Chapter 2330: Time-Space Power

With a bang.

Mid-strike, her slender hand suddenly changed direction, her fingers splayed as she grabbed for the crown of the old man's Nascent Soul.

"You dare!" The old man reacted extremely quickly. With a shout, his Nascent Soul suddenly blurred and vanished into the nearby void in a flash.

But the maiden in the blood-red dress merely chuckled. Her jade-like hand, reaching out, blurred and likewise vanished into the void, then yanked back fiercely.

With a soft pop, as her jade-like hand was pulled back from the void, thin threads of blood-red light flickered continuously between her fingers. She was tightly gripping a bound, miniature figure.

It was none other than the Nascent Soul of the elder surnamed Yi, who had just teleported away. However, its body was covered with dense blood threads, rendering it unable to move. Its face was contorted with horror, and it cried out in shock and anger, as if suddenly remembering something:

"The Law of Space-Time! This is true space-time power! You've already merged the powers of both laws into one!"

"Uncle Master Yi," the maiden in the blood-red dress chuckled, "your niece could already partially achieve this a hundred years ago, but my cultivation limited me from comprehending it further. However, now with your perfected Nascent Soul, I finally have some confidence." With a flip of her other hand, a small blood-red banner appeared.

"The Soul-Tethering Banner! You want to use that Soul-Transformation art on me! Fellow Daoist Luo, quickly stop your daughter! Has she gone mad?! If I'm gone, how will you ever refine spatial power from the crystal cores of the Empty Fish race? Only I know that method! Besides, without me, you won't even be able to overcome this current tribulation!" As soon as the elder's Nascent Soul saw the small blood-red banner, its expression turned to extreme terror, and it shrieked towards the woman in the battle on the other side.

The Asura Spider Matriarch had long noticed the situation on this side, and her heart was similarly filled with shock and anger. Upon hearing the old man's plea for help, she immediately ignored her opponent's three avatars, retreating simultaneously. Her body blurred and converged, merging the three into one and transforming back into her original female form. After releasing several treasures to temporarily protect herself, she then hastily transmitted a message to the maiden in the blood-red dress, her voice filled with exasperation:

"Ying'er, what are you doing? At a time like this, how dare you do something that undermines our own foundation? Quickly release Fellow Daoist Yi! Use your space-time power to restore his physical body. Dealing with the current powerful enemies is the most important thing!"

"Mother, you don't need to worry," the maiden replied in a dismissive tone. "Your daughter already extracted the method for refining spatial power from his direct disciple. As for these powerful enemies before us, they are nothing to worry about; your daughter also has a way to deal with them." She then ignored the woman's increasingly angry transmitted messages. Instead, she smiled sweetly at the elder's Nascent Soul, which was bound by blood threads, and extended a finger to point at it.

A faint blood-red glow flickered at her fingertip, and a strange restrictive force immediately rippled outwards.

The elder's Nascent Soul felt its body go numb. Aside from an expression of extreme resentment on its face, it could no longer utter a sound.

Outside the stone city, Han Li's heart was greatly shaken when he heard the words "space-time power," and a hint of shock appeared on his face. But as he witnessed the maiden's subsequent actions, he let out a cold laugh. After retracting his Nascent Soul, he raised his hand and beckoned to the Brahma Saint Golden Body, about to seize the opportunity to launch another furious attack on the stone city's defenses.

But at this moment, the maiden glanced at him. Her lips moved slightly, but no sound was heard.

At the same time, a fluctuation appeared in Han Li's ear, and he received a few pleasant-sounding transmitted messages from the maiden in the blood-red dress.

After Han Li heard them, his expression shifted, and his gaze flickered. With one hand, he formed a spell seal, and golden light flowed around his body as he instantly transformed from a giant ape back into human form.

The Brahma Saint Golden Body lunged towards him, instantly merging back with his body.

Seeing this, the maiden on the stone city wall smiled charmingly at Han Li. Then, with her other hand, she unhesitatingly tossed the blood-red banner into the air in front of her.

With a bang, as soon as the small banner was tossed out, it immediately transformed into a mass of blood-red light and soared into the sky.

The maiden chanted incantations. The remaining wolf-headed monsters beside her burst open one after another, transforming into wisps of blood mist that darted towards the banner and instantly vanished into it.

The next moment, the blood-red banner expanded against the wind, growing to about ten feet tall. Blood-qi churned on its surface, vaguely transforming into an unknown, hideous ghostly face.

This ghostly face had a head full of twisted, strange horns, and its face was split down the middle into two halves: one an extremely ugly male visage, the other an incomparably beautiful maiden's face. It emitted a strange, chilling laugh. It opened its large mouth, and a stream of blood-red light sprayed out, flickering once before sweeping up the Nascent Soul from the maiden's hand.

The moment the elder's Nascent Soul saw the ghostly face appear on the banner, its face lost all color, and its gaze, fixed on the maiden, instantly transformed into one of bitter pleading.

But after the blood-red light flickered, the Nascent Soul's eyes rolled back as it fell unconscious, drawn into the ghostly face's mouth. No sound was heard from it again.

The maiden in the blood-red dress continuously formed spell seals with both hands, pointing several times at the blood-red banner in the void.

Instantly, the blood-red ghostly face flickered and vanished. At the same time, the banner spun rapidly, shot back, and reverted to its original size. After another blur, it was directly absorbed by the maiden into her mouth.

"It's finally done!" The maiden in the blood-red dress said with a light chuckle to the woman, after withdrawing her spell seals and nodding with a hint of satisfaction at Han Li. "Mother, don't fight with them anymore. Come back; now we can have a good talk with these fellow Daoists."

"You actually did it," the Asura Spider Matriarch said. Seeing that the maiden had truly absorbed the elder's Nascent Soul into the blood-red banner, her expression changed briefly, but the anger on her face instantly vanished. "Fine, I'll see how you persuade these outsiders." Then, with a flash of escape light, she immediately abandoned her opponent and flew down towards the stone city.

Bloodflame and Blackscale were naturally unwilling to let the woman go just like that. They immediately shouted in unison, about to activate their treasures and divine abilities to pursue her closely.

But at this moment, Han Li's voice, light and faint, also came through:

"Fellow Daoists, hold on," Han Li said. "Come listen to what Fellow Daoist Ying has to say. It's not too late to act after that."

"Brother Han, what do you mean by that?" Bloodflame tensed upon hearing this, slowed his movements, and spoke with some solemnity.

After witnessing the astonishing divine abilities Han Li had displayed earlier, these two foreign cultivators couldn't help but become extremely wary of him. Naturally, they no longer dared to be as negligent as before.

"Nothing much," Han Li said lightly, glancing at the two. "It's just that Fellow Daoist Ying seems willing to proactively hand over some crystal cores to us. If that's truly the case, then we naturally won't need to continue fighting."

"Such a thing?" Bloodflame was stunned, a little surprised. "They wouldn't be intentionally making excuses and using a delaying tactic, would they?"

"If what they say is false, we can just act again," Han Li said with an unchanged expression. "Even if it's a delaying tactic, how much use would wasting a little more time be?"

"Hmm, since Fellow Daoist Han has already spoken so quickly, then we two will also go listen to what this 'Fairy Ying' intends to say." After Bloodflame and Blackscale quickly discussed a few words via transmitted message, they finally nodded in agreement.

The main reason they agreed so easily was, of course, that they hadn't truly gained the upper hand in their recent fight with the Asura Spider Matriarch and didn't have much confidence in annihilating the Asura Spider race.

So, with a flash of escape light, the two flew towards Han Li's side.

As for Mo Jianli and the others on the other side, since they were already far from this place, Han Li had no intention of immediately transmitting a message to call them back.

After all, doing so would inevitably cause too much delay.

Over a dozen streaks of escape light also flew out from the stone city. After flickering consecutively, they landed on the city wall—precisely the dozen or so Body Integration stage cultivators of the Asura Spider race.

Seeing this, Bloodflame and the others felt a slight easing in their hearts.

Regardless, the fact that these Asura race members, who had originally been hiding to control the stone city's defenses, were willing to show themselves indicated that the other side genuinely seemed to have some intention of negotiating.

After the Asura Spider Matriarch flickered, she appeared directly beside the maiden in the blood-red dress. After gazing at the maiden for a moment with an extremely strange look, she finally sighed and said:

"Since Fellow Daoist Yi has already been captured, and you are determined to cease fighting with these outsiders, I won't stop you. But regarding your early integration of space-time power, you must explain it to me."

"Mother, rest assured," Ying'er said with an exceptionally relaxed expression, smiling at the woman. "After this matter is concluded, your daughter will naturally give you an explanation."

The Asura Spider Matriarch hesitated for a moment, then said with a complex expression, "Since you are so confident in dealing with these people, then I'll leave everything here for you to handle."

The other Asura Spider clansmen, after hearing the conversation between the maiden and the woman, couldn't help but exchange bewildered glances.

After the maiden in the blood-red dress lightly chuckled in agreement, a flash of blood-red light appeared on her body as she soared into the air. After a flicker, she flew directly outside the stone city's light barrier, appearing not far from Han Li and the other two, seemingly completely unafraid of three Grand Ascension stage cultivators joining forces against her.

Bloodflame and Blackscale exchanged glances, their expressions subtly showing surprise.

Han Li's eyes, however, flashed with a sharp light that quickly faded, and he said indifferently:

"Fellow Daoist truly has great courage," he said, "to dare to directly face the three of us with just Body Integration stage cultivation."

"Since this little sister dares to come alone, she naturally doesn't fear the combined efforts of the three Fellow Daoists," the maiden in the blood-red dress said with a half-smile, her bright eyes twinkling. "To say I dare to contend against the three Fellow Daoists alone would naturally be an exaggeration, but if it's just to preserve my life and escape, I believe the several Fellow Daoists still won't be able to keep me."

"What arrogance!" A fierce look flashed across Blackscale's face; he genuinely seemed eager to make a move.

Han Li frowned and said, "Although her words are indeed audacious, if we were to act, the chances of killing her are indeed not high. After all, that space-time power is the highest-tier law, integrating both time and space laws. Even if her cultivation is far inferior to ours, she is essentially in an invincible position."

"Space-time Law?" Bloodflame and Blackscale cried out in shock, their faces losing color. "Don't Asura Spiders only, at best, manage to use some superficial time power? How could she have mastered even spatial power and merged these two law powers into one?"