Red light brightly shined from the center of the ice barrier and the huge pillar of flame swept all around the Ancient Flame Toad. Regardless of whether it be the ice dragons or magic treasures, they were all forcefully knocked away. The Ancient Flame Toad's silhouette could be faintly seen within the pillar of light.
The column of flame quickly dispersed, and knowing that it was trapped, the Ancient Flame Toad took advantage of this opportunity to attempt an escape. It transformed into a ball of raging flames and shot itself towards the hole it just made in the barrier.
When Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying saw this, they hastily commanded their magic treasures to block the beast from escaping the spell formation, but they were too late.
In the blink of an eye, it arrived next to the ice barrier, but then a sharp whistle erupted from the distance as soon as the toad's front legs left the barrier. The toad saw a streak of black light appear and sweep towards it. Immediately after, it felt a burning and icy sensation from its leg, suddenly discovering that a large portion of it was missing.
The flame toad trembled for a moment before roaring with unbearable pain. Despite the beast's powerful abilities, it became overwhelmed by pain and promptly fell from the sky.
Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying rejoiced at the sight of this and immediately commanded their treasures to surround the flame toad and unleash a flurry of attacks.
The dark-green ring blurred several times and transformed into several hundred phantoms, revolving around the flame toad in an attempt to restrain it. As for the twin blue halberds, they turned into twenty-meter-long ice pythons in a flash of blue light before pouncing at the toad.
Showing itself to be a great beast deserving the fear from Master Cang Kun in the past, it showed no sign of being affected from having a missing limb and condensed a dense layer of small light shields around its body in preparation to receive the attacks.
The green ring phantoms were incapable of growing any closer to the flame toad's body and restraining it. They were only able to strike at the light shields to little effect. As for the two ice pythons, they were able to restrain the fire element light shields with their own ice attribute attacks. With each pounce, they smashed another light shield, but the number of shields seemed endless and the attacks had little effect.
But six beams of blue light soon joined the barrage of attacks, shattering the light shields with flashes of light. With a loud rumble, the ancient flame toad was overwhelmed despite its attempts to resist.
When Marquis Nanlong saw this, he looked to the side in surprise, spotting Han Li who had appeared nearby at an unknown time. Han Li had his arm raised, black Qi scattering from it. Behind him, there were six tortoise puppets that were each emitting bowl-thick beams of light that were striking the flame toad.
Han Li turned his eyes to glance at the flame toad's severed limb that fell outside the ice barrier. Although it was separated from its body, it still glowed with red light and floated near the ice barrier as if it still possessed spiritual power.
When Han Li saw this, his eyes betrayed a trace of astonishment.
A moment ago when Han Li saw that the flame toad was about to escape from the ice barrier, he unleashed the Yin Devil Execution in a moment of desperation. However, he didn't expect that the flame toad would still be so tenacious and fierce after it fell. It was still able to endure even under the attacks of two Nascent Soul cultivators and six of his puppets. It was no wonder why Master Cang Kun didn't dare to fight it while he was weakened.
Lu Weiying shouted, "Fellow Daoist Han, those fire-attribute shields surrounding his body are endless! I fear we will need you to restrain it with your ice-attribute ability or it will take too much time." The light shields shattered into mist as soon as they were destroyed and after only a brief delay, the mist was sucked back into the toad's body and the light shields reappeared. It was no wonder why Lu Weiying's voice sounded apprehensive.
Even without Lu Weiying pointing this out, Han Li knew what had to be done. With a wave of his sleeve, over ten sparkling golden swords flew out from his sleeve. The swords revolved around him once before condensing into a three-meter-long sword that glistened with golden light and released a chilling aura.
Lu Weiying and Marquis Nanlong were puzzled upon seeing this. They had expected him to use that fearsome blue flame to deal with the flame toad, not unleash some flying swords.
With the huge sword materialized, Han Li expressionlessly waved his hand. In a flash of golden light, the huge sword flew in front of Han Li. Then with breath, he blew a sliver of blue flame onto the huge sword, covering it in a layer of raging blue flame.
He hesitated and then clapped his hands together before casting a spell seal, drawing out the Divine Devilbane Lightning from the sword. Thunder roared, raising countless thin arcs of flickering golden lightning from underneath the blue flames on the sword.
A cold glint appeared from Han Li's eyes. As he pointed down at the flame toad, Han Li commanded, "Go."
The air rumbled before the sword cleaved towards the flame toad in a streak of gold.
After a series of violent but ineffective attacks, Marquis Nanlong's and Lu Weiying's pressure had begun to weaken, granting the flame toad an opportunity to catch its breath. Fire-red spiritual light pulsing from its body, it began to wildly expand as if attempting to break through the barrier with another attack.
In the blink of an eye, the huge golden sword arrived at the flame toad's head, striking down as it left of thunder in its wake.
The flame toad stared at the golden sword dropping towards it with green eyes and sensed that the sword posed a massive threat to it. Unable to continue expanding its stomach, it strangely croaked and spat out a sparkling scarlet fireball to meet the golden sword's attack.
The fireball was only the size of a fist, but it was smooth and flickered with red light as if it were a huge pearl made of flame. As soon as it appeared, the air within the ice barrier became scorching hot.
"Demon core? It can't be! It isn't material." Han Li was initially frightened when he saw this, but was relieved to discover it wasn't a genuine demon core. After all, the flame toad should be too afraid of the consequences of actually using it.
Han Li continued the command, urging the golden sword to chop down at the fireball without any hesitation. With their enhanced sharpness and the might of their condensed numbers, Han Li believed the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords should be able to slice through it despite how odd the fireball appeared.
With a bang, an astonishing scene occurred. As golden and fiery red light intertwined, the huge sword was only able to penetrate halfway through the fireball before the sword was forcefully blocked.
What appeared to be contempt appeared in the flame toad's eyes and it howled, rupturing the half-cut fireball.
A large expanse of the scarlet light spread out before instantly condensing into a six meter long red python. It leaped up and suddenly coiled around the huge sword, holding it in a rigid grip and restraining it.
Han Li was initially stunned, but he soon smirked. With his hands in an incantation seal, he pointed to the huge sword and it wildly flashed with golden light. Soon, arcs of lightning began to appear on the surface of the sword and they all struck the light python that was wrapped around the sword, forcefully repelling it.
The huge sword took advantage of this opportunity to disappear with a tremble. A moment later, it made a reappearance above the Ancient Flame Toad and struck down as blue flames surged from the sword's surface.
Under the sword strike, the shields of light surrounding the flame toad were thoroughly frozen by the blue icy flames that surged from the huge sword and shattered.
In a single breath, over ten of the small shields were shattered and the huge sword continued downward, fiercely chopping down at the ancient toad's head.
The flame toad didn't expect the situation to take such a dire turn. In its last attack, it had unleashed a fireball that condensed its body's essence flame, and without the chance to catch its breath, the huge sword had shattered its defenses and was cutting towards its head. Fear filled its eyes.
Helpless, the flame toad could only open his mouth and launch its jet-black tongue from its mouth with a swoosh. At that same moment, it crouched on its hind legs, ready to leap.
If it were an ordinary treasure blade, the beast's action would've had an effect. After all, its tongue was incredibly durable and would be able to block common magic treasures without much effort. However, the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been refined with Auric Essence and were far sharper than ordinary flying swords. As soon as the tongue touched the sword, it was cleaved through in a flash of golden light while the sword continued its descent.
Slash. Just as the Ancient Flame Toad leaped up three meters, its huge head spun as it flew off its body. Additionally, the light shields surrounding the toad soon scattered into ashes.
When Lu Weiying saw this, he shouted with delight, "It's done!"
Marquis Nanlong sighed and wore a smile. He then held his hands in an incantation gesture and walked towards the ice barrier.
"Wait a moment!" Han Li coldly shouted, stopping Marquis Nanlong from deactivating the ice barrier.
"What is it, Brother Han?" Marquis Nanlong wore a bewildered expression and unconsciously placed his hand on his storage pouch. Lu Weiying also glanced at Han Li, his face revealing a trace of vigilance.
Han Li turned a blind eye to their actions and calmly said, "It's only that I've yet to confirm that the flame toad is truly dead. Please don't be too hasty Brother Nanlong."
"What? The flame toad is still alive?" Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying were shocked to hear this and hastily glanced down toward the ice barrier. They discovered that there was something strange about the flame toad. Its severed head and body were still glowing with light and floating in the air.