Chapter 66: Spirit Infant Sword Talisman

High in the sky, the golden giant sword trembled violently, retreating over a hundred zhang before stabilizing.

But before He Shan could activate any spell, the sword's surface runes, as if intelligent, suddenly brightened in rings, the golden light on the blade surging another foot, and it shot toward the giant ape with even greater momentum than before.

With the reduction in yellow-turbaned warriors, the pressure on Han Li's transformed golden-furred giant ape decreased sharply. It twisted its body, facing the giant sword head-on, took a deep breath, puffed out its chest, opened its massive maw, and with a flash of blue light in its eyes, let out a roar that shook heaven and earth.

"Ao!"

A visible transparent wave burst from the giant ape's mouth, rolling diagonally upward.

The void above twisted, sinking over ten zhang deep like ground struck by a meteor, blurring all nearby scenery.

This roar was no ordinary one; it was another great divine ability of Han Li's mountain-giant-ape form, the "Vajra Roar," a sonic art of unimaginable power. With his current physical strength, it could even shatter the void.

"Boom!"

Another thunderous sound. The golden giant sword crashed into the transparent wave with immense force, suddenly halting and trembling violently, unable to advance further.

As the sonic wave continued to oscillate, cracking sounds erupted. The dazzling golden sword light shattered like a mirror, and on the sword's surface, a faint, aged face emerged, its features resembling those of Jingming Zhenren.

Then, fine cracks appeared on the blade, and soon, amid a clattering sound, it broke inch by inch, dissipating into golden light.

All this took but a moment.

Jingming Zhenren's Nascent Soul phantom flashed out from the golden light and reappeared in the air.

Its light dimmed, a hint of surprise on its small face. Without a word, it turned toward the floating scroll and vanished with a flicker.

Almost simultaneously, a narrow bloody slit opened on the golden giant ape's brow, from which a mass of black qi surged out, instantly forming a huge black demonic eye—the "Prajna Eye" capable of piercing the void.

The black demonic eye stood upright, suddenly shooting out a black thread of light that vanished into the void in a flash.

"Bang!"

Midair, just a step away from the ancient scroll, the black thread of light suddenly reappeared, striking the Nascent Soul phantom that had just re-emerged.

The Nascent Soul phantom let out a mournful cry, dissolving into a ball of golden light, while the scroll burst into flames, turning to ashes.

"This is... the Prajna Eye!" Tong Ren'e exclaimed, his face changing drastically.

Duan Renli's face turned ashen as he saw the immortal ancestor's bestowed treasure from Jingyuan Temple broken by Han Li's giant ape in a few moves, and even the trace of primordial spirit within it annihilated.

"What! This man actually has such a divine ability to counter teleportation?" He Shan's heart filled with fear. No longer caring about the ancestor's bestowed treasure, his face turned extremely ugly.

At that moment, a scene that made their souls flee occurred!

Silver light flashed around Han Li's giant ape, and a vast silver flame surged from beneath its fur, enveloping its entire body.

Yellow smoke rose from the ape's body. The yellow ropes tightly binding it, which could not be snapped, gradually melted and broke apart in the blazing silver flames.

Freed from its bonds, the golden giant ape beat its chest twice, then rolled on the spot. The silver flames vanished, replaced by countless silver arcs of electricity dancing wildly.

Amid the silver arcs, a silver giant bird over ten zhang long suddenly spread its wings and flew out. Its feathers were like steel, its claws like hooks, closely resembling the legendary true spirit Kunpeng.

This was another true spirit transformation from the Twelve Awakening Transformations: the Thunder Peng.

"Not good..." Tong Ren'e muttered, quickly forming hand seals.

The Xuanhuang token spun madly, and the Xuanhuang qi on the ground surged again, wrapping around the Thunder Peng.

Duan Renli also changed his hand seals. The yellow beans sprayed from the giant yellow gourd in the air, after turning into yellow-turbaned warriors, no longer flew into the formation but swarmed toward the giant bird.

However, the giant bird merely flapped its wings, turning into a silver hurricane that vanished from its spot, leaving the ropes and warriors grasping at nothing.

Before the three Mahayana cultivators could react, a silver lightning bolt flashed in the sky. The silver Thunder Peng suddenly appeared above the giant yellow gourd, its hooked claws reaching out to grasp it.

A flash of light in the air, and both the Thunder Peng and the gourd shrank simultaneously.

In moments, Han Li returned to human form, holding a one-foot-tall clear yellow gourd in his hand.

Seeing this, He Shan's expression darkened completely. Gritting his teeth, he said, "We are no match for him. Let's go!" and transformed into a streak of light, fleeing into the distance.

Tong Ren'e and the other hesitated not at all, immediately following suit, abandoning even the Xuanhuang token in the air.

Han Li examined the gourd in his hand, then a green light flared up. He rubbed its surface vigorously, blurring the golden runes engraved on it. Then he wiped his hand over it, and the traces of the runes dimmed and vanished completely.

Almost simultaneously, whether the warriors arrayed on the ground or those charging at Han Li, all suddenly seemed to lose strength, collapsing to the ground, then flashing yellow as they turned back into yellow beans scattered everywhere.

The yellow grand formation they composed instantly crumbled and dissipated.

He flipped his hand and put away the gourd, glanced at the three fleeing into the sky, sneered, and with a crackle of silver lightning, transformed back into a Thunder Peng. With a flap of its wings, it vanished from the spot.

At that moment, Duan Renli, fleeing desperately, felt his throat dry and his heart bitter.

Earlier, controlling the gourd and the yellow-turbaned soldiers had drained his mana severely, and now his escape speed was clearly slower than He Shan and Tong Ren'e, leaving him far behind.

Just as he was lamenting his misfortune, a sizzling sound reached his ears.

He suddenly realized something, feeling as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, a chill spreading through his body.

At that moment, less than a hundred zhang above his head, a fluctuation arose. Silver lightning suddenly appeared, and a pair of huge, sharp hooked claws broke through the void.

Countless fine silver arcs shot out, swirling around the claws, gradually forming a huge circular net of lightning that descended toward him.

Duan Renli, having reached the Mahayana stage, was no ordinary man. Prepared, he suddenly emitted a mass of blood light from his body, opened his mouth, and spat out a few-inch-tall blood-red miniature ancient banner, which instantly expanded into a ten-foot-tall giant banner.

Blood light swirled on the banner, a foul wind arose, and countless blood mists spread out, forming a huge blood cloud that enveloped his figure.

But before his form was completely hidden, silver light flashed above. The Thunder Peng appeared, its body crackling with electricity, and with claws retracted, it dove like a meteor, crashing into the blood cloud.

A series of explosions rumbled!

Within the blood cloud, silver electric light flared, churning violently.

A piercing cry rang out. The Thunder Peng tore the entire blood cloud in two, flying out from within.

In its sharp claws below, it held a human figure, struggling and writhing like a caterpillar. The figure's face was filled with terror, black blood flowing from its seven orifices, looking utterly miserable.

At this moment, the silver Thunder Peng suddenly spoke in human tongue, its voice like thunder:

"Fellow Daoist Duan, I showed you mercy before, not wanting to stir up trouble. I never expected you to be so ignorant of your limits. Since that's the case, don't blame me for being ruthless."

With that, its claws suddenly tightened. A dazzling silver light flared in its grip, and countless electric threads exploded.

Duan Renli screamed in agony, half of his body shattering in the silver electric light.

Then, a terrified dark-red miniature figure flashed out from his remains. Before it could flee far, it was struck by a silver electric thread, instantly turning into a wisp of green smoke, vanishing without even a cry.

A Mahayana cultivator who had ruled the Spirit Realm for countless eons thus perished, soul and spirit annihilated, leaving no trace in the world.

From the Thunder Peng's appearance to Duan Renli's death, the entire sequence happened in a flash, taking only a few breaths.

Tong Ren'e and He Shan clearly had no intention of aiding their companion; they had already fled out of sight.

...

Immortal Realm, Blackwater City Inner City.

Jingming Zhenren and Guyang Sanren were still in the third floor of the multi-eaved pavilion, sipping tea and chatting, but their topic had unconsciously shifted to exchanging cultivation insights.

Just as they were enjoying themselves, Jingming Zhenren's face turned pale, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, seeming to have suffered significant damage to his vitality.

"Fellow Daoist Jingming, what's wrong?" Guyang Sanren raised an eyebrow, asking hastily.

"The Spirit Infant Sword Talisman I bestowed to the lower realm has been broken!" Jingming Zhenren said, his face ashen, each word spoken with emphasis.

"Impossible, how could such a thing happen! Your Spirit Infant Sword Talisman is equivalent to your full-powered strike; even I dare not face it head-on. And with my yellow-turbaned soldiers assisting, could it be that he still wasn't killed?" Guyang Sanren was visibly shaken.

Jingming Zhenren's face was grim, and he said nothing.