A bewildered look appeared on Han Li"s face as he drew to an abrupt halt. He then immediately made a hand seal, and golden light flashed from his body as he activated his Provenance True Devil Arts.
Through doing so, he was able to forcibly repress his churning blood, but before his bodily condition had completely returned to normal, the skin on his back was suddenly struck by a scorching sensation, as if it were being directly baked over an open flame.
Han Li"s brows furrowed, and he immediately took off the upper half of his robes to reveal his upper body.
He then raised a hand, and a ball of golden light shot forth before transforming into a s.h.i.+mmering golden mirror.
The mirror revolved in the air before appearing above Han Li, and spiritual light flashed from its surface as it instantly revealed to Han Li the scenes currently unfolding on his back.
From the image in the mirror, Han Li discovered that four extremely clear and vivid tattoo-like images had appeared on his back.
There was a vibrant rainbow phoenix, a ma.s.sive azure bird, a five-claws golden dragon, and a five-colored peac.o.c.k.
These were none other than the manifestations of the four true spirit bloods that Han Li had absorbed into his own body.
At this moment, not only were these four images s.h.i.+mmering with spiritual light, they were moving around incessantly as if they"d sprung to life. If it weren"t for the fact that the power of his Provenance True Devil Arts was repressing them, it appeared that the four true spirit bloods were preparing to fly out of his body.
Han Li was naturally quite astonished to see this.
He had already used the 12 Awakening Transformations to completely refine the four true spirit bloods, so how was this happening?
Furthermore, all of this had been caused by nothing more than that thunderous roar.
Han Li"s mind was racing rapidly, yet before he had a chance to figure anything out, another resounding roar erupted in the distance. Brilliant light erupted from the true spirit images on his back, and they began to thrash around even more violently, as if they were attempting to find some avenue through which they could leave his body.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he made a hand seal, and golden light radiated from his body, following which the true spirit images immediately ceased moving.
Han Li took a deep breath before waving a hand through the air, and the small golden mirror exploded with a dull thump, then dissipated into specks of golden light.
Meanwhile, Han Li transformed into a streak of azure light and flew deeper into ice island, heading directly toward the direction where the thunderous roars had erupted from.
These unsettling roars were able to disrupt the true spirit bloods that he"d already refined in his body, so he certainly couldn"t leave this mystery unresolved.
His decision to venture further into the island was also contributed to by the fact that he"d become vastly more powerful, to the extent that virtually no beings below the Body Integration Stage could pose a substantial threat to him.
Back when he was still at the Deity Transformation Stage, he would"ve most likely been a lot more hesitant.
After just a few flashes, the streak of azure light disappeared into the distance.
The roars didn"t seem to have come from very far away, but even after traveling for over 20 kilometers, Han Li still hadn"t reached the source of the commotion.
Furthermore, this ice island itself was also rather strange. It seemed to have been enshrouded under some kind of natural magnetic field that significantly hampered one"s spiritual sense, thereby limiting his detection radius to less than 10 kilometers.
However, after flying onward for a short while longer, Han Li"s expression suddenly changed slightly as he drew to an abrupt halt.
Moments later, spiritual light flashed in the sky up ahead, and seven or eight streaks of light of different colors came hurtling toward him.
Han Li narrowed his eyes to try and get a better view of what was coming toward him, and the sight that he was greeted by sent a jolt running through his heart.
The streaks of light flying in his direction consisted of a group of cultivators, all of whom were at around the Nascent Soul Stage. All of them wore extremely horrified expressions as they flew as quickly as they could, indicating that seemed to be something extremely fearsome hunting them down.
Han Li cast his gaze into the distance behind this group of fleeing cultivators, only to find nothing there.
His brows furrowed, and he was just about to call out to these people when a thunderous roar erupted in the distance. One roar after another then rang out in a relentless sequence, and an astonis.h.i.+ng turn of events unfolded.
As the roars rang out in quick succession, the spiritual light around the bodies of the Nascent Soul cultivators flickered unsteadily, and their skin suddenly took on a vibrant red color.
Immediately thereafter, several bloodcurdling cries sounded as these cultivators" physical bodies and souls all exploded into clouds of blood mist in unison, then dissipated into nothingness.
A grim look appeared on Han Li"s face upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, spiritual light flashed once again up ahead, and two more streaks of light came hurtling toward him.
Han Li focused his gaze on those two streaks of light, and a hint of surprise flashed through his eyes.
Within one of those streaks of light was a woman in a palatial dress; it was none other than Qing Xiao.
Her companion was a young woman in a black dress who was not inferior to her in the looks department. However, both of them also wore horrified expressions, and their skin had also become quite flushed amid the string of resounding roars. Fortunately for them, they were able to maintain the layers of spiritual light around their bodies, and they managed to stave off the fate of self-detonation that befell those who had come before them.
This was clearly because both of these women were mid-Deity Transformation cultivators, and their superior cultivation bases compared to the others was the key for their survival.
Even so, both of them had clearly been severely debilitated and were flying significantly slower than they would otherwise have been capable of.
Han Li raised an eyebrow, and he was just about to fly over to them when his expression abruptly changed while his pupils contracted drastically.
A murky grey shadow that was several thousand feet in size had appeared several kilometers behind the two women, and it was flying directly toward them.
The string of thunderous roars was coming from none other than that gargantuan creature, and even though Han Li had activated his Provenance True Devil Arts, he could still feel the four true spirit bloods struggling to free themselves from his body.
Even a cultivator of Han Li"s powers was being adversely affected by these fearsome roars, so it was quite clear that the two women would be suffering to an even greater degree, seeing as they possessed far inferior cultivation bases compared to Han Li and were also a lot closer to the grey shadow in the distance.
As the giant creature began to close in, the two women decelerated even further, and it was as if they were flying through an invisible restriction that was exerting an immense resistant force.
As such, the ma.s.sive grey shadow was able to quickly close the gap between itself and its prey, and the two women could only turn around to unleash a series of attacks.
A large bow abruptly appeared in Qing Xiao"s hands, and a bone arrow was shot forth. The arrow then split into countless arrows mid-flight, conjuring up a rain of arrows that fell like a torrential downpour.
Meanwhile, her companion raised a hand, and several streaks of white light surged through the air, all of which transformed into white lightning wyrms that hurtled toward the grey shadow.
The attacks unleashed by the two women rapidly approached the grey shadow, but before they could draw close to its ma.s.sive body, a burst of invisible fluctuations suddenly swept forth, causing all of the arrows and lightning wyrms to self-detonate on the spot.
The grey shadow took advantage of this opportunity close in on the two women again, and after just a few flashes, it was only around half a kilometer away from them.
Both women immediately turned deathly pale.
With their cultivation bases, if that grey shadow were to draw any closer, they would also suffer the fate of self-detonation in the face of its devastating roars.
In her panic, Qing Xiao finally caught sight of Han Li, and she immediately yelled, "Mr. Han, save us!" Qing Xiao was appraising Han Li as if she"d just found her savior, and her female companion faltered slightly upon seeing her expression.
She then also hurriedly cast a glance at Han Li, just in time to witness a burst of piercing blue light flas.h.i.+ng through his eyes.
Han Li had activated his spirit eye ability, and he was staring intently at the grey shadow in the distance with a grave expression on his face.
Through the use of his spirit eye ability, he was able to identify the ma.s.sive creature as a flying moth-like monster.
The creature"s wingspan stretched for over 1,000 feet, and it had two heads, one on the top of its body while the other was situated on the underside of its body.
Its upper head was similar to that of a furry lion with a pair of green eyes, and that head was the one responsible for letting loose those thunderous roars.
Meanwhile, its lower head belonged to that of a giant python, and the eyes on that head were tightly shut, but it was flicking its forked serpentine tongue in an erratic manner.
"What is this thing? I"ve never heard of anything like it!"
Even with Han Li"s vast wealth of knowledge and experience, he still couldn"t help but draw a sharp breath at the sight of this fearsome beast. Thankfully, the demonic power emanating from the beast"s body wasn"t overly powerful, and it appeared to be a late-Spatial Tempering Stage being. As soon as Qing Xiao"s plea for help rang out, Han Li swept both sleeves through the air, and 72 small azure swords immediately shot forth. The swords then transformed into 72 azure threads that flew through the air toward the giant moth.
Qing Xiao was the one who had invited him here and they"d conversed with one another extensively on a past occasion, so he naturally wasn"t going to abandon her in such a dire situation.
Han Li"s newly refined flying swords were drastically faster than they once were, and they reached the giant grey moth in a flash before piercing toward its body like lightning.
The ma.s.sive moth clearly didn"t expect Han Li"s attacks to reach it so quickly, and it didn"t have time to adopt any defensive measures before the azure threads punctured its body with ease.
The grey shadow immediately faltered, and the unsettling roars also came to an abrupt halt.
Immediately thereafter, the azure threads revolved around the giant moth"s body, quickly slicing it into countless pieces.
However, Han Li was not elated in the slightest by his easy victory. Instead, his eyes narrowed as a wary look appeared on his face.
Having just been saved from certain death, Qing Xiao and the woman in black were ecstatic. The ma.s.sive moth"s roars had just cut off, thereby freeing them from its restrictive power, and they immediately took this opportunity to fly toward Han Li with all their might.
At the same time, Qing Xiao yelled out from afar, "Be careful, Senior Han; this thing seems to possess an immortal body that can"t be killed by normal treasures!"
"An immortal body?" Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, the countless sections of the giant moth"s body suddenly converged, and grey light flashed as it instantly regenerated back to its original form.
Han Li"s expression darkened upon seeing this, and all of his flying swords transformed into azure threads again at his behest, then hurtled toward the giant moth.
However, the ma.s.sive creature let loose a thunderous roar of fury, and at the same time, it flapped its wings to emit those invisible fluctuations again. The ripples proliferated in all directions, instantly sweeping up all of the oncoming azure threads.
The azure threads shuddered in unison before reverting back to their sword form, then exploding into b.a.l.l.s of azure light in quick succession.