Chapter 780: Battle at the Border (8)

After a quick mental scan, Han Li realized the man in the brocade robe was a late Nascent Soul cultivator! He was actually a Mulan Divine Master! "But didn't they say Mulan only had three Divine Masters?" Han Li was inwardly stunned.

Before he could fully grasp the situation, the brocade-robed man, facing the incoming lightning bead, raised his hand and made a grabbing motion in the air. Han Li's heart tensed. Without time to think, he quickly pointed a finger, causing the lightning bead to immediately circle and prepare to change direction.

However, this action was a little too late.

A giant green hand suddenly appeared above the lightning bead and, with lightning speed, snatched it. There was no way to evade it! Han Li's eyebrow twitched. Without hesitation, he formed a hand seal with both hands, detonating the restrained lightning bead. Golden and green light exploded within the large hand. Both the hand and the lightning bead instantly disintegrated, vanishing without a trace.

The brocade-robed man snorted coldly, but with a flash of green light on his face, his expression returned to normal. Han Li made no move to escape, simply staring coldly at his opponent without a word.

The brocade-robed man looked at Han Li and said calmly, "You are Han Li, the cultivator with the Golden Lightning Bamboo magical treasure!"

"Don't the Mulan only have three Divine Masters? Who are you?" Han Li didn't answer the man's question, instead posing one of his own.

"Good! To remain so calm even knowing I am a Mulan Divine Master. It seems you are indeed the person Divine Master Zhong spoke of. I am Tian Zhong, the Fourth Divine Master of Mulan!" the brocade-robed man said without surprise or joy.

"The Fourth Divine Master? This is the first I've heard of that. But your materialized large hand couldn't even restrain one of my lightning beads. It seems you only recently entered the late stage, and your cultivation might not even be fully consolidated yet!" Han Li stared at the man, speaking impolitely. At the same time, he casually pointed a finger at the cluster of sword lights in front of him, and immediately, the swords hummed in unison, transforming into a sheet of green light that blocked Han Li's front.

"It's true that I only advanced to the late stage a few years ago. But do you really think you can fight me because of that? You're quite arrogant," the brocade-robed man sneered, a hint of mockery appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"He might not be able to do it alone. But what if you add me?" A pleasant female voice suddenly came from one side. Han Li was startled at first, but then his face lit up with joy.

"Who's there!" The brocade-robed man was secretly shocked and sharply demanded, his eyes flickering.

"I didn't expect to see Fellow Daoist Tian advance to the late stage after only a century. It's truly surprising! I wonder if your divine abilities have truly grown much." As these words were spoken, a flash of white light appeared, and a beautiful woman in a red shirt materialized in mid-air to one side, coldly gazing at the brocade-robed man.

"So it's Madam Feng. But if Fellow Daoist Feng appears here alone, aren't you afraid something might happen to Fellow Daoist Long Han? You two have always fought enemies together," the brocade-robed man said, his expression changing slightly upon seeing the red-robed beauty.

"Don't worry! My husband is among a thousand cultivators. Even if your Divine Masters personally make a move, they won't be able to harm him. However, I'd very much like to test the Fourth Divine Master's abilities myself. Fellow Daoist Han, please go rescue the other fellow Daoists." The woman directed her last two sentences to Han Li. Then, with a raised hand, her five fingers spread open, revealing a translucent, fiery-red small bottle in her palm.

Before the woman could even cast a spell to activate it, the bottle flashed red, and a ball of raging fire enveloped it, causing it to float gently upwards.

"The Fire Spirit Bottle!" A hint of solemnity appeared on the brocade-robed man's face, and he murmured.

Hearing the beautiful woman's words, Han Li didn't hesitate. He transformed into a streak of green light and shot towards the sky. The brocade-robed man's expression darkened. He suddenly unfastened a spirit beast pouch from his waist and tossed it into the air. After a burst of colorful light, two identical winged beasts appeared: bodies like tigers, heads like eagles, and covered in green feathers.

"Sky Tiger Beasts!" Han Li was startled at the sight of the two strange beasts, blurting out their name. These were extremely rare flying beasts on the Mulan Grasslands, adept at both earth and wind elemental spells, making them very difficult to deal with. And these two appeared to be at the late Core Formation stage, certainly not to be underestimated.

At that moment, the two Sky Tiger Beasts suddenly spread their wings, their forms vanishing in a flash of green light. The next instant, they reappeared near Han Li, one in front and one behind, glaring menacingly at him. Han Li's escape light diminished, and his figure came to an abrupt halt.

"Teleportation!" Han Li cursed inwardly. He had long heard that these demonic beasts possessed teleportation abilities, but he never expected it to be true. This made getting rid of the two beasts far from easy!

But Tian Zhong wasn't finished. With a flicker of his body, a humanoid green shadow separated from behind him. It then walked out on its own, as if it were a real person. This green shadow was identical to Tian Zhong in form, but its entire body was a curtain of shimmering green light, its face dazzling and piercing, as if it were truly just an illusion.

"An external incarnation!" This time, it was the beautiful woman who showed a hint of surprise. She wasn't surprised that her opponent had an incarnation, but rather by how peculiar this external incarnation was; it was the first time she had seen anything like it.

The green light figure flashed and shot over to Han Li's side. The red-shirted beautiful woman didn't try to stop it, because the brocade-robed man opened his mouth and spat out a translucent five-colored wheel, then spoke to her.

"This way, I can have a good sparring session with the two of you." After saying this, he pointed a finger at the colorful wheel, and it immediately transformed into a multi-colored mist that rapidly drifted towards the beautiful woman. Seeing this, the woman's face turned solemn as she formed a hand seal and struck the Fire Spirit Bottle in front of her. The treasure trembled slightly, then erupted with brilliant red light, spewing out countless scorching flames from within the bottle. These flames were vastly different from ordinary fire. All the flames seemed alive, dispersing at times and gathering at others. After a brief churning, they transformed into several crimson giant snakes that fiercely lunged towards the incoming colorful mist.

Hearing the rumbling sound behind him, Han Li knew, even without turning, that the beautiful woman and Tian Zhong had engaged in battle. He looked at the peculiar green shadow in front of him, then glanced at the two menacing Sky Tiger Beasts, and let out a soft sigh. He knew it would be impossible to rescue the other trapped cultivators without defeating these three non-human entities.

And now, even these two exceptionally powerful figures had joined the fight. It was clear that everyone else had no remaining strength to reinforce this location. If he had known this, he would have given Yin Yue a few more lightning beads at the beginning, allowing her to secretly rescue people. There was definitely no such opportunity now. Now, his priority was to defeat these three enemies immediately before considering anything else.

Thinking this, Han Li reached for his waist, producing a spirit beast pouch. A large swarm of golden Devouring Gold Beetles poured out of the pouch, forming a golden cloud that hovered in the air. Without hesitation, Han Li cast a spell, which vanished into the insect cloud. With a buzzing sound, the insect cloud, amidst flickering green light, transformed into three streams of golden mist and flew menacingly towards the three enemies.

"Devouring Gold Beetles! If they were mature, I might fear them somewhat." The green light figure snorted coldly, uttering words identical to Tian Zhong's, seemingly unfazed. However, the two Sky Tiger Beasts, upon seeing the Devouring Gold Beetles, immediately spread their wings and instantly retreated over twenty zhang away, their faces showing clear fear.

At this moment, the green shadow opened its mouth and continuously shot out three light beams as thick as bowls. With each beam emitted, the green light on the figure's body dimmed slightly. After all three beams were fired, its very stature even shrank by three inches. Three "poof" sounds echoed, green light flashed, and three green orbs, each about a zhang in diameter, suddenly appeared. All three swarms of Devouring Gold Beetles were trapped within them.

Han Li was startled. Without thinking, he hastily pointed at the three clouds. All the Devouring Gold Beetles immediately swarmed the inner surfaces of the orbs, frantically gnawing at them. A moment later, Han Li's expression turned grim. These green barriers appeared exceptionally resilient; the Devouring Gold Beetles were gnawing at them incredibly slowly. Only then did he realize that these three green light shields were entirely composed of pure wood spiritual energy, making it unsurprising that they could temporarily trap the Devouring Gold Beetles.

However, the green shadow's restrictive abilities and the Sky Tiger Beasts' teleportation divine abilities made him feel constrained. "Could this Fourth Divine Master have come specifically for me?" Han Li remained still, but he couldn't help but inwardly mutter, a faint sense of unease creeping over him.

Han Li's conjecture was remarkably accurate. After a discussion among the high-ranking spellcasters before the battle, it was indeed decided to entrust the task of killing Han Li to Tian Zhong. They had even specifically lent him the elder Sky Tiger Beast surnamed Zhu, along with several other treasures that could counter Han Li's divine abilities. However, initially, none of them anticipated Han Li would participate in the wager battle, so Divine Master Tian had naturally put the matter out of his mind.

It was only after Han Li reappeared, killed a group of spellcasters, and destroyed the physical body of a Grand Archmaster that Tian Zhong immediately noticed Han Li. Whether to prevent Han Li from rescuing the cultivators trapped in the blood barrier or to kill him to give the Yinluo Sect an explanation, he had no choice but to come. However, unexpectedly, Long Han, who had been constantly observing the movements around the blood barrier, also noticed Han Li breaking free. He immediately took the risk of sending Feng Bing over. If Han Li could indeed rescue the remaining cultivators, their side would naturally gain a significant advantage in this battle.

Seeing his Devouring Gold Beetles temporarily restrained by the opponent before they could achieve anything, Han Li naturally felt greatly frustrated. But before he could launch another attack, the two Sky Tiger Beasts, seeing the Devouring Gold Beetles trapped, immediately had their fear greatly reduced. After a flash of green light, the two spirit beasts vanished from their original positions.

Han Li sneered at this sight, flicked his large sleeve, and the small blue shield flew out again. At the same time, he pointed a finger at the cluster of swords in front of him, causing sword qi to erupt and swirl around Han Li, protecting his surroundings impenetrably. Green light flickered, and the two Sky Tiger Beasts reappeared on either side of Han Li, one to his left and one to his right. Each opened its mouth and spat out a dazzling orb of light. A fierce glint flashed in Han Li's eyes. The multitude of sword lights immediately split into two overwhelming torrents, heading towards each side to meet the two orbs of light. After two muffled explosions, the sword lights easily shattered the orbs, then swept directly towards the two beasts. Seeing this, the two beasts showed no surprise or panic. A cunning glint flashed in their beastly eyes, and their forms vanished again, teleporting to a distant location.

Han Li was furious and was about to command the sword lights to pursue when the green light figure made its move. Just then, Long Han and the gaunt spellcaster, who were still holding the line on either side, simultaneously gave orders and deployed their respective trump cards. From the cultivators' side, seven white-robed Nascent Soul cultivators, each holding an ancient treasure, calmly flew out from behind Long Han. Meanwhile, on the spellcasters' side, the woman surnamed Le, who had not yet appeared, stepped out from the spellcaster ranks with a solemn expression and approached the gaunt elder. At the elder's signal, she carefully took out the ancient bronze lamp from her storage pouch and held it in her palm.