The old devil then realized that a slender gap had been cut through his black winds.
He looked in the direction of the attack and his severed arm. There was no warning.
Frightened, he hastily pointed to the crimson shield in front of him with his remaining arm.
The shield flew high and enveloped him in a screen of crimson flame. Simultaneously, he released his spiritual sense around him, flusteredly searching anywhere for any sight of Han Li.
At that moment, the white line reappeared thirty meters behind the old devil. After circling once in the air, it paused and revealed a silhouette, Han Li.
He saw Han Li examining his own body. The two wings on his back were gently fluttering, and a purple light blade was still being held in his hand.
“Although the [Nine Gale Transformations] possess great power, it places a burden too great on the body,” Han Li muttered to himself, “Even with the third layer of the Bright Jade Arts, I find it difficult to use it even once.”
“That is only natural,” Han Li heard a boy’s voice with a careless tone, “This technique was something that the bird-type demon cultivators founded. As a human, you won’t be able to truly make use of this technique even with the aid of the thunderstorm wings. A far greater strain will be placed on your body than an ordinary demon bird cultivator after forcefully making use of this technique. As for the Bright Jade Arts, you’re only able to use its third layer a few times at most. Forcing any more would cause your body to quickly fall into a state of collapse. If you plan on making full use of this technique, you’d best cultivate the next layer of the Bright Jade Arts.”
“So it was like that!” Han Li sighed, “Although I made use of it several times when I was cultivating it, I hadn’t felt the strain of distant use since I was in such limited space.” He waved his hand and scattered the purple blade he held.
The child then chuckled and spoke no further.
Following Han Li’s appearance, the old devil immediately discovered trace of him.
However, the Soaring Sky Beast’s child form was undetectable to him, nor could he hear his voice transmissions. All he heard was Han Li softly muttering to himself.
Bewilderment flickering from his eyes, he quickly slapped a spirit beast pouch at his waist.
Black light suddenly flashed, summoning a jet-black two-headed python. Although it was only ten meters long, its trihorned head and the green Qi leaking out from its mouth displayed its incredibly venomous nature.
Then, Archsaint Six Paths opened his mouth and spat out an item wrapped in black light.
The item spun once in the air and the light faded away to reveal a small white flag. Following an incantation from the old devil, it massively expanded to three meters tall.
When Han Li saw the banner, he couldn't help but reveal his surprise.
The pole of the banner was forged from human bones with black mist across its surface. Grey talisman characters faintly glowed from it and there were three different skulls embedded in it, all of them wearing a sinister smile, showing their crooked wicked sharp fangs. Their laughs shook the blood of those of heard it.
With a soft shout, the old devil pressed his hand against the bone banner.
The three skulls trembled as black mist spouted out from their mouths. They fished up his severed hand, fighting each other as they devoured pieces of it.
The skulls flashed with crimson light, their stature immediately enlarged.
With this, most of the terror on Archsaint Six Paths’ face vanished and he sullenly turned to look at Han Li.
It appeared the old devil had regained his senses.
With the bizarre speed that Han Li displayed, he knew escape was no longer an option. He would be rushing to his death if he continued to flee. It would be better to struggle to the very end, hoping to find any chance of victory.
As a result, he revealed the last treasure he held in reserve, something that had never been seen by others.
Han Li frowned as the sight of this. Although he had never seen the treasure before, the banner carried astonishing Yin Qi. He didn’t dare to underestimate it.
Han Li then heard an odd sound.
“The [Three Divine Souls Banner]? I didn’t expect someone in this world capable of refining such a wicked item. It is truly beyond belief!”
“It is quite famous in the spirit realm as one of the seven great wicked artifacts. Of course, this superficial copy possesses only a mere fraction of a true banner. The creation of it is exceptionally bloody, requiring each human or beast it is refined from to die a horrible death.
Although it isn’t particularly powerful, it required the deaths of many cultivators.” The child chuckled. Although he spoke highly of the banner, there was a hint of fear in his voice.
“So it was like that!” A brief moment of realization was followed with a sneer. “Tch tch, it is no wonder he is the greatest devil cultivator in the Scattered Star Seas. There is nothing he shies away from. Since he has a wicked artifact of such repute, I may as well test its power.” Han Li then reached at his waist and raised his hand, summoning forth a jet-black bottle.
The bottle spun in the air and its lid opened of its own accord.
Suddenly, grey Yin Qi shot out from within, releasing five white silhouettes leisurely floating in the air. They were the Unbreakable Cinque Devils.
As soon as the five devils appeared, Han Li formed an incantation gesture.
Suddenly, five skeletons climbed out from the ocean and instantly turned into wheel-sized ghost heads. With twisted horns and vicious fangs, they pounced directly at the banner.
“Unbreakable Cinque Devils!” As expected of his reputation as the greatest devil cultivator of the seas, Archsaint Six Paths immediately recognized the five devils and couldn't help but utter their name.
As the old devil didn’t know how Han Li acquired the cinque devils rather than personally creating them, he believed Han Li to be a vicious devil cultivator like himself.
He immediately felt his heart sink.
This person was already difficult to deal with. If Han Li was also skilled in Devil Dao techniques, he might’ve truly run into calamity.
With the cinque devils whistling towards him, he had no choice but to move the banner in front of him.
The bone banner trembled. Its three embedded skulls let out chilling cackles before opening their mouths and spouting out pitch-black Yin Qi.
As they continued their charge, the cinque devils opened their mouths, spouting out green Yin flames. For a time, black Qi and green devil flames roiled together and ruptured continuously.
In the following moment, the old devil’s cheek switched.
In the confrontation, the cinque devil’s Yin fire pushed back the black Qi with overwhelming force.
Archsaint Six Paths let out a string of curses in his mind.
To the best of his knowledge, the cinque devils should only have the abilities expected of the late-Core Formation stage, but the ghost heads before his eyes displayed a power far beyond that. They suppressed the three early Nascent Soul-stage devil skulls embedded in his banner. But it also stood to mention that a magic treasure's power heavily depended on the wielder's magic power and control.
The old devil gritted his teeth and formed an incantation gesture with a single hand, opening his mouth to spit out a mist of blood essence.
The bone banner loudly droned, absorbing all of it in an instant. Its talisman characters roiled with great intensity and countless fist-sized skulls began to appear around it.
These phantoms opened their mouths all at once, spitting out countless streams of black Qi, massing together to take the form of a black flood dragon. The dragon circled in the air once before pouncing towards the five ghost heads.
Two of the cinque devils faintly trembled, turning back from their ghost head forms to skeletons. They slapped their hands together and summoned a pair of meter-long bone sabers in their hands. Without any fear, they charged to meet the flood dragon in battle.
With two less ghost heads, the Yin fire released by the remaining three cinque devils greatly weakened, stabilizing the confrontation with the bone banner’s black Qi.
Black Qi and Yin flames were in deadlock.
The old devil felt a moment of relief, but when he looked at Han Li again, his heart trembled.
Han Li was looking at the battle with his hands behind his back, wearing a mysterious smile on his face. It was at that moment, he suddenly sensed something amiss and he returned his gaze to the battle.
He betrayed bafflement on his face and his heart dropped. Suddenly, a feeling of extreme danger appeared above his head.
Suddenly, the strange two-headed python spiraling above his head let out a noisy bewildering cry, catching the old devil’s attention.
He turned his head and to find an azure silhouette floating ten meters behind him. A black crystalline knife had cleaved through the black wind surrounding him and was slowly making its way to his crimson light barrier.
Had he not turned around, he feared his body would soon lack a head. Archsaint Six Paths' face was drained of all blood.
When the second Nascent Soul inside the puppet saw that his ambush was exposed, he suddenly cast an incantation gesture. With the sound of tearing space, the knife blinked forward.
As for the puppet, silver light brightly glowed from its body before disappearing without a trace.
Meanwhile, Han Li finally took action after standing from a distance with his hands behind his back. With a cold glint lighting up in his eye, he raised his hand and green light flashed as the Eight Spirit Ruler strangely warped in front of him.
He grabbed the ruler and waved it at Six Paths. Then with a flutter of his wings and a clap of thunder, he vanished.
Incapable of paying attention to what Han Li was doing, the old devil saw the jet-black knife stop for just a moment before easily piercing his defensive barrier. In that instant, he let out a deafening shout.
His figure blurred and suddenly, a black streak flew out from the bottom of his chest to meet the saber. Following that, his body turned into two copies of itself and shot off in different directions.