Chapter 2004: Black Sun
The golden ball of light wasn't very large, but as soon as it was hurled through the air, it instantly reverted back into a giant vortex that came crashing down toward the burly man.
A burst of enormous invisible force erupted out of the vortex, forcing the burly man down into a hunched over position. At the same time, the nearby space twisted and warped, looking as if it were about to crumble at any moment.
An unhealthy flush appeared on the burly man's face, and his body was also trembling slightly under the fearsome pressure exerted upon him by the vortex, but he refused to be crushed. A vicious light flashed through his eyes as he let loose a loud roar, and a burst of piercing crimson flames erupted over his suit of battle armor, while an extremely formidable aura surged out of his body.
The crimson flames charred the nearby space black, and the tremendous force weighing down upon him was alleviated, allowing him to stand up straight again before making a grabbing motion upward.
The three-headed devilish lion above him instantly exploded into a cloud of black mist amid a dull thump, and the mist swept toward his hand before forming an inky-black devilish spear that was around 10 feet in length.
The entire spear was shimmering with black spiritual light, and the spearhead was split up into three prongs, all of which were covered in blue spiritual symbols and engraved with the image of a fierce lion's head.
A ferocious look appeared on the burly man's face as he hurled the spear through the air, and it instantly vanished into the center of the vortex.
In the instant that the spear vanished into the enormous vortex, the latter instantly shattered amid a dull thump, then disintegrated into countless specks of spiritual light.
The burly made a grabbing motion again, and the inky-black devilish spear re-emerged before he tossed it through the air a second time without any hesitation. On this occasion, the spear was targeting the three-headed giant ape in the distance, who was rooted to the spot in the wake of the golden vortex's abrupt destruction.
The spear reached Han Li in a flash, and his heart jolted as he immediately swung his six arms through the air. Six shimmering golden heavy weapons instantly appeared in his hands before being swung viciously toward the black spear.
An earth-shattering boom erupted as golden light and black Qi intertwined before both were vanquished at the same time.
Han Li's pupils contracted upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, the burly man repeated the same grabbing and hurling motion, sending yet another devilish spear flying toward Han Li.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he conjured up six golden weapons in his hands again, and just like last time, the golden weapons and black spear canceled one another out again.
It was now the burly man's turn to be rooted to the spot.
During this split-second delay, Han Li let loose a low roar as he conjured up another set of six weapons before hurling them forward all at once. His three heads began to chant in unison, and bright golden light emanated from the six weapons as they rapidly released one projection after another. In the blink of an eye, several thousand golden projections had appeared, and all of them were raining down from above, creating a magnificent sight to behold.
The burly man's expression darkened upon seeing this, but he wasn't panicked in the slightest. Instead, a cold smile appeared on his face as he expelled a ball of purple light out of his mouth.
As soon as the ball of purple light emerged, it rotated on the spot before self-detonating, sending countless threads of light flying in all directions to create an enormous net.
The golden projections hurtled into the net in a torrential downpour, and a rapid string of explosions ensued. Golden and purple light intertwined as the entire net tremored and flashed violently, looking as if it could be torn apart at any moment.
However, the burly man paid no heed to this at all as he chanted something before flicking his 10 fingers rapidly through the air. With each flick of his finger, the crimson flames burning over his body would dim slightly, but the net of light up above would swell further in size as a result.
Moments later, the giant net had swelled to several times its original size, transforming into a boundless purple cloud.
The purple cloud swept up all of the oncoming golden projections at the burly man's behest, then transformed into a purple ball of light that descended from above.
The burly man waved a hand through the air, and the ball of light instantly landed in his grasp. However, as he cast his gaze upward again, his expression immediately darkened.
He discovered that Han Li had vanished from his original spot, yet before he had a chance to do anything, spatial fluctuations abruptly erupted behind him, following which a shimmering golden beastly paw sprang forth out of thin air.
The paw was over 100 feet in size and came crashing down toward the burly man like a small mountain. Each sharp nail on the paw was like a giant golden blade, and several of them were converging toward the burly man at once.
The burly man harrumphed coldly as brilliant crimson flames erupted from his hand, and he reached out to retaliate the giant golden paw without any fear nor hesitation.
There was an enormous size difference between the two, but as soon as the burly man thrust his hand through the air, it swelled to over 100 times its original size.
The golden paw and crimson palm clashed, and the former was instantly destroyed by a burst of incredible power. At the same time, a golden shadow shot backward, revealing itself to be a small shimmering golden beast.
The beast was only several feet in size, but it was giving off a Body Integration Stage aura; it was none other than the Leopard Kirin Beast.
Han Li had surreptitiously released the beast so that it could sneak over to the burly man and launch a sneak attack, but that plan seemed to have fallen through.
In the instant that the Leopard Kirin Beast was sent flying, silver light flashed beside the burly man, and a streak of silver light sprang forth to bind the burly man's body in a completely unexpected manner.
Immediately thereafter, spatial fluctuations erupted as Han Li re-emerged, and as soon as he appeared, he swung the six golden weapons in his hands toward the burly man with tremendous force.
At the same time, he opened all three of his mouths to expel three balls of silver flames, which transformed into three Fire Ravens that flew directly toward the burly man.
In the face of these powerful attacks, the burly man remained completely unflustered. The crimson flames over his body swelled to destroy the silver streak of light that was binding him, following which the black spear reappeared in his hand amid a surge of black Qi.
The spear was then immediately hurled toward Han Li, and it split up into nine identical devilish spears mid-flight.
Six of them hurtled directly toward the six golden weapons, while the remaining three were aimed at the three silver Fire Ravens.
The six golden weapons and three silver Fire Ravens were all instantly vanquished by the nine spears, and Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, as he quickly shielded himself with his six arms.
The space in front of his arms instantly warped and twisted, following which another black spear shot forth out of thin air. However, before it could strike Han Li's arms, black gauntlets appeared on his arms amid a surge of black runes, and both the gauntlets and the spear instantly vanished upon coming into contact with one another.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this, but a peculiar look suddenly appeared on the burly man's face as he uttered the word "destroy" in a bone-chilling voice.
Black light flashed from where the black spear had just vanished, and a miniature spear that was only around half a foot in length sprang forth in a completely silent manner.
Under the disguise of the larger spear, even Han Li's enormous spiritual sense completely failed to detect this miniature spear, and he didn't have a chance to do anything before the spear struck his bare arms and exploded violently.
A giant ball of black light that was over 10,000 feet in size appeared in mid-air, completely enveloping Han Li's body like a black sun.
Han Li only had time to conjure up a layer of golden light around himself before he was completely inundated by the inky-black light.
Meanwhile, the black devilish sun was still expanding at a rapid rate, and everything in the surrounding area that was swept up into it was instantly reduced to dust.
The burly man chortled with glee upon seeing this. "Haha, no one's been able to survive my Nine Devilish Hierarchical Spears yet; you should be quite proud of yourself for forcing me to unleash such an ability."
The giant black sun finally began to shrink before vanishing after a few more flashes, and the burly man's laughter was abruptly cut off as an astonished look appeared on his face.
"Impossible! How could this be?" the burly man said in a voice that was trembling slightly.
There in the distance, a golden ball of light was hovering in mid-air. Within the golden light was a giant golden ape, a five-colored phoenix, and a massive silver bird.
The giant golden ape had its hands pressed against the golden light, injecting bursts of golden spiritual light into it in a frenzy.
The five-colored phoenix and giant silver bird remained still on the spot, but the five-colored light and silver lightning being released by them surged out of the golden light and formed two additional protective barriers.
The giant ape, colorful phoenix, and massive bird all wore completely wooden expressions that were devoid of spiritual nature; it was as if they were a trio of puppets.
The burly man was stunned to see this, and he hurriedly cast his gaze around himself as if to try and find something, but there was nothing to be seen.
He harrumphed coldly as he suddenly waved a hand toward the distance, and a black object instantly appeared beside him; it was none other than that black ghostly monster that had been battling the Provenance Golden Body earlier.
The black Qi around the monster faded, revealing it to be a black wooden puppet with countless golden and silver runes inscribed onto the surface of its body.
The puppet had an extremely menacing appearance with four remarkably long limbs, and faint crimson light flashing in its eyes.