As he pondered, Li Ling sensed a faint threat approaching.
There seemed to be a whiff of conspiracy.
He had no time to think further. Swiftly evading his opponent's attack, he drew an octagonal treasure mirror set in a purple-gold frame from his robes.
"Strike!"
Red radiance swirled across the Soul-Seizing Mirror, and a beam of scarlet bloodlight struck his opponent.
The great demon stiffened instantly, as though electrocuted by that single shot.
A moment later, he regained his clarity and freedom of movement, but Li Ling's figure had already dissolved into incense fragrance, drifting through the air in silken wisps.
Invisible, immense force surged in from every direction. The Heaven-and-Earth Borrowing Art gathered vast righteous energy, manifesting the figure of a gentle, refined young Daoist clad in a Dark Teal Daoist Robe.
The great demon held a long spear refined from bone spikes. With a sweep of his arm, it shot forth like divine light.
Origin energy surged, and the spear passed straight through the young Daoist. Amid a thunderous boom, towering waves erupted across the sea behind him.
The demon narrowed his eyes slightly, a trace of confusion and surprise crossing his face.
This was the incense deity of the Spirit-Communing Incense. It had no physical body at all!
The Heaven-and-Earth Origin Energy surrounding the incense deity provided the foundation for its borrowed, manifested form. The gang wind carried some away, but the loss was slight, and its form remained stable.
With a thought, Li Ling sent the incense deity soaring high, evading the great demon's follow-up attacks. It then swept its long sleeve, and spheres of profound water light, each about a foot across, appeared out of thin air.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Wind and thunder howled as the spheres crashed down. The watery orbs fell like