However, this burst of power was simply too immense. Even though he was able to maintain a standing position, Han Li's body sunk into the ground like a nail that had been firmly hammered into the soil, sinking all the way down to his knees.
At the same time, Han Li was struck by a numbing sensation and was rendered completely immobilized thereafter.
The man on the crimson cloud faltered upon seeing this, as if he was rather surprised by Han Li's enormous strength.
A mixture of shock and fury surged through Han Li's heart. For this Spirit Tribe cultivator to be able to unleash such devastating power with just a point of his finger indicated that he stood above the Deity Transformation Stage.
Could it be that he was a Profound Spirit level cultivator in the Spirit Tribe.
Red light flashed, and the miniature fire wyrm was already upon Han Li. Taking advantage of his immobility, it dove down without any hesitation before disappearing into Han Li's head.
Han Li let loose a thunderous roar of rage as his face became twisted with pain, seemingly indicating that he was in excruciating agony.
The man on the crimson cloud merely smiled and withdrew his extended finger upon seeing this.
The enormous power weighing down on Han Li abruptly disappeared, and due to the fact that he had been counteracting this force the entire time, its sudden absence made him leap straight out of the ground and several tens of feet into the air.
Blinding golden light then radiated from his body he clenched his fists tightly. He rushed into the nearby forest like a gust of maddened gale-force wind, swinging his fists wildly into the nearby trees.
All of the trees that were struck by him were felled amid resounding booms without any exception, creating an extremely loud commotion.
In the beginning, the man on the crimson cloud merely looked on with a calm smile. However, as Han Li's frenzied tirade continued without displaying any sign of stopping, the smile on his face gradually faded as a hint of bewilderment surfaced in his eyes.
"Master Xu Tian! Could Shi Yan be encountering any difficulties?" The young woman standing beside him was also starting to grow rather concerned.
The man on the crimson cloud paused to consider this notion before shaking his head. "He should be fine. Shi Yan's true form is a Flame Devouring Bead, so it should be simple for him to devour the spiritual sense of a body refinement warrior. Besides, the aura of the bead itself hasn't diminished at all."
The young woman from the Spirit Tribe was quite relieved to hear this.
All of a sudden, the rumbling commotion in the forest came to an abrupt halt.
A hint of elation appeared on the young woman's face, yet the man on the crimson cloud narrowed his eyes as he peered into the forest.
Moments later, Han Li re-emerged from the forest. However, he was completely expressionless, and his eyes were slightly glazed over.
The man on the crimson cloud stared at Han Li for a moment before asking, "How do you feel, Shi Yan?"
"Han Li" twisted his neck around from side to side and replied in the voice of that burly man from the Spirit Tribe, "Not bad. This human's body really is quite powerful; it's just that his spiritual sense was slightly more powerful than the average mortal, so it took me a bit of work to subdue him."
"That's good to hear. This is no ordinary body refinement warrior, and I was afraid that you would encounter some difficulties." The man on the crimson cloud smiled in response.
"How is he any different from the average body refinement warrior? Isn't he just a little more powerful than normal? Master Xu Tian, I've already discovered the location of the Chaotic Valley, but it's a little far away from where we are right now. Should we head over there now?" "Han Li" asked.
"There's no need to hurry. Hua Guang is chasing down that mutated Leopard Kirin Beast, and he should be back soon. Let's wait for a while longer," the man on the crimson cloud replied.
"Han Li" nodded upon hearing this and fell silent as he stood on the spot.
After over an hour had passed, a streak of white light flew through the air and appeared before the trio in the blink of an eye.
The light faded to reveal that miniature humanoid figure, who was holding an azure chain of light. On the other side of the chain, the little beast had been tightly bound and was hovering directly behind him.
"Huh? This human..." The white humanoid figure was slightly surprised to see "Han Li" here.
"Don't worry, the spiritual sense of that human has already been devoured by Shi Yan, so he's controlling this man now," the man on the crimson cloud explained.
"I see. That's rather convenient; I didn't bring a Spirit Beast Ring with me, so it's rather inconvenient for me to carry this Leopard Kirin Beast around. You look after it for me for now." The white humanoid figure was elated to hear this, and he immediately tossed the bound little beast "Han Li".
"Han Li" didn't say anything in reply, but he caught the little beast, and light flashed from his spirit ring, upon which the little beast abruptly disappeared.
"Alright, Shi Yan, seeing as you know the location of the Chaotic Valley, we'll get you to lead the way. We don't have much time now, so we can't afford to delay any further. This is the perfect opportunity for our tribe to secure the divine blood. Otherwise, the Five-Elemental Spirit Tribe wouldn't be willing to offer the divine blood to us. With this drop of divine blood, we'll be able to produce a large number of brethren, so failure is not an option. Hua Guang, you go and meet up with the cultivators from the Five-Elemental Spirit Tribe. Tell them that we're going directly to the Chaotic Valley. Shi Yan, when we get there, you go in there first and mingle infiltrate the humans there, then act according to the demands of the situation." Xu Tian calmly delivered a series of instructions.
"Yes!" "Han Li" replied as everyone else also nodded with solemn expressions.
"Let's go."
The man on the crimson cloud issued one final instruction, and their group disappeared into the forest.
...
Six days later, Han Li appeared on a small hill outside the Chaotic Valley. There were seven or eight other human cultivators and body refinement warriors with him, all of whom were Core Formation cultivators or high-grade body refinement warriors.
Everyone in their group was looking on in silence at the entrance to the Chaotic Valley in the extremely far distance.
A grey-robed middle-aged man suddenly turned to an elderly man holding a palm-leaf fan, and asked, "Brother Sun, will Senior Huang Liang and City Lord Lan really appear today to battle the Spirit Tribe cultivators?"
"There's no doubting that; I only came here after receiving a letter directly from City Lord Lan himself. Aside from our group, there are also other people waiting nearby. It appears that our seniors are intent on winning this battle. They only asked us to come here in order to hold off any demon race cultivators who might seek to benefit from the turmoil," the elderly man replied in a voice that was filled with conviction.
The elderly man glanced at a scholar in their group before asking with a faint smile, "Seeing as Senior Huang Liang and City Lord Lan issued direct instructions to us, we are naturally obligated to come here. However, why are you two also willing to participate in this, Brother Li, Brother Han?"
"I came to the Setting Sun Tomb in order to find a way to make a breakthrough, so there's no way I'm going to miss out on spectating a battle between beings above the Deity Transformation Stage. Perhaps I'll be struck by some kind of inspiration in the process. Besides, City Lord Lan and the others have also offered handsome rewards," Han Li replied calmly.
The reply given by the scholar was much the same.
The elderly man nodded upon hearing this, and was no longer suspicious toward the two. After all, most of the people gathered here were taking this risk for roughly the same reason.
Right at this moment, a long cry suddenly erupted from near the Chaotic Valley.
Immediately thereafter, countless bursts of demonic Qi rose up into
the air, combining to form clouds of greyish-white demonic mist that enshrouded the entire sky.
Beastly roars erupted, seemingly from all directions, amid gust of fierce putrid winds.
Chapter 1304: Gathering of All Three Races
The immense burst of demonic Qi surged toward the entrance to the Chaotic Valley as soon as it appeared, startling Han Li and all of the other humans who were situated nearby.
There were some cultivators conducting surveillance of this place, and they had only just witnessed two Spirit Tribe cultivators crushing the demon race beings present not too long ago. There were even several metamorphosis stage high-grade demon beasts that had been killed during that battle, so it was quite clear that those two Spirit Tribe cultivators were immensely powerful beings.
However, the demon beasts were suddenly stirring up such a massive commotion; were they planning to force their way into the Chaotic Valley?
Just as all of the humans hiding nearby were looking on in bewilderment, a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly erupted from the direction of the Chaotic Valley. Immediately thereafter, and vast hordes of beings emerged from the ground below as well as the sky above.
All of the creatures in the sky were green wooden birds, each of which was around 10 feet in size, while the beings emerging from the ground were massive stone giants that were around 60 to 70 feet tall.
All of the wooden bird puppets were extremely life-like and agile, and from afar, it was impossible to identify whether they were real birds or not.
In contrast, the stone giants possessed extremely crude bodies with only a pair of white eyes on each of their massive faces. On top of that, they came in all types of different forms, as if they had all been haphazardously thrown together.
The emergence of so many wood and stone puppets made everyone draw sharp breaths in unison.
Han Li's expression also changed slightly at the sight of the countless puppets that had just appeared.
Right at this moment, a green wooden phoenix and a stone giant with an entirely greyish-white body emerged at the same time.
Spiritual light flashed above the wooden phoenix's head, and a ball of green light surfaced, revealing a woman in a green dress who was only around a foot in size. Meanwhile, the massive stone giant extended a huge hand, and an elderly man of roughly the same size appeared over its palm. The elderly man was holding a white stone cane and was looking on with a cold expression at the enormous bursts of oncoming demonic Qi.
"Is Fellow Daoist Xiao there? Come out and meet me if you are," the elderly man suddenly said. Even though his voice wasn't very loud, it was clearly audible to all of humans and demons within a radius of over five kilometers.
The vast expanse of greyish-white demonic Qi in the distance suddenly began to tumble and surge, following which the clear cry of a phoenix rang out from within. Immediately thereafter, a black fireballs shot forth before transforming into a young woman in a palatial dress with a cold expression on her face.
"What are you calling me for, Huang Shi? Are you perhaps vacating yourselves from the Chaotic Valley?" the young woman asked in a cold and forbidding manner.
"Vacating the Chaotic Valley? You sure dare to dream big, Fellow Daoist Xiao. Who was it that was almost hunted to death by the two of us just half a month ago? You're just an early-Deity Transformation demonic cultivator; how do you plan on combating two mid-Divine Generals at once? I'm only advising you to retreat rather than killing you on the spot so those human cultivators don't benefit from our battle," the young woman standing atop the wooden phoenix said in an extremely delightful and heavenly voice.
"Oh? Looks like they don't respect you at all, do they, Lass Xiao?" The demonic Qi overhead surged once again as another demonic cultivator emerged from within.
This was a short and thin demonic cultivator with a shimmering moth sitting on his shoulder; it was none other than that young man with the Huan surname.
Huang Shi and Tian Ying's expressions both changed drastically upon seeing this young man, and the former exclaimed, "Huan Cangqi? Why are you here?"
"Tsk tsk, I see you two still recognize me. During our last battle, I was able to hold my own against you two even prior to reaching the Spatial Tempering Stage. Over 10,000 years have passed since then, and I've already forged a Five-Elemental Body for myself long ago, yet you two are still only a pair of lowly Spirit Generals. It seems that aside from your lengthy lifespans, you Spirit Tribe cultivators can't compare with demon and human race cultivators in any other aspect. Your Spirit Tribe will most likely be wiped off the face of the Spirit Realm eventually, just like all of those other weak races. If you ask me, you should pledge your allegiance to us while you still can. After all, some of your skills are quite useful to our two races, so at the very least, we'll ensure that you don't go completely extinct," the young demonic cultivator said in a calm voice.
"Hmph, you sure dare to talk, Fellow Daoist Huan. Our Spirit Tribe may not be very powerful, but it has existed in the Spirit Realm for all this time, and there must be a reason for this. You're just an elder of the demon race; what right do you have to foretell the fall of our Spirit Tribe?" Huang Shi was furious upon hearing the young man's bold declaration, and the wariness in his heart was completely washed away by his rage.
The young man wasn't enraged in the slightest by Huang Shi's barbed response. Instead, he burst into laughter as he said, "It's indeed true that I have no right to speak about your Spirit Tribe, but those words were spoken by the patriarch of our demon race, and I'm merely relaying his message word for word."
"You should stop dreaming! So long as our Holy Spirits continue to exist, we'll never bow to any other race!" Tian Ying retorted coldly.
"If that's the case, then there's nothing for me to say. Fellow Daoist Huang Liang, City Lord Lan, you should show yourselves as well. I know that you two already arrived here yesterday. Are you really planning to watch from the sidelines and swoop in to take all the spoils of war?" A cold smile appeared on the young man's face as abruptly turned around before pointing toward a certain spot in the air.
The two Spirit Generals and all of the humans lurking nearby were stunned to hear this.
Faint white light flashed, and a jade ark was revealed as if an invisible veil had been lifted. The massive arc was 300 feet long and 40 to 50 feet wide, housing Spirit Lord Huang Liang and his group of cultivators as it hovered stealthily in mid-air.
All of the human cultivators on the ark wore surprised expressions, as if they were quite stunned that their cover had been blown.
"That's an Illusionary Flame Moth! So you were the one eavesdropping on our conversation at Setting Sun City!" Spirit Lord Huang Liang's expression darkened as he cast a glance toward the young man's shoulder.
"Did you only just realize that, Brother Huang Liang? I had thought that you'd figured it out a long time ago." The young man pursed his lips in response.
Spirit Lord Huang Liang seemed to be familiar with this young man, and a hint of a deriding sneer appeared on his face as he asked, "Haven't you been in hiding all these years like a cowardly rat, trying to transcend your next heavenly tribulation? Why have you come here? "
"Hmph! If I had confidence in transcending my heavenly tribulations that strike once every 3,000 years, why would I come here? I've been struck at the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage for over 10,000 years, and my last tribulation was already very difficult for me to transcend. There's no chance that I'll be able to withstand my next one, so my only option is to come out and search for some opportunities. In contrast, you've only reached the Spatial Tempering Stage not long ago, Fellow Daoist Huang Liang, so you've only had to withstand one heavenly tribulation. You have a long road ahead of you," the young man sighed in response.
At the mention of heavenly tribulations, Spirit Lord Huang Liang's expression immediately became quite strained.
The scenes during his first heavenly tribulation were still very much clear in his mind, and that was such a fears
ome experience that he couldn't help but shudder upon its recollection.
Spirit Lord Huang Liang's lips twitched as he transmitted his voice to the young man, "Hmph, if you're trying to search for an opportunity to make a breakthrough, then wouldn't it be much better for you to go to the world? What are you doing here in human territory? If you want to fabricate an excuse for picking a fight, then at least come up with a plausible one."
"I'm afraid those are false accusations that you've aimed against me, Fellow Daoist Huang Liang. The reason I appeared in Setting Sun City is precisely because I wanted to invite you on another trip to the primordial. However, I then stumbled upon this Spirit Tribe incident, and I had no choice but to step in as an elder of the demon race," the young man chuckled as he transmitted his voice in response.
"You're inviting me to the primordial world?" Spirit Lord Huang Liang faltered upon hearing this.
"That's right. Even though humans and demons are completely different creatures, our individual abilities will definitely be able to help one another in the primordial world, making it a much safer trip. We made a very bountiful foray into the primordial world together several thousand years ago, didn't we? I'm very confident in your abilities, Fellow Daoist Huang Liang, even more so than the abilities of my fellow elders. You're close to your second heavenly tribulation, right? If you don't find some treasures that can help you transcend the tribulation, perhaps your chances of withstanding the tribulation. After all, the tribulations will only continue to grow more powerful with each successive occurrence, even if your cultivation base doesn't change," the young man asked in a calm voice.
A contemplative look appeared on Spirit Lord Huang Liang's face as he stood on the jade ark, and only after a long while did he slowly reply, "Seeing as you're being so open and honest, I'll reveal the truth to you as well, Brother Huan. In my current state, I estimate that I only have a 50% chance of transcending my second tribulation. During my first and previous tribulation transcendence, a lot of my treasures had been destroyed."
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