Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before finally catching sight of the scenes within the crater down below.
The Five-colored Peacock laid within the crater with its talons pointing up at the heavens, and its feathers were in a state of complete disarray, with many of them having been severed. However, it was quite clear that the peacock itself hadn't sustained much damage.
In the next instant, it began to chant a complex incantation, and all of the five-colored runes revolving around it suddenly converged toward a single spot.
Countless runes came together to form a five-colored light formation with a diameter of several thousand feet, and Buddhist chants rang out from within the formation, which was also radiating piercing five-colored light.
A cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this, and he suddenly brought his palms together, upon which the two giant golden swords instantly combined as one amid a flash of golden light.
The combined giant sword was around 300 to 400 feet in length, and it was flashing with golden light. There was faint azure wyrm dancing and writhing within the sword, looking as if it could erupt out of the sword and rise up to the heavens at any moment.
The giant ape then uttered the word "slash" in a cold voice, and swung giant sword downward.
A streak of azure sword Qi immediately erupted from the blade, and it swelled to over 1,000 feet in size in a flash before striking the giant light formation in a vicious manner.
The formation was torn apart without being able to offer any resistance, but it then immediately repaired itself, and it was as if the slash of the giant sword had been completely ineffective against the light formation.
A hint of surprise flashed through the giant ape's eyes upon seeing this, but a cold smile then immediately appeared on its face as it slashed the giant sword downward again.
With Han Li's wealth of battle experience, he was naturally aware that the light formation definitely wasn't truly indestructible; he would just have to attack it a few more times.
The second streak of sword Qi was even more devastating than the first one, but as soon as it left the giant sword, the Five-colored Peacock suddenly ceased its chanting, then pointed one of its talons toward a certain direction in a solemn manner.
A pained roar immediately rang out from that direction, and Han Li's heart stirred slightly as he turned toward the source of the roar.
There, he discovered the Lightning Beast and Provenance Golden Body still engaged in a fierce battle, and the former wore an agonized expression on its face.
A loud thunderclap rang out from its body, and bolts of lightning of three different colors erupted forth in a frenzy, covering its entire body in a dense lightning net. It then abruptly abandoned its battle against the golden body and transformed into a ball of three-colored lightning, then hurtled directly toward the giant light formation.
Han Li didn't know what the beast's intentions were, but he knew that it would be a bad idea to allow the Lightning Beast to get its way, so he immediately let loose a thunderous roar while launching a massive furry fist toward the ball of lightning in a vicious manner.
At the same time, the Provenance Golden Body also let loose a long cry and gave chase as a ball of golden light.
A resounding boom rang out, and even though the giant ape was over 1,000 feet away from the ball of lightning, its punch had created a golden fist projection the size of a pavilion, and it struck the ball of lightning with devastating speed and force.
The Lightning Beast let loose a roar of fury, and despite its incredible powers, it was still unable to take a full-force strike from the giant ape head-on. The protective net of lightning around it was instantly torn apart by the fist projection, and its body was sent flying as well.
During this split-second delay, the Provenance Golden Body caught up to the Lightning Beast, and the six golden blades in its hands suddenly transformed into six ancient golden mirrors, which released six golden pillars of light that surged toward the Lightning Beast with tremendous force.
A string of explosions rang out in rapid succession, and the Lightning Beast was sent flying again by the pillars of light. At the same time, it let loose a pained roar, seemingly having sustained some minor injuries.
An urgent look appeared on Shopkeeper Yu's face upon seeing this, and he let loose a piercing long cry, as if he were desperately urging the Lightning Beast to do something.
A sharp shrill cry rang out from the Lightning Beast's mouth in response, following which the lightning around its body became significantly brighter, and an astonishing scene then ensued.
All of a sudden, three pairs of wings, one golden, one silver, and one blue, appeared on the Lightning Beast's back. It flapped those wings in unison, and immediately disappeared on the spot amid a loud thunderclap.
Thus, the next batch of pillars of light unleashed by the Provenance Golden Body struck nothing but empty air.
Han Li's pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately turned toward the giant light formation down below. At the same time, black light flashed from his glabella, and a vertical black demonic eye appeared.
A pillar of black light then erupted out of the eye, but immediately vanished into thin air.
Another thunderclap rang out from above the giant light formation, and the Lightning Beast reappeared. At the same time, a pillar of black light that was as thick as a large bowl also erupted out of thin air. At such close quarters, there was no way for the Lightning Beast to evade, yet right as the black pillar of light was about to strike the Lightning Beast's body, a loud buzzing sound suddenly rang out from the giant light formation.
Bright five-colored spiritual light erupted forth, and the black pillar of light faltered momentarily before suddenly turning a corner and glancing right past the Lightning Beast.
In the next instant, the Lightning Beast flapped its wings without any hesitation, and flew headfirst into the light formation, much to Han Li's dismay.
The process seemed to be quite complicated, but everything had actually taken place in the span of just a few breaths.
The Five-colored Peacock down below let loose an elated cry upon seeing this, and the five-colored spiritual light around it surged forth in a frenzy toward the giant light formation around it. It then flapped its wings, and even its body fused into the light formation as a ball of spiritual light.
Moments later, there was nothing left down below aside from the light formation itself.
However, the formation was beginning to undergo changes. Bursts of rumbling rang out from within it, and bright light radiated forth as several tens of thick five-colored pillars of light erupted from within.
Each pillar of light had a radius of around a foot, and all of them shot upward before vanishing into the white cloud and mist up above.
Han Li quickly determined that there were 81 of these pillars of light in total, yet before he had a chance to do anything, countless five-colored runes began to surge out of these pillars of light before rapidly revolving through the air.
An even more massive five-colored pillar of light immediately erupted upward from the center of the light formation, then vanished high up into the air in a flash.
In the next instant, a burst of powerful spatial fluctuations abruptly surged forth from this pillar of light, following which a silver hole appeared out of thin air right above the light formation.
In the beginning, it was only around the size of a fist, but it then swelled to around 10 feet in size in a flash, and a burst of extremely pure spiritual Qi surged forth from within in a frenzy.
Han Li was struck by a sense of familiarity in the face of this pure spiritual Qi, and after quickly searching through his own memories for an answer, he realized that this spiritual Qi was extremely similar to the spiritual Qi in the Vast Glacial Realm.
The hole was still expanding right before his eyes, and he was suddenly struck by a sense of foreboding. He immediately swung his giant golden sword through the air without any hesitation, and countless palm-sized streaks of golden sword Qi surged toward the silver hole in a frenzy, desperately trying to destroy it.
However, the events that unfolded next made Han Li's heart completely sink.
Even as the torrential barrage of golden sword Qi surged over the silver hole, it only made the nearby space warp slightly, but had no effect whatsoever on the silver hole itself.
Not only that, but a resounding boom suddenly rang out from within the silver hole, following which a silver pillar of light erupted from within it, then plunged directly into the giant light formation down below.
Scintillating light instantly erupted from the rumbling light formation, and runes of all different colors rose up while the entire light formation expanded in a frenzy.
The silver pillar of light then abruptly vanished, as did the silver hole, and at this point, the light formation had swelled to over 10 times its original size. The five-colored spiritual light emanating from it had spread over the entire sky, creating an extremely vibrant sight to behold.
At the same time, the unsettling sobbing of women and children rang out from the center of the light formation, striking the listener with a sense of disorientation.
Han Li's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, not because he had been affected by this strange sound, but instead due to the spine-chilling sense of peril he had suddenly been struck by.
He was sensing a very real threat that could put an end to his life here.
"Crap!"
Han Li's heart sank even further, and the Provenance Golden Body immediately disappeared in a flash at his behest, then abruptly appeared beside him.
It then raised all six of its arms in unison, and there was a golden ball of light in each of its six palms. The balls of golden light were brought together in front of its chest, forming a head-sized golden vortex.
At the same time, the golden body's three heads began to chant three different types of incantations that stacked on top of one another, and Buddhist chants rang out from within the vortex alongside loud thunderclaps.
The vortex then rapidly expanded to several times its original size, and began to revolve rapidly. Specks of spiritual light that resembled starlight could be seen within the vortex, and Han Li yelled, "Go!"
The golden body immediately hurled the golden vortex viciously down toward the light formation below at his command, and as soon as the vortex left its hands, it swelled drastically once again, expanding to over 100 feet in size in the blink of an eye, and it showed no signs of stopping there.
Right before it was about to make contact with the five-colored light formation, the vortex had expanded into a golden sea with a radius of over 1,000 feet. A burst of enormous invisible force erupted from within the vortex, causing even the nearby space to twist and warp violently.
This was the first time that Han Li had unleashed the Revolving Golden Light using the full power of his Provenance Golden Body after he had reached the mid-Body Integration Stage, and it was so powerful that it surprised even himself.
Following an earth-shattering boom, the golden vortex struck the giant light formation with devastating force.