Entering the Formation

“Scram!” Emperor Yue’s voice rang out, dark and sinister.

A mass of blood light whirled around the group of puppets in a flash. Then, with a long howl, he trailed afterimages as he gave chase to Han Li and the others, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Moments later, the motionless puppets suddenly shattered, their pieces raining down from the air. They had all been dismembered; not a single one remained intact.

Han Li, who had already arrived above the grand formation he had set up, sensed the scene crystal clear through his split divine sense. Regret flickered within him, but without the slightest hesitation, he called for the others and plunged straight down into the bamboo grove below.

Just as Han Li and the others’ figures descended, Emperor Yue, who had been slightly delayed by the puppets, shot after them like a bolt of lightning. Naturally, he saw Han Li diving into the bamboo grove with perfect clarity. Surprised and confused, he was nonetheless overjoyed at heart.

Arriving above the bamboo grove and seeing no intention from Han Li and his group to come out, Emperor Yue let out a sinister laugh. He tossed his hands, and a small piece of his blood-red protective light split off from his body.

With a pfft, the mass of blood light flickered and shot toward the bamboo grove below. As it traveled, it swelled in the wind, growing enormous in an instant, covering the entire sky above the grove. It cast an eerie, red glow over everything below.

Seeing the blood light silently invade the wild bamboo grove, Emperor Yue revealed a hint of smug satisfaction. As long as his protective demonic light firmly trapped this stretch of bamboo, he could activate another secret technique and dissolve everything inside without a trace. This enemy had walked right into a death trap; he could hardly be blamed for ruthless methods.

He flicked his fingers rapidly in a blur of motion, forming hand seals to activate the secret technique. But at that moment, a layer of azure-and-white light curtain suddenly emerged from within the bamboo grove below, easily holding up the slowly descending, massive blood light. Emperor Yue was stunned, and his expression turned cold.

“As expected, this group fled here with a plan. They actually set up a formation!” Emperor Yue thought, somewhat irritated.

“But it’s nothing serious. What kind of powerful formation could they have set up in such haste? At worst, I’ll just refine both the formation and them together! There’s no way I’m letting these few escape the Imperial City.” He thought viciously.

Having made up his mind, he mercilessly began forming hand seals, immediately activating the secret technique.

The blood-colored radiance, which had been pushed back, emitted a blinding light and sank downward, halting its ascent.

But Emperor Yue wasn’t finished. He lightly traced a line across his own body with his finger. Another mass of blood light, no smaller than the first, shot downward, merging into the sea of blood light below in an instant.

The entire blood-colored light screen became three parts more vivid, and even a faint, nauseating stench of blood wafted out, making anyone who smelled it want to vomit!

Seeing this, Emperor Yue, who was driving the secret technique, revealed a hint of cruel satisfaction. He flicked his ten fingers rapidly, sending streams of various-colored spell seals shooting down to merge into the blood light.

The blood screen began to churn violently with the infusion of spell seals. It suddenly surged in all directions, wrapping the entire bamboo grove within it. The deep-red blood light pressed down heavily, but the azure-white light within was still struggling desperately, seeming as if it would be submerged at any moment.

Only then did Emperor Yue completely relax.

To him, destroying Han Li and the others was only a matter of time now. These few were trapped and could not escape. However, the matter of cleaning up the aftermath was quite troublesome.

“It seems my position as Emperor of Yue is finished. I’ll have to go into hiding and start over from scratch.” Emperor Yue thought, somewhat regretfully.

While Emperor Yue was considering his escape route in the air, Song Meng and the others inside the bamboo grove were beside themselves with fear.

They had heard Han Li’s voice transmission telling them to follow closely when he retreated, and that their lives would be spared. Trusting in Han Li’s strength, they had all done as he said without a second thought. But they never imagined they would end up in this strange bamboo grove, trapped in a dead end.

Although this bamboo grove seemed to have a protective formation set up within it, the four sides were now completely sealed off by the enemy’s blood light. The formation was already on the verge of collapse, with the danger of both the formation and themselves being destroyed imminent. How could these people not be shocked and furious!

“Junior Brother Han, is this the last resort you kept in reserve?” Song Meng asked, a look of disbelief in his muttering.

“Yes, is there a problem?” Han Li replied flatly without turning his head, gazing up at the situation above.

Song Meng’s face turned deathly pale in an instant. Zhong Weiniang and Chen Qiaoqian’s senior brother, who had lost his cultivation partner, didn’t look much better.

Only Chen Qiaoqian looked at Han Li’s impassive face, a flicker of thoughtful, unusual light passing through her eyes.

“Han Li, if you have other methods, just say them. Don’t keep us in the dark! I believe with your skills, you couldn’t have only prepared this one last resort.” Chen Qiaoqian suddenly spoke calmly.

Hearing this, the other three were stunned. Then their spirits lifted as they looked towards Han Li. They all felt that, given the meticulous thinking Han Li had shown when facing the enemy earlier, it was indeed impossible for him to have made such a foolish move.

Hearing this, Han Li lowered his head in slight surprise and gave a faint, calm smile.

“Don’t worry. Since I brought you all here, I have a plan.” He said calmly. He then reached into his storage pouch and pulled out a small, azure-purple banner. The banner’s surface was covered in dense symbols and incantations, marking it as no ordinary magical tool.

“A formation banner?” Zhong Weiniang cried out in surprise.

Formation disks and formation banners were indeed rarely seen in the State of Yue.

“Senior Sister has a keen eye.” Han Li lightly praised the Seventh Senior Sister, tacitly confirming her guess.

This greatly surprised Song Meng and the others, and their confidence rose slightly. It seemed this Junior Brother Han indeed had other preparations.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Han Li placed the small banner between his hands and gently rubbed them together. The delicate formation banner instantly swelled several times in size, its surface faintly emitting an azure-purple light.

Holding the formation banner flat in his palms, Han Li muttered a few incantation phrases under his breath and then loudly spat out a single word: “Go!”

With a whoosh, the azure-purple formation banner shot off on its own toward one direction, disappearing from sight.

Then Han Li, one after another, took out three other identical formation banners from his storage pouch. Using the same technique, they all shot off in different directions and vanished.

After doing all this, Han Li gave the sky a cold glance. Another object appeared in his hand—an apricot-yellow formation disk.

This formation disk was dim and unremarkable. But Han Li held it solemnly, raising it level with both hands above his head, then gave it a light shake.

A thick beam of yellow light shot up into the sky, striking straight toward the azure-white light barrier.

At almost the same moment, from the other four directions, beams of golden, azure, red, and blue light also flew out, all merging into the barrier above.

The azure-white light curtain, which had been on the verge of collapse, immediately stabilized upon absorbing these five-colored light beams. A faint sound of tidal waves came from it.

This sound started small and slow, then grew louder and faster, becoming more and more frequent. Gradually, it was like an endless peal of thunder rolling across the sky, shaking the soul and leaving one unable to control oneself.

The azure-white light screen protecting the forest actually changed color along with the rising sound, transforming into a five-colored glow. No matter how the red light outside shook and charged, this glow stood firm like a reef amidst raging waves, completely motionless.

Seeing this, Song Meng and the others put their hearts at ease. They realized that the formation Han Li had set up was far from simple, and it looked like their lives were absolutely safe.

Emperor Yue, watching this unexpected transformation from above and having failed to break the colorful light below after several activations of his demonic arts, sensed that things had gone wrong.

A flicker of hesitation crossed his face beneath his icy mask. Frowning, he suddenly stamped his foot and gestured with his hand. The blood light below all flew back to him like a river reversing its flow, growing smaller as it returned. Then, without a second thought, he turned, transforming into a mass of blood light and fleeing into the sky. His speed was such that even Han Li would have felt inferior.

However, the man left as quickly as he returned. After flying in a circle through the sky for some unknown reason, he was right back where he started.

An expression of disbelief appeared on his face. He flew away seven or eight more times, but each time, he only got a few dozen zhang away before he obediently circled in the sky and returned to his starting point. The shock and doubt on Emperor Yue’s face then turned into panic.

Seeing this scene, Han Li let out a cold sneer, while Song Meng and the others watched in stunned, open-mouthed silence. Zhong Weiniang clenched her fists in a mix of joy and surprise, unaware that her long fingernails had cut a long gash into her skin, from which blood was flowing freely.

Chen Qiaoqian’s surprised expression also contained a much more complex look.

Han Li didn’t have the time to explain the mysteries of the Reversed Five Elements Formation to these people. Instead, he raised his hand, releasing the White Phosphorus Shield and the Turtle Shell magical tool, which began to circle around him. His voice was heavy as he spoke:

“Everyone, if you have any Talisman Treasures, now is the time to activate them. We’ll make a combined attack and kill this man! Since he’s caught in this grand formation, he won’t be able to escape for at least a short time!”

Han Li said these words with extreme confidence!

(The author had family matters to attend to during the day, so I could only update one chapter tonight. I ask for your understanding!)