Chapter 2396: Witchcraft Divine Powers

Meanwhile, the old man mumbled an incantation. A faint glow flashed across his face, and suddenly black-green spirit runes appeared, spreading with incredible speed across nearly every inch of his skin. They then moved rapidly and erratically across his body, as if alive.

From a distance, it looked as if countless slender green worms were writhing on the old man's body, an extremely bizarre sight.

At this moment, the other two men each took action. One released a blood-red gong, and as he struck it, all his white hair stood on end, then immediately broke off and transformed into winged white-scaled flying serpents, directly attacking the pursuing Bone-Devouring Butterflies.

The other old man, with a flick of his hand, released a pristine white gourd. After it inverted and spewed, masses of black qi surged out. They then solidified, transforming into black hands with strange mouths on their palms, which shrieked as they charged towards the Blood Skeletons on the other side.

The four groups of creatures, which appeared incredibly bizarre to an outsider, immediately clashed, tearing at each other. A dense "plop-plop" sound of falling objects could instantly be heard.

Although the black hands and white phosphorus flying serpents appeared fierce, they were clearly no match for the Blood Skeletons and the strange bone butterflies. As the Blood Skeletons spewed blood arrows and the Bone-Devouring Butterflies unleashed rolling green flames, they all dropped from the sky, suffering heavy losses in a short time.

In contrast, only a few dozen Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies disintegrated and perished under the encirclement.

With each lost black hand or white phosphorus flying serpent, the muscles on the faces of the two old men surnamed Wu couldn't help but twitch, both looking deeply pained.

However, seeing that all their strange hands and flying serpents were completely destroyed, and with the Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies lunging at them again, they became extremely solemn.

After exchanging a glance, one of them immediately let out a loud roar. A massive, octopus-like monstrous insect phantom suddenly appeared behind him. As it pounced onto his body, a "hiss-hiss" sound instantly arose, and over a dozen tentacles immediately emerged from his body.

Each tentacle was over a dozen *zhang* long (approximately 30-40 meters), its surface covered with dark green runes. With a single strike, it could forcefully smash away entire swaths of Blood Spirits.

The old man on the other side, facing the Bone-Devouring Butterflies, flicked a finger. His several-inch-long fingernail instantly straightened like a small knife, and he violently slashed it through the air above his own shoulder.

A flash of blood-red light appeared!

An arm immediately detached itself, and then instantly exploded on its own, transforming into a mass of fragmented flesh that floated before him.

Then, with his other hand, the old man violently tore open his long robe, instantly revealing seven or eight ferocious-looking giant insect tattoos etched onto his chest.

It was unknown what secret technique the old man was secretly employing at the same time. After these tattoos burst forth with light, they actually surged out from his body, each transforming into a terrifying giant insect ten *zhang* in size (approximately 30 meters), immediately devouring the fleshy fists before him.

A cold light flashed in the old man's eyes, and he vigorously activated his secret technique.

Instantly, the bodies of these giant insects twisted, not only sprouting strange silver spikes, but also becoming directly golden and radiant on their surfaces, as if they had transformed into Vajra bodies. They then hissed and charged towards the Bone-Devouring Butterflies.

And with each strike of the tentacles, the runes on their surface pulsed wildly, emitting bursts of thunderous roars, as if they could shatter the very void.

Clearly, both of these were their ultimate trump card divine abilities, and they actually managed to temporarily hold back the Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies.

Meanwhile, the old man surnamed Yu, who was being protected by the other two, had the dark green and blue patterns on his body weave and condense, transforming into an extremely strange eight-armed demonic creature pattern that emerged, covering all parts of his body. He looked as if he was draped in a layer of greenish demonic skin, a sight that sent shivers down one's spine.

Suddenly, the old man let out a loud shout, and countless green threads burst forth from his body, instantly enveloping him. He transformed into a giant cocoon-like entity, which began to spin wildly.

Immediately, wails and howls erupted from within the giant cocoon.

Following this, the formation array below also began to hum continuously, and masses of dark green demonic qi surged out.

With a "bang," the giant cocoon in the green qi burst open. From within emerged an eight-armed demonic creature with a green face and fangs.

This demon was exceptionally tall and powerfully built, with an extremely ferocious face. Its skin was entirely green, and when its previously closed eyes slowly opened, they flickered with an extremely sinister green light.

The other two old men, however, seemed somewhat unable to withstand the attacks of the Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies. Nearly half of one man's tentacles were corrupted by the Blood Spirits, transforming into blood and water out of thin air.

And most of the other man's giant insects were forcibly torn apart and devoured by the Bone-Devouring Butterflies.

But when these two saw the eight-armed Green Demon appear, they both revealed expressions of great joy. After retracting their secret techniques and giant insects, they simultaneously shot towards their companion's transformed demonic form.

As soon as the Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies lost their opponents, they naturally surged forward from both sides without hesitation, intending to aggressively surround all three.

At this extremely perilous moment, the Green Demon finally made its move.

Its eight arms suddenly moved, and four of its palms instantly lit up and extended towards both sides.

Immediately, golden light burst forth from the eight palms, with a golden seal script character appearing in each. With a flash, they each transformed to about a *zhang* in size (approximately 3 meters). At the same time, waves of Sanskrit chants emanated from within, and then a seven-colored glow sprayed out from each.

As soon as the seemingly terrifying Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies were enveloped by the seven-colored glow, their bodies stiffened, and they stopped in mid-air.

A moment later, after another flash of the seven-colored glow, both types of creatures disintegrated into flying ash.

This seven-colored glow seemed to contain some strange power, perfectly capable of countering these two types of creatures.

In just a few breaths' time, all the numerous Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies were swept away by the glow.

However, when the eight-armed Green Demon's aura subsided, and the seven-colored glow receded, and its eight arms slowly retracted, a dull thud suddenly sounded from its body. Its skin instantly cracked inch by inch from head to toe, revealing the old man surnamed Wu hidden within.

At this moment, however, his face was exceptionally pale, his aura had weakened by more than half, and he appeared to have lost a considerable amount of vital energy.

"Fortunately, the three of us came together," the old man surnamed Yu let out a soft breath, a hint of relief flashing across his face. "If even one of us had been missing, we might have suffered a great loss today."

"Indeed," the old man surnamed Wu said solemnly. "Though we knew the restrictions behind the Blood Prison would be extremely troublesome, we didn't expect such terrifying things as Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies. If one had come here alone, there would indeed have been a risk of falling."

"However, since both of these creatures have appeared," the last old man said with a smile, "it means we must truly be not far from the real entrance to the Blood Prison. In that sense, it's also good news."

"I hope so," the old man surnamed Wu nodded. "Come, let's hurry back now. I hope this time we can obtain the inheritance of Lord Tianwu."

So the three, enveloped in their dazzling escape light, moved together again, continuing to retrace their steps.

Several days later, in a world of ice and snow, a three-headed, six-armed golden giant ape, over a hundred *zhang* long (approximately 300+ meters), each of its hands wielding a golden giant blade, was battling with two blue ice flood dragons, transformed into a golden whirlwind.

These two ice flood dragons were five to six hundred *zhang* long (approximately 1500-1800 meters), their bodies covered with light blue crystalline scales. As they flew and coiled, bursts of blizzards formed out of thin air. And as they bared their fangs and brandished their claws, masses of extremely cold qi spread out, almost freezing and solidifying this entire area.

However, the three-headed, six-armed giant ape disregarded the blizzard's extreme cold, only showing a slight wariness towards the two ice flood dragons' massive mouths and claws.

But after only a few rounds of combat, the giant ape suddenly let out a loud roar. Its six golden blade lights instantly merged into one, forming a thousand-zhang-long sword light (approximately 3000 meters). With a flash, it instantly cut the two ice flood dragons into four pieces from the middle.

However, the remaining bodies of the two ice flood dragons, after rolling on the ground, surprisingly transformed into four shorter ice flood dragons, and after a brief coil, they attempted to pounce forward again.

But at this moment, the thousand-zhang-long sword light, under the giant ape's sudden activation, instantly transformed into a vast, golden ocean. After a single surge, it once again enveloped the four ice flood dragons, cutting them into dozens of pieces.

A blue light flashed across the surface of these dozens of ice flood dragon remnants, and they were about to transform again into dozens of even smaller ice flood dragons.

But before they could complete their transformation, the ocean formed by the golden sword light continuously surged, wave after wave, churning them into hundreds, even thousands of pieces, and finally, they vanished completely, turning into specks of blue light.

At this point, the three-headed, six-armed giant ape let out a long howl, retracted the golden light in its hands, and simultaneously its body began to rapidly shrink. Amidst the flashing golden light, it returned to human form. It was Han Li.

"The restrictions here are truly quite troublesome," Han Li murmured, gazing at the snow-filled void in the distance, "able to conjure ice-attributed creatures infinitely close to the Mahayana cultivation stage out of thin air. However, after these past few days of calculations, the exit should be just ahead." He then suddenly transformed into a golden rainbow, breaking through the air and leaving.

This was also because he was proficient in the Dao of restrictions, and his divine sense was powerful enough. Otherwise, ordinary cultivators would have long been lost in the illusory snowstorm, let alone search for an exit.

Half an hour later, after the golden rainbow flashed several times in succession, and he had slain several powerful ice beasts blocking his path, he finally appeared before a stone platform shrouded in a golden light barrier.

A small teleportation array was clearly etched onto the stone platform.

Seeing this, Han Li finally revealed a hint of a smile on his face. But when his divine sense swept over the golden light barrier, his expression immediately turned solemn.

"It's a Five-Element Adamantine Barrier," Han Li mused. "This is a bit troublesome now. It can't be broken in a short time using ordinary methods alone. Never mind. I'll risk losing some vital energy." After Han Li's expression changed several times, he finally made up his mind. He immediately grabbed at the void with one hand. A green light flashed in his hand, and a dark green longsword appeared.

As soon as this sword appeared, the surrounding world's spiritual qi slightly trembled for it. It was precisely the Profound Sky Spirit-Slayer Sword.

After Han Li grasped the sword, he merely took a gentle breath. Instantly, a purple-gold light burst forth from his body's surface, and with a flash of golden light behind him, a three-headed, six-armed Brahma Saint avatar directly manifested.

"Cut!"

Han Li gazed at the golden light barrier below, and after a low shout, he instantly flicked the longsword in his hand, and lightly, effortlessly, swung it forward.