"What a tremendous fluctuation of fire spiritual power — it's a fire spirit body!" The demon god avatar into which Han Li had transformed finally spoke in a deep, resonant voice.
"A fire spirit? Calling me that isn't exactly wrong, I suppose. Heh heh. For a mere lower-realm existence to have pushed Ma Liang's brat to this extent is rather extraordinary. But you heard the agreement I just struck with him, didn't you? I'm afraid I have no choice but to lend him a hand."
"In that case, enough talk — let's settle this with our fists!" The Brahma Saint Demon God let out a great laugh and swung the five heavy weapons once more, bringing them crashing down with the sound of howling wind and rumbling thunder.
The crimson figure let out a cold snort. With a single hand forming an incantation seal, countless waves of fire clouds surged from its body. It rolled upon the ground and transformed into that bizarre dragon-serpent over a hundred zhang long.
The moment the creature materialized, one of its foreclaws slashed through the air. Instantly, a deafening boom erupted overhead, and a red mist-claw roughly an acre in size materialized out of thin air. Without evading or dodging, it shot straight up to meet the five streaks of golden light.
"Poof!"
The five heavy weapons shuddered and revealed their true forms, actually held suspended in midair by that red mist-claw.
All three faces of the Brahma Saint Demon God showed a flash of astonishment. With the current strength of its physical body, it understood perfectly well just how terrifying a degree of power that last strike had contained.
Ma Liang's heart eased upon seeing this. His sleeve stirred, and several deep-blue talismans slapped rapidly onto his body, transforming into several clusters of blue mist that burrowed within. His complexion recovered noticeably in an instant. At the same time, a vicious gleam flashed in his eyes as he gazed at Han Li, secretly activating a certain technique.
Just then, the bizarre dragon-serpent had already let out a long, piercing shriek. Its tendrils thrashed wildly, and a hissing roar filled the air as countless scorching rays of light shot toward Han Li.
The Brahma Saint Demon God's two palms moved, and the heavy weapons vanished from its grasp. But both hands formed a seal, and with a "bang," a massive golden beetle materialized in front of it.
The beetle's body blurred slightly and transformed into a brilliant golden shield, which Han Li positioned squarely before himself.
The scorching rays struck the shield, producing a crackling noise like rain drumming against a fence. Yet aside from leaving small holes roughly an inch deep on the surface, the shield suffered no further damage.
And just as Han Li's attention was fully drawn to the attack before him, a fluctuation rippled above his head. A phantom figure shot out of the void like lightning, and after a single flicker, it bypassed his protective spiritual light and hurtled straight toward the central head of the Brahma Saint Demon God.
"Poof! Poof!"
The Brahma Saint Demon God's two side heads suddenly twisted inward. Dark energy condensed between its brows, and a third demonic eye surfaced on each face, unleashing a black beam of light from both — striking the phantom with pinpoint accuracy.
A miserable scream!
The instant the two black beams struck the phantom's body, a blurred black void roughly the size of a house materialized behind it. In a flash, the phantom was violently wrenched into it and vanished without a trace.
Almost simultaneously, Ma Liang below let out a furious roar and clutched his head with both hands, his face contorted in excruciating agony.
Han Li swept Ma Liang a cold glance. The man had actually dared to attack directly with a sliver of split soul — a suicidal act if ever there was one.
Even if that strand of split soul hadn't been shredded to pieces by the spatial power his dharma eye wielded, it had been hurled directly into a spatial rift. Without any anchor, it would truly disperse and perish before long.
While these thoughts ran through Han Li's mind, the central head of the Brahma Saint Demon God opened its mouth and spat a silver fireball downward.
The fireball merely spun once before transforming into a silver firebird about a foot long, its shimmering feathers shimmering with countless faint golden runes that flickered in and out of view.
A finger of the Brahma Saint Demon God pointed downward, and the mouth uttered a single word: "Go!"
The silver firebird spread its wings, and the runes on its plumage suddenly swelled wildly. At the same time, its body ballooned enormously, transforming into a colossal creature over a hundred zhang in size within moments. It raised its head and let out a clear, piercing cry before diving straight downward.
The bizarre dragon-serpent wasted not a single breath and gaped its enormous crimson maw, unleashing an incredibly thick pillar of crimson light. In a single flash, it struck squarely against the firebird's massive body.
A muffled boom!
The golden runes on the firebird's surface only glimmered faintly, and the crimson light pillar sank silently into its body — causing the bird to swell even larger in an instant.
"The Essence Flame Fire — it's the Essence Flame Firebird!" The bizarre dragon-serpent witnessed this scene and was badly startled. It immediately reacted, crying out in alarm.
Its voice was saturated with shock and fury, and there was even a faint tremor of dread threaded through it. All of its former composure had completely vanished.
But the silver giant bird paid it no heed whatsoever. It merely flapped its wings once more and closed the distance to the dragon-serpent in an instant, rolling waves of silver flames sweeping in behind it.
The dragon-serpent let out another bellow. Its body coiled violently, transforming into an enormous crimson fleshy sphere. Countless long tendrils thrashed wildly across its surface, condensing into a curtain of crimson light that shielded it completely.
When the silver flames clashed against the light barrier, silver and crimson radiance erupted between them at once, locking into a stalemate with neither side giving ground.