Just as Han Li was getting absorbed in his own thoughts, Bao Hua suddenly raised an eyebrow, and said, "They're here, everyone."
She didn't mention exactly what "they" were, but all of the Grand Ascension Stage beings immediately understood what she was referring to, and some of them, including Han Li, immediately cast their spiritual sense out of the giant ark.
After a disturbance in the surrounding swarm of stemborers, a series of crimson stemborers appeared.
These stemborers were only around a foot in size each, but there were faint golden spirit patterns all over their bodies, and five-colored light swirling within their green eyes.
As soon as these stemborers appeared, the expressions of the Grand Ascension Stage beings on the ark changed drastically, and they immediately withdrew their treasures.
All of the nearby stemborers were instantly eradicated by the returning treasures, but the crimson stemborers suddenly vanished with a flap of their wings.
In the next instant, all of the crimson stemborers appeared near the Grand Ascension Stage beings before flying directly toward them.
The Grand Ascension Stage beings were naturally very alarmed, and they immediately attacked the stemborers or released their protective treasures.
There was even one who let loose a loud cry as he reached out to grab one of the stemborers.
However, all of their attacks and defensive measures were bypassed by these stemborers as if they didn't even exist. As soon as they reached the Grand Ascension Stage beings, the stemborers began to give off scintillating crimson light.
The Grand Ascension Stage beings' expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, yet just as they were preparing to withstand the force of the imminent stemborer explosions with their bodies, Bao Hua's voice suddenly rang out in the air.
"Rest assured, leave these things to me."
As soon as her voice trailed off, a pillar of white light erupted out of the hall in the giant ark.
The pillar of light then split up into several thin beams of light that struck the crimson stemborers, sending them flying for over 100 feet.
A string of resounding booms rang out as several scorching crimson suns appeared, and a series of spatial rifts also emerged as if the entire space were about to be torn apart.
The power of these stemborer explosions was truly formidable!
All of the Grand Ascension Stage beings were stunned to see this.
The explosions wouldn't have been enough to kill them, but severe injuries were definitely unavoidable.
Right at this moment, a giant pink flower projection appeared up above amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, and Bao Hua emerged overhead.
Before the Grand Ascension Stage beings even had a chance to express their gratitude toward Bao Hua, around a dozen more crimson stemborers appeared.
They immediately teleported over to Bao Hua, surrounding her in a watertight barrier, then prepared to self-detonate again, seemingly planning to kill her in one fell swoop.
In response, Bao Hua merely chuckled coldly as countless silver stars suddenly erupted out of her body, forming a boundless galaxy that swept up all of the surrounding stemborers.
A string of explosions rang out, but all of them were snuffed out by the galaxy of stars, unable to leave any impact at all.
All of the stars then converged to form a flag that was around 10 feet in length with shimmering silver stars etched all over its surface; it was none other than the Starfall Flag!
Around a dozen more Grand Ascension Stage beings had flown out of the hall in the ark in case their powers were required, and Han Li was one of them.
He had his arms crossed and was appraising Bao Hua in an intrigued manner, planning to see how she was going to use those two treasures to deal with the stemborers.
The failure of the crimson stemborers' self-detonation had clearly enraged the entire swarm, and after a string of disturbances, close to 1,000 crimson balls of light emerged. Even Bao Hua's expression turned slightly grim at the sight of so many self-detonating stemborers, and she waved her flag through the air to create another galactic projection that encompassed the entire giant ark.
At the same time, she pointed up at the small mirror overhead, and it immediately transformed into a full moon.
Golden light surged through the moon, following which hundreds of beams of light shot forth at once, puncturing the bodies of the crimson stemborers with unerring accuracy.
All of the crimson stemborers that were struck immediately exploded on the spot, sending scorching red flames surging in all directions and incinerating large hordes of surrounding stemborers into ashes.
However, the remaining crimson stemborers all flapped their wings and instantly vanished on the spot.
Bao Hua immediately retaliated as the galaxy of stars suddenly began to surge violently at her behest.
Countless stars changed positions as bursts of spatial fluctuations erupted forth, forcing all of the crimson stemborers to reveal themselves again.
Furthermore, all of them had become extremely slow and sluggish, as if they were flying through treacle.
A cold smile appeared on Bao Hua's face as she injected her immeasurable magic power into the full moon up above in a frenzy, and the moon immediately began releasing more beams of golden light.
Each beam of light that was released resulted in the premature explosion of a crimson stemborer, but it also made the moon dim ever so slightly.
The storm of golden light eradicated most of the crimson stemborers, but it also expended the last of the moon's power, and it reverted back into a small mirror that descended from above.
Bao Hua rushed out of the galaxy of stars to catch the mirror, then cast her gaze toward the remaining crimson stemborers trapped in the galaxy of stars before making a certain hand seal.
The galactic projection immediately surged back in reverse, and countless silver stars converged toward its center before exploding in unison, sweeping up gusts of fierce silver winds that created countless white spatial rifts.
"This is a space-time storm!" one of the Grand Ascension Stage beings exclaimed upon seeing this, and a contemplative look also appeared on Han Li's face.
In the next instant, all of the crimson stemborers swept up by the fierce silver winds were devoured by the white rifts and completely vanished.
Bao Hua heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this, then waved a hand down below.
The silver winds immediately faded, and the silver flag re-emerged before flying back into Bao Hua's hand.
After unleashing that astonishing ability, the Starfall Flag had clearly been severely debilitated.
After all, space-time storms simply weren't phenomena that the average Profound Heavenly Treasure replica could create, so Bao Hua had to have unleashed this ability using a secret technique that harmed the Starfall Flag.
After stowing the two treasures away, Bao Hua said, "Rest assured, fellow daoists, the self-detonating stemborers have been wiped out."
After that, she slowly descended toward the giant ark.
Han Li and the other Grand Ascension Stage beings also returned to the ark shortly thereafter.
Upon returning to the hall, Bao Hua sat down in a corner with her legs crossed.
Meanwhile, all of the other Grand Ascension Stage beings were discussing the powers that had just been displayed by the pair of treasures.
As for Han Li, he merely returned to his seat and sat down with a faint smile.
Without the impediment of the self-detonating stemborers and high-grade stemborers, the group was able to continue onward without a hitch.
Close to half a day later, they finally emerged from the stemborer swarm and caught sight of the original sealed site in the distance.
At this point, most of the elite devilish warriors had perished, and only just over 10,000 remained as the giant ark arrived at the original sealed site.
Han Li and the Grand Ascension Stage beings emerged from the giant ark and began to inspect their surroundings with curiosity in their eyes.
The edge of this original sealed site was a barren mountain range, and littered between these mountains was the occasional building. However, the entire place was completely silent, and there was not a single person to be seen.
Strangely enough, as soon as the stemborer swarm reached this area, they immediately drew to an abrupt halt outside the mountain range, as if there were something extremely fearsome in their eyes up ahead, and they didn't dare to continue any further, even as Han Li and the others continued onward.
"This is the power of the ancient seal. As expected, it really is able to suppress these stemborers. Let's keep everyone else here to keep an eye on the stemborer swarm while we head deeper into this place," Old Man Copper Crow suggested.
Bao Hua nodded in agreement, and said, "Fellow Daoist Que, Brother Feng, you two will stay here to repair some of the restrictions on the outskirts as we planned earlier. These restrictions are directly connected to the ancient seal, so if you can repair some of them, it'll greatly benefit the recovery of the ancient seal."
