Chapter 1780: Awakening
White runes began to emerge from the pond before instantly vanishing into the crystalline coffin, and a ball of light began to materialize within the coffin that instantly transformed into an indistinct white humanoid figure.
Xu Jiao immediately swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, and a small crimson vial immediately flew out before hovering in front of him in a stationary manner.
Xu Jiao took a deep breath before raising a hand, and he quickly made a series of hand seals, casting one incantation seal after another, all of which vanished into the small crimson vial in a flash.
A layer of translucent crimson light appeared over the surface of the vial, and it shuddered slightly before its lid flew off on its own.
A crimson thread shot forth out of the opening of the vial, then surged directly toward the crystalline coffin above the pond at Xu Jiao's behest.
The crimson thread than entered the crystalline coffin without any impediment, following which a peculiar scene unfolded.
In the instant that the crimson thread vanished into the coffin, the white humanoid figure was immediately stained red.
The Xu Family cultivators seemed to all be aware that they had reached the critical moment upon seeing this, and the spiritual light emanating from their bodies brightened while their chanting crescendoed to a climax.
As for the three Spatial Tempering cultivators, they were all pouring their power into their crimson flags in a frenzy.
Bright red runes began to emerge from the crimson light in the air above the formation, and these runes then revolved incessantly around the crystalline coffin.
The blood vortex within the pond also instantly began to emit a sharp screeching sound.
One crimson thread after another shot forth out of the blood pond in large swaths before vanishing into the coffin and rapidly wrapping themselves around the crimson humanoid figure.
With the influx of so many crimson threads at once, the indistinct humanoid figure quickly transformed into what appeared to be a crimson humanoid cocoon. As more and more crimson threads surged into the coffin, the cocoon continued to increase in size and clarity.
Mere moments later, the crimson cocoon had expanded to the size of a normal human being, and facial features had begun to take shape on its head, creating a rather unsettling sight to behold.
However, if one were to carefully inspect the cocoon with their spiritual sense, they'd be able to discover that even though there were countless crimson threads following into the cocoon, they quickly began to wither away from the inside before disintegrating into nothingness.
Time passed by slowly, and the Xu Family cultivators were still pouring their power into the formation with all their might, but the number of crimson threads erupting from the blood pond didn't increase any further.
Under these circumstances, not only did the mass of the humanoid cocoon not continue to increase, it was beginning to shrink instead. Countless crimson threads squirmed and writhed, and an agonized look appeared on the crimson cocoon's face.
All of the Xu Family cultivators' expressions changed drastically upon seeing this as they dug deeper into their magic power reserves, but all they could do was just barely prevent the situation from deteriorating even further.
Not long after that, all of the Xu Family cultivators' complexions had become quite pale, clearly indicating that they were overexerting their magic power.
Xu Jiao's anxiety was growing by the minute, and he couldn't help but turn toward Han Li, only to discover that he was still sitting at the same spot before and hadn't moved so much as a single inch. He was stroking his chin as he appraised the situation, and he seemed to be contemplating something.
"Senior Han..." Xu Jiao called out in a beseeching manner, yet just as he was about to request for Han Li's assistance, Han Li interjected to cut him off.
"There's no need to panic, Fellow Daoist; I agreed to lend you my assistance, so I'll definitely step in when required."
He then stood up in an unhurried manner, then suddenly laid a hand onto the top of his own head.
Black light flashed, and a tiny black humanoid figure that was only half a foot tall abruptly appeared. The tiny humanoid figure wore a suit of black battle armor, but was wielding no weapons. It was completely expressionless, and it was none other than Han Li's second Nascent Soul.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li raised a sleeve, and a ball of golden light shot forth from within before transforming into a small golden beast in a flash.
The small beast had a cold look in its eyes and was emanating a fearsome aura; it was none other than the Leopard Kirin Beast.
All of the Xu Family cultivators were quite stunned by the sight of this Nascent Soul and the small beast, yet before they had a chance to react, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and commanded, "Go!"
The Nascent Soul above his head immediately made a hand seal, and its body swayed before it abruptly vanished on the spot.
In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted above Xu Huo's head, and the black Nascent Soul abruptly reappeared.
His expression changed slightly, and a sense of wariness welled up in his heart as he instantly placed several of his most powerful treasures on standby.
However, the Nascent Soul completely ignored him and merely thrust its two little hands toward the crimson flag up ahead.
Two pillars of black light erupted from its hands, then vanished into the crimson flag.
The flag had originally begun to dim slightly due to Xu Huo's insufficient magic power, but the crimson light emanating from it instantly brightened amid a buzzing sound, and it began to glow far brighter than it had even in the beginning.
Xu Huo faltered slightly upon seeing this before switching to a series of different hand seals in an elated manner to assist the Nascent Soul above him.
At the same time, the Leopard Kirin Beast's body blurred, and in the next instant, it appeared beside Xu Yan.
The small beast opened its mouth, and the pure spiritual power within its body also erupted forth as a pillar of golden light to strike the crimson flag ahead of it.
As for Han Li himself, he took a step forward in what appeared to be a casual manner, but azure and white lightning suddenly flashed beneath his feet. The distance of several hundred feet was covered by him in the blink of an eye, and he appeared in front of Xu Yuan.
Before Xu Yuan even had a chance to react, Han Li reached a hand out of his sleeve before gently flicking a finger toward the third crimson flag.
A speck of azure light erupted from his fingertip, then instantly transformed into a fist-sized azure lotus flower that shot forth in a flash.
In the next instant, the azure lotus projection vanished into the crimson flag, which instantly began to tremor violently before expanding even further within the crimson light. Bright red runes began to gush out of the flag in a frenzy, and the Han Li was also flicking the fingers on his other hand through the air in quick succession.
One azure lotus flower after another flew through the air before silently vanishing into the crimson flag as bursts of pure spiritual power.
Xu Yuan was originally finding it quite strenuous to maintain his power output into the flag, but the pressure on him was instantly alleviated, and he was naturally ecstatic.
With this additional influx of power, the sharp screeching sound from the blood vortex came to an abrupt halt, but the vortex itself expanded to over twice its original size, taking up virtually the entire pond.
The crimson threads erupting from the pond originally emerged strand by strand, but following the expansion of the vortex, they began to gush out of the pond in large plumes.
The crimson cocoon that was beginning to wither away in the crystalline coffin was instantly injected with a new burst of vitality. Not only did it quickly return to its former size, as the crimson threads squirmed and writhed, the cocoon was beginning to resemble a gorgeous woman.
Xu Jiao was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately yelled, "Begin manifesting the blood body!"
As soon as this instruction was issued, all of the Xu Family cultivators switched to different hand seals, and the crimson runes that were hovering around the crystalline coffin surged into the coffin in a frenzy before vanishing into the crimson cocoon.
After absorbing these runes, spiritual light began to flow over the crimson humanoid cocoon, and its surface gradually became smoother and more translucent.
After around 10 minutes, the humanoid cocoon had completely transformed into what appeared to be a bright red statue that was hovering within the crystalline coffin in a completely still manner.
"We did it!"
Xu Jiao heaved a long sigh of relief before withdrawing his hand seal. All of the other Xu Family cultivators naturally followed suit.
The spiritual light emanating from the entire formation instantly receded, and it ceased to function.
Only then did all of the Xu Family cultivators rise to their feet before casting their eyes toward the crimson crystalline coffin in the air above.
The three Spatial Tempering cultivators were also scrutinizing the figure within the coffin with rapt focus.
Meanwhile, Han Li summoned his second Nascent Soul and Leopard Kirin Beast back to himself, and the two silently rushed back before vanishing up his sleeve.
Only then did Han Li also turn his attention toward the crystalline coffin in an intrigued manner.
Crystalline light swirled incessantly over the surface of the crimson statue inside the coffin, following which two faint cracks rang out, and the parts on the statue where the eyes should be split open to reveal a pair of holes.
A pair of vibrant red eyes then emerged from within the holes before releasing an extremely alluring light.
Han Li's expression changed ever so slightly upon seeing this before instantly reverting back to normal.
The entire hall was completely silent, and all of the Xu Family cultivators were appraising the crystalline coffin with bated breath.
The two faint cracks in the beginning were only a precursor for what was to come.
After looking around, the pair of eyes that had just emerged closed once again, and moments later, countless thin cracks appeared over the entire crimson statue amid a string of faint cracking sounds.
After that, a delightful moan rang out, and the layer of solid crimson substance over the surface of the statue's body fell away as countless fragments.
These fragments then vanished as a cloud of blood mist, revealing a peerlessly beautiful female body in the nude.
Her long slender legs and smooth lower abdomen were all extremely alluring to the male cultivators present. Her pristine fair skin and flawless features made her appear as if she were a perfect work of art.
Her eyes were tightly shut, and her arms were crossed over her chest to conceal an even more alluring part of her body. Many of the male cultivators in the hall couldn't help but silently gulp at the sight of this stunning figure.
Thankfully, all of the Xu Family cultivators present were at or above the Deity Transformation Stage, so they had far superior self-control than the average person. Otherwise, it was quite likely that some of them would display even more unsightly reactions.
Before Xu Jiao and the others had a chance to do anything, crimson light suddenly flashed, and a gorgeous crimson palatial dress abruptly appeared over her body.
Her long eyelashes then fluttered and she slowly opened her eyes, revealing a pair of completely expressionless crimson pupils.