Almost at the exact same moment, Yue Long made a hand seal before pointing a finger toward the crimson feather fan.
Countless crimson runes immediately surged out of the fan in a frenzy as it swelled to several times its original size, then appeared right in front of Yue Long before being caught in his grasp.
Yue Long then raised the fan without any hesitation and swept it toward the golden powder.
As soon as he did so, the fan was ignited on its own as layers of crimson flames appeared over its surface, while gusts of scorching wind swept through the air.
As soon as the golden powder was swept up by this wind, they began to glow brightly, then rose up into the sky before disappearing in a flash at a certain altitude.
Right at this moment, Yue Long opened his mouth to expel several balls of blood essence toward the fierce wind.
All of these balls of blood essence were inky-black, and as soon as they came into contact with the wind, they exploded into black devilish flames.
A dull thump rang out as these flames were swept up by the wind, and the wind fanned the fireballs violently, causing them to swell to over 1,000 times their original size.
In the blink of an eye, a scorching pillar of black flames had taken shape, extending directly up into the heavens and presenting an astonishing sight to behold.
In the sky above the pillar of flames, the golden powder that had disappeared resurfaced, then transformed into a series of huge golden runes.
The massive runes scattered across the entire sky, forming an extremely complex super formation with countless rays of golden light surging through it.
At the same time, the formation was releasing a burst of terrifying spiritual pressure that was threatening to make even the surrounding space congeal.
All of a sudden, a thunderclap erupted in the cloudless sky up above, as if to resonate with the formation, and a series of balls of white light came plummeting down from above.
Initially, there were only several tens of these balls of light, but that quickly turned into thousands, then tens of thousands, and it was as if there were a white meteor shower raining down from above.
A burst of Buddhist chants suddenly rang out from within the golden formation, following which a burst of tremendous invisible force was released.
All of the white balls of light were drawn by this force into the golden formation, and they were all devoured in the blink of an eye.
The rumbling within the golden formation became even louder, and the golden runes surged violently as an even more fearsome aura began to take shape.
Instead of being alarmed by this, an elated look appeared in Yue Long's eyes as he yelled, "Everything's ready, Fellow Daoist Han; the power of heaven and earth is about to descend!"He then made a hand seal before pointing a finger toward the cauldron, which instantly swelled to over 1,000 feet in size.
At the same time, all types of materials of different colors and sizes came flooding out of the cauldron, and all of them were emanating astonishing metal attribute spiritual Qi.
Upon emerging from the cauldron, all of the materials hovered in mid-air in a completely still manner.
Right at this moment, an earth-shattering boom erupted from within the golden formation up above, and a beam of golden light descended from it.
Initially, the beam of golden light was only as thick as the opening of a bowl, but it quickly swelled to as thick as a water tank, and countless thin translucent threads were visible within it.
Even before it landed, it was giving off an extremely sharp aura.
Yue Long's expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal, upon which the 108 copper pillars shuddered in unison before vanishing on the spot, only to be replaced by a series of copper warrior puppets of different descriptions. All of the puppets were holding different treasures, which they raised up into the air in unison.
All of the treasures then exploded at once amid a loud buzzing sound, following which a gust of fierce wind swept through down the middle, encompassing the entire valley beneath it.
Strangely enough, the sound of clashing metallic weapons could be heard amid the howling wind, and an indescribable baleful aura swept through the surrounding area, as if there were countless dangerous weapons concealed within the wind.
In the next instant, the golden light descending from above descended into the wind, but upon emerging on the other side, it had been shrunk down to just over half its original size.
The golden light then descended straight into the giant cauldron, causing it to tremor violently while releasing a loud clanging sound akin to the toll of a giant bell.
At the same time, the protective spiritual light around Yue Long's body tremored slightly, but his expression remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, the golden formation up above was releasing one pillar of golden light after another, and the interval between each pillar of light being released was gradually shortening.
Yue Long was able to withstand the first 100 or so pillars of golden light in a steady manner, but soon, the pillars of golden light were falling two at a time, and his expression slowly became rather grim.
Even though he could still continue to use the giant cauldron to catch the pillars of golden light, the cauldron was beginning to tremor violently, and black light was flashing incessantly over Yue Long's face, clearly indicating that he was beginning to struggle.
Han Li was already hovering in mid-air as soon as the copper pillar beneath his feet had transformed into a puppet warrior, and he was still appraising the unfolding situation with a calm expression, displaying no intention to intervene.
All of a sudden, three pillars of golden light came crashing down from above in unison, and Yue Long's expression changed drastically upon seeing this as he reflexively cast his gaze toward Han Li.
Much to his relief, Han Li was finally springing into action as a burst of unfathomable spiritual pressure began to emanate from his body.
Thus, Yue Long was able to direct his focus back to the cauldron, injecting his magic power into the treasure in a frenzy.
The silver cauldron began to revolve rapidly on the spot, and the materials around it plunged into the cauldron amid the sharp screeching sound of metal grating on metal.
Golden light flashed, and the three pillars of golden light plunged through the fierce wind. Even though they had been shrunk down significantly, they were still descending toward the silver cauldron with astonishing might.
Right at this moment, Han Li pointed a finger toward the pillars of golden light from afar, and a thick bolt of golden lightning sprang out of his fingertip amid a rumbling thunderclap.
The bolt of lightning instantly arrived beside the pillars of golden light, then split up into three to strike the pillars of light with unerring accuracy.
A resounding boom rang out as arcs of golden light spread through the air, and once the lightning faded, the pillars of golden light were revealed to have shrunk even further before plunging into the giant cauldron.
The cauldron tremored amid a dull thump, but it was able to withstand the pillars of golden light.
Even though the intervals between the descending pillars of golden light were still shortening, they were unable to pose much of a threat after being debilitated by Han Li's Divine Devilbane Lightning.
Yue Long's confidence was greatly fuelled upon seeing this, and he began to flick a series of incantation seals through the air, all of which instantly vanished into the giant silver cauldron upon contact.
Scintillating golden light radiated within the cauldron, and a string of resounding booms rang out, as if the materials within it were shattering one after another.
Immediately thereafter, Yue Long cast his gaze toward the white jade vial before uttering the word "explode".
The white runes on the surface of the jade vial immediately flashed before the vial itself exploded to form a palm-sized ball of grey spirit flames.
Yue Long pointed a finger toward the ball of flames, then uttered the word "ignite".
The spirit flames instantly transformed into a grey fiery python that was over 300 feet in length, and it pounced toward the silver cauldron before heating it from below.
A series of secret patterns on the surface of the cauldron immediately lit up, then transitioned from silver into a crimson color, while the temperature in the cauldron was instantly raised to an incredible degree.
As a result, most of the materials in the cauldron quickly melted into liquid, with only a few special materials still maintaining their original forms.
Yue Long was appraising the cauldron intently with an unblinking gaze, and bursts of invisible power were being released from his body, drawing the remaining materials into the cauldron as well.
He then made a hand seal before expelling another ball of black blood essence, which flew directly into the grey spirit flames.
The flames beneath the cauldron immediately swelled drastically, and its temperature increased significantly as it turned a faint golden color.
Not long after this color change, the remaining materials in the cauldron that hadn't melted also began to soften and melt.
However, right at this moment, the number of pillars of light descending from the golden formation up above finally increased to four at once.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and the golden lightning being released from his fingertips suddenly ceased as he swept a sleeve through the air.
A golden gourd was released, and it immediately tipped itself over, pouring out thousands of grains of translucent sand.
These grains of sand sprang up at his behest, then quickly vanished into the distance in a flash.
In the next instant, a yellow sandstorm appeared directly above the cauldron, and a series of giant translucent rocks the size of millstones appeared to form a mysterious stone formation.
At this point, the pillars of golden light had already descended from above, and they struck the very center of the stone formation.
A resounding boom rang out as bright yellow light flashed violently, and the dozen or so giant rocks at the very center of the formation were instantly sliced apart by the golden light.
However, the four pillars of golden light were still impeded and, only after shrinking down to a small fraction of their original size were they able to just barely pass through the stone formation.
