This so-called "mouth" was a thin rift that was lined with sharp fangs, which had opened up below Jin Tong's face.
The Bloodlight Snake's headless body was writhing violently in Jin Tong's mouth, sending a geyser of black poisonous blood spraying up several feet into the air.
A layer of translucent light surged over Jin Tong's body, and all of the poisonous blood was kept at bay.
The elderly man was truly astonished to see this.
Before he had a chance to do anything, Jin Tong suddenly cast a cold gaze toward him.
A chill immediately ran down the elderly man's spine, following which two streaks of translucent sword Qi abruptly appeared out of thin air right in front of him.
The two streaks of sword Qi didn't appear to be remarkable in any way, but they struck the light barrier before him at an incredible speed.
A crisp crack rang out, and the azure light barrier shuddered before shattering on contact.
The chilling sensation that the elderly man was experiencing became even more pronounced as the streaks of sword Qi continued on toward him, and he knew that he could no longer hold back.
Five-colored light flashed from his glabella, and a five-colored shield instantly appeared before swelling to several tens of feet in size, shielding his entire body behind it.
The shield's surface was riddled with layers of intricate spirit patterns, as well as countless dazzling runes.
The two streaks of sword Qi struck the giant shield one after another amid a pair of dull thumps.
As the shield clashed with the first streak of sword Qi, a burst of piercing light and violent energy fluctuations erupted forth.
The sword Qi was eradicated, but a huge crack had also appeared on the shield.
The second streak of sword Qi then instantly struck the same part of the shield, and it was immediately sliced in half, no longer able to offer any further resistance.
All of this had happened in the blink of an eye, and from the elderly man's perspective, he had only just summoned the five-colored shield before it was sliced in half.
A flash of light then appeared before his eyes, following which his vision turned completely dark.
From a third-person perspective, the second streak of sword Qi had revolved around his neck, instantly decapitating him.
Almost at the exact same moment, the giant crimson wyrm projection behind him suddenly exploded, sending arcs of crimson lightning surging violently in all directions.
A ball of crimson light flew out of the elderly man's headless body, then sped toward a certain direction with a miniature crimson figure within it.
All of a sudden, Jin Tong vanished on the spot amid a flash of golden light, then abruptly appeared right in front of the ball of crimson light amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
It then raised an arm and slammed the ball of light viciously onto the ground down below.
The crimson light faded within the crater on the ground, and the Nascent Soul was revealed with its expression twisted with fury and horror.
The Nascent Soul suddenly gritted its teeth before making a hand seal, and a crimson mist began to pour out of its body, indicating that it was about to unleash some type of secret technique, but right at this moment, a streak of translucent sword Qi appeared behind it without any warning before slashing toward it in a flash.
The crimson mist was parted, and the Nascent Soul was sliced in half with an incredulous look still etched on its face, and it disintegrated into specks of spiritual light amid an anguished howl.
Thus, the vastly renowned Patriarch Chi Lei was slain by the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch with ease.
At this point, the blood soul had already retreated far away, and an ecstatic look appeared on her face as she approached Jin Tong before extending a curtsey toward it.
"Thank you for saving me, Senior Jin. Otherwise, I would've most likely perished here."
"I was only following my master's orders. You can continue with what you're doing; I'll be watching from the shadows," Jin Tong replied before waving a hand toward the elderly man's body to recover his storage bracelet, then abruptly vanished on the spot.
It was clear that Jin Tong possessed far more intelligence than it did when it had first evolved into a Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch.
The blood soul extended another bow toward the spot where Jin Tong had just disappeared, then cast a forlorn glance at the two Body Integration Stage puppets before departing from this place.
Even though she hadn't encountered any powerful restrictions, nor sensed the presence of her true body, she was convinced that her true body was trapped in this area, so she had to hurry to the next area.
Having witnessed Jin Tong's incredible powers, she was instilled with more courage to venture deeper into the palace.
……
10 days later, the thousands of high-grade cultivators gathered near the giant gate in the Myriad Moon Mountain Range had all retreated to close to 10 kilometers away, appraising the gate from afar while occasionally discussing and commenting on something.
Only 500 to 600 people remained on the edge of the basin. They clearly belonged to the same power, and they were currently setting up a massive super formation to encompass the entire basin.
These people all wore the same attire, and the marks symbols on their sleeves indicated that they were all high-grade disciples of the Blood Bone Sect.
There were two people standing side by side in front of these disciples, one of whom was a white-robed elderly man with deep-set eyes and a hook nose, while the other was a short and stubby woman with a hideous appearance and black spirit patterns etched on her face.
Judging from the auras they were giving off, this was a pair of Grand Ascension Stage beings.
At this moment, they were overseeing the construction of the giant formation while conversing with one another.
"Hmph, I knew there was something fishy about Fellow Daoist Xiao staying in Blood Crane City for all these years. As expected, he obtained a true key of the Heavenly Cauldron Palace but didn't tell us anything. If it hadn't been for one of Mistress Wan Hua's disciples spilling this information, we'd most likely still be completely oblivious," the elderly man harrumphed coldly.
"Hehe, you can't blame Fellow Daoist Xiao for this; we may be from the same sect, but we don't share any close ties with him. If you and I had obtained the key to the Heavenly Cauldron Palace, we would've also most likely done the same thing. After all, no matter how many treasures there are in the palace, the difference between taking all of the treasures for oneself and having to split them three ways is night and day," the woman replied, and despite her hideous appearance, her voice was very sweet and pleasing to the ears, as if it belonged to a young maiden.
These two were both also Grand Ascension Stage grand elders of the Blood Bone Sect.
"That's true. I heard that this Heavenly Cauldron Palace contains the true inheritance of Daoist Tian Ding, so there's no way we would've been willing to let anyone else in. Having said that, there's more than just one true key to the palace; even if we don't intervene, other Grand Ascension Stage beings will definitely step in anyway, so it's not necessarily a wise decision for Fellow Daoist Xiao to have kept this a secret," the elderly man replied with a cold smile.
"What's the point in discussing something like this? The fact of the matter is that we've arrived too late, and those who possess keys have already been in the palace for many days. As such, we have no choice but to set up this formation here and force the people inside the palace to share the treasures they obtained once they emerge," the woman said.
"Judging from my similar past experiences, these people will most likely be teleported out of the palace to random locations, so only around 20% to 30% will return to this place, while everyone else will most likely end up elsewhere," the elderly man mused.
"That's a good thing. If everyone in the palace were to return to this place, we wouldn't be able to handle so many people even with this formation to assist us. After all, most of the people who entered the palace are no less powerful and you and me; only when dealing with a small proportion of them will we have a good chance of securing some treasures. Perhaps we won't even have to use this formation, but it'll certainly be a very effective intimidatory device," the woman replied in a confident manner.
"So that was your plan all along. I was wondering why you brought so many disciples to this place; this is a brilliant strategy!" the elderly man chuckled as he rubbed his hands together with glee.
……
An earth-shattering boom rang out as a translucent wall was shattered by a single attack from Han Li in his Giant Mountain Ape form.
He then strode into the teleportation formation that was situated behind the translucent wall before vanishing on the spot in a flash.
In the next instant, Han Li found himself standing in the air above a small mountain that was over 10,000 feet tall, and the temporary light formation beneath his feet abruptly disappeared.
He quickly swept his gaze through the surrounding area to find that this mountain wasn't very tall, but it took up quite a large area, and the edges of the mountain directly neighbored seven or eight areas that were enshrouded under independent light barriers, one of which was the area he had just emerged from.
A contemplative look appeared on his face as he inspected the areas one after another.
He then seemed to have made up his mind and was just about to fly toward one of the areas when a burst of spatial fluctuations suddenly erupted nearby.
Immediately thereafter, another light formation emerged, and three people appeared atop the formation amid a flash of light.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the three people, and a cold look appeared in his eyes.
The three people had naturally also caught sight of Han Li, and they exchanged a bewildered glance with one another before flying directly toward Han Li following a brief voice transmission conversation.
The three released their powerful auras mid-flight, displaying no intention to hide their animosity.
All of a sudden, Han Li raised a giant furry palm before thrusting it toward the oncoming trio, sending a burst of enormous invisible power surging toward them as a gust of fierce wind.
The three elderly men dispersed to evade the gust of wind, and one of them yelled, "What is the meaning of this? Do you intend to take on all three of us on your own?"
