Chapter 169: Counterattack

The blue spiritual light that scattered from Han Li's hands were dozens of formation flags, plates, and other items, each only a few inches in size.

In the next moment, clusters of blue radiance surged from the surrounding seawater and transformed into mysterious runic arrays of various sizes, spinning rapidly.

Han Li's fingers, hidden within his sleeves, flicked. Amidst flashes of green light, nearly transparent green threads flew from his fingertips, continuously sinking into those runic arrays, causing them to interweave, merge, and then vanish again.

After a full half-hour, when all the manifested runic arrays had disappeared, he said nothing but urged his hand seals. Countless silver arcs of lightning emerged from his body, coalescing beneath him into a lightning teleportation array.

With a flash of electric light, Han Li's figure vanished, reappearing in the next moment over two to three hundred thousand li away, though still above this crimson sea.

In midair, countless miles away, Fang Pan and the brocade-robed old man were enveloped in a green light, speeding forward like lightning.

The brocade-robed old man held a golden compass in one hand while the other hand moved in calculations, muttering incantations.

Every so often, he would perform a secret technique to sense and keep track of Han Li's position in a timely manner.

“He teleported again,” the brocade-robed old man said with a soft exclamation after a while.

“Which direction?” Fang Pan asked, frowning slightly without stopping.

“Northeast, but this time the teleportation distance was shorter, only a little over two hundred thousand li,” the brocade-robed old man said after a brief deliberation.

“Good! It seems he can’t hold out much longer.” Fang Pan was delighted at the news and immediately changed direction, flying northeast.

This time, in just two hours, the two of them spotted Han Li’s figure from afar.

Han Li’s face was pale. He glanced back in panic, then waved his arm again. Countless silver arcs of lightning emerged, coalescing into a lightning teleportation array.

With a thunderous crack, he teleported away again.

This teleportation was even shorter, less than two hundred thousand li.

Fang Pan grew even more pleased. He took a pill to recover some of his expended immortal spiritual power, and the green light around him intensified as he pursued faster.

A little over an hour later, Fang Pan caught up with Han Li again.

Han Li’s face was panicked, and his flying speed was at its maximum, but it was still far inferior to Fang Pan’s. The distance between them shrank rapidly, soon only a thousand li.

He waved his arm.

Crackle! Streaks of silver electric light appeared on his body again.

Fang Pan’s expression darkened. Although Han Li’s continued struggle would ultimately fail to escape his grasp, after chasing for nearly two months, all his patience had been worn thin, and he no longer wished to prolong the entanglement.

“Brother Qianzhi, now!” Fang Pan shouted in a low voice. His hand, glowing with intense green light and surrounded by countless green runes, struck the old man surnamed Feng.

A green halo appeared once more.

The old man’s figure flickered and vanished, reappearing in the next moment near Han Li, a thousand li away.

Countless blood-colored flames had already emerged on his body, burning fiercely. A dazzling blood light suddenly erupted, instantly enveloping an area of over ten li.

At this moment, Han Li had not yet executed his lightning array and was certainly unable to teleport away.

Seeing this, Fang Pan grasped empty air with one hand, producing a gleaming blade of light. The green light around him thickened, and countless green runes appeared. His speed doubled again, instantly crossing the thousand-li distance as the light of his blade blazed.

Just then, within the blood light, the silver electric light on Han Li’s body flared even brighter. He rolled on the spot and transformed into a silver lightning roc several tens of zhang in size.

Thick silver arcs of lightning coiled around its body, crackling.

The lightning roc spread its wings. A flash of silver lightning passed, and its figure vanished, reappearing a thousand li ahead.

“Hmph, a cornered beast’s struggle!” Fang Pan snorted coldly. His form flickered and appeared beside Feng Qianzhi, grabbing him with a wave.

The green light around him rippled, enveloping the two, then transformed into a blurry green shadow that chased after the lightning roc, instantly crossing a thousand li and appearing behind it.

The lightning roc flapped its wings like lightning, silver arcs flowing over its body as it teleported another thousand li ahead.

However, the green phantom formed by Fang Pan and the other was like a stubborn bone, equally swift, immediately catching up.

The silver electric light on the lightning roc flashed wildly as it continuously used lightning teleportation, each time just barely faster than Fang Pan’s group, so for the moment it still evaded capture.

A silver electric light and a green phantom shifted positions like lightning above the sea, chasing and moving.

The green phantom remained as bright as ever, but the silver arcs on the lightning roc grew increasingly dim.

With a flash of silver electric light, the lightning roc appeared near a crimson island.

The silver arcs on its body were extremely dim, as if it could no longer use lightning teleportation. Its form transformed into a streak of silver lightning, shooting into the distance.

Though the lightning was fast, it was far too slow compared to lightning teleportation.

A green shadow flashed, and Fang Pan and the old man followed closely in pursuit. Seeing this scene, they were overjoyed and immediately gave chase.

"Wait..." Feng Qianzhi looked at the sea ahead, his brow suddenly furrowing.

But before he could finish his words, Fang Pan, whose eyes were fixed on the Thunder Roc within reach ahead, saw the green light around him brighten once more, his speed increasing again, and he appeared with the old man over a hundred zhang behind the Thunder Roc.

The blade in his hand trembled, blooming layers of blade shadows, ready to strike down.

At that moment, his vision blurred, the surrounding scenery changed drastically, the Thunder Roc's figure vanished, and he found himself in a blue space.

As soon as he entered this blue space, Fang Pan felt a pulling force like a whirlpool beneath him. The force was not particularly strong, but it was continuous like waves crashing on the shore, slowing his movement somewhat.

His form moved, suddenly becoming illusory, turning into a blurry afterimage that shot forward.

With a "bang" sound,

a strange ripple suddenly spread in the void a thousand zhang away, and a water-blue barrier appeared out of nowhere. Fang Pan's figure crashed into it and was revealed.

Without a word, he raised one hand, and the black long blade in his hand suddenly slashed forward. A massive black blade light struck the barrier.

With a thunderous roar,

the barrier shone with blue light, and with a "crack," a narrow slit split open.

Seeing this, Fang Pan revealed a slight sneer, lifted his blade, and prepared to strike again to break it completely.

But the barrier's blue light flowed, and it instantly restored to its original state.

By then, Feng Qianzhi had also flown over and landed beside him, frowning slightly as he said:

"This is a high-grade water-elemental restriction formation. It can draw on the vast water power of the nearby sea area to continuously replenish the formation's consumption. It is known for being tough and hard to break, not something that can be easily destroyed by brute force alone."

"This man is even more troublesome than three hundred years ago," Fang Pan said coldly, gritting his teeth.

"But I noticed that his internal thunder power seemed nearly depleted. He probably had no choice but to set up this trapping formation to delay our pursuit. Once I break this formation, we can catch up to him again soon," Feng Qianzhi said.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Brother Qianzhi..." Fang Pan nodded.

Feng Qianzhi flew up to the center of the blue space, formed hand seals before his chest, and began chanting incantations.

Suddenly, a red light flashed around him, and patches of blood-colored flames began to burn on his body.

But just then, a sudden crackling of silver electric light sounded above his head, and Han Li's figure abruptly descended from outside the formation in a surprise attack.

His lightning power had indeed been greatly depleted earlier, but it had not reached the point of exhaustion. His pretense of being unable to sustain the lightning was actually a deliberate ploy to lure Fang Pan and his companion.

With one hand forming a hand seal and suddenly pushing downward, the True Water Pouch in his other hand began to churn violently. Black light blazed at the pouch's mouth, and countless drops of black heavy water surged out like a river bursting its banks, instantly transforming into a pitch-black heavy water flood dragon that charged at the brocade-robed elder.

The heavy water flood dragon was heavier than a great mountain. As its body twisted and sped forward, it stirred the surrounding void into a rumbling hum, and the entire void trembled under the sudden gravitational pressure.

The elder's body was as red as a blood sun, and his Bloodburn Secret Art was at a critical moment. If interrupted, not only would his efforts be wasted and his essence blood squandered, but he would also suffer backlash from the secret art and be severely injured.

He quickly used his spiritual connection to summon an ancient cyan-black treasure armor to cover his body, while shouting loudly to Fang Pan:

"Brother Fang, help me..."

Before his words faded, the black-clad youth's figure suddenly blurred, and a doppelgänger waved its hand, swinging the black longsword fiercely.

Two other figures also flickered, leaving a series of intermittent afterimages in midair as they rapidly rushed toward Han Li.

Han Li ignored Fang Pan's attack, and with a forceful manipulation of his hand seal, he controlled the heavy water flood dragon to accelerate straight at Feng Qianzhi.

Unlike the precise control required when refining the Heavy Water Ripple Thunder, controlling such a vast amount of heavy water—nearly half a stream's worth—demanded ample immortal spiritual power and full concentration of the mind.

The heavy water flood dragon's jet-black body plunged downward, first colliding with Fang Pan's black longsword, but with only a muffled "puff," it swallowed the blade entirely.

The next moment, the dragon's head reared up and charged straight into the blood-red sun erupting from Feng Qianzhi's body.

With a loud "bang,"

the elder's body, as if crushed by a mountain, plummeted straight down. The blood light on his body suddenly scattered, but the ancient treasure armor on him blazed with light, and countless cyan-black runes lit up, shooting out like a storm of pear blossoms toward the water dragon.

"Puff, puff, puff..."

Amid a continuous series of sounds, the heavy water flood dragon, enveloped by the cyan-black runes, collapsed and dispersed.

Seeing this, Han Li in midair suddenly curled his lips into a smile. Instead of charging forward, he flashed with lightning, barely evading the pursuing Fang Pan doppelgänger, and abruptly retreated.

Fang Pan sensed something amiss, and his three figures simultaneously flashed with cyan light, darting toward the edge of the blue space.

Suddenly, from the collapsed body of the heavy water flood dragon, twenty or so fist-sized black spheres appeared without warning, hovering steadily in midair with no trace of spiritual power fluctuation.

Meanwhile, the vast heavy water that had formed the dragon turned into a torrent and flew toward Han Li, disappearing into his body.

At that moment, silver patterns suddenly lit up on those spheres, and thin strands of electric light flickered out from within them.