Xing Beasts had always been the bane of all ghostly creatures of the world, and after suffering her near-death ordeal, Weeping Soul had become far more powerful than before.
The crimson chain protruding out of her glabella resembled a giant steel whip, easily piercing through the chests of all of the ghostly creatures that it struck before stringing them together like accessories on a necklace.
Arcs of crimson lightning erupted out of the chains, instantly eradicating all of the thousands of ghostly creatures in the dark clouds to reduce them to plumes of black mist.
In the next instant, a burst of black light erupted out of the Xing Beast's mouth, and all of the ghostly creatures were sucked into its belly.
Meanwhile, Hei Dao had only managed to withdraw his blade halfway into its scabbard before the crimson chain wrapped itself around it like a spirit snake.
Countless arcs of crimson lightning erupted out of the chain, and Hei Dao's entire body instantly began to spasm uncontrollably as he howled in pain.
Right at this moment, a burst of dark green light suddenly appeared on his arm, and a series of green vines emerged from within, extending along his blade-wielding arm all the way to the blade itself.
The vines possessed some type of law powers that allowed them to rapidly regenerate after being struck by the arcs of crimson lightning, and they pried their way into the gaps between the chains and the blade to slowly extricate the latter bit by bit.
Hei Dao hurriedly took advantage of this opportunity to fully return his blade to its scabbard, but at this point, the majority of the dark clouds that he had unleashed had already disappeared.
Even though this was an extremely severe loss, he knew that he was very fortunate to have survived, and he hurriedly turned to extend his gratitude toward Dongfang Bai.
"Thank you, Palace Master..."
However, before he had a chance to finish his sentence, he suddenly felt a gust of fierce wind blowing at him from behind.
As it turned out, Han Li had abruptly vanished from the spot, only to reappear behind Hei Dao in a wraith-like manner, grabbing him by the back of his neck before he even had a chance to react.
Hei Dao's eyes widened in shock and horror, and before he even had a chance to beg for his life, Han Li tightened his grip and snapped his neck like a twig.
Dongfang Bai was furious to see this, and he thrust a palm toward Han Li.
Countless wisps of the world's origin qi converged toward him, instantly forming countless azure wooden rods that shot forth toward Han Li in a fearsome barrage.
At this point, Han Li had already released Hei Dao's lifeless body, and he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to dart right past Tao Ji.
However, he chose not to harm Tao Ji as he descended toward the plaza in front of the ancestral hall.
Hei Dao's body fell out of the sky, and his nascent soul had only just flown out of his head before it was caught by the Xing Beast before being tossed into its cavernous mouth.
Those who cultivated wood law powers had innate worlds within their bodies, supplying them with limitless immortal spiritual power, so there was nothing for him to fear.
However, right at this moment, he spotted a beam of light sweeping toward him from the side, and he immediately darted away in evasion.
As he turned around, he discovered that the beam of light was shining down upon the spot where he had been standing just a moment ago, and a huge hole that was over thirty feet in size had appeared in the ground there.
The beam of light was coming from the mirror held by one of the four devilish projections, and all of the space in the wake of the beam of light was warping and twisting violently.
If he had been struck by that beam of light earlier, his body would've definitely been torn apart.
Before he had a chance to think about anything else, the sword-wielding and python-wielding projections lashed out in unison.
Balls of five-colored flames erupted out of the sword before raining down like a meteor shower, while the python swooped down from above with lightning flashing within its cavernous mouth.
The beam of light released by the mirror could still be avoided, but there was no way to evade the storm of lightning and fire.
Dongfang Bai gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, then began chanting an incantation while thrusting his palms up toward the heavens.
Azure light burst out of his body like a volcanic eruption, forming a gargantuan ancient tree projection that kept all of the lightning and fire at bay.
Even though the tree was only a projection, it still erupted into flames upon being struck by the lightning and fire.
However, its canopy was constantly regenerating at a rate faster than it was being incinerated, and even the beam of white light released by the mirror was unable to break through the projection's defenses.
"Is this your trump card, Fellow Daoist Han? If so, then this is truly disappointing," Dongfang Bai scoffed.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a beam of translucent light suddenly appeared in front of him, and before he even had a chance to catch a clear glimpse of it, it had already transformed into a miniature sword and pierced into his glabella.
He immediately felt a sharp pain in his head, and his consciousness began churning violently. He couldn't help but shudder from the intense agony, and the azure light erupting out of his body quickly faded away.
The giant tree projection also dissipated, and the ferocious barrage of lightning and fire rained down upon him to inundate him in the blink of an eye.
A string of resounding booms rang out as the entire plaza was illuminated by the explosions of fire and lightning.
Lü Yun and Tao Ji were locked in battle against Weeping Soul, and Tao Ji turned to Dongfang Bai with an alarmed expression upon seeing this.
"Don't worry about the palace master, Elder Tao, just focus on the task at hand," Lü Yun said as he swept his sleeves through the air, controlling eighteen crimson metal flags that were revolving around Weeping Soul.