Chapter 2042: Taking the Brick
A faint chuckle rang out, and the golden hand suddenly swelled to around 10 feet in size, then released a ball of piercing spiritual light alongside a burst of powerful shockwaves that swept forth in all directions.
The black ghostly heads and oncoming sword projection were all swept out of control by the shockwaves, and the two devils were very alarmed to see this as they hurriedly made hand seals to recover their treasures.
However, the spiritual pressure imbued within the golden shockwaves was far more powerful than they had imagined, and it forcibly severed their connections with the two treasures. As such, they could only look on as the giant golden hand unleashed a dozen or so golden fist projections that instantly struck the treasures.
A string of resounding booms rang out, and the two devils shuddered as they each took an involuntary step backward and threw up a mouthful of blood.
The ghostly heads and golden light had been damaged by the ordinary-looking fist projections, and the two devils were also affected due to their spiritual connections with the treasures.
Thankfully, those weren't their bonded treasures, so they didn't sustain any major injuries. Even so, the two of them were extremely stunned, and they hurriedly backtracked as they scrutinized the giant golden hand with wary expressions.
As for Bing Qianren, he was also quite alarmed by this development, but he wasn't overly concerned as this entire place had already been surrounded by his Seven Kill Blood Baleful Qi and Blackbone Devilish Insects.
At this moment, the giant golden hand dissipated, revealing the azure-robed Han Li, who was holding the holy brick in a calm manner.
"Who are you, and why are you robbing me of this holy brick?" Old Man Yang asked with a dark expression.
Their earlier clash had told him just how fearsome Han Li was, so he could only repress his own fury.
"You've already decided to part with this item, so why can't I take it? By the way, you have the other holy bricks, right, Fellow Daoist Bing? You can hand them over as well," Han Li said as he turned to Bing Qianren.
Bing Qianren jolted upon discovering his inability to ascertain Han Li's exact cultivation base, but he refused to concede. "You sure are a courageous man; not only are you taking this holy brick from right under my nose, you're even going after the holy bricks in my possession now; looks like you heard our entire conversation. Indeed, I have the other holy bricks; come and get them if you think you can."
With the Seven Kill Blood Baleful Qi and Blackbone Devilish Insects at his disposal, even late-stage devilish lords would have to flee from him, so he naturally wasn't going to fear this unfamiliar young man.
"Alright, in that case, don't mind if I do," Han Li chuckled before making a stride toward Bing Qianren.
It seemed to only be an ordinary stride, but in the next instant, Han Li had covered a distance of several hundred feet in a blur, and he was now only several tens of feet away from Bing Qianren.
Bing Qianren's heart jolted upon seeing this, and he immediately swept his sleeves together, upon which the crimson light around him rose up into a wave that was over 100 feet tall before crashing down toward Han Li.
Meanwhile, Bing Qianren himself had retreated to over 300 feet away.
At the same time, his clone had vanished amid a flash of crimson light.
"You think you can harm me with this baleful Qi?" Han Li chuckled coldly as golden light erupted behind him, and a projection with three heads and six arms appeared.
The projection was over 100 feet tall, and had three faces that were identical to Han Li's. It opened its six eyes and swept its arms through the air, upon which a ball of golden light emerged in each of its six hands. Immediately thereafter, they were brought together and fused as one into a golden vortex that was around 10 feet in size.
Countless golden and silver runes flew out of the vortex, then swept forth in all directions with unstoppable force.
As soon as the crimson light reached close to Han Li's body, it was drawn into the golden vortex, and within the span of just a few breaths, close to half of the baleful Qi in the air had vanished.
"Impossible!" Bing Qianren exclaimed, but he didn't miss a beat as he immediately began to make a series of hand seals.
The crimson light that was surging toward the golden vortex shuddered, then released a burst of power to try and struggle free from the suction force.
Han Li's expression changed slightly, and he abruptly increased his magic power output, upon which the golden vortex swelled to five to six times its original size, and the intensity of its suction force also increased by more than tenfold.
As a result, all of the crimson light warped and twisted before being torn apart, then surged toward the vortex as specks of crimson light.
Bing Qianren was sweating profusely as he frantically made different hand seals to try and recover some of the baleful Qi, all to no avail.
Soon, none of the crimson light remained, and Bing Qianren roared with fury, "How dare you take my Seven Kill Blood Baleful Qi!"
He then rubbed his hands together before raising them at once, and countless bolts of azure lightning came hurtling directly toward Han Li.
The black swarm of insects in the surrounding area also converged toward Han Li at his behest.
These Blackbone Devilish Insects possessed incredible strength and bodies that were as hard as steel, making them even more fearsome than the Seven Kill Blood Baleful Qi, and Bing Qianren was sure that the strange golden vortex wouldn't be able to devour them.
At the same time, spatial fluctuation erupted above Han Li, and a burst of faint black Qi swept directly down toward Han Li.
Within the black Qi was a humanoid figure; it was none other than Bing Qianren's clone.
Han Li remained completely expressionless, but with his enormous spiritual sense, he had naturally already sensed the surprise attack. The projection behind him swept its arms backward at his behest, and six golden balls of lightning shot forth directly toward the oncoming black Qi in a flash.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the six balls of golden lightning exploded to form a golden lightning formation that inundated the clone.
Within the formation were countless arcs of golden lightning that writhed like golden snakes; this was none other than Han Li's Divine Devilbane Lightning!
At Han Li's current cultivation base, his Divine Devilbane Lightning had become extremely formidable, even without being complemented by the Lightningwield Technique.
An early-Body Integration Stage clone was naturally no match for the lightning, and the black Qi was instantly nullified, revealing the horrified clone within it.
The clone released several devilish treasures to try and withstand the lightning, but it only managed to last a few moments before it was completely destroyed amid a howl of anguish.
Meanwhile, formidable azure light was surging toward Han Li alongside the black insect swarm, but he merely pointed a finger at the golden vortex while sweeping a sleeve through the air to conjure up a gust of fierce wind.
The giant vortex flashed erratically before exploding into countless specks of golden light, which was dispersed in all directions by the gale-force winds before falling like rain.
The oncoming azure lightning was completely destroyed by the specks of golden light, but the black devilish insects were merely momentarily knocked off course before flying toward Han Li again, having remained completely unscathed in the midst of the storm of golden light.
As expected of one of the more renowned types of devilish insects in the Elder Devil Realm, they were truly formidable.
However, as opposed to being alarmed by this, Han Li merely smiled and made a grabbing motion, then hurled forth an inky-black bracelet.
The bracelet revolved in the air and released countless golden flowers in a frenzy, each of which transformed into a massive shimmering golden beetle that was around half a foot in length, and there were over 1,000 of them.
These were none other than the mature Gold Devouring Beetles.
"Go!" Han Li instructed as he pointed toward the oncoming swarm of black insects.
The Gold Devouring Beetles immediately flew toward the black devilish insects in several golden swarms, and as soon as they clashed, the grotesque sound of engulfment rang out as countless thumb-sized black carcasses rained down from above.
These Blackbone Devilish Insects were naturally no match for the mature Gold Devouring Beetles, and they were immediately crushed.
Within mere moments, a thick layer of black insect carcasses had accumulated on the ground, and only several hundred Blackbone Devilish Insects remained.
Han Li was surprised at all by this outcome, and he turned toward the incredulous Bing Qianren before sweeping a sleeve toward him.
The Gold Devouring Beetles immediately abandoned the remaining Blackbone Devilish Insects and flew toward him instead.
Bing Qianren was already suffering from the backlash of having his clone destroyed, and his heart had completely sunk now that his ultimate trump card had been dispatched so easily. His face turned deathly pale from horror at the sight of the oncoming swarm of unknown golden beetles, and he immediately tried to flee.
However, right at this moment, a cold harrumph rang out, and Bing Qianren felt as a thunderclap had erupted right beside his ears as a sharp burst of agony speared through his spiritual sense.
He let loose an involuntary howl of agony before plummeting out of the sky, and the Gold Devouring Beetles immediately inundated him.