With the assistance of the corpse puppets, the half-demon cultivators had managed to trap a total of seven devilish lords.
At the same time, spiritual light flashed inside Deep Heaven City, and over 100 stone pagodas that were tens of thousands of feet tall rose up from the ground before hurtling directly toward the devilish army.
The giant battle arks and devilish pyramid within the devilish army immediately blasted forth countless black pillars of light in retaliation, but five-colored light swirled around the surfaces of the massive pagodas, keeping all of the pillars of light at bay.
As soon as the pagodas reached close to the devilish army, all of their doors were flung open at once, and countless puppets and spirit beasts erupted froth like a swarm of locusts.
The giant arks and devilish pyramid contained a large number of devilish beings as well, and they also emerged to oppose the oncoming enemies.
At this point, Han Li had already withdrawn his spiritual sense, so he was naturally completely oblivious to what was happening outside.
He knew that at this stage of the battle, it wouldn't be long before he and azure-robed cultivators were going to be called upon.
Sure enough, around an hour later, a loud buzzing sound suddenly rang out from the giant formation beneath him, and a burst of white light was released to inundate all of the azure-robed cultivators.
The azure-robed cultivators were initially quite startled by this, and they hurriedly brought out a triangular jade badge each.
Spiritual light of different colors emerged from these jade badges, forming a purple rune that revolved around their bodies.
Han Li's heart stirred upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, the white light emanating from the formation swelled drastically, instantly teleporting him away along with the 36 male cultivators.
Moments later, the white light in the formation faded, and Han Li and the others were nowhere to be seen.
At the same time, a giant light formation appeared out of thin air, and Han Li and the 36 male cultivators re-emerged amid a flash of spiritual light.
The positions that the male cultivators had appeared in seemed to have been meticulously planned out in advance, forming an extremely profound formation around Han Li and four other cultivators.
In the instant that Han Li appeared, black Qi swirled all over his body, and he instantly donned a suit of black armor. At the same time, specks of azure light flashed around him, and 72 small azure swords shot forth out of his body.
Only then did he cast his gaze toward the four people before him, among which were the white-haired elderly man and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue.
Both of them had several treasures around them, but one was very pale, while the other had bloodstains all over their robes, and it was quite clear that the battle had not treated them well.
In particular, the chest of the white-robed elderly man's robes had been completely torn open, and he was missing an entire arm.
Standing before them was a crimson-robed young man, and a burly bronze-skinned man in a beasthide garment.
The burly man held a mace that was shimmering with green flames while holding a bloody arm in his other hand; that arm seemed to belong to none other than the white-robed elderly man.
The white-robed elderly man and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue's expressions eased slightly at the sight of Han Li and the 36 male cultivators, and both the crimson-robed young man and the burly man also turned to them in unison.
Upon catching sight of Han Li, the young man's eyes were immediately filled with resentment while a dangerous look flashed through the burly man's eyes.
"Fellow Daoist Xue Guang, is this the person you wanted me to target? His cultivation base seems to be higher than you proclaimed," the burly man said as he turned to the young man with a dark expression.
Xue Guang was initially quite stunned by Han Li's improved cultivation base, but an enlightened look then appeared on his face. "This is indeed that Han brat, but he should only be at the mid-Body Integration Stage. Oh, I get it now, he must've been the one making that breakthrough a while back. Rest assured, Brother Xiong, he's only just progressed to the late-Body Integration Stage, so he won't even have had sufficient time to consolidate his cultivation base; it'll be a simple matter for you to take care of him."
"Are you sure he's the one who made that breakthrough? If another late-Body Integration cultivator shows up, you'll be in huge trouble," the burly man said as he turned to Han Li with a sinister smile.
"Even if there's another late-Body Integration cultivator, I'll take care of them; you just worry about taking down this Han brat for me," Xue Guang replied in a cold voice.
"Hehe, in that case, I have nothing else to say; just leave this human brat to me. It looks like you'll have your hands full dealing with this formation," the burly man said with a nonchalant look on his face.
The formation that he was referring to was none other than the formation conjured up by the 36 male cultivators as soon as they'd appeared.
The formation consisted of layers of azure light barriers with countless silver runes surging over their surfaces, and it encompassed the entire surrounding area with a radius of several kilometers.
"A temporary formation set up by a bunch of Deity Transformation cultivators won't be able to trouble me," Xue Guang said in a disdainful manner.
"This formation and that human brat are most likely the trump cards prepared against you by the humans; it's not as simple as it looks," the burly man said with a shake of his head.
"Oh, I forgot that you were quite well-versed in the art of formations as well. Is there something special about this formation?" Xue Guang asked in a surprised manner.
"I can't see much in such a short time; all I was able to ascertain is that this formation is most likely a spatial restriction," the burly man replied.
"A spatial formation? That is indeed a little troublesome. Thank you for your words of caution, Brother Xiong," Xue Guang said as his expression darkened slightly.
Just as the two devilish beings were communicating with one another, Han Li turned to the white-robed elderly man with furrowed brows, and asked, "What's going on here, Brother Gu? Why are you two here, and in such bad condition, at that? Who is this late-Body Integration Stage devilish lord?"
Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but a chill had run down his spine in the instant that he had caught sight of the burly devilish lord.
A wry smile appeared on the white-robed elderly man's face, and he replied with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes, "Things seem to be more troublesome than expected, Brother Han. We have no idea where this devilish lord came from, and we don't have any information on him. Fellow Daoist Jin and I had tried to split up the two of them before summoning you here, but this devilish lord is far more powerful than we anticipated. Fellow Daoist Jin was severely wounded after just a single attack, and one of my arms was torn off as well. Never did I think that there would be such a monstrous Body Integration Stage being; it's almost like he's…"
Buddhist Master Jin Yue took over from where the white-robed elderly man had left off. "It's almost like he's a half-step Grand Ascension Stage being! You have to be careful, Brother Han; this devilish lord is most likely going to be far more difficult to deal with than that Sacred Ancestor clone. All of our other Body Integration cultivators are occupied, including even the Body Integration Stage elders who had been in seclusion in the city for countless years and the envoys sent here by the holy island, so we're the only ones who can take on these two devilish beings. If we lose, this battle will also be lost."
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he released his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area, upon which he discovered that there were indeed several unfamiliar auras who were battling inky black devils with three heads and six arms each.
"Those are elder devils!" Han Li exclaimed at the sight of those black devils.
"Indeed, those are devilish beings with the purest devilish bloodline; at the same cultivation base, these Body Integration Stage elder devils are even more powerful than other devilish lords. If it weren't for the emergence of these fearsome devils, we wouldn't have been forced to summon you here early," the white-robed elderly man said with a dark expression.
"I see. I assume you would like me to take on this late-Body Integration Stage devilish lord, but what about that Sacred Ancestor clone?" Han LI asked.
The white-robed elderly man and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue exchanged a glance before the former gritted his teeth, and said, "With this spatial formation to assist us, we should be able to at least keep this clone occupied for a while; you can focus wholeheartedly on facing this devilish lord, Brother Han."
Blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes upon hearing this, and he cast his gaze toward the burly man.
The burly devilish man just so happened to be looking at him as well, and their eyes immediately met.
The deranged excitement on the burly man's face gradually became more pronounced, and faint silver light was shimmering within his pupils.
All of a sudden, the burly man rushed forward and appeared at the center of the light barrier, then tossed the elderly man's arm into the air before lashing out with his mace.
A resounding boom rang out as the dismembered arm rained down from above as scraps of flesh and blood, filling the entire light barrier with a strong bloody odor.
