Close to 1,000 kilometers behind the armies were groups of metamorphosis stage demonic cultivators and high-grade devilish beings appraising one another from afar.
They didn't participate in the battle; they merely looked on as the battle unfolded before their eyes.
…
In the air above a certain area of the ocean, a burst of black Qi that stretched for as far as the eyes could see was currently surging toward a city on a certain massive island.
Within the black Qi were countless devilish shadows, and it seemed that there was a massive army enshrouded within it.
All of a sudden, a thunderous dragon's roar erupted from the seabed near the island, immediately following which howling winds were swept up alongside enormous waves.
These waves then parted, and an azure beast that was over 100,000 feet in length emerged from within the ocean.
The surface of the beast's head was covered in moss and stones, making it impossible to glean its true appearance. It cast its gaze toward the oncoming black Qi with a cold look in its murky eyes, then opened its gargantuan mouth, which resembled a bottomless abyss.
A resounding rumbling boom rang out, and the entire surface of the ocean began to tremor.
Bursts of blue light erupted out of the creature's enormous mouth in a frenzy, then transformed into blue tornados that surged toward the black Qi.
There were tens of thousands of devilish beasts within the black Qi, but they were completely no match for those tornados and were quickly swept up by them.
Due to the astonishing amount of seawater that had been sucked into the gigantic creature's mouth, the nearby sea level momentarily fell, and after all of the devilish beasts were devoured by the creature, it closed its eyes and slowly sank into the ocean again.
Thus, peace and quiet instantly returned to the area, and it was as if that menacing burst of devilish Qi had never even appeared here.
On another huge island in the distance, there was a tall and broad humanoid figure standing atop a tall tower, appraising everything from afar with a cold look in his eyes.
…
Meanwhile, at Deep Heaven City![1]
Han Li was seated on the top level of a pagoda with his legs crossed. He was making a hand seal, and his eyes were closed. There was a golden gourd and the Myriad Sword Artwork hovering in front of him, and he seemed to be in a special immersive state.
All of a sudden, he opened his eyes and switched to a different hand seal before pointing a finger at the golden gourd.
The gourd shuddered as spiritual light flashed from its surface, and a series of extremely dazzling five-colored runes appeared. Immediately thereafter, a buzzing sound rang out, and the gourd was opened, following which five flying swords flew out from within.
The swords were of the colors gold, yellow, azure, red, and blue, and they were each only around an inch in length. However, they were all radiating a dreamy translucent light that gave them a very mysterious appearance.
The five flying swords emitted a crisp ringing sound at Han Li's behest, then shot up into the air before unleashing their respective abilities.
The red flying sword transformed into a fiery snake that was around 10 feet in length amid a dull thump, while the blue flying sword released wisps of vapor that instantly formed a series of clouds, making it very difficult to track the sword.
However, the most astonishing ability was displayed by the seemingly most mundane and nondescript yellow flying sword.
It elongated to over 100 feet in length in an instant, and spiritual light swirled over its surface before transforming into layers of a hard yellow substance. Looking at the sword from afar, it was as if it had become a giant yellow stone sword, and as it was swung through the air, even the space in its wake began to emit a loud buzzing sound, clearly indicating that this was an astonishingly powerful weapon.
As for the golden and azure flying swords, they didn't display much change aside from emitting bursts of dazzling light.
The five flying swords danced and pursued one another through the air, and they seemed to possess a very high level of spiritual nature.
Han Li appraised these flying swords with a calm expression, then made a hand seal shortly thereafter. The five swords immediately reverted back to their original forms at his behest before flying back into the golden gourd.
Only then did Han Li turn his attention toward the Myriad Sword Artwork, and a slightly solemn look appeared in his eyes.
All of a sudden, he raised a hand to cast several incantation seals in quick succession, all of which vanished into the artwork in a flash.
The artwork immediately began to emit a series of sharp ringing sounds, following which dazzling golden light erupted from it. The countless swords inscribed on its surface gradually began to move, then multiplied at a rapid rate.
All of the swords on the artwork seemed to have sprung to life in the blink of an eye.
Han Li let loose a low cry, and a burst of azure spiritual Qi was expelled out of his mouth, then vanished into the artwork.
A burst of metallic clangs immediately rang out from within the Myriad Sword Artwork, following which countless sword projections erupted out of the artwork in a frenzy. All of a sudden, a burst of bone-chilling sword Qi had settled over the entire hall.
Black light flashed from Han Li's glabella, and his Law Destruction Eye emerged. Piercing black light swirled within the eye as an enormous burst of spiritual sense erupted forth before vanishing into the Myriad Sword Artwork.
Golden light instantly flashed from all of the sword projections in the hall, and they began to slowly revolve around Han Li.
Initially, they were only moving at a snail's pace, but after just the span of a few breaths, they were swimming through the air like small spritely fish. Furthermore, they had formed a sword formation with a tremendous aura.
Han Li suddenly switched to a different hand seal as he prepared to activate the enormous magic power within his own body, but right at this moment, the Myriad Sword Artwork shuddered as it let loose a low ringing sound, and the spiritual light radiating from it abruptly faded.
The golden sword projections dancing through the hall also became blurry and indistinct before finally blinking out of existence.
Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li's Law Destruction Eye also vanished in a flash.
His expression changed slightly, and he turned toward the golden gourd and Myriad Sword Artwork with furrowed brows.
The golden gourd was something that he had obtained from the Vast Glacial Realm, and due to the fact that it could potentially have belonged to an immortal, he naturally held it in very high regard and had constantly been studying it.
Thankfully, he had already mastered beveled silver text and golden seal text. As such, even though the refinement method for this treasure was far different from those used in the human world and Spirit Realm, and the flying swords in the gourd hadn't yet been completely refined, he was still able to understand some of the intricacies of the treasure.
As a result, he made use of his own analysis and expended some precious materials of the five elements, and finally managed to just barely completely refine the entire treasure.
However, the flying swords in the gourd were originally all of the metal element, but he had refined them to become a set of five-elemental flying swords.
Thus, the treasure definitely wouldn't be as powerful as what its original owner had envisioned, but it was definitely no less powerful than the average spirit treasure.
Even so, with Han Li's current enormous wealth, a treasure of this caliber wasn't going to be very useful to him. As such, he was planning to examine the treasure to ensure that there was nothing wrong with it, then pass it down to one of his disciples.
As for the phenomenon that had just been conjured up by the Myriad Sword Artwork, that was a result of inspiration that Han Li had derived from a secret technique of a certain foreign race. Using this secret technique, he was able to refine the astonishing sword Qi imbued within the artwork using a special method, thereby allowing him to use the artwork as a normal offensive treasure.
The sword Qi within the artwork had originated in the True Immortal Realm, so if he could completely harness and control it, it would undoubtedly be immensely powerful.
If even a Body Integration cultivator were to be attacked by all of the sword Qi within the artwork, they would be killed for sure.
Unfortunately, this refinement method was very time-consuming, and he had spent all of his time improving his own magic power, so this artwork was only halfway refined. Furthermore, due to the fact there was nor source or origin to the sword Qi within the Myriad Sword Artwork, if the sword Qi were to be completely exhausted, then the artwork would be completely ruined.
At present, he still hadn't completely gleaned the Sword Observation Art imbued within the artwork, so prior to completely refining this treasure, he wasn't going to use it unless he absolutely had to.
Otherwise, if the Sword Observation Art were to be destroyed, he would lose an extremely valuable asset.
After failing yet again in his attempt to control the Myriad Sword Artwork, Han Li was just contemplating whether he should try once more when his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he abruptly reached behind himself with one hand.
A ball of fire surged through the gates behind him and landed in his grasp in a flash. He closed his fingers around the fireball, and it immediately exploded. At the same time, Hai Yuetian's urgent voice rang out from within the flames. "Master, the panel of elders just sent someone to invite you to the Skyview Platform; it seems that devilish beings have begun to gather, and there are even high-grade devilish beings among them. "
Han Li's heart jolted upon hearing this, and a contemplative look appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "High-grade devilish beings, eh? Alright, I suppose I should go and take a look."
He then swept a sleeve through the air to stow the golden gourd and Myriad Sword Artwork away, then flew away as a streak of golden light.
After emerging from the pagoda, he immediately flew toward the border of Deep Heaven City. At his current speed, it only took him less than an hour to reach the city wall.
At this moment, the entire sky outside the city wall was filled with devilish Qi, and there was not a ray of sunlight to be seen. It seemed that someone had unleashed an extremely powerful technique to completely block out the suns.
Beneath the devilish Qi, the sound of war drums could be heard, and within Deep Heaven City, there were groups of armor-clad warriors and cultivators rushing out of the giant towers.
They were either wielding weapons or treasures, and they flew directly toward their designated posts with extremely solemn looks on their faces.
A series of altar-like platforms also slowly emerged from the formations on the giant city wall, and atop these platforms were huge objects such as round disks or giant cones.
Around each of the objects stood seven or eight cultivators in long robes, and there was also a giant light barrier above Deep Heaven City that was currently radiating dazzling light. A white jade palace that resembled a miniature city had been conjured up high in the air above the city as well, and countless silver runes were revolving around it.
Furthermore, countless armored guards could be seen roaming over the palace, and at the tip of the tallest pagoda-like building in the palace, there was an antiquated golden mirror with a diameter of around 100 feet.
The mirror was currently reflecting dazzling light, and was acting as a replacement for the sun, shining its scintillating golden light down upon most of Deep Heaven City.
In the instant that the golden light came into contact with the human warriors and cultivators down below, they were completely reinvigorated and instilled with a sense of indescribable courage that made them a lot more confident to face their enemies.
[1] "Meanwhile, at the Justice League!"
