Chapter 2417: Ghostly Aura Surging

Volume Four: Winds Rise Overseas

After devouring all the glowing spheres and fists in one go, King Xiong Si muttered incantations. He then opened his mouth and spat out a gruesome green essence blood, which vanished into the ghost face in a flash.

In an instant, the ghost face on the shield let out a burp, and its size expanded rapidly. After a few flashes, it transformed into a gigantic creature the size of a small mountain, biting fiercely with a wide-open mouth towards where Han Li was.

The sky darkened!

The ghost face's bite appeared ordinary, yet it gave a strange sensation as if it intended to swallow an entire mountain.

"Devour the Heavens and Earth!"

The three-headed, six-armed giant ape's expression changed, and it cried out the name of the great divine ability unleashed by the ghost face. But immediately, it let out a low roar. All six hands lifted simultaneously, and golden runes surged out wildly, each transforming into a dazzling golden sphere that erupted forth.

The six golden spheres merely teleported, appearing simultaneously beneath the ghost face's massive mouth, then flashed and shot towards a single point.

With a muffled "Puff!"

The six golden spheres exploded simultaneously, and countless runes swirled, transforming into a shimmering golden vortex.

The vortex merely spun, expanding to the size of an *mu*. Sanskrit chants emanated from within, and countless golden characters wildly drifted out from its center.

With a "Boom!"

The ghost face's massive mouth bit down on the golden vortex, and a brilliant light burst forth between them. Instantly, two forces with completely different attributes erupted, forming an oscillating golden and black halo that wildly flickered between the ghost face and the vortex.

Seeing this situation, King Xiong Si's face showed a solemn expression for the first time. But suddenly, he took a step forward, and his entire being flickered and vanished from the spot.

The next moment, a ripple appeared above the giant ape, and a massive, dark foot, surrounded by blood-red light, stomped down fiercely from mid-air.

The giant ape's six eyes narrowed, and one arm moved, punching upwards without a word.

A golden sun burst open.

The black massive foot paused, then was shaken away by the immense power of the golden sun.

But the next moment, the void higher up rippled like water, and King Xiong Si, transformed into a giant a thousand zhang tall, flashed into appearance. After a sinister laugh directed downwards, both of his arms moved simultaneously, clawing down fiercely, transforming into two dark clouds.

Blood flames splattered within the dark clouds, and a sickening stench, potent enough to induce vomiting, emanated outwards.

"Excellent!"

Seeing his opponent transform into a giant and attack directly, relying on the strength of his physical body, Han Li, in his giant ape form, let out a low roar, not surprised but rather pleased. He formed a hand seal with one hand, and his body also swelled to a hundred zhang in size. Simultaneously, countless silver patterns of varying sizes appeared on his body. His six arms suddenly flashed with sword light, and six distinct golden heavy weapons—a staff, mace, hammer, and others—flashed forth. After a fierce swing, they transformed into six golden hurricanes, wildly striking towards the sky.

A sky-shattering roar echoed, almost resounding through the entire sky.

After the giant ape's body trembled, the six golden heavy weapons shattered into pieces and were utterly destroyed, and it involuntarily stumbled back two steps.

As for the giant formed by King Xiong Si, after the dark clouds dissipated, his figure was revealed with both arms turned into blood mist, appearing even more dishevelled than the giant ape.

But facing such heavy injuries, King Xiong Si seemed to have his inner ferocity completely ignited. He didn't retreat; instead, he stomped forward fiercely with one foot.

With a "Puff!", countless black patterns first appeared on his lower leg. Then it self-detonated, turning into swirling masses of black gas, which rolled forth and transformed into a black dragon several tens of zhang long, lunging ferociously.

At the same time, King Xiong Si's shoulders shook, and his mouth opened wide.

In an instant, the sharp spikes on his battle armor all shot out in a flash of wild light. After another blur, they transformed into numerous blood-red sharp cones, hissing downwards.

And the giant's mouth opened, spitting out a strange blood-red cloud.

After a buzzing sound within the blood-red mist, countless black strange insects, as thick as thumbs, suddenly rushed out from it.

Each one was as long as a chopstick, its body covered in black carapace, with scarlet red wings on its back and sharp, scissor-like mouths. Each moved as fast as lightning, swarming downwards.

Seeing this situation, the giant ape laughed loudly, rubbed its six arms together simultaneously, then raised them high into the sky.

A thunderous roar erupted as six thick golden arcs coiled out from its arms and rolled with a rumble, transforming into six golden pythons that shot out, exactly encircling the lunging black dragon.

The six pythons and one dragon engaged in a frantic struggle of tearing and biting.

At this moment, the blood-red sharp cones, continuously flashing, also shot close to the giant ape.

The giant ape's expression remained unchanged. Its three heads simply took a deep breath simultaneously, then blew into the air.

In an instant, a fierce wind arose, and three streams of misty green astral winds erupted. After swirling in the air, they actually blew the blood-red sharp cones reeling, and in moments, they were swept away to an unknown location.

The insect swarm behind, however, showed remarkable intelligence when facing the green astral winds. Their buzzing suddenly intensified, and they scattered, splitting into over a dozen streams, circling around and swooping down from other directions.

The giant ape seemed to pay no heed to this situation. Only when the buzzing swarm was a mere few zhang away did its body emit a "whoosh!", and swirling silver flames reappeared. Surging out in all directions, they unexpectedly enveloped all nearby flying insects in a sea of fire, instantly turning them into ashes.

But at this moment, black qi suddenly surged behind the giant ape, and a skeletal ghost claw emerged from it. After a silent, lightning-fast strike, it incredibly pierced through the silver flame body-protecting aura, ignoring it, and directly grabbed a spot on the giant ape's back.

With a muffled "Bang!"

A silver pattern array suddenly flashed on the giant ape's back, and the ghost claw landed right on it.

The seemingly skeletal ghost claw seemed to contain immense power; a massive force surged downwards, causing the giant ape's massive body to stumble forward.

But the silver pattern array merely flashed and remained firmly affixed to the giant ape's back, showing not the slightest damage.

As the giant ape stumbled forward, it also, without a word, unleashed a backhand palm strike.

A golden blade light flashed into appearance, splitting the nearby black qi in two from the middle, revealing a three-foot-tall, monkey-like but not-quite-monkey monster within.

This monster had a single horn on its head, and its two eyes were completely white, without pupils. A faint bloodstain suddenly appeared from its forehead down to its body, and blood gushed wildly from it.

This monster had clearly been sliced in half by the previous blade light.

But the giant ape, having succeeded, clearly had no intention of abandoning its attack. Its remaining five arms also moved, and instantly, countless golden arcs shot out with a roar again, transforming into a golden net that covered downwards behind it.

With a "Puff!", the monster's two halves instantly transformed into two streams of black qi and shot out to the sides, passing through the golden electric net in a flash, seemingly treating the Divine Lightning of Expelling Evil as nothing.

At this, even Han Li couldn't help but be surprised, and the giant ape he had transformed into subconsciously paused its movements.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the two streams of black qi shot skyward. After swirling and condensing, they once again transformed into the monkey-like but not-quite-monkey monster.

After this monster coldly glanced at Han Li, it flickered and teleported next to the aerial giant's head, then self-detonated with a "Bang!", turning into a stream of black qi that drilled into the giant's nostrils.

The giant's two originally missing arms instantly re-materialized amidst swirling black qi, appearing exactly as they were before.

"A second Nascent Soul... No, it should be called a second Divine Soul."

A cold light flashed in the giant ape's eyes, and it uttered a buzzing sentence.

"You possess extraordinary insight, to recognize its origin with a single glance," King Xiong Si said with a cold laugh, after first being slightly startled and shaking his two newly regenerated arms. "This second Divine Soul of mine was refined from the remains of an ancient fierce beast. Not only does it move silently, but its immense strength is such that even my main body must concede by a third. What is that pattern array on your back? It could actually block its full-force attack. It seems ordinary treasures and secret arts cannot harm your physical body in the slightest. It's not a divine ability from the lower realms, is it?"

"Whether it is or not, you'll know if you try it yourself," the giant ape snorted noncommittally.

At this moment, in the high sky, the thunderous roars intensified. As the six golden lightning pythons danced and coiled, they had already forcibly torn the black dragon to shreds.

And after the stalemate between the ghost face's massive mouth and the golden vortex continued until now, amidst a series of continuous loud noises, they finally flickered and dispersed, vanishing.

King Xiong Si raised his head and glanced at the two layers of light barriers in the sky, then suddenly chuckled and said:

"Since you have such a secret art protecting your body, it would be delusional to think ordinary methods could threaten you. Heh heh, it seems I cannot proceed without using my innate divine ability..."

As soon as his words fell, a shrill, long howl emanated from the giant's mouth.

In another part of the battle, five golden ghoul demons, who were spitting black lightning flames and locked in a fierce struggle with the Gold-devouring Worm King, heard the howl. They suddenly abandoned their opponents, transformed back into five golden skull heads, and shot towards King Xiong Si. After a flash, they vanished into his massive body.

A golden light flashed beneath the giant's head, at its neck, and the five skull heads eerily emerged. All five opened their mouths simultaneously, some with pleasant voices, some with hoarse voices, and each began chanting a completely different incantation.

As the incantations grew louder, an astonishing scene unfolded.

The blood flames on the giant's body intensified, and countless black spiritual patterns suddenly appeared on its skin. After circulating for a moment, they suddenly transformed into over a thousand fist-sized ghost faces.

Each of these ghost faces was lifelike, with eyes tightly shut, but bearing varying expressions of anger, joy, and others, covering every inch of the giant's body.

The giant formed by King Xiong Si formed a hand seal with one hand and let out a sinister low laugh, as all the ghost faces on his body slowly opened their eyes.

A golden light flashed!

A golden sword light, like a flying immortal from beyond the heavens, shot out from the nearby void without any warning, coiling around the giant's head like lightning, then flashing to appear tens of zhang away in the void.

The sword light receded, and a golden miniature figure about a foot tall suddenly appeared, expressionless.

With a "Thud!", the giant's massive head had already rolled off its neck.

Seeing this, the golden miniature figure shook its shoulders, and a loud "Hissing" sound erupted. Instantly, countless invisible sword qi shot out from its body, surging from all directions towards the giant's headless body, as if intending to instantly churn it into minced meat.