Chapter 1938: Reversal
At first glance, the object appeared to be an ordinary scroll. The scroll flew over to the air above the green ball, where it slowly unfurled to reveal a piece of artwork depicting countless golden flying swords.
This was none other than the Myriad Sword Artwork that Han Li had only completely refined not long ago.
As soon as the scroll was unfurled, it released a burst of dazzling golden light alongside an astonishing baleful aura.
The golden light then vanished in a flash, and the green ball in front of the artwork also disappeared. It had been drawn into the artwork!
A faint smile appeared on the spirit body's face, and it made a hand seal, upon which the golden artwork slowly rolled up into the scroll again, then hovered in mid-air in a completely stationary manner.
Han Li waved a hand upward, and a resounding boom rang out as a vast expanse of light erupted from the palatial projections up above. The light swept down toward the scroll before drawing it into the projections, following which plumes of dense white mist emerged to conceal all of the palatial projections in the air above.
Meanwhile, within the restriction formed by the Nine Palaces Heavenly Talisman, the Myriad Sword Artwork tremored violently, and a layer of golden light swirled around it before it slowly began to unfurl again.
However, the scroll had only managed to open up halfway before a giant rainbow pagoda projection erupted out of it, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as the scroll exploded into countless specks of golden light.
Immediately thereafter, a small ball of rainbow light emerged, and it was none other than the Rainbow Light Pagoda.
On the surface of the pagoda, the indistinct image of a pale face could be seen; it belonged to none other than the clone of Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang who had fused as one with the pagoda.
The paleness of his complexion and the furious look on his face clearly indicated that he had been forced to expend a lot of power to break out of the scroll.
However, before the rainbow pagoda had a chance to unleash any other abilities, the specks of golden light that had erupted from the explosion suddenly became extremely bright and dazzling.
A sharp ringing sound rang out, and a series of golden flying swords emerged out of thin air around the small pagoda. Each and every shimmering golden sword was of an identical length and appearance, and there was no end to them in sight.
The entire area had transformed into a sea of swords, and golden light encompassed the entirety of the nearby space.
The face on the small pagoda couldn't help but falter slightly upon seeing this.
In the next instant, all of the flying swords let loose sharp ringing sounds, then swiveled around to direct their tips at the rainbow pagoda with unerring accuracy.
"Crap!"
Even the perpetually calm clone's expression changed drastically upon seeing this. Immediately thereafter, the golden flying swords in the surrounding area shot forth toward the small pagoda in a torrential storm.
The rainbow light around the small pagoda did indeed possess remarkable defensive abilities, but it still immediately began to struggle in the face of so many attacks at once.
Of course, the clone that had fused as one with the pagoda wasn't just going to stand by idly and watch, but in the face of this barrage of ferocious attacks, there was no time for him to unleash any other abilities.
In the end, he could only inject an enormous burst of spiritual power into the rainbow pagoda, thereby stabilizing the layer of rainbow light again and repelling all of the flying swords in the immediate vicinity.
However, there seemed to be no end to these golden flying swords; just as the clone thought that he could take a moment to catch his breath, the next wave of flying swords arrived, and soon, the layer of rainbow light was beginning to waver again.
As such, he was forced to inject magic power into the pagoda again to bolster its defenses. As a result, the small pagoda was trapped on the spot and unable to do anything aside from passively defend.
Han Li could sense what was happening within the restriction formed by the Nine Palaces Heavenly Talismans, and he was very elated by what he saw.
He immediately let loose a loud roar and pounced toward Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang, who was battling the 13 Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles.
Spiritual light flashed from the spirit body down below, and it also began to fly toward the same target, but in the next instant, a streak of crimson light suddenly appeared in the distance before approaching at a rapid speed.
Within the streak of crimson light was none other than the clone of Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang that had been tasked with chasing down the Purple Word Cauldron.
Han Li didn't know whether the clone had managed to recover the cauldron, but he was flying directly back toward Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang.
"Stop him!" Han Li immediately issued an instruction through his spiritual sense to his spirit body upon seeing this.
Thus, the spirit body instantly changed directions and flew toward the approaching clone instead.
A cold light flashed through the clone's eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately flicked his fingers toward the spirit body.
10 crimson threads shot forth from his fingertips in a flash, and these crimson threads instantly transformed into thick pillars of crimson light that hurtled directly toward the spirit body.
At the same time, the clone opened his mouth to expel a burst of black flames.
The spirit body's powers were clearly inferior to those of the clone, but it wasn't about to back down. It also opened its mouth to expel a plume of green threads, then produced a short silver ruler with a flick of its wrist. The ruler was waved through the air, and countless silver ruler projections were instantly conjured up before surging toward the clone like a silver wave.
As a result, the clone was stopped in his tracks and unable to advance any further.
Meanwhile, Han Li's three heads had begun to chant in unison, and he swept his six arms through the air, releasing countless silver runes that drifted toward Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang.
These runes then instantly manifested into bursts of tremendous force. Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang had initially thought that Han Li would be completely preoccupied with battling his clone, but much to his astonishment, Han Li had been able to trap the Rainbow Light Pagoda, as well as the clone controlling it, in that massive formation up above.
Due to the fact that the three of them had been sent into an alternate realm, their powers were nowhere near those of their true body. On top of that, there were some powerful treasures that they were unable to bring into the Spirit Realm, but with the Rainbow Light Pagoda and Purple Word Cauldron in their arsenal, they should've been able to crush all beings below the Grand Ascension Stage in the Spirit Realm.
However, he didn't think that their primary target would be this troublesome to deal with. First, the Purple Word Cauldron had somehow escaped his control, and now, the Rainbow Light Pagoda had been completely suppressed by Han Li's spirit body.
If it weren't for the fact that he could still sense that the clone controlling the rainbow pagoda was fine and still had a good chance of escaping the restriction, he would've most likely already turned around and made a tactical retreat.
Even so, he was still becoming a little concerned.
However, now that he was being attacked by Han Li, a hint of ferocity welled up in his heart to override his worry. He immediately swept a hand through the air, and the eight crimson ghostly projections that were battling the Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles instantly vanished. The eight azure ghostly heads then let loose ghastly howls in unison before detaching themselves from one another, then disappeared into Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang's body in a flash.
In the next instant, he made a hand seal, and crimson light flashed from his body as he began to swell drastically in size, transforming into a giant that was not much smaller than the massive golden ape. Eight bursts of black Qi also erupted from his shoulders, following which eight ghostly azure heads emerged.
These eight heads were each displaying a different emotion, and they were extremely harrowing to behold.
The devilish giant let loose a roar of fury and swept his arms through the air like the spokes of a wagon wheel, sending countless claw projections hurtling through the air. At the same time, the eight heads opened their mouths to expel bursts of black Qi.
The black Qi converged in the air to form a huge black flower, which clashed with the oncoming burst of tremendous force.
The giant flower shuddered before it was instantly crushed into nothingness by the enormous force, but it also nullified most of that power.
The remaining force was then countered by the ferocious claw projections.
A cold light flashed through Han Li's six eyes upon seeing this, and he suddenly let loose a thunderous roar that made the devilish giant sway unsteadily on the spot.
Golden light flashed, and a sword projection that was around a foot in length suddenly appeared right in front of the devilish giant.
The devilish giant was still a little dizzy, and he was quite startled by this attack, but he still reacted very quickly as his hand shot forth like lightning to make a grab for the sword projection.
However, in the instant that his hand closed around the sword projection, it merely vanished as if it were nothing more than an illusion.
The devilish giant naturally faltered slightly upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to figure out what Han Li's attack was all about, the sword projection suddenly re-emerged in his spiritual sense before descending in a vicious strike.
"Argh!"
A burst of excruciating pain shot through the devilish giant's soul, and he involuntarily threw his hands over his head as he let loose a howl of agony.
This was none other than an ability that Han Li had mastered from the Sword Observation Art he had derived from the Myriad Sword Artwork, and it specialized in targeting one's spiritual sense.
Unfortunately, this was a True Immortal Realm cultivation art and was not something that he could use without any consequences. As such, he was struck with a certain degree of backlash as well, and if it weren't for the fact that he had combined his golden body with his Giant Mountain Ape form, he wouldn't have dared to use it in battle.
Even so, he still gave a muffled groan as golden and silver runes flashed over his body, and he seemed to have sustained even more damage than the devilish giant.
However, Han Li was prepared for this backlash, and even though his three heads were also struck by a burst of sharp pain, he managed to repress the pain and sprang through the air as he let loose a low roar.
After just a single flash, he covered a distance of over 1,000 feet and appeared directly above the devilish giant.
A long golden blade then emerged within each of his six hands before being slashed viciously toward the devilish giant's main head.