Chapter 2405: Battle with the Fifth Ancestor

“Since Brother Han is determined to support this woman, don’t blame me for being disrespectful. Fairy Hua Xi, Brother Wu Gou, the three of us will deal with Fellow Daoist Han. We don’t need to truly defeat him; just keep him entangled and constantly distracted. Let Qing Ping and Wan Hua capture her companion. When we succeed, her treasures will be divided equally, and each of us will get a copy of True Immortal Tianding’s cultivation methods. Any objections?” Xiao Ming’s face darkened as he turned to Fairy Hua Xi and spoke.

“What? The three of us against him alone? Fellow Daoist Xiao, when did you, the ‘Mad Devil,’ become so timid?” Fairy Hua Xi said dismissively after hearing this.

“Hmph, it seems the fairy doesn’t know Fellow Daoist Han’s true background, which is why she’s so overconfident. Actually, he is…” Xiao Ming’s lips moved slightly as he began to transmit a message.

After only a few sentences, Fairy Hua Xi’s expression suddenly changed. Her gaze towards Han Li became filled with deep apprehension. After listening to the entire message, she finally let out a long breath and said:

“Alright, my husband and I will cooperate with Brother Xiao to entangle this person. However, I hope Daoist Qing Ping and Fellow Daoist Wan Hua don’t have any ulterior motives after they succeed. Otherwise, you both know how formidable my husband and I are. Don’t blame us if we turn hostile and disown you then.”

“Rest assured, Fairy. We are not people without a foundation; we would never do something so unwise,” Daoist Qing Ping was overjoyed to hear this and quickly spoke, almost swearing an oath.

Madam Wan Hua also showed a trace of eagerness, nodding repeatedly.

Seeing the five Mahayana cultivators brazenly discussing their alliance right in front of him, Han Li smiled faintly. After his lips moved silently a few times, he discreetly transmitted a message to Ice Soul, who was standing beside him with a pale face. At the same time, an unnamed little finger, held behind his back, subtly trembled, and an almost imperceptible golden thread flashed and disappeared instantly.

After hearing the transmitted message, Ice Soul’s expression shifted, and much of the panic in her eyes vanished.

“Attack!”

Xiao Ming let out a low roar, then rolled on the spot. Immediately, a blood cloud about an acre in size appeared, from which a deep roar emanated. Then, a gigantic blood toad with nine eyes on its head flashed into existence.

As soon as the nine-eyed blood toad appeared, its nine demonic eyes on its forehead simultaneously opened. Nine blood-colored light beams spewed out, then blurred and converged as one, reaching Han Li’s side. Their target was surprisingly Ice Soul, who was standing nearby.

Startled, Ice Soul instinctively twisted her body and instantly teleported away from her original position, reappearing in another part of the void over a hundred zhang away.

At this moment, Fairy Hua Xi shook both her sleeves, and a crystal light appeared on her body. Suddenly, transparent, palm-sized crystalline rings flew out, numbering well over a hundred, densely packed.

As the woman activated her incantation, all the rings buzzed. They immediately shot out like a torrential downpour, then blurred and appeared near Han Li, assaulting him furiously from all directions.

Meanwhile, Patriarch Wu Gou, who had been silent and expressionless, opened his mouth. A pale golden flame surged out, transforming into a sea of fire that enveloped his body.

The golden sea of fire then swelled, becoming massive fiery waves several dozen feet high. They surged directly towards the opposite side.

Even before the sea of fire truly pressed down, an indescribable scorching heat permeated the void around Han Li, as if everything had been directly ignited.

Xiao Ming and the other two truly lived up to their titles as Mahayana Patriarchs. Not only were their initial moves world-shattering, but their coordination was also flawless. They easily forced Ice Soul away from Han Li’s side.

But strangely, Han Li showed no intention of helping Ice Soul. Instead, he smiled faintly and simply swept one hand in front of him.

A rumble sounded. A wave of light enveloped him!

Three small mountains, several dozen feet tall, emerged. After rapidly circling Han Li, they transformed into an extremely dense, crystalline light barrier.

After numerous rings flashed, they struck the barrier. However, after a series of dull thuds, the crystalline light barrier remained completely unmoving.

When the golden fiery waves heavily crashed into it, the light barrier flickered slightly, but still showed no sign of damage.

Seeing this from within the light barrier, a sharp glint flashed in Han Li’s eyes. Suddenly, with a low roar, his body rapidly grew in the golden light, transforming in an instant into a hundred-zhang-tall golden-furred giant ape. Its two arms blurred as they reached into the light barrier in front of it, then suddenly hurled something fiercely at Fairy Hua Xi and Patriarch Wu Gou respectively.

A loud boom echoed.

Two light masses, one greenish-black and one dark, shot out from the giant ape’s hands. After a flash, they appeared before Patriarch Wu Gou and Fairy Hua Xi. With another flash of light, they transformed into two mountain peaks, several dozen feet tall, and pressed down heavily.

Before the two masses even truly struck, two suffocatingly immense forces swept down first, causing the void around Patriarch Wu Gou and Fairy Hua Xi to tremble slightly.

Seeing such terrifying power, Fairy Hua Xi’s expression changed. She merely twisted her slender waist, and her body silently shot backward. At the same time, she gestured with a jade hand in the air, and countless rings simultaneously gathered at her original standing position, merging into a giant crystalline ring thirty to forty zhang in diameter. After another blur, it inexplicably encircled the descending mountain peak and abruptly contracted.

Dazzling light burst forth between them.

The originally aggressively descending mountain peak solidified slightly, then bizarrely halted rigidly in mid-air.

As for Patriarch Wu Gou, facing the similarly descending mountain peak, he simply formed a single-handed incantation. The nearby golden sea of fire suddenly swirled up around him, transforming into a golden fire-human a hundred zhang tall. Without fear, it punched directly towards the mountain peak.

An earth-shattering “boom” resounded.

The massive fist, along with the entire arm, exploded into countless golden flames under the powerful strike from the mountain peak.

After pausing briefly in the air, the mountain peak flashed with light and pressed down again. But at that moment, the fire-human’s other fist swung like a meteor, and the same scene unfolded.

However, the fire-human’s exploded arm instantly recovered as countless golden flames surged and circulated, and it struck out again without hesitation.

Thus, under the fire-human’s continuous bombardment, the mountain peak trembled throughout, and light flickered chaotically, but it was temporarily unable to descend.

As for the nine-eyed blood toad that Xiao Ming had transformed into, it was wildly flailing its long tongue, spewing it from its mouth, forming a blood net to resist the massive fist shadows falling from the air.

These were the furious strikes of the golden-furred giant ape, Han Li’s transformed form, wielding clenched fists from a distance.

Han Li, fighting one against three, was momentarily locked in battle with Xiao Ming and the others.

Seeing the four begin their fierce battle, Madam Wan Hua and Daoist Qing Ping were overjoyed. After exchanging a glance, they instantly teleported simultaneously, appearing to Ice Soul’s left and right, not waiting for the forced-away Ice Soul to react.

Madam Wan Hua let out a sinister chuckle, then grabbed at her head with one hand. Instantly, a black wooden hairpin flashed into existence, and without a word, she flicked her wrist.

The black hairpin immediately shimmered in the wind, transforming into a long black sword.

With a “whoosh,” a layer of surging black flames appeared on the sword’s body.

Madam Wan Hua simply swung the long sword in her hand towards the void opposite her. Immediately, the air rippled, and a hundred-zhang-long fire-dragon, completely formed from black flames, materialized. With a roar, it lunged down at Ice Soul.

As for Daoist Qing Ping, he shook his sleeve, and a misty green whisk appeared in his hand out of thin air. After uttering “Immeasurable Heavenly Venerate,” he suddenly flicked the object in his hand towards Ice Soul.

In an instant, a flurry of “whooshing” sounds erupted. Countless green lights flashed, and countless fine threads spread across half the sky, completely enveloping Ice Soul.

Ice Soul’s face sank upon seeing this. She raised her slender, fair hand, and a crystal-clear ice shield suddenly appeared in it. She opened her mouth and sprayed a ball of vital energy onto it.

The ice shield shimmered in the wind, transforming into a crystalline ice barrier that emitted an extremely chilling aura, completely protecting Ice Soul’s delicate body from all harm.

Those green threads, arriving later, struck the barrier with sounds like rain hitting a fence, but all were forcibly blocked.

Seeing this, Madam Wan Hua, instead of getting angry, rejoiced. She suddenly pointed a finger into the air towards the black fire-dragon.

Immediately, black flames surged on the dragon’s body, increasing its size by more than tenfold compared to before. It then shook its head and tail, lunging down from high in the sky towards Ice Soul.

As layers of black flames swirled around it, the temperature in the void below suddenly soared, and more than half of the chilling aura on the ice shield was instantly dispelled.

A “boom” like a bolt from the blue echoed.

A massive electric arc, as thick as a water vat, strangely flashed into existence and struck precisely at the black dragon’s head.

In an instant, countless silver electric threads shot and scattered throughout the nearby void.

After a whimper, the black dragon’s body shattered into countless pieces, dissolving into specks of black flames and vanishing.

“Who is it?!” Madam Wan Hua cried out in alarm, clutching her black longsword, and her gaze frantically swept across the nearby void.

She didn’t have to wait long. After another peal of thunder high in the sky, countless silver arcs appeared out of thin air and quickly converged into a single mass.

Amidst the intertwining lightning, a golden light flashed, and a resplendent, colossal creature appeared.

Madam Wan Hua quickly focused her gaze and realized it was a colossal crab, entirely reddish-gold, about an acre in size. Its two massive claws gleamed with a chilling light that struck fear.

“This is…” Madam Wan Hua, who had never seen such a creature, couldn’t help but be a little dumbfounded. However, the terrifying aura vaguely emanating from the golden giant crab prevented her from taking it lightly in the slightest.

But before she could figure out the golden crab’s origin, the colossal creature, without a word, raised one of its giant claws and clamped down on the void in her direction.

In an instant, a roar sounded above Madam Wan Hua, and a translucent giant claw phantom, carrying countless silver arcs, clamped down fiercely.

In her shock and anger, Madam Wan Hua let out a cold snort. Suddenly, black flames surged behind her, and a phantom of a gigantic black lion appeared. With a gaping maw, it spat a ball of black light directly at the giant claw.

With a “whoosh” sound, the black light struck the giant claw, immediately bursting open and transforming into fiery ropes that rapidly coiled and spiraled upwards, instantly wrapping around the claw completely.