Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before bursting into laughter. "Haha, if that's what you want to think, then I certainly can't say anything to change your mind."
"Speaking of your plans to make a breakthrough to the late-Body Integration Stage, I must say that it's not a wise decision to leave the human race for so long at a time like this. The devilish tribulation is imminent, and we may have forged an alliance with the neighboring few races, but that'll only make the primordial world around the territories of these races even more chaotic," the Ice Phoenix continued as a concerned look appeared on her face.
"I'm naturally aware of that, but this journey is an extremely important one, and it's one that I must undertake," Han Li replied with a serious expression.
"In that case, I'm sure you have your reasons, and I won't try to dissuade you. However, you've only just made a breakthrough to the mid-Body Integration Stage, so I'd advise you to consolidate your cultivation base before embarking on your journey," the Ice Phoenix said with a wry smile.
"Thanks for your concern, Fairy Phoenix. I have no intention of leaving right away; it'll be at least two to three years before I embark on this journey. During this time, I'll have to trouble you to look after my three disciples," Han Li said with a smile.
"Hehe, even if you didn't ask, I would've been sure to instruct them diligently, so you can rest assured, Brother Han," the Ice Phoenix replied with a smile.
Han Li was ecstatic to hear this, and he said, "Then I'll have to thank you in advance, Fairy Phoenix. By the way, following my departure, if you encounter some insurmountable problems, you can take the identification item I gave you and seek out the Gu Family or Buddhist Monk Jin Yue of Deep Heaven City..."
...
Two months later, Qi Lingzi hurried back to Han Li's cave abode from Deep Heaven City, and Bai Guo'er also returned after half a year.
Thus, the three disciples were instructed by Han Li in person, and all of the questions they had in their cultivation were quickly resolved.
Thanks to Han Li's efforts to keep this information confidential, the outside world remained completely oblivious to the fact that he had progressed to the mid-Body Integration Stage.
Hence, three years passed by in a flash.
On this day, the gate of the cave abode was slowly opened, and Han Li emerged in his usual set of azure robes, followed closely by the Ice Phoenix and his three in-name disciples.
"There's no need to accompany me any further than this, Fairy Phoenix. In my absence, you three have to make sure to work hard in your cultivation. If you encounter any problems, you can consult with Fairy Phoenix," Han Li said to his three disciples after cupping his fist in a salute toward the Ice Phoenix.
"Yes, Master; we'll be sure to remain conscientious in our cultivation."
"Have a smooth journey, Brother Han."
The three disciples all extended deep respectful bows, while the Ice Phoenix also extended a parting curtsey.
Han Li nodded before azure light flashed from his body, and he didn't say anything further before rising up into the air. Moments later, he had vanished into the distance.
The Ice Phoenix withdrew her gaze before turning to Han Li's three disciples. "Let's go back. Hopefully, your master will be back soon. Don't be in a hurry to leave the cave abode; make sure to thoroughly digest all of the information that your master taught you first."
The trio naturally gave affirmative replies, following which the four of them returned to the cave abode. The azure stone gate fell shut once again, and peace and quiet returned to the surrounding area.
Meanwhile, the azure streak of light flew away at a rapid speed, and within it, Han Li was contemplating something with a peculiar look in his eyes.
All of a sudden, he rustled a sleeve, and a ball of golden light shot forth from within before revolving around him.
He made a grabbing motion, and a buzzing sound rang out from the golden light before it was drawn into his grasp. The golden light then faded to reveal a menacing fist-sized beetle.
The beetle was of a shimmering golden color and was completely identical in appearance to his usual mature Gold Devouring Beetles, except it had vibrant colorful patterns all over its body.
Han Li stared at the insect before suddenly whistling at it, and the beetle abruptly spread its wings, then flapped them rapidly while the vibrant patterns all over its body lit up with piercing radiance.
An incredible scene then ensued.
The patterns on the beetle's body warped and twisted, and it gradually became transparent, blending into the spiritual light around it.
Han Li raised his hand, and the spirit insect rose up into the air before vanishing in a flash, as if it had never appeared in the first place.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he suddenly made a grabbing motion. Colorful light flashed between his fingers, and the hidden spirit insect was revealed again, caught firmly within his grasp.
However, the insect's body was still seemingly flashing in and out of existence.
"Those Rainbow Pills really are as effective as the legends proclaim; they made the already mature Gold Devouring Beetles mutate and evolve again. Not only are they now far faster than before, they also attained a concealment ability. This ability is going to be very useful in battle," Han Li murmured to himself as a pleased smile appeared on his face.
This ferocious-looking beetle was none other than one of his newly mutated Gold Devouring Beetles. The mutation had taken place after they had devoured the Rainbow Pills Han Li had refined using the demon cores of the Flying Rainbow Fish he had obtained in the Vast Glacial Realm, and Han Li had been very pleased with this result.
Not only did these new Gold Devouring Beetles attain the ability to conceal themselves at will, they've become far more powerful and ferocious than their past selves. Han Li was confident that if he could control 10,000 of these spirit insects at once, even a late-Body Integration cultivator wouldn't be able to do anything except flee for their life.
Unfortunately, even after reaching the mid-Body Integration Stage, his spiritual sense was still nowhere near powerful enough to support so many of these beetles at once. However, if he could progress to the late-Body Integration Stage, then master the second stage of the Spirit Refinement Technique, there was a very good chance that he would be able to control that many Gold Devouring Beetles. This was why Han Li was so eager to progress to the late-Body Integration Stage. Once he reached that level, he would be able to attain a new trump card.
With that in mind, he heaved a faint sigh before sending the Gold Devouring Beetle in his hand flying back into his sleeve.
The azure light around him then tremored slightly before accelerating as it flew toward Deep Heaven City.
Chapter 1848: The Approaching Devilish Shadow
In the air above a boundless yellow desert, there was a bronze battle carriage drawn by a pair of giant silver falcons, flashing with faint azure light as it flew along at a low altitude.
All of a sudden, the man on the carriage raised an arm before waving a hand through the air, and spatial fluctuations erupted from beneath the carriage, following which a streak of azure sword Qi that was over 100 feet emerged out of nowhere, then slashed downward in a vicious manner.
The massive sword then vanished in a flash into the yellow sand down below, following which an earth-shattering roar erupted, and the nearby sand immediately erupted upward like a reverse waterfall.
Within the yellow sand, a giant ancient beast that was over 1,000 feet in length emerged. The beast resembled an enormous silkworm, and it's body only managed to writhe desperately a few times in the air before it suddenly separated into several segments and crashed downward amid a torrential downpour of green blood.
Meanwhile, the battle carriage merely continued onward without pause and vanished into the distance after just a few flashes.
Throughout this entire process, Han Li's eyes remained shut as he sat wit
hin the carriage with his legs crossed. After putting an end to that giant ancient beast, he lowered his arm again and continued to cultivate.
...
Deep within a certain unknown sea, there was a massive palace, and in the secret chamber of that palace was a giant crimson cocoon suspended in mid-air. The cocoon had a diameter of around 70 to 80 feet, and countless crimson threads were being released by this cocoon. These crimson threads spread over every corner of the entire secret chamber, leaving not even a single pocket of space untouched.
The crimson cocoon itself was semi-transparent, and peering at it through all of the crimson threads from afar, one could make out a black shadow within the cocoon that was constantly fluctuating in size. If one were to draw a little closer to it, they'd be greeted by the sound of a periodic dull thump, resembling a rhythmic and powerful, yet extremely slow heartbeat.
...
In the air above a certain massive canyon on the Tian Yuan Continent, a white-robed beauty and a hideous black-robed man were hovering in mid-air, tightly surrounded by tens of thousands of foreign beings.
These foreign beings all had green skin with extremely long necks, and their front limbs were like pairs of sharp blades; they resembled a series of giant praying mantises!
The valley below was already piled full of countless corpses of their brethren, creating a very harrowing sight to behold.
The black-robed man didn't have any traces of blood on his body, but he was releasing enormous baleful Qi, and both sides of his face were covered in black scales the size of copper coins. He had also rolled up his sleeves to reveal a pair of inky-black arms, and his hands transformed into 10 sharp blades, giving him a very menacing appearance.
In contrast, the white-robed woman was standing atop a giant pink flower with an extremely calm and tranquil expression.
Even though there were only two of them, the tens of thousands of foreign beings around them could only look on in shock and fury, yet they didn't dare to approach the duo.
"I'll say this one more time: hand over the holy flower of your Green Limb Race, and I'll leave right away. Otherwise, you leave me no choice but to kill all of you, then go and take the holy flower for myself," the white-robed woman said in a nonchalant voice, as if committing genocide were merely a commonplace activity for her.
The leader of the foreign beings had skin that was of a slightly darker color than his brethren, and he cast a resentful gaze toward the black-robed man as he said, "The holy flower is the most precious treasure of our race; how can we hand it over to outsiders? You do indeed possess extraordinary powers, Senior, but this is a request we cannot fulfill."
He was a mid-Body Integration Stage being, and that already made him the most powerful one among his brethren. There were three early-Body Integration Stage Green Limb beings standing behind him, and all of them also had resentment and fury burning in their eyes.
During the horrendous scenes that had just ensued, they were completely powerless, immobilized by the white-robed woman's overwhelming aura while the black-robed man slaughtered their brethren in droves.
Their brethren resisted with all their might, but over 1,000 of them were still slaughtered in a very short time. The astonishing powers and vicious methods of this duo evoked within them burning fury, but also a crippling sense of powerlessness.
They knew that their race was truly on the brink of being wiped out.
"I don't care about all that. Either you hand over the holy flower, or I'll erase your entire race from the Spirit Realm; you have no alternative options," the white-robed woman said in a completely cold and emotionless manner.
The grand elder of the Green Limb Race hesitated for a long while before replying, "Don't you think it's unbefitting of a Grand Ascension Stage being like you to force your will on a small race like ours?"
"Don't try to goad me; the holy flower of your race is extremely useful to me, so I'm taking it no matter what. Don't think that you can somehow talk your way out of this. I'll count to 10; if you don't hand over the holy flower by then, then I'll have to take it for myself," the white-robed woman said with a smile, but all of the Green Limb beings' hearts sank at the sight of her beautiful smile.
"One."
"Two."
The white-robed woman really did begin her countdown. Her voice was extremely delightful and pleasant to the ears, but to the surrounding Green Limb beings, it sounded like death knocking on their doors.
"Alright, I'll hand over the holy flower!" the Green Limb Race grand elder finally said in a feeble and resigned manner.
"That's a very wise decision! As long as you're willing to hand over the holy flower, I naturally won't trouble your race any further," the white-robed woman said with a smile as she tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear.
The rest of the process was very simple. Under the instructions of the Green Limb Race grand elder, one of the Green Limb beings immediately descended into the valley and paid a visit to the restricted area of the Green Limb Race.
Close to an hour later, the Green Limb being returned and offered a green wooden box to the white-robed woman with a look of grief and indignation on his face.
The woman didn't even open the box; she merely swept her spiritual sense toward it for a brief moment, following which her face immediately fell. The black-robed man stirred upon seeing this, and a vicious look reappeared in his eyes.
This was quite an alarming sight to the surrounding Green Limb beings, and they immediately tensed up, anticipating more slaughter from this heartless duo.
Thankfully, in the next instant, the white-robed woman merely issued an instruction to the black-robed man to depart from this place, following which her giant pink flower carried her away as a ball of red light.
The black-robed man immediately followed along behind her as a cloud of black Qi.
Moments later, both of them had vanished into the distance, and all of the Green Limb beings heaved a collective sigh of relief.
Even though they had lost their holy flower, for a weak race like theirs, it was already quite fortunate that they had managed to avoid being completely wiped out.
The grand elder issued an order, and all of the Green Limb beings immediately flew down into the valley to clean up the remains of their brethren.
Meanwhile, the white-robed woman and black-robed man were already tens of thousands of kilometers away.
After flying for a while, the black-robed man couldn't help but ask, "Sacred Ancestor, is this holy flower not the item that you're looking for?"
"No, it's only a spirit flower that's similar in outward appearance to the one I'm looking for. It's still an extremely rare spirit item in this realm, but it's not very useful to me at all," the white-robed woman replied in a calm voice.
"So our efforts were futile once again," the black-robed man sighed in a disappointed manner.
"That thing is not so easy to find. We've already searched through the major races in this nearby area; it's time to move on to neighboring areas. The Tian Yuan Continent, isn't much larger than the Thunder Continent, but there are several times as many races on this continent compared to the Thunder Continent, so it will take quite some time to search through them one by one," the white-robed woman replied.
"Yes, Mistress," the black-robed man replied in a respectful manner before falling silent, not daring to ask any further questions.
...
80 years later, a group of Flying Spirit beings were flapping their wings with all their might, flying rapidly over a vast blue ocean.
The group was comprised of both men and women, but they were all very young, and most of them were at the Core Formation Stage, with even the most powerful ones among them only at the Nascent Soul Stage.
As they desperately flew through the air, they were constantly looking behind themselves with horrified looks in their eyes.
In the distance, a silver thread suddenly appeared, and it began to close in on them at a rate that was di
scernible to the naked eye. An incessant burst of rumbling also rang out from within the silver thread, and the horror on the faces of the Flying Spirit beings were even further exacerbated.
All of them began to expel mouthfuls of blood essence, or unleashed life-saving secret techniques, or summoned all types of treasures and talismans.
As a result, all of these Flying Spirit beings accelerated drastically, but even so, they only managed to just barely maintain around the same speed as the silver thread.
After flying for close to two more hours, the Flying Spirit beings were finally running out of magic power and began to slow down once again.
The silver thread behind them immediately surged forth, closing much of the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
Upon closer inspection, one would find that the silver thread was a sea of powerful winds with no end in sight, and it was hurtling toward them at an incredible speed.
Not only was the sea of wind extremely broad, it encompassed the entire sky in the distance, and there were countless bolts of lightning and hailstones within it. An incessant rumbling rang out from the sea of wind, and it was extremely menacing to behold.
The Flying Spirit beings were only less than 100 kilometers away from the sea of wind, and they would be swept up by the winds in mere moments. Expressions of despair appeared on everyone's faces.
They had embarked on this journey out to sea as part of their training, only to encounter the "silver tide" disaster that was vastly renowned in this area of the sea. In the face of such a disaster, their chances of survival were very slim.
Even so, they naturally weren't going to just give up and resign themselves to their fates.
One of the Nascent Soul Stage Flying Spirit beings let loose a loud roar, and everyone gritted their teeth as they stopped fleeing. They then quickly formed a strange formation before each pulling a formation flag out of their storage bracelets and waving them in a desperate manner.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1067