Chapter 1123: The Infernal Ghost Mother
Han Li was naturally unwilling to be enshrouded under the Myriad Demon Flag. As such, he immediately pointed a finger toward the five devils while chanting to activate his devil control arts.
The five devils rose into the sky and as silver light flashed, the five skeletons combined to form a single massive skeleton over 300 feet tall.
Green light then flashed within the skeleton's eye sockets as it reached out with its bony hands. Two of its ribs also flew out from its body and instantly transformed into two bone blades each over 100 feet in length. It then tilted its head back and let loose an almighty roar before grabbing the two rib-bone blades and violently slashing them through the air.
A cross-shaped blade of radiance swept through the air, shimmering with astonishing glacial light as it hurtled toward the massive flag upon above. In the process, it sliced through all of the silver light descending from above before striking the Myriad Demon Flag.
An earthshattering boom erupted as demonic Qi and glacial light intertwined with one another.
The massive skeleton then abruptly rose into the air and slashed its twin sabers wildly through the air. A series of crescent-shaped streaks of glacial light were unleashed as it attempted to destroy the massive flag in one fell swoop.
Old Devil Che's enraged roar rang out from within the Myriad Demon Flag as the falt instantly began to shrink, reducing itself to only around a foot in size in the blink of an eye.
The small child emerged in a flash before grabbing onto the flag. His body then swayed as he instantly teleported several hundred feet away.
At its massive size, the Myriad Demon Flag was very cumbersome to move around and also presented a huge target for the giant skeleton's twin blades. Old Devil Che as clearly also aware of this, so he decided to revert the flag back to its original size.
Upon seeing this, the massive white skeleton also began to shrink amid a cloud of grey-white devil Qi. In the end, it shrank down to only around 20 feet tall before letting loose an unsettling screech. Grey-white devil Qi came spilling out of its mouth as it wielded the minimized bone blades, rushing directly toward the small child.
The Unbroken Cinque Devils were proving to be quite a headache for the small child as well.
Due to the special refinement method used to create the five devils, they were immune to the restrictive effect of the Myriad Demon Flag. Furthermore, unless he had a specialized devil-taming treasure or if he could kill their owner, the five devils were almost unkillable No matter how many times they were shattered or destroyed, they would simply be able to respawn again.
The Myriad Demon Flag was an extremely powerful treasure, but only when applied to human cultivators. In the face of these powerful devils, it really wasn't very effective at all. Even if he could take care of these devils through his own power, it would definitely require quite a lengthy process.
In the face of the oncoming skeleton, Old Devil Che could only furrow his brows and use his Myriad Demon Flag to unleash bursts of inky-black demonic Qi, attempting to keep the skeleton at bay. However, 60% of his spiritual sense was focused on Han Li, leaving only 40% focused on dealing with the five devils.
At this moment, Han Li was standing shoulder to shoulder with his humanoid puppet. His expression was very dark and indecisive and he remained standing on the spot.
The silver-robed woman was also standing firmly on the platform, seemingly without any intention of attacking him.
It appeared that she wished for this impasse to continue or perhaps she was afraid that if she were to move, Han Li would be able to sneak around her and escape using the teleportation formation.
As for the two four-winged centipedes, they were hovering over the two smaller teleportation formations while appraising Han Li with threatening looks.
This Ice Phoenix knew that the two teleportation formations were the only ways out of the hall.
In contrast, the reason that Han Li wasn't initiating an attack was very simple; he was rather wary of the Ice Phoenix's spatial manipulation abilities.
He had many tricks up his sleeve himself, but he was struggling to think of a way to force back this demon beast before escaping safely from this place.
However, right at this moment, a burst of wild cackling suddenly erupted from the center of the hall behind him.
"Haha! I've finally come out! I'm going to have some fun this time. You promised me you wouldn't make me go back until I've had my fun."
The cackling voice sounded like a female one, but it was extremely coarse and unpleasant to listen to.
Han Li faltered slightly before sweeping his spiritual sense behind him, upon which a surprised look appeared on his face.
The palace master who was originally battling the two Ice Phoenix avatars suddenly abandoned that battlefield to rush toward Han Li. The two elderly men were left behind to take care of the Ice Phoenix avatars.
Behind the woman was a cloud of dark green Yin Qi that followed her like a shadow. There was an indistinct female figure swirling within the green Qi, and the cackling had also erupted from there.
Han Li could sense that the woman in this cloud of ghostly Qi possessed extremely powerful Yin energy, and was another late-Nascent Soul cultivator.
However, the Yin energy emanating from her body suggested that she was an extremely powerful ghost cultivator!
"Don't worry, Fellow Daoist Han, I won't allow them to gang up on you! I'm here to lend you my assistance!" the palace master said.
Han Li was a little speechless upon hearing this.
This woman was clearly just afraid that he would be slain by these two demon beasts before they turned on the North Night Palace. However, she was making it sound as if she were joining this battle solely to help him.
From the very beginning, these tenth grade demon cultivators had been targeting the North Night Palace.
However, Han Li was rather surprised by the fact that the woman was able to immediately identify him, and he certainly wasn't going to object to her help.
Having two late-Nascent Soul cultivators joining him in battle would be a brilliant turn of events. Even though this palace master was far weaker than these two demons, the ghost cultivator within the cloud of green Qi was far more powerful and struck Han Li with an immense sense of pressure. She was most likely at the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage!
Upon catching sight of the woman in the green Qi, the small child who was battling the huge skeleton suddenly cried, "Infernal Ghost Mother! Don't go poking your nose into my business!"
An extremely unpleasant burst of cackling escaped from the woman's mouth as she retorted fearlessly, "Hehe, if your true body were here, then I naturally wouldn't dare to intervene, but you're just a mere avatar; what are you going to do? Eat me?"
"Infernal Ghost Mother? You're that ghost cultivator who destroyed several cultivator sects on your own!" The silver-robed woman's expression also changed slightly upon hearing this name. She was clearly also aware of who this woman was.
"It's an honor that the master of the glacial sea has heard of my name! Even back when my body had first disintegrated, I had heard that you possessed the power to progress to the Deity Transformation Stage. The fact that you're still only at the tenth grade must be because you're afraid of creating an imbalance in the human world's origin Qi, thereby inflicting backlash on yourself! But restricting your own cultivation base like this must be a very bad feeling. Besides, even though you Ice Phoenixes have extremely long lifespans, you shouldn't be able to live much longer if you don't progress." The woman in the ghostly Qi seemed to be very familiar with this tenth grade Ice Phoenix, and had just revealed her the biggest secret in her heart.
The silver-robed woman's expression immediately darkened.
In contrast, Han Li drew a sharp breath in shock. He finally understood why this Ice Phoenix was so difficult to deal with.
The palace master suddenly harrumphed coldly, and said, "I didn't release you so you could catch up with some old friends!"
"Don't worry, I can easily ensure your survival as long as there aren't any Deity Transformation cultivators around. But don't forget what you promised me! Also, you forcibly summoned me even though you didn't have any spirit stones; after this, Yin Qi is going to enter your body and you're inevitably going to suffer a severe illness as a result," the Infernal Ghost Mother cackled.
The palace master's expression darkened upon hearing this, but she didn't say anything in response.
In the blink of an eye, the palace master and the Infernal Ghost Mother had reached the platform, where they faced off against the two demon beasts by Han Li's side.
The palace master turned to Han Li with an amicable expression, and suggested, "Brother Han, what do you say we join forces and get rid of this Ice Phoenix first?"
"I've got no objections to that!" Han Li stroked his chin and nodded in response.
The palace master was ecstatic to hear this, yet just as she was about to attack with the Infernal Ghost Mother, the silver-robed woman down below suddenly chuckled coldly before unleashing a streak of white light.
Following a resounding boom, one of the small teleportation formations was sliced cleanly in half.
Both Han Li and the palace master's expressions changed drastically upon seeing this.
"If you're planning to gang up on me, then I'm going to destroy this formation as well!" the silver-robed woman threatened.
The palace master forcibly calmed herself down before asking, "Why would you do that? If you destroy that teleportation formation, then none of you will be able to leave the Spirit Void Hall either!"
"Have you forgotten how I managed to infiltrate the Spirit Void Hall in the first place?" The silver-robed woman chuckled coldly.
Han Li's expression was slightly strained.
The palace master contemplated the situation momentarily before turning to Han Li as she said, "There's no need to pay any heed to her threats, Fellow Daoist Han. Even if this accursed beast really does destroy the teleportation formation, we can join forces to break through the restriction and exit through the main gate of the hall. It will take some time, but it definitely can be done."
Han Li's brows furrowed as an indecisive look appeared o his face.
If he hadn't killed those three North Night Palace cultivators in the Profound Jade Cave, then he could naturally join forces with the palace master to kill these demon beasts first before breaking through the restriction to escape this place. However, that was clearly a course of action that would take a long time and by then, the North Night Palace cultivators would have definitely discovered the situation in the Profound Jade Cave. He couldn't afford to waste any more time!
The palace master was initially slightly perplexed by Han Li's expression before a thought suddenly occurred to her.
Han Li had appeared before her, yet none of the other Nascent Soul cultivators that he had entered the Profound Jade Cave with had re-emerged. That had already struck her with a sense of foreboding. However, in the face of such powerful enemies, she could only pretend to be oblivious to the situation.
A decisive light suddenly flashed through her eyes as her lips tremored, as if she were transmitting her voice.
The Infernal Ghost Mother behind her suddenly flashed within the cloud of green mist and her body abruptly became blurry and insubstantial.
Immediately thereafter, a thin green thread shot forth soundlessly from within the mist before disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Even though the green thread was traveling in an extremely stealthy manner, the Ice Phoenix down below still caught on to the fact that something was amiss as she let loose a sharp cry.
"Don't you dare!"
She then flicked her fingers toward the other smaller teleportation formation, sending five bursts of white sword Qi hurtling toward it. At the same time, the four-winged centipede in the air above that formation also abruptly lowered its head, blasting out a cloud of white glacial Qi that completely enshrouded the teleportation formation within.