Han Li coldly watched as the huge demon took a few steps forward, betraying no emotion from his face.
Only a bit closer and the Green Wood Demon would enter the range of his Aureate Sword Formation. He would release it without reserve and slay both demons in a single attack.
At that moment, red light flashed from the distant sky, followed by a howling cry.
Three balls of blood light appeared from the dark and streaked in their direction.
When the dwarf saw this, his expression vastly changed. He tapped his cane on the wood demon and turned his head to face the crimson streaks. A trace of astonishment appeared on his face.
After several thuds sound, the Green Wood Demon stopped right outside the Aureate Sword Formation
Han Li frowned, but when he saw this new development, he also turned to look at the distance.
The other three appeared apprehensive at the new demons that appeared.
The three crimson streaks were incredibly fast, travelling near them at lightning speed. The light faded away to reveal three foot-tall silhouettes.
These small people had delicate faces and one couldn't make out their age, but they wore peculiar red armor, dense talisman characters appeared on the surface of their faces, their skin gleamed scarlet, and they smelled of rotting blood.
The three emotionlessly swept their gaze around them before setting their glowing eyes on Han Li.
Han Li narrowed his eyes and felt an icy chill spread across his body. It was as if three vipers were staring at him.
When the demon saw the silhouettes, his complexion paled and his eyes were filled with awe, “Blood puppets! They’re the puppet incarnations of Lord Di Xue!”
“Blood puppets? Di Xue?” Han Li’s mind quickly stirred, but he found the name unfamiliar.
The three small figures stared at Han Li for a long while before a harsh expression appeared on their faces. They opened their mouths and released three blood-red beams at Han Li.
Although Han Li was already prepared, furious alarm still range through his mind as the attack came with no warning.
He instantly reacted, raising his hand and summoning a grey mist in front of him. At that same time, black Qi burst from his body to create a simple black armor.
Three muffled pops sounded.
The three beams of blood light was only stalled by the Divine Essensefused Light for a moment before piercing through and striking Han Li’s baleful armor.
The blood light swayed as it struck, gradually dimming to reveal three bowl-sized holes through the armor and directly striking his chest.
Lei Lan and the others turned bloodlessly pale when they saw this, but what happened next left them even more dumbstruck.
Thunder rang from Han Li’s chest and boomed, revealing blood light clashing against golden-silver lightning and cancelling each other out.
The attack was blocked in the end by Han Li’s lightning robes.
Even so, Han Li was still greatly frightened and his face suddenly sank. He coldly snorted and released clouds of black Qi, instantly mending the three large holes in his baleful armor.
If his baleful armor hadn’t scattered the power of the three beams of blood light, he feared his lightning robes wouldn’t have been able to block it.
Seeing that their attacks didn’t succeed, the three blood puppets hadn’t betrayed any emotion. Light simply flickered from their back as pairs of blood-red wings unfolded, and they immediately vanished.
Han Li felt his heart tremble. Before he could react, the nearby space fluctuated and the three silhouettes flickered into existence.
Their hands blurred, slicing at the air with a long crimson saber in each hand. Three bright red crescents streaked out from the swords towards Han Li, completely ignoring any of the others.
As the puppets had a thread of their master’s spiritual sense within them, it determined that the only threat present was Han Li and that the others would collapse at the first blow.
Han Li let out a furious shout and the wings on his back shook. With a clap of thunder, he disappeared.
A short moment later, he reappeared sixty meters away in a flash of azure-white lightning.
At nearly the same time, three crimson lights flashed in his direction. The three small figures reappeared and performed seemingly the same attack, but this time, their sabers transformed into a barrage of countless blood streaks surrounding him.
With a face as cold as ice, golden light flashed from Han Li’s body to reveal a layer of sparkling golden scales on his flesh. At that same time, he let out a huge shout, striking out with his black and white palms. In the blink of an eye, they turned into intertwining black-white palm projections.
Metallic clangs and screeches sounded as a result. The barrage of crimson streaks struck Han Li’s palm, but they wailed in scattered as if repelled by an immense force.
The three puppets felt pushback from the huge force through their blades and were each pushed back ten meters.
Crimson light wildly flickered from their bodies before they regained their balance, but when they raised their heads, they were stunned.
Han Li had vanished from his original location.
In an instant, Han Li had blinked back to his original location on the spirit carriage.
The three figures eventually lowered their heads and found them, but Han Li simply sneered. With his hands quickly forming an incantation gesture, he began to chant.
The nearby space let out a loud clear cry as golden threads began to flicker and shine, surrounding the three blood puppets tightly.
This was the Grand Aureate Sword Formation Han Li originally placed down.
The might of the sword formation vastly increased along with his cultivation. The originally slow sword threads were now surging with greater speed. However, they still definitely couldn't be considered very fast.
When the three blood puppets saw this, their eyes roiled and their wings stirred as they strangely vanished from the air.
It appeared they wanted to employ a secret technique and escape the sword formation. However, something as mysterious as the Aureate Sword Formation wasn’t about to let them escape.
Three drones sounded from the edge of the formation where a hundred golden threads lashed out.
Crimson light immediately appeared and the three silhouettes were forced to appear. The three puppets were instantly shredded into countless pieces as if they were destroyed.
Even the dwarf was left dumbstruck by the scene.
The dwarf quickly realized something and immediately had the wood demon below him to slowly retreat.
As an indigenous creature of the earth abyss, the dwarf understood how fearsome the blood puppets were. He couldn't prove a match against the combined forces of the three blood puppets, so he abandoned any thoughts of laying hands on the Leopard Kirin Beast.
But at that moment, a strange scene appeared from the sword formation.
It appeared the shredded fragments of the crimson puppet were glowing and turning into blood drops. They then gathered together to form three fist-sized balls of blood, filling the air with their rotten scent.
As soon as they appeared, they spun and gradually turned back into their blood puppet form.
Han Li wasn’t surprised by this and simply pointed at the center of his sword formation with an odd expression.
A rustle sounded and a silver firebird flew out from the ground. As it approached the puppets with a flicker, it exploded, separating into three bowl-sized balls of silver flame.
With a muffled boom, the silver flames truck the blood balls heads one.
The silver flames surged high and completely enveloped the blood balls. As the flames burned, a scorched scent filled the air, followed by miserable screams.
The balls of silver flames wildly knocked against the edges of the sword formation like a headless fly.
Although Han Li was watching this expressionlessly, he was inwardly shocked.
He had a great understanding of the might of his Spirit Engulfing Flames. When an ember of it caught on his opponent, they should turn to ash in an instant. However, these blood puppets were able to endure.
However, the flame’s overbearing power became clear to see as the blood balls were soon thoroughly burned away.
With their blood turning to ash, the puppets could no longer reform.
Han Li waved his hand. The balls of silver flames fused back into one, returned to him as a firebird, and vanished into his sleeve.
His expression stirred as if he sensed something and looked to the side.
He saw that the huge Green Wood Demon had unknowingly retreated a kilometer away. When the dwarf saw that Han Li was looking at him, he felt his heart pound and whistled without another thought.
The silent wood demon suddenly glowed with green light and began to run away with large steps without any regard to stealth.
As a colossus, the demon blurred several times before disappearing into the darkness.
“You want to leave?” Han Li muttered. He then opened his mouth and summoned a small cauldron glowing with azure light.
At that moment, a weak beast howl sounded from underneath the spirit carriage.
When Han Li heard this, he was overjoyed, but he looked to the distant wood demon with some hesitation before taking back the Heavenvoid Cauldron back into his stomach. Afterwards, his figure blurred and he appeared on top of the spirit carriage.
A short moment later, he nimbly stepped onto the ground and stood next to his spirit beast which was still wrapped in white light.
At that moment, the fragrance being emitted had grown much dimmer.
Through his spiritual sense connection with the beast, he already sensed that its advancement was on the verge of completion. He now had another source of strength.
He took a deep breath and stretched his hand forward into the white light, putting the Leopard Kirin Beast within it.
At that same moment, a wave of pure spiritual energy entered the small beast’s body.
Azure light brightly shined from Han Li’s body and his expression turned grave.
The other three in the spirit carriage all let out a long sigh, seeing that matters had concluded. They looked at each other with a face of deep relief.
