Chapter 115: Battling Chou Wu Again
"That brat was the one who somehow managed to break open my Bloodlight Space back in Heavenly Water City. I thought he had managed to do that purely out of dumb luck, but it seems like he's got some special tricks up his sleeve," the purple-robed elderly man said as he pointed at Han Li while his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Sounds like you've taken an interest in him, Chou Wu. In that case, I'll leave him to you, and we'll take care of the other two," the hideous woman in black said in a coarse and grating voice.
"That suits me just fine," Chou Wu chuckled in response.
While the three purple-robed cultivators were speaking with one another, Han Li's trio was also sizing them up with grim expressions.
These three were all Layman Immortals at the early-True Immortal Stage, so overall, they were inferior in power to Han Li's trio, but aside from Han Li, both Lu Kun and Wyrm 8 had suffered severe injuries. If a battle were to break out here, it was most likely going to be quite a grueling affair.
"Those three must be Gong Shuhong's other three Layman Immortal subordinates," Wyrm 8 said to Han Li and Lu Kun through voice transmission.
"This is a very strange place. I'm afraid there may be more nasty surprises to come if we linger here for too long," Han Li replied as he quickly swept his gaze over the crimson patterns on the surrounding walls, which had dimmed slightly at this point.
"We have to end this battle as quickly as possible. Now's not the time to be holding back," Wyrm 9 said.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the trio of purple-robed cultivators were already charging at them.
All of a sudden, spatial fluctuations erupted in front of Han Li's trio, and hundreds of crimson blades of light appeared before hurtling directly toward them.
Han Li took a half-step backward, then pulled back his fist before unleashing a powerful punch.
A burst of tremendous force instantly surged through the air, accompanied by a string of sounds akin to rain falling on a banana leaf.
All of the oncoming crimson blades of light instantly stalled, then exploded into countless specks of crimson light.
Before the light had even faded, Chou Wu's trio had already split up and were flying toward the opponents they had chosen for themselves.
A grim look appeared on Wyrm 8's face at the sight of the burly middle-aged man that was approaching him, and he had no time to address his injuries as he quickly made a hand seal.
A burst of light erupted all around him, following which a streak of dazzling azure light flew out of his body, then rapidly expanded to form a thin white-robed man beside him.
The white-robed man was quite similar to Wyrm 8 in appearance, but the skin all over his entire body was green, and he was basked in a layer of azure light. It was none other than Wyrm 8's Earthly Deity Avatar.
As soon as the avatar appeared, it immediately positioned itself in front of Wyrm 8, then opened its mouth and inhaled sharply.
Ferocious gusts of wind were instantly swept up in all directions, swirling violently to form a trumpet-shaped white vortex that surged into its mouth, causing its belly to expand rapidly.
It then opened its mouth to release an azure wave of energy that was visible to the naked eye, and the energy wave quickly transformed into an azure wind dragon that was over 100 feet tall.
A cold sneer appeared on the burly man's face upon seeing this, and he didn't even bother to make any preparations before throwing a punch directly forward.
At the same time, a sinister-looking white bone gauntlet had appeared over his fist, and spiritual light flashed over its surface as an enormous fist projection was unleashed, hurtling directly toward the azure wind dragon.
A resounding boom rang out as the azure wind dragon and the giant fist projection exploded in unison, sending countless azure blades of wind erupting in all directions.
A string of loud clangs rang out incessantly as the blades of wind sliced a series of extremely deep gashes into the ground, the walls, and the surrounding stone pillars as if they were made from tofu.
Following that initial clash, a layer of faint crimson light appeared over the burly man's body, and he rushed straight into the blades of wind as he continued to close in on Wyrm 8.
The blades of wind struck the crimson light on his body one after another in rapid succession, but they were unable to inflict any damage.
Wyrm 8 gritted his teeth as he leaped up into the air with his Earthly Deity Avatar to meet his opponent.
Meanwhile, after a fierce clash against Lu Kun, the hideous woman in black drifted backward with her entire body enveloped within a cloud of dense black mist.
However, before she had even descended onto the ground, her brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and a lotus flower formed by black mist emerged in the air beneath her feet amid a flash of black light.
She tread lightly onto the black lotus flower before springing up again and descending elsewhere.
On the spot where she was originally going to land, the blood that had accumulated over the ground suddenly churned and rippled, and a black figure wielding a blue longsword emerged in a flash, revealing itself to be Lu Kun's Earthly Deity Avatar.
Lu Kun's expression darkened slightly at the sight of his failed sneak attack, and he called out to his Earthly Deity Avatar to attack the woman together.
Not far away from them, Chou Wu was watching Han Li with a cold gaze, and he said in a cold voice, "I knew you had some tricks up your sleeve, but I didn't think that you were also a Profound Immortal. The blood puppet that I'm currently refining just so happens to be missing a vessel, so your True Extreme Body will be perfect for the role."
Han Li offered no response to this aside from raising his fists slightly in provocation.
The purple-robed elderly man's eyelids twitched slightly upon seeing this, and a hint of cold killing intent surfaced in his eyes.
All of a sudden, he flipped a hand over, and a dark purple bowl appeared over his palm amid a flash of black light. Red light was flashing and rippling incessantly within the bowl, as if it were filled with fresh blood.
As Chou Wu began to chant an incantation, the red light within the bowl brightened considerably, and it was originally only rippling slightly, but in the blink of an eye, it had begun to churn like boiling water while swirling violently within the bowl.
If one were to look closely, they would be able to see a series of anguished ghostly faces within the red light, and they were all frantically trying to clamber their way out of the bowl as if they were trying to escape.
A burst of dazzling radiance erupted from the bowl at Chou Wu's behest, and a huge volume of blood came gushing out, forming an enormous wave of blood that encompassed a huge area as it swept directly toward Han Li.
A nauseating odor instantly wafted through the air, while ghastly howls reverberated incessantly throughout the underground space. It was as if the entire area had suddenly been plunged into the underworld, and all of the cultivators and mortals who had just perished here had returned with a vengeance to vent their resentment and killing intent to their hearts' content.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he sensed the intense yin aura within the wave of blood.
With a flick of his wrist, the round yellow mirror came flying out, and a burst of yellow light was released from its surface, forming a ring-shaped light barrier all around Han Li.
As soon as the light barrier appeared, the wave of blood immediately came crashing down heavily upon it.
The yellow light barrier shuddered in an unsteady manner, but quickly stabilized itself again.
However, in the next instant, a burst of loud sizzling rang out as large plumes of smoke rose up from the surface of the light barrier, looking as if it were about to be melted away by the wave of blood. At the same time, the yellow mirror that was hanging in mid-air also began to tremble uncontrollably.
All of a sudden, a loud crack rang out as the round mirror was shattered before falling onto the ground, having completely lost its luster.
Without the yellow light barrier standing in its way, the wave of blood surged forward and inundated Han Li in an instant.
From Han Li's perspective, he felt as if he had been plunged into an extremely viscous sea of blood, and his movements were greatly restricted as a result.
His True Extreme Membrane was still glowing faintly even as it was soaked by the blood around him, but he could clearly sense that the membrane was constantly being contaminated by some type of corrosive power.
A series of ghastly figures were swimming incessantly through the sea of blood around him, and regardless of their age or gender, all of them seemed to be out for Han Li's blood as they rushed at him in all directions with their faces twisted in fury and bloodlust.
In response, Han Li thrust his arms through the air, instantly releasing countless fist projections that destroyed the 100 or so figures closest to him. At the same time, a layer of golden scales appeared over his body, and he grew noticeably in height as he prepared to leap out of the sea of blood.
"You're not getting away!" Chou Wu sneered as crimson light began to glow from his hand, and he thrust his palm against the bowl ahead of him.
Countless runes instantly began to sweep out of the bowl before vanishing into the sea of blood around Han Li.
The blood around Han Li instantly began to churn while rapidly revolving in a certain direction, and the temperature of the blood was also rapidly rising, as if it were being boiled over an open flame.
Before long, the temperature of the blood was already comparable to that of molten lava.
Within the scorching vortex of blood, Han Li's body began to sway unsteadily, and the layer of golden scales over his skin was beginning to take on a bright red hue. Furthermore, the sea of blood around him was tearing at him from all directions, preventing him from escaping.
A cold look appeared on his face as he made a hand seal, and a clear cry instantly rang out as the Essence Fire Raven flew out of his body, then transformed into a layer of silver flames to envelop him from all directions.
With this layer of flames around him, all of the scorching blood was kept at bay.
In fact, in the face of the astonishing heat being released by the silver flames, the blood around Han Li was quickly evaporating.
It didn't take long before a vacuum was formed around him, and the sea of blood was unable to restrict his movements any longer.
"I don't have time to waste with you here!" Han Li said in a cold voice as he sprang directly upward, and all of the blood above him instantly parted in the face of the protective barrier formed by the Essence Fire Raven.
After springing out of the churning vortex of blood, Han Li immediately threw a vicious punch directly at Chou Wu.
Chou Wu was greatly alarmed by this abrupt turn of events, and he hurriedly made a hand seal, upon which the bowl in front of him instantly swelled to several times its original size.
At the same time, the runes on the surface of the bowl began to glow brightly, and it released a series of black haloes as it positioned itself directly in the path of Han Li's fist.
A deafening boom rang out as Han Li's fist instantly shattered the black light radiating from the bowl. At the same time, several cracks instantly appeared on the bowl's surface, and it quickly reverted back to its original size.
Chou Wu shuddered violently as he gave a muffled groan, and blood began to trickle down from the corners of his lips.
He withdrew the bowl as he stroked the cracks on its surface with trembling fingers, and his eyes were full of shock as he murmured, "Impossible..."
Before he had a chance to do anything else, a sharp screech rang out, and a silver fire raven came flying rapidly at him like a speeding arrow, leaving a trail of silver flames in its wake.