pair of hands hidden in his sleeves, no one knew when, had clenched that much tighter.
The giant ape's booming voice carried far enough that every other Mahayona cultivator nearby heard it with perfect clarity. All of them showed shocked expressions. Only Fairy Huaxi, upon hearing these words, turned deathly pale and suddenly let out a sharp shout.
"Wugou, what are you doing? Why are you listening to his ravings? Kill him — all of you, kill him now!"
Then, using some unknown art, the massive ring ensnaring the mountain peak abruptly erupted with dazzling radiance, instantly transforming into an impossibly dense cloud of crystalline sand that surged forward, enveloping the Extreme Mountain so tightly that it formed an enormous, glittering crystal sphere, hanging silently in midair.
After that, Fairy Huaxi twisted her slender waist and transformed into a streak of brilliant light, hurtling forward at incredible speed. With just a single flash, she reappeared right beside Ancestor Wugou, her willow-leaf eyebrows angled sharply downward as she glared fiercely at the giant ape.
"Rest easy. His little words of division — how could they possibly affect my temperament? Heh, sorry to disappoint you, fellow Daoist. The reason I've become this half-human, half-corpse abomination wasn't because someone did this to me. I made a mistake while cultivating, and in order to survive, I had no choice but to take this form. Enough talk — let's begin!" Ancestor Wugou cast a glance at Fairy Huaxi beside him, a flicker of derision in his eyes, though his tone remained utterly expressionless.
The instant that last word left his mouth, he suddenly took a single massive stride forward. His body blurred — one became two, two became four — and in the blink of an eye, over a dozen identical phantoms had materialized, simultaneously flashing into positions surrounding the giant ape. Another flash, and even more phantoms conjured from nothing, all lunging toward the center as one.
In that instant, it was as if a hundred people were charging the giant ape all at once.
Fairy Huaxi's eyes lit up at the sight, and without the slightest hesitation, she reached out with one hand and grasped at empty air. Countless pinpricks of crystalline light immediately flew out from her body, converging in her palm. An ancient-looking blade of sand, roughly a zhang in length, materialized from the gathering light. With a sharp cry, she slashed it toward the void where Han Li stood.
In an instant, the giant ape that Han Li had transformed into felt the surrounding space suddenly tighten. An almost unbelievable weight crashed down upon its body, and even in its transformed state, its movements became sluggish, its escape techniques rendered useless.
At that very moment, the many grey phantom clones that Ancestor Wugou had split into flashed to within striking distance of the giant ape. Arms blurred — a sharp hissing sound erupted, and countless green claw-marks materialized, all lacing toward the giant ape's vitals from every direction.
Yet the giant ape showed no trace of panic. Instead, it let out a low roar, and purple-gold light blazed across its entire body. Silver runes surged outward from within, whirling and condensing into dense, intricate silver patterns. With a low hum, they transformed into a suit of silver runic armor that covered the ape from head to toe.
The green claw-marks struck the armor and immediately produced a series of clanging sounds, each one bouncing harmlessly off.
At the same time, the giant ape's body swelled several times its size. Its expression turned savage as purple-gold scales materialized across its body one after another, a black light flickered atop its head, and a short golden horn appeared out of thin air. Both arms, now sheathed in golden scales, strained outward to either side.
A tremendous boom echoed through the surrounding air, and the void itself seemed to blur and distort, as if something had been forcibly torn apart by the transformed ape's raw power. Simultaneously, the massive sand blade in Fairy Huaxi's hand shattered with a muffled bang, collapsing into harmless grains of sand.
The woman started in alarm, her face filling with shock.
The giant ape formed a one-handed seal, and peals of thunder immediately rumbled across its body. Arcs of golden lightning as thick as bowls lashed outward in every direction, arcing wildly toward all sides.
In the span of a single breath, the acre of space centered on the giant ape was filled with flashing bolts and writhing golden arcs.
Nearly a hundred grey phantoms that had closed in too close were caught completely off guard and disintegrated one after another amid the crackling thunder.
Only a little over a dozen managed to escape destruction, hastily converging in one spot and fusing back together to reform Ancestor Wugou's true body.
The giant ape witnessed this and let out a sinister laugh. With one hand forming a seal, it opened its mouth and spat out a silver fireball roughly a zhang in diameter.
The fireball rolled forward, and a clear cry rang out from within it. In an instant, it transformed into a silver firebird over a dozen zhang long.
When the massive firebird spread its wings, faint wisps of golden light could be seen flickering within the flames as it dove straight toward Fairy Huaxi in the distance.
As for Ancestor Wugou — with a single casual grab of the giant ape's massive hand at empty air, the surrounding void abruptly constricted, and an invisible, crushing force descended upon him.
Ancestor Wugou's heart lurched. He gave his sleeve a shake, and a pearl wreathed in green qi suddenly shot out.
The pearl streaked skyward, expanding rapidly until it was the size of a wagon wheel, and slammed into the oncoming force head-on.
A thunderous, earth-shaking explosion ripped through the air.
Above Ancestor Wugou, a green sun blazed into existence out of nowhere, while a hurricane-like shockwave billowed outward in all directions.
No one knew what kind of extraordinary treasure this green pearl was, but it was now radiating an almost blinding brilliance, its surface covered in countless shimmering golden characters — and it had actually shattered the giant ape's grab of force through sheer power.
Han Li felt a flash of surprise at this, but his other massive, fur-covered hand lashed out like a bolt of lightning.