Chapter 126: Coercion
Han Li's pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he closed the jade box in his hand.
With his spiritual sense, he was able to instantly identify the unwelcome guests as soon as they appeared.
Flying at the forefront of the group was a burly man in a suit of engraved white armor with a hollow visor on his face. This was none other than Ancestral God Han Qiu's Earthly Deity Avatar, which Han Li had already battled once before.
Even through the mask, Han Li could still sense the cold killing intent in the Earthly Deity Avatar's eyes.
As for the five people behind the avatar, judging from their life-like features, yet slightly wooden expressions, it was clear that they were avatars as well.
Aside from a black-armored man and an elderly man with a yellow beard, there was also a pair of azure-robed daoist priests that seemed to have been a pair of identical twins. Han Li had never seen these people before, but from the information provided by Luo Feng, he was able to identify them as the Ancestral Gods of the nearby islands.
As for the final assailant, a woman in blue, that was a familiar face. It was none other than Mistress Gu Gu, who had accompanied Han Qiu on his previous visit.
The six of them seemed to have somehow concealed their auras, so Han Li was completely oblivious to their presence, even though they had appeared no more than several thousand kilometers away from him.
For True Immortals, a distance of several thousand kilometers was one that could be crossed in an instant.
Flying along at the front of the group, Han Qiu swept a hand through the air to release a streak of white light. It was a glowing white sickle, and in the blink of an eye, it swelled to over 1,000 feet in size before hurtling viciously toward Han Li.
The sickle wasn't an immortal treasure, but it was still a treasure that contained tremendous power, and even before it arrived, the nearby seawater had already been parted by its formidable aura.
At this moment, Han Li was at a vital juncture in the refinement of his Earthly Deity Avatar, and he wasn't even able to get up, much less defend himself.
However, he wasn't alarmed in the slightest as he calmly made a hand seal, then pointed in a certain direction.
A burst of blue light flew out of his fingertip, then vanished into the blue light barrier around him in a flash.
The blue light barrier glowed brightly as it became incredibly substantial and thick, following which countless wave projections appeared on its surface amid a splashing sound.
The light barrier was clearly an extremely powerful restriction, and as soon as it took shape, it was struck by the white sickle.
A resounding metallic clang rang out, and sparks flew in all directions as the sickle was repelled back through the air.
Meanwhile, the wave projections on the surface of the blue light barrier surged violently, but it wasn't sliced apart.
At the same time, Mistress Gu Gu and the others had already summoned their treasures as well. The black-armored man had summoned a dark golden scepter, the yellow-bearded elderly man was wielding an earthy yellow seal, the two azure-robed daoist priests had armed themselves with a pair of long blue halberds, while Mistress Gu Gu was holding a black longsword.
All five treasures were giving off dazzling radiance, and they struck the blue light barrier in unison right after the white sickle.
A string of resounding booms rang out, while the nearby seawater tumbled and churned violently.
However, these treasures were also kept out and repelled by the blue light barrier, just like the white sickle from before.
The blue light barrier trembled violently like a willow tree in the wind, and its surface churned and rumbled once again as if a series of massive waves were washing over it, and even though it quickly stabilized once again, the blue light radiating from it had already dimmed significantly.
Even though it was impossible to see clearly into the light barrier from the outside, one could just barely make out a pair of blurry figures seated across from one another with their legs crossed.
"Fellow Daoist Han Qiu, our differences from last time have already been settled. What is the meaning of this?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
"You can only blame yourself for being too greedy. If you really hadn't found Luo Meng's Soulbirth Flower, then why have you begun refining an Earthly Deity Avatar? That Soulbirth Flower is still some way away from reaching 10,000 years of age, but it should still just barely suffice," Han Qiu chuckled.
"I see that you're very familiar with the Earthly Deity Avatar refinement process. You waited this long before appearing right as I've reached the final step of my avatar refinement process. I'm assuming you did this because you're certain that I wouldn't be able to retaliate, right?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
"You're a smart man, Fellow Daoist. Right now, you have two choices, the first of which is to hand over the Soulbirth Flower, and we'll leave right away. You can continue to rule over Dark Veil Island, and we won't interfere with your rule. As for the second choice, I'm sure I don't need to spell it out for you," Han Qiu said with a cold smile.
Instead of responding to Han Qiu, Han Li turned to the other Ancestral Gods as he said, "Fellow daoists, I have no vendetta against any of you. Do you insist on working with Fellow Daoist Han Qiu to have me killed?"
"I may have only met you once before, but I'd consider us to be acquaintances, Fellow Daoist Liu. Hence, I'd advise you not to bother putting up futile resistance, Fellow Daoist. Seeing as you've already chosen to pursue the path of a Profound Immortal and attained a True Extreme Body, why would you go down the path of the Earthly Immortal?
“As long as you're willing to cooperate with us, we would be more than happy to allow you to continue to rule over Dark Veil Island," Mistress Gu Gu said.
"Cooperate? I see, so all of you just want me to become a puppet island master that will do your bidding like a lapdog," Han Li chuckled.
"We tried to be nice, but you've swatted our olive branch aside, so don't blame us for turning to violence. Fellow daoists, as long as you can help me kill this man, I'll be sure to follow through on everything I promised you," Han Qiu assured as he made a hand seal, and the white sickle swept toward Han Li once again.
The other five Ancestral Gods didn't say anything further as they also called upon their treasures, which crashed into the blue light barrier as streaks of light.
The blue light barrier trembled violently, and even though it was able to keep all of the attacks at bay, it had dimmed significantly once again, and there was only a thin layer of it left.
Inside the blue restriction, Han Li had fallen silent, and it was unclear what he was doing.
Han Qiu let loose a loud roar as he made a hand seal, and eight identical giant sickle projections appeared around the white sickle before revolving around it like the petals of a pristine white lotus flower.
The giant sickle lotus flower screeched through the air before crashing into the blue light barrier with an earth-shattering boom, and that was finally enough to shatter the light barrier into countless specks of blue light, revealing Han Li and his Earthly Deity Avatar inside.
The surrounding five treasures from the other Ancestral Gods instantly converged toward Han Li, and right at this moment, specks of blue light appeared around Han Li once again.
A series of hemispherical blue light barriers reappeared around him amid the sound of loud crashing water, and the light barriers appeared to be slightly thinner than the original one, but there were dozens of them this time.
Dazzling blue radiance erupted from the light barriers, giving them a mysterious appearance.
The five streaks of light crashed into the outermost light barrier, which was instantly destroyed, but the treasures contained within the streaks of light were also repelled.
Right at this moment, the other blue light barriers began to buzz incessantly, and the blue radiance glowing on their surface rippled like water. Streaks of blue light shot out of the surrounding seawater, and in the blink of an eye, the broken blue light barrier was restored.
Han Qiu was staring intently at the blue light barriers with a grim expression, and his expression was mirrored on the faces of his five allies as well.
Meanwhile, Han Li was situated in the array with his expression completely unmoved.
He was well aware of the risks involved in refining an Earthly Deity Avatar, and that was why he had secured this Thousandfold Wave Array for a heavy price as a safety precaution.
This array didn't possess any offensive capabilities, but its defensive prowess was incredible, and even with six True Immortals attacking it at once, it was not going to be broken so easily.
At this moment, a jade vial that was filled with golden liquid had already appeared in Han Li's hand, and he was beginning to tip the liquid onto the glabella of the Earthly Deity Avatar down below.
Outside the blue array, Gu Gu and the others didn't strike right away. Instead, all of them were looking at Han Qiu.
"Fellow Daoist Han Qiu, I don't think this man is just an ordinary Profound Immortal. It's not going to be easy to break through this array," the elderly man with the yellow beard mused with a grim expression.
"There's no need to be concerned at all, Fellow Daoist Ge. That man is trying to use a mere 8,000-year-old Soulbirth Flower to stabilize the soul of his Earthly Deity Avatar, and that's going to take at least a day and a night. With that much time on our hands, we'll definitely be able to break through this restriction," Mistress Gu Gu said with a cold smile.
"Indeed. Even with a mature 10,000-year-old Soulbirth Flower, there's no way he can complete this process without at least four to six hours," one of the azure-robed daoist priests chimed in with a nod.
"That is correct, fellow daoists. Let's kill this bastard, and we'll split the resources of Dark Veil Island evenly among ourselves!" Han Qiu urged.
His white sickle then began to glow brightly, and the white lotus flower was manifested once again before hurtling toward the blue light barrier.
At the same time, he made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a translucent little blue sword appeared before plunging forward like lightning.
A streak of blue swordlight that was several hundred feet in length swept through the air, and it was giving off a glacial aura that was tinged with hints of law powers as it flew toward the blue light barrier.
The outermost light barrier flashed erratically, and most of it was instantly frozen into ice.
The white lotus flower immediately took advantage of this opportunity to destroy that light barrier.
Everyone else also unleashed their own attacks, breaking through several more light barriers in the blink of an eye.
A derisive sneer appeared on Han Qiu's face upon seeing this, and with a flick of his wrist, a vast expanse of blue sword qi instantly surged forth, forming a sword mountain that crashed toward the blue light barrier.
The blue light barrier rippled violently once again before shattering moments later, and in the blink of an eye, the six Ancestral Gods had broken through around a dozen light barriers in succession.
Even though the Thousandfold Wave Array had a self-regenerative ability, the attacks coming from the six Ancestral Gods were too thick and fast for its self-repair ability to keep up.
As more and more light barriers were destroyed, they discovered that the deeper they went, the more resolute the light barriers became, thereby requiring more and more time to break through each light barrier.
This was a rather concerning discovery for them, and they all began unleashing their trump card abilities to attack the light barriers.
Time slowly passed by, and over two hours flew past in the blink of an eye.
At this point, the majority of the dozens of light barriers had already been broken, and there were only around seven or eight left.
However, these remaining light barriers were incredibly strong, and even though they were quivering incessantly in the face of the attacks from Han Qiu and the others, they displayed no signs of breaking at all.
An urgent look had crept into Han Qiu's eyes, and as he cast his gaze toward Han Li within the array, he was suddenly struck by an inexplicable sense of unease.
All of a sudden, he stopped what he was doing, then flipped a hand over to produce an egg-sized ball that was dark red in color, with red patterns visible on its surface, and it was giving off a peculiar aura.
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