Chapter 1065: Outwitting

"Crackle..."

A sheet of golden electric light surged wildly from the thirty-six Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, mingling with the sky-filling sword qi to engulf the Nest Ghost King.

"Ah..."

A狂暴 roar came from the Ghost King's mouth, and countless dense wounds appeared on his body, with blood light flickering and black smoke rising.

He turned his head to look at Han Li, only to see the latter sprinting toward him in large strides. He immediately opened his mouth and spat fiercely.

With a "whoosh," a thick black flame surged from his mouth, instantly transforming into a layer upon layer of black fire walls advancing and pressing down overwhelmingly.

Han Li's eyes flickered, but he remained unmoved, making no other move at all.

"Swish"

A silver light flashed beside him, transforming into a colossal silver firebird with a crown of seven-colored flames on its head. When its two huge fire wings spread, they were thousands of feet wide. With a single flap, they were like a silver giant blade, directly cleaving the black fire wall in two.

The silver firebird's form shot through the gap, and the flames from its wings pushed aside, forcibly opening a wide path through the center of the fire wall.

Han Li's figure flashed through, silver electric light flickering on his body as he activated the Roc's power. In an instant, his massive body appeared beside the Nest Ghost King, and he threw a punch.

"Boom!" A thunderous sound.

The Nest Ghost King took a heavy blow, his massive body tilting to the left, and the white bone trident in his hand also tilted involuntarily.

"Zzzt!"

The blood-colored light from the Heaven Devouring Soul's vertical eye, now unobstructed, shot into the Ghost King's shoulder.

The Nest Ghost King let out a piercing shriek. Where the blood light struck his shoulder, the armor melted directly, burning through to create a huge bloody hole from which gushed black liquid.

"You seek death! I will grind your bones to dust!"

With a sharp howl from his mouth, his entire body blazed with intense black light. Layers of black radiance surged forth, and countless ghostly shadows flew out from within, tearing at Han Li and the Heaven Devouring Soul.

The ghostly shadows were both solid and ethereal, now gathering, now dispersing. When Han Li swung his fist to strike them, they dissipated like smoke, impossible to hit. He had no choice but to recall the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords to circle around him, continuously releasing the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning to drive them away.

However, for some unknown reason, these ghostly figures were not afraid of the evil-repelling divine lightning. After being struck, they would briefly dissipate, only to quickly condense again and return in full force.

Moreover, whenever they drew near, Han Li felt a yin-dark force, as if from the underworld, piercing through his body and seeping directly into his marrow.

As the frequency increased, the accumulated yin-dark force within him grew denser, and a strange, bone-piercing cold emerged from deep within his body.

If he was in such a state, then Ti Hun on the other side was even worse off. Her movements had become noticeably sluggish, and she could no longer keep up with the movements of the Crow's Nest Ghost King.

If they continued to let this go on, the two of them would surely be defeated.

Just then, Han Li's brow suddenly relaxed, as if he had thought of something.

"Ti Hun, come back!"

With a thought, the Essence Flame Firebird, which had been continuously devouring the black wall of fire, immediately flew back into his body.

Han Li then felt a wave of heat throughout his body. The previous sensation of cold was still there, but it had eased considerably.

At the same time, he shrank his form back to its original size, a flash of silver electric light flickered on his body, and he suddenly teleported in front of the Crow's Nest Ghost King.

Seeing him suddenly appear before him, the Crow's Nest Ghost King immediately swung his bone trident horizontally, sweeping it toward him.

Seeing this, Han Li reached for his waist and took down the green gourd he had hung there. He tilted its mouth toward the Crow's Nest Ghost King.

A smile curled at the corner of his mouth as he raised a palm and struck the bottom of the gourd.

A rumbling sound emerged from within, and the green vortex at the gourd's mouth spun violently.

A golden-flame fire dragon burst forth from it, charging straight toward the Ghost King.

This dragon was the same one that Qimozi had struck at Han Li earlier, but after struggling inside the Profound Heaven Gourd for a long time, its size and speed had greatly diminished. Yet wherever it passed, ripples of time law force spread through the void, slowing everything around it to an extreme degree.

The Crow's Nest Ghost King had already expended much energy in his fierce battle with Ti Hun, and with Han Li interfering, he was already greatly depleted. Seeing the strange fire dragon flying toward him, he hurriedly raised his bone trident and hurled it forward.

The fire dragon's speed was eerily fast, and the bone trident had not flown far before it collided with the dragon.

With a strange "boom" sound,

the golden-flame fire dragon exploded violently. The golden spiritual flames released from it flashed in an instant, enveloping the Crow's Nest Ghost King.

"Time Law..." The Ghost King of the Bird's Nest, at the center of the explosion, felt a strange force envelop him. His mind instantly went blank; not only was his entire body frozen in place, but even his thoughts came to a halt.

After a moment, the force unleashed by the exploding Golden Flame Fire Dragon began to contract. All the spiritual flame light also gradually shrank, and the area affected by it likewise contracted.

By the time the Time Law power within the spiritual flame had reduced by half, the Ghost King of the Bird's Nest's consciousness recovered. His thoughts still lingered on "Time Law power..." when Han Li's figure suddenly flashed over from afar.

With the Heavenly Fiend Subduing Prison Art operating at full power within him, the thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in his hand merged into one. Sword light and lightning burst forth simultaneously as he swept the sword horizontally toward the Ghost King of the Bird's Nest's neck.

A thunderclap from the Evil-Cleansing Divine Lightning rang out, followed by a crisp "crack."

The Ghost King of the Bird's Nest's head was sent flying high, his eyes wide open, rolling to the ground with a clatter.

No blood flowed from his severed neck; instead, countless indistinct ghost souls surged out wildly, like a flock of crows leaving their nest, emitting a rustling sound.

With the emergence of these myriad ghosts, though their aura was not as strong as the original, the surrounding yin wind intensified, and the baleful energy became dozens of times denser than before.

Just as Han Li was about to release the Essence Fire Bird to burn them clean, he saw that Soul-Devour had already arrived.

Her nose twitched, and she suddenly sneezed. A patch of yellow, glistening light sprayed from her nostrils, enveloping the myriad ghost souls surging from the Ghost King of the Bird's Nest's neck.

Then, she inhaled forcefully. The myriad ghost souls within the yellow light shattered one after another, transforming into an extremely dense black light, which she sucked into her nose in rolling torrents.

As that black light surged into Soul-Devour's body like river water, the night-space that enveloped the surroundings finally could not hold and began to collapse bit by bit.

Seeing this, Han Li felt somewhat relieved. Holding his longsword, he guarded Soul-Devour while scanning the surroundings.

In the distance, fierce fighting was still ongoing on the battlefield. The ancient temple buildings were almost completely destroyed, leaving only a single arched door stubbornly standing in place.

By now, the original ten red-robed ghost generals were reduced to three: the scholar with the shrill voice and the Ox-Head and Horse-Face ghost generals.

On the Tianshui Sect side, only Su Qianxi and Jin Liu remained.

Only seven or eight cultivator corpses lay on the ground. The rest had either been devoured by the ghost generals or taken back into Jin Liu's Linglong Pagoda—in any case, they were nowhere to be seen.

As for Valley Master Fu and the four rogue cultivators, they had all turned into white bones, still maintaining their defensive posture back-to-back. Dense masses of evil ghosts still gathered around them, now without a target, appearing dazed and giving off a strange feeling.

Han Li hesitated briefly, then waved his hand. A gust of fierce wind swept out, scattering the nearby evil ghosts, and then rolled up the rubble and sand on the ground to bury their remains.

At this moment, the two humans and three ghost creatures still fighting finally noticed the anomaly here.

"Ghost King..."

The scholar ghost general let out a sharp shriek, as if suddenly stricken with madness, and charged straight toward Soul-Devour.

Han Li had already sidestepped, and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in his hand slashed down vertically.

A dazzling sword light, entwined with golden lightning, tore a huge rift in the dim sky and fell directly upon the scholar.

The latter did not dodge at all and was directly split in two.

"Ghost King... Ghost King... Ghost..." He murmured deliriously, and his form began to dissipate like smoke.

Seeing this, the Ox-Head and Horse-Face ghost generals knew the situation was lost and immediately fled in different directions. Jin Liu and Su Qianxi each gave chase, their figures disappearing over the horizon.

Han Li only glanced at them and paid no further attention.

He scanned the surroundings, seeing that the situation had finally stabilized, then sat cross-legged in midair, closed his eyes, and began to regulate his breathing.

The previous damage to his divine soul and the subsequent consumption of Time Law power had left him extremely fatigued.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he slowly opened his eyes, a complex expression on his face.

He still could not figure out the earlier anomalies with his spirit domain and the Law manifestation objects. But from Chimozhi's reaction, this should not be a coincidence; rather, it should be a divine ability that appears when the Grand Five Elements Nirvana Art is cultivated to a certain level.

Unfortunately, he was essentially self-taught in this technique, so some things could only be explored step by step on his own.

Now that Law manifestation objects like the True Word Wheel were temporarily unusable, his means of protection had decreased. Thinking of this, Han Li felt a headache coming on.

"This is both good and bad. I'll just take it one step at a time..." He sighed inwardly and stood up.

Soul-Devour had finally finished devouring the entire Ghost King of the Bird's Nest and reverted to human form, flying back toward him.

"Burp..." As soon as she landed, a belch came from her throat.

"A bit too full..." Soul-Devour said sheepishly.

"You've been saying you felt empty inside. Now that you're full, it's good. Go back to the cave heaven and rest well..." Han Li said with a smile.

"I really need to go into seclusion for a while. Once I refine this power, I can help Master even more," Soul-Devour said.

Han Li nodded, waved his hand casually, and opened a silver light door. Soul-Devour flickered and entered it.