The Yin-Yang Twin Demons' eyes rolled slightly, and a foul stench of corpse energy surged around their bodies. Suddenly, the two demons stood shoulder to shoulder, transforming into a wailing green wind that swept away.
Their heading was straight toward the Mulan Sacred Bird.
The cultivators all breathed a sigh of relief. Having such monsters — creatures that fed on the essence blood of living humans — standing right in front of them gave everyone chills.
The green wind the Twin Demons had become looked leisurely enough, but its speed was terrifying. Halfway there, it grew faint and formless, gradually vanishing entirely until all trace was lost.
The others looked astonished and couldn't help glancing at the long-haired old man who controlled the twin corpses.
His expression was as calm as ever, utterly unchanged.
Seeing this, the remaining cultivators exchanged glances and steadied their nerves.
On the battlefield near the spell casters, the giant green bird was calmly releasing demonic flame, pressing the seven old men into a tight corner.
With access to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the bird effortlessly gathered all the fire spiritual power within a ten-li radius around itself, easily converting it into the green demonic flame it cultivated, barely consuming any of its own spiritual power. And the longer the fight dragged on, the more fire spiritual energy it could draw upon.
This was the absolute gulf between the Spirit Transformation stage and anything below it.
Otherwise, that cultivator from the Tian Nan region who had reached the Spirit Transformation stage could never have swept through the entire Tian Nan in such a short time, fearless against siege by many opponents.
At first, the Seven Taizhen Cultivators could still use the power of their ancient treasures to contend with the demonic bird, but as time wore on, not only was their Demon-Trapping Formation broken, they themselves became trapped within the raging flames.
Now they could barely protect themselves — the situation was dire!
The demonic bird suddenly stopped breathing fire, its eyes flashing with alarm as it glanced left and right, seeming to sense something.
With a clear cry, the bird spread both wings, and a ring of green luminance rose from its body, shooting outward in all directions, instantly enveloping everything within a hundred zhang.
A sizzling sound — a wisp of green smoke rose within the luminance.
Then the Yin-Yang Twin Demons materialized from a wisp of ethereal vapor. It appeared they had been trying to fly over the bird's head undetected.
Their concealment technique exposed, the Twin Demons let out piercing shrieks. After a somersault, both their bodies swelled to a height of two zhang, transforming into ghastly figures with red hair and green faces. Their ten fingers trembled and shot out dozens of gray light threads directly at the giant bird.
The green bird was momentarily stunned, then its eyes blazed with fury. Seeing the demons attack, it immediately opened its beak and spat a thick column of green flame. At the same time, it spread its wings, and a hurricane arose from the sea of fire beneath it, raising green flame waves over ten zhang high that swept the Twin Demons right in.
No one knew what technique the Yin-Yang Twin Demons cultivated, but despite being at a severe disadvantage, the wisps of corpse energy rising from their bodies stood firm against the green demonic flames, absorbing most of the assault.
With the pressure on the Seven Taizhen Cultivators relieved, their spirits surged. They linked their seven treasures together once more and unleashed their power again.
Just as most people expected the Twin Demons to join forces with the Seven Cultivators against the Mulan Sacred Bird, after trading two fierce blows, the Twin Demons suddenly flickered with gray light. Feinting a move, they dodged left and right, slipping past beneath the giant bird, bursting through the encirclement of flames, and charging straight toward the ancient lamp not far away.
The woman surnamed Le stood guard beside the ancient lamp. Seeing this, her expression didn't waver in the slightest. She flicked a spell seal at one of the lamps.
All nine ancient lamps blazed to life at once, each releasing a flame wisp.
As the Twin Demons charged to within striking distance, the nine flame wisps spun around, then suddenly surged and transformed into nine small green birds.
Spreading their wings and wreathed in green flame, they flew to meet the Twin Demons.
The Twin Demons were incredibly fierce. Spewing gray corpse energy from their mouths, their ten fingers transforming into a flurry of claw shadows, they enveloped the fire birds in an instant.
A flash of gray radiance and claw light swept past, and the nine fire birds were torn to shreds.
But in that brief moment of delay, the giant bird in the air suddenly turned its head. A vast wave of green radiance erupted from its beak, and before anyone could react, it engulfed the Twin Demons' bodies, yanking the Yin-Yang Demon Corpses back into the sea of fire in the blink of an eye.
Seeing this, the hearts of the Seven Taizhen Cultivators sank.
At that moment, the gaunt old man in the distance saw what happened, smiled faintly, then turned and whispered something to the black-robed woman.
The black-robed woman's gaze swept across the entire battlefield. Seeing that both the spell casters and cultivators showed signs of exhaustion, she nodded calmly.
Her lips moved slightly as she issued her command.
A team of black-robed figures immediately flew out from the spell casters' formation, lining up in a row. Each had seven or eight bulging bags hanging at their waist.
The black-robed woman opened her mouth and spat out an extraordinarily exquisite small banner.
The banner was only about two inches long, emitting a faint black glow, but once released into the air, it expanded with the wind, growing to roughly a zhang in size.