Chapter 288: Saved in the Nick of Time

While the Flame of Essence and the Phosphorus Bone Flame were locked in battle against one another, Han Li made a hand seal with one hand, then produced an azure longsword with a flick of his wrist, and he emerged from behind the Heavy Water True Axis before charging directly toward the burly man.

The burly man immediately switched to a different hand seal upon seeing this, and balls of azure flames erupted out of the fiery azure lotus flower before hurtling toward Han Li.

In response, Han Li slashed his longsword through the air, unleashing a string of sword projections that bloomed like a lotus flower in front of him to repel the azure fireballs.

This flame was supposed to have been extremely sticky, as evidenced by the fact that it was able to instantly cling to the Heavy Water True Axis, but it was unable to adhere to the azure longsword at all, much to the burly man's surprise.

He gritted his teeth before expelling a mouthful of blood essence, then pointed a finger at it, and the ball of blood essence instantly transformed into a cloud of blood mist that vanished into the fiery azure lotus flower in a flash.

The fiery lotus flower instantly began to rapidly revolve, and all of its petals trembled before shooting through the air, transforming into a series of fiery azure blades that swept toward Han Li in an all-encompassing wave.

Han Li made a hand seal with one hand in an unhurried manner while slashing his sword through the air with his other hand, instantly releasing countless massive sword projections that shot forth toward the burly man.

The wave of sword projections appeared to have been quite chaotic, like a disorganized army with no general, hurtling through the air in a seemingly haphazard fashion, but somehow, they were able to keep all of the fiery azure blades at bay.

For the second time, a hint of foreboding welled up in the burly man's heart, and he decided that it was too much of a risk to continue this battle. With that in mind, he switched to a different hand seal before clapping his hand together.

A resounding boom rang out as the fiery azure lotus flower swelled to several times its original size, following which all of its petals exploded violently, creating a sea of azure flames that swallowed up the entire wave of sword projections.

All of a sudden, the entire sky was filled with sword projections and azure flames, sending waves of scorching heat and an aura of unmatched sharpness erupting in all directions.

After doing all of this, the burly man brought his index and middle fingers together without any hesitation, and a golden talisman was set alight between his fingertips, following which he vanished from the spot amid a flash of golden light.

However, a massive azure longsword then suddenly appeared out of thin air several dozen kilometers away, and the burly man within the streak of golden light struck its blade with unerring accuracy, instantly slicing his body into two.

Immediately thereafter, a purple nascent soul that was identical in appearance to the burly man emerged from his body before flying away with a terrified look on its face, only to be caught in a large silver net before it was able to get very far.

A burst of crackling rang out as the nascent soul was zapped into a plume of smoke that was blown away by the wind.

Even in the instant right before he died, the burly man had no idea how Han Li had been able to cover a distance of dozens of kilometers in the blink of an eye to intercept him.

As it turned out, it was very simple. In the instant that the burly man detonated his Phosphorus Bone Flame, Han Li had already activated his Reversal True Axis ability to enhance his own speed, allowing him to cover a vast distance in the blink of an eye.

Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to stow the azure longsword away, then made a beckoning motion toward the burly man's corpse, and the man's storage bracelet and storage ring quickly flew into his grasp.

After taking a moment to inspect the contents of the storage treasures, he was very pleased to find that he had made a very good haul, and he stowed them storage treasures away before flying back toward his Heavy Water True Axis.

Without the support of the burly man's immortal spiritual power, the Phosphorus Bone Flame was no match for the Essence Fire Raven and had already been devoured. At this moment, the Essence Fire Raven was in its miniature humanoid form, and it was seated on the Heavy Water True Axis while swinging its little legs back and forth with a blissful look on its face.

Upon spotting Han Li's return, it immediately reverted back into the form of a silver fire raven before flying toward him.

Han Li smiled as he raised an arm so that the fire raven could fly back into his sleeve.

He then turned his gaze toward the giant puppet to find that both the Holy Puppet Sect and Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators there had already suffered severe casualties.

There were several Ubiquitous Pavilion Grand Ascension and Body Integration cultivators that had snuck away from the battle before flying toward the giant puppet, hoping to destroy it so that the light barrier encompassing the main island would be unraveled.

However, before they could even get close, the giant puppet suddenly swiveled its body to face them, and the runes on its giant silver blade lit up before releasing gusts of fierce wind that swept directly toward the oncoming intruders.

The gusts of wind were carrying countless blades of wind, and it swept up the nearest few Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators in the blink of an eye.

Those cultivators hurriedly summoned their protective treasures, but they were only able to keep the blades of wind at bay for a few moments before their bodies were torn to shreds, while their nascent souls were only just barely able to escape.

Seeing as the giant puppet was able to protect itself just fine, Han Li began flying over to Qilin 9 with his Heavy Water True Axis trailing along behind him.

At this point in the battle, the situation had become quite dire for Qilin 9.

After transforming into that woman in the red dress, not only had the voluptuous woman had her cultivation base elevated, even her abilities had undergone a drastic change.

Furthermore, that red oil paper umbrella of hers was extremely troublesome to deal with, able to release thin red threads down upon anyone situated under it, and if one were to be ensnared by those red threads, their immortal spiritual power circulation would become very sluggish.

Thankfully, the dazzling light radiating from his nine star golden sword had formed a protective barrier around him to keep the red threads at bay, so he was able to remain largely unaffected.

At this point, the golden tiger that had been released from the antiquated golden mirror was already riddled with wounds, but it was still constantly prowling by his side, protecting him from any potential sneak attacks from his two assailants.

The giant azure python released by the thin old man earlier had already been torn to shreds by the golden tiger, and it was clear that he intended to claim the golden mirror to make up for that loss after Qilin 9 was killed.

"We have to end this now!"

The woman in red had already noticed that Han Li was approaching, and a hint of killing intent flashed through her eyes as she encircled her arms in an embracing motion to summon a crimson lute that was as translucent as jade.

She began to gently strum the strings of the lute, producing a sound that immediately made Qilin 9's skin crawl.

It wasn't because the sound was extremely unpleasant. Instead, it was a very crisp and clean sound that was very pleasing to the ears, but as soon as the woman began playing the lute, the oil paper umbrella above Qilin 9 suddenly swelled to twice its original size.

The crimson threads trailing down from the umbrella were also becoming denser, and they were pouncing at him like a nest of spirit snakes, moving at several times their original speed.

At the same time, the thin old man had also sprung into action. He raised a hand to release a three-colored ring, which flew through the air before transforming into countless three-colored ring projections to ensnare the golden dragon.

Meanwhile, the thin old man himself appeared above Qilin 9 in a wraith-like manner, then swept a sleeve through the air, sending a streak of dazzling swordlight that was over 100 feet in length sweeping down toward him.

Qilin 9 had no choice but to divert the golden mirror away to ward off the oncoming streak of sword light, but as a result, his back was left unguarded, and several red threads pierced into his shoulder and back in quick succession.

As soon as the red threads pierced into his body, they immediately began to sprout branches that burrowed into his flesh like the roots of a plant.

Qilin 9 immediately felt a numb sensation spread through his shoulder and arm, and even more alarmingly, his immortal spiritual power had become extremely sluggish.

Right at this moment, he spotted a black shadow hurtling toward him out of the corner of his eye, and right as he was about to use a life-saving talisman to save himself from this dire situation, a glowing black wheel flashed through the air in front of him inches away from his chest to shield him from the oncoming dark green dagger.

Immediately thereafter, a figure arrived by his side in the blink of an eye, and with a sweep of their sword, all of the red threads that had burrowed into his body were instantly severed.

Those severed threads quickly turned a lifeless gray color like vines that had been stripped of their nutrients, and Qilin 9's immortal spiritual power circulation returned to normal.

"I owe you one, Fellow Daoist!" Qilin 9 said in a solemn voice as he took a glance at Han Li.

"Let's focus on taking care of these two before we talk about anything else," Han Li said.

Qilin 9 nodded in response, and he flexed his shoulder to find that the numb sensation from before had already completely faded.

Meanwhile, the thin old man and the woman in red had also convened together, and as they exchanged a glance, each of them could see their own astonishment mirrored in one another's eyes.

They had deemed Han Li to have been the weaker one of their two opponents, yet not only had he just slain their companion in a very short time, he had also managed to ward off both of their attacks on his own, seemingly with ease.

"I'm not staying around to fight a losing battle," the thin old man sighed, then immediately sped away as a streak of light without any hesitation.

"Sly old bastard..." the woman in red cursed under her breath.

Having used that human skin tattoo treasure, she had already severely depleted her immortal spiritual power, and she had thought that at the very least, she and the thin old man would've been able to kill Qilin 9 to reap some spoils, but their plan had been foiled by Han Li.

With the thin old man fleeing for his life, she naturally wasn't going to stay and take on Han Li's duo on her own.

Thus, the red oil paper umbrella suddenly flew back to her at her behest, then carried her away at an incredible speed.