Chapter 1037: Breaking the Pearl

As soon as the Old Demon saw Han Li blocking his path, his heart tightened. Behind him, the figure in the silver light seized the opportunity to move, and a palm-sized, fiery red bow appeared in his hand. Raising it, he drew the bowstring in the air, and immediately, countless densely packed red arrows shot forth.

At the same time, Han Li gave the Old Demon a strange smile. His Three-Flame Fan glowed, and amidst a phoenix cry, a stream of three-colored flame surged from the fan, instantly transforming into a firebird that pounced towards the Blood Demon Orb.

The pincer attack from front and back was instantly formed.

Old Demon Qian was greatly alarmed. He had already witnessed the power of the Three-Flame Fan once and was naturally unwilling to face it head-on. However, the attack from the person behind him was also extremely formidable; he had already suffered no small loss due to a moment of carelessness earlier.

Out of desperation, the Blood Demon let out a sharp shriek and abruptly shot backward. Simultaneously, as the blood light surged, a gray ghostly face appeared on the orb. It opened its mouth, and a stream of black mist sprayed out, instantly transforming into a small banner a few inches in size.

Growing wildly in the wind, this banner expanded to several feet in size, and a sudden surge of Yin energy emanated from it, accompanied by a glittering jade-green light!

The Yinluo Banner!

Han Li recognized the origin of this item in the blink of an eye. Besides the denser demonic energy, it was almost identical to the one he had obtained earlier.

As the Grand Elder of the Yinluo Sect, it was no surprise that the Old Demon possessed this treasure. Han Li's thoughts raced like lightning.

And just then, the banner had already unfurled before the Blood Orb.

Immediately, a fierce Yin wind erupted, and black mist permeated the air. Distorted, deformed ghostly heads emerged one after another from the demonic energy, spitting phosphorescent flames as they met the myriad fiery arrows in the sky.

The arrows, of course, didn't hold back, fiercely shooting into the Yin energy, creating a cacophony of tearing sounds.

But seizing this opportunity, Old Demon Qian, hidden by the banner's power, manipulated the Blood Demon Orb and the Yinluo Banner to escape to one side. He also took the opportunity to glance back.

He saw the fire phoenix, with wings spread, closely pursuing him from behind.

The Old Demon felt a great chill in his heart. He hardened his resolve.

The Yinluo Banner emitted a vast green light, and suddenly a black hole appeared on its surface.

As soon as the ink-black Yin energy emerged, a small ghost, about an inch high, leaped out from within.

As soon as this ghost flew out, its form immediately expanded rapidly, transforming into a fierce ghost with a green face and tusks, standing over ten feet tall.

This fiendish ghost was clad in black, lustrous battle armor and held a Heaven-Supporting Trident in its hand, with green flames flickering on its prongs, appearing fully armored and possessing considerable magical power.

This ghost seemed to have been confined within the banner for a long time. As soon as it finished transforming, before it could clearly see its surroundings, it excitedly let out a fierce howl, but its long cry abruptly ceased.

Because the three-colored firebird had already pounced in front of the ghost.

The fiendish ghost's face showed surprise. In its haste, it could only open its mouth, nervously spraying out a stream of pitch-black Yin energy. At the same time, it raised its Heaven-Supporting Trident, attempting to block the approaching firebird.

One could only blame this ghost's bad luck!

Even with its magical powers, though not as formidable as Old Demon Qian or Han Li, it was no less powerful than an ordinary early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. However, having been imprisoned in the banner for hundreds of years, and having just appeared in the world, it encountered a rare treasure like the Three-Flame Fan. Coupled with a moment of carelessness, it didn't even have time to properly examine the three-colored firebird, treating it as a common spiritual beast.

As a result, with a muffled "boom," the firebird exploded the instant it made contact with the Yin energy.

A mysterious halo strangely appeared, expanding and contracting, then suddenly growing to over ten yards in width.

Within its power, three-colored runes surged and rolled, and the fiendish ghost and the nearby Yin energy were annihilated.

The Blood Demon Orb, however, used this obstruction, wrapped itself in the Yinluo Banner, and instantly escaped outside the three-colored halo, thus avoiding this calamity!

Old Demon Qian secretly felt lucky. After glancing at the Yinluo Banner, his heart was filled with great regret.

This sect-protecting treasure of the Yinluo Sect was now dim in luster, appearing to have lost much of its spiritual essence.

This situation occurred naturally because the main ghost and a large expanse of ghostly mist, which were bound by the banner's restrictions, were annihilated by the three-colored halo.

Speaking of which, the Yinluo Banner, being hailed as the Yinluo Sect's sect-protecting treasure, its power was naturally not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

Their true power would only be revealed after all eighteen Yinluo Banners were gathered.

If he had all eighteen Yinluo Banners in hand, let alone Han Li and that ugly woman, even if a Soul Transformation stage cultivator encountered him, Old Demon Qian was confident he could protect himself from death.

Unfortunately, the ancestral precepts of the Yinluo Sect had long stipulated that unless the Yinluo Sect faced a catastrophic disaster threatening its existence, the eighteen Yinluo Banners would not be gathered into one person's hands. Ordinarily, they were jointly held by the eighteen cultivators with the highest cultivation in the sect. This was something he, as the Grand Elder of the Yinluo Sect, could not change in the slightest.

What's more, one of them had now fallen into the opponent's hands.

Old Demon Qian thought resentfully, and a ghostly face reappeared on the Blood Demon Orb, opening its mouth to suck the greatly weakened green banner into itself for safekeeping.

After this attack from the Three-Flame Fan, his apprehension towards Han Li was greatly diminished.

Such a powerful treasure must consume an astonishing amount of spiritual power. The opponent had already used it once when fighting the two female cultivators from the Transcendent Immortal Sect. Just now, another fan attack was unleashed. The opponent should not be able to use this treasure again in a short period.

Otherwise, putting aside other things, if the opponent could just fan a few more times, he would likely have long been unable to hide, buried beneath the power of this treasure.

But just then, an unexpected change occurred.

A thunderous roar emanated from the figure in the distant silver light, and a streak of light shot out. With a flash of thunder, it vanished mid-flight.

"Oh no!"

As soon as he saw this familiar scene, Old Demon Qian's heart tightened.

Earlier, he was caught off guard and was ambushed by this item, suffering considerable hardship. The emerald light contained the Demonic-Exorcising Divine Thunder, specifically countering demonic cultivation. Caught unprepared, he had no time to use secret arts to counteract it, resulting in a significant loss to his protective blood flames.

Having suffered once, the Old Demon naturally wouldn't let the same scene repeat.

After the ghostly face swallowed the demonic banner into its mouth, the Blood Demon Orb then swayed and became indistinct.

About a yard away, a green light appeared, and an emerald-green short arrow, several inches long and flickering with golden electric light, materialized there.

As the thunderous sound erupted, the arrow flashed and pierced through the orb.

The "Blood Demon Orb" silently vanished into nothingness.

It turned out that Old Demon Qian, at the crucial moment, used a spell to teleport the Blood Demon Orb away, leaving only an illusion behind.

Just over ten yards away from this spot, a ball of blood flame burst open in mid-air, and the Blood Demon Orb appeared within it.

But a strange scene occurred!

Almost simultaneously with the Blood Demon Orb's appearance, a faint black light flashed, and a crystal-clear, ink-black flying knife, about an inch long, silently appeared behind the Blood Demon Orb.

A black light flashed, a black line easily streaked across the Blood Demon Orb, and the flying knife appeared on the other side. The orb's protective blood flames had failed to stop it in the slightest!

A crisp cracking sound and Old Demon Qian's scream emanated simultaneously, and the surface of the Blood Orb shattered inch by inch.

"Impossible! How could the Blood Demon Orb be so easily... Even the Sky-Ah Divine Sword of the Grand Unity Sect couldn't do this. This flying knife is..." Old Demon Qian's disbelieving voice came from within the Blood Orb, speaking in fragments of shock and fury.

Immediately, the Blood Orb let out a muffled sound, completely burst open, revealing a Nascent Soul.

This Nascent Soul was truly bizarre. Not only was its entire body enveloped in a faint blood mist, and it held a small banner several inches in size in its hands, but its entire body was also tightly gripped by five skull heads, which refused to let go.

The skull heads were ink-black, subtly wriggling as if sucking the Nascent Soul's vital essence—a truly horrifying sight!

As soon as Old Demon Qian's Nascent Soul saw that the Blood Demon Orb it had possessed was completely gone, it immediately let out a piercing shriek. Then, wrapped in the Yinluo Banner to resist the surrounding Arctic Primal Light, it transformed into a ball of black mist and shot into the distance.

The giant skeleton, which was locked in a fierce battle with the giant formed by Gui Ling, also let out a fierce howl in response. After leaping backward, its body suddenly disintegrated and separated, transforming into five streaks of grayish-white energy that shot towards the Old Demon.

Although the Blood Demon Orb was destroyed, and the Old Demon could no longer transform into a blood shadow body, as long as he reunited with the Five-Son Devils, he could still arbitrarily possess one of their bodies.

Gui Ling naturally wouldn't easily let the Five-Son Devils leave. Immediately, its form abruptly shrank back to its usual appearance, then it rode a black and white escape light and gave chase.

Whether the Five-Son Devils or Gui Ling, they were still fifty to sixty yards away from Han Li's side. If the Old Demon's Nascent Soul had an object to possess, or if it were outside the range of the Arctic Primal Light, it could use teleportation, and a few flashes would reunite it with the Five-Son Devils.

But now, it had no choice but to escape using ordinary escape light. How could it escape the grasp of Han Li, who could use the Thunder Escape Art?

Han Li, expressionless, moved the pair of wings on his back and instantly appeared directly in front of the black mist. With a raise of his hand, thunder boomed loudly, and several golden arcs transformed into a golden net, descending to cover the mist.

The Old Demon naturally recognized the Demonic-Exorcising Divine Thunder. Immediately, its Nascent Soul's expression drastically changed as it opened its mouth, spraying out a ball of blood mist to temporarily block the golden net, then instantly changed direction and rapidly escaped to one side.

But who knew, a flash of light appeared in front; a ball of silver light instantly blocked the path. Then the light receded, revealing a pale-faced middle-aged cultivator.

This person was clad in a yellow robe, with a wooden expression, holding the red small bow in one hand. It was precisely the humanoid puppet Han Li had refined.

However, this puppet appeared silently and didn't immediately draw its bow to attack. Instead, seizing the moment when the Old Demon was startled, its seemingly ordinary eyes suddenly emitted dazzling purple light, which rippled outwards in waves.

As soon as the Old Demon's Nascent Soul glimpsed this purple light, it felt that it was so dazzling and captivating, as if it could draw one's very soul into it.

Its own body felt warm and comfortable, making it unwilling to think or do anything.

"No, this is an illusion spell!" Although the Old Demon was currently just a Nascent Soul outside its body, its powerful spiritual consciousness, honed through years of cultivation, instantly allowed it to awaken on its own.

Terrified, he hastily turned his head, not daring to look at the opponent's eyes for another moment. At the same time, his protective black mist churned, and he was about to instantly escape in another direction.

But just then, a sudden spiritual energy fluctuation came from directly above his head. The Old Demon was startled and couldn't help but look up.

As a result, above him, a small cauldron had appeared, he didn't know when!

This cauldron slowly rotated, emitting a faint green light.

Although it was the first time he had seen this treasure, relying on hundreds of years of experience, the Old Demon instantly sensed the strangeness of this cauldron, and without a second thought, he transformed into a streak of black mist and shot out.