When the woman turned her head around, she couldn’t spot even the slightest trace of a person, but the deep rumbles only became louder as if something was on the verge of approaching her.
Her face instantly paled and she wildly look around in terror. In that moment, something suddenly came to mind and she flew off with even greater speed than before.
Just a second later, silver light flashed from the empty s.p.a.ce, only to soon fade away. When the silver light flashed once more, it reappeared over three hundred meters away. Han Li’s winged silhouette could be faintly made out from within the light.
Han Li glanced at the woman within the red light flying and felt a trace of surprise at her amazing speed. The woman’s fearsome movement technique was actually comparable to his own Thunderstorm Wing’s lightning movement. It seemed that there were truly an unfathomable number of techniques within the world.
Han Li felt a trace of sorrow from his heart before spreading out the wings behind him. With a single fan, Han Li turned into a bolt of lightning and appeared at the woman’s front. He then calmly raised his hand and spread out his fingers, shooting a streak of azure swordlight from each of his fingertips.
With an expression pale from fright, the woman loudly yelled, “Senior, please spare me!” Soon after, the red light surrounding her body s.h.i.+ned brilliantly, combining with her several azure light ribbons to form a dense light barrier around her.
Han LI slightly frowned and glanced at the woman in silence. The five streaks of swordlight then condensed into a thread and began to strike the light barrier.
Several m.u.f.fled bangs sounded out. This fire-wind attribute barrier was truly powerful to be able to repeatedly block the attacks of the first three strands of sword Qi. But when the fourth strand of sword Qi struck, the barrier was shattered to the woman’s despair. Two streaks of sword Qi then struck her vitals before she could react.
Han Li glanced at the woman’s falling body and shook his head. With a flick of his finger, a fireball shot out, turning the woman’s corpse into ash, and he summoned the woman’s light ribbons and storage pouch into his hand.
“If I didn’t kill you, those Devil Dao Nascent Soul cultivators would pursue me.” Han Li sighed and his body flickered with lightning once more while his spiritual sense locked onto another fleeing figure.
The next target was the black-robed cultivator who held the deepest cultivation. He was at the peak of the mid Core Formation stage and was just a step away from entering late Core Formation stage.
As Han Li flew in that direction, he patted his spirit beast pouch and released large quant.i.ties of black-tainted Gold Devouring Beetles. Under the orders of his spiritual sense, the beetles immediately condensed into over ten tri-colored blades before chasing down each of the fleeing Foundation Establishment cultivators. This lot had meager cultivation and speed, so Han Li was disinclined to personally slay each of them and merely used his beetles to take care of them in one fell sweep. He would only personally deal with the Core Formation cultivators.
After all, these Core Formation cultivators were extremely fast. The beetles would have no chance of pursuing them. Gold Devouring Beetles were adept at closing short distance, but stood little chance in a long distance chase.
The black-clothed cultivator was standing underneath on a s.h.i.+ning dagger, while hurrying on his way with a sullen expression. He didn’t expect to come across a Nascent Soul cultivator when he went looking for the murderer of his Sixth Junior Martial Brother. While he didn’t know whether or not this cultivator had anything to do with the death of his Sixth Junior Martial Brother, he did know that the Controlling Spirit Sect cultivators had something to do with him. It appeared that this Nascent Soul cultivator was chasing after the Controlling Spirit Sect disciples. It was likely that they had provoked him in some way, drawing their Ghost Spirit Sect into the crossfire.
Even if the Nascent Soul cultivator didn’t hold any ill intent toward them, it was likely that they would be killed in order to be silenced. Regardless, there was now a Nascent Soul cultivator involved in the investigation of his Sixth Junior Martial Brother’s death, meaning it was no longer something he could deal with. After he returned, he would make a report to his master and have him deal with the matter.
Since this cultivator dared to pursue Devil Dao Core Formation cultivators such as themselves, this Nascent Soul eccentric shouldn’t be affiliated with any faction. He must’ve been a vagrant cultivator, else he would’ve shown consideration to the vast powers of the Devil Dao.
As the black-clothed cultivator worriedly pondered, he suddenly heard a series of strange rumbles from his side. They were intermittent, and faded away as quickly as they appeared. Alarmed, the black-clothed cultivator hastily turned his head around, only to see a flash of azure light before all went dark.
Han Li expressionlessly waved his hand and retrieved the giant azure sword from the corpse.
Although this person had cautiously flew with a light barrier surrounding him, it was as powerless as thin paper against the strike of his combined Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. Both man and light barrier were cut through in a single blow. Han Li’s gaze now turned to yet another distant location.
While being pulled forward by two dark green skulls, a scholarly cultivator wearing embroidered robes was nervously glancing at his surroundings. Despite having fled so far away, he clearly understood that so long as the Nascent Soul cultivator’s spiritual sense enveloped him, it was only a matter of time before they would pursue him.
As a result, he simultaneously spread out his spiritual sense to its greatest extent while he flew forward as fast as he could. He could feel his thumping heart rise into his throat.
When a sudden sense of unease gripped him, he turned his head around and felt his heart drop into a deep abyss. Not far away, a youth in his twenties had appeared at an unknown time. He wore azure scholar robes and smiled towards him, revealing glints of his perfect teeth.
But before the embroidered-robed cultivator could turn his head back and run, the youth said with a friendly tone, “It must’ve been quite taxing for Fellow Daoist to have run so far. It’s only proper for me to send you on your way!”
When Han Li said this, he flung his sleeve and scattered countless gold specks across the sky. These specks instantly formed a huge golden cloud and enveloped the sky with a fearsome presence.
The embroidered-robed cultivator released a wretched scream and was engulfed by the golden cloud alongside his magic treasure. A moment later, the golden cloud scattered, leaving no trace of the cultivator behind.
Han Li’s expression changed upon seeing this and he muttered, “The evolved Gold Devouring Beetles are far more fearsome. In a mere instant, they were able to even clearly devour magic treasures. Their repute of being able to devour anything is well deserved.”
Soon after he flung a spirit beast pouch from his sleeve, and the Gold Devouring Beetles reluctantly flew into the bag after spiralling through the air several times. Han Li frowned at the sight and inwardly sighed.
With their vast increase in strength, the beetles could no longer be as smoothly controlled as before, resulting in a trace of helplessness dampening his previously high spirits.
Leaving another wave of thunder in his wake, Han Li disappeared yet again in a flash of silver light.
Han Yunzhi was mounted atop a pure-white spirit bird, that was hurriedly rus.h.i.+ng through the sky as a fifteen meter long streak of white light. At that moment, both bird and rider were enveloped in a soft light. When combined with the woman’s flawless appearance, she appeared all the more otherworldly.
However, her brow was currently furrowed and she held a palm-sized jade disk in her hand. She was carefully examining it with a fluctuating expression.
The polished jade disk pulsed with an astonis.h.i.+ng emerald Qi and was deeply engraved with many decorative designs. It also glowed with lines of ancient, silver-gold talisman characters. One could tell that it was an unordinary treasure from a single glance.
The center of the jade disk was as sleek as a mirror, and there were six specks of red light that were intermittently flickering from within it as if they were fireflies. At that moment, a speck of light brightened and suddenly disappeared from sight.
When Han Yunzhi saw this, she pursed her lips in concern and attentively stared at the disk in her hand. However, after a short moment, two more lights brightly flashed and disappeared from sight.
Han Yunzhi’s calm demeanor suddenly changed.
When yet another red speck of light disappeared, there were now only two specks that still remained on the jade disk.
Han Yunzhi gently brushed away a strand of her hair from her face and bitterly smiled, muttering in an inaudible voice, “Apart from Junior Marital Sister Liu and I, there are no other survivors. The four Foundation Establishment disciples have already died. Could it be that this person is capable of doppelganger techniques or possesses some other inconceivable technique? It seems we’ve underestimated what a Nascent Soul cultivator is capable of. I reckon those Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators aren’t any better off. Had I known of this earlier, it would’ve been better for us to travel together and stake it all together.”