Chapter 784: Giant Ape Appears

**Volume 5: Renowned Far and Wide**

The Yin-Yang Twin Devils' eyes flickered as a strong stench of decay emanated from their bodies. Suddenly, the two devils stood side by side, transforming into a whistling green wind that swept away. Their direction was precisely towards the Mulan Sacred Beast's location.

The cultivators immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Facing such monsters that devoured the vital essence of living beings, anyone would feel an involuntary shiver. The green wind formed by the twin devils appeared slow, yet its speed was incredibly fast. However, halfway there, it grew faint and imperceptible, gradually vanishing without a trace.

Others showed surprise, glancing involuntarily at the long-haired old man controlling the two corpses. The old man's expression remained calm, showing no signs of abnormality. At this, the remaining cultivators exchanged glances, their hearts calming down as well.

On the battlefield closer to the Spellcasters, the giant green bird was calmly releasing demonic flames, completely suppressing the seven old men. As long as it could utilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the bird effortlessly gathered fire spiritual energy from within a ten-mile radius around itself, easily transforming it into the green demonic flames it cultivated. It barely needed to expend any of its own spiritual power. Furthermore, the longer the fight dragged on, the more fire spiritual energy it could harness. This was the absolute difference between cultivators above and below the Soul Transformation stage. Otherwise, the cultivator who reached the Soul Transformation stage in Tiannan would not have been able to sweep across the entire region in such a short time, fearless of multiple besiegers.

Initially, the Taizhen Seven Cultivators could still use the power of their ancient treasures to contend with the demonic beast, but as time passed, not only was their Demon Confinement Array broken, but they were also trapped within the surging flames. Now, they could only defend themselves, their situation precarious!

The demonic beast's flames suddenly ceased. Its eyes, flashing with surprise and doubt, scanned left and right, as if it had sensed something. Suddenly, with a clear cry, the bird spread both wings. A round, green halo instantly rose from its body and shot out in all directions, enveloping everything within a hundred zhang radius.

With a "swish," a puff of green smoke rose within the halo. Then, the Yin-Yang Twin Devils materialized within a wisp of ethereal smoke. They had been attempting to fly past the bird's head. Their concealment spell discovered, the twin devils immediately let out sharp screeches. After a roll, their bodies swelled rapidly, transforming into two-zhang tall, red-haired, green-faced fiends. With a flick of their ten fingers, they shot out dozens of grey light threads directly towards the giant bird.

The green bird was momentarily stunned, then its eyes blazed with fury. Seeing the two devils attack, it immediately opened its mouth, spitting out an incredibly thick column of green flame. At the same time, it spread its wings, and a hurricane-like fire sea surged beneath it, raising green flame waves dozens of zhang high, directly engulfing the two devils.

It was unknown what cultivation method the Yin-Yang Twin Devils practiced. Although they were at a disadvantage, the wisps of corpse energy emanating from their bodies were unafraid of the green demonic flames, astonishingly deflecting most of the attacks. With the pressure eased, the Taizhen Seven Cultivators were instantly reinvigorated, re-linking their seven treasures and unleashing their power once more.

Just as most people expected the twin devils and the seven cultivators to join forces against the Mulan Sacred Beast, the twin devils, who had fought two hard blows, suddenly flickered with gray light. After a feint, they darted left and right, slipping out from under the giant bird, bursting through the surrounding sea of flames, and lunging directly towards the ancient lamp not far away.

The woman named Le was guarding the ancient lamp nearby. Seeing this, her expression remained calm. She struck a spell seal onto one of the ancient lamps. Immediately, all nine ancient lamps lit up, and at the same time, a lamp flame flew out from each. As the twin devils charged closer, the nine lamp flames spun rapidly. They suddenly surged, transforming into nine small green birds. Spreading their wings, these birds, wreathed in green flames, met the twin devils head-on.

The twin devils were ferociously powerful indeed. Spitting out gray corpse energy, their ten fingers blurred into a flurry of claw shadows, instantly enveloping the firebirds. A flash of grey light and finger-rays passed, and the nine firebirds were instantly torn to shreds by the claw shadows. But during this brief delay, the giant bird in the sky suddenly turned its head. A large expanse of green radiance surged from its beak, engulfing the two devils' bodies with lightning speed. The Yin-Yang Devil Corpses were instantly pulled back into the sea of flames. Upon seeing this, the Taizhen Seven Cultivators' hearts sank.

At this moment, the distant withered old man, seeing the situation, smiled faintly. He then turned and whispered something to the black-robed woman. The black-robed woman's eyes scanned the entire battlefield. Seeing that both the Spellcasters and cultivators showed signs of exhaustion, she calmly nodded. Her lips moved slightly as she issued an order.

From the Spellcaster camp, a team of black-robed figures immediately flew out. They lined up, each with bulging pouches hanging from their waists, seven or eight of them. The black-robed woman opened her mouth and spat out an exquisitely small banner. The banner was only about two inches long, emitting a faint black glow. But when it was offered to the sky, it swelled against the wind, transforming to a size of about one zhang. The woman coldly pointed a finger at the treasure. The black banner trembled, then flickered with black light throughout, turning into a dark streak that shot towards the sky. In a blink of an eye, it vanished.

A moment later, a cold wind swept across the entire battlefield, and heavy dark clouds gathered overhead, blocking out most of the sunlight. The area below grew dark and dim. All the cultivators engaged in battle were startled and astonished by this sight. Meanwhile, the team of black-robed figures, without hesitation, released all the bags hanging from their waists, murmuring incantations.

Immediately, dense black mist, mixed with gusts of eerie wind, poured out from the bag openings. In a blink of an eye, it spread across a large area in front, forming a vast, dark, gloomy sea of fog. Within the mist, indistinct figures with shimmering armor plates could be seen, seemingly an army hidden within. Such an astonishing sight was naturally noticed by the cultivators observing the battle from the opposite side, causing their expressions to turn grim. Long Han's brows furrowed even tighter, and he secretly sighed in his heart.

Before long, all the mist from the bags had been released, and the army within the fog slowly emerged, revealing their true forms. They were copper-armored, shriveled, fleshless refined corpses. Although these refined corpses wobbled as they moved, and their armor plates clinked incessantly, each one had glowing green eyes and exposed fangs, possessing cultivation above the Foundation Establishment stage. The three tallest Corpse Kings leading the front even had cultivation above the Core Formation stage, and their shifting gazes suggested a not-insignificant level of intelligence.

"Copper-armored corpses! How can there be so many? There are thousands of them!" a cultivator behind Long Han exclaimed in shock and anger.

"It's nothing new! The Mulan people have the assistance of the Demon Sect from Jin, so having this many refined corpses isn't surprising. If it were the start of the battle, these things would naturally not be feared. But now, both we and the spellcasters are physically and mentally exhausted. If the battlefield is stormed by these copper-armored corpses, we of Tiannan will surely lose! We'll have to go up and hold them off for a while first," Long Han said coldly.

Hearing this, the others exchanged glances and couldn't help but smile bitterly. Even if these observing cultivators were to intervene, the spellcasters on the other side still had a similar number of untouched forces, meaning their defeat was still certain. As for the three Grand Cultivators and the Mulan Divine Master, although the outcome of their battle was unknown, the continuous faint roars from above indicated the ferocity of their struggle, suggesting neither side would easily prevail. They could not rely on the three Grand Cultivators for assistance.

Just as Long Han and the other cultivators, feeling helpless, were preparing to act, a thunderous beast roar suddenly echoed from afar. In a certain part of the battlefield, a dazzling silver light erupted, and then, amidst the brilliance, a giant beast abruptly materialized. This giant ape stood over twenty zhang tall, its entire body as black as ink, its fur like arrows. Its two eyes glowed fiery red like lamps, and its nose was incredibly large and ugly. It was a bizarre giant ape, unlike any ever seen.

The moment this giant ape appeared, it turned its enormous head to look at the copper-armored corpses in the distant black mist. Its two long arms suddenly pounded its chest twice. It let out an excited long roar, then pushed off with its four limbs, and after a few bounds, it approached the horde of copper-armored corpses.

As soon as the copper-armored refined corpses saw the giant ape approaching, without any command, some of them immediately soared into the air, simultaneously spewing gusts of black energy from their mouths and hands. This energy transformed into a massive black cloud that enveloped the giant ape. Although these refined corpses had low cultivation, so many of them spewing corpse energy simultaneously would make even a Nascent Soul cultivator temporarily avoid their onslaught, not daring to meet it head-on.

Yet, the giant ape showed no intention of dodging. Instead, it raised its head and snorted softly through its large nose towards the black energy. Two streams of thick yellow light pillars suddenly shot out from the giant ape's nose with its snort, transforming into a flash-like yellow mist that swept towards the black cloud. With a single extension and retraction, the black clouds were, like a long whale swallowing the sea, completely swept into the giant ape's massive mouth by the yellow mist, without any resistance.

These refined corpses, with their extremely low sentience, were momentarily stunned by this sight. Seizing this opportunity, the giant ape continued to snort from its nose, and yellow mist surged out. This time, the radiant mist sprayed directly onto the refined corpses. All the refined corpses emitted wisps of black energy, which were completely absorbed by the mist. The refined corpses, having lost all their corpse energy, immediately turned into inert objects and fell directly from the sky. In mid-air, they transformed into puffs of grey smoke, dissipating into nothingness.

In a moment, hundreds of airborne refined corpses were swept away by the giant ape. The giant ape then extended its long tongue to lick its upper lip, its greedy gaze falling upon the remaining refined corpses on the ground. The ordinary refined corpses were fine; they knew no fear and remained unmoved. But the three Core Formation stage Corpse Kings stirred, their eyes showing hesitation and fear. Meanwhile, the other cultivators and spellcasters were stunned speechless by the giant ape's divine abilities.

The black-robed woman was even more horrified. She no longer bothered greeting the withered old man beside her. Her figure suddenly transformed into a yellow streak of light and shot directly towards the giant ape. When she saw the giant ape open its mouth wide and yellow light subtly appear in its nose, in her desperation, she raised a hand. With a "swish," a purple light transformed into a giant blade several zhang long, slashing fiercely towards the giant ape.

However, before the giant blade could reach the ape, a faint thunderous sound suddenly echoed. A flash of silver lightning, and a green-robed youth eerily appeared on the giant ape's shoulder. With a similar raise of his hand, a blue light shield shot out from his grasp. With a loud clang, blue and purple lights intertwined. The blue shield flew back, but the giant blade was also blocked. The green-robed youth's figure swayed slightly on the giant ape's shoulder, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

"Demonic Cultivator!" the youth looked at the black-robed woman and asked calmly. Immediately, he rubbed his hands together. A loud crackling sound erupted, and golden arcs of various sizes and thicknesses suddenly appeared on his body, leaping and sparking, dazzling the eyes.

This youth was none other than Han Li!