Chapter 558: Suliu
Chapter 558: Suliu
As the voice trailed off, the purple light within the array also gradually faded, revealing the giant shadow to be an enormous fox with azure fur, and it was seated with its legs crossed like a human cultivator.
The azure fox had a pair of thin and long eyebrows, and there was a symbol of a purple star on its glabella. There were also three long scars that ran parallel to each other over its right eye, looking as if they had been inflicted by the claws of some type of demon beast.
The azure fox was clad in a suit of extremely beautiful azure armor, and it had six massive tails that were dragging along behind it as it looked at Nuo Qinglin with a disdainful expression.
Nuo Qinglin hurriedly extended a deep bow as he said, "My sincerest apologies, Master Suliu, but I had to call upon you as Yifan is in grave danger!"
"What?! Who dares to pick on Yifan?"
The giant azure fox was enraged to hear this, and its six tails began to flail around in a display of fury.
"Right now, Yifan is being pursued by the Sand Beast raised by the chief of the Sand Eating Tribe. At the moment, all of our warriors are busy battling against the Insect Race army, so none of us can go and rescue her," Nuo Qinglin explained in an urgent and fearful voice.
Suliu immediately turned around to scour the battlefield in search of Nuo Yifan while grumbling in a thunderous voice, "What kind of father are you, Nuo Qinglin? Yifan is my pride and joy! You won\'t get away with it if something happens to her!"
As it was speaking, its gaze settled upon a certain spot on the distant horizon, where Nuo Yifan was being pursued by the Sand Beast.
"There she is..."
Suliu\'s eyes narrowed slightly as it sprang up into the sky like a flying mountain, then flew directly toward Nuo Yifan with its six massive tails flailing through the air behind it.
Fervent looks instantly appeared on the faces of all of the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors down below at the sight of Suliu, and they began to chant its name in reverence as they charged toward the Insect Race army with renewed vigor.
Meanwhile, Nuo Yifan was frantically fleeing from the Sand Beast, and in her haste to do so, she was getting further and further away from Han Li.
Han Li\'s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but all he could do was continue to fly after her in pursuit.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out, and the cliff face that Nuo Yifan was flying toward suddenly exploded.
The Sand Beast had burrowed into the ground, and it erupted out of the remnants of the collapsed cliff face before pouncing at Nuo Yifan with its mouth wide open, having already reverted back to its original size.
Nuo Yifan was very alarmed to see this, but to her credit, she remained composed as she swung around in mid-air, then stepped onto a giant falling rock, using it as a launch pad to propel herself away from the giant Sand Beast.
However, right at this moment, a dark red vortex abruptly emerged within the Sand Beast\'s mouth, and it was releasing a burst of tremendous suction force that was far too powerful for Nuo Yifan to withstand.
As a result, she wasn\'t able to get away at all before she found herself being sucked toward the Sand Beast\'s mouth.
Right as she was about to be devoured by the Sand Beast, Han Li hurriedly made a hand seal before pointing in a finger forward, and an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword reached Nuo Yifan in the blink of an eye, catching her during her rapid fall.
The sword was glowing brightly as it sent a burst of sword Qi erupting in all directions, counteracting the suction force surging out of the Sand Beast\'s mouth. Immediately thereafter, the sword flew away into the distance, carrying Nuo Yifan on top of it.
The Sand Beast\'s mouth was closed with tremendous power, but much to its fury and frustration, it had chomped down onto nothing more than empty air.
It shrank back a little while coiling itself like a spring, then shot up into the sky like a cannonball, hurtling directly toward Nuo Yifan.
Having only just barely escaped from the jaws of death, Nuo Yifan didn\'t even get a chance to catch her breath before her demise was once again imminent.
"Don\'t be scared, Yifan, I\'ll take care of this thing!"
Right at this moment, Suliu arrived on the scene, and it sprang through the sky, leaping over Nuo Yifan to pounce onto the giant Sand Beast that was pursuing her.
The two enormous beings clashed violently in mid-air, then came tumbling down to the ground together.
Meanwhile, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords swiveled around in the sky before carrying Nuo Yifan toward Han Li.
Nuo Yifan was still looking deathly pale, and after taking a moment to compose herself, she said, "Thank you for saving my life, Senior Li. I\'ll be sure to repay you for this."
Han Li merely nodded in response while making a beckoning motion to summon his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword back to himself.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out in the distance, and both of them turned to discover that the giant Sand Beast was currently stuck under Suliu, and despite its best efforts, it was unable to free itself.
Suliu was straddled atop the Sand Beast, and its tails were wrapped around the Sand Beast like six giant azure pythons, constricting tighter and tighter to crush its prey.
At the same time, it had also released its spirit domain, but not very far, only just enough to encompass the Sand Beast.
"What\'s that?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"This is Master Suliu, the true spirit revered by our Calm Dawn Tribe. His cultivation base is comparable to that of early-High Zenith cultivators for you humans," Nuo Yifan explained.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemplative expression.
He had seen many different types of fox demons back in the Mortal Realm and the Spirit Realm, but most of them excelled in illusory and seductive techniques. It was the first time that he had seen a fox demon that possessed such immense physical prowess.
Having said that, given that the azure fox was a primordial true spirit, it had to have already been residing in the primordial land since time immemorial, so it naturally couldn\'t be compared with ordinary demons.
All of a sudden, Suliu made a grabbing motion with both hands, and a burst of black light converged to form an enormous black staff in his hands, one that was riddled with star patterns and glowing faintly.
Suliu let loose a thunderous roar, and the star patterns on the staff in his hands brightened significantly as a radiant vortex of starlight took shape on the tip of the staff before it was plunged down viciously toward the Sand Beast\'s head.
Even though the Sand Beast\'s body was temporarily immobilized, it was still able to swivel its head around, and it opened its cavernous mouth, then chomped down upon the black staff as a burst of dark red light emerged within its mouth.
A small section of the staff was plunged into the Sand Beast\'s mouth, and the starlight vortex clashed against the dark red light.
Bursts of formidable energy fluctuations erupted out of the Sand Beast\'s mouth as countless specks of starlight clashed against the vast expanse of dark red light, and it seemed that the two were evenly matched.
A hint of concern appeared in Nuo Yifan\'s eyes upon seeing this, but she knew that
"Don\'t worry, Senior Suliu\'s cultivation base is slightly superior to the Sand Beast\'s, so he\'ll be fine," Han Li consoled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a series of golden ring patterns began to emerge over the Sand Beast\'s body, and it began to swell in size, gradually forcing Suliu\'s tails apart one by one until they were no longer able to trap it.
"You\'re not getting away!" Suliu sneered, and the starry design on his glabella suddenly began to glow with dazzling radiant, while his eyes turned pitch-black, following which an image of a starry night sky appeared within them.
Immediately thereafter, the aura that was emanating from his body also became as deep and vast as the night sky.
As Han Li looked into Suliu\'s eyes, he was momentarily dazed, and for an instant, he felt as if he really were standing in the boundlessly vast night sky among the stars, waiting for a baptism of starlight.
In the next instant, all of the star patterns on Suliu\'s staff lit up in unison, making it appear as if there were a starry night sky clinging to the staff, and it was releasing bursts of peculiar energy fluctuations that didn\'t seem to belong to this world.
At the same time, a burst of blinding starlight erupted forth, and all of the energy fluctuations condensed together before descending to clash violently against the dark red light in the Sand Beast\'s mouth.
Almost at the exact same moment, the Sand Beast finally struggled free from Sului\'s tails, and a series of radiant golden rings surged up toward its head from its tail, as if it were focusing all of its power into its mouth.
The two bursts of tremendous power clashed with an earth-shattering boom, and bursts of incredibly formidable shockwaves were sent sweeping through the air in all directions. The dark red light resembled the radiance of the dying sun, and it completely exploded amid the countless specks of descending starlight.
Immediately thereafter, the Sand Beast\'s enormous body exploded into countless grains of sand, resulting in an enormous sandstorm that erupted outward with immense power, completely pulverizing all of the mountains and trees in its path.