Chapter 2197: Battle of the Wood Tribe (2)

Most of the demon army was trapped within the grand formation, leaving a much smaller force outside compared to the allied forces. Though they immediately organized a counterattack without showing any weakness, after only half a day of engagement, the numerous large demon formations, composed of many demons, were forcefully shattered by attacks made of countless magical artifacts and spells. The remaining demons finally could not hold on and began to retreat.

The allied armies naturally seized the opportunity and pursued relentlessly. The entire battlefield situation had completely reversed compared to just a few days prior.

Almost simultaneously with the demon army's initial rout, in an underground chamber an unknown distance away, Yuan Sha, who was currently battling Patriarch Ao Xiao by manifesting a demon wolf from her spiritual form, saw a blinding white light flash from her waist. A series of black runes then shot out from it, appearing before her eyes and forming several lines of floating messages.

After a seemingly casual glance at the black runes, Yuan Sha's expression suddenly changed drastically. With a furious shriek, her body blurred, transforming into a streak of black rainbow light that shot upwards. In a flash, it pierced through the chamber's roof and vanished.

Moments later, the black rainbow burst out from the marshlands, flashing thousands of feet into the sky. After a brief hover, it prepared to break through the air towards the Wood Clan territory. But just then, a faint male voice drifted down from an even higher altitude:

“Fellow Daoist Yuan Sha, where are you going in such a hurry?”

No sooner had the words faded than a clap of thunder echoed in the high sky, and a silver arc, over a hundred zhang long, slashed downwards.

“Ao Xiao, you old devil, how dare you block me?!”

Though Yuan Sha, within the black rainbow, was desperate to leave, facing such a powerful and astonishing strike, she could only reluctantly retract her escaping light, revealing her true form in the void, and raised a single hand upwards. A pitch-black sword light, also over a hundred zhang long, slashed out. After an earth-shattering roar, it collided with the enormous silver arc and vanished simultaneously.

“Our battle has not yet concluded, so naturally, I must persuade you to stay a little longer, Fellow Daoist.”

A ripple appeared in the high sky, and a silent ball of electric light emerged. Within it, a figure faintly shimmered, with an exceptionally refined face and a slight smile – it was none other than Patriarch Ao Xiao himself.

“Hmph, it seems you’ve planned this all along, intending to tie all three of us here,” Yuan Sha scoffed, her face contorted with rage. “But don't celebrate too soon; whether you truly get your way is still up in the air!” With a soft cry, she made a hand seal, and with a shake of her shoulder, instantly conjured more than a dozen identical illusory figures, which simultaneously shot off in different directions.

“Thinking of leaving? It’s not that easy. Imprison!” Patriarch Ao Xiao’s face darkened at the sight. With a loud shout, he pointed a finger towards the sky.

The high sky within a ten-mile radius suddenly trembled, and countless elemental energies of heaven and earth swirled apart, revealing a hazy white, heaven-reaching jade bowl. It pressed down, inverted, towards the ground. Within the bowl, five-colored radiance flickered, and countless large runes could vaguely be seen tumbling about. Simultaneously, an immense force, powerful enough to solidify the very air, erupted from it. The space below, enveloped by the bowl, immediately hummed. After a blur in the void, the ground within a hundred-mile radius shook violently, sinking directly by several zhang.

The more than a dozen illusory figures of Yuan Sha, also caught by this immense force, were caught off guard. Their escaping lights dimmed, and their escape speed slowed by more than tenfold. At this moment, Patriarch Ao Xiao chuckled, touched his palm to the top of his head, and his cranial spirit-gate opened. More than a dozen faint white lights sprayed out from it, shooting towards the illusory figures of Yuan Sha. These white lights, after merely rolling once mid-air, transformed into a dozen snow-white, two-headed giant wolves, which unhesitatingly pounced upon the illusory figures.

The Yuan Sha illusions, enraged, channeled their demonic energy and unleashed various demonic artifacts to resist. For a time, Patriarch Ao Xiao and Saint Ancestor Yuan Sha recommenced their grand battle, though this time, the intensity was naturally vastly different from before. However, with their cultivation and strength being roughly equal, determining a victor would clearly not be possible in a short amount of time.

Furthermore, it wasn't just Yuan Sha; the other two Demon Saint Ancestors, upon receiving news of the demon army's defeat at the front, were also tightly entangled by Mo Jianli and the Mahayana-stage Yaksha. They, too, were consumed by shock and rage, unable to spare any clones. Correspondingly, the high-level demons and more than a dozen Saint Ancestor avatars who had been trapped with the demon army within the Wood Realm Grand Formation seized the temporary lull in the formation's restrictive attacks. They promptly left their respective demon factions and began their own independent operations.

To them, if they didn't seize this opportunity to break the Wood Realm Grand Formation, once it regained energy and resumed its restrictive attacks, the remaining demons would likely be decimated by more than half. After all, as their numbers dwindled, the formation's targeting would become more precise, and its restrictive attacks would undoubtedly become more potent with each strike. Once all other demons were annihilated, these high-level demons couldn't guarantee they would survive the formation's full-force strangulation directed solely at them. Therefore, even though they knew breaking the formation would be exceedingly difficult, they had no choice but to brace themselves and delve deeper into the formation's core to find a way to dismantle it.

More than a dozen Void Refinement-stage demons, led by an Integration-stage Demon Lord with a bull's head, flew slowly above a sea of forests. They all looked left and right, appearing exceedingly cautious. No wonder they were so careful! For a super formation like the Wood Realm Grand Formation, even though it wasn't actively attacking at the moment, various defensive restrictions were still rampant. Once triggered, it wouldn't be surprising even for a Demon Lord to perish within it. Furthermore, under the influence of the grand formation's restrictions, their divine sense could not extend more than a hundred zhang. This naturally made the group of high-level demons, who had left the main army, even more cautious.

After flying for over a hundred li without anything happening along the way, the group of demons collectively breathed a slight sigh of relief. The Demon Lord leading them also felt the burden on his mind ease a little. Just as they were about to fly over a small hill, a demon scouting ahead suddenly felt a ripple before his eyes. A cold light flashed into existence, causing him to cry out in alarm, “Not good!” Before he could react, the cold light flashed and coiled around him. After a chill swept over his neck, his head immediately rolled to the ground. With a 'whoosh', a ball of grey mist enveloping a dark nascent soul shot out from the headless corpse, speeding backwards. However, the cold light moved again and swept the nascent soul into its grasp! After a horrifying shriek, the black nascent soul was instantly shredded into dust, completely vanishing from existence.

The other demons were greatly alarmed and hastily summoned their respective defensive demonic artifacts. Just then, the nearby void continuously rippled, and identical cold lights flickered into existence, densely arrayed around them, numbering over a hundred. The leading Demon Lord's eyes gleamed as he carefully stared, finally discerning that these cold lights were, in fact, pale yellow wooden swords, each about a foot long. However, every single one emitted an aura of chilling coldness that deeply alarmed even him.

“Be careful! The attack power of these wooden swords is absolutely no less than a full-force strike from a Void Refinement cultivator!”

After shouting this warning, the Demon Lord hastily channeled all his magic power into an umbrella-shaped protective treasure. The light green demonic artifact flared brightly, instantly transforming into a hazy green phantom that enveloped and protected him. The next moment, the surrounding cold lights shot in from all directions amidst a chorus of clear chimes. The other demons, enraged and alarmed, naturally desperately activated their various protective treasures. For a time, sword energy crisscrossed the area, cold lights surged, mingled with continuous screams of agony.

After a few breaths, when all the cold lights vanished as suddenly as they had appeared, only a solitary figure remained in the center of the clearing. All other high-level demons had disappeared, and the forest below was enveloped in a slowly falling rain of blood. At this moment, the Ox-headed Demon Lord's face was exceptionally pale. He suddenly opened his mouth and consecutively spat out several mouthfuls of fresh, bright red essence blood. The hazy green umbrella phantom that had enveloped him had now become dim and lusterless.

With a bitter smile, the Demon Lord took out a medicine bottle from his person, poured out a dragon's eye-sized medicinal pellet, and swallowed it. Then, he made a single-handed gesture. The green umbrella phantom flickered, transforming back into a small, emerald-green umbrella that landed in his palm. On the surface of this demonic artifact, several faint cracks were clearly visible. The Ox-headed Demon Lord looked around, his expression fluctuating between gloomy and uncertain for a long moment. Finally, he sighed, put away the treasure in his hand, changed direction, and continued to fly slowly deeper into the grand formation.

Near a mountain range, three Demon Lords, enduring countless oncoming wind blades, were jointly activating several spirit treasure-grade demonic artifacts, speeding towards the center of the mountain range. Suddenly, the elemental energies of heaven and earth in the high sky above trembled, and several golden light formations, each about an *mu* in size, appeared. After a clap of thunder within them, several golden light pillars burst forth.

Startled, the three Demon Lords immediately roared, simultaneously urging their demonic artifacts to transform into masses of black energy towards the sky. These then converged and solidified, forming a gigantic black Tai Chi symbol that shielded them from above. After several deafening 'rumbling' sounds, the dazzling golden light pillars struck down. In almost an instant, they shattered the Tai Chi symbol and submerged the three Demon Lords within the golden light. Immediately, the golden light flashed and vanished, leaving no trace of the three demons.

At the same time, beneath a giant tree at the center of the mountain range, more than a hundred Wood Clan members, dozens of whom were operating a profound magical formation, also relaxed their expressions. The colossal, heaven-reaching tree, beneath which Han Li was meditating, suddenly emitted a soft hum. Its trunk flickered with green light, and countless five-colored runes emerged.

“Finally, demons have arrived. Their cultivation appears to be strong, otherwise, this tree wouldn't have directly alerted us,” Han Li murmured to himself as he slowly opened his eyes.