Chapter 68: Pursuit
Daoist Closed Mountain was ecstatic to see this, and he switched to a different hand seal as he released a burst of blood essence out of his mouth, which fused into the silver moon image in a flash.
Inside the image, bursts of silver light were suddenly released by the silver moon that was concealed behind the mist, and the bursts of silver light intertwined with one another to form a shimmering silver vortex.
Bursts of spatial fluctuations erupted out of the vortex as a burst of dull rumbling that resembled a thunderclap rang out, and a speck of white light could be seen at the deepest point of the vortex.
In the instant that the spatial passageway was opened up, both the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost and the Lightning Bird turned to it in unison, and a hint of elation appeared on the former's face, while blue light flashed in the eyes of the latter.
Daoist Closed Mountain's gaze only settled on the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost for an instant before it was immediately directed toward the Lightning Bird, and he shuddered before turning around like a spooked hare and rushing into the silver vortex as quickly as he could.
Immediately thereafter, the silver vortex disintegrated into countless specks of silver light, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
In total, the spatial passageway was only open for less than a second, and all that remained of it were some faint spatial fluctuations.
Not only had Daoist Closed Mountain fled on his own, he had even closed the spatial passageway behind him, and the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost was furious to see this. "You bastard!"
Meanwhile, the blue light in the Lightning Bird's eyes faded, and a contemplative look appeared on its face.
During the brief instant before the passageway was closed, he had already captured all of the permutations of the spatial vortex.
"It's just you and me left now, Fellow Daoist Tong. It's time I settled my differences with your sect once and for all," the Lightning Bird said in a cold voice as it withdrew its gaze.
As soon as its voice trailed off, silver lightning flashed over its body, and it vanished on the spot amid a resounding thunderclap.
The Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost had no time to curse Daoist Closed Mountain for his betrayal as it frantically made a hand seal, and a vast expanse of viscous black qi surged out of its body, forming around a dozen thick tentacles that flailed wildly through the air around it.
Another thunderclap rang out, and the Lightning Bird appeared behind the heavenly ghost amid a flash of lightning, then lashed out with its talons at an incredible speed, leaving a trail of afterimages in their wake.
However, the black tentacles behind the heavenly ghost also reacted extremely quickly, wrapping themselves around the Lightning Bird in a flash.
A hint of surprise appeared in the Lightning Bird's eyes, following which arcs of silver lightning appeared all around its body, and countless silver runes also emerged from those arcs of lightning.
The runes exploded in rapid succession as countless thin threads of silver lightning sprang forth in all directions, tearing the black tentacles to shreds before reducing them to a cloud of black qi that was quickly eradicated.
The back of the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost was also struck by a thick arc of lightning, and the seven or eight eyes there were completely destroyed, causing black blood to gush down its back.
The Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost gave a muffled groan before frantically flying directly forward.
A burst of rumbling rang out from behind it as the Lightning Bird made a grabbing motion with its talons, and the arcs of silver lightning around it converged to form another pair of balls of lightning.
It then raised its talons up into the air, and the two balls of lightning flew up into the heavens before vanishing into the gray clouds up above.
A string of earth-shattering booms instantly rang out as the balls of lightning tore through the gray clouds, illuminating the landscape down below with scintillating silver light.
Two enormous pillars of lightning with countless silver runes surging around them abruptly shot out of the clouds, then came crashing down upon the fleeing Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost.
The heavenly ghost was greatly alarmed, and black light flashed from its body as it forced all of its eyes open again. Black light flashed within the pupils of its eyes as it prepared to unleash its spatial ability once again, but right at this moment, a bone-chilling harrumph rang out beside its ears.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of excruciating pain speared through its mind as if its brain had been viciously stabbed by a sharp knife, and it felt as if its soul were about to be torn apart at the seams.
The heavenly ghost threw its hands over its head as it let loose an agonized howl, and black blood began to flow out of all of its orifices.
The black light in the pupils of its eyes flashed erratically before fading, following which the two pillars of silver light struck its body amid a deafening thunderclap.
The Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost let loose a blood-curdling howl as two massive holes were instantly punched into its body by the pillars of lightning, and one of the holes was on its chest.
The heavenly ghost's body was almost torn into two, and black blood came gushing out as it plummeted out of the sky before crashing heavily down onto the ground.
A string of cracks and pops rang out as the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost's body rapidly shrank down, reverting back into a short elderly man in the blink of an eye. The elderly man was carrying extremely severe injuries with two large holes in his body, one on his chest and the other on his abdomen.
Blood was gushing incessantly out of Tong Ren'e's mouth as a horrified look appeared on his face.
However, in the next instant, a fierce look suddenly flashed through his eyes as he quickly made a hand seal.
Circles of black light instantly began to revolve around him, while his thin and frail body began to balloon up at an alarming rate.
"He's trying to self-detonate!" the Lightning Bird murmured to itself as it swept its talons through the air, releasing dazzling arcs of silver lightning that converged to form a ball of lightning in the blink of an eye.
The ball of lightning then came crashing down at an astonishing speed, but Tong Ren'e was able to self-detonate before it arrived, and the explosion released powerful shockwaves that tore through the nearby space.
Black light surged out of the spatial rifts, slowing down the ball of silver lightning in its descent.
A nascent soul that was several inches tall flew out of the black light before vanishing on the spot, then reappeared several hundred feet away in the blink of an eye. Protective spiritual light then flashed over its body as it attempted to flee the scene.
However, right at this moment, the silver ball of lightning exploded into an enormous silver sun, which rapidly expanded in all directions, engulfing Tong Ren'e's nascent soul in a flash.
An object shot out of the silver light before flying into the talons of the Lightning Bird.
Moments later, the silver sun slowly faded, revealing an enormous crater on the ground.
At this point, Tong Ren'e had already vanished without a trace.
The Lightning Bird vanished with a flash of silver lightning, and Han Li was revealed, holding a red bag that was giving off faint red light in one hand.
After that series of intense battles, he had reached the bottom of his magic power reserves, and his complexion had become quite pale.
He stowed the red bag away, then summoned a 1,000-year-old Cloud Crane Herb that he promptly devoured. After that, he raised his head to look up at the sky while chanting an incantation before sweeping a sleeve through the air.
Seven streaks of black light flew out before drawing to a halt in mid-air. These were none other than the seven Starmoon Mirrors that he had refined using Yin Dawn Stones, and they were arranged in accordance with the configuration of the Big Dipper's seven stars.
Han Li made a hand seal, casting streaks of light onto the seven mirrors, and they immediately began to revolve on the spot while radiating dazzling starlight.
Many black runes were also flying out of the mirrors before dancing in the starlight.
As Han Li cycled through a series of hand seals, the Starmoon Mirrors began to buzz incessantly, and the light that they were releasing became brighter and brighter, but they were trembling uncontrollably and becoming more and more unstable.
All of a sudden, Han Li made one final hand seal as he uttered the word "explode"!
The light radiating from the seven mirrors instantly reached peak brightness as they exploded into seven massive balls of light.
Han Li immediately began to make a rapid series of hand seals, and the seven balls of light quickly transformed into seven huge star projections that resembled a miniature replica of the Big Dipper at his behest.
Han Li instantly switched to a different hand seal upon seeing this, and light radiating from the seven star projections connected together to form a star array.
Han Li exhaled as he made a peculiar hand seal, and the star array instantly brightened, following which it split toward either side as if it were being torn apart by a pair of massive invisible hands.
Soon, an inky-black rift had appeared, and the rift seemed to be filled with boundless darkness, but there was a speck of light that could be seen at the deepest point in the darkness.
……
In the sky above the Origin Realm Temple's Star Gathering Platform, violent spatial fluctuations erupted from the giant silver as a spatial rift suddenly appeared down the middle, and Han Li flew out of the rift before hovering in mid-air.
The massive array that encompassed an enormous around the Star Gathering Platform was still standing, and the bright silver light that was cascading down from the giant silver moon was intertwining with the radiance of the rainbow light barrier that encompassed the surrounding space, presenting a bizarre and ethereal display of lights.
At this point, Daoist Closed Mountain was already nowhere to be seen.
Han Li flew over to the light barrier in an unhurried manner, then three consecutive punches to smash a hole into the barrier before flying out from within.
The Origin Realm Temple outside was still standing peacefully in the night, and there didn't seem to be anything abnormal about it.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he released his spiritual sense and swept it through the surrounding area, following which he immediately cast a cold gaze toward the Heaven Stunning Peak in the distance.
In the next instant, he transformed into a streak of azure light and flew toward the peak like lightning.
Right at this moment, the earth around the Heaven Stunning Peak suddenly began to quake violently, and dozens of thick pillars of yellow light erupted out of the ground.
Each pillar of light was around 40 to 50 feet thick, and they reached all the way up into the clouds.
The pillars of light were riddled with earthy yellow spiritual patterns, which were giving off tremendous spiritual power fluctuations.
All of the pillars of light brightened in unison as they released bursts of yellow radiance, which connected together to form a thick yellow light barrier. From afar, it appeared as if a dense yellow cloud had appeared over the entire Heaven Stunning Peak.
Inside a hall on the Heaven Stunning Peak was a three-level platform that was entirely constructed from a type of yellow crystalline stone.
The platform was tapered from the bottom to the top, with the bottom level standing at over 100 feet in radius, while the top level was only around 20 to 30 feet.
The entire platform was riddled with yellow runes, and the dozens of earthy yellow pillars around the platform also had countless runes engraved upon them.
Daoist Closed Mountain was seated on the top level of the platform, and even though his expression was quite calm, the hint of panic in his eyes betrayed his true emotions.
He chanted an incantation while making a rapid series of hand seals, quickly releasing one incantation seal after another.
The platform and the dozens of pillars around it instantly began to flash incessantly with earthy yellow light, resonating with the array outside.
Seven or eight Body Integration cultivators of the Origin Realm Temple were seated with their legs crossed on the second level of the platform, and they were also chanting incessantly while injecting their magic power into the platform.
Outside the Heaven Stunning Peak, a streak of azure light arrived in front of the array before fading to reveal Han Li.
He took a glance at the yellow light barrier that enshrouded the entire mountain, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he took a deep breath. A string of cracks and pops rang out as his body rapidly swelled up like a balloon, while golden fur sprouted from his skin. In the blink of an eye, he had already transformed into a Giant Mountain Ape that was over 100 feet tall.
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