Han Li felt his breath turn cold.

This battle now exceeded the realm of Nascent Soul cultivators. It wasn’t something that they could interfere with.

While his mind was now occupied with planning, a glint flashed from Gui Ling’s eye. She hesitated but eventually burrowed into the ground in a yellow streak.

Soon after, Han Li began to float erratically about, but something soon caught his attention.

In the space behind the two devils, there was an intact black-teleportation formation shrouded in flags.

“That is...” Han Li was immediately reminded of the other teleportation formation from the previous room.

Right after he found it, he met Grand Immortal Xu’s gaze and they both turned away. The two had the same idea in mind.

As for the black-robed woman wielding the Black Wind Flag, she wasn’t standing idle during all this. She waved the banner down at palace in the center of the formation. The four-armed Elder Devil stood closely behind her and took out four common treasures of his own.

The two devil’s actions naturally incurred the wrath of the Ninetruths Devil Suppression Formation, violently engulfing the air in huge amounts of golden light.

The woman sneered and clasped the flag with both her hands. As it wildly sparkled with black light, an inky barrier emerged from it, covering both of the devils.

When the overbearing barrage of golden light touched the black barrier, they disappeared entirely from sight without damaging the mass as if they had been swallowed in the barriers depths.

Inside the barrier, the black-robed woman pushed forward and arrived within the boundaries of the Ninetruths Devil Suppression Formation.

The nine huge blades unanimously trembled, and suddenly clear rings filled the air with mysterious talisman characters. The huge blades quickly shank to a foot in size in the blink of an eye.

The blades then dazzlingly shined, filling the air with what seemed to be giant brilliant suns.

The woman’s expression fell solemn appeared on her calm face.

The black light barrier then increased several times in thickness and the surface became far smoother.

After a tense moment, the nine golden blades began to spin in the air as they made their way down.

With a brilliant glint, nine thin sword threads pierced the air and completely disappeared.

Suddenly, golden circles erupted from the devils’ black barrier.  Golden light magnificently shone and completely enveloped the black light in every direction.

But what was most astonishing was that everything happened in complete silent.

Han Li took advantage of this chaos to observe at the others. Seeing that everyone was focused on what was happening, an odd expression momentarily appeared on his face and he secretly slid a pouch into his sleeve.

He held his hands behind his back as golden glitters fell down his sleeve and sank into the ground. In just a moment, he had released several thousands of his Gold Devouring Beetles and had them set up in preparation, with no one having discovered him. He then felt some small relief.

Back at the scene, the black-robed woman spoke with an indifferent tone, “Collect.”

A three-meter-wide black void appeared at the center of the golden lights.

When the anomaly appeared, the light poured into it like streams to a lake and none of it remained.

Then with a soft sigh, the void trembled out of existence, revealing the two devils once again.

The woman was holding the Black Wind Flag with a single hand. When she saw the golden sabers flash again in the distance to launch another attack, she spoke in the direction of the palace with a raised brow. “Fellow Daoist Long Meng, it’s foolish to think that the Ninetruths Formation will exhaust my spiritual Qi. You should know that the Black Wind Flag is a rare spatial-type Divine Spirit Treasure. No matter how vicious the attacks may be, if they don’t have the power to tear through space, you won’t even touch me. If you are wise, then obediently come out. If you force me to charge in after you, you will not be let off lightly.”

Long Meng’s sweet laughter chimed out from the palace, “What will you do then? Could it be you’ve changed your mind and would like us to become one?”

“That’s right. In truth, I wish to fuse back our souls!” 

Long Meng scoffed, “What did you say? Devil, do you think that I’ll believe you like some naive child?”

“Of course it wouldn’t be the same as before,” the black-robed woman said indifferently, “I’ll first be placing you under a few restrictions, guaranteeing that I will be the main soul.” Then, she gently waved the flag, effortlessly creating a huge black circular void and devouring the attacks that the golden swords launched at her. However, she was forced to stop her advance for the time being to prevent any further restrictions from activating the golden sabers.”

“Are you dreaming? How could I agree to something so foolish! You think I’ll come out to have you be the main soul, after you’ve already taken hold of my body? What are you scheming? Say it!” Long Meng bewilderedly shouted.

The black-robed woman coldly explained, “Since we’ve fused souls several times, you should know the truth. Regardless if I am the master of this body, I won’t be able to display its great powers. It is only when we were fused that we were able to deal with the Deity Transformation-stage cultivator that entered. If you remain inside, you’ll be sealed by the cultivators of this world once more. It should be better to be rejoined with me.

Long Meng paused before breaking out into a sneer, “Keke, I didn’t expect that the grand commander of the Elder Devil invasion would fear a few trifling Deity Transformation cultivators. How laughable.” 

The black-robed woman calmly said, “At that time, there was a passage between the holy realm and the mortal realm, and we could regularly return to restore our devilish Qi, allowing us to use our grand abilities with wanton disregard. Times have changed, along with the world’s origin Qi. No matter how powerful I may have been, I can’t do much as I am now. I am at a loss of how to handle these fearsome Deity Transformation cultivators. Don't you feel the same? Weren't you originally a late-Deity Transformation demon from the spirit realm? Can you even use even a fraction of that power in your current state?”

“I cannot agree to your delusions of being the main soul in MY body,” Long Meng resolutely declared, “Even if you are able to escape entrapment, what difference will it make for me? You may be able to forcefully control the Black Wind Flag for some time with your devilish Qi, but you can’t even exert half its power. If you want to fuse your soul with mine, I will be the head. There is no alternative!”

When the black-robed woman heard her, malice slowly crept onto her face.

“It seems you are quite confident in the Eight Spirit Ruler and the Ninetruths Devil Suppression Formation. Since you’ve refused, it seems I’ll have to personally restrain you and draw out the power from your primal soul. Not the most effective option, but I’ll make do.”

Having finished her threat, she glanced at Han Li and muttered a few commands at the Elder Devil. The devil nodded his head in response and shot out of the perimeter of the spell formation, instantly arriving before the black teleportation formation. He motionlessly floated above it as if he were guarding it.

The cultivators inwardly cursed at this. Their original plan to stealthily slip away had collapsed.

Han Li had expected this though, so he felt more at ease than the others. But to his surprise, the Silver-winged Nightfiend and the Lion Hawk faded to smoke in a series of blurs.

Grand Immortal Xu and Lin Yinping began to converse with voice transmission, each wearing a sullen expression.

The Ye Clan Grand Elder, however, he remained silent and idle.

Han Li frowned and his gaze fell onto the white-robed scholar’s face, sensing that there was something amiss.

After investigating for a moment more, he discovered that the man was actually an illusion formed from white light. As his heart trembled, he hastily looked around for him, but to his relief, he soon spotted him.

At the same time, the black-robed woman began to resist the onslaught of golden sword-threads, then fully unfolding the Black Wind Flag and tossing it high into the air. With her hands clutched in an incantation gesture, she began to utter an extremely strange spell.

A huge explosion sounded out, followed by the appearance of a ball of black wind.

The wind wildly expanded and coiled, turning into huge tornadoes reminiscent of the pillars of heaven itself. At the same time, countless dark yellow clouds began to coalesce in the sky. Bolts of lightning leapt across the clouds and soon struck down to the ground below.

The black tornados then roared as countless wind blades condensed together, filling the entire sky with scattered sand and stone.

Blinding azure light coated his body in a dense barrier, protecting both Silvermoon and himself, but when the strange yellow winds blew past him, his protections began to violently shake like a small boat in a raging storm.

Han Li tightly shut his mouth and his complexion blanched.

Under the control of the black-robed woman, the Black Wind Flag’s fearsome power was unfolding.