Chapter 64: Striking Together
"It\'s all thanks to this domain treasure of yours that these Golden Dao Warriors can be put to good use. The first step of our plan has been successfully implemented, but we\'ll most likely have to strike together if we want to capture him," Tong Ren\'e mused.
Right at this moment, Duan Renli\'s chanting suddenly ceased. "It\'s about time. Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain, can you show us what\'s happening down there?"
Daoist Closed Mountain nodded in response, then raised a hand to release a burst of silver light, within which was a silver bead around the size of an egg.
The bead circled around in the air for a moment before positioning itself in front of the trio, where it then exploded into a cloud of silver mist, which formed a silver mirror that was around 70 to 80 feet in size.
The surface of the mirror blurred momentarily, following which a clear image appeared.
The trio inspected the image with keen interest, but their expressions instantly changed drastically in response to the sight that they were greeted by.
In the image, one golden warrior after another was descending from the heavens before charging toward a tall and broad young man from all directions.
However, the young man was traversing through the hordes of golden warriors with ease while unleashing a relentless barrage of fist projections.
All of the golden warriors around him were immediately sent flying upon making contact with the fist projections, then exploded into bursts of yellow light, and none of them were even able to reach within 100 feet of the young man.
Within the span of just a few seconds, seven or eight of those golden warriors had already been destroyed.
The young man wore a calm expression, and his movements were fluid and languid, as if it wasn\'t taking him much effort at all to shatter these Dao Warriors.
Right at this moment, the surface of the silver mirror warped slightly before disintegrating into a large cloud of silver mist again.
"How is this possible?" Duan Renli exclaimed with an astonished expression.
"These Golden Dao Warriors don\'t know any secret techniques or cultivation arts, but all of them possess physical bodies comparable in power with high-grade body cultivators. Even if one of us were to be surrounded by such a large army of them, we\'d be in a very difficult situation, yet he\'s able to deal with them with ease. It seems that we\'ve still underestimated him," Tong Ren\'e said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Could it be that he\'s already recovered from his injuries?" Daoist Closed Mountain speculated in a concerned manner.
"If it were that easy for him to recover from his injuries, why would he have left the immortal realm and come to the Spirit Domain Realm? At this point, we have no choice but to forge ahead. As we planned in advance, we\'ll attack him together to finish this as quickly as possible," Tong Ren\'e said in a cold voice.
……
Inside the domain.
Han Li swayed to the side to dodge the attacks from several golden warriors at once, then lashed out with his right arm to unleash seven or eight fist projections at once, each of which struck a golden warrior on the head with unerring accuracy.
The heads of those seven or eight golden warriors instantly exploded, and their bodies were sent flying before disintegrating into clouds of yellow mist.
The entire process was executed extremely cleanly and efficiently, and in the blink of an eye, close to 20 golden warriors were vanquished.
At this point, these golden warriors no longer posed a threat to Han Li, and he was killing them off faster than they could appear.
Once most of the golden warriors had been destroyed, blue light flashed within Han Li\'s eyes as he looked up at the layer of gray clouds overhead, trying to find an opening that he could exploit to see what was up there.
All of a sudden, the streaks of yellow light raining down from the heavens abruptly ceased. Immediately thereafter, a certain section of the gray clouds trembled violently, following which a rift that was over 100 feet wide was opened up.
Three streaks of light descended out of the rift, then faded to reveal a trio of figures.
Han Li\'s eyes narrowed slightly as he inspected the trio, and he discovered that aside from Daoist Closed Mountain and Duan Renli, there was also a short black-robed elderly man.
"It looks like you\'ve joined forces with the Heavenly Ghost Sect, Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain. How disappointing," Han Li mused with an indifferent expression.
"You can\'t blame me, Fellow Daoist Han. If you want to blame someone, then you can only blame yourself for making enemies out of people that you can\'t afford to oppose. I\'m afraid that I had no choice in this matter," Daoist Closed Mountain replied.
A thought occurred to Han Li upon hearing this, and his expression remained unchanged as he cast his gaze toward Duan Renli. "I didn\'t think that you\'d be able to recruit two other Grand Ascension Stage beings to your side, Fellow Daoist Duan."
"With your powers, you stand at the very pinnacle of the Spirit Domain Realm. If it were only for the sake of those 50 kilograms of Yin Dawn Stone, there\'s no way our Heavenly Ghost Sect would\'ve chosen to come after you," the black-robed elderly man said with a serious expression.
"If I\'m not mistaken, then you must be the number one cultivator of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, Fellow Daoist Tong, right? Who exactly have I made an enemy out of that warrants all three of you coming after me at once?" Han Li asked as he cast his gaze toward the elderly man.
"If you\'re trying to stall for time, then I\'m afraid that you\'re going to be sorely disappointed, Fellow Daoist Han."
As soon as Tong Ren\'e\'s voice trailed off, he immediately released an antiquated gray book out of his sleeve, then pointed a finger at it.
The book rustled audibly as its pages rapidly flipped past one after another while releasing bursts of gray light, which instantly transformed into a series of strange birds with ghostly heads, eagle bodies, and scorpion tails. Each of them was around 60 to 70 feet in size, and several dozens of them appeared in the blink of an eye before spreading their wings to circle around high up in the sky.
"Please pardon my intrusion, Fellow Daoist Han!" Daoist Closed Mountain said as he raised a hand to release a light blue plate treasure, which vanished into the gray clouds overhead in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, he extended a finger before pointing it up at the heavens, and the dense layer of clouds instantly began to churn while rumbling with deafening thunderclaps. Thick bolts of gray lightning began to flash through the clouds, presenting an extremely intimidating sight to behold.
Meanwhile, Duan Renli was chanting an incantation, and golden runes surged over the surface of the yellow gourd in his hands as hundreds of yellow beans flew out of its opening, then landed on the ground before transforming into more golden warriors.
The three of them had sprung into action in unison as if they had planned this in advance.
Han Li continued to unleash fist projections as his gaze fell upon the yellow gourd, and a hint of intrigue appeared in his eyes as he quickly realized that it was the source of all of the golden warriors.
As soon as he made this realization, he immediately unleashed a barrage of fist projections that swept through the air in all directions, sending all of the golden warriors in a radius of over 100 feet flying. Immediately thereafter, he sprang up into the air before flying toward Duan Renli.
The trio of Grand Ascension cultivators had gone out of their way to draw him into this domain, so they had to have more tricks up their sleeve than what was on display here. Hence, he had to seize the initiative and strike first.
Right at this moment, those strange birds in the sky circle around, and around a dozen of them swooped down toward Han Li.
At the same time, all of them thrust their scorpion tails in Han Li\'s direction, releasing countless thin black threads that rained down in a ferocious storm, encompassing a large area around Han Li.
Han Li flew diagonally through the air upon seeing this, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake as he evaded all of the thin black threads.
However, right after he steadied himself before vanquishing a pair of nearby golden warriors, several more of those strange birds swooped down toward him from above.
Almost at the exact same moment, a deafening thunderclap rang out as a thick bolt of gray lightning came crashing down from the heavens with devastating might.
Han Li\'s brows furrowed slightly as golden light flashed from his body, and countless golden scales instantly appeared over his skin as he threw another punch upward.
A resounding boom rang out as the bolt of gray lightning exploded violently, and even though Han Li\'s fist remained completely unscathed, he was forced back a step by the impact.
Immediately thereafter, a string of loud clangs rang out as the thin black threads released by the scorpion tails of the strange birds fell upon his golden scales, but they were unable to leave even the faintest of marks.
After releasing a barrage of attacks, one of the strange birds was struck by a golden warrior that Han Li hurled upward before it could fly away, and it immediately felt a burst of tremendous force crash into its body, causing it to let loose an anguished cry before it disintegrated alongside the golden warrior.
Immediately thereafter, a string of deafening thunderclaps rang out as bolt after bolt of gray lightning came crashing down, tearing through the surrounding space with awe-inspiring might.
At the same time, the strange birds that were circling around in the sky were also attacking relentlessly.
Han Li was flashing through the air in an unpredictable manner, throwing punches to dispel the bolts of lightning that he was unable to evade while also occasionally felling a strange bird or two, and it seemed that he was able to hold his own quite easily.
However, as a result of this, he was unable to attack Duan Renli anytime soon.
More and more yellow beans were flying out of the gourd, and he was unable to vanquish them as quickly, seeing as he was distracted by all of these other attacks, so the number of golden warriors around him was constantly increasing.
Before he knew it, there were already around 3,000 to 4,000 golden warriors in the area.
What was even more concerning to him was that most of the golden warriors weren\'t in a hurry to attack him. Instead, they rushed away from him before abruptly coming to a halt, standing in what seemed to be a specific formation.
They\'re forming an array! Han Li thought to himself as his pupils contracted slightly.