Chapter 126: Coercion

Han Li, seeing this, closed the jade box in his hand, his pupils contracting slightly.

With his spiritual sense, he had already clearly probed the situation of the newcomers the moment they appeared.

The one flying at the forefront was a burly man in a white carved armor, his face covered by a hollowed mask. He was unmistakably the earth immortal incarnation of Han Qiu, the ancestral god he had fought before.

Even through the mask, one could feel the chilling murderous intent in his eyes.

The other five followed closely behind. From their lifelike yet slightly dull expressions, they were clearly also incarnations.

Apart from a black-armored man and a yellow-bearded old man, there were two blue-robed Daoists who looked identical, like twins. Although Han Li had never seen these people before, he could roughly judge from the information provided by Luo Feng that they were also ancestral gods from nearby islands.

As for the last one, a blue-clad beautiful woman, she was also a familiar face—none other than Madame Huogu, who had previously invaded together with Han Qiu.

These six seemed to have long concealed their auras using some advanced method, lurking in the nearby sea area only a few thousand li from Han Li's location, so that even Han Li had not detected them earlier.

A distance of several thousand li was but a moment's travel for a true immortal.

Han Qiu, being the first to act, moved his arm, and a white light shot out from his hand—a white sickle gleaming with light. As its surface flashed with strange radiance, it expanded to a hundred zhang in size and slashed straight toward Han Li.

Although this sickle was not an immortal artifact, it was still a rare treasure containing immense power. Before the blade light arrived, the seawater nearby was already filled with chilling cold light, rolling and splitting apart to both sides.

At this moment, Han Li was at the critical stage of refining his incarnation's separated soul. He could not even stand up, let alone raise a hand to defend.

However, there was no trace of panic on his face. He simply formed a hand seal with one hand and pointed at a certain spot.

A blue light flew from his fingertip and, in a flash, vanished into the surrounding blue light barrier.

Buzz!

The blue light barrier blazed with intense light, becoming extremely solid, while countless wave phantoms emerged on its surface, producing a rustling sound.

This light barrier was evidently a highly advanced array restriction.

Just as the light barrier took shape, the white sickle struck it.

A loud clang, like metal striking metal, rang out!

Sparks flew in all directions, but the sickle was directly repelled. The wave phantoms on the blue light barrier surged violently, causing it to shake fiercely, yet it was not cut open.

Meanwhile, Madame Huogu and the other five had already unleashed their respective treasures. The black-armored man wielded a dark-gold ruyi, the yellow-bearded old man a large earthen-yellow seal, the two blue-robed Daoists two water-blue long halberds, and Madame Huogu a black longsword.

The five treasures burst forth with sky-piercing light, almost immediately following the sickle, simultaneously striking the water-blue light barrier.

A series of booming sounds caused the nearby seawater to churn and roll back!

As a result, these treasures, like the sickle before, were blocked by the blue light barrier and sent flying back.

The blue light barrier trembled wildly like a willow in the wind, its surface surging with waves as if one giant wave after another rose. Although it soon stabilized again, the blue light it emitted had dimmed by more than half.

Though the situation inside the light barrier could not be clearly discerned from outside, two blurry figures sitting cross-legged facing each other could now be faintly seen.

“Daoist Han Qiu, our grievances were settled last time. What is the meaning of this?” Han Li asked in a deep voice.

“Heh, blame your own greed. If you hadn’t found Luo Meng’s Soul-Birth Flower, would you have started refining an earth immortal incarnation? Although that spiritual flower is still a bit short of ten thousand years, it’s barely enough,” Han Qiu said with a sneer.

“You have been an immortal for a long time, so you naturally understand the process of refining an incarnation well. This time, you waited so long to appear at the final step of my incarnation refinement, precisely because you are certain that I cannot interrupt now, right?” Han Li said calmly.

“You are indeed a clever man. Now, you have two choices before you. First, hand over the Soul-Birth Flower, and we will leave immediately. You can continue to be the master of Wumeng Island, and we will not interfere. As for the second path, I think I don’t need to say it; you understand clearly,” Han Qiu said coldly.

“Madame Huogu and fellow daoists, I, Liu, have no enmity with you. Do you also intend to join Daoist Han Qiu in joining forces to kill me?” Han Li did not answer Han Qiu but instead addressed the others.

“Although I have only met Daoist Liu once, we can be considered acquaintances. I advise you not to resist in vain. Since you have already cultivated the path of the true immortal and achieved the True Ultimate Body, why switch to the earth immortal path? If you are willing to cooperate with us, we can guarantee your position as master of Wumeng Island,” Madame Huogu said slowly.

“Cooperate? So you want me, Liu, to be a puppet island master at your beck and call?” Han Li chuckled lightly.

“Haha! Since you refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit, don’t blame us. Fellow daoists, as long as we kill this brat, I, Han, will certainly keep my previous promises,” Han Qiu laughed strangely, and with a spell gesture, the sickle once again transformed into a blade light, slashing forward.

The other five said nothing more, each urging their treasures, which once again turned into beams of red light and struck the blue light barrier.

Rumble!

The blue light barrier trembled violently. Although it blocked the six’s attack again, the barrier dimmed sharply, leaving only a thin layer.

Inside the blue restriction, Han Li remained silent, and it was unclear what he was doing.

Han Qiu suddenly let out a loud shout and formed a hand seal with both hands.

The white giant sickle flashed, and eight identical giant sickle phantoms appeared around it, spinning around the main sickle like a blooming white lotus, emitting sharp hissing sounds as they struck the blue light barrier.

A thunderous boom shook the heavens!

The blue light barrier finally shattered with a crack, breaking into countless blue streams of light that scattered, revealing Han Li and his incarnation sitting cross-legged facing each other.

The five rainbow beams from the surrounding treasures immediately swept toward Han Li in the center.

At that moment, blue light spots emerged around Han Li again. With a loud splash of water, dozens of hemispherical blue water barriers appeared out of thin air, similar to the previous ones but slightly thinner, yet there were dozens of layers.

A towering blue radiance burst forth from the layered water barriers, looking extremely mysterious.

The five rainbow beams struck the light barrier. With a crack, the outermost blue water barrier was cut through, but these rainbow beams also had their treasure light retracted and were bounced back.

At that moment, the other blue light barriers hummed as they operated, the blue light surging like water waves. Beams of blue light shot out from the surrounding seawater, and in the blink of an eye, the shattered blue water barrier condensed again.

Han Qiu stared fixedly at the layered blue water barriers, his expression turning somewhat ugly, as did the other five.

Han Li, situated within the formation, remained completely unperturbed.

He was well aware of the risks of refining an earth immortal incarnation, so he had spared no expense to obtain this “Thousandfold Deep Sea Formation” from the Everlasting Union, just in case.

Although this formation had no offensive capabilities, its defensive power was astonishing. Even with Han Qiu leading five true immortals, breaking it would take some effort.

At this moment, he had somehow acquired a jade bottle filled with a pale golden liquid and began to pour the liquid onto the brow of the earth immortal incarnation opposite him.

Outside the blue formation, Han Qiu and the others did not immediately act. The others all looked at Han Qiu.

“Daoist Han Qiu, this person is clearly no ordinary true immortal, is he? To have such a powerful formation at his disposal, breaking it won’t be easy,” the yellow-bearded old man said with a slightly grim expression.

“Daoist Ge need not worry too much. Since this man foolishly tries to use a Soul-Birth Flower of only eight thousand years to stabilize his separated soul, it will likely take at least a full day and night to succeed. With so many of us, can we really not break this restriction in that time?” Madame Huogu said coldly.

“Even with a Soul-Birth Flower of full ten thousand years, it would be impossible to succeed in less than two or three hours,” one of the blue-robed Daoists nodded.

“You both speak truly. Fellow daoists, let us quickly kill this thief and divide the resources of Wumeng Island equally!” Han Qiu let out a long howl.

The white sickle treasure blazed with intense light, once again blooming into a white lotus, slashing toward the water barrier.

At the same time, he grabbed with one hand in the air, and a crystal-clear blue small sword materialized, which he unhesitatingly slashed forward.

Pfft!

A blue sword light dozens of zhang long rolled out, carrying an extreme cold aura mixed with traces of law power, slashing toward the water-blue barrier.

The first layer of light barrier flashed wildly, and most of the water light froze into ice.

The white lotus took the opportunity to spin and slash down, instantly shattering and breaking through this blue water barrier.

The other five also employed their own methods, and in a short while, they broke through several more water barriers.

Seeing this, a hint of mockery curled at the corner of Han Qiu’s mouth. He flicked his wrist, and a blue sword aura appeared, transforming into a mountain of swords that rolled toward the blue water barrier.

A sharp hissing sound arose!

The blue water barrier fluctuated violently again, and after a moment, it shattered with a loud bang.

In a short time, the six had broken through over a dozen layers of water barriers.

Although the Thousandfold Deep Sea Formation had the ability to automatically repair, the six were attacking with full force, striking so swiftly that they gave it no time to recover.

However, as they broke through more water barriers, they discovered that the barriers behind were increasingly sturdy, taking longer to break.

Han Qiu and the others gradually grew solemn, losing their initial ease. One by one, they unleashed their trump card techniques, bombarding the layered water barriers relentlessly.

Time passed bit by bit, and in the blink of an eye, over an hour had gone by.

Dozens of water barriers had been mostly broken through, leaving only a scant seven or eight layers.

Yet these seven or eight layers were extremely tough. Although the attacks of Han Qiu and the others made them shake violently and flicker with water light, they showed no signs of breaking anytime soon.

Han Qiu’s eyes grew anxious. Gazing at Han Li’s figure, which was gradually becoming clearer within the light barrier, he suddenly felt a sense of unease.

He abruptly stopped, flipped his hand, and took out an object—an egg-sized orb, dark red all over, with faint red threads visible on its surface.

An inexplicable aura emanated from this orb.