The pillars of crimson light created violent ripples over the surface of the black light barrier, causing it to flash erratically.
Within moments, the Purpleblood Puppet had already swelled to around 10,000 feet tall, and it was like a mighty deity as it summoned its massive purple ax, then swung it down toward the black light barrier with ferocious might.
A series of rumbling booms akin to thunderclaps erupted as countless ax projections struck the same spot on the light barrier. As for the white-haired woman, she was only injecting her power into her crimson saber with all her might without unleashing any additional abilities.
The restriction barrier was extremely powerful, yet it was still unable to withstand the combined attacks from so many Body Integration Stage beings. As such, a hole with a diameter of over 100 feet was blasted into its surface, and even though the hole immediately began to seal itself, there was more than enough time for the demon monarchs pass through.
"I'll stabilize this opening with a secret technique!" Liu Zu was ecstatic, and he immediately unleashed eight balls of blue light that expanded drastically as they flew through the air.
These were eight blue pillar treasures, and all of them disappeared into the opening at once.
An incredible scene ensued.
Blue light flashed, and the opening transformed into a square passageway that was paved with blue crystalline stones, as if they'd been embedded into the light barrier.
"I'll be going on ahead, everyone," Liu Zu chortled before entering through the opening as a streak of black light.
The two crimson-robed figures glanced at one another before one of them leaped down onto the ground while the other stomped a foot onto the Purpleblood Puppet's shoulder.
The puppet rapidly shrank down to only several tens of feet in size, then entered the black light barrier with the other crimson-robed figure. For some reason, the two decided to leave one of them behind outside the light barrier. The white-haired beauty faltered slightly upon seeing this.
Meanwhile, Mu Qing swept her sleeves through the air, and countless specks of light flew toward her from all directions before disappearing into her sleeves. She had cleaned up everything that had been used to set up that concealment restriction.
"Sister Lan, are you going to go in with your two disciples? Even though the Infernal Lightning Beast has been lured out, who knows what other dangers could lurk in there? With their lowly cultivation bases, there's a good chance that they could perish in there. Jin Ling, you can stay out here." Mu Qing issued a few cautionary words to the white-haired beauty, then delivered an instruction to the golden ape before also flying into the passageway with her golden flower beneath her feet. Jin Ling bowed in response and remained on the spot as it was told.
However, the white-haired beauty's brows furrowed as she cast her gaze toward the puppet-like Yuan Yao and Yan Li. A cold smile then appeared on her face as she murmured to herself, "I'd be even more worried if I were to leave them outside. You two, come with me!"
She made a hand seal to release a gust of grey Yin winds which swept up the two women before she entered the passageway. Thus, there were only a few beings left behind outside the light barrier."Let's guard this entrance here for now. If everything goes smoothly, they should be able to return with the divine elixir soon," the crimson-robed figure who had stayed behind suddenly said to Jin Ling.
"I certainly hope that to be the case well. I'll be following your orders here, Senior." Jin Ling was acting in a very respectful manner in the presence of the crimson-robed figure."Hehe, you must be wondering if I'm the true Di Xue or merely an avatar," the crimson-robed figure chuckled.
"Surely you jest, Senior. My mistress has told me in the past that you're capable of splitting up your soul, so both bodies could be said to be your true body, and both could be said to be avatars as well, so there's no difference between the two," Jin Ling replied calmly.
The crimson-robed figure faltered slightly upon hearing this before chuckling to himself, "Fairy Mu sure knows about me." At this point, there were still three high-grade demon beasts remaining outside the light barrier aside from Jin Ling and Di Xue. All three of those demon beasts had adopted their human forms and were standing not far away from the two of them.
The crimson-robed figure cast his gaze toward these three demon beasts, and he was just about to say something when his pupils suddenly contracted. His hand shot forth like lightning before making a grabbing motion toward a nearby spot in the air without any premonition.
A massive crimson hand that reeked of blood and gore appeared in the air above that patch of space, then swelled to around an acre in size before crashing downward with ferocious might. A streak of silver light flashed through the air, and the massive crimson hand was sliced into two amid a resounding boom.
A humanoid figure then swayed nearby, and a crimson-armored puppet appeared amid a flash of silver light, appraising the crimson-robed figure and the others in an expressionless manner.
"Is that a puppet from the Mayfly Race?" Jin Ling was rather surprised to see such a being appear here.
"Be careful! This is not an ordinary crimson-armored puppet; a powerful being from the Mayfly Race has imbued some of their spiritual sense into this puppet," the crimson-robed figure cautioned in a grave voice.
That attack that he had just unleashed wasn't a particularly powerful one, but he was still very surprised to see it being dismantled with such ease. He narrowed his eyes and focused his gaze on that streak of indistinct silver light.
The silver light was extremely blurry, and even he couldn't see what was lurking within it. That was slightly alarming to him, and he didn't dare to look away from that silver light even for a single instant.
Jin Ling's heart also jolted with shock upon hearing the crimson-robed figure's words of caution and seeing the grave expressions on his face. As such, it also focused its gaze on the crimson-armored puppet.
Using its spirit eye ability, it was able to do what the crimson-robed figure couldn't, and identified the object within the silver light. It was a faint silver wyrm that was circling around in mid-air, creating quite a mysterious spectacle. Jin Ling's brows furrowed upon seeing this. It was unable to identify what kind of weapon this was, but it had to be something like a sword or a saber for it to be able to slice through the crimson-robed figure's attack so easily.
"You must be one of the Mayfly Race puppets that got away, right? Seeing as you were able to escape, why didn't you hide somewhere until we were gone? Are you seeking an early death by coming out to face us here? In that case, I wouldn't mind granting your wish and sending you on your way," the crimson-robed figure chuckled coldly.
"Hmph, if we weren't battling you in our puppet bodies, do you really think you'd be able to defeat us? In any case, none of that matters anymore. Aside from your group here, everyone else seems to have entered our divine pond. Looks like I'll be able to trap all of you here and kill you in one fell swoop," the crimson-armored puppet said in a cold voice."You think you can kill all of us on your own?" the crimson-robed figure chuckled at the absurdity of that notion. "That's right, with this Five Dragon Chopper, none of you will able to escape from this place alive!" The crimson-armored puppet suddenly raised a hand as it spoke.
All of a sudden, a loud dragon roar erupted as a silver chopper that was bright and smooth as a mirror came flying down from above before landing in the puppet's grasp. "Five Dragon Chopper? I seem to recall this treasure from somewhere." The crimson-robed figure stared at the chopper with furrowed brows.
"Is that so? None of that matters as you'll all be perishing to this treasure soon anyway." The crimson-armored puppet seemed to be unwilling to waste any more time with words as it raised its saber-wielding hand, then slashed it through the air.
Jin Ling and the crimson-robed figure reflexively shot forth through the air to take evasive measures upon seeing this. At this moment, three chopper projections suddenly appeared in mid-air, but they were targeting the distance beyond the golden ape and the crimson-robed figure.
The three high-grade demon beasts in that direction had also adopted defensive measures, but the projections were simply to fast for them the evade, and too powerful for them to withstand as their bodies were sliced in half before any of them could even utter a single sound.
After that, the three chopper projections abruptly disappeared in a flash.
Jin Ling and the crimson-robed figure were both stunned to see this, and Jin Ling attempt to fly into the distance while the crimson-robed figure swept his sleeves through the air to summon clouds of crimson mist.
However, the crimson-armored puppet merely stood on the spot with a derisive sneer on its face while slashing its chopper through the air several more times.
Four chopper projections came crashing down toward its two opponents in unison. The projections didn't appear to be traveling very quickly, but they reached the two of them in the blink of an eye.
Jin Ling's expression changed drastically upon seeing this as he shrugged his shoulders, following which the two shortswords he was carrying on his back flew toward the two chopper projections as rapid streaks of light. The two shortswords were then instantly sliced in half before plummeting from the sky as four segments.
The two projections then continued onward, seemingly having remained completely unobstructed by the two shortswords they'd cut down. Jin Ling's heart jolted with alarm as its body blurred on the spot. A chopper projection flashed past, and the golden ape's body was immediately sliced in half, but its remains quickly disappeared, revealing that body to be a mere afterimage. Golden light then flashed over 100 feet away, and Jin Ling re-emerged from thin air.
However, as soon as it revealed itself, the other chopper projection was already hurtling toward it, and the timing was so unerringly accurate that Jin Ling had no chance to evade. Thus, its head was sliced off, and its headless body swayed before plummeting from the sky.
Meanwhile, the crimson-armored puppet made a grabbing motion toward the silver chopper in its other hand, and a ball of green flames emerged, within which was trapped a miniature golden monkey with a horrified look on its face. The crimson-armored puppet chuckled coldly as silver light flashed from the surface of the chopper, and the miniature monkey let loose a cry of anguish before disintegrating into nothingness within the green flames.
Only then did the crimson-armored puppet turn its gaze toward the other direction.
There, the crimson-robed figure had released a vast expanse of blood mist that encompassed roughly an acre of area around his body.
The two chopper projections were whizzing through the air like a pair of lethal weapons, but the crimson-robed figure had been able to evade them so far, albeit with difficulty.
Green light flashed within the puppet's eyes, and it harrumphed coldly before suddenly tossing its chopper up into the air. Brilliant silver light instantly erupted from the chopper as countless chopper projection shot forth through the air, and on this occasion, even the crimson-robed figure was greatly alarmed.
He immediately hurtled toward the nearby blue passageway, having clearly realized that this saber-wielding opponent was not someone that he could oppose.
However, unbeknownst to the crimson-robed figure, the Five Dragon Chopper was only truly beginning to bare its fangs now.
The crimson-armored puppet made a hand seal, and all of the chopper projections in the air suddenly disappeared. A loud thunderclap then erupted from the silver chopper itself before it transformed into five wyrms of different colors. All of them circled around in the air before transforming again into five massive translucent blades, then disappearing on the spot in unison.
In the next instant, the five massive blades appeared directly over the opening of the blue passageway before descending downward, heading directly toward the cloud of blood mist that had only just made it to the entrance as well.
