The mist around the green pond down below surged, and a burst of pure spiritual Qi seeped forth while the nearby ground began to tremor.

The two Infernal Lightning Beast exchanged a glance to see their own expressions of shock and fury mirrored in each other’s eyes. The two beasts let loose a collective thunderous roar, following which the arcs of lightning revolving around their bodies faded, and they rose up onto their hind legs like a pair of bipedal beings.

Gusts of pitch-black winds appeared in the surrounding area, revolving around the two beasts and inundating both of their bodies.

The three demon monarchs’ hearts jolted upon seeing this.

With their extensive battle experience, they knew that nothing good could possibly happen next; these two Infernal Lightning Beasts were clearly preparing to unleash some kind of powerful ability.

Thus, the white-haired beauty immediately let loose a low cry, and her head of white locks suddenly grew to incredible lengths before she whipped her hair through the air.

Countless streaks of white light shot forth to enshroud the gusts of black winds. These streaks of white light were as straight as arrows, and they appeared to possess immense penetrative power.

Meanwhile, Mu Qing made a hand seal, and brilliant azure light erupted from her body. Projections of flowers appeared all around her before blurring and transforming into wheels of all types of different colors.

The edges of these wheels were extraordinarily thin, and they shot forth soundlessly through the air along with the streaks of white light, creating quite a harrowing sight to behold.

However, an unexpected scene then ensued.

The two beasts did nothing to prepare themselves from the oncoming attack, simply allowing them to strike the black winds surging around their bodies.

However, a sharp screeching sound akin to that of metal grating on metal then erupted, and all of the attacks were repelled as if they’d struck an indestructible wall.

The two women both faltered upon seeing this.

Right at this moment, the black winds dissipated to reveal a pair of sinister humanoid demon beasts that were each around 100 feet tall.

The two demon beasts each had a single horn on their heads as well as silver scales all over their bodies, indicating that they were still the same Infernal Lightning Beasts.

However, the shape of their limbs and bodies very closely resembled those of a human.

What was even more unsettling to the three demon monarchs was that as soon as the two beasts emerged in this humanoid form of theirs, they immediately began to make hand seals while each expelling an object out of their mouths.

One of them was a small black flag that was flashing with black light, while the other was an intricate disk that was emanating brilliant white light.

The crimson-robed figure was the first to realize what they were up to, and he hurriedly yelled, "Stop them! They’re trying to activate the restriction left behind by the Mayfly Race!"

He then immediately swept his sleeves through the air to hurl forth a pair of short swords that were only several inches in length each, which flew toward the two treasures summoned by the Infernal Lightning Beasts as two streaks of crimson light.

However, the Infernal Lightning Beast seemed to have anticipated such an attack, and they both shook their heads in unison, upon which their horns detached themselves before transforming into two bolts of lightning.

The bolts of lightning manifested from the two horns clashed with the streaks of crimson light amid two resounding booms, and the immense powers of lightning instantly pulverized the two short swords with devastating might.

These horns were the hardest body parts of these two beasts, and they’d been refined for countless years, so it was no wonder that they were able to destroy the crimson-robed figure’s spirit swords so easily.

However, the two horns weren’t done just yet; both of them disappeared on the spot before reappearing several tens of feet in front of the crimson-robed figure amid a loud thunderclap, then hurtling forth at an astonishing speed.

The two Infernal Lightning Beast seemed to have identified that the crimson-robed figure was the weakest of the three, so they decided to combine their powers to kill him first.

The crimson-robed figure’s heart jolted with shock, but the two horns flying toward him were too fast for him to evade. As such, he could only conjure a layer of crimson light around his body, which then shot forth as a pair of crimson shadows to shield him.

These were none other than the blood puppets he’d refined.

Immediately thereafter, his long robes bulged as a crimson light barrier surfaced over his body.

The two blood puppets were quite powerful, but the two horns suddenly merged as one, forming a sharp lightning spike that punctured the two puppets’ bodies with ease before continuing on toward the crimson-robed figure.

The crimson light barrier only managed to stall the lightning spike for a split second before the former was punctured as if it were nothing more than a papier-mache structure.

An earthshattering boom erupted as a gaping wound as wide as a large bowl appeared on the crimson-robed figure’s chest.

The crimson-robed figure rapidly slammed his palms all over his own body, plastering a dozen or so crimson talismans to himself in one fell swoop.

A peculiar scene then ensued.

Not only was the gaping wound on his chest not shedding so much as a single drop of blood, the flesh around the edges of the wound squirmed in a grotesque manner before regenerating at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.

Mu Qing and the white-haired beauty’s expressions eased upon seeing this. If the crimson-robed figure really were killed in a moment of complacency, then the two of them wouldn’t be able to last very long at all against these two Infernal Lightning Beasts.

However, right at this moment, the lightning spike suddenly circled around in a flash, aiming for the crimson-robed figure’s head on this occasion.

Before Mu Qing and the white-haired woman had a chance intercept, a giant purple palm hurtled through the air, moving at an astonishing speed that completely belied its massive size.

The hand streaked through the air like an illusionary blur before catching the lightning spike in a vice-like grip.

However, a loud thunderclap suddenly erupted within the massive hand in the next instant, and countless arcs of lightning erupted from the lightning spike as it squirmed through the fingers on the huge hand like a silver snake.

Following a few flashes, the lightning spike returned to the Infernal Lightning Beasts, where it split into two again before reattaching themselves onto the heads of the two beasts as their horns.

The two horns were still shimmering with silver light, having been remained completely unscathed in the aftermath of that intense clash.

During this brief delay, the two beasts had managed to activate the treasures hovering before them, and they opened their mouths in unison to expel mouthfuls of blood essence onto the pair of treasures.

Black and white light flashed respectively from the flag and the disk, completely absorbing all of the blood mist down below.

The flag then transformed into a dark cloud that rose up into the air, disappearing into the ceiling of the palace in a flash. Meanwhile, the disk transformed into a streak of white Qi that plummeted and disappeared into the ground.

Mu Qing and the white-haired beauty’s hearts jolted with shock, yet before they had a chance to do anything, brilliant spiritual light suddenly erupted from the ceiling of the palace, following which a series of black patterns emerged.

Those patterns rapidly spread long the ceiling before combining to form a massive formation.

Black light was flashing all over the formation, and there was a black hole at the very center, within which violent winds were howling incessantly. It was as if a passageway into another space had been forced open.

At the same time, scintillating white light erupted from the ground as a series of fist-sized runes appeared. In the very instant that those runes emerged, a massive golden light formation appeared within the green pond amid the tumbling mist.

As soon as this light formation appeared, it enshrouded the entire pond beneath it, and it was shimmering with piercing golden light that forced one to shield their eyes.

Mu Qing and the white-haired beauty were both shocked and infuriated upon seeing this.

They had enough belief in Liu Zu’s abilities to know that he wouldn’t actually be trapped in the pond by this golden formation, but with this formation acting as an obstacle, it was clearly extremely unlikely that they’d be able to secure the divine elixir in a short time.

What was even more troublesome was that the black light formation overhead was still expanding rapidly, quickly encompassing all of the demon monarchs down below. It then slowly detached itself from the ceiling and descended at the behest of the two Infernal Lightning Beasts.

As such, they’d either have to take evasive measures, thereby forcing them away from the green pond, or face the power of this restriction.

Just as Mu Qing was hesitating about how to proceed, the voice of the white-haired beauty suddenly sounded in her ears. "Fellow Daoist Mu, let’s join forces to break this formation. Brother Di Xue, please cover us."

After a brief hesitation, she nodded in response. This appeared to be the only feasible cour of action.

At the same time, the crimson-robed figure had also heard the same voice transmission.

At this moment, the gaping hole on his chest, which would’ve been lethal to a normal person, was already almost completely healed, and aside from the fact that the light in his eyes had dulled slightly, the wound didn’t appear to have affected him much.

He furrowed his brows upon hearing the white-haired beauty’s proposal, then cast his gaze toward the Purpleblood Puppet’s massive hand, which it had used to catch the lightning spike earlier.

The entire palm of the hand had been charred black, and there was an acrid burnt smell emanating from it.

The crimson-robed figure heaved a long sigh before also slowly nodding his head.

He then abruptly stomped a foot onto the Purpleblood Puppet’s shoulder, then reached a hand up his sleeve before tossing out a wooden box that was golden in color.

He began to chant something while pointing at the box, and its lid flew off as seven streaks of light of different colors erupted from within.

The streaks of light faded to reveal seven puppets of different forms; some of them were in the form of demon beasts, some resembled Flying Spirit Race some were a mix between human and demon, and there were even two insect puppets. One of those was a massive worm while the other was a giant ant.

All seven of these puppets had been refined from metallic materials, and their bodies were covered in runes. They had quite clearly been painstakingly crafted by Di Xue with great care and effort.

The white-haired beauty chuckled upon seeing this, and she rotated on the spot as eight bursts of black Qi flew forth from her body, within each of which there was a blurry humanoid figure clad in black armor.

These were none other than the Yin Armor Ghost Monarchs that the white-haired beauty had stored away for recovery and recuperation.

As soon as these ghost monarchs appeared, they immediately sat down in a cross-legged manner around the white-haired beauty. Inky-black Yin Qi emanated from their bodies, forming a massive black cloud around an acre in area in the blink of an eye.

On the other side, Mu Qing’s skin had turned completely green, and she made a hand seal as countless azure threads surfaced around her.

Patches of strange and exotic plants then instantly appeared in the surrounding area with her at the very center.

Meanwhile, the two Infernal Lightning Beast paid no heed at all to what the three demon monarchs were doing. They merely maintained their hand seals as spiritual light flashed all over their bodies, injecting their power into the formation overhead in a frenzy.

They appeared to be extremely confident in this restriction.

Seeing as the battle was finally about to be decided, Han Li’s expression suddenly changed as he rustled a sleeve and tipped out a dozen or so azure beads into his hand. He then narrowed his eyes as he cast his gaze over to another corner of the hall.

There, the cloud of green Qi and the bead within it were finally making their move!