Han Li was naturally quite startled to see this, and blue light flashed through his eyes, thereby instantly allowing him to glean the true appearance of these green clouds.
It turned out that these clouds consisted of countless fist-sized butterflies, all of which were extremely sinister in appearance and had green powder flashing around their bodies.
Chapter 1698: Battle of the Insects
"Bloodform Butterflies! Here's our chance!" Han Li immediately identified these green butterflies, and an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
Liu Shui'er had also unleashed a secret technique to glean the true appearance of these green butterflies, and she was also overjoyed to see them. "Those really are Bloodform Butterflies! This is fantastic! These butterflies are the natural enemies of Silver Swarm Insects!"
"We'll have a chance to get away now, but we have to be careful not to get swept up in their battle. Otherwise, we'll be dead for sure." Shi Kun was also reinvigorated.
"We should split up for now. If we stick together like this, we'll present too big of a target, and we could easily be targeted by both of these swarms at the same time. There's not much distance left to cover until we reach the restricted ruins, and we've all committed the map to memory by now, so let's go our separate ways, then meet up again at the ruins two months from now, " Han Li said in a calm manner.
Both Shi Kun and Liu Shui'er faltered slightly upon hearing this, but the former then quickly agreed, "That's a very valid suggestion, Brother Han. At a time like this, the smaller the target we present, the easier it'll be for us to escape. In that case, we really should split up to ensure our own survival first."
In contrast, Liu Shui'er was a bit more hesitant, but after contemplating this issue, she also gritted her teeth and nodded in the end.
Thus, following a few more hasty voice transmissions, the three of them split up to flee for their lives.
At this moment, the green clouds in the distance had drawn uncomfortably close, and even without unleashing any abilities, the three of them were able to clearly glean the appearance of these green butterflies.
Most of these clouds of butterflies immediately surged toward the Silver Swarm Insects up ahead, while several clouds detached themselves from the main group to pursue Han Li's trio, as well as all of the other beasts present.
The Silver Swarm Insects also split up into two groups upon seeing this, with the majority of them continuing on toward the green clouds while a small silver stream diverged to hunt down everything else.
All of the beasts that were fleeing for their lives alongside Han Li's trio were sent into a frenzy, and many of the spirit beasts with relatively high levels of intelligence knew that a chance had arisen for them to flee for their lives.
Thus, the most powerful beasts within the group let loose a few thunderous roars, and all of the other beasts dispersed at their behest, fleeing in all different directions.
"Go!" Han Li also let loose a low cry before a thunderclap erupted from behind him, upon which his Thunderstorm Wings surfaced on his back.
He flapped those wings gently, and his body was propelled through the air as an azure and white thread.
Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun also accelerated while flying toward different directions.
After unleashing his Thunderstorm Wings, Han Li's current fearsome speed could rank among the top three of all of the countless beasts present. After just a few flashes, he'd left all of the other beasts far behind and fled into the distance in the blink of an eye. Only then did he twist around to cast his gaze behind him, and the sight that he was greeted by sent chills running down his spine.
The beasts that weren't fast enough were swept up between the two insect armies, thereby instantly becoming inundated by green clouds and silver waves.
These beasts didn't even have a chance to utter a single sound before they were erased from existence. Not even a single scrap of their bodies remained after the two insect armies were done with them.
Just as the green clouds and the silver waves were about to clash, the green butterflies suddenly faltered in mid-air before flapping their wings forward in a violent manner.
Gusts of green winds were immediately swept up as a result, then hurtled directly into the swarm of silver insects.
A loud screeching sound rang out as many flying insects that were only around several inches in size plummeted out of the silver waves.
Several green clouds then swept down to engulf those silver insects, and when the green clouds dispersed again, those straggling Silver Swarm Insects were nowhere to be found.
Blue light flashed through his eyes, and he was instantly able to see the course of the battle.
After devouring the silver insects, crimson spots appeared all over the bodies of many of the Bloodform Butterflies.
Despite the potency of the poisonous winds these butterflies were sweeping up with their wings, there were simply far too many Silver Swarm Insects for them to deal with, and many of the more powerful insects even had a certain level of resistance to their poison.
Thus, even after the gusts of poisonous winds had swept through the Silver Swarm Insects, tens of thousands of them were still able to plunge into the swarm of butterflies. Initially, those Silver Swarm Insects were all outnumbered and killed, but as more and more silver insects began to plunge into the green clouds, the two swarms finally clashed and intertwined.
Loud buzzing and screeching sounds rang out as green butterflies and silver insects fell from the sky like rain, only to be completely devoured by green clouds or silver waves.
It was quite clear that the silver insects possessed far superior devouring abilities compared to the green butterflies, but the Bloodform Butterflies all contained powerful toxins within their bodies, allowing them to completely paralyze the silver insects with a few flaps of their wings.
Both sides were extremely ferocious and seemingly held no regard for their own lives, and they seemed to be evenly matched.
As for the two swarms of insects that had set off in pursuit of the fleeing beasts, they also split up into countless groups to continue hunting down their prey.
Furthermore, they seemed to have a tacit understanding with one another as there was never an instance where more than one group of insects was hunting down a single beast.
Many of the beasts weren't able to escape very far before they were chased down by the insects, and they had no choice but to fight for their lives.
Thus, beastly roars intertwined with incessant buzzing and hissing, as opposed to the loud explosions one would normally expect to hear from a battle.
Han Li's eyes narrowed, and he could see that Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun had also fled extremely far into the distance, but they were each being pursued by a small group of insects.
However, that was all he had time to see as he suddenly discovered that a group of Silver Swarm Insects was flying directly toward him, ignoring all of the other beasts along the way.
There seemed to be around 1,000 silver insects within this group, and Han Li took a deep breath before flapping his wings, flying through the air as an azure and white thread again.
On this occasion, Han Li flew for over an hour before turning around to look behind him.
At this point, there was not a single insect to be seen, but Han Li wasn't elated by this discovery at all. Instead, his brows furrowed slightly in response.
During the past few days, when he'd been escaping alongside Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun, there had been periods of time when they'd unleashed their full speed to open up some distance between themselves and the Silver Swarm Insects. However, these insects seemed to possess some kind of tracking ability, and as soon as Han Li's trio slowed down for a while, the insects would catch up to them again.
Regardless of what kind of concealment techniques they initially used, the insects simply couldn't be fooled.
With that in mind, Han Li considered his situation for a moment before black light suddenly flashed from his
body, and a black veil appeared to completely conceal him from view.
After that, he continued to fly onward at a more leisurely pace.
However, Han Li suddenly detected something around an hour later, and he abruptly turned around as his expression changed drastically.
Moments later, a loud buzzing sound suddenly rang out in the distance, following which a massive silver insect that was several tens of feet in size appeared in that direction.
The giant insect flapped its wings and let loose and let loose a sharp screech before hurtling through the air, covering a distance of over 1,000 feet in a flash. It was heading directly toward Han Li, despite the fact that he'd been concealed under his black veil, and at the same time, Han Li had used his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to identify the true nature of this massive insect.
It turned out that this was a massive creature formed by over 1,000 Silver Swarm Insects clumped together.
He didn't know why even the black veil was unable to fool these insects, but at this point, it had become quite clear to Han Li that he wouldn't be able to get away unless he were to kill this group of insects.
However, Silver Swarm Insects were extremely fearsome, and aside from their staggering numbers, each individual insect was also very difficult to deal with.
Not only were their bodies hard enough to withstand attacks from normal treasures, they possessed sets of sharp teeth and front limbs that could easily tear through metal.
As such, normal treasures would be completely ineffective against them.
Just as these thoughts were racing through Han Li's mind, the giant insect continued to close in on him, and all of a sudden, a cold light flashed through his eyes as he swept a sleeve through the air.
A loud buzzing sound rang out, immediately following which over 100 golden flowers flew out of his sleeve. These golden flowers then swelled drastically to form golden beetles that were half a foot in size each.
These were none other than his mature Gold Devouring Beetles.
"Go!" As soon as these golden beetles appeared, Han Li issued a loud command to them.
All of the Gold Devouring Beetles immediately surged toward the giant insect in unison.
The menacing giant silver insect abruptly shuddered at the sight of these mature Gold Devouring Beetles, then let loose a shrill screech before turning around and fleeing for its life.
Han Li had released so many Gold Devouring Beetles at once naturally because he wanted to end this battle as quickly as possible.
Almost at the exact same moment, a loud thunderclap erupted from behind him, and he vanished amid a flash of azure and white lightning.
In the next instant, azure and white lightning flashed in the air above the giant silver insect, following which Han Li abruptly reappeared before flipping a hand over.
A miniature black mountain immediately flew forth, then swelled to over 100 feet tall before descending with devastating might.
The mountain revolved on the spot to release a burst of grey light that encompassed all of the silver insects down below, and the giant silver insect immediately became extremely sluggish in its movements, having been trapped by the Divine Essencefused Light.
An enraged screech rang out as bright silver light abruptly erupted from the giant insect's body, following which it reverted back into over 1,000 tiny silver insects again in the blink of an eye.
The insects then charged toward the same direction as a collective force while devouring the grey light around them as quickly as they could.
As a result, the Divine Essencefused Light around them really was growing thinner at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye, but Han Li wasn't concerned by this in the slightest as he looked on from above.
During this brief delay, the Gold Devouring Beetles had also reached the underside of the black mountain, so Han Li had already achieved his objective.
Chapter 1699: Lightning Bird Puppet
Golden light flashed, and the Gold Devouring Beetles completely disregarded the grey light around them, swooping in before engaging all of the Silver Swarm Insects in battle.
Even though they were outnumbered by the silver insects by a ratio of around 10:1, they were far larger than their opponents, and they also possessed significantly more powerful bodies, as well as devouring abilities.
The silver insects' sharp teeth and front limbs couldn't even leave so much as a single scratch on the exoskeletons of the golden beetles, whereas the Gold Devouring Beetles were able to tear their opponents apart and devour them with ease.
It was a completely one-sided battle, and despite how heavily outnumbered the Gold Devouring Beetles were, the Silver Swarm Insects simply stood no chance.
After most of the silver insects had been eradicated, what remained of the swarm finally lost all of their courage and attempted to flee for their lives. However, they were still trapped in the Divine Essencefused Light, so they were all hunted down and devoured by the Gold Devouring Beetles.
When there was only one final silver insect left, it suddenly self-detonated, and silver light flashed as a barely visible shadow shot forth from within its body, then attempted to fly away in a stealthy manner.
If Han Li were a normal being, there was a good chance that he would've failed to notice such an inconspicuous shadow. However, Han Li was able to immediately catch sight of it as blue light flashed through his eyes, and he reached out without any hesitation.
A pristine white hand was extended out of his sleeve, and he spread his fingers apart to blast forth bursts of five-colored glacial flames. The flames swept through the air at a rapid speed, almost instantly enveloping the shadow, which had only fled to just over 100 feet away.
The shadow shuddered before being completely immobilized in the glacial flames, and it was revealed to be a faint silver insect projection with the face of a human.
The projection struggled within the glacial flames with all its might, presenting a rather unsettling sight to behold.
Han Li's expression darkened upon seeing this, and he curled his five fingers inward in a seemingly nonchalant manner.
The glacial flames down below instantly transformed into countless five-colored threads of light at his behest, then wound themselves around the immobilized human-faced insect projection.
The threads of light then abruptly tightened, and the insect projection was sliced into countless segments as a result.
Only then did Han Li heave a faint sigh of relief, and he swept a hand through the air, upon which the five-colored threads of light vanished in a flash.
He then quickly pointed a finger at the swarm of Gold Devouring Beetles down below, and they transformed into golden flowers again before flying back toward him, then disappearing up his sleeve.
After that, Han Li made a grabbing motion downward, and the black mountain also shrank drastically before returning to his hand.
From the instant that he'd released the Gold Devouring Beetles to the moment that he'd drawn them back into his spirit beast bracelet, only an extremely short time had elapsed.
As such, even though he'd released quite a large quantity of Gold Devouring Beetles on this occasion, he didn't actually exhaust much of his spiritual sense at all.
Of course, Han Li had already decided when he'd first released the Gold Devouring Beetles that if he couldn't end this battle quickly, he'd immediately withdraw the beetles without any hesitation. Otherwise, it simply wouldn't be worth exhausting too much of his spiritual sense to kill these silver insects.
However, just as he'd expected, the Gold Devouring Beetles were the bane of these Silver Swarm Insects, and he was able to kill them with ease.
If he had used any other treasures, he wasn't confident that he would've been able to eradicate these insects so cleanly and quickly.
Thus, after taking a glance at the direction where the battle between the two insect swarms was presumably still raging, Han Li flew away as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distance after just a
few flashes.
Almost at the exact same moment, within the waves of Silver Swarm Insects close to 100,000 kilometers away, a silver insect that was far larger than normal Silver Swarm Insects suddenly raised its head and cast its gaze toward Han Li's direction.
This silver insect had the face of an elderly man, whose brows were currently furrowed in bewilderment.
After staring at the direction that Han Li was situated at for a while, the silver insect cast its gaze directly up ahead again.
Several kilometers away, the silver insects were still clashing with the swarm of green butterflies, and the battle was still extremely intense.
After a brief hesitation, the human-faced silver insect let loose a long sharp screech, upon which all of the nearby silver insects surged toward it in a frenzy.
In the blink of an eye, a giant silver insect was taking shape with the human-faced insect at its very center, and the giant insect was only continuing to expand in size.
After a while, all of the silver insects in an area within a radius of around 500 meters had gathered to form a colossal insect that was over 1,000 feet in length.
The massive insect flapped its wings, and two gusts of fearsome winds were instantly swept up as its gigantic body was propelled forward through the air.
......
Han Li didn't know the origins of the strange soul that he'd destroyed, but he knew that killing it definitely wasn't a good thing.
As such, after departing from this place, he immediately changed directions a few times in quick succession, then used the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman to conceal himself for a while before he finally felt safe to continue his journey as normal.
Even though Han Li had separated from his two companions, he wasn't all that worried as he was currently powerful enough to put up a good fight even against early-Body Integration Stage beings.
Thus, he chose a route to follow and continued to travel toward the restricted ruins.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 973