Chapter 505: Misty Adversaries
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he sized up the misty figure standing before him.
White mist gently swirled around the misty figure's hand, and another longsword slowly took shape.
What on earth is this thing?
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to find that each of the misty figures had a ball of light in their body that was pulsing in a rhythmic fashion.
The misty figure that was battling Daoist Hu Yan had a ball of crimson light in its body, the misty figure facing Luo Qinghai had a blue one, while the ball of light within Han Li's assailant was a light golden color.
However, aside from that, Han Li wasn't able to spot anything else remarkable about these misty figures.
Right as he was wondering whether he should summon his Mantra Treasured Axis to take a closer look, a slightly feeble voice suddenly rang out in his mind, and it belonged to none other than Nan Kemeng.
At this moment, everyone else around Han Li could hear his voice as well.
"These misty figures have no substantial forms, but all of them have law powers in their bodies that correspond with yours. Right above each of their heads is a white thread that's invisible to the naked eye, and these threads are connected to the immortal envoy's fingertips. At the same time, there's also a thread connecting their hearts to yours."
Han Li took a subtle glance at Gongshu Jiu's crossed arms upon hearing this, and sure enough, he could see Gongshu Jiu's fingers making tiny movements that were barely detectable.
It was as if he were a puppeteer that was controlling some puppets on strings.
While battling the misty figure before him, Han Li began to inspect his surroundings to find that all of the other misty figures were wielding the same law powers as the opponents that they had been assigned to.
A look of realization instantly appeared on his face as he called out through voice transmission, "Don't waste any more energy on fighting these misty figures, fellow daoists. All of them are reflections of us that have been conjured up by the immortal envoy's law powers, so their powers are virtually identical to ours, and it won't be an easy task for us to defeat them."
"I've arrived at this realization myself as well, but how are we supposed to defeat these things?" Luo Qinghai asked.
"Do not waste any more of your law powers. These reflections are connected to us through threads of mist, and their law powers are coming straight out of our bodies!" Han Li revealed.
"Now wonder I could feel my law powers being expended so quickly! The rate of expenditure is almost twice the normal rate for me!" Daoist Hu Yan exclaimed.
"He's trying to use these things to wear us down, and once our law powers are completely exhausted, we'll be completely at his mercy," Wyrm 3 said.
"Alright, now that we've identified the crux of the matter, does anyone have a solution?" Chi Lijiao asked.
"These figures possess no intelligence and are being controlled solely by the immortal envoy. Ultimately, this is just an ability of his, so these are nothing more than manifestations of his law powers. All we need to do is stop using our law powers for now and focus all of our attacks on Gongshu Jiu himself. That's the best solution I can think of right now," Han Li proposed.
"Sounds good to me! If things continue like this, we'll be dead soon anyway, so we may as well make a final stand!" Daoist Hu Yan chimed in in agreement.
Luo Qinghai took a glance at Nan Kemeng, and upon receiving a nod from the latter, he immediately declared, "I also agree with this course of action."
Wyrm 3 and Chi Lijiao also expressed their approval of this idea, and with that, all of five of them immediately sprang into action.
The crimson flames over Daoist Hu Yan's body were instantly snuffed out, and he spun around in mid-air, rising up like a tornado before hurtling directly toward the misty figure in front of him.
The flames around the misty figure's body also faded as it rushed at Daoist Hu Yan in the exact same fashion.
The two of them clashed in mid-air with a resounding boom, and Daoist Hu Yan allowed himself to be sent flying by the force of the clash, using it to launch himself at Gonshu Jiu.
Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li and the others also employed various strategies to disengage themselves from their battles against the misty figures before rushing at Gongshu Jiu.
A hint of surprise flashed through Gongshu Jiu's eyes upon seeing this.
"Have you already seen through it? It appears I may have underestimated all of you. Having said that, it's not like it makes any difference," he chuckled, and as soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly made a wrenching motion with his left hand, upon which all of the misty figures were pulled toward him by a burst of tremendous force, reappearing directly in the paths of Han Li and the others in the blink of an eye.
"You think that it'll somehow make a difference just because you're not using your law powers? You still stand no chance at all!" Gongshu Jiu jeered like a cat toying with some mice.
Right at this moment, a burst of golden ripple suddenly appeared behind him, and Han Li abruptly emerged out of thin air, then lashed out with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
The sword was flashing with golden lightning, and right as it was about to strike Gongshu Jiu's waist, he suddenly vanished amid a flash of white light, replaced by the misty figures in the visage of Han Li.
In just the blink of an eye, he had managed to transpose himself with the misty figure, which was struck by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword and completely torn apart.
Meanwhile, Gongshu Jiu reappeared not far away, and the smile on his face finally faded as a cold and furious look appeared on his face.
A hint of disappointment appeared on Han Li's face in the wake of his failed attack, while Gongshu Jiu's brows furrowed tightly as he mused, "Time law powers... Were you the one who killed Elder Tao's son, Tao Yu? I can't think of anyone else in this immortal region cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture."
"That's right, I'm the one who killed him," Han Li admitted with a bold grin.
Gongshu Jiu's expression darkened even further as he said, "You can smile all you want now, but I bet you're not going to be able to smile any longer once I take you back to Elder Tao! He's an expert in crafting nascent souls into nascent soul lamps, and you'll be burning for at least 100,000 years at Tao Yu's altar! You'll be in such excruciating pain that you'll wish you had been refined into a Golden Soul Pill instead!"
Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged as he retorted, "I've had a Golden Soul Pill before, but I wonder what a pill refined using a Jade Immortal's nascent soul will taste like."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he took a step forward and launched himself at Gongshu Jiu once again.
"How insolent!"
A cold look appeared on Gongshu Jiu's face, and he continued to control the misty figures that were battling Daoist Hu Yan and the others with his left hand, while simultaneously making a grabbing motion with his right hand to summon a slender longsword that looked as if it had been fashioned out of white jade.
As the sword was slashed through the air, an indistinct burst of qi seemed to flash through the air, then transformed into a series of extremely thin blade projections as it swept toward Han Li.
Han Li immediately activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, which allowed him to identify the trajectories of these blade projections.
At the same time, he slashed his sword through the air repeatedly, unleashing layers upon layers of azure sword qi that formed a protective barrier around him, keeping all of the oncoming blade projections at bay.
At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little awestruck. It was incredible to him that someone was able to utilize their law powers to this extent. This was truly not a level of mastery that a Golden Immortal could hope to reach.
Due to the fact that he was constantly being suppressed by Gongshu Jiu's spirit domain, it took Han Li a great deal of effort to finally pierce through the layers of blade projections to close down the distance between himself and Gongshu Jiu.
He made a hand seal with one hand while slashing his sword through the air with the other, and all of the layers of azure sword qi around him instantly bloomed like a lotus flower before hurtling toward Gongshu Jiu at once.
Gongshu Jiu's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he raised his sword horizontally in front of him, then slashed it through the air with a flick of his wrist to conjure up a huge wall of white qi.
A string of loud clangs rang out incessantly within the palace, and all of the streaks of azure sword qi pierced into the wall of white qi, but were unable to make it all the way through.
A hint of disappointment appeared in Gongshu Jiu's eyes upon seeing this, and he remarked, "Looks like I overestimated you."
However, right at this moment, a smile suddenly appeared on Han Li's face as he gently flicked his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword with his finger, and all of the streaks of azure sword qi abruptly exploded in unison, releasing an extremely formidable shockwave that blasted a huge hole into the wall of white qi.
The shockwaves continued to proliferate outward, causing the entire palace to tremble violently.
The green pill cauldron originally served as the core of this golden palace, but now that the cauldron had been eaten by Jin Tong and most of the restrictions inscribed onto the ground had been destroyed, a series of cracks began to appear on the walls in the face of these devastating shockwaves.
Gongshu Jiu was situated closest to the explosion, and he couldn't help but stumble back in retreat in the face of these shockwaves.
Before he had a chance to steady himself, a crimson figure abruptly appeared behind him.
He immediately swung around in a manner that seemed to defy the laws of physiques, and he discovered that it was Daoist Hu Yan who had arrived on the scene and was slashing his fiery longsword directly at his head.
Gongshu Jiu immediately raised the slender longsword in his hand to parry the attack, and a sharp clang rang out as the pair of swords clashed, sending flames and sword qi erupting in all directions.
In the instant that the two swords clashed, a crimson gourd suddenly flew out of the cloth pouch on Daoist Hu Yan's back, and the opening of the gourd was aimed diagonally downward, directly facing Gongshu Jiu as it hovered above both of their heads.
The ancient runes on the surface of the gourd were flashing incessantly, and it was giving off waves of scorching heat.
Immediately thereafter, the stopper of the gourd flew out on its own with a loud pop.
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