Chapter 2046: Devilish Plains
However, the rate at which he was expending magic power had accelerated slightly.
Even though it was only a tiny amount of extra magic power expenditure, it would amount to something significant over an extended period of time.
However, he possessed magic power that was far superior to other beings of the same cultivation base, so that wouldn"t be a concern for a very long time.
With that in mind, Han Li abruptly shrank the azure streaks of sword Qi flying around him down from over 100 feet to only around 10 feet, then plunged headfirst into the depths of the sea of ants and was completely inundated after just a few flashes.
Meanwhile, other devilish beings elsewhere had also plunged into the ant tide.
All types of devilish treasures were summoned, and a vast array of devilish abilities were wreaking havoc, destroying large swarms of devilish ants.
However, for low-grade devilish beings, their efforts were completely futile, and they would quickly exhaust their magic power before being devoured, but in the face of these oncoming devilish ants, they had no choice but to frantically resist.
Those who had reached the Nascent Soul could last for about half a day or even a full day, and as for Deity Transformation Stage and Spatial Temperin Stage devilish, they were able to last several days or even as long as half a month against the devilish ants" relentless attacks.
There was a staggering number of devilish beings and devilish beasts that had fled from Blood Crow City, and the ant tide couldn"t trap all of them, so there was still hope for some of them to escape.
Several hours later, the low-grade devilish beings finally exhausted their magic power one after another. Their devilish abilities and treasures began to fail, and bloodcurdling cries rang out one after another.
After half a day, only those at or above the Nascent Soul Stage still remained.
Due to the fact that the devilish beings and devilish beasts had fled in all directions, the ant tide was forced to split up into several tens of portions and gradually expanded along with their prey.
Millions of kilometers away from Blood Crow City, there were six devilish beings flying through a large cloud of devilish ants. They consisted of five men and a woman, and one of the devilish men was releasing scorching flames, while another was emanating wisps of white glacial Qi.
All of the devilish ants that approached them were either incinerated into dust or frozen into chunks of ice.
As for the devilish woman, she had an inky-black antiquated mirror hovering over her head, and b.a.l.l.s of azure light were erupting out of the mirror, then exploded to force back the approaching devilish ants.
These three devilish beings were none other than the members of the Hai Family who had intercepted Han Li several days ago.
As for the other three devilish men, they appeared to be in their forties and bore a resemblance to one another, clearly indicating that they were related by blood.
These three devilish men weren"t using any devilish treasures, but the inky-black Qi they were conjuring up was sweeping through countless surrounding devilish ants.
All six of these devilish beings were at the Spatial Tempering Stage, and they forced their way through the sea of ants for several hundred kilometers in the blink of an eye.
The number of ants began to gradually decrease up ahead, and it seemed that they had reached the edge.
The six devilish beings were naturally ecstatic to see this, but right at this moment, change suddenly struck.
One side of the sea of devilish ants suddenly parted, and over 100 ma.s.sive ants rushed out, each of which was around 10 feet in size.
These ants were entirely green in color with translucent wings on their backs, they were extremely menacing to behold.
As soon as they appeared, they immediately pounced toward the three related devilish men.
"Look out, fellow daoists; those mutated devilish ants are far more powerful than normal Devouring Devilish Ant!" the devilish woman yelled as her expression changed drastically.
The three devilish men"s hearts jolted upon hearing this, and they immediately combined their powers, unleas.h.i.+ng a burst of devilish Qi that transformed into a black wyrm before flying toward the giant ants.
In retaliation, the giant ants opened their mouths to expel b.a.l.l.s of purple liquid, all of which struck the black wyrm with unerring accuracy.
A dull rumbling boom rang out, and plumes of yellow smoke billowed out from the sections of the black wyrm"s body that had been struck.
It was instantly shrunk down by close to half its original size, but the giant ants continued to expel more purple liquid, most of which were aimed at the three devilish men on this occasion.
The three devilish men"s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and one of them opened his mouth to expel a miniature s.h.i.+eld that was several inches in size, then immediately injected his magic power into it.
The s.h.i.+eld instantly swelled to become a giant white s.h.i.+eld that was several tens of feet tall. The surface of the s.h.i.+eld was very b.u.mpy and unsmooth, and it had been refined using countless white bones.
Following the injection of magic power, black devilish patterns appeared over the surface of the s.h.i.+eld, forming a black light barrier in front of the three devilish men.
The b.a.l.l.s of purple liquid struck the black barrier like rain, and white smoke rose up in a frenzy.
The black light barrier immediately began to tremor violently, and it was rapidly shrinking at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.
"Lend me your a.s.sistance; I can"t stop them on my own!" the man who had summoned the s.h.i.+eld yelled in a horrified manner.
The two other devilish men immediately rushed over to him before each laying a hand on one of his shoulders.
Bursts of black Qi immediately surged along their arms into the man"s body as if the devilish Qi possessed a life of its own.
The trembling light barrier was instantly bolstered, but the three men were expending magic power at an alarming rate and unable to put up any retaliation.
"Fellow Daoist Hai, please lend us your a.s.sistance!" one of the devilish men hurriedly implored.
"Rest a.s.sured, fellow daoists; I"ll get rid of these mutated devilish ants right away!" the devilish woman replied before pointing a finger at the antiquated mirror up above.
The mirror rotated on the spot before turning its surface toward the giant devilish ants, as if it were about to unleash some type of attack.
Right at this moment, the devilish ants in another direction parted, and 500 to 600 additional azure ants rushed out from that opening.
The devilish woman"s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and she immediately switched to a different hand seal, upon which the antiquated mirror transformed into a ball of azure light that swept up her body before flying away as a streak of spiritual light.
Not only was she abandoning the three trapped devilish men, she was even leaving her own two subordinates behind.
The two men from the Hai Family were also quite alarmed to see this, and they fled into the distance as streaks of light as well, leaving the three desperate devilish men behind to curse their treacherous companions.
Similar scenes were unfolding in many other places as well, and the emergence of these high-grade mutated devilish ants quickly spelled the downfall of many of the remaining devilish beings.
All of the high-grade devilish beings that had been able to survive thus far either had special abilities or treasures that they could use to protect themselves or had fantastic luck.
As for Han Li"s group and the small handful of devilish-lord-level devilish beings and devilish beasts, they were able to carve out a path through the ant tide for themselves through their individual powers.
Even so, the Devouring Devilish Ant had no intention of allowing the remaining people to escape.
If even the slightest hint of complacency were to set in, the remaining survivors would immediately be swept up by the ant tide and be forced to fight for their lives again.
Thus, one day pa.s.sed by after another, and only after half a year did the Devouring Devilish Ant Tide gradually begin to disperse.
Seven or eight of the cities on the outskirts of the gra.s.sland had been destroyed, and hundreds of millions of devilish beings had been devoured by the devilish ants.
This was a harrowing chapter in history for all devilish beings in the area, and the notorious reputation of Devouring Devilish Ants was bolstered even further.
A year later, a streak of azure light was flying over a black forest that was filled with ma.s.sive trees.
Close to 10 kilometers behind the streak of azure light was a flock of crimson-fathered birds that were giving chase in hot pursuit.
The azure light paused momentarily, and several tens of streaks of sword Qi shot forth from within it, slicing the dozen or so crimson birds at the forefront in half.
Immediately thereafter, the streak of azure light continued onward, and the rest of the crimson birds let loose a few harsh squawks of fury, but didn"t dare to pursue the streak of azure light any further.
Only after flying for close to 10,000 kilometers did the streak of azure light slow down slightly, and within the azure light, Han Li was appraising a head-sized crimson crystal with a smile as he murmured to himself, "This is quite a large chunk of Windflame Crystal; I"m sure it"ll be of great use to me in the future."
During the past years, he had been constantly traveling, and only after entering the plains did he truly manage to shake off the Devouring Devilish Ant.
After that, he traveled directly toward the Illusion Howl Desert as was the plan that everyone had decided on.
These plains were an extremely perilous place for normal devilish beings, but Han Li naturally wasn"t concerned, and along the way, he had discovered many materials and spirit medicines that were extremely rare in the Spirit Realm, which was naturally very pleasing for him.