"Begin the spell!" Feng Sanniang shouted loudly, waving the large blue flag in her hand. Blue ripples rippled outward from it.
Upon hearing her words, the others also silently waved their formation flags. In an instant, blue radiance enveloped everyone within it, then flickered a few times, and the group vanished without a trace, completely concealing their presence.
Looking toward this location from a distance, all that could be seen was the empty sea surface, with nothing else in sight.
After a moment, two streaks of rainbow light flew to this spot, not pausing as they swiftly passed overhead, appearing to be fleeing for their lives.
The white mist behind them, without any suspicion, plunged straight into this area.
But just as the white mist entered the formation's range, the surrounding blue haze of light surged up, and a massive blue barrier appeared out of thin air, trapping it within.
At this moment, Feng Sanniang, Qu Hun, and the others revealed their forms one by one around the perimeter.
They raised the blue formation flags in their hands simultaneously, pointing them at the barrier, shooting out six pillars of blue light as thick as bowls, continuously pouring them into the massive barrier, making it shine with an increasingly dazzling deep blue.
The yellow and golden rainbow lights ahead, seeing this scene, immediately turned without hesitation and flew directly to the position above the barrier.
After the light dissipated, it revealed Elder Miao and a burly man with disheveled hair.
"Good, well done! Now you must hold the line against this beast's counterattack, and let us two use the borrowed extraordinary treasure to subdue this monster!" Elder Miao said with a delighted expression.
Then he and Elder Gu exchanged a glance, simultaneously reaching into their bosoms to retrieve an item each. They were a pair of ancient bronze halberds, tarnished and unremarkable in appearance.
The two Six Harmony Hall elders, both at the Core Formation stage, wore solemn expressions as they chanted mysterious incantations. The halberds in their hands actually floated into the air, emitting a yellow glow that grew increasingly bright.
At this time, the Infant Carp Beast trapped within the barrier seemed to realize its predicament. After a series of wretched infant-like cries, the hundred-zhang white mist suddenly contracted toward the center, shrinking in an instant to only ten-odd zhang in size, forming a milky-white mist barrier.
Simultaneously, the thunderous sounds within the mist gradually merged together like ten thousand galloping horses, deafening the cultivators stationed around the formation until their ears buzzed with a constant ringing, causing everyone inward alarm.
Suddenly, the infant's cries came to an abrupt halt!
Then countless fist-sized blue orbs of light densely shot out from the white mist, aggressively striking toward the blue barrier. Their fierce momentum made everyone's hearts tighten!
When they were about ten-odd zhang away from the barrier, a vast expanse of azure radiance emerged. Part of the orbs vanished in a flash within the azure light, then reappeared directly above the white mist, smashing down fiercely. This portion of the attack had been reflected back by the formation.
But the orbs were simply too numerous. The majority still struck the blue barrier wall.
Immediately, both the blue barrier and the white mist erupted with rumbling, blindingly white light, but the white light within the mist vanished in a flash. On the barrier side, the entire wall trembled, with blue and white lights interweaving and flickering, appearing on the verge of collapse.
"Fellow Daoists, increase your magical power quickly! This is the Water Celestial Thunder, one of the Infant Carp Beast's three killing techniques—it won't last long. Just hold out for a little while and we'll be able to weather it!" Feng Sanniang cried out with a dramatically changed expression, then took the lead in chanting several incantations. She opened her mouth and sprayed a mouthful of essence blood onto the formation flag in her hand. The blue light blazed intensely, and the bowl-thick pillar of light immediately thickened several times over, stabilizing the barrier before them somewhat.
The other five, seeing this, had no choice but to also cast their spells, mobilizing all their magical power to forcibly support the great formation.
Behind Qu Hun, Han Li was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that just engaging this Infant Carp Beast would require such desperate measures so quickly.
This demonic beast was truly terrifyingly powerful!
Above the formation, the two bronze halberds before the Core Formation cultivators began their transformation. Amid solemn and mysterious incantations, the two yellow-glowing halberds grew inch by inch to enormous proportions, and their tips gradually pointed downward, aiming directly at the center of the white mist below.
The Infant Carp Beast in the white mist seemed to sense the danger from above and suddenly emitted a piercing shriek from within the mist.
Then the white mist began to rotate slowly, its speed increasing moment by moment. After a short while, it transformed into a massive whirlwind, stirring up colossal waves. And mixed within these monstrous waves were flecks of blue light—those extremely dangerous Water Celestial Thunders.
Qing Suanzi and the others, witnessing the terrifying transformation before them, couldn't help but glance nervously at Feng Sanniang, but she wore the same expression of terror, seemingly ignorant of what astonishing magical technique the Infant Carp Beast was deploying.
Seeing this, Han Li's expression darkened as he urgently mentally instructed Qu Hun to further increase the output of magical power by overexerting himself.
Though he didn't know what ability the Infant Carp Beast was using, it was clear the demonic beast was about to launch a desperate final strike.
With this thought, Han Li couldn't help but look up toward the sky. He saw that the two halberds had already grown to seven or eight zhang in size each, emitting a faint, pleasant ringing sound.
The two Core Formation elders formed a strange hand seal, staring intently at the giant halberds, their incantations never pausing, their expressions extremely tense, with beads of hot sweat faintly forming on their foreheads.
The middle-aged scholar and his companion's faces suddenly changed dramatically, almost drained of blood.
Because this terrifying offensive was aimed directly at the formation gate they were defending, leaving him inwardly cursing his misfortune.
Left with no choice, he gritted his teeth, and his entire body erupted with interwoven yellow and blue light, enveloping himself completely in a blindingly bright glow.
Then he gripped the formation flag with both hands, channeling all his spiritual power into the flagpole, which transformed into a tremendously thick pillar of light shooting from the tip of the flag. It struck directly at the oncoming colossal wave, momentarily slowing its advance before it crashed into the barrier.
Thunder, cracking sounds, and cries of alarm came simultaneously.
The barrier held for only a brief moment before collapsing with a mournful wail.
Qu Hun and several other cultivators maintaining the great formation changed their expressions in unison, each spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Almost at the same moment he spat blood, the middle-aged scholar, without a word, grabbed his companion beside him, and the two immediately fled to a spot dozens of zhang away.
Just as the great formation broke and Feng Sanniang and the others stood pale-faced, a roar came from above.
"Demon, die quickly!"
As soon as the voice fell, two massive streaks of yellow light flashed in the sky like terrifying thunder and lightning, then plunged downward into the monstrous whirlwind.
The infant's wretched cries rose sharply, and the sea surface immediately calmed.
At the same time, the mist gradually dissipated, revealing the true form of the Infant Carp Beast hidden within. The two bronze halberds, restored to their original form, were pinning it to the sea surface in a cross formation, still glowing with yellow light.
Han Li quickly had Qu Hun retrieve a mid-grade spirit stone to recover magical power, then focused his gaze downward.
The so-called "Infant Carp Beast" was truly extremely peculiar.
With the face of an infant not yet a year old, a blue carp's body and tail, and four pale human hands growing beneath its body, along with two enormous fins that resembled wings.
But the most peculiar thing was that each of its four human hands held a different object: a giant red crab claw, a coral branch several feet long, a white pearl the size of an egg, and a silver clamshell that resembled a shield.
All of these objects gleamed brightly, clearly treasures.
At this moment, the Infant Carp Beast's infant head bore an expression of pain as it continuously screeched, revealing sharp, pointed teeth that sent chills down Han Li's spine.
Meanwhile, its foot-long carp body thrashed its tail and writhed about, clearly trying to escape from beneath the two bronze halberds.
But these two bronze halberds seemed to be the natural bane of this demonic beast. No matter how it struggled, it remained firmly pinned to the water's surface, unmoving, as if completely at their mercy.
The two Six Harmony Hall elders who released the bronze halberds looked no better than Han Li and the others, their faces showing deep exhaustion. Clearly, deploying these two extraordinary treasures had somewhat depleted their vitality, yet they still flew downward with expressions of wild joy.
The middle-aged scholar, Qing Suanzi, and the others gazed at the restrained Infant Carp Beast, unable to conceal their greedy expressions.
But upon seeing Feng Sanniang watching them with hawk-like vigilance, they suppressed their other thoughts, left with nothing but to swallow dryly as they watched the two elders eliminate the beast and claim the treasures.
Just as the two Core Formation cultivators eagerly flew to within twenty or thirty zhang of the Infant Carp Beast, suddenly a pitch-black wind swept up from the sea beneath it, instantly freezing hundreds of zhang of sea surface along with the Infant Carp Beast into a white, crystalline ice sculpture. And it didn't stop there—it surged into the sky, hurtling fiercely toward the two Core Formation cultivators.
Han Li and the others were stunned!