Muffled clangs sounded and the golden blurs ruptured in countless golden specks. The specks then covered Mu Rui.
Then as the ground roared, a spell formation made of golden talisman characters suddenly lit up around Mu Rui. Its radiant glow covered the high-grade wood spirits in balls of light.
The purple light in Mu Rui’s eyes withdrew. He closed his hands together and balls of silver light appeared from his palms. Afterwards, countless silver streaks erupted.
A rumbling explosion sounded. Silver light and golden talisman characters intertwined. The golden talisman characters possessed some sort of odd ability that allowed them to block the strikes of the silver-tier wood spirit. Only a small portion of the talisman characters was dispersed.
Mu Rui felt furious at the sight of his attacks being ineffective.
Without another thought, silver light appeared from his hands and condensed balls of silver light that were even more dazzling than the last.
But at that moment, all of the wood spirits, Mu Rui included, were completely enveloped by the golden light. Although Han Li and Long Dong were astonished, they weren’t about to continue a battle to the death. They each used their own life-saving measures to immediately fly away.
Xiao Hong clutched her hands in an incantation gesture and her body sank towards the ground, instantly turning into a beautiful phoenix wrapped in black flames. She charged at the army of wood apes and turned their bodies and weapons to ash as she brushed past them.
In the blink of an eye, the phoenix traveled over three hundred meters.
Long Dong’s expression turned harsh and he swallowed a rainbow medicine pill. Soon after, he chanted an incantation and summoned a set of winged armor on his body.
The wing spread out and a golden dragon phantom appeared from the armor.
The dragon let loose a long cry and circled once around Long Dong before entering his body.
Soon after, golden light brightly shined from the blood-marked youth and he tore through the sky in a thirty-meter-long golden streak. The image of a soaring five-claw dragon could faintly be seen in the golden light. Anything that obstructed the light turned into a cloud of blood and gore.
Like their abrupt world-shaking speed, Han Li silently put his own technique into action. He unfolded a pair of azure and white wings in a clap of thunder.
He opened his mouth and spat out several crimson blood mists. They spiralled around his body before submerging his entire body in the blood mist.
The blood mist pulsed several times and shrunk, releasing a crimson streak. It blinked several times and appeared in the vast horizon, making his way past the wood ape beasts as if he were a host.
Then in another flash, Han Li’s crimson figure disappeared once more.
At Deity Transformation stage, Han Li’s Bloodshadow Evasion was several times quicker than even Long Dong’s and Xiao Hong’s movements.
When the two looked at Han Li, they couldn't help but be dumbstruck.
As for the young white-robed woman, she waved her hand and summoned a sparkling red broken blade. Without making any flashy movements, she simply waved the blade in the direction where the wood apes were the most concentrated.
All of the worldly essence Qi in the vicinity trembled and crimson blade light over three hundred meters long and leisurely traveled through the air.
The blade light inspired an uproar at the wood apes that were targetted. They all thought to flee in their terror.
But before the wood apes could flee, their bodies trembled and they combusted, instantly turning to bursts of red flame, soon turning to ash.
A clear path was now made where the apes had been.
Before the huge blade light touched anything, it had strangely disappeared.
At that moment, a fist-sized green flame bird shot out from the bottom portion of the damaged tree that hid the jade slip. It flew into the young woman’s body in a green streak.
The white-robed young woman was overjoyed when she heard this. Her body disappeared in a blur. Then she appeared in the direction of the opened passage in a flash. Then, in another blur, she reappeared at the end of the cleared passage.
Afterwards, she turned into a white streak as she tore through the air. The flight light was indistinct, but over the span of a few breaths, she already made her way past the horizon.
The speed of her flight seemed no different than Han Li’s Bloodshadow Evasion.
At that moment, Mu Rui’s silver light suddenly burst forth from the formation of golden talisman characters.
The silver light was clearly more powerful than before. In a single strike, most of the golden talisman characters had scattered with only a remaining few revolving around him.
The wood spirit’s face turned expressionless, but a purple light wildly flickered from his eyes. Suddenly, he raised his head and a series of clear screeches sounded.
At that moment, the wood ape beasts stirred and they immediately turned into several clouds, each chasing after one of the cultivators.
Meanwhile, in the distant areas of the other Black Leaves Forest, a similar screech was sounded.
Han Li hadn’t used the Bloodshadow Evasion to travel far. Once he saw no more beasts in sight, he withdrew the crimson light and continued to fly as an azure streak.
Even so, his face had still become bloodlessly pale.
It appeared that two consecutive uses of the Bloodshadow Evasion took a heavy toll on his vitality.
But when he thought of the possibility of being pursued by silver-tier wood spirits, he didn’t dare to be careless. Those wood spirits were equivalent to Body Integration-stage cultivators. Despite the confidence in his heaven-defying abilities, there was far too great a difference in their realms. He didn’t dare to hope he could win, even if it was a lower silver-tier being.
Were it not for the hidden people who assisted them and used a secret technique to restrict the silver-tier wood spirit, he feared they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to flee.
However, it was clear that the golden talisman restriction wouldn’t hold them for long. Thus, they hurriedly fled. As it was possible any of them could be pursued by the silver grade wood spirit, he didn’t dare to linger.
Although he couldn't use the Bloodshadow Evasion again, the Thunderstorm Wings on his back continued to flicker. With each flash, his speed abruptly increased. With a dozen more, his speed would be equivalent to a Spatial Tempering cultivator.
But even so, Han Li didn’t dare to turn around and focused on moving forward as quickly as he could.
Winds tore from beneath him and soon after, several gales shot towards him at immense speed.
Han Li’s expression sank and his flight came to a sudden stop.
Three azure light appeared from underneath him, each of them only a meter away from his body.
If Han Li hadn’t stopped, he feared he would’ve been skewered.
The three azure lights circled in the air and they turned into three wood tribe beings. All of them blocked his way forward.
Han Li swept his sights at the three and discovered they wore faint yellow belts at their waist and he felt relief.
They were only equivalent to Nascent Soul cultivators. He had no need to worry.
Unwilling to use his various treasures, he simply flapped his wings and he shot forward in azure-white lightning.
The speed of lightning was instantaneous. He arrived in front of the center wood spirit in a blur.
The wood spirit didn’t show any emotion, but purple light quickly circled from its eyes. Then, it fearlessly stabbed its wood spear into Han Li’s abdomen.
Before the spear touched him, countless azure thorns ruptured from it, wanting to turn Han Li into a pincushion.
Han Li’s eyes godly glinted and golden light flashed from his hands, instantly covering his body in transparent golden scales. The azure thorns clanged and bounced off upon impact, leaving no damage.
Then, his arms strangely reached out and grabb
ed the tip spear. The wood spirit tried to pull it back with all its might, but the spear didn’t move in the slightest.
Azure Qi lit up from the wood spirit’s face and then it released the spear, quickly fleeing back like a shooting star.
However, Han Li’s other hand suddenly burst forward as sharp cracks sounded from it. It instantly arrived at the wood spirit’s chest and sank his fingers through like a sword.
A clear ring sounded. The wood spirit’s body was torn like paper by Han Li’s powerful strength. Then, he tore out a faint yellow crystal from the wood spirit’s body.
This entire attack only took a single instant.
When the other two wood spirits saw this, they let out a strange screech. They spat out a yellow mist and waved their spears, creating countless phantoms to surround Han Li.
Han Li sneered and twisted his arms, wanting to use them to battle.
But something outside his expectations occurred.
With one hand in the wood spirit’s body and the other grasping the spear, green light brightly shined from the wood spirit’s body and he feels an inconceivable attractive force.
His hands blurred, and soon, he found he couldn't move them in the slightest.
In that slight delay, yellow mist instantly covered his face and countless phantoms released azure streaks at him.
Han Li’s face strangely twisted and his lips moved as if he were about to say something.
Suddenly, golden light brightly shined from his body. Four indistinct golden arms suddenly appeared through the ribs of a few of the phantoms.
Chapter 1378: Escaping Pursuit
The four arms blurred, punching through the mist surrounding him. Two of them flashed through the phantoms, easily blocking them with dense golden palms.
Meanwhile, the other two golden arms flicked their fingers at the two wood spirits, releasing ten golden streaks of them.
The wood spirits were alarmed, but a set of azure wood armor appeared from their bodies. They also had yellow wooden shields to protect themselves.
However, the ten swordstreaks were formed from Han Li’s Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
In a single flash, the two wood spirits were slashed apart into several pieces.
However, Han Li didn’t stop there. Of two of the summoned arms, he flicked their palms without end. They launched a dense barrage of swordlight, instantly submerging the wood spirits in golden light.
Han Li took a deep breath and caused his struck arms to tremble. A series of golden ripples strangely appeared from them.
The two stuck arms in the wood spirit’s body and the azure spear were slowly freed after touching the golden light and trembling. The wood spirit and the spear eventually scattered into azure wood fragments and disappeared.
Han Li stretched his arms and golden light suddenly withdrew from his body. The four golden arms he summoned disappeared as well.
Using the second portion of his Provenance True Devil Arts to deal with these Nascent Soul-grade wood spirits was beyond excessive.
However, he only cultivated the technique to a shallow degree and wasn’t able to use its true abilities. He still couldn't use it to face powerful enemies and could only use it to catch them off guard.
However, once he reached Spatial Tempering-stage and cultivated the third portion of the dual cultivation technique, he was confident the Provenance True Devil Art’s power will reach an inconceivable stage. It will definitely be comparable to a top-grade technique.
With that in mind, Han Li turned into an azure streak and shot away.
Along the way, Han Li was encountered by several more waves of wood tribe beings.
However, their cultivation was mostly at Nascent Soul-stage. There were even a few that were weaker.
Han Li was able to evade these wood spirits with ease. If he couldn't, he quickly dealt with them as he couldn't afford to tangle with them for long.
However, despite his mad rush, he eventually came across a large problem half a day later.
He encountered two wood spirits with purple belts. One was tall and sturdy while the other was slender. They appeared to be a man and a woman.
Behind the two were four wood ape beasts that were twenty meters tall. They had silver fur and large yellow rods in hand.
The four wood apes had bright eyes and looked at Han Li with intelligence, giving Han Li the impression that they were dangerous. In fact, Han Li felt about the same threat from them as the two wood spirits.
These purple grade wood spirits were equivalent to Deity Transformation-stage cultivators and wouldn’t be easy to deal with.
Now that Han Li is at the edge of the Black Leaves Forest, he wanted to immediately leave and avoid any battles. However, the wood spirits and apes were looking at him with an air of hostility, and Han Li’s face turned ice cold.
Suddenly, he slapped the back of his head. A large wave of grey light suddenly soared to the sky, circling once before turning into a grey ring at least a hundred meters wide. It whirled once in the air and attracted the attention of his opponents.
Meanwhile, his other sleeve stirred as he silently summoned seventy-two small swords and sent them off in every direction.
He first planned on using the Divine Essensefused Light to occupy them. Then, the Aureate Sword Formation would exterminate them.
...
Meanwhile, Xiao Hong was floating in midair with a pale complexion. She was staring at several green blurs that appeared.
The three were wood spirits that wore purple belts!
...
Off in a different direction, Long Dong’s golden light continued to fly. A pure golden wood ape was carrying a huge black axe chasing after him. Rainbow light continued to wander around its body as it chased after him like a shooting star.
Most of the five-clawed golden dragon phantom had already dispersed. However, when he looked at the ferocious gold-furred wood ape chasing after him, he showed no intention of fighting him and continued to rush forward.
In a few hundred kilometers, he would soon arrive at the edge of the forest.
...
A white streak let out a piercing whistle as it tore through the air. A few kilometers behind her, a silver light closely chased after her. The two streaks intermittently flashed and they soon arrived several kilometers away.
The white streak hadn’t been able to shake off the silver light and the silver light wasn’t able to catch up to the white streak.
The two lights continued to flutter as they rushed out of the forest and into the distance.
...
As Han Li floated in the air, he saw the countless golden threads from the sword formation condense in a ball. Eventually, it reached the last of the silver-haired wood apes and easily tore it into pieces. He then let out a sigh and held his hands together in a spell gesture. He uttered, “Withdraw.”
Several hundred golden lights suddenly appeared from the air and let out a clear ring. In a bright flash, they returned to their forms as seventy-two small swords.
The sword quickly spun around him and quickly shot into his sleeve.
Then with a tremble of his sleeve, the swords vanished.
At the very heart of where the sword formation used to be, there was a mist of blood that had yet to disperse.
Han Li blinked. The genuine Aureate Sword Formation formed with the seventy-two swords were far more deadly than he anticipated. In a moment of surprise, he trapped the two purple-grade wood spirits and four troublesome silver wood apes. The sword formation released golden threads that easily slew them without the slightest resistance.
When he recalled Long Dong mention Qing Yuanzi, a Spatial Tempering cultivator, was able to use a grand sword formation to block a Body Integration-stage cultivator, it appeared he was telling the truth.
With that in mind, he didn’t stay there for any longer. With the flying swords put away, he quickly headed off to the edge of the forest.
An hour later, Han Li finally arrived at
the edge.
When he was fifty kilometers outside the forest, he immediately placed a High Zenith Invisibility Talisman on his body.
Suddenly, his body turned to void.
When he saw this, he let out a massive sigh of relief. Afterwards, he suddenly changed direction.
Not long after he departed, two yellow streaks arrived from behind him. Their light disappeared to reveal two wood spirits wearing yellow orange belts.
The two were the wood spirits that originally accompanied the silver-tier wood spirit. The white-robed woman had used a high-grade technique to trap them.
They circled the location where Han Li originally stopped and whispered to one another. After finally making sure there were no further tracks of Han Li, they could only resentfully return.
Han Li couldn't have known that his careful actions had allowed him to escape calamity.
Otherwise, two Spatial Tempering-grade orange belt wood spirits would’ve started pursuing him. It would’ve been impossible for him to safely escape them.
After flying for myriad more kilometers, Han Li became certain that he had escaped the wood tribe’s pursuit and he pinched his hands together. Suddenly, talisman characters flashed from his body and his body returned to normal. At that same time, a ball of spiritual light flew off from his body and turned into the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman.
He waved the talisman between two of his fingers and made it vanish.
Then, he carefully looked around him before carefully landing on a small mountain. He began to ponder with a sullen face.
At that moment, he felt rather gloomy.
The wood tribe beings destroyed the jade slip in a moment of surprise. Could it be he had failed the mission? In that case, he wouldn’t be able to acquire his needed Earth Cleansing Pills. Wouldn’t he need to return to Deep Heaven City?
No! Whoever suddenly restrained the silver-tier wood spirit was clearly the spy the humans and demons had placed in the wood tribe. In that case, the jade slip might’ve not been genuine. Perhaps information on the wood tribe is still on their body. So long as he finds this person, the mission will be complete.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 770