Chapter 305: Pulling Out All the Stops

Han Li clenched his fists tightly before raising them with all his might, but he couldn't raise them at all, as if there were a pair of mountains strapped to them.

The crimson saber projection reached him in the blink of an eye, but right when it was no more than 100 feet away and was about to strike his head, it suddenly slowed down to a snail's pace, as if it had sliced into layers of extremely resilient golden fabric.

At the same time, Han Li's Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a flash of golden light, and it was slowly revolving while the 40 or so lit Time Dao Runes on its surface were releasing circles of golden ripples.

Several hundred feet away, Zhong Luan could sense the law fluctuations emanating from the Mantra Treasured Axis, and he discovered that no matter how much force he exerted, he was unable to force the crimson saber projection down any faster.

A thought immediately occurred to him, and his expression changed drastically as he exclaimed, "Could this be... the power of time laws? Burn him to death! Hurry!"

Upon realizing that Han Li was able to wield time law powers, he immediately decided against trying not to harm Han Li's soul, and he shifted his focus to taking down his opponent as quickly as possible.

The longer the battle wore on, the more he came to realize that Han Li wasn't someone that he could enforce his will over as he pleased.

As soon as his voice trailed off, a shrill cry rang out in the sky, and the giant black crane swooped down from the heavens while flapping its wings vigorously to send a sea of scorching black flames sweeping directly toward Han Li.

As soon as the black flames entered the golden ripples, the speed of their descent also slowed down to a crawl, rendering them unable to get close to Han Li for the time being.

Right at this moment, a tiny fiery silver figure appeared on Han Li's shoulder amid a flash of silver light, and it patted its own belly as it cast its gaze toward the oncoming sea of black flames, looking as if it were eager to embrace the feast being offered.

"Go on," Han Li instructed, and the fiery silver figure instantly sprang up into the air, then transformed into a giant silver fire raven that flew directly toward the sea of black flames.

At the same time, a vast expanse of silver flames emerged from its body as well to clash against the black flames, while the silver fire raven itself pounced at the giant black crane.

High up in the sky, a fierce battle ensued between the two huge birds, one silver and one black, as they released bursts of flames out of their wings.

At this point, Zhong Luan's expression had already become extremely grim. He continued to force his saber down with one hand while making a hand seal with the other before plunging it into the bloody sludge down below.

As soon as he did this, circles of runes instantly appeared out of thin air around his hand before spreading outward in all directions.

The bloody sludge on the surface of the sea instantly began to churn as massive waves were raised before sweeping toward Han Li, but they were also unable to escape the fate of being slowed down by Han Li's Mantra Treasured Axis.

The giant crimson waves around Han Li resembled a series of tall crimson walls that surrounded him from all directions, and it seemed that he was able to deal with all of the oncoming attacks with ease, but in reality, he was struggling immensely.

He had exhausted too much of his immortal spiritual power, and even though he had been able to replenish some of it using an Immortal Origin Stone, he still wasn't going to be able to support his Mantra Treasured Axis for long.

Han Li made a hand seal with one hand as he chanted an incantation, and a vast expanse of azure light instantly surged out of the bloody sludge down below.

Immediately thereafter, 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared before traversing arduously through the sludge, releasing countless streaks of azure swordlight that intertwined to form a huge ball of azure light beneath him.

Immediately thereafter, an earth-shattering draconic roar rang out, and the ball of azure light beneath Han Li exploded violently as an azure coiled dragon rushed out before ascending straight toward the heavens.

Han Li was standing atop the dragon's head, and thanks to the Azure Coil Sword Array, he was able to force his way out of the bloody sludge and rise up into the air.

He had only just steadied himself when the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him shrank down into a ball of golden light before flying back into his body.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged as he scrutinized Zhong Luan intently while flipping a hand over to produce an azure pill. After swallowing the pill, he summoned another Immortal Origin Stone, with which he began to replenish his immortal spiritual power while making a grabbing motion with his other hand.

The azure coiled dragon immediately split apart into 72 azure flying swords once again, then fused into a single azure longsword that flew into his grasp.

With the Mantra Treasured Axis gone, Zhong Luan was able to move at his normal speed again, and he slammed his hands down onto the bloody sludge below to raise an enormous wave that propelled him into the sky.

At the same time, he opened his mouth to release a translucent crimson thread that shot into the palm of his hand.

The flesh on his hand was instantly exposed before slowly squirming as it fused itself into one with the crimson saber in his hand, and a pained look appeared on his face as he gave an involuntary groan.

At the same time, the patterns on the surface of the crimson saber in his hand began to bulge like veins while pulsing incessantly, as if it really were a living creature with blood coursing through its veins.

Zhong Luan's body was still fused with the bloody sludge down below, and a series of cobweb-like golden patterns had lit up all over his body, extending all the way down into the crimson sea below.

As the veins on the crimson saber continued to pulse, the bloody sludge in the sea began to turn into pure baleful blood qi that flowed into the saber through these golden veins.

As a result, the saber swelled to around twice its original size, and it was giving off extremely formidable law fluctuations while the baleful blood qi emanating from it filled virtually the entire area of the sea.

By the time Zhong Lan was no more than 1,000 feet away from Han Li, all of the bloody sludge below him had completely flowed into his crimson saber, but the veins on the blade were still pulsing incessantly, as if it were yet to be satiated.

His muscles began to slowly atrophy, and his cheeks also became sunken, making it appear as if the crimson saber were sucking him dry.

"Die!" Zhong Luan roared as he swung his crimson saber through the air in a circle, causing the surrounding space to tremble violently while unleashing a vast expanse of saber projections that swept toward Han Li.

A grim look appeared on Han Li's face as he tightened his grip around his longsword, but instead of defending himself, he yelled, "Let heaven and earth be turned on their heads!"

The orientation of the sky and the sea was instantly flipped, with the boundless sea taking the place of the sky, while the cloudy sky appeared down below, presenting an extremely bizarre sight to behold.

This was naturally quite jarring to Zhong Luan, and it was very difficult for him to process exactly what had happened in a short time.

All he could see was that his all-out slash was suddenly being directed toward the sea, which was the complete opposite direction to where Han Li was.

He immediately gritted his teeth and forcibly changed the trajectory of his slash, wrenching his crimson saber upward so that his attack would be back on track.

The massive saber projection unleashed by the crimson saber was glowing with golden light and emanating formidable baleful blood qi as it tore Han Li's body in half down the middle.

More saber projections immediately followed in a relentless barrage, and only after unleashing over 300 slashes did Zhong Luan finally exhaust all of the baleful blood qi in his crimson saber.

A string of resounding booms rang out as crimson light exploded in the air, and the clouds churned violently, while the surrounding space also shuddered incessantly.

"There's no way you're not dead after that!" Zhong Luan chortled, and at this point, the saber in his hand had already reverted back to its original black color.

As soon as his voice trailed off, the sound of someone snapping their fingers rang out in the sky, and heaven and earth were immediately restored to their original orientation.

The sky was still filled with dark clouds, but a deep trench that was several hundred kilometers in length had appeared in the sea down below, within which crimson baleful qi was surging incessantly, parting the seawater like a miraculous act of the gods.

Zhong Luan's entire body instantly stiffened upon seeing this, and he slowly shifted his gaze upward with an incredulous expression, where Han Li was standing with a mocking sneer on his face, completely unscathed.

"How..." Zhong Luan murmured to himself.

.

Han Li's sneer grew even wider upon hearing this, and he eagerly rubbed some more salt into Zhong Luan's wounds. "Everything you saw just now was nothing more than an illusion."

The all-out attack that he had just unleashed had exhausted virtually all of his immortal origin stones and baleful blood qi, leaving him unfit for further battle. In contrast, Han Li had taken advantage of this opportunity to replenish a large chunk of his immortal spiritual power through the use of Immortal Origin Stones.

At this point, it seemed like the outcome of the battle was already decided.

"Don't think you've won just yet!"

A vicious look appeared in Zhong Luan's eyes as he raised an arm, and the black saber, which had already detached itself from his body, was sent hurtling rapidly toward Han Li.

In response, Han Li lashed out with his azure longsword to strike the black saber, but in the instant that the two blades clashed, a tiny crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the black saber amid a flash of crimson light.

Han Li immediately tried to stay his sword upon seeing this, but it was already too late.

A resounding boom rang out as a crimson sun that was over 10,000 feet in size rose up over the surface of the sea, radiating incredibly dazzling crimson light.

In the next instant, a burst of devastating shockwaves erupted in all directions, sweeping up enormous waves that swept over the surface of the sea down below.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Having just detonated his bonded treasure, Zhong Luan threw up a mouthful of blood, then crushed a black jade pendant that he was already holding in his hand.

A cloud of black mist surged out of the crushed jade pendant to envelop his body, and he vanished on the spot right before the waves arrived.