Chapter 183: Slaying the Devil
A cold look appeared in Bai Songshi's eyes at the sight of the approaching Han Li, and he swept his sleeves through the air to release a pair of giant fiery wheels that were enveloped in five-colored light and burning with five-colored spirit flames.
This was a pair of spirit treasures of quite a high caliber, but Han Li remained completely unfazed as he chuckled coldly, "Even now, you're still unwilling to reveal your true form?"
Bai Songshi offered no reply as he swept his sleeves toward Han Li while chanting an incantation.
The sound of howling wind rang out as the pair of five-colored fiery wheels rapidly expanded, swelling to several hundred feet in size in the blink of an eye before hurtling directly toward Han Li.
A burst of wince-inducing screeching rang out as a pair of extremely deep trenches were dug into the surface of the mountain summit by the pair of fiery wheels. Five-colored flames were burning within both of the trenches, melting straight through the solid rock.
The surrounding cultivators of the Bai Clan knew that they were far too weak to participate in the battle between Han Li and Bai Songshi, so all of them turned to attack Bai Suyuan at the azure-robed elderly man's behest.
Bai Suyuan clearly had no intentions of fighting fire with fire, and she summoned two or three protective treasures at once, conjuring up a large fiery cloud around her to ward off the attacks from the surrounding Bai Clan cultivators.
Even though she was significantly younger than all of the Bai Clan cultivators around her, she possessed outstanding cultivation aptitude, and her late-Deity Transformation Stage cultivation base meant that she was able to hold her own just fine despite being severely outnumbered.
Han Li displayed no intention of taking evasive measures from the pair of oncoming fiery wheels. Instead, he took a step forward, and golden scales surfaced over both of his arms as he reached forward with both hands at once.
A pair of massive golden hands appeared out of thin air, then reached straight into the five-colored flames before grabbing tightly onto the wheels within.
The fiery wheels were instantly stopped cold in their tracks as if they had crashed into an insurmountable barrier.
Bai Songshi's pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he began to chant a loud incantation while making a rapid series of hand seals.
The flames around the fiery wheel instantly began to burn with even greater ferocity, while the wheels themselves began to revolve at a higher speed, sending the flames around it shooting through the air in all directions.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he felt the increased power output from the pair of fiery wheels, and he let loose a thunderous roar, then abruptly threw both of his hands up into the air.
Both of the giant fiery wheels were involuntarily hurled up into the sky, and in the next instant, Han Li sprang forward, arriving in front of Bai Songshi in a flash.
A string of cracks and pops rang out from one of his arms, which also expanded drastically in size as he launched a fist directly at Bai Songshi's head.
However, Bai Songshi was already prepared for such an attack, and he thrust both of his hands forward to release a round shield with the head of a beast engraved onto its surface.
A resounding thump rang out as Han Li's fist made contact with the shield, and the latter instantly caved in significantly, while Bai Songshi was sent flying back by the tremendous force behind Han Li's punch.
Before he had a chance to steady himself, Han Li appeared in front of him once again before throwing another devastating punch.
Bai Songshi had no choice but to raise the already severely damaged shield once again to defend himself, and a resounding boom rang out as the shield exploded into the pieces in the face of Han Li's attack.
Even after plowing through the shield, Han Li's fist still carried tremendous momentum as it continued to hurtle through the air before striking Bai Songshi square on the chest.
A dull thump rang out, and even though the sound wasn't very loud, it sent tremors running through the entire mountain summit.
Bai Songshi's chest was instantly caved in by the blow, but he suddenly raised his head to the heavens before opening his mouth to release a burst of dense, black devilish qi, which rose up into the sky like a plume of black smoke.
The plume of devilish qi quickly filled the entire sky above the Grand Loft Mountain, and in the blink of an eye, the entire surrounding area in a radius of several hundred kilometers had been plunged into a pitch-black night.
"What the hell..."
"Everyone, stop!"
"Suyuan, could it be that you were telling the truth this entire time?"
All of the Bai Clan cultivators who were attacking Bai Suyuan immediately stopped what they were doing as they looked up into the sky with incredulous expressions. No longer supported by the heavenly devil, Bai Songshi's lifeless body was falling out of the air.
Bai Suyuan also looked up into the sky as the fiery cloud around her faded, and a hint of fierce resentment had surfaced in her eyes.
"If you don't want to die, then take those mortals at the foot of the mountain and leave this place right now," Han Li instructed in a cold voice.
Everyone immediately snapped back to their senses upon hearing this, and they hurriedly picked up Bai Songshi's remains before flying down the mountain.
The azure-robed elderly man turned to Bai Suyuan with a complex expression, and after some hesitation, he said, "I'm sorry for doubting you, Suyuan. Come with us, it's not safe here."
Bai Suyuan didn't even spare a glance at the elderly man as she spat through gritted teeth, "No, I have to see that heavenly devil die with my own eyes."
The azure-robed elderly man opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately only heaved a resigned sigh before flying down the mountain.
At this point, the devilish cloud in the sky had already become extremely dense, and it had manifested itself into a giant human face.
"I'm going to tear off your skin and grind your bones to dust for forcing me to abandon my human body!"
A cold voice rang out from the heavens, and as soon as the voice trailed off, the human face in the sky immediately opened its mouth to release a vast expanse of devilish flames that swept toward Han Li in a frenzy.
At this point, Han Li had already summoned the black saber that he had taken from Fang Pan, and with a flick of his wrist, he unleashed a massive saber projection that was over 100 feet wide, sending it sweeping toward the oncoming sea of devilish flames.
The sea of black flames was instantly parted by the formidable saber projection, creating a path straight down the middle that was 1,000 feet wide.
Han Li flew directly through that opening as he slashed his saber incessantly through the air, conjuring up a vast expanse of black saber projections that hurtled toward the massive face up above.
In the face of the saber projections, the enormous devilish cloud up above was sliced into pieces while churning incessantly.
The giant face in the sky continued to blast devilish flames at Han Li, but the flames were easily kept at bay by Han Li's saber projections.
Right at this moment, the devilish cloud suddenly began to shrink, contracting from several hundred kilometers in size to only dozens of kilometers, forming a massive devilish face with a pair of black horns on its head.
The devilish face opened its mouth, and an enormous black vortex appeared within, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force that sucked Han Li into the vortex in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, the devilish face closed its mouth to swallow up Han Li.
Bai Suyuan's heart sank slightly upon seeing this, and she flipped a hand over to produce a golden ball, which she concealed up her sleeve.
The golden ball was riddled with runes, and there were arcs of golden lightning flashing over its surface. It was a ball of Divine Devilbane Lightning, which was unmatched in its effectiveness against Extrarealm Heavenly Devils.
A long while later, the devilish face remained completely unchanged, and a hint of resolve appeared in Bai Suyuan's eyes as she prepared to fly up herself and attack the heavenly devil in one final act of defiance.
Right at this moment, flashes of silver light suddenly appeared from the corners of the devilish face's lips, and immediately thereafter, a resounding thunderclap rang out as the giant devilish face exploded amid an eruption of silver lightning.
A Lightning Bird with silver lightning all over its body then flew out into the open before reverting back to Han Li's human form.
After the devilish face exploded, the scattered devilish cloud converged once again to form an inky-black elderly man that sped directly toward Bai Suyuan.
The elderly man was identical to Bai Songshi in appearance, except its entire body was pitch-black in color.
A cold look flashed through Han Li's eyes as he slashed his black saber downward, and a black saber projection flashed through the air at an incredible speed, striking the inky-black elderly man and slicing its body in half right before it could reach Bai Suyuan.
A thunderous crack rang out as the black saber projection continued onward even after passing through the inky-black elderly man's body, slicing straight into the Grand Loft Mountain itself.
A burst of violent tremors rang through the entire mountain, and countless rocks were sent clattering down the mountain while flocks of birds flew away in alarm and panic.
Only after a long while did the tremors subside, and after the dust settled, Bai Suyuan was astonished to discover that an enormous rift had appeared before her.
The entire Grand Loft Mountain had been sliced in half.
Unbeknownst to Han Li, this casual slash of his would go on to erase the name of the Grand Loft Mountain from the map of the Hundred Blessings Nation. From that day onward, the Grand Loft Mountain became known as the Mountain of Halves, and this new name was accompanied by a legend detailing the exploits of a devil-slaying immortal.
Of course, none of that was of any concern to Han Li.
The heavenly devil's body had also been sliced into two, with each half situated on one side of the rift.
Han Li descended out of the sky and arrived beside the inky-black elderly man with a cold look in his eyes. He raised a hand and was just about to deal the killing blow when a voice suddenly rang his mind.
"Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Han."
A pitiful look appeared in the inky-black elderly man's eyes as he implored, "Please don't kill me, Fellow Daoist. I'm willing to sign a heavenly devil contract with you and pledge my eternal servitude to you."
Han Li offered no response to this, but a peculiar look had appeared on his face.
Bai Suyuan was terrified that Han Li would accept this offer, and she hurriedly approached him to dissuade him from giving in to temptation.
Right at this moment, Han Li's shadow abruptly elongated, and an inky-black figure emerged from within. It was none other than Mo Guang, and he was the one that had called out to Han Li just now, urging him not to deal the killing blow right away.