The Battle at the Border (2)

The shriveled old man bluntly said, “It seems there is no point in speaking further. Since you have no room for negotiation, we can only fight to the death. But before that, let’s have the battle of wagers. We will send people to set up restrictions! Regardless of the outcome, we will immediately go all out once the wagered battles is over.”

He probably knew that at this point, convincing the three great cultivators to give in was simply wishful thinking.

Devil Concord stared at the old man and sneered, “Of course, but what about the captives you promised? If we don’t see them, hehe…”

The old man faltered slightly upon hearing this, but after a moment of thought, he sent a voice transmission behind him.

Immediately, the spell warriors behind him surged.

Over 1,000 unarmed cultivators, who had nothing except their clothes, were pushed out of the formation.

As soon as these cultivators arrived in front of the formation, they all had different expressions on their faces. Some of them were red in the face, while others were glaring angrily at the spell warriors.

There was also a slight commotion in the opposing cultivator army.

These captured cultivators were naturally recognized by many of their fellow sect members.

When Master Sunreach and the others saw this, they glanced at each other before nodding with relaxed expressions.

“How is it? Now that you’ve seen them, you should be at ease, right? Hurry up and start the wagered battle!” The shorty named Bi among the Moulan Divine Sages was getting impatient.

“Why are you in such a hurry? Could it be that you’re planning to do something to this wagered battle?” Wei Wuya asked.

The short man’s expression changed and he threatened, “If you don’t dare to fight, we’ll use these cultivators as sacrifices. What do you think?”

A cold glint flashed through Wei Wuya’s eyes as he snapped, “You’re threatening us!”

The shriveled old man’s expression remained unchanged, but his voice became a bit sinister, “There is no need to threaten you. However, if you are unwilling to participate in the wagered battle, we will have no use for them. We can use them to raise morale.”

When Master Sunreach heard this, his brow stirred and he slowly said, “If you want a wagered battle, then so be it. Release these captives and we will agree to the wagered battle.”

“Release them? Do you think we would do such a foolish thing?” The short man bluntly said.

“But we don’t trust you either! What if you don’t keep your promise after the wagered battle ends?” Wei Wuya asked indifferently.

“Even so, we…”

Before the short man could say anything else, a fierce light flashed from the old man’s eyes and he quickly said, “Enough. There is no need to say such useless words. Before the wager battle, we can release half of the captives. The rest will depend on whether you win or lose. You don’t have any objections, right? If that doesn’t work, you can go back and start the war.”

Master Sunreach transmitted a few words to the other two before decisively agreeing, “Alright, we’ll do as you say. Release the hostages and we’ll set up the restrictions.”

This condition was the greatest concession the other party could make. If this matter were to be resolved, they wouldn’t be able to answer to the cultivators behind them.

After the conditions were settled, the six of them returned to their respective camps and made their arrangements.

Han Li had already left his original seat and was hiding in a group of cultivators. Before the wagered battle began, he did not want to be noticed by the high-grade spell warriors.

The conversation between Master Sunreach and the three Divine Sages of Moulan was clearly heard by Han Li with his powerful spiritual sense.

As a result, Han Li’s lips curled into a smile. A portion of the cultivators that were pushed out were released from the spell warriors’ restrictions, and they flew to the opposite side with pleasant surprise.

However, it was clear that Master Sunreach had already made arrangements.

Before these cultivators could fly into the army, several hundred cultivators had already come out to welcome them. After carefully inspecting these rescued cultivators and confirming that there were no spies among them and that the enemy hadn’t done anything to them, they allowed them to enter the ranks of cultivators with ease.

When Shorty Bi saw this from afar, he coldly snorted and unwillingly said, “These fellows from the Heavenly South are truly careful. Fortunately, I didn’t allow these cultivators to consume the Heart Loss Pill. Otherwise, it would’ve been difficult for them to pass.”

The scholar surnamed Zhong agreed, “Of course! The three great cultivators of the Heavenly South aren’t easy to deal with. It is best not to play these small tricks. If you want to strike a snake, strike it at its weakest point! Otherwise, it will be self-defeating.”

When the shriveled old man heard this, his face remained completely expressionless. He merely stroked his sparse goatee and looked at the army of cultivators in front of him.

As Han Li watched from afar, a group of cultivators and spell warriors flew out from their respective camps. Then, in the middle of the two armies, they split into ten locations and began to set up formations.

These people were all spell warriors who were proficient in spell formations. Although the restriction barriers and spell formations they wanted to set up were exceptionally powerful, they were not unorthodox spell formations. Hence, with these people’s attainments in spell formations, it was naturally obvious at a glance if they were up to no good.

Under normal circumstances, this type of restriction would take a long time to set up, but with so many formation masters taking action at the same time and the assistance of all sorts of precious materials and formation plates and flags that had already been refined, it only took fifteen minutes for ten small formations to be established.

Immediately thereafter, the spell formation masters of both sides activated their spell formations, and ten white barriers of light that covered an area of 700 to 800 feet appeared between the two formations.

These formation masters inspected the area once more and left after confirming that there were no problems. Ten Core Formation cultivators and spell warriors walked up at the same time.

It just so happened that each cultivator and a spell warrior were supervising the operation of a spell formation.

One of the Heavenly South cultivators was the Drifting Cloud Sect’s woman surnamed Song. Her white robes fluttered as she walked to the second last spell formation.

Seeing this, Han Li did not show any surprise.

The woman walked in front of the spell formation, which meant that he was going to fight in that formation. After all, only the disciples of their own sect would be able to make these old eccentrics feel at ease.

Otherwise, if the cultivator they sent was a disciple of an opposing sect and the watcher didn’t rescue them in the face of danger, or if they weren’t willing to do their utmost, that would be extremely unfortunate.

Thus, Han Li was the one who suggested the appearance of the woman surnamed Song. After all, he did not know much about the other Drifting Cloud Sect disciples.

Now that the grand formation had been formed, the participants of the wagered battle would naturally enter the arena.

From the opposing spell warrior camp, ten black-robed figures flew out first. These people were all emitting gloomy auras and astonishing devilish Qi.

“Devil cultivators!”

Han Li’s pupils constricted as he muttered to himself. However, his body flashed with azure light as he turned into a streak of azure light and flew out of the cultivators’ camp.

There were nine other Nascent Soul old monsters who did the same. Han Li had already seen most of them, but two or three of them had unfamiliar faces.

Daoist Shattered Soul, Old Devil Cloud Dew, and the woman surnamed Bai were among them.

These people flew in front of their corresponding formations and slowly stopped in the air.

As soon as Han Li arrived above the light barrier, he nodded at the woman surnamed Song, who was controlling the magic formation, and then calmly looked at the black-robed man opposite him.

“It’s a little strange! Why is the demonic Qi on his body so violent? Could it be that he has taken a domineering elixir similar to the ‘Evil Returning Pill’ beforehand?” Han Li’s expression did not change, but he was secretly thinking.

If that was all, he wouldn’t have anything to fear.

The black-robed man opposite him had an ordinary figure, but his eyes flashed with a cold green light as he stared at Han Li without blinking.

Although Han Li couldn’t see the other party’s face clearly, the guy was indeed a Nascent Soul cultivator. His cultivation was already at the peak of the early-Nascent Soul Stage, and he hadn’t advanced to the mid-Nascent Soul Stage yet.

After checking his opponent, Han Li turned his gaze and glanced at the other black-robed devil cultivators nearby. They seemed to be similar to his opponents. Even if there were differences, there was not much.

Han Li’s heart stirred and he became vigilant.

It seemed that there was really something wrong with this wagered battle. These devil cultivators actually didn’t have a single mid-Nascent Soul cultivator! However, it didn’t matter. As long as the other party used a devilish technique, he would immediately use his Divine Devilbane Lightning to instantly kill the other party. No matter what tricks the other party had, it would be useless.

In the blink of an eye, Han Li’s killing intent was ignited and he had already made up his mind.

At this moment, the black-robed cultivator opposite him suddenly took out a storage bag from his waist and looked at Han Li emotionlessly.

Han Li smiled and also took off a storage bag filled with gambling materials.

The materials in the bag were gathered together by the four major powers of the Heavenly South Region. The value was so great that even Han Li was somewhat envious.

The black-robed man raised his hand and tossed the bag over.

Han Li narrowed his eyes and threw out the storage pouches in his hand, exchanging them with one another.

The materials in the other party’s storage pouch weren’t as varied as the materials in his storage pouch, but in terms of rare value, they were superior. This was similar to what was stated in the challenge letter.

Han Li nodded and did not return the materials. Instead, he put the storage pouch on his waist.

The black-robed man did the same.

When Cultivator Song and the spell warrior saw this, they chanted an incantation at the same time and began to form hand seals.

After both of the seals struck the spell formation, the white light barrier flickered several times before disappearing.

Han Li and the black-robed man’s movements were almost the same. In a flash, the two of them appeared in the formation at the same time.

This caused the two to look at each other with surprise.

The white barrier appeared once more, isolating the two from the outside world.

The other cultivators and the black-robed man also entered the light barrier in pairs.

For a time, the army of spell warriors and cultivators watching the battle from afar fell silent. Everyone held their breaths as they nervously looked at the ten blurry pairs of figures within the light barrier.

After entering the light barrier, Han Li no longer paid attention to the battles of the others. He only calmly looked at the black-robed man opposite him and did not move. However, the azure light circulating on his body gradually became more vigorous, and the flying swords in his body also trembled one after another, ready to fly out and injure the enemy at any time.

Of course, in the face of a devil cultivator, his most powerful magic treasure, the Divine Devilbane Lightning, had already converged into a fist-sized golden ball of light. In Han Li’s Dantian, his Nascent Soul was smiling and hugging it with both hands, ready to launch an earth-shattering attack at any time.