Almost in the same instant that the bowl devoured the Nascent Soul, an elderly man who appeared to be in his sixties and was wearing a crimson robe suddenly flew out of the crimson cloud. He immediately raised a hand and pointed a finger toward the bowl.
There was a buzzing sound.
The runes that appeared on the surface of the bowl shone with a black light and intertwined with each other to form countless fine lines. Then, a black light that was as thick as the mouth of a bowl shot out from the bowl towards Jiao Sixteen.
Its speed was faster than a Nascent Soul's teleportation. Han Li and Jiao Nine were entangled by the Blood Ghosts and it was too late for them to stop it.
Jiao Sixteen was at the last moment of casting the spell. In the face of such a sudden situation, he naturally could not avoid it.
In the nick of time, he had no choice but to turn the tip of the iron awl, which was originally aimed at the sky, to meet the black light.
The iron awl had become crimson and a ray of light had just lit up. Before it could shoot out of the awl, it had already been hit by the black light and exploded.
It was as if a blazing sun had suddenly risen in front of Jiao Sixteen. Dazzling crimson light shone brightly and produced a violent wave of Qi. The wave of Qi swept out in all directions and pushed the surrounding blood cloud a few hundred feet away.
Countless Blood Ghosts were swept away by the hurricane. Han Li and Jiao Nine withstood the impact of the wave of Qi and rushed towards Jiao Sixteen.
However, before they could reach him, the red light disappeared and the two were stunned.
They saw Jiao Sixteen lying on the ground with his eyes closed. It seemed that he had fainted. His limbs and torso were pierced by several black light pillars that looked like iron rods. They firmly pinned him to the ground, and there was a faint fluctuation of laws coming from them.
Then, there was a series of dense rolling thunder in the sky.
Han Li and Jiao Nine's bodies stopped moving and they simultaneously flew backwards.
Rumble!
Balls of crimson thunder fire the size of millstones fell from the sky and exploded. The dazzling lightning immediately engulfed the place where the two were originally standing.
After Han Li and Jiao Nine stabilized their bodies, they looked up at the sky at the same time.
The purple-robed old man was holding the round bowl with one hand. His thin face was covered in a layer of strange red light. Lightning flashed wildly in the blood-colored dark clouds around him.
"Heh, heh! I had long since anticipated that those fellows would have companions. Unexpectedly, three True Immortals would come together. This makes me feel flattered.
If you don't want to completely lose your mind, then hurry up and obediently surrender! "The old man chuckled when he saw Han Li and the other two looking over.
"If you know what's good for you, hurry up and let us out," Jiao Jiu said coldly.
"Tsk tsk, you still dare to be so insolent when you're at death's door!
In that case, allow me to properly entertain all of you, "the purple-robed old man said with a cold smile.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the alms bowl flew out of his hand and rotated in the air. Loud thunderclaps immediately erupted from within the crimson Yin cloud, immediately following which hundreds of crimson balls of lightning rained down from above, hurtling toward Han Li and Bi'er like a fiery meteor shower.
Rumble!
A series of earth-shattering explosions rang out one after another, causing the entire space to shake violently.
Every lightning flame that fell would leave a large pit in the ground. Then, a large amount of blood-colored flames would explode from the pit and sputter in all directions.
After a while, the ground within a radius of a few miles was filled with dark blood-colored flames. It was like a beautiful blood-colored lotus that had bloomed all over the ground, emitting waves of scorching heat.
It was unknown whether the old man had done it intentionally or not, but wherever the lightning flames fell, they all avoided Jiao Jiu, who was already under his control. Only some of the flames sputtered on Jiao Jiu's body. Jiao Jiu, who had already fainted, woke up from the scorching heat. Jiao Jiu wailed in pain.
Blue light flashed in Han Li's eyes. His body kept jumping around and dodging the lightning flames and the blood ghosts, but he still could not avoid being sputtered by the flames.
Even with his current physical body, he still felt a slight burning sensation on the surface of his body. What was even stranger was that he felt the blood in his body seemed to be boiling along with the beating of the flames. There was even a hint of irritation in the depths of his heart.
However, at his behest, a cool sensation rose up from his dantian before circulating in his head, and the frenzied sensation instantly dissipated.
Jiao Jiu, who was not far away, had a blue gourd in his hand. The gourd spat out a blue light that formed a layer of blue water around his body, temporarily shielding him from the blood-colored flames. However, with the lightning flames and the blood ghosts surrounding him, he felt that he could not take care of them.
In just a few breaths, the surrounding space was almost completely covered by the blood-colored flames. The space that the two of them could dodge became smaller and smaller.
During this time, more and more blood ghosts emerged from the cracks in the ground. They did not seem to be affected by the blood-colored flames at all. Instead, they became even faster and more ferocious. They charged at Han Li and Jiao Jiu without any fear of death.
Jiao Jiu's body swayed as he dodged a few balls of lightning flames. Many blood ghosts immediately surrounded him.
Jiao Jiu's eyes narrowed as he bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence. The blood essence then disappeared into the blue gourd in his hand.
The gourd immediately shone with a blue light. Countless blue runes appeared and the gourd emitted the sound of a surging river.
Whoosh!
Waves of water gushed out of the gourd and turned into blue-armored Water Soldiers. They held ice spears in their hands and charged at the army of blood ghosts.
After doing all this, his lips moved slightly as he sent a voice transmission to Han Li.
"Jiao Jiu Fifteen, we cannot delay any longer!
I will try to stop that person. You go and save Jiao Jiu Sixteen. You must help him break through this space. "
With that, a red light flashed in his eyes. He suddenly turned into a crystal rainbow and flew towards the purple-robed elder.
However, Han Li didn't reply to Jiao Jiu as if he hadn't heard anything.
He first raised his hand and punched a few blood ghosts around him. Then, his body swayed a few times, and after dodging a few balls of lightning and fire, he suddenly changed direction and sped toward the void behind him.
Jiao Jiu, who was just about to reach the purple-robed elderly man, was slightly taken aback by this turn of events.
"Jiao Fifteen, where are you going?"
Before his voice faded away, a condensed black light pierced through the air. It was the purple-robed old man who had launched an attack with the round bowl in his hand. The attack was aimed at his head.
He hurriedly activated the blue gourd in front of him, from which several rays of blue light shot out. After a series of tumbling, a huge blue vortex was formed in front of him.
A "bang" sound was heard.
The black light landed in the center of the whirlpool and exploded into a ball of black light. The blue whirlpool also shrank rapidly amidst the rumbling sound.
Right at this moment, the sound of tearing through the air resounded!
Suddenly, several rays of condensed black light fell from the round bowl. Jiao Jiu had no time to care about Han Li anymore. He could only activate the blue gourd to continuously emit blue light to defend himself.
However, at this moment, the red light in his eyes was getting brighter. The white jade hanging on his chest had become a little dimmer. It was no longer as crystal clear as before.
"Haha, your companion has abandoned you!
But don't worry, he will not be able to leave this crimson space! "The purple-robed elder did not even look at Han Li. He activated the round bowl in his hand and laughed wildly.
At this moment, Han Li had already taken the opportunity to appear a few thousand feet away. Without saying anything, he raised his fist and punched somewhere in front of him.
"Boom!" A loud sound was heard.
The entire crimson space suddenly shook. A bright ray of light lit up where Han Li's fist landed. Then, it turned into a white crack that stretched for thousands of miles.
The sound of a mirror breaking could be heard. The entire crimson space suddenly broke apart from the white crack. Then, it turned into countless pieces and disappeared.
The surroundings suddenly lit up.
The figures of Han Li and the others reappeared in the sky above the secluded courtyard in the south of Tianshui City. At this moment, in the alley outside the courtyard, there were eight cultivators in blood-moon blue robes lying on the ground. There were also a few formation plates scattered around them.
Naturally, they were the cultivators who had summoned and controlled the crimson space formation. They were all at the Form Synthesis Stage. When Han Li broke the space, they seemed to have suffered some kind of backlash and fainted. They were bleeding from their orifices and seemed to be on the verge of death.
In the courtyard, Jiao Shiliu, who was charred black, lay motionlessly beside the withered old tree.
The black light drill on his body had disappeared. His aura was also somewhat unstable. However, he was not in danger of dying.
"Boom!" A loud sound was heard!
A dazzling light exploded in the sky above the small courtyard. Two figures separated from each other and flew in different directions.
Jiao Nine retreated toward the main house. The red light in his eyes gradually faded. His spiritual sense also became clear again. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
As for the purple-robed elderly man, his expression had become extremely strained. In addition to his astonishment, he was also glaring at Han Li with resentment in his eyes.
He never thought that Han Li, who seemed to be the weakest among the three, would be able to discover the weakness of the formation and destroy it all on his own.
One had to know that the stability of the crimson space was far greater than that of ordinary formations. Even if ordinary immortals could discover the weakness, they might not be able to destroy it.
However, this thought only flashed through his mind. He suddenly slapped the bottom of the bowl, and strange ripples that could be seen with the naked eye quickly spread out.
A series of popping sounds rang out in the alley.
These were the heads of the Body Integration cultivators exploding. Their Nascent Souls were attracted by the ripples and turned into streaks of crimson light. They disappeared into the bowls in a flash and were instantly crushed to pieces.
However, a layer of white light appeared on one of the bodies. It seemed that some kind of treasure had blocked the strange ripples, so his head did not explode. This startled the purple-robed old man slightly, but he did not think too much about it. He made another hand sign.
The black runes on the bowl lit up brightly again, and two bolts of black light that were even thicker than the ones before instantly shot forth, hurtling toward Han Li and Liu Yue respectively.
Seeing this, the blue gourd in Jiao Nine's hand flashed with spiritual inscriptions and a crystal clear pillar of water as thick as a bucket suddenly shot out of the mouth of the gourd.
There was a "boom" sound.
The black and blue lights suddenly exploded, and countless splashes of water fell into the sky.
Jiao Nine's body was sent flying by the aftermath of the explosion for hundreds of feet before he could stabilize himself again.
On the other side, Han Li's body swayed a few times in order to avoid the attack of the black light.