"You don't know about the Bottle Spirit? Hmph. It seems you really don't have much connection with that traitor after all. That's fine — recovering the shell of this bottle is already an unexpected gain. As for the Bottle Spirit, a mere lower-realm existence like you has no right to know. Once I capture you and search your soul, I'll send you straight to the Nine Springs." Ma Liang's expression flickered between dark and uncertain, but he ultimately let out a cold laugh.
The moment his words fell, the dark-green bottle in his hand vanished in a flash, and the blood-colored seal in his other hand was hurled outward.
With several squelching sounds, the blood seal vanished into thin air, and eight blood rivers cascaded down from the sky. After a churning roll, they transformed once more into eight five-clawed blood dragons, their auras fierce as they lunged directly toward Han Li.
In this True Immortal's estimation, eight blood dragons on par with Mahayana-level beings were more than sufficient to deal with Han Li and his companion.
Daoist Crab's eyes flashed with silver lightning. He rolled on the spot, and with a thunderclap that split the clear sky, transformed into a colossal golden crab.
The crab's two massive pincers swept savagely through the air, sending two house-sized thunderbolts hurtling toward two of the blood dragons. In the next instant, the crab itself became a streak of golden lightning and charged forward.
Amid rolling roars and thunderous booms, the golden giant crab and the two blood dragons clashed immediately.
Han Li drew a deep breath, pressed the azure bottle against his chest until it vanished, and the surrounding sea of azure swords hummed to life. Countless azure sword beams interwove and flashed, merging into a vast sword formation that spanned a hundred acres.
He extended a single finger and tapped the air toward the formation. A ball of azure light immediately welled up at the formation's center and expanded wildly.
With a long dragon's roar, a colossal azure dragon, several hundred zhang in length, burst forth from the light.
The dragon was a deep, glistening green from head to tail. Every scale blazed with a chilling, razor-sharp gleam as it shook its massive head and lashed its tail. The instant it appeared, it bared its fangs and claws and charged toward the nearest blood dragon.
The blood dragon opened its gaping maw without a moment's hesitation and spat a pillar of hazy crimson light, striking the coiling dragon's enormous body with perfect accuracy.
But a cold glint flashed across the dragon's scales as countless sword energies interwove and slashed, severing the blood-red beam in an instant. Where the beam had struck, not a single scratch could be seen.
Ma Liang, watching from afar, felt his expression shift slightly. But before any concrete thought could form in his mind, the azure coiling dragon had already let out a roar and entangled itself with the blood dragon in the distance.
In that patch of void, blood mist rolled and sword energy crisscrossed in all directions. In the span of just two breaths, the blood dragon was torn to shreds by the azure dragon. However, the five remaining blood dragons seized the opening and rushed in. With identical roars, torrents of blood-dao techniques rained down in a sky-covering barrage.
The azure coiling dragon showed not a shred of fear. Its massive head swept to one side, and its scales unleashed countless chilling sword beams that surged forward to meet the onslaught.
At that moment, the blood dragon that had just been torn apart reformed from the nearby blood mist and charged once more with savage ferocity.
The azure coiling dragon fought one against five. Despite the terrifying power of the sword energy it unleashed, its body was riddled with wounds in the blink of an eye. After employing a near-suicidal charge to rip apart yet another blood dragon, the azure dragon itself was crushed under the weight of countless blood beams, shattering into motes of brilliant light.
The remaining blood dragons surged with delight and wheeled around, diving toward Han Li.
But Han Li watched with an expressionless face, formed a single-handed seal, and the azure sword formation before him blurred and vanished into thin air.
In the next instant, the sound of swords rang out beneath the blood dragons. The azure sword formation materialized in a flash, and from its center, a dragon's roar sounded as a second azure coiling dragon burst forth, once again entangling the five blood dragons in a furious battle.
Han Li stood rooted to the spot without moving a single step, seemingly fending off the five blood dragons with effortless ease. In truth, he had mobilized nearly half his Magical Power to keep the entire sword formation from dispersing.
Though the Azure Coiling Dragon Sword Formation had grown incomparably powerful with the advancement of his cultivation realm, the amount of Magical Power it consumed had also increased severalfold over what it once required.
This was only feasible because Han Li's Magical Power and spiritual sense far exceeded those of his Mahayana-level peers. Any ordinary Mahayana cultivator who attempted to drive this formation would have no remaining capacity whatsoever to wield other techniques or treasures.
Seeing this, Ma Liang's brows shot upward in anger. He formed a one-handed seal, and a stream of incantations tumbled from his lips.
A deafening rumble erupted above Han Li's head. Countless crimson arcs of light surged forth and converged, coalescing into a blood-red seal phantom as massive as a mountain peak.
A wave of Law fluctuations rolled downward, and the seal phantom boomed toward Han Li with crushing force.
"As I suspected — your true essence right now is nothing compared to before. You can't even condense the other four blood spirit puppet giants." Rather than alarmed, Han Li actually looked delighted. He let out a hearty laugh, gave his sleeve a sharp shake, and three small mountains flew out from within. They hurtled together and instantly fused into a dazzling, tri-colored mountain peak.
Han Li uttered the word "grow," and the tri-colored peak swelled wildly against the wind. In the blink of an eye, it had become a titanic mountain ten thousand zhang tall, scraping the heavens. Its summit flashed once and erupted with a blinding burst of radiance, slamming into the seal phantom head-on.
A sky-shaking, earth-rending boom exploded through the air. The tri-colored mountain drove downward toward the ground with tremendous force, and to everyone's surprise, held the seal phantom at bay — the blood-red phantom hung suspended in midair, unable to press down even a fraction of an inch.
At the same time, the Law fluctuations radiating from the blood seal rolled downward, engulfing the void below.