"Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch?" This was the first time that Han Li had heard of something like this.
"Oh? You don't know what that is? Ah, that makes sense. Only the Mayfly Race and other races that are closely affiliated with insects know of Gold Devouring Beetle Monarchs, so I suppose it's no surprise that you're oblivious to them. If you ever get the chance to do so, you can go and conduct some research on your own about this matter. This beetle monarch is a legend that has been around for countless years, but I've never actually heard of anyone successfully refining, so it's not something to be overly fixated on," the elderly man explained before making a hand seal.
A loud rumbling noise erupted from the sky above, and dense dark clouds began to surface as howling winds were swept up.
The elderly man then began to chant something in the wind, and even though his voice wasn't very loud, it was still quite clearly audible.
An astonishing scene then ensued.
The elderly man didn't appear to have done anything else, but the massive flags on the eight platforms suddenly tremored in unison. The flags flapped in the wind as the entire formation began to emit a faint buzzing sound.
Spiritual threads of all types of different colors surfaced around the formation before sweeping toward the massive flags as streaks of light.
As the eight flags flashed within the spiritual light, bursts of astonishing spiritual pressure emanated from the formation as one rune after another emerged.
Han Li was situated at the very center of the formation, so he could quite clearly sense just how fearsome the power imbued within these runes were.
If any single one of those runes were to explode, he definitely wouldn't be able to withstand the explosion even with his current immensely powerful body.
Han Li's expression changed slightly as he took a deep breath.
Yuan Yao looked on from outside the formation, and a hint of concern also appeared in her eyes.
The eight giant flags rotated at once before blasting forth eight pillars of light that were as thick as large bowls, all of which disappeared high up into the sky in a flash.
The white rift overhead immediately shimmered with brilliant light, and instantly became several times more visible than before.
The elderly man swept a sleeve upward upon seeing this, and a dull thump erupted in the air above the formation, following which an azure sword projection that was several tens of feet in length appeared amid a flash of piercing azure light.
"Sever!" the elderly man yelled before pointing two of his fingers at the huge sword projection up above.
The azure sword projection immediately adopted a vertical position before flying up toward the white rift in the sky.
A loud ringing sound suddenly erupted in the surrounding sky as the air abruptly tightened, as if all of the world's origin Qi nearby had been sucked away by this sword.
In the instant before the giant azure sword struck the white rift, it expanded countless times further, taking up the entire sky as if it were a divine weapon.
The azure sword then proceeded to slice open that white rift amid a loud tearing sound that was audible throughout the entire heavens.
A thin long black rift emerged within the white rift, and the elderly man waved a hand through the air to dispel the gargantuan sword.
At the same time, eight gigantic runes, each of which was around the size of a cabin, surfaced near the black rift, shimmering with bright golden light.
Han Li felt the air around him tighten, immediately following which the runes from the formation beneath his feet hovered toward him in unison.
His heart jolted with shock upon seeing this, and just as chills were running down his spine, the runes transformed into lights of different colors before revolving rapidly around him.
His surroundings suddenly blurred, and he was struck by a rush of dizziness.
Following a strange high-pitched screech, a pillar of five-colored light erupted from the center of the formation, then disappeared into the black rift in a flash.
At the same time, the light emanating from the entire formation faded, and it ceased to function.
At this moment, Han Li was already nowhere to be seen.
"Master, has Brother Han really been teleported away?" Yuan Yao was unable to hide her concern any longer as she turned to the elderly man.
"Rest assured, Yao'er, the teleportation formation worked extremely well, so he should be back in the Spirit Realm by now. Within 1,000 years, he'll return to the infernal river again, and you two will be reunited," the elderly man chuckled.
He could also sense that Yuan Yao's feeling for Han Li seemed to have gone beyond simple friendship, so there was a suggestive tone to his words. Yuan Yao blushed slightly upon hearing this, but she made no effort to defend herself as she looked up into the sky again.
The black rift up above was gradually sealing over, reverting back to a white rift that was slowly blurring again.
Yan Li wrapped an arm around Yuan Yao's shoulder, and smiled as she said, "Let's go back, Junior Martial Sister. It's just as Senior Jiang says; you'll see him again if fate dictates it to be so. Your cultivation base and powers may not be able to match against Fellow Daoist Han's at the moment, but with Senior Jiang as your master, I'm sure you'll have at least matched him by the time he returns."
"Hehe, you're not wrong there. That Han brat is indeed quite an extraordinary cultivator for someone of his cultivation base, but under my tutelage, you're almost guaranteed to progress to the Spatial Tempering Stage, and there's a 40% to 50% that I'll even get you to the Body Integration Stage," the elderly man said in a confident manner.
"I'll be sure to cultivate to the very best of my abilities, Master!" Yuan Yao immediately rid her mind of all unnecessary thoughts and emotions as she extended a grateful bow toward the elderly man.
Just as Han Li was teleported out of the infernal river, Liu Zu, the white-haired beauty, the crimson-robed figure, and the Purpleblood Puppet were situated on a set of plains located countless kilometers away from the greyish-white mountain ranges, struggling to survive amid a sea of insects.
There were countless winged centipede-like creatures with hooked tails swarming toward and attacking them from all sides.
These strange insects were each around three to four feet in size, and they were extremely ferocious with no fear for their own safety whatsoever.
At this point, Liu Zu had already transformed into a massive black insect himself, and countless streaks of black light were erupting from his body to puncture the insects around him.
The Purpleblood Puppet had already expanded to over 1,000 times its original size at the crimson-robed figure's behest, and it was relentlessly blasting pillars of crimson light out of its six eyes.
The white-haired beauty had also donned her suit of black armor again, and a sea of green flames was erupting from her war hammer to keep all of the surrounding insects at bay.
The demon monarchs clearly held the upper hand, but all three of them were extremely frustrated as no matter how many of these strange insects they killed, there was always more to replace them, and it seemed as if there were no end to their numbers.
Close to 10 kilometers away, there was a praying-mantis-like creature with a human face appraising the battle from afar with a frosty look on its face.
In the air above this creature, there was semi-spherical object around 1,000 feet in diameter, and it was flashing erratically with silver light as countless winged centipede creatures surging toward the demon monarchs in the distance in a frenzy.
Chapter 1523: Within the Mist
"We can't keep going like this! That's our Mayfly Race's holy nest; there's no end to the creatures coming out of it! How could a Golden Mayfly Tier being possibly possess such an item? We have to get out of here right away!" Liu Zu roared.
During that split second alone, hundreds of insects were punctured and killed by the black light erupting from his body.
"Where can we run? These things aren't much slower than we are; if things continue like this, our magic power will be exhausted eventually," the crimson-robed figure said with a grim expression as he stood atop the Purpleblood Puppet.
"Let's head straight to the passageway that led into this place. After we get there, we'll be able to return to the infernal river and evade the insect sea manifested by the holy nest," Liu Zu replied without any hesitation.
"Have you gone mad, Fellow Daoist Liu Zu? Even if we fly as quickly as we're capable of, it'd still take two to three months to get there; are we just going to keep fighting these things during that time? On top of that, what about the devilish tomb and the devilish artifacts?" the white-haired beauty screeched in a sharp voice.
"Hmph, what good will those devilish artifacts do us if we die here? I'll give you and Fellow Daoist Di Xue some treasures out of my personal collection to make up for this. The holy insects being manifested by the holy nest at the moment are only those of the lowest caliber; once more powerful holy insects are manifested, we won't be able to get away from here even if wanted to," Liu Zu bellowed with fury.
If it weren't for the fact that the three of them had to work together just for a chance to get away, he would've most likely fled the scene with the Divine Infernal River Elixir already.
After all, no one was more aware than he was of just how destructive the holy nests of the Mayfly Race were.
Of course, Liu Zu was naturally unaware of the fact that this was only a replica rather than an actual holy nest. Even so, its devastating power was not something that the three demon monarchs could oppose. Hence, as soon as he witnessed this item, he was immediately struck by the urge to flee.
The white-haired beauty was still quite reluctant to give up on the devilish tomb, but she knew that Liu Zu was right.
The crimson-robed figure also remained silent, clearly in agreement with Liu Zu's proposal as well.
Thus, all three of them unleashed powerful abilities in unison.
Scintillating black light suddenly erupted from Liu Zu's body, following which countless massive black bone spikes appeared all over his body, all of which were around 10 feet in length and extremely sharp.
He then opened his mouth to blast forth bursts of visible black halos.
As soon as these halos appeared, they instantly swelled countless times in size before surging into the swarm of insects.
An astonishing scene ensued!
All of the insects that came into contact with these black halos instantly lost their sense of balance as they plummeted straight out of the sky, instantly opening up a vast area before Liu Zu.
Meanwhile, the mountainous Purpleblood Puppet opened its massive mouth and blasted forth a pillar of purple light that was over 10 times thicker than those erupting from its eyes.
All of the insects in the path of this pillar of light were instantly reduced to ashes.
As the Purpleblood Puppet swiveled its head, the pillar of light fanned out, instantly destroying a vast number of insects.
The area cleared out by this attack was even larger than that created by Liu Zu's attack.
The final one to spring into action was the white-haired beauty.
Seeing as the other two demon monarchs weren't holding back any longer, the white-haired woman also cast aside her qualms as she quickly made a hand seal.
Her war hammer then immediately exploded within a swath of green flames, and the eight white skulls emerged before swelling to the size of wagon wheels, then opening their mouths to unleash sharp unsettling screeches.
However, these skulls were no longer blasting green ghostly flames out of their mouths. Instead, they produced gusts of white glacial winds that slew all of the insects in their path.
Countless insects were reduced to white ice sculptures of different sizes before raining down from above.
With three Body Integration cultivators attacking at once, even the relentless barrage of insects was unable to keep up, and a massive empty area was created.
The praying mantis creatures in the distance harrumphed coldly upon seeing this before pointing up at the silver object with one of its giant scythe-like arms.
The semi-spherical object immediately began to rotate even more quickly, and the number of insects flooding out from within increased significantly.
However, right at this moment, the three demon monarchs combined their magic powers to conjure up a massive ball of light around them, which allowed them to crash through the countless insects around them, thereby opening up a path that took them to the edge of the insect sea in just a few flashes.
The ball of light then separated into three streaks of light again, all of which hurriedly fled into the distance.
The praying mantis creature was clearly not expecting these demon monarchs to flee, and a furious expression appeared on its face before it let loose a sharp screen, sending the swarm of insects flying toward the demon monarchs in hot pursuit.
All of these insects flew at a phenomenal speed, seemingly able to match the pace being set by the demon monarchs.
Meanwhile, the praying mantis creature's body blurred, and he disappeared on the spot.
In the next instant, he appeared above the semi-spherical object, then disappeared into it.
A loud buzzing sound erupted from the holy nest, and the stream of insect projections pouring forth from it was cut off before it also flew through the air as a streak of silver light, surrounded by countless insects.
Thus, the insect sea and the demon monarchs vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Elsewhere, Mu Qing was hovering in the air above the body of water that Han Li had been situated at several days ago, looking down with a dark expression on her face.
...
"This place seems to be..." Within another vast expanse of black mist, a humanoid figure was inspecting his surroundings within a swath of grey light.
This man wore a set of azure robes and appeared to be in his twenties with his brows slightly furrowed. He was none other than Han Li, who'd just left the infernal river.
As soon as he recovered from his rush of dizziness, he'd immediately found himself situated within this vast expanse of black mist.
Thankfully, he had cultivated his Divine Essencefused Light for so long that using it was second nature to him now, and it was automatically released to protect him.
Han Li looked up into the air to find that the spatial rift that had just ejected him was already sealing over, and in the instant that he cast his gaze toward it, it finally disappeared without a trace, as if it had never even existed in the first place.
Even though it was only for an instant, Han Li had caught sight of wisps of black Qi escaping from the spatial rift right before it disappeared, then blended into the black mist around him.
"Could it be that all of the mist here seeped out of that spatial rift?" Han Li murmured to himself before inspecting his surroundings again, trying to ascertain his current location.
However, he was only able to release his spiritual sense for around 1,000 feet before it immediately recoiled, thereby limiting his sensory range.
Han Li raised an eyebrow and stroked his chin as a thought suddenly occurred to him.
He brought his hands together before separating them, and azure light flashed between his palms, following which a spirit herb that was several inches in length appeared within his grasp.
He raised a hand to hurl the spirit herb into the black mist, and it immediately wilted before being reduced to dust in the instant before it drifted onto the ground below.
"Black Infernal Mist!" Han Li drew a sharp breath, and he could finally confirm his current location.
He had been teleported back to the massive island in the Flying Spirit Race territory, and this vast expanse of black mist was the sea of Black Infernal Mist that he'd refrained from entering when he was last on this island.
He had conducted some tests on this black mist to find that the
Yin Qi within it was extremely severe, and that it was able to absorb the spiritual Qi within plant life and other living beings.
At the time, he was in a hurry to break through his bottleneck, and he was also quite wary of this mist's strange properties, so he never ventured into it.
Now, he had no choice as he had been teleported here right after leaving the infernal river. Thinking back to the black Qi that had seeped out of the spatial rift, it seemed that the formation of this sea of mist most likely had something to do with the infernal river.
However, the Yin Qi in the infernal river was definitely not as fearsome as that present in this black mist, so there had to be some other constituents that made up this mist.
Han Li's eyes flashed as he made his judgment in the blink of an eye.
In any case, this was most definitely not the place for a picnic, and it was best to get away from here as quickly as possible.
With that in mind, azure light flashed from Han Li's body, and he immediately rose up into the air.
However, after rising to altitudes of only several tens of feet, the mist around him suddenly converged toward his body, snuffing out the azure light around and forcing him to plummet toward the ground.
"There's a flight restriction here!" Han Li's heart stirred upon making this observation.
He finally understood why the Tian Peng beings were so wary of this sea of mist, to the extent that no one was stationed on this island.
To the Tian Peng beings who revered the Kun Peng as a divine deity, a flight restriction was naturally extremely dangerous. After all, most of the abilities of Flying Spirit Race beings hinged on their wings. If they were unable to fly, then they would immediately be severely debilitated.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 860