Chapter 329: Entering the Formation

"Scram!" Emperor Yue grimly shouted.

A mass of blood-red light swiftly circled the puppets, then let out a long howl, leaving afterimages as it directly pursued Han Li and the others, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Moments later, the motionless puppets suddenly fell from the sky, breaking into pieces and completely dismembered, with not a single one remaining intact.

Han Li, who had reached the skies above the grand formation he had set up, sensed everything clearly through his divine sense. With a hint of regret, he beckoned to the others without the slightest hesitation and plunged diagonally into the small bamboo grove below.

As Han Li and the others rushed downwards, Emperor Yue, who had been slightly delayed by the puppets, swiftly caught up. He clearly saw Han Li entering the bamboo grove, which surprised and puzzled him, but also filled him with great delight.

When he reached the bamboo grove, seeing that Han Li and the others showed no intention of leaving, he let out a sinister smile, then immediately waved both hands, causing a small piece of the blood-red light around him to forcibly split off.

With a whoosh, this piece of blood-red light flashed and shot towards the bamboo grove below. It grew larger against the wind mid-flight, becoming enormous in the blink of an eye, completely enveloping the sky above the grove and casting a crimson glow below, appearing extremely eerie.

Seeing the blood-red light silently encroaching upon the wild bamboo grove, Emperor Yue revealed a trace of satisfaction. As long as his protective demonic light firmly trapped the bamboo grove, he could activate another secret technique, dissolving everything within it until nothing remained. Since his opponents had walked into their own doom, he couldn't be blamed for being ruthless.

After a dazzling flurry of hand movements, just as he formed the hand seals to activate the secret technique, a layer of blue and white light curtain suddenly emerged from the grove below. It effortlessly supported the slowly descending enormous blood-red light, startling Emperor Yue and causing his face to turn cold.

"As expected, this group had other plans when they fled here," Emperor Yue thought, somewhat annoyed. "They actually set up a formation here!"

"But it's nothing," Emperor Yue thought fiercely. "How powerful can a hastily set up formation be? At worst, I'll refine both the formation and the people within it! In any case, I absolutely cannot let these people escape the imperial city."

With his mind made up, he unceremoniously made a hand seal and immediately activated the secret technique.

The blood-red light that had been lifted emitted a dazzling glow, then sank downwards, stopping its upward momentum.

But Emperor Yue didn't stop there. He also lightly traced a line in the air near his body with his finger, and another mass of blood-red light, no smaller than the previous one, shot downwards again, merging into the blood-red light below in the blink of an eye.

The entire blood-red light curtain became even more crimson. A faint bloody stench even permeated the air, making one nauseous.

Seeing this scene, Emperor Yue, who was activating the spells, showed a hint of satisfaction. His ten fingers flickered continuously, and a series of multicolored spell seals shot out, merging into the light below.

The blood curtain began to churn as the spell seals entered it, suddenly surging in all directions and completely engulfing the entire bamboo grove. The deep crimson blood-red light heavily pressed down, but the blue and white light inside was still struggling to hold on, appearing as if it could be submerged at any moment.

Seeing this scene, Emperor Yue finally completely relaxed.

For him at this moment, eliminating Han Li and the others was only a matter of time; they were trapped. However, dealing with the aftermath would be quite tricky.

"It seems this Emperor of Yue can no longer rule," Emperor Yue thought with some regret. "I can only live in anonymity and start anew!"

While Emperor Yue was contemplating his escape route in the air, Song Meng and the others in the grove were extremely anxious.

They had heard Han Li's telepathic message, telling them that if they retreated by closely following him, their lives would be saved. Out of trust in Han Li's strength, they all followed his instructions. But to their surprise, they had arrived at this unknown small bamboo grove and were now trapped in a desperate situation.

Although this bamboo grove seemed to have a protective formation set up, it was now completely surrounded by the opponent's blood-red light. The formation was already on the verge of collapse, with the risk of it breaking and them dying at any moment. How could these people not be utterly terrified and enraged!

"Junior Brother Han, is this your backup plan?" Song Meng muttered, somewhat disbelievingly.

"Yes," Han Li said calmly without turning his head, looking up and observing the situation above. "Is something wrong?"

Song Meng's face instantly turned incredibly pale. Zhong Weiniang and Senior Brother Chen Qiaoqian, who had lost his dual cultivation partner, also looked terrible.

Only Chen Qiaoqian looked at Han Li's composed face, and a thoughtful gleam flashed in her eyes.

"Han Li," Chen Qiaoqian suddenly spoke calmly, "if you have other means, tell us. Don't keep us in the dark! I believe with your abilities, it's impossible that you only set up this one backup plan."

Hearing this, the other three were startled, then looked at Han Li, their spirits lifting. Clearly, they also felt that given Han Li's careful planning shown in previous encounters, it was indeed impossible for him to make such a foolish move.

Han Li, hearing this, lowered his head slightly, somewhat surprised, and gave them a faint smile.

"Don't worry," he said with a normal expression. "Since I brought you all here, senior brothers and sisters, I naturally have a plan." Then he reached into his storage pouch with a slap, and a small purplish-blue flag appeared in his hand. The flag was covered with dense symbols and incantations, indicating that it was no ordinary magical artifact.

"This is a formation flag?" Zhong Weiniang exclaimed in surprise.

Formation plates and flags, and other such formation artifacts, were indeed rarely seen in the State of Yue.

"Senior Sister is truly knowledgeable!" Han Li lightly praised his seventh senior sister, implicitly confirming her words.

This greatly surprised Song Meng and the others, and their confidence slightly increased. It seemed that Junior Brother Han really did have other preparations.

Under the gazes of the others, Han Li placed the small flag between his hands. With a slight rub, the small formation flag instantly expanded several times in size, and a faint purplish-blue light emanated from its surface.

Han Li held the flag flat in his palms, muttered a few incantations, and loudly uttered the word, "Go!"

Instantly, the purplish-blue flag, with a swoosh, shot off on its own in one direction and vanished.

Next, Han Li successively took out three more identical formation flags from his storage pouch, using the same method, and shot them into other directions, where they disappeared from sight.

After doing all this, Han Li then coldly glanced at the sky, and an apricot-yellow formation plate appeared in his hand.

This formation plate was dull and lusterless, completely unremarkable, but Han Li solemnly held this artifact flat, raised it above his head, and then gently swayed it.

A thick yellow light beam shot up into the sky, directly striking the blue and white light shield.

And almost simultaneously, from the other four directions, four light beams of gold, green, red, and blue also shot out, merging into the light above.

The originally shaky blue and white light curtain instantly stabilized upon absorbing these five-colored light beams, and a faint sound of tides could be heard.

This sound grew from faint to loud, from slow to fast, becoming increasingly loud and frequent. Gradually, it resembled an endless roar of thunder continuously echoing overhead, causing listeners to feel utterly shaken and overwhelmed.

The blue and white protective grove light curtain actually changed color as the sound intensified, transforming into a five-colored aurora. Regardless of how the external red light swayed and crashed against it, this light remained like a reef amidst wild waves, completely unmoving.

Seeing this scene, Song Meng and the others finally relaxed, only then realizing that the formation Han Li had set up was far from simple. It seemed their lives were absolutely safe.

Facing the strange transformation of this formation, Emperor Yue, who had repeatedly activated his demonic arts but failed to affect the colorful light below, felt that something was wrong!

A look of stern hesitation flashed across his face. After frowning, he suddenly stomped his foot and extended a hand, beckoning. Instantly, all the blood-red light below, like rivers flowing backward, flew back to his body, shrinking from large to small. Then, without hesitation, he turned and transformed into a mass of blood-red light, soaring into the sky to escape. His speed was so astonishing that even Han Li would feel inferior.

However, this person left quickly but returned even faster. For some unknown reason, after flying around in the sky, he turned back to his original spot.

An expression of disbelief appeared on his face. He tried to fly away seven or eight more times, but each time he only managed to leave his original spot by a few dozen zhang before obediently circling back in the sky, returning to his original spot again. At this point, Emperor Yue's face no longer showed surprise or doubt, but was filled with panic.

Seeing this scene, Han Li below let out a cold laugh, while Song Meng and the others were dumbfounded. Zhong Weiniang, overwhelmed with both surprise and delight, clenched her fists so tightly that her long fingernails tore a long gash in her skin, and blood streamed out, yet she was completely unaware.

And Chen Qiaoqian's surprised face contained an even more complex expression.

Han Li didn't have time to explain the mysteries of the "Reversed Five Elements Formation" to these people. Instead, he raised a hand and released the White Phosphorus Shield and Turtle Shell artifact, which revolved around him, and he said in a deep voice:

"Everyone, if you have talisman treasures, activate them now to seize this opportunity. In a moment, we will all attack together to eliminate this person! Since this person is trapped in this grand formation, they absolutely won't be able to escape for some time!"