"Scram!" Emperor of Yue hissed in a sinister tone.
A mass of blood light then circled around the puppets at breakneck speed before letting out a long howl. With afterimages trailing behind, it shot off in pursuit of Han Li and the others, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.
Moments later, the motionless puppets suddenly split apart and plummeted from the sky, each one dismembered beyond recognition. Not a single one remained intact.
Han Li, who had already arrived above the formation he had set, sensed everything clearly through his spiritual clone. With a tinge of regret but without the slightest hesitation, he signaled the others and dove diagonally into the small bamboo grove below.
As Han Li and his companions streaked downward, Emperor of Yue—who had been momentarily delayed by the puppets—came hurtling after them like a bolt of lightning. He naturally caught sight of Han Li vanishing into the bamboo grove, and while this left him somewhat puzzled, it also filled him with a surge of delight.
Upon reaching the canopy of the bamboo grove and seeing that Han Li and his group showed no intention of emerging, Emperor of Yue let out a cold laugh. He waved both hands, and a portion of the blood light surrounding him split off with a wet squelch.
The severed mass of blood light flashed and shot downward toward the bamboo grove, swelling to an enormous size as it met the wind. In an instant, it blanketed the entire grove from above, casting everything below in a sinister crimson glow.
Watching the blood light silently engulf the wild bamboo grove, Emperor of Yue's face lit up with a trace of smug satisfaction. As long as his protective demonic light kept this patch of bamboo firmly sealed, he could activate another secret technique to dissolve everything inside without a trace. They had walked into a dead end of their own accord—he could hardly be blamed for being ruthless.
His fingers danced through a dazzling flurry of hand seals, and just as he was about to activate the secret technique, a layer of blue-white light suddenly erupted from the bamboo grove below. It effortlessly caught the descending curtain of blood light, holding it aloft with ease. Emperor of Yue froze for a moment, and his expression turned cold.
"So they fled here with an ulterior after all—they've set up a formation!" Emperor of Yue thought with a flash of irritation.
"But no matter. A hastily arranged formation can't be anything too impressive. At worst, I'll just refine the formation and everyone in it together! I absolutely cannot let these people escape the imperial city," he thought viciously.
Having made up his mind, he wasted no time. He pinched a set of hand seals and immediately activated his secret technique.
The suspended blood light blazed with blinding radiance and pressed downward, halting its upward momentum.
But Emperor of Yue was not done. He traced a line through the air above his body with one finger, and another mass of blood light—no smaller than the first—plunged downward, merging seamlessly with the curtain below.
The entire blood-colored barrier deepened by three shades. A faint scent of blood began to seep from it, so nauseating it made one's stomach churn.
Seeing this, Emperor of Yue's face broke into a grin of satisfaction as his fingers continued to flick out seal after seal in rapid succession. The various-colored hand seals flew downward and sank into the barrier.
The blood curtain began to churn violently under the bombardment of seals, surging outward in all directions. It enveloped the entire bamboo grove in an instant. The deep crimson blood light bore down with crushing weight, while the blue-white glow within struggled desperately to hold its ground, appearing as though it might be swallowed at any moment.
Only when he saw this did Emperor of Yue finally relax completely.
For him now, destroying Han Li and the others was simply a matter of time. There was no way they could escape, not even with wings. What truly concerned him were the matters of cleanup afterward—it was going to be a headache.
"It looks like I can't go on being Emperor of Yue any longer. I'll have to take on a new identity and start fresh," he thought with a trace of regret.
While Emperor of Yue considered his next moves in the sky, Song Meng and the others inside the bamboo grove were in a state of extreme anxiety.
They had heard Han Li's voice transmission telling them to retreat and follow him closely if they wanted to survive. Trusting in Han Li's strength, they had all complied without hesitation. But they had never imagined they would end up in this nameless little bamboo grove, trapped in a seemingly inescapable predicament.
Though the grove appeared to be protected by some kind of defensive formation, it was now completely encircled by the enemy's blood light. The formation was already on the verge of collapse, and the danger of it breaking—and their deaths along with it—loomed at any moment. How could they not be both alarmed and furious?
"Junior Brother Han, is this your trump card?" Song Meng asked in a disbelieving murmur.
"It is. Is there a problem?" Han Li replied flatly, gazing upward at the situation above without turning his head.
Song Meng's face went deathly pale in an instant. Zhong Weiniang and Chen Qiaoqian's senior disciple—who had lost his cultivation partner—looked no better.
Only Chen Qiaoqian studied Han Li's impassive expression and saw a glint of contemplation flash through her eyes.
"Han Li, if you have any other tricks up your sleeve, just say it. Don't keep us in the dark! I believe that with your methods, this can't be the only contingency you prepared."
Chen Qiaoqian suddenly spoke up in a calm voice.
The other three were stunned for a moment, then looked toward Han Li with renewed hope. They all felt that given the meticulous thinking Han Li had displayed in his previous encounters with the enemy, he certainly couldn't have made such a foolish move.
Hearing this, Han Li lowered his head with a hint of surprise and gave them all a faint smile.
"Rest easy. Since I brought all of you senior brothers and sisters here, I naturally have a plan," he said in his usual tone. He then patted his storage pouch, and a small blue-purple banner appeared in his hand. The banner was covered in dense, intricate symbols and incantations, clearly marking it as no ordinary magical artifact.
"Is that a formation banner?" Zhong Weiniang exclaimed in surprise.
Formation plates and formation banners were rarely seen in the Kingdom of Yue.
"You really know your things, Senior Sister!" Han Li gave this seventh senior sister a light compliment, tacitly confirming her words.
This came as a surprise to Song Meng and the others, but it also bolstered their confidence. It seemed that this Junior Brother Han truly did have additional preparations.
Under the watchful eyes of the group, Han Li held the small banner between both palms and rubbed it gently. The diminutive formation banner instantly swelled to several times its original size, a faint blue-purple glow emanating from its surface.
Han Li held the formation banner flat across his palms, muttered a few incantations under his breath, then spoke a single commanding word: "Go!"
The blue-purple formation banner shot off with a whoosh in a specific direction and vanished without a trace.
Han Li then produced three more identical banners from his storage pouch one after another, launching each in the same manner toward the other directions until they too disappeared from sight.
Once this was done, Han Li cast a cold glance upward. In his hand appeared an apricot-yellow formation plate.
The plate was dull and unremarkable, but Han Li held it with solemn reverence, raising it high above his head before giving it a gentle shake.
A thick column of yellow light erupted skyward, striking straight into the blue-white protective barrier above.
At almost the same moment, four more pillars of light—gold, blue, red, and blue—shot up from the four other directions, all converging into the barrier above.
The blue-white light barrier, which had been teetering on the edge of collapse, immediately stabilized as it absorbed the five-colored light columns. A faint sound of rushing tides began to emanate from within.
The sound grew from a whisper to a roar, quickening in tempo, rising in volume, becoming ever more frequent until it merged into what sounded like a continuous roll of boundless thunder overhead—a sound that shook one's very soul and made it impossible to remain composed.
The blue-white protective barrier of the bamboo grove gradually shifted in color along with the intensifying sound, transforming into a shimmering five-colored radiance. No matter how the blood light outside churned and crashed against it, the barrier held firm as a reef amid a raging storm.
Seeing this, Song Meng and the others finally let out the breath they had been holding. They realized that the formation Han Li had set up was far from simple—survival now seemed almost certain.
Above, Emperor of Yue watched the formation undergo its transformation. He had already unleashed several rounds of his demonic arts without being able to make the slightest dent in the colorful barrier below. He sensed that something had gone terribly wrong.
A cold mask of hesitation fell over his features. After furrowing his brow, he suddenly stomped his foot and beckoned with one hand. All the blood light below reversed course like rivers flowing backward, shrinking from vast to small as it streamed back into his body. Without a moment's hesitation, he turned into a streak of blood light and fled skyward at a speed that even Han Li would have to admit was beyond his own.
But while the man left in a hurry, he returned even faster. For reasons unknown, after circling once through the sky, he found himself back at the exact same spot.
Disbelief flickered across his face. He attempted to flee seven or eight more times in rapid succession, but each time, after traveling no more than a few dozen zhang, he would obediently circle through the air and return to where he had started. By now, the expression on Emperor of Yue's face was no longer one of suspicion—it was pure terror.
Seeing this from below, Han Li let out a cold laugh, while Song Meng and the others stood gaping in astonishment. Zhong Weiniang clenched her fists in such wild delight that her long nails sliced open the skin on her palms, drawing blood without her even noticing.
Chen Qiaoqian's surprised expression held even more complex emotions within.
Han Li had no time to explain the mysteries of the Five Elements Reversal Array to anyone. He raised a hand and released the White Phosphorus Shield and the turtle shell artifact, which circled protectively around him. In a low, steady voice, he spoke:
"If anyone has talisman treasures, now is the time to activate them. We'll strike together and finish this man off! Since he's fallen into this great formation, he won't be escaping anytime soon!"
Han Li spoke with absolute confidence.