The bald man sighed. "I didn't think the Moulan would be so careful. Although we killed a few of their spell warriors, we didn't do much to harm their strength. We now can only use force against force. Brother Ma, how is your magic power holding up? You used the Concealing Heaven Flags to cover half of the mountaintop."
Old Man Ma twirled his beard and casually said, "With the magic power I have left, I won't be able to defeat the enemy, but I should have no problem distracting a Moulan Sage."
The bald man solemnly said, "That's fine. Leave the rest of the enemies for me and Fellow Daoist Han to deal with. Fellow Daoist Bu has also restored a bit of his strength. I've already instructed his subordinates to call for him if the situation turns dire."
Old Man Ma used his spiritual sense to view the tremendous beast outside of the formation and wore a worried expression. "That is also fine. However, I fear that huge beast will be troublesome to deal with. We cannot afford to be distracted and I suspect our Core Formation cultivators will not be able to deal with it."
The bald man sighed. "There is nothing we can do about the matter. We are truly lacking people. But with the Murong Brothers watching over the formation, they will be able to provide further assistance. As Core Formation cultivators that cultivate lightning techniques, they're considerably hard to kill and should prove somewhat effective even against the beast's rough hide." His tone lacked confidence, having heard of the beast's fearsomeness from a few of the defeated cultivators.
Old Man Ma nodded with a worried appearance. "That is all we'll be able to do in advance."
At that moment, azure light flashed from the green mist and flew around the two.
The light faded away to reveal Han Li. He smiled at the two and asked, "Fellow Daoists, it seems the Moulan are about to attack. Do you have any good plans to withstand them?"
The bald man smiled. "It is good that Brother Han has come. We were just discussing this. Preparations..." He repeated his previous plan to Han Li.
Han Li frowned for a moment before relaxing his brow, "That gigantic beast will be troublesome. This strange breed should've only existed during ancient times. Just how did the Moulan acquire them? Anyhow, let us do as Fellow Daoist Lu says."
The bald man chuckled and respectfully said, "For this coming battle, we will be relying much on Brother Han's abilities."
Han Li stroked his nose and calmly said, "Since this matter concerns the safety of the entire Heavenly South, I naturally must strive my hardest. However, the enemy forces are truly powerful. My spirit may be willing, but my body might be too weak!"
Old Man Ma smiled and respectfully said, "If even Brother Han cannot match them, let alone us, the same could be said about the others in the alliance."
Han Li glanced at Old Man Ma and mysteriously smiled. "Brother Ma truly overestimates me. My abilities aren't nearly as great as you two think they are. Please don't set your expectations too highly."
Wishing also to deepen his friendship, the bald man chuckled and said, "Regardless of how it is said, Brother Han is by no means a common early Nascent Soul cultivator. Your abilities are far beyond ours. For this coming battle— Yi! The Moulan have begun their assault." He quickly turned his gaze towards the instant.
Han Li and Old Man Ma quickly glanced around in alarm.
Red lights suddenly glowed in the direction of the spell warriors army. A cloud of red flame suddenly filled the sky with several tens of scorching miniature suns gathering within it.
Being the first time he had seen such a thing, Old Man Ma shouted in alarm, "What's this?!"
The bald man sullenly explained, "This is a spell warrior spirit technique formation. With a large number of spell warriors taking the place of formation flags and plates, they are able to quickly form a spell formation spirit technique. However, a high grade spell warrior is needed to oversee the formation. From the huge fireballs, it is likely being controlled by the fire attribute spell warrior from yesterday."
"Spirit technique formation?" Old Man Ma muttered to himself in astonishment. Although he wished to further ask about the details, he knew now was not the appropriate time and kept silent.
Han Li withdrew his gaze and calmly said, "Let us all enter the formation and act with discretion. Before we fight with the Nascent Soul-stage spell warriors, let us kill as many low grade spell warriors as possible."
"Good!" Neither of the two offered any objections.
The bald man called for several of the other Core Formation cultivators and gave them each their instructions, all of them entering the green mist one after another, with Yingning among them. Of course, Han Li gave her a few words of warning via voice transmission before promptly disappearing from the mist.
At that moment, a portion of the spell warriors were organized into groups of several tens, each of them arranged in a profound and wondrous spell formation. They all raised a sparkling fire-red magic tool over their heads as they gathered around the fire Qi and conducted the formation.
Several tens of huge fireballs floated hundreds of meters above them, as they surged with broiling heat. The spell warriors underneath were roasting — each of their mouths parched, their vision blurry, their bodies trembling as they bitterly supported the spirit technique formation.
At the very center of the formation of tens of fireballs, Ku Yao was sitting cross-legged with disheveled hair as six huge red banners slowly revolved around him. He remained completely motionless while his hands formed a strange incantation gesture. As for the three-meter-long fire python, it spiralled around his head while its body shined with brilliant red light, stirring clouds of fire around it.
Not far away, the green robed woman had dismounted from the huge beast and was coldly staring at Ku Yao's actions. As for the shriveled spell warrior, he was further behind them and was glancing at them with concern.
Ku Yao suddenly opened his eyes and shouted, "Go!" The six banners around him simultaneously erupted into pillars of scarlet light. At that same moment, six fireballs that spanned over forty meters in length appeared in the air.
Suddenly, the pillars of scarlet light were completely absorbed by the six fireballs, and they began to tremble for a moment before spurting out flames that were three meters tall. Then as the war drums continued to beat, the fireballs shot towards the sea of green mist like huge meteors in a single line as if wishing to forcefully open a passage through the mist.
The combined casting of these many spell warriors had condensed fireballs of extraordinary might.
As meticulously placed as the green mist grand formation may have been by the Nine Nations Union formation experts, these meteors of flame caused an earth-shattering explosion as soon as they touched the green mist. With several successive bursts of hundred meter tall flames accompanying each explosion, the green mist was scattered by the wild flaming winds that soon followed, wiping them entirely away in an instant.
Although green and yellow formation lights still shined, they were clearly outmatched and weren't able to withstand the assault in the slightest. In the blink of an eye, six huge areas were completely devoid of mist from within the formation.
A cold glint flickered from the green-robed woman's eyes and she flipped her hand, summoning a golden circle in her hand. She then raised it in the air and it flew down to the Giant Rhino, which was already positioned at the edge of the sea of green mist.
With a loud ring, the golden circle fell onto the blue horn of the Giant Rhino and tightened in an instant. The huge horn was then sheathed and began to sparkled with dazzling light.
Perhaps spurred by the blinding golden light or some action by the green-robed woman, the Giant Rhino's eyes quickly turned blood red and it released thunderous roars. As it treaded on the blue clouds underneath it, it wildly rushed down towards the green mist.
A short moment later, the beast's roars filled the air as yellow and green light brightly glowed.
"Let's go in. Sage Ku Yao will continue to use fire spirit techniques and destroy the restrictions. We will bring this formation down." The green-robed woman's clear voice spread throughout the sky. The spell warriors on standby cheered upon receiving their orders and they began to enter the green mist while in groups ranging from five to ten.
The green-robed woman indifferently said, "Let's also head in. Once Sage Ku Yao finishes casting the technique, he will follow after us." She then glowed with white light and flew down in a streak of light. The shriveled spell warrior hastily agreed before following after her in a trail of black light.
A short moment later, there were only several hundred spell warriors that had yet to enter the restriction.
At that moment, the remaining fireballs were being absorbed by the six banner of flames surrounding Ku Yao. They then fell onto the sea of mist in an arrangement of lines at the same location as the previous six meteors, causing several tens of pillars of flames to erupt, nearly breaking apart the entirety of the restriction.
With wild roars of laughter, Ku Yao suddenly stood up and waved to the spell warriors around him. Then he wordlessly flew down towards the mist of sea in a ball of scorching flame. When the other spell warriors in the formation saw this, they flocked after him.
At that moment, there were over a thousand spell warriors in total inside the formation, not to mention the several hundred hidden spell warriors that were controlling the formation's restrictions from within.
Han Li floated motionlessly inside the mist with his eyes closed. His body was already enveloped in armor composed of the black-tainted Gold Devouring Beetles, and he was standing on a huge azure sword. Above him floated silent, three-meter-long swarms of sparkling golden beetles.They each appeared extremely malicious and blood-thirsty as if just waiting for their first opportunity to kill.
Han Li blinked several times and he slowly opened his eyes; his face wearing a trace of astonishment.
"As expected, there was a mid Nascent Soul-stage Sage amongst them, but to think that it'd be a female spell warrior." Han Li muttered to himself. After a moment more of thought, he slapped his storage pouch and summoned a set of formation tools in his hands.
Han Li's figure blurred as he quickly placed down the mightiest spell formation he could place on such short notice.
Han Li swept his sleeve and commanded, "Silvermoon, come out."
A small fox then flew out of his sleeve and landed in front of him. Han Li continued, "I will be giving you the Purple Cloudlace, and the flower basket as well. The opponent this time seems to be even more troublesome than Wan'er's senior martial sister. Be careful! If her abilities are truly too fearsome, we won't need to strain ourselves. Let's lure her here and use the green mist restrictions as well as my spell formation to even the odds. If that won't do, then we will simply escape. There is no need for us to stake it all."
He then summoned the Purple Cloudlace and the flower basket into his hand before tossing it to the small white fox.