Upon seeing the light shield reappear, the cloaked figure emitted a deep, ancient incantation. His cold, dark magical aura surged several feet, transforming into black, ink-like tendrils that swayed wildly. Han Li narrowed his eyes, gazing steadily at the figure, who remained motionless. Yet, the hands concealed within his sleeves emitted faint crackling sounds, with subtle glimmers of golden light pulsing intermittently. Against magical practitioners, Han Li had long mastered the ability to instantly eliminate opponents of the same rank—by seizing the moment between their attacks, he could strike them down decisively. Yet, in this very instant, the cloaked figure's pupils turned a vivid crimson, and a wild, beast-like roar erupted from his mouth. As his magical aura dispersed, the figure beneath the robe began to swell. Within moments, his form had grown more than double. "Hmm!" Han Li was momentarily startled. It wasn't due to the change in the figure's size, but rather the sudden vanishing of his magical aura—replaced instead by an unfamiliar, deeply unsettling presence. The black-robed man's blood-red eyes flashed with madness. His swollen form suddenly contracted, and in the blink of an eye, shrunk into a dwarf standing just three feet tall, then shot backward and struck against the rear wall. Han Li was taken aback, his mind racing, sensing an uneasy foreboding. He raised both hands, and two thick golden arcs shot forth from them, coalescing in the air into a vast golden net that surged toward the black-robed man. Immediately afterward, he shook his robe, and a small blue shield shot out from the sleeve, expanding into a massive shield that now stood before him. With the other hand, he tapped his satchel at his waist, and the seal sphere settled into his palm. Should things go wrong, he would instantly summon this sphere to break the seal and depart. Knowing the opponent had something in store, he would not hesitate to act here. As Han Li's thoughts raced, the black-robed man beneath the golden grid emitted a piercing, agonized cry—followed by a loud "thud." The entire figure suddenly burst apart, every inch of his body transforming into splatters of blood that flew and scattered in all directions. Han Li was first startled, then grew visibly puzzled. He had assumed the other person intended to perform some devastating self-explosion technique. Yet, all the blood and flesh splattered onto the outer wall, leaving him untouched—seeming to exert no real force at all. Han Li found this baffling and began to question what was happening. But then he noticed something unusual. The blood and flesh fragments adhered firmly to the opposite wall, refusing to fall, and, under the other person's gaze, began to move in a strange, writhing manner on the surface. Han Li stood speechless. A series of soft "pffft" sounds followed, and the blood and flesh suddenly transformed into dense clouds of blood mist, spreading rapidly along the wall. The speed was astonishing—within moments, half of the white light shield had turned a deep crimson, releasing a pungent, nauseating scent of blood that was intensely sharp and overpowering. Han Li was stunned and immediately hurled the sealing orb toward the back wall, slamming it hard. With a loud "thud," the orb burst into a dark, swirling glow the instant it made contact with the wall. The section of wall then flickered erratically, and the entire light shield began to tremble. Seeing this, Han Li was overjoyed and rapidly fired off ten consecutive strikes with his fingers, sending ten streaks of jade-green sword energy in rapid succession to the same spot. The white light flashed several times, and it seemed only a matter of moments before the wall would shatter. Just as he was about to rejoice, a flash of bloodlight swept across his vision, and a thick wave of blood mist surged, obscuring the wall and turning it blood red. Han Li’s heart sank suddenly. He looked around, only to realize that the entire light shield had now turned blood red, with blood mist swirling above it, forming droplets of thick, viscous blood that seemed to hover in mid-air. The scent of blood intensified immediately. Without further hesitation, he opened his mouth, and a thunderous roar followed, launching a golden arc of gold as wide as a serving bowl, which After the golden light burst, the blood mist briefly dispersed but immediately restored itself, as if untouched. This surprised Han Li greatly. The seething green bamboo-honey sword he had intended to launch momentarily halted, and a serious expression appeared on his face. At the same time, on all ten battle grounds, the opponent's self-explosion transforming the protective shield into blood-red unfolded in parallel. Ten Yuan-Stage cultivators who had participated in the wagering match found themselves unexpectedly trapped within the transformed shields. The ten Jian-Stage cultivators overseeing the array naturally sensed the gravity of the situation, remaining alert to the opposing cultivators while urgently chanting incantations to halt the array. Yet, to their surprise, as soon as the shields turned blood-red, these cultivators said nothing and immediately turned around, departing the array and flying directly back to their main base. This sudden development left the ten women named Song not only unrelieved but increasingly alarmed—clearly, the anomaly in the shields had been orchestrated by the cultivators themselves. As they had predicted, the spell was halted, yet the blood veil hovering in the air remained strangely persistent. The blood mist began to fade, and thick layers of blood coated the entire veil, as if drawing upon the blood of hundreds of people simultaneously. It looked absolutely terrifying! Witnessing this, the elders, including Zhiyang, were naturally startled. When they saw that even the ten cultivators could not stop the spell, they could no longer remain composed. Suddenly, they transformed into three brilliant streaks of light, rushing directly toward the spell's center. "Go down! This is beyond your capacity to handle," Zhiyang said, his face grim, after glancing at the now-altered light veil. The cultivators below breathed a great sigh of relief upon hearing this and swiftly flew back to their main array. The woman named Song glanced at the blood veil surrounding Han Li, briefly expressing concern, before reluctantly departing as well. The lean elder and others from the opposing faction initially showed a spark of excitement upon seeing the group of Han Li and his companions trapped. Yet now, as the three senior cultivators soared together to the magical array, their faces remain calm and composed, as if utterly unconcerned that the three might succeed in breaking through the blood barrier. Behind them, two figures in black robes had appeared without any prior notice. Not only did we have to sacrifice ten blood-bodied corpses kept in captivity for a hundred years, but to prevent the other party from suspecting anything, we specially administered the spiritual elixir to some of the corpses, and then, with ten of us—incidentally including the abbot of this sect—simultaneously employing our divided consciousness to exert control, we managed to conceal them from their detection. Having gone to such great lengths, even at the cost of parting with a strand of our divided consciousness, the abbot is fully confident. Indeed, even a late-stage Yuan-Ying cultivator would find it extremely difficult—without expending considerable spiritual energy and taking half a moment—to penetrate this protective veil. And will you give them that opportunity?" The man in black glanced coldly at the elder. With their discernment, although only one person had tested it, they could immediately judge the strength of the sealing mechanism of this strange blood veil. This peculiar veil was incredibly resilient, and there seemed to be some other oddity upon it—indeed, it proved difficult to breach. However, with this single strike, the three observers realized that the veil primarily served to immobilize its opponents rather than inflict damage. They exchanged glances and then exchanged a wry smile. They had initially expected the opponents to deploy powerful, decisive attacks during the battle to seriously injure the ten combatants. Instead, they found that the opponents' strategy was simply to temporarily encase the ten of them—something entirely unexpected. The three seasoned masters, thus, were caught off guard and somewhat underestimated the situation. Their earlier preparations had, as a result, lost much of their effectiveness. "Yi brother, what kind of magical technique is this? Among the six magical sects, have you never encountered such a method? It seems that one must first allow the individuals to self-explode before the technique can be activated. This was entirely unforeseen," Wei Wuyi sighed, asking slowly. "No, I've never seen anything so unusual before." The cultivators of Jin State truly deserve no understatement! The elder Huahuan Mago said, frowning. With their growing frustration, the three had no energy to question the others. For the cultivator army across from them had begun to drum up a steady rhythm; some cultivators rose into the air and hovered mid-flight, while those on the ground shifted positions and began chanting incantations, forming a clear offensive posture. Though the rear ranks of cultivators had witnessed the strange and unexpected scene, under the guidance of senior cultivators, they remained calm and composed. Meanwhile, other responding units began to move, and various streams of spiritual light flickered across the cultivator ranks. "This has been a significant setback for us. Fortunately, they are only temporarily held in place and none of them are in immediate danger. As long as we prolong the situation, they still have a chance to emerge. Our senior cultivators were already in greater numbers than the Mulan people. Even if we lose ten of them, we will still remain competitive." After some thought, the Master of Yang said that although he knew his words probably contained a good deal of self-consolation, given the circumstances, they could only accept them with resignation. Naturally, both the Elder of Heping and Wei Wuyi were deeply annoyed. "Then, we needn't take charge of the upcoming battle. All we need to do is hold off Master Mulan as long as possible!" The Elder of Heping, after flashing a fierce expression, said solemnly. Then, ignoring the other two, he raised his head and shouted loudly at the large army of monks across the field: "I have long heard that Master Mulan possesses heavenly-level spiritual arts that are truly profound. I, along with my two companions, would like to personally witness them. Would any of the monks be willing to step forward and fight?" The force of his shout, evidently amplified by some secret technique, struck like a thunderbolt on a clear day, causing the sky and ground over several miles to resonate with a continuous hum. At that moment, the incantations from both armies momentarily subsided. Even the celestial cultivators who had ascended to the heavens—some with relatively shallow attainments—wavered slightly, nearly losing their balance and descending.