The black-robed woman released a pair of sheers in a streak of golden light, clearly intending on freeing Old Man Fu from the cocoon of Ghostfiend Threads.
Han Li looked on with a frown. He would be able to save them, but they were too far away.
Bang. When the sheers approached, a green silhouette emerged from the ground and arrived in front of the cocoons in a blur. Then, it swiped at the air with a red hand and released several claw-streaks towards the sheers, blocking its path.
When they saw this, they had believed it was the Silver-winged Nightfiend, but when light faded away, they were thoroughly shocked.
The green silhouette had a wolf head, a human body, and scarlet eyes. It was the giant Corpse Wolf from before, but it had taken human form through some unknown method. Now, it was glaring at the black-robed woman with clear malice.
But what Han Li noticed in particular was that the Umbra Yin Horse had disappeared. Could it be underground, or conceal itself elsewhere?
As these thoughts ran through his mind, blue light flickered from his eyes and he looked downward.
His face twisted with alarm and he hurriedly shouted, “Behind you!”
Then, he flicked his fingers, releasing an azure swordstreak in the direction of the black-robed woman.
When she heard him, she felt her heart tremble and instantly reacted, pointing to the small azure shield in front of her. It arrived behind her in a blur and she concentrated all of her magic power into the dharmic wheel floating above. Radiance shined from it, strengthening her protective barriers with its seven-colored light.
Just as she strengthened her defenses, a golden silhouette flashed close behind her. It was the Silver-winged Nightfiend!
He had underwent a massive transformation. He no longer had any of his green fur and was instead covered in faint golden scales. As for his silver wings, they now glowed with azure and white light. Even his stark silver eyes also had faintly golden irises, but what was most astonishing of all was that he no longer emitted any corpse Qi from his body; rather, he appeared to lack any Qi at all as if he were a spiritless existence.
As soon as the nightfiend appeared, he raised his arm and it surged several times in size.
His pitch-black claws flared with golden light before swiping at her, but the small azure shield had rushed behind her as well.
As soon as it appeared, the shield wildly grew several times in size and brilliantly glowed in a display of fortitude.
The nightfiend, however, paid this no heed. With his golden glowing arm, the claw passed through as if it didn’t exist and moved onto the woman’s protective barrier.
Then, the clear sound of an explosion sounded out. The glowing claws trembled for a moment before tearing through the protective barrier.
Following the sounds of tearing flesh, the claw tore into the woman’s chest and destroyed her heart before penetrating the entire way through.
Han Li’s heart sank at the sight.
As soon as the corpse had approached her, disaster was unavoidable.
It was only then that his azure sword Qi had arrived from the distance, but with a simple wave of nightfiend’s wings, the light easily absorbed the sword Qi.
However, Han Li’s actions hadn’t been in vain. The strike had given the woman an opportunity to save herself.
Red light flashed from the crown of her head, followed by the appearance of her Nascent Soul holding onto an inch-large sword. As soon as it appeared, it instantaneously moved over thirty meters away in a flash, terror struck its face.
After teleporting several more times, it managed to make a clean escape.
The Silver-winged Nightfiend sinisterly grinned and flung away the woman’s corpse before disappearing again.
Then, a faint silhouette appeared at the Nascent Soul’s side and spat out a net of grey threads, capturing the Nascent Soul just as it attempted to teleport once more.
“Please, save me!”
Her Nascent Soul loudly cried and attempted to use her sword to cut through the net, but without a body, she was without strength, and her strike was repelled.
The nightfiend didn’t give the woman another opportunity. He reached out to the Nascent Soul and a grey hand appeared, grabbing her out of the net.
Then in a flash, a foot-long grey cocoon took shape and floated in the air.
When the nightfiend’s figure became fully visible, he turned his eyes from the cocoon to Han Li and let out a chilling laugh, “I thought you would’ve tried to save her, but it seems you’re not as selfless as I thought.”
With a calm expression, Han Li indifferent said, “I would’ve saved her if I could, but wouldn’t that just put me into your trap? You can put that huge net away now.”
“Huh, so it wasn’t a coincidence you were able to see through my illusions,” the nightfiend uttered with some surprise.
A huge grey net appeared thirty meters above him. It was unknown what sort of technique he had used to wonderfully conceal it.
If it weren’t for Han Li’s well developed Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he wouldn’t have been able to see through such a sinister trap.
But even if he hadn’t detected the net, he still likely wouldn’t have taken action.
The new form of the Silver-winged Nightfiend was truly weird. His wind movement techniques were far more powerful as if he had reached the stage of obscuring windflow.
If it weren’t for the spirit eyes, he wouldn’t have been able to detect any trace of him.
Additionally, his recent strike was able to easily penetrate the black-robed woman’s defenses, a display that left him stunned.
The demon coldly snorted and raised his hand, beckoning to the Corpse Wolf.
It immediately flew over and arrived at the nightfiend’s side in the blink of an eye. It then maliciously glared at Han Li.
However, a howl sounded out from beneath and the Weeping Soul Beast pounded its chest in a display of might.
In their last battle, the Weeping Soul Beast had remained still as per Han Li’s orders. It was only able to observe the battle and felt stifled at its inactivity. Now that the Corpse Wolf arrived, it bared its might without reservation.
The wolf instantly revealed an expression of terror and cowered in the face of the Weeping Soul Beast’s stare.
When the Silver-winged Nightfiend saw this, he sullenly spat out a grey pearl. He then flung it into the Corpse Wolf’s mouth.
After it swallowed the pill, its body began to emit grey corpse Qi and its fear was suppressed.
Han Li used this opportunity to observe the black-robed woman’s azure shield.
Now masterless, the shield floated in the air, its dim surface as smooth as ever.
He frowned at the sight and turned his attention to the faint gold scales on the nightfiend’s body. His expression suddenly stirred as something came to mind.
Then, the Silver-winged Nightfiend raised his head to the sky and let out a long screech. His body blurred and disappeared into wind. The Corpse Wolf let out a snarl as well and spat a stream of corpse flame at the Weeping Soul Beast down below.
It snorted out a cloud of yellow light without another thought.
The wolf blurred and began to circle around the Weeping Soul Beast with multiple copies of itself, not daring to touch the mist. Additionally, while far more nimble due to its smaller size, but the wolf didn’t dare to rashly approach the Weeping Soul Beast.
The Weeping Soul Beast had snorted out more light, cleverly turning the yellow mist into a protective barrier around itself, then sweeping its large fists around in a wild fury.
Given the giant form of the Weeping Soul Beast, its fists covered a large area and possessed great strength. If struck, the damage to the wolf would be quite severe.
For a time, the two beasts found themselves in a deadlock.
Meanwhile, the Silver-winged Nightfiend and Han Li were intermittently blurring across the air.
Arcs of lightning twisted from Han Li’s back and thunder roared without end as he shifted location without pattern. In one moment, he was west before arriving at the eastmost corner. In another, he was at the very top before arriving only ten meters above the ground.
As for the Silver-winged Nightfiend, he was using an unknown technique to become nearly incorporeal. He was able to relentlessly pursue Han Li’s lightning movements.
Soon, Han Li found the affair difficult to manage.
The nightfiend’s wind movement technique was far swifter than his own and as time passed by, the gap between them was only shrinking. As of current, the nightfiend was arriving as soon as he departed.
When Han Li’s figure blurred once more, he didn’t immediately set off. Instead, he pointed to the Snow Crystal Pearl in front of him and had it spin, immediately releasing a sea of purple flames around him. Then, he had his tens of small golden swords erupt, creating a barrier of swordlight over thirty meters wide around him.
With all this arranged, he looked at a place twenty meters away, and the air warped, followed by the appearance of a faint silhouette.
The purple flames and golden swordlight then surrounded the nightfiend.
Han Li raised his hand and thunder boomed. A dense bolt of lightning coiled around his arm, becoming like a python of lightning.
The nightfiend felt alarmed as soon he realized what was happening, and the scales around his body blazed with golden light.
Soon after, a dazzling barrier of gold appeared around him.
For a time, deafening explosions sounded out as swordlights, purple flames, and lightning erupted in a blinding display, completely submerging the nightfiend’s golden barrier in their attacks.
