Not only did Li Hongjiu show no intention of going up, he looked up at them with his trademark brilliant smile and slowly fished the wine flask from his waist.
Bastard! The Treasure-Evolving Sect disciples were so anxious they wanted to curse his mother.
Guang Haoyou glanced at the enormous swarm of Fire Bats hurtling toward them. Realizing they had run out of time, he steeled himself and shouted, "Go down! Drag him away!"
The Wind Scales on his side immediately withdrew, and all five drifted down, surrounding Li Hongjiu in a semicircle.
Guang Haoyou's face twisted as he said through gritted teeth, "Martial Uncle, forgive us. Please pardon our disrespect." He waved a hand. "Carry him away!"
His meaning was clear: when they treated him with respect, he was their Martial Uncle. Without that respect, they would show him no courtesy.
The other four immediately reached out together to seize him.
Li Hongjiu tipped his head back and drank, a few drops of wine dripping from the corner of his mouth. He leisurely raised his Twin-Finger Mudra before his chest and abdomen to catch them. The drops shattered against his fingertips, scattering yet never dispersing, then began drifting and spinning like crushed diamonds beneath the starlight.
His clothes swelled as though inflated. The rising, whirling wind rushed into his loose robes and wide sleeves, puffing them up like balloons.
The hands reaching for his shoulders and arms clawed at billowing cloth, unable to find a proper grip or exert any strength.
Even the force they unleashed through their spells seemed to be carried away by the power coursing through his inflated robes-or, rather, dissolved.
At the same time, their eyes widened, and they instinctively stopped trying to seize him. They recoiled as though shocked by electricity and unconsciously stepped