Rumbling sounds echoed incessantly as the fire snakes, immensely powerful, struck the ground, each explosion creating craters six to nine meters in diameter.
Zhang Ling found himself with no escape as the ground erupted all around him.
Meanwhile, the three flying swords in Zhang Ling's grasp completed their incantation, the combined sword light coalescing into a massive azure blade. The giant sword flashed twice, unleashing a thick, cross-shaped sword aura.
The sword aura shot upwards, cleaving through countless fire snakes in its path, heading directly for Wang Yan.
A grating screech of metal on metal assaulted the ears as the sword aura slammed into Wang Yan's protective barrier.
Azure and crimson light intertwined before Wang Yan, erupting in a blinding flash.
Wang Yan, expressionless, pointed a finger at the red jade token, causing the crimson light barrier to swell. With a muffled bang, both the sword aura and the light barrier dissipated into turbulent air.
Wang Yan shifted several meters to the side, but suddenly, three azure flying swords hurtled towards him from left and right. As they neared, he frantically waved the large banner, wielding it like a spear to deflect the swords with three crisp clangs.
“Such tricks are like showing off before an expert,” Wang Yan sneered with contempt.
But abruptly, a deep chime resonated from overhead.
Instantly, Wang Yan felt the air constrict around him, his head swimming as if struck. His body felt mired in mud, and his spiritual power threatened to dissipate, causing him to stumble precariously.
He hastily circulated his cultivation technique to clear his mind, noticing a palm-sized, purplish-black bronze bell had appeared three meters above him.
Before he could identify the treasure, it unleashed a visible wave of energy.
Wang Yan's eyes narrowed, and the red jade token flew above him, forming a solid fiery barrier to envelop him.
The incoming sonic attack was mostly neutralized, but not entirely. His body swayed, and a sense of weakness washed over him.
Clearly, this bronze bell was no ordinary magic weapon.
But he had no time to ponder, and with a thought, the twin-winged fire serpent coiled and lunged towards the bronze bell.
Simultaneously, the purplish-black bronze bell spun rapidly, transforming into a massive bell. From its mouth, countless inch-sized black wind blades shot forth in a howling gale.
These wind blades struck the twin-winged fire serpent, instantly shredding it into countless pieces, which dissolved into wisps of fiery spiritual light.
Though the wind blades were swift, Wang Yan reacted quickly, seizing the opportunity to evade the attack by moving over ten meters away.
However, his situation remained dire. He found himself surrounded by over a dozen purple light spheres, each emanating potent spiritual energy.
Wang Yan roared, frantically channeling his magic power into the red jade token, reinforcing the barrier around him as he charged in one direction, seemingly intending to withstand the attack with brute force.
The light spheres struck him, but to Wang Yan's surprise, their power was less than he anticipated, creating only faint ripples on the barrier.
His divine sense flickered, and he flew towards the flying snakes, but suddenly felt his outer barrier constrict, deforming under pressure. A large purple net covered the barrier, tightening relentlessly.
Wang Yan was trapped.
Zhang Ling's face lit up at this sight, and he hurled a gray stone from his hand.
The palm-sized stone rapidly expanded in mid-air, instantly becoming a massive rock sphere three to four meters in diameter, hurtling down with a yellow glow.
But to Zhang Ling's surprise, just as the stone sphere was about to strike, the man roared, unleashing a surge of fire spiritual power. The fiery barrier ballooned as if inflated.
The tightening purple net stretched dozens of times larger, and the man regained his mobility, moving five or six meters to the side, dodging the stone sphere.
Then, Wang Yan twisted his body, contorting as if performing a bone-shrinking technique, slipping through the gaps in the purple net.
Zhang Ling was stunned, but with a thought, the purple net elongated into a purple net-rope, snaking towards the man.
But the man was swift, his body boneless and agile, dodging the net-rope and flying towards the swarm of earth spirit bees.
Zhang Ling's mind raced, and the three flying swords, the purplish-black bronze bell, and the gray stone sphere hurtled after him.
Simultaneously, for good measure, he flicked his sleeve, revealing a black stone mirror in his palm. He frantically poured spiritual power into it, causing the black mirror's surface to shimmer with dark light, becoming translucent.
Then, Zhang Ling activated his spiritual light and pursued the man.
Having narrowly evaded numerous attacks, Wang Yan realized his opponent was no ordinary Golden Core Stage cultivator. Freeing himself, he flew towards his two female companions.
Meanwhile, spiritual light flickered in his hand, and the fire spiritual power on the crimson banner coalesced, manifesting a dancing, twin-winged fire serpent on the flag's surface.
The fire serpent leaped from the flag, its body solidifying into a several-meter-long fire serpent coiling around him.
As he continued to urge it, the fire serpent rapidly grew in size. Given a few breaths, the twin-winged fire serpent would return to its original state.
Wang Yan also intended to reunite with his companions. He and Chen Shimei cultivated complementary techniques, enabling a combined attack secret art. Rejoining would greatly increase his strength, giving him a chance to counterattack.
As for the swarm of spirit insects, he saw little threat. Wang Yan moved swiftly, closing the twenty-meter distance to the earth spirit bees in one or two breaths. He commanded the fire serpent to blast a path to the two women.
“The enemy is tricky. I'll help you escape, and then we'll deal with him together,” he shouted.
But there was no response. Wang Yan didn't dwell on it and continued his advance.
Waving the crimson banner, he conjured dozens of deep-red giant fireballs, which crashed forward with deafening roars. The fireballs all struck the same spot, instantly killing hundreds of earth spirit bees.
“Careful!”
Then he heard Chen Shimei shout, “Careful!” But there was nothing but a dense swarm of spirit insects, no other danger.
As Wang Yan wondered, a tremendous force struck him, cracking his red light barrier and nearly shattering it. Wang Yan was shocked and hastily repaired the barrier.
He was sent flying into the bee swarm by the force. Wang Yan quickly stabilized himself.
He noticed a tall figure had appeared where he stood. Upon closer inspection, it was a humanoid creature, extremely hideous, a meter tall with shrunken skin and a skull-like face.
This figure emanated the aura of a high-level cultivator and a heavy aura of death. Could it be a high-level corpse monster?
Wang Yan was stunned, and Chen Shimei's cry reached his ears. “Senior Brother, are you alright?”
Wang Yan quickly recovered. His divine sense revealed Chen Shimei and Zhao Shijie were over ten meters away, surrounded by a large swarm of earth spirit bees, seemingly intentionally isolating them.
To his dismay, the two women were in dire straits, covered in blood. Zhao Shijie, in green, was disheveled, and her left arm was gone.
The two women were severely injured.
Wang Yan gritted his teeth and spat out several mouthfuls of essence blood, chanting incantations and activating hand seals. The essence blood exploded into a bloody mist with a strange fragrance, turning pink.
Surrounded by the pink mist, the earth spirit bees became agitated.
Then, Wang Yan transformed into a streak of pink light, traversing the distance and merging with the two women.
Wang Yan roared, “Fire Spirit Grand Art!”
Chen Shimei knew what he meant and her face turned crimson. She spat out several mouthfuls of essence blood into a red orb in her hand.
The orb instantly turned blood-red, glowing with blood-red runes. The runes, full of spirituality, gathered towards Wang Yan.
Instantly, his body was covered in blood-colored runes, appearing eerie. But his spiritual power surged, and with a roar, he waved the crimson banner, channeling the blood-colored runes into the fire serpent.
The twin-winged fire serpent hissed in response, its size rapidly expanding, transforming from five or six meters to over twenty meters long, imbued with terrifying fire spiritual power.
The fire serpent moved quickly, conjuring wheel-sized fireballs that instantly killed some of the earth spirit bees, creating space around them.
The twin-winged fire serpent was imposing, constantly attacking the earth spirit bees, killing over three thousand in a few breaths.
Zhang Ling felt a pang of heartache. The loss was significant. But now was not the time to lament. With a thought, the bee swarm scattered, ceasing to surround the three.
After releasing the earth spirit bees to trap the two women, he fought the man, then used the sandstorm to conceal the corpse bear, which infiltrated the earth spirit bee swarm to kill the two women.
Once the two Golden Core Stage cultivators were dead, he and the corpse bear could easily defeat the man.
But the two women were cautious. Though ambushed by the corpse bear, only the green-clad woman was severely injured. Given more time, he might have killed them.
The white-faced man he fought was also extremely strong, seemingly using some secret art to greatly increase his power.
Looking at the giant fire serpent in the sky, Zhang Ling felt a hint of pressure.
Neither side would back down. If possible, he wouldn't have provoked them, but now he had to eliminate them.
Fortunately, Zhang Ling had some confidence. As the bee swarm retreated, several black lights appeared.
The black lights spun rapidly, transforming into semi-transparent black light mirrors, constantly circling the three enemies.
Zhang Ling threw a small black stone mirror into the air, pouring spiritual power into it. The black light mirrors reflected, a layer of deep-blue spiritual light flowing over them, then emitted an arm-thick blue beam.
The blue beam flashed, striking one of the black mirrors. The somewhat illusory mirror flipped, emitting another blue beam.
The two beams split, striking two other mirrors, two becoming four, four becoming eight, forming thirty or forty blue beams.
Each reflection deepened the color, and in two or three breaths, the light became pitch-black and increasingly fast, faintly thundering.
Wang Yan knew the eight mirrors weren't illusions, but special treasures.
“Shimei, Shijie, just defend. I'll attack him!”
Wang Yan shouted, circulating all his power, and the crimson banner glowed. The giant twin-winged fire serpent roared, moving rapidly, forming two or three dozen wheel-sized fireballs.
The fireballs, guided by the banner, flew like meteors towards Zhang Ling.
As the fireballs flew, two arm-thick black beams pierced the foremost fireballs.
With two loud explosions, the fireballs shattered, scattering sparks. Then, more black beams flashed, shattering the remaining fireballs.
