Chapter 250: Falling Into Dire Straits
The azure-armored giant remained completely unfazed by the sight of the oncoming trio.
It began to chant an incantation as it swept a hand through the air, and the giant seal in its hand was hurled through the air, flying toward the enormous mountain as it swelled to close to 100 times its original size in a flash.
A resounding boom rang out as the giant seal shuddered violently before sinking downward slightly, but from there, it was able to hold its position and keep the huge mountain at bay.
At the same time, the azure-armored giant made a strange hand seal in front of its own chest, and a burst of azure light that contained countless surging azure runes instantly rose up from its body.
The azure light spread outward in all directions, forming a vast sea of azure light in the blink of an eye to protect the azure-armored giant.
The Heavy Water True Axis and the golden millstone crashed into the sea of azure light from the left and the right, causing it to churn and surge violently.
A series of azure ripples appeared around the giant before proliferating outward in all directions in layers, and there were over 100 such layers.
The Heavy Water True Axis was rapidly revolving as it crashed into the azure ripples, tearing through 50 to 60 layers in the blink of an eye, but it was then stopped cold in its tracks, unable to advance any further.
As for the golden millstone, it was imbued with even greater power, breaking through 70 to 80 layers of azure ripples before also coming to a rest, still situated around 2,000 to 3,000 feet away from the azure-armored giant.
Right at this moment, all of the azure ripples around the pair of treasures began to rapidly revolve in a frenzy, and from afar, it appeared as if two massive vortexes had appeared in the sea of azure light.
As the layers of azure ripples coiled themselves around the pair of treasures, two giant balls of azure light were instantly formed, trapping the treasures within them.
All of this had taken place in the blink of an eye, and by the time that Han Li and Qilin 9 realized what was happening, it was already too late for them to withdraw their treasures.
Both the Heavy Water True Axis and the golden millstone lit up in unison, sending waves of black and golden light crashing into the surrounding balls of azure light in an attempt to break free.
However, the balls of azure light were extremely resolute, and even though they were shuddering incessantly, they displayed no signs of breaking as more and more azure ripples continued to converge from the surrounding area.
After trapping those two treasures, the azure-armored giant paid no further heed to Han Li and Qilin 9 as it turned to lash out at the enormous mountain hanging above its head.
Five threads of azure light shot out of its fingertips, then came together to form a thin strand of azure light that resembled a streak of sword qi, and it was giving off incredibly powerful law fluctuations.
Countless specks of azure light appeared in the surrounding air before surging into the streak of azure sword qi, which then struck the giant mountain in a flash, easily slicing it into two as it were made of tofu, much to the alarm and astonishment of Qilin 17.
The streak of azure sword qi wasn't slowed down in the slightest as it continued to hurtle directly toward Qilin 17, looking as if it were going to slice him in half as well.
Qilin 17 hurriedly stomped a foot down onto the air below, and at the same time, dazzling yellow light erupted from his body to form a ball of yellow radiance as he flew back in retreat. At the same time, several talismans emerged within the yellow light to form a series of protective barriers all around him.
As soon as these protective light barriers took shape, the streak of azure sword qi had already arrived.
The protective light barriers around Qilin 17 appeared to have been quite resolute, but all of them instantly fell away in the face of the streak of azure sword qi, and an agonized howl quickly rang out as an arm came falling out of the sky.
Only after summoning so many talismans at once was Qilin 17 just barely able to avoid being killed on the spot, but even so, his left arm had still been severed at the shoulder, and his aura had diminished to less than half of what it was as a result.
In the next instant, he immediately made a hand seal with his remaining hand, and the blood that was pouring out of his severed arm was abruptly set alight. His entire body transformed into a ball of radiant crimson light that sped into the distance at a speed that was several times faster than before.
Han Li and Qilin 9's expressions instantly changed drastically upon seeing this.
The latter bit down onto the tip of his own tongue before expelling a mouthful of blood essence, and he flicked his fingers at the blood essence in rapid succession, upon which it instantly transformed into a cloud of blood mist that vanished in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, a vast expanse of red and golden light was released by the golden millstone that was trapped within the ball of azure light, making it resemble a two-colored sun. Balls of red and golden flames had also appeared on its surface, burning through all of the surrounding azure ripples and allowing the millstone to return to Qilin 9 in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, Qilin 9 fled in a different direction from Qilni 17 as a streak of golden light.
Almost at the exact same moment, the Water Dao Rune on the surface of the trapped Heavy Water True Axis also began to glow, and numerous blades of water re-emerged on its edge before the axis began to rapidly revolve, tearing the surrounding azure ripples apart before flying back into Han Li's grasp.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li sped away in another direction as an arc of silver lightning, traveling no slower than Qilin 9.
Upon realizing that their opponent was too formidable for them to defeat, all three of them had decided in unison that fleeing the battle was the best course of action.
Within the arc of silver lightning, Han Li's mind was racing.
This Golden Immortal avatar didn't possess the power of a true Golden Immortal, but it was still an extremely difficult opponent to deal with, and just that streak of azure sword qi that was formed by those law threads was something that Han Li doubted that he would be able to deal with.
"It's too late to try and get away now!"
The azure-armored giant was completely unconcerned by the attempts made by Han Li's trio to flee the battle, and a cold smile appeared on its face as it abruptly raised both of its arms in unison.
The sea of azure light around it shuddered before exploding violently, sending countless streaks of azure light flying in all directions before vanishing into thin air.
All of the surrounding space in a radius of several thousand kilometers instantly began to ripple violently as countless balls of azure light appeared, releasing blinding azure radiance that became interconnected to form an enormous azure domain in the blink of an eye.
Han Li's trio were all caught within the domain, and they felt as if the space around them had suddenly become tens of thousands of times heavier than before, thereby significantly reducing their speed.
Han Li let loose a low roar, and his Heavy Water True Axis appeared above him as those blades of water reappeared on its edge, and it began to rapidly revolve in an attempt to slice through the surrounding space.
The surrounding azure space churned violently for a moment, but it then instantly recovered amid a flash of azure light.
A grim look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to do anything else, countless azure runes suddenly appeared around him before rapidly revolving around his body.
His surroundings blurred, and he abruptly vanished from the spot, reappearing no more than 2,000 to 3,000 feet away from the azure-armored giant in the next instant.
Almost at the exact same moment, Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 also appeared nearby with two more flashes of azure light.
At this point, Qilin 17 had already regrown a new left arm, but he was clearly still in very bad shape as he exclaimed with an alarmed and fearful expression, "Could this be... a spirit domain?"
Qilin 9 was far more calm and composed, and he quickly took a glance at his surroundings without offering a response.
Han Li also inspected his surroundings for a moment, then mused, "It doesn't seem to be a complete spirit domain. Instead, some other method seems to have been used to assist in its formation."
The surrounding azure space was just like a spirit domain in that it had completely separated them from the outside world, making it impossible for them to draw upon the world's origin qi. As a result, they were only going to be able to unleash less than 50% of their power.
A cold smile appeared on the azure-armored giant's face as it said, "If you had tried to flee the battle from the very beginning, I may not have been able to stop you with this avatar of mine, but now, it's time for you to pay with your lives!"
As soon as its voice trailed off, the nearby space rippled, and countless balls of azure lightning the size of houses appeared before hurtling toward Han Li's trio like a ferocious storm.
Qilin 9 immediately raised a hand to summon his golden millstone, which hovered in front of him like a shield.
At the same time, golden light flashed around his body, and countless golden sword projections appeared, forming a golden sea of swords around him.
The entire sky was filled with formidable sword qi that swept toward the balls of azure lightning.
Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li made a hand seal, and his Heavy Water True Axis swelled even further in size before situating itself in front of him.
It then released a vast expanse of watery black light, which formed a huge black cloud that was 700 to 800 feet thick.
The Time Dao Rune on the axis was glowing with dazzling radiance as huge balls of blue water lightning flew out of the black clouds, hurtling toward the surrounding balls of azure lightning amid rumbling thunderclaps.
Meanwhile, Qilin 17 had summoned a yellow gourd that was suspended above his head.
He began to chant an incantation, and a layer of translucent runes emerged over the surface of the gourd as it rapidly swelled to the size of a house. Loud rumbling could be heard within the gourd, and several thousand grains of translucent golden sand came pouring out, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
As soon as the sand was released, each grain split up into countless more, forming a sea of golden sand in front of Qilin 17.
Countless balls of azure lightning came crashing down upon the defensive measures that Han Li's trio had set up before exploding violently into azure lightning, forming a destructive sea of azure lightning.
Lights of all types of different colors intertwined with one another as earth-shattering booms rang out in succession, causing the surrounding space to shudder violently.
Han Li's trio were all looking on with grim expressions.
Each of these balls of azure lightning wasn't all that formidable on their own, but with each ball of lightning that exploded, a new one would instantly be conjured up in its place, and it seemed that there was no end to this barrage.
The blue water lightning released by the Heavy Water True Axis was quickly overwhelmed by the relentless barrage of azure lightning, and countless balls of azure lightning came crashing down upon the black cloud.
The black cloud shuddered violently as it was rapidly worn down, and it didn't take long before its original thickness of 700 to 800 feet was whittled away.
500 feet, 400 feet, 300 feet, 200 feet...
In the blink of an eye, the thickness of the black cloud had been reduced to less than 200 feet.
Qilin 17 was also facing a similar predicament, with only a thin layer of yellow sand remaining above his head.n--0VelbIn
Qilin 17 made a hand seal, and two thick pillars of yellow light erupted out of the palms of his hands as he desperately injected his immortal spiritual power into the film of sand overhead.
Having already had so many of his most powerful treasures destroyed or damaged, this film of sand was the only thing he had left to rely on at this point, and if it were also destroyed, then his fate would be sealed.
Out of the trio, Qilin 9 appeared to have been struggling the least. The sea of golden swords around him continued to swirl, and its radiance had dimmed a little, but it was still able to release streaks of golden sword qi to destroy all of the oncoming balls of azure lightning.