Chapter 1653: Sword Formation Traps the Demon

As a chill ran down Han Li's spine, the demon ape let out a low roar. It opened its mouth, and a cloud of black and red vital energy sprayed out, enveloping the giant purple sword in front of it.

Immediately, the sword glowed with an intense violet light. The unknown spiritual creature within it suddenly swelled, emerging from the surface of the great sword. It shook its head and wagged its tail, appearing exceptionally menacing.

The great sword spun rapidly, then stood upright. Its blade pointed directly at Han Li and slashed downwards. A silent, purple sword beam, over ten zhang long, surged forth and slowly moved towards the green light barrier.

The sword beam, which should have shot out in a flash, appeared unusually heavy, moving several times slower than expected. Upon seeing this, Han Li's expression changed drastically. He simultaneously formed hand seals with his four golden arms and gestured towards the sword array. Four seemingly solid golden light pillars erupted, directly colliding with the purple sword beam.

A series of thunderous roars erupted! Although the golden light created an astonishing display upon exploding, it only made the purple light pause briefly before being easily shattered. The purple light, still flickering, continued its direct assault on Han Li. Han Li's eyes narrowed sharply. The two shadow puppets behind him immediately brandished their weapons without a word. Golden sword energy and blade light rained down like a furious storm. Simultaneously, Han Li gathered his spiritual power and abruptly activated the sword array.

The green light barrier in front of him shifted, revealing large green runes. These runes rotated slightly, transforming into numerous green lotuses that blocked the barrier. Although the continuous sword and blade energy struck the purple sword light, it only caused its glow to flicker a few times before scattering. They too failed to stop it.

After a final flash, the purple light ultimately struck the green lotuses that had appeared across the sky. Amidst the flickering green mist and purple light, the sword energy transformed into a phantom identical to the unknown spiritual creature residing within the broken purple blade. It pounced fiercely, its two claws splitting the green lotuses in half with ease.

The colossal form plunged into the green light, appearing unstoppable. Seeing this from outside, Han Li's gaze sharpened. His spiritual power surged like a torrent, instantly pouring into the sword array. The previously shredded fragments of green lotuses solidified and, in a strange display, reformed into new lotuses, flashing into existence. They once again blocked the path of the purple sword light. Even though the purple light was incredibly powerful, the Spring Dawn Sword Array's path of transformation was also exceptionally profound. Sustained by immense spiritual energy, countless green lotuses surged from all directions. The phantom of the spiritual creature, formed by the purple sword light, finally dimmed and dissipated into nothingness about a zhang away from the green light barrier, its power exhausted.

Inside the sword array, the demon ape's purple eyes flashed, and a hint of surprise appeared on its face. It knew a thing or two about the extraordinary origins of this broken blade.

It was precisely because of this treasure that it was eventually hunted down by realm cultivators and ended up in its current predicament.

Although limited by its current cultivation, it couldn't unleash the treasure's full power. However, the previous strike had consumed all of its current spiritual energy, making continuous use impossible. Yet, this attack was still blocked by the sword array before it. This sent a chill down its spine.

This indicated that the power of the sword array trapping it far surpassed what it had previously imagined. In its current state, breaking through easily seemed truly impossible. Thinking about it, this creature, renowned even among Saint-tier demonic beasts, truly felt a sense of frustration.

Since crossing into this realm through the spatial rift in the Demonic Gold Mountain Range, it had engaged in several consecutive major battles with other Saint-tier demonic beasts and even human Saint-race entities outside the mountain range, due to various reasons.

These conflicts not only severely damaged its cultivation, almost leading to its complete demise, but also resulted in the destruction of several immensely powerful magic treasures it had once carried.

Otherwise, even with its cultivation having fallen to this extent, it believed that unleashing several of its supreme treasures simultaneously would have allowed it to forcibly break free from the array.

The purple glow in the demon ape's eyes flickered, and its expression became unpredictable.

Han Li, however, felt a sense of relief. With a flick of his sleeve, a stack of shimmering green talismans suddenly appeared in his hand.

These talismans looked identical, each about half a foot long, and exuded an exceptionally pure wood spiritual energy.

At this moment, Han Li finally confirmed that the demon ape's cultivation was indeed severely damaged. Setting aside its powerful divine sense and various secret magical arts, its current spiritual power was at most comparable to that of a peak late-stage Void Refinement cultivator. However, its protective battle armor and the broken purple blade in its hand were truly heaven-defying, making it incredibly difficult to slay this demon.

Fortunately, if he could just restrict its unpredictable movement technique, a significant portion of its abilities would be nullified.

However, the demon ape also possessed a pair of spiritual eyes that could easily see through illusions, which made it equally troublesome.

It was likely that the sword array's ordinary illusions would be completely ineffective against it.

Han Li had already researched the possibility of the sword array encountering enemies with spiritual eyes when he was first cultivating it.

It seemed some of the new transformation abilities he had recently comprehended for the Spring Dawn Sword Array could first be tested on this Saint-tier demonic beast.

With these thoughts in mind, Han Li immediately seized the moment while the demon ape was hesitating within the sword array. He raised one hand.

Instantly, the stack of green talismans transformed into a shower of green light that shot out. After a fleeting flash, they all vanished into the sword array.

At the same time, Han Li chanted an incantation. The golden orb he held lightly in his other hand suddenly transformed into a golden streak of light and shot upwards towards the sword array.

Then, he opened his mouth, and a massive golden rune spurted out, likewise shooting upwards and disappearing from sight.

The demon ape within the sword array immediately sensed something. Its face contorted in a ferocious grimace as it suddenly raised its head.

With a thunderous boom,

Gusts of strong winds suddenly whipped up in the high reaches of the sword array. Dark clouds gathered densely, and a golden sun faintly shimmered within them. Subsequently, an astonishing aura, as if capable of destroying heaven and earth, surged skyward from the golden sun.

On the surface of the golden sun, countless lightning bolts flashed erratically, and the continuous rumble of thunder was shockingly deep.

"Sacrificial Lightning Art!" The demon ape whispered, runes appearing in its pupils.

With a cold snort, it dared not delay. It abruptly gestured with one hand towards the great purple sword in the void.

The great sword flashed, instantly transforming into a streak of purple light that was drawn into its hand.

Holding the treasure horizontally, the demon ape intended to slash apart the aerial phenomenon directly.

Facing the Evil-Repelling Divine Thunder, a Sacrificial Lightning Art that greatly countered demonic energy, it certainly did not wish to endure a direct hit out of nowhere, even with its purple battle armor protecting it.

But before the demon could even swing the great sword in its hand, a sudden burst of green light illuminated its surroundings. The nearby scenery blurred, and it abruptly found itself in a dense green forest.

All around, massive trees, each as thick as a person and dozens of zhang tall, towered into the sky.

"Hmph, you dare bring out such a petty trick!" The demon ape let out a strange laugh. The great sword in its hand trembled, emitting a hum, while the runes in its pupils spun rapidly.

But before it could use its spiritual eyes to find the flaws in its illusory surroundings, all the giant trees suddenly glowed brightly. With an abrupt twist, they transformed into colossal armored warriors, each ten zhang tall and clad in green armor.

Then, a flash of green light filled the sky. Each armored warrior reached out with one hand, and as green light flickered, various formidable green blades, such as swords, axes, and halberds, suddenly appeared in their grasp.

The dozen or so armored warriors closest to the demon ape immediately and unceremoniously brought their great blades down, creating over a dozen massive dark shadows. With them came a dozen gusts of fierce wind.

The demon ape was startled!

Forgetting about the Evil-Repelling Divine Thunder, it acted without thinking, slashing its great sword through the air!

Instantly, a purple arc flashed outwards... followed by a loud cracking sound.

The dozen or so great blades, along with the giant armored warriors surrounding them, were all annihilated with a single slash.

"No, these things aren't completely illusory!"

Despite its easy victory, the demon ape showed no joy. Instead, a hint of surprise and doubt crossed its face.

When the purple arc had just cleaved through those massive weapons, it could clearly sense the significant spiritual energy they contained.

But before the demon ape could fully comprehend what was happening, the thunderous sound of footsteps echoed from all around. More armored warriors surged forward like a tide. Amidst flashes of cold light, countless massive blades whizzed towards it.

The demon ape let out a cold snort. Instead of swinging its great purple sword again, it suddenly lifted its foot and stomped it heavily back down onto the ground.

A deafening roar shook the earth. Following it, a wave of black and red energy, like surging tides, spread out in all directions.

Wherever the black and red demonic energy passed, all the armored warriors collapsed like bubbles, swept away in an instant.

Outside the sword array, Han Li's expression darkened upon seeing this. He abruptly changed his hand seal.

A phantom flickered in the void. Countless green lights emerged, then swayed, transforming into foot-long green arrows! The air filled with sharp whistling sounds as the arrows shot towards the demon ape like a sudden downpour.

This time, the demon ape remained unperturbed. It simply patted its purple armor with one hand.

A purple barrier immediately emerged from within its battle armor. Then, it calmly narrowed its eyes, sweeping its spiritual gaze over the green arrows.

It immediately frowned, a hint of confusion appearing on its face.

Under the scrutiny of its spiritual eyes, all these arrows clearly contained genuine spiritual power. Surprisingly, none of them were mere illusions.

The demon ape's expression hardened. But the next moment, a continuous series of "thump, thump" sounds began.

The green lights exploded like fireworks on the demon ape's surface. The densely packed arrows struck the purple barrier, making it tremble violently and flicker erratically.

However, the purple armor, along with this barrier, remained as stable as Mount Tai, showing no sign of dispersion.

Seeing that these arrows, while not illusions, were only of moderate power, the demon ape immediately felt a sense of relief. Yet, it couldn't help but secretly wonder about Han Li's intentions, finding it somewhat peculiar.

Just then, a thunderous "boom" erupted from beneath where it stood, and a massive green hand suddenly emerged from the nearby ground. With a mere flick, its five fingers descended like Mount Tai, pressing down directly upon the demon ape.

The demon ape, of course, felt no fear. It immediately swung its great sword, intending to cleave the massive hand in two. But suddenly, as if sensing something, it abruptly raised its head.

It then saw a golden pillar of light suddenly erupt downwards from the golden sun formed by the Evil-Repelling Divine Thunder in the sky. It was utterly silent but, in a flash, it arrived directly above its head, terrifyingly close.