Two auras, one hot and one cold surged forth in a frenzy, and the two devilish beings' hearts jolted as they tried to oppose this aura with their own.
However, in the next instant, both of them let loose cries of pain, and they stumbled back as if they had become inebriated. With each backward step they took, the two of them would throw up a mouthful of blood each.
Only throwing up seven or eight mouthfuls of blood each did they barely manage to steady themselves, but both of them had turned deathly pale. On top of that, one of them had been completely charred black, while the other had a layer of white frost over his body.
Both of them wore expressions of incredulity, and the devilish woman immediately stood up in astonishment, but she could only look on as Han Li departed, not daring to pursue him.
Thus, Han Li passed through the two devilish men in a calm and collected manner, continuing on his way without even turning his head once.
Such a massive commotion naturally attracted the attention of the devilish beings nearby, but most of them only briefly appraised and discussed the situation before returning to what they were doing, seemingly not paying the incident much heed.
After all, Blood Crow City was currently filled with outsiders, and minor conflicts like this were an extremely common occurrence.
After the two devilish men forcibly repressed their internal injuries, they made their way over to the devilish woman with sullen expressions. "Mistress, please forgive us for our ineptitude."
The devilish woman took a deep breath to compose herself before speculating, "The two of you combined possess peak Spatial Tempering Stage powers; how was he able to brush you off so easily? Could it be that he's a devilish lord in disguise?"
"That's most likely the case. Do you recall the three brothers of the Nan Family that we encountered a few days ago, Mistress? The three of them combined can even put up a fight against an early-stage devilish lord, and it's very suspicious that they've arrived in this city in disguise. It seems that many unfathomably powerful beings have appeared in Blood Crow City; could it be that something big is about to happen soon?" one of the devilish men murmured in a concerned manner.
Chapter 2039: Midnight Devilish Shadow
"Blood Crow City isn't a large city, but it's the only nearby city, so it's not uncommon to see devilish lords pass through here. Besides, even if someone were plotting something here, they wouldn't dare to plot against us in fear of retaliation from our Hai Family. The true spirit bone that we discovered here is one of the vital materials for the prized treasure that our Hai Family is currently refining, so if we can bring it back with us, we'll be rewarded handsomely for sure. As such, we have to secure that bone no matter what!" the devilish woman said with a dark expression after a brief pause for contemplation.
"But Mistress, if that man really is a devilish lord, how are we supposed to take the spirit bone from him?" the other devilish man asked.
"If he really is a devilish lord, then things will be quite troublesome. He must be a vagrant cultivator, seeing as he has no qualms about offending our Hai Family. However, just because he doesn't see us as a threat doesn't mean that there isn't anyone else in the city that he's fearful of," the devilish woman chuckled coldly.
The two devilish men exchanged a glance upon hearing this. "What would you like us to do, Mistress?"
"Go and track down the three brothers of the Nan Family. In the meantime, I'll pay a visit to the Blood Crow City Lord. The Nan Family still owes our Hai Family a favor, and if I recall correctly, Bing Qianren is from the Heavenly Awn Valley, so they'll all most likely heed our request. If we can recruit their assistance, then there's a very good chance that we'll be able to secure the spirit bone," the devilish woman decided.
"That's a great idea! If the three brothers of the Nan Family and Bing Qianren confront him together, he'll have no choice but to hand over the spirit bone. Besides, we're not asking him to hand over the spirit bone for zero compensation," one of the devilish men said in an elated manner.
The other devilish man also nodded in agreement.
"Alright, then let's begin right away. With the beast tide that's currently taking place, I'm sure that man won't be leaving Blood Crow City anytime soon," the devilish woman said as her expression eased slightly.
"Yes, Mistress!" the two devilish men replied with respectful bows.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already arrived in a large shop that was around an acre in area, and he was currently carefully examining several pieces of gleaming metallic ore offered to him by the shopkeeper.
However, a disappointed look soon appeared on his face, and he shook his head before returning to the pieces of ore to the shopkeeper, then departed from the shop.
As he had expected, these pieces of Foreign Devilish Metal were all empty. It seemed that it was going to be purely a matter of luck for him to track down more of those crystalline beads.
At this point, Han Li had visited all of the shops in the entire Blood Crow City, and he returned to the inn without any intention of continuing to linger on the street.
The incident where he had just been intercepted seemed to have already been forgotten by him.
Half a day passed by in the blink of an eye, and night gradually settled over Blood Crow City.
Aside from some of the devilish guards who were returning from patrol duty, there was not a single person to be seen on the streets.
Blood Crow City had entered a state of lockdown again.
Several hours later, Han Li was meditating in his room when a hint of surprise suddenly flashed over his face. He then immediately made a hand seal and disappeared amid a flash of azure light.
Moments later, faint spatial fluctuations erupted several thousand feet above the inn that Han Li was staying in, and a barely visible streak of green light appeared in a wraith-like manner before flying into the distance after just a few flashes, completely disregarding the flight restriction in the city.
Shortly after that, another streak of grey light flew over virtually the exact same spot, and it was traveling slightly faster than the streak of green light.
Both streaks of light were completely silent and barely visible, clearly indicating that both sides had unleashed concealment secret techniques.
In the blink of an eye, the two streaks of light disappeared in the distance, one after the other.
Only then did a third humanoid figure emerge amid another burst of spatial fluctuations, then cast a cold gaze toward the direction the two streaks of light had disappeared in.
This was none other than Han Li.
With his immensely powerful spiritual sense, even without actively releasing his spiritual sense, he could still sense everything within a radius of several kilometers.
The two streaks of light had managed to avoid being noticed by the patrolling devilish guards, but they certainly weren't going to fool him.
With his current level of power, he didn't have anything to fear unless he was confronted by a Sacred Ancestor. The two streaks of light were flying through the air in an extremely stealthy manner in the dead of night, so it was clear that they were up to something, and that was rather intriguing to him.
"I've got nothing better to do anyway; I may as well take a look," Han Li murmured to himself as he also shot forth as a faint streak of azure light.
He had already locked onto the two people up ahead with his spiritual sense, and even though he could instantly teleport over to them, he intentionally followed along in the distance at a leisurely pace.
He wanted to see exactly where these two were going.
The two streaks of light up ahead were naturally completely unaware that they were being tailed by a third person, and it didn't take them long to reach the city wall.
However, there just so happened to be a small group of devilish guards who were patrolling through this area. This group of devilish guards were all wearing suits of black armor and wielding red halberds that were several tens of feet in length.
The leader of the group of guards was seated atop a two-headed goat-like devilish steed.
The streak of green light faltered slightly upon seeing this, but it then immediately continued onward, giving the group of guards a slight berth and attempting to sneak around them.
The pursuer also followed suit in fear of losing the streak of green light.
Both of them had turned completely transparent from the effects of their concealment secret technique, and they would be able to easily sneak past a group of normal guards.
However, right as the streak of green light was passing by the group of patrolling guards, a sharp ringing sound suddenly erupted from the body of the leader of the guards, following which a silver thread shot forth to strike the transparent streak of green light with unerring accuracy.
The guard was carrying a top-grade sensory devilish treasure!
The streak of green light was forced to reveal itself, much to the surprise of the devilish guards. However, they were able to quickly return to their senses before slashing their halberds through the air, unleashing a dozen or so saber projections that were each around 10 feet in length.
At the same time, the leader of the guards raised a hand to the heavens to release a streak of black light, which screeched sharply as it rose up into the sky.
A cry of rage and frustration rang out from within the streak of green light, following which the humanoid figure within suddenly swayed slightly.
The blade projections flashed past, and the green streak of light was instantly torn apart, but the humanoid figure was nowhere to be seen.
The leader of the devilish guards immediately reacted and swiveled around on his devilish steed, just in time to see the streak of green light re-emerge around 300 feet away amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, then continued toward the city wall up ahead.
"Stop him!" the leader of the guards yelled in an enraged voice while laying a hand onto one of his devilish steed's two heads.
The devilish beast raised its two heads and blasted forth two bolts of blue lightning at once, both of which surged viciously toward the back of the green humanoid figure in the distance.
The green figure made a reverse grabbing motion, and a ball of green light shot forth.
The two bolts of blue lightning vanished into the ball of light without a sound, seemingly having been completely nullified.
The green figure then immediately vanished into the distance, leaving all of the devilish guards who were about to surround him looking on in a dumbstruck manner.
The leader of the guards was just about to set off in pursuit in a fit of fury when all of a sudden, the same ringing sound erupted once again, followed which another silver thread shot forth.
However, on this occasion, a cold harrumph rang out, and a burst of crimson light emerged out of thin air.
The silver thread was instantly repelled by the crimson light, following which the latter vanished yet again.
A thought immediately occurred to the leader of the devilish guards upon seeing this, and his face instantly paled.
At the same time, his devilish steed, which had been poised to pounce, had also settled down.
The other devilish guards were at a complete loss for what to do, and after a brief hesitation, one of them asked in a careful manner, "Should we give chase, Captain? The guards up ahead most likely won't be to stop them."
The leader of the guards forced a smile onto his face, and replied, "Let them go; those two are far too powerful for us to mess with."
The other devilish guards were all stunned to see this.
They were well aware of how proud their captain was, yet he was conceding his inferiority to a pair of mysterious figures after only such a fleeting encounter; this was the first time they had seen something like this.
Meanwhile, the two streaks of light had already flown out of Blood Crow City one after the other, passing through the restrictions set up on the city walls as if they didn't even exist.
Han Li also passed by the group of devilish guards in his hidden state, but the silver thread that had managed to detect the two people who had come before him displayed no reaction to Han Li.
After just a few flashes, Han Li also flew through the restrictions on the city wall.
Chapter 2040: Qi Ling's Hidden Treasure
Throughout this entire process, Han Li had remained completely undetected.
Meanwhile, Han Li was very intrigued by the two figures up ahead. He was able to disregard the restrictions on the city wall with his immense powers, but those two were clearly far less powerful than he was, yet they were still able to pass through the restrictions with ease.
This indicated that they either possess some type of special treasures, or they were important figures in the city that could grant themselves passage through the restrictions.
Thus, Han Li continued to follow the two streaks of light, all the way to a vast expanse of rugged rocks close to 10,000 feet away from the city.
All of a sudden, the streak of green light descended onto the rocks down below, and the streak of grey light immediately followed suit.
The grey light faded to reveal a grey-robed elderly man, who immediately inspected his surroundings with a menacing expression.
"Hmm? Isn't that the Blood Crow City Lord?"
A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes as he appraised the elderly man from above.
The Blood Crow City Lord naturally failed to discover the concealed Han Li, and he harrumphed coldly before flipping a hand over to produce a small black umbrella, which he tossed up into the air while chanting an incantation.
The small umbrella immediately swelled to around 10 feet in size and hovered in mid-air while releasing a vast expanse of black light, which encompassed an area of several acres down below.
A muffled thump rang out from a giant rock several hundred feet away from the elderly man, and a faint blue humanoid stumbled out into the open.
This was a mundane-looking blue-robed middle-aged man who wore a completely calm expression, seemingly having already anticipated that he was going to be exposed.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the middle-aged man and discovered that this was none other than Old Man Yang, who had secured the holy brick during the auction.
As soon as he was forced to reveal himself, the Blood Crow City Lord let loose a low cry before sweeping a hand through the air.
A streak of crimson light that was over 100 feet long swept forth in a flash, slicing the giant rock in front of Old Man Yang in half amid a resounding boom.
However, Old Man Yang instantly vanished, and the streak of crimson light missed its target as a result.
A massive trench that was over 100 feet in length was immediately sliced into the ground.
Old Man Yang then reappeared some distance away from the trench with his arms crossed, and he chuckled with a mocking sneer, "Hehe, are you really planning to kill me over something like this, Fellow Daoist Bing?"
He seemed to be completely fearless in the face of the Body Integration Stage Blood Crow City Lord.
"You've succeeded in luring me out of the city; if you have any allies, then feel free to call for them," the Blood Crow City Lord said with a cold look in his eyes.
"Allies? Why would you assume that I have allies, Fellow Daoist Bing? There's no one else here aside from you and me," Old Man Yang said with a smile.
"You're just a Spatial Tempering Stage being; how would you dare to oppose me if you didn't have any allies?" Bing Qianren asked in a cold voice.
"I can't convince you of anything if you refuse to believe me. However, the fact of the matter is that I bear no ill will; I only want to discuss a mutually beneficial deal with you," Old Man Yang replied in a nonchalant manner.
"I'm open to a deal, but you have to show me that you have what it takes to negotiate a deal with me. I can get what I want after I kill you, so why would I negotiate a deal with you?" Bing Qianren guffawed as he abruptly stepped forward, then insta
ntly vanished amid a flash of crimson light.
In the next instant, spatial fluctuations behind Old Man Yang, and Bing Qianren reappeared in a wraith-like manner before conjuring up a giant crimson hand that came crashing down toward Old Man Yang's head.
The Blood Crow City Lord was sweeping aside Old Man Yang's proposal for a negotiation and was aiming to kill him on the spot!
Old Man Yang's eyelids twitched upon seeing this, and he thrust a hand backward without even turning his head.
A giant inky-black hand emerged amid a ghostly howl, and an earth-shattering boom erupted as the two massive palms clashed, following which both sides shot back in unison.
"This is mid-Body Integration Stage power! You're not Old Man Yang!" Bing Qianren exclaimed as his face paled slightly.
Indeed, the spiritual pressure emanating from the middle-aged man's body had swelled drastically to the mid-Body Integration Stage.
"Is that really important? Besides, who says I'm not Old Man Yang?" A peculiar look appeared on Old Man Yang's face.
Bing Qianren scrutinized Old Man Yang for a moment before asking in a cold voice, "Are you one of the Seven Scourges of the Lightning Sea or someone from the Heavenly Abode Mountain?"
"Your reactions are truly remarkable, Fellow Daoist Bing; I am indeed from the Lightning Sea, but I'm merely a vagrant cultivator, not one of the seven scourges. During the battle between the seven scourges and the Heavenly Abode Mountain, you looted the place where Sacred Ancestor Qi Ling passed away and stole three of the four holy bricks. As a result, the seven scourges and the people from the Heavenly Abode Mountain ended up fighting for nothing while you came all the way here to become a city lord. Tsk tsk, I wonder if there'll be anywhere you can stay in our holy realm if the Seven Scourges of the Lightning Sea or the Heavenly Abode Mountain were to learn of this."
"Hmph, looks like you've dug up quite a bit of my past. In that case, the holy brick on that auction must be a counterfeit that you made," Bing Qianren harrumphed coldly.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1176