As the strange dragons flipped and swayed their bodies, the spatial cracks in the air, which had just begun to close, reappeared one after another, like the gaping maws of monstrous beasts. The astral wind within them generated a powerful suction force.
Caught within, Li Yan's body was instantly pulled and torn by several spatial cracks. They all seemed to want to suck him in, to suck him in in countless torn pieces.
"This person cultivates a water-attribute divine ability, and there's even a hint of a formation's encirclement in his every move. Strong!"
Li Yan felt that if he had encountered this person when he had just arrived on the Wind God Continent , apart from hiding in the Earthen Patch , he really wouldn't have been confident of escaping directly from his grasp.
From this, one could also see how formidable the Great Elder of the Tianli Clan was, to fight one against many, injure one of them, and still escape.
This was what was often said: never underestimate anyone. Which cultivator who could cultivate to this realm did not possess great divine abilities and immortal arts?
The purple-robed man saw the water-pillar strange dragons he was brandishing, with the aid of the formation, had already generated a trace of the laws of water, and had even incorporated the power from the spatial cracks to encircle him. The black-robed man's figure was swaying chaotically in the wind.
The other party was being pulled in different directions by those forces, causing his body, which had just broken out of the water wall, to pause in the air. The water-pillar strange dragons instantly coiled towards his body.
"Die!"
He let out a soft shout in his heart. For a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to last until now had already made him extremely furious. Since when had people below the Great Cultivator level become so difficult to deal with, even forcing him to use his ultimate killing divine ability?
And as he waved his two arms, the two strange dragons, twisting their bodies in opposite directions, had already closed in on Li Yan's body. Just then, a scene that he couldn't believe appeared.
The two water-pillar strange dragons were clearly only an inch away from the black-robed man's body, having already sealed off all his escape routes from above, below, left, and right. This was his specialty, a formation trap kill.
Yet the black-robed middle-aged man's body was like a swimming fish. With a few strange, impossible twists, in that hair's breadth of a moment, he had actually… actually arrived right in front of him.
"You…"
The purple-robed bald man was startled. How did this person do it? Such a sharp-angled, high-speed turn, he had never even heard of it.
That speed, so fast that the body blurred, what kind of strain would it put on the body? If he could do it, his body would probably have already shattered.
But his reaction was also very fast. The moment Li Yan rushed in front of him, he opened his mouth and spat out an azure blue water bead.
The water bead grew in the wind. In an instant, a strange beast, more than ten zhang tall, appeared, blocking Li Yan's path.
This beast resembled a qilin, with a dragon's mouth, a lion's head, fish scales, an ox's tail, a tiger's claws, and a deer's antlers. Its entire body was crimson red—a "Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast!"
Having already closed in and about to raise his hand to attack, Li Yan's heart tightened. He had recognized what this thing was at a glance; it was a type of the legendary Dragon Clan.
The moment the Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast appeared, Li Yan was almost pressed against it. The beast's head swung, and the sharp long horn on its head instantly slashed towards Li Yan's chest.
In his haste, Li Yan's body blurred again. With another strange twist, he had already circled to the side of the beast.
He could already see that there was no explosion of qi and blood power from this beast; it had been transformed from that azure blue water bead. This beast was not an artifact spirit either, because few people would directly use an artifact spirit to attack. They would only have the artifact spirit assist the magical treasure to enhance its attack power.
Li Yan's guess was correct. This bead was the natal magical treasure that the purple-robed bald man had nurtured—the "Heaven-Melding Pearl." Originally, he didn't think he would need to use a magical treasure to deal with a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
But unexpectedly, the other party's movement skill was as fast as a ghost's, actually escaping his yin-yang formation pincer attack in an instant, which was incredible.
In the Heaven-Melding Pearl's attack, as long as it cut a small piece of the opponent's flesh, it would melt them, turning them into a drop of unconscious water.
The last time he had attacked the Great Elder of the Tianli Clan, because the other party's strength was greater than his, the other party's single finger, punch, or palm would throw the surrounding spatial rules into chaos.
Not only could the formation not trap him, but his own magical treasure couldn't break the other's defense, let alone damage his flesh.
Li Yan was not familiar with the attack transformed from this bead. With his personality, he would not easily clash with the other party. In an instant, he chose to evade.
Just as Li Yan had dodged to the side of the Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast, the beast's sharp long horn scraped past his side.
With a ferocious look, the beast's body flickered, turning into a streak of red light and crashing horizontally towards Li Yan.
At the same time, the crimson fish scales on the beast's body, like blades, stood up with a "zeng, zeng, zeng…" metallic sound. The speed of the attack was as fast as lightning.
And at the same time, the purple-robed man gave a slight tug with both arms. On the surface of the two incomparably huge strange dragons, countless "water spikes" glowing with a dark light appeared, shooting towards Li Yan in an instant.
Seeing that he was once again being attacked from both front and back, Li Yan's heart also tightened.
The other party was extremely skilled at encirclement and pincer attacks. The reactions of both sides were at their peak. Under the cover of the overwhelming "water spikes," it was too late to dodge now.
A fierce glint flashed in the depths of Li Yan's eyes. He stomped heavily on the void with one foot, and his body instantly turned horizontal, then began to spin rapidly, turning into a rotating golden pillar of wind.
"Ding, ding, ding…"
A series of "water spikes," like a rain of arrows, hit Li Yan's body, but were all "flung" away by the golden pillar of wind.
At the same time, the golden pillar of wind that Li Yan had whipped up also collided heavily with the body of the Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast that was charging from the side.
A series of sparks shot out between the two. As Li Yan's body spun, the speed of the golden pillar of wind he brought with him also became faster and faster. The brilliant sparks in the dark night flew and splashed, erupting in a dazzling light.
"How can his magical power be so profound, or is he also a body cultivator?"
The purple-robed man hadn't expected the black-robed middle-aged man to suddenly choose to clash with him head-on. And from the force of the other's counterattack, based on the feedback of his own magical power, this person's strength was in no way inferior to his own.
If the black-robed middle-aged man was a dharma cultivator, didn't that mean that in terms of magical power, he was not at all inferior to himself? How was that possible? The other party was clearly only a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
Until now, in his divine sense, the other party's realm was still the same, with no change, but his strength was truly astonishing.
In a flash of lightning, he thought of several possibilities. The other party might also be a powerful body cultivator, or his body had been enveloped by an extremely powerful defensive magical treasure in that instant.
He didn't believe that the other's magical power could rival his own. There were cultivators who could fight above their rank, but they usually relied on some kind of secret art that surpassed their own realm to defeat enemies of a higher level.
As Li Yan spun, the hands in his sleeves were now gripping two pitch-black short brushes transformed from the "Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spikes." His eyes had also turned pitch black.
Every time he looked at the purple-robed bald man, golden lines appeared on the man's body, and these golden lines formed a human shape.
Inside his wide sleeves, Li Yan's hands changed rapidly, either dragging, dotting, pulling, or drawing. Golden lines also appeared within his wide sleeves.
After these golden lines were formed, they were fixed in place and did not drift or dissipate with Li Yan's pinwheel-like spinning body.
As Li Yan countered the opponent's attack, two small golden-line figures had already appeared in his sleeves, looking very similar to the purple-robed man.
The moment the two golden-line figures were formed, the tips of the two brushes in Li Yan's sleeves suddenly lifted up, and then, the tips fiercely dotted down towards the dantian of the golden-line figures.
As the tip of the pitch-black brush in Li Yan's hand dotted the golden-line figure, in an instant, a pitch-black talisman appeared behind the golden-line figure in his sleeve.
And as the tip of Li Yan's brush seemed to embed itself in the golden-line figure, and the True Scripture of Gui Water was fiercely poured in, a ball of thick ink erupted from the tip of the brush, shooting like a flying stone into the body of the golden-line figure.
The golden-line figure seemed to be hit by a huge force and was instantly embedded in the black talisman behind it. A black iron hook immediately appeared at the top of the black talisman, like a strange hanging hook.
The black iron hook blurred and hooked onto the junction of the golden-line figure's neck and the back of its head, as if to lift him off the ground.
The next moment, the spinning Li Yan exerted his strength fiercely. The "Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast" was stepped on the waist by his foot. The force that erupted from the sole of Li Yan's foot collided with the crimson fish scales, producing a crisp sound like a sharp blade being unsheathed.
"Zeng!"
A ball of golden light exploded from the sole of Li Yan's foot. The "Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast," which had already been knocked askew by the spin of Li Yan's body, felt as if it had been hit by an irresistible, primordial force. Its huge body turned into a red shadow and flew outwards like a meteor.
At the same time, Li Yan flicked both his large sleeves, and two black talismans shot out like lightning. One shot towards the "Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast," and the other towards the face of the purple-robed man.
The "Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast" was transformed from the magical treasure the other party had spat out. If Li Yan's guess was correct, this magical treasure, which he had nurtured in his abdomen, was very likely his natal magical treasure.
In that case, the black runes could trace back to the source and hit the opponent's divine soul.
Li Yan had inscribed two "Black Water Talismans" at the same time, intending to pull out the opponent's "Human Soul" or "Earth Soul" in one go. When he had used this method against the clone of the "Yin Mountain Beast," one of the clones had been hit in a single strike.
"Bang!"
The first "Black Water Talisman," being very close to the "Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast," stuck to its body the moment it was kicked away. The hanging black iron hook inside the talisman fiercely jerked upwards and pulled.
With a "chi!" sound, the talisman had already turned into a puff of black smoke. At the same time, the other "Black Water Talisman" had also reached the face of the purple-robed man.
The purple-robed bald man's eyes narrowed. He keenly sensed the power contained in this talisman, a feeling that made even his soul tremble.
"A soul-type talisman?"
He sneered inwardly. As the cultivation method in his body circulated, blue threads instantly grew within him, as if forming a barrier inside his body.
Soul-type techniques might work on others, but they wouldn't work on him.
The cultivation method he practiced was called "Sea and Sky as One Color." Not only was its magical power immense, but it was also integrated with the heavenly Dao's formations, giving it an extremely strong protective effect.
Just then, the blue threads in his body trembled violently, and several of them actually snapped in an instant. A pulling force came from his divine soul; it was the moment the "Black Water Talisman" on the surface of the "Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast" dissolved.
"Hmph, is this all you've got?"
The purple-robed man's round eyes blazed with anger. At the same time, the two strange dragon water pillars he was holding in his hands instantly shrank into two ice-blue giant swords.
With a "zeng" sound, the two swords crossed and slashed at the "Black Water Talisman" flying towards him. The black talisman was immediately cut into several pieces and once again turned into a puff of black smoke and dissipated.
At the same time, three more blue threads in his body snapped. All of this happened in an instant.
Li Yan couldn't help but be stunned. His two inscribed "Black Water Talismans" had actually both failed to take effect. The other party only frowned a few times in a row, and the aura on his body surged even more fiercely.
After the purple-robed man had shattered the "Black Water Talisman," he was about to attack again with the "Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast." But a voice sounded in Li Yan's mind.
"Strike!"
The moment the word "strike" was transmitted, the "Water-Repelling Golden-Eyed Beast," which had been kicked away by him, had already done a flip in the air. A large patch of fish scales had fallen from its waist, and its momentum had somewhat decreased.
It did a flip and pounced back, its two claws grabbing at the empty air. From the tips of its two front claws, ten ethereal, smoke-like water lines appeared, wrapping towards Li Yan's body.
But the purple-robed man's body suddenly paused at this moment, and he let out an angry roar.
"Courting death!"
A figure suddenly appeared from the void on the side, and in a flash, it had reached his side.
That person leaped into the air, bent his elbow to gather strength, and then fiercely thrust upwards from under his armpit.
The moment this punch was thrown, a phantom beast head appeared in front of it. Its large mouth opened, and with a silent roar, it bit towards the purple-robed man's throat.
"It really is the Tianli Clan!"
A fierce glint flashed in the purple-robed bald man's eyes. He had seen the attack the other party had launched before. It was the heaven-splitting strike of the Tianli Clan's Great Elder, with the phantom of the ancient ferocious beast Qiongqi appearing.
But in the purple-robed bald man's divine sense, he sensed that although this person's attack was already close to the late-stage Nascent Soul, he was only a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
His appearance was very similar to the Gong Shanhe from the intelligence they had received. He couldn't help but be furious. The Third Island Master had indeed died at their hands.
And just now, he had attacked several times, but had failed to break the continuous attacks of the black-robed middle-aged man. How had Gong Shanhe ambushed him from nearby without him sensing anything? This shocked him immensely.
Was the other party's concealment technique really so strong that even his divine sense could not detect it? If it had been the Fourth Island Master, or the injured Second Island Master, who had come, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
How could he have known that Gong Shanhe had a "Sand Star King Stone" on him? Li Yan knew that Gong Shanhe might not be able to evade the other party's search, so he simply had him enter the chaotic flow space at an agreed-upon location.
Otherwise, even with the purple-robed bald man's speed, Li Yan could have escaped, even entering the deep sea on the spot, and the other party would not have been able to find him.
Yet he had let the purple-robed bald man "catch up" here. Once the two sides fought, as expected, the heavens and earth were torn asunder, and streaks of spatial cracks appeared in the void.
And Gong Shanhe, after sensing the surrounding space being torn, held the "Sand Star King Stone" and sensed the changes in the core position of those magical power fluctuations.
Subsequently, he appeared behind a spatial crack, waiting for an opportunity to attack.
With so many spatial cracks appearing, the purple-robed bald man could not possibly investigate them one by one in the middle of a battle.