Chapter 1407: Human and Tree Integration

It was unknown what these ancient tree phantoms were. Wherever their branches and leaves extended, everything turned a pale green. When the sword threads struck them, a green light flashed, and they remained completely unharmed.

The Great Geng Sword Formation had already been fragmented by the onslaught of silver thorns. Now, swept away by the constantly growing giant tree phantoms, the golden threads finally couldn't maintain their cohesion.

The sword formation was shattered with such ease.

Han Li's heart sank. But before he could unleash another divine ability, the Silver-tier Wood Spirit, who called himself Mu Rui, let out a chilling sneer.

“Indeed, your sword formation is quite strange, but I have unleashed my True Spirit Tree. With the tree and person united, even if you possess immense power, you will not escape death today.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Rui formed hand seals. His body, amidst a burst of green light, transformed into a phantom, and he instantly vanished into the ancient tree phantom behind him, seemingly merging with it completely.

An unbelievable sight unfolded.

The ancient tree phantom suddenly released an astonishing spiritual pressure. As spiritual light coursed through it, it instantly transformed into a green giant ten zhang tall.

This giant not only had a tree canopy atop its head, but also lush green foliage covering its limbs. It looked like a humanoid ancient tree. On the giant tree's main trunk-like body, a colossal face appeared, which was precisely Mu Rui's own countenance.

This was the true form of a Wood Clan member: the Wood Spirit Body!

At this point, the silver thorns in the air had ceased their assault. Only the lone giant remained within the entire sword formation.

Han Li watched, somewhat dumbfounded. Yet, his hands moved without hesitation. With an incantation, the golden threads that had vanished from the sword formation reappeared around the giant. They then simultaneously flashed, coiling and slashing.

The giant, however, remained utterly motionless. It simply watched Han Li with a hint of sarcasm playing at its lips.

A sharp, screeching sound, like metal grinding, erupted. Then, amidst flashing golden and green light, all the sword threads rebounded, unable to inflict even the slightest harm on the green giant.

“Heh heh, a mere Deity Transformation stage Human cultivator, dreaming of harming my True Spirit Tree, is utterly delusional. Although activating the Wood Spirit Body means I'll have to slumber for centuries, my body’s hardness is such that not even your so-called Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasures can harm me in the slightest. Just obediently surrender your life.” The giant sneered, took a massive stride, completely disregarding the sword threads appearing around the pillars. In an instant, it covered a distance of seventy to eighty zhang. With one more step, it would be almost within Han Li's grasp.

Han Li's lips twitched. Without a word, his divine sense stirred. The five-colored halo hovering around his body vanished with a violent tremor. The next instant, the giant ring appeared with a roar, encircling the giant’s waist.

The green giant, which had been approaching aggressively, instantly froze, its movements seeming to slow by a factor of ten.

Seeing this, Han Li's heart lifted. He then hastily pointed a finger lightly at the spot where the green giant stood.

With a 'whoosh', a silver firebird suddenly flew out of the ground. It circled once, opened its mouth towards the restrained giant, and spat out several silver orbs of light. Immediately after, it spread its wings, and with silver flames rising high, it too lunged forward.

Several 'rumbling' thunderclaps echoed. Several clusters of silver thunderclouds then appeared beneath the giant's feet. Immediately after, silver flames exploded forth, instantly engulfing the giant.

The sheer power of the attack was astonishing!

But from a distance, Han Li spun around. A golden and silver long robe immediately flew from his body, flashing as it appeared above the giant.

Under Han Li’s incantation, the robe immediately unfurled with dazzling light, and at the same time, it rapidly expanded several times in size.

After an earth-shattering thunderclap, golden and silver electric arcs flashed. Fist-sized thunderballs then rained down like a torrential storm.

Under this pincer attack from above and below, the green giant's location was completely transformed into an ocean of thunder. Golden and silver electric arcs flashed, continuously exploding and regenerating. Meanwhile, clusters of silver flames formed sparks that appeared one after another.

Han Li showed no intention of stopping. With a loud shout, the entire Great Geng Sword Formation completely dissipated. Hundreds of dense golden sword lights then emerged from all directions.

Without hesitation, Han Li formed hand seals with both hands, urging them forth with his will.

Instantly, all the sword lights hummed simultaneously. Then, with a flash, they surged towards the center, disappearing into the thunder and silver flames.

The sounds of explosions and roars became continuous. The accompanying whooshing sounds in the air also suddenly intensified.

Only then did Han Li's form flicker, retreating over ten zhang. He then stopped and observed with cold eyes.

He was certain that even a cultivator at the great circle of late Void Refinement stage would be utterly unable to withstand the combined assault of the thunder robe, thunder pearls, Soul-Devouring Heavenly Flame, and all the flying swords.

As for an even higher-tier cultivator, only heaven knew.

After a few breaths, the thunderclouds and electric light finally receded and dispersed. The giant's figure reappeared, as if it had not moved a single step from its original spot.

Upon clearly seeing the giant's current condition, Han Li's heart sank.

The giant's body shimmered translucently, as if carved from jadeite. Even more unbelievably, the green giant’s surface was perfectly smooth and intact, without even a single scratch. The previously astonishing attack had failed to inflict even the slightest harm.

Meanwhile, the giant’s two massive hands had, at some unknown point, grasped the giant ring encircling its waist.

With a clench of its ten fingers, a crisp 'bang' resounded. The five-colored halo then forcefully shattered under the immense power.

Freed from its restraints, the giant raised its head and let out a booming laugh. It then suddenly lifted one foot and stomped the ground.

A wave of green spiritual light rippled outwards. Instantly, the fiercely burning silver flames and the firebird below were trapped within this mysterious spiritual light. The Soul-Devouring Heavenly Flame, which seemed capable of devouring all kinds of spiritual energy, was surprisingly powerless against this green light.

As for the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which had reverted to seventy-two golden small swords in the air, the green giant paid them no mind. Every flying sword that struck its body immediately bounced back with a flash of green light.

Among them, ten of the golden flying swords, after several consecutive strikes, even greatly diminished in light and emitted mournful wailing sounds. These were precisely the flying swords that had lost a significant amount of their spirituality after the Blood Crystal Maha Sword's self-detonation.

These flying swords were already damaged, and Han Li had merely forced them to form the sword formation. Now, repelled by the bizarre body of the Wood Spirit giant, they truly couldn’t hold on any longer.

Han Li's expression changed drastically. With a wave of his hand, all the flying swords immediately hummed and flew back, shrinking several times in size mid-flight, disappearing into one of his large sleeves.

“I am now invulnerable. Even a being one stage higher than me in cultivation cannot harm me at this moment. What other tricks do you have? Go ahead and use them all. If you can inflict even the slightest harm upon me, why shouldn't I let you go?” The giant crossed its arms, letting out a deafening, wild laugh, its face filled with arrogance.

After transforming into a giant, this Silver-tier Wood Spirit no longer held its previous blank expression. The divine abilities it displayed were utterly heaven-defying. All of Han Li's attacks seemed utterly ineffective.

Han Li's expression was one of extreme shock.

Only then did he realize he had still underestimated the enormous gap between a Silver-tier Wood Spirit and a Void Refinement cultivator.

Having cultivated the Grand Saint True Demonic Art and the Hundred Meridian Refining Treasure Art, he naturally knew that his divine abilities could not be simply measured by his cultivation realm. However, he had never been entirely confident about what level of cultivation he could truly contend with.

Deity Transformation stage cultivators were certainly no match for him. However, he had no opportunity to fight against Void Refinement stage cultivators in Heavenly Measurement City.

And along the way, after witnessing the battle between Void Refinement stage cultivators Ye Chu and the Long family cultivators, Han Li believed that with all his divine abilities unleashed, he was seemingly no weaker than them. In fact, if he happened to encounter cultivation methods that he countered, it was entirely possible for him to turn the tide and win.

Had he known this earlier, when he first encountered the Shadow Clan's Red Shadow, he wouldn't have needed to use the Gold Devouring Beetles. It seemed he could have fought a great battle relying on his sheer physical prowess.

The reason he faced such a formidable enemy this time was also because he knew he couldn't escape the Silver-tier Wood Spirit's pervasive divine sense. He had no choice but to seize the advantage of the terrain by first deploying the Great Geng Sword Formation, preparing for a desperate battle.

Otherwise, he would have to be insane to directly clash with a being whose cultivation realm was so vastly superior.

But he never expected that this heavily injured Silver-tier Wood Spirit's power would still far exceed his expectations. After unleashing its current great divine ability, no secret technique or treasure could harm it. Its escape speed and strength also increased to an extremely terrifying degree.

This divine ability was simply too heaven-defying! At this point, there was only one method left to try. If it also proved ineffective, he would have no choice but to use the Blood Shadow Escape to flee for as long as possible, and see if he could find any other opportunity for survival along the way.

In any case, he would never obediently surrender to his death.

Various thoughts spun rapidly in Han Li’s mind. The unusual look on his face gradually disappeared, and his gaze once again turned grim.

Without another word, his Wind-Lightning Wings suddenly flapped, flashing several times in succession. Immediately, green and white electric arcs wildly flashed and entangled on his wings. Dense, fist-sized green and white thunderballs then appeared. These thunderballs pulsed with electricity, crackling loudly.

At this moment, Han Li's hands, with a solemn expression, formed a seal.

With a flash of green light on both sides, four identical green phantoms suddenly appeared. Each also bore wings on its back and formed hand seals.

“A bit interesting!” the green giant chuckled upon seeing this, a look of utter indifference on its face.

The five green phantoms' expressions darkened. Their figures flickered, transforming into five streaks of white light. However, they flickered once more mid-flight and simultaneously vanished.

The giant formed by the Wood Spirit let out a hearty laugh. One of its massive hands then suddenly slapped the air several zhang to one side.

With a 'rumble,' the nearby space seemed to suddenly burst, twisting and deforming. Immediately, over a dozen slender, silvery-white cracks appeared.

Several green phantoms flashed, stumbling out from within them.

The massive hand simply grabbed, and an invisible immense force swept past. These several green phantoms crumbled one by one, vanishing into thin air.