Chapter 597: Outcome of the Battle
"What's wrong, Jin Tong?" Han Li hurriedly asked in a concerned voice through their spiritual connection, but received no response.
He activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes as he turned his gaze back to the Gold Devouring Immortal, upon which he discovered that it had descended back down onto the ground, and it was completely concealed within the vast cloud of dust and baleful qi that was hanging in the air.
Right at this moment, Daoist Xie, who had fled the scene earlier, arrived by Han Li's side, and Han Li immediately said, "Something seems to have gone wrong on Jin Tong's end, so I have to go and take a look. Please look after Fellow Daoist Mo Guang in my absence, Brother Xie."
Daoist Xie gave an affirmative response, and Han Li immediately flew down into the completely collapsed ravine.
He quickly traversed through the dust and baleful qi, and it didn't take long before he arrived at the body of the Gold Devouring Immortal.
At this moment, the Gold Devouring Immortal was laying on the ground in a completely still manner, and there was a layer of near-transparent light over its body, but Jin Tong was nowhere to be seen.
If it weren't for the faint spiritual connection that still existed between the two of them, Han Li would've been led to believe that Jin Tong had already met her demise.
After taking a moment to compose himself, Han Li immediately swept his spiritual sense over the Gold Devouring Immortal's body, upon which he discovered it was still teeming with vitality, and that its spiritual sense fluctuations were particularly strong.
It immediately occurred to Han Li that the Gold Devouring Immortal had to have forced its way into Jin Tong's consciousness in an attempt to devour her soul, seeing as she was about to sever the arteries leading to its heart.
As it turned out, this was precisely the case.
At this moment, there were two golden beetles that were tearing ferociously at each other within Jin Tong's consciousness.
One of the beetles was larger in stature, but the light emanating from its body was rather dull, clearly indicating that it was still yet to make a full recovery. In contrast, the smaller beetle was enshrouded in a layer of radiant golden light, and it held the home advantage, so it was not apparent which one of the two was going to come out on top.
There was no communication at all between the two of them, and each of them was focused solely on killing the other.
The sounds of tearing rang out incessantly as the two golden beetles tore away at each other's bodies, but no blood flowed out of the wounds. Instead, layers of misty golden light emerged in the place of blood.
The High Zenith Stage beetle lunged forward, only for Jin Tong to evade its attack, and before it had a chance to arrest its own momentum, Jin Tong bit down onto its wing before tearing off a chunk.
However, right at this moment, the High Zenith Stage beetle suddenly swiveled around, paying no heed to its injured wing as it bit down toward Jin Tong's head.
Jin Tong was unable to evade the attack, and it seemed that she was going to be decapitated, bu in this dire situation, a streak of translucent white light suddenly appeared in her consciousness, then struck the High Zenith Stage beetle on the head like a bolt of white lightning, causing it to tumble down from above.
However, the streak of white light also sent a burst of sharp pain spearing through Jin Tong's soul.
After gritting her teeth momentarily to suppress the pain, Jin Tong immediately flew toward the High Zenith Stage beetle then bit down toward its head.
Outside the body of the Gold Devouring Immortal, Han Li was seated on the ground with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
All of a sudden, the golden vortex expanded drastically, and an incredibly bright ball of golden light appeared at its center, while countless golden runes of different sizes emerged around the ball of golden light.
Immediately thereafter, a series of massive bulges suddenly began to appear over the surface of the ball of the golden light, and it was also swaying and trembling incessantly.
At the same time, a string of low roars rang out from within. It was Jin Tong's voice, and she sounded both agitated and in a great deal of pain.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and a grim look appeared on his face.
Right at this moment, a projection of a giant golden beetle suddenly emerged within the golden vortex. The projection was identical to the Gold Devouring Immortal that had just been killed, and it was roaming throughout the vortex while roaring with fury, displaying intense animosity toward the ball of the golden light at the center of the vortex.
"Jin Tong has destroyed that Gold Devouring Immortal's soul, but there's still some residual resentful intent left in its body. If Jin Tong is to completely absorb the Gold Devouring Immortal, then she must defeat its resentful intent first," Mo Guang suddenly explained.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a thunderous roar rang out from within the ball of golden light, immediately following which a thick pillar of golden light erupted forth from within, then faded to reveal another giant golden beetle projection, this one representing Jin Tong.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out as the projection of Jin Tong pounced at the other golden beetle projection with tremendous power, and the other projection did the same, meeting Jin Tong with an equal degree of ferocity.
A battle immediately ensued between the two, and a string of resounding booms rang out as they clashed over and over again.
The beetle projection formed by Jin Tong was a little smaller in stature compared with its opponent, and it was constantly being forced back, seemingly on the back foot.
"She's in trouble, Master! We have to help her!" Xiao Bai yelled in an urgent voice upon seeing this.
"We can't help her. She has to face this battle alone," Han Li replied with a calm shake of his head.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a resounding boom rang out as Jin Tong's projection was sent flying back through the air.
The other golden beetle projection let loose a roar of excitement as it sprang forward in pursuit while lashing out with its pair of massive front limbs, preparing to tear Jin Tong's body to shreds.
Right at this moment, Jin Tong steadied herself before twisting around in mid-air, flying through the gap between her opponent's front limbs before appearing behind it in the blink of an eye.
Before the golden beetle projection had a chance to react, Jin Tong wrapped her legs tightly around it from behind, completely immobilizing it.
At the same time, she raised her front limbs and slashed them at the golden beetle projection's head.
Even though the golden beetle projection wasn't able to turn around to face her, it was still able to raise its own front limbs to withstand the attack, and a loud clang rang out as the two pairs of front limbs clashed, sending flurries of sparks flying in all directions.
A deranged look appeared in Jin Tong's eyes as she suddenly threw her head back and roared to the heavens, following which both of her front limbs began to glow with blinding golden light.
Another resounding clang rang out as Jin Tong's front limbs sliced through those of her opponent, then severed its head in one swift and violent stroke.
The decapitated body of the golden beetle projection instantly exploded into a vast expanse of golden light, and Jin Tong immediately opened her mouth to release a burst of suction force, upon which all of the golden light surged into her mouth like a golden wave.