Chapter 504: Joining Forces
"Chi Lijiao, Daoist Hu Yan, Wyrm 3... The three of you have committed quite a few transgressions, particularly you," Gongshu Jiu said as he stopped in his tracks and pointed a finger at the elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race.
A perplexed look flashed through Daoist Hu Yan's eyes as he cast his gaze toward the elderly woman.
It was clear that he had heard of Wyrm 3 before, but was unaware that the elderly woman was Wyrm 3 in disguise.
Wyrm 3's expression stiffened slightly, but there wasn't much fear in her eyes as she looked back at Gongshu Jiu. However, the same couldn't be said for the elderly man beside her.
Meanwhile, Yun Ni turned to Daoist Hu Yan with a concerned look in her eyes.
"I've been looking everywhere for you three, but the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor had gathered all of you in one place. This is fantastic! It'll certainly save me a great deal of trouble," Gongshu Jiu continued as his smile widened even further.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as his gaze fell upon the living corpses seated on the golden chair.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately yelled, "Everyone, all of us have played a hand in Xiao Jinhan's demise, so we're now in complete opposition against the Immortal Palace! This immortal envoy has clearly trapped all of us in his spirit domain with the intention of killing us all, so the only chance that we have at survival is to work together!"
Gongshu Jiu's attention was drawn to Han Li upon hearing this, but he merely watched Han Li with a smile, making no intention to stop him, as if what Han Li was saying had nothing to do with him.
A wry smile appeared on Luo Qinghai's face upon hearing this. In the wake of Han Li's declaration, his involvement in Xiao Jinhan's demise was virtually set in stone. Even though he wasn't actually a direct participant, Gongshu Jiu was certainly not going to believe that.
However, he wasn't overly bothered by this. Han Li was correct in saying that Gongshu Jiu clearly harbored intentions of killing everyone in the palace, so he had no choice but to work with everyone else anyway.
In that case, there was nothing for him to hesitate about. If he could somehow survive this ordeal, then he would just have to lead the Vast Flow Palace to defect to the Reincarnation Palace, which had already tried to recruit the Vast Flow Palace on many past occasions.
"Take this, Meng'er, it'll help you better withstand his spirit domain. I may not be able to look after you once the battle begins," Luo Qinghai said to Nan Kemeng as he handed the latter a longan-sized blue bead.
He then taught him a mantra for a secret technique through voice transmission.
Nan Kemeng's complexion was still very pale, but he reassured, "Don't worry, Master, I'll be fine."
He then accepted the blue bead and promptly swallowed it, then began to chant an incantation, upon which a layer of gentle blue light emerged over her lower abdomen, then swelled to form a blue light barrier with a radius of around 10 feet to encompass her entire body.
Nan Kemeng instantly felt as if he had been enveloped in a layer of gentle force that alleviated much of the crushing pressure and sense of asphyxiation that were weighing down upon him.
A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this.
That's a Profound Heavenly Spirit Domain!
Luo Qinghai had used a Profound Heavenly Treasure to help Nan Kemeng conjure up a faux spirit domain to ward off the power of Gongshu Jiu's spirit domain.
The fact that he was doing this indicated that he had already decided to accept Han Li's proposal.
Just like Luo Qinghai, everyone else had also realized that the only chance at survival that they had was to work together, and thus, all of them positioned themselves around Gongshu Jiu and Xue Ying, trapping them in an encirclement.
"What do you all think you're doing? How dare you display such blatant disrespect to Immortal Envoy Gongshu? Are you trying to oppose the Heavenly Court?"
Despite the brave front that Xue Ying was putting up, she unconsciously sidled up a little closer to Gongshu Jiu, and it was clear that she was feeling the pressure.
"Looks like all of you think that you can beat me thanks to your numbers advantage, but if that really were the case, then why would anyone bother to cultivate? How unfortunate. I wonder how long it'll take the Northern Glacial Immortal Region to recover after today," Gongshu Jiu lamented as he shook his head with a forlorn expression.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a sharp ringing sound suddenly rang out in the surrounding space.
Everyone in the palace was instantly struck by a burst of sharp pain in their eardrums, while the tremendous pressure surging toward them from all directions became several times more formidable.
Luo Qinghai immediately sprang into action, making a hand seal to conjure up a ball of blue light, which rapidly swelled in size to encompass everyone within it like a turbulent wave.
After being encompassed within the blue light barrier, the pressure on everyone was instantly lessened somewhat.
"Looks like you've made some decent progress in mastering the laws of the sea. Your crimes aren't all that severe, and I was originally only planning to make you serve as an immortal servant for a million years as a punishment, but you've insisted on digging your own grave," Gongshu Jiu remarked with a forlorn expression.
Daoist Hu Yan and the others also quickly followed suit, and light barriers of different colors emerged one after the other to encompass the entire palace, while different types of law power fluctuations surged toward Gongshu Jiu and Xue Ying.
However, Han Li had refrained from revealing his time spirit domain this entire time. His time law powers had been severely taxed during the prior battle, and while he hadn't completely run out, he also couldn't afford to use it without discretion.
In the face of a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, he had to be extremely meticulous, using every single ounce of his law powers where they would truly make a difference.
Gongshu Jiu was instantly inundated by a multitude of spirit domains, but his expression remained completely unchanged.
He casually swept a sleeve through the air, and two bursts of golden light emerged to form a pair of halberd-wielding puppets that were clad in golden armor.
As soon as the pair of puppets emerged, golden light that was filled with incredibly abundant metal law power fluctuations erupted out of their bodies, and their auras were comparable to those of late-Golden Immortal cultivators.
"Go!" Gongshu Jiu ordered, and the pair of golden-armored puppets instantly charged at Daoist Hu Yan and Luo Qinghai.
"Leave this puppet to us, Palace Master," the fair-skinned scholar said as he and the other Vast Flow Palace Golden Immortal charged at the oncoming golden-armored puppet.
Meanwhile, Ouyang Kuishan and the other dao lord had stepped forward to oppose the other puppet, while Yun Ni began drifting toward Xue Ying.
A hint of concern flashed through Daoist Hu Yan's eyes upon seeing this. Yun Ni had already sustained injuries while rescuing him earlier, so she was not in prime condition.
However, given the current situation, he couldn't afford to get distracted. After all, Gongshu Jiu was a bona fide High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, and even with Han Li, Wyrm 3, Chi Lijiao, and Luo Qinghai on his side, their chances of victory were probably still slim to none.
"At this point, there's no use in thinking about anything else. Only by giving it our all will we have any chance at survival," Han Li declared through voice transmission.
"Your time law powers are extremely formidable, Fellow Daoist Li, so we'll need you to make some significant contributions when it counts," Luo Qinghai said in a grim voice.
"I'll be sure to do my best, and similarly, I hope that you'll also unleash your full power. As the sect master of the Vast Flow Palace, I'm sure you have some more tricks up your sleeve," Han Li replied.
Luo Qinghai offered no response to this, and at the same time, Gongshu Jiu was already making his first move.
He began making a string of complex hand seals, and bursts of viscous mist that were of a milky white color emerged behind Han Li and the others, then took on the form of a series of misty humanoid figures.
Everyone's expressions changed drastically upon seeing this.
As it turned out, the outlines of these misty figures were identical to theirs, and it was as if they were their shadows. What was even more astonishing to them was that the auras of these misty figures were also extremely similar to their own.
"Are these domain spirits?" Daoist Hu Yan mused with tightly furrowed brows.
It was said that once one's spirit domain reached the late-Spiritform Stage, it would be capable of conjuring up domain spirits similar to living beings, and these domain spirits were similar in nature to puppets and Dao Warriors, while their powers depended on the cultivation base and law powers of the owner of the spirit domain.
"I don't think so," Luo Qinghai replied. "If these were spirit domains, then they wouldn't be so similar to us. I think this is another ability of his qi law powers."
Before they had a chance to speculate any further on this matter, the misty figures were already charging at them.
Daoist Hu Yan raised the longsword in his hand, and crimson flames were revolving around its blade as he slashed it horizontally toward the oncoming misty figure.
A burst of crimson light emerged around the misty figure as well, and scorching flames rose up over its entire body as it also summoned a fiery longsword before slashing it through the air.
The two fiery swords clashed with a resounding boom, and a wall of fire rose up between Daoist Hu Yan and the misty figure.
The two of them then flew through the wall of fire in unison before their swords clashed once again.
On the other side, the misty figure that was facing Luo Qinghai had turned into a cloud of water vapor that seemed to have no substantial form, and it was sending waves upon waves crashing into Luo Qinghai's defenses.
As for Wyrm 3 and Chi Lijiao, they were also being harassed by the same misty figures.
Meanwhile, Han Li was holding his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword tightly while locked in a standoff against his corresponding misty figure.
It seemed that even the misty figure's personality was rather similar to his, and it also adopted a more cautious approach, watching him in a still manner instead of striking right away.
Gongshu Jiu was standing somewhere further away with his arms crossed, and it seemed that he wasn't planning to get involved at all.
All of a sudden, Han Li launched himself forward, and as he did so, he abruptly vanished out of thin air.
In the next instant, he reappeared behind the misty figure before piercing his sword diagonally toward his opponent.
He had just used his Reversal True Axis to drastically enhance his own speed, so the sword strike had come very abruptly.
Right as the tip of his sword was about to pierce into the misty figure's abdomen, it also vanished from the spot, leaving nothing more than a faint wisp of residual mist behind.
Could it be that this thing possesses the same abilities as me?
Han Li's heart jolted slightly as he disappeared from the spot once again.
As soon as he reappeared, he immediately swept his sword horizontally behind him, and sure enough, the misty figure appeared right before him before lashing out with its sword as well.
A sharp clang rang out, and Han Li was forced back several steps by the force of the clash.
The misty figure was also sent sliding back, while the sword in its hand was destroyed by streaks of azure sword qi sweeping toward it.
Gongshu Jiu's brows furrowed ever so slighlty upon seeing this, and he focused his gaze on the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in Han Li's hand.
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