However, after passing through around a dozen tunnels and arriving at a crossroads leading into four or five different tunnels, Han Li's eyes suddenly narrowed slightly.
All of these tunnels were shimmering with specks of crimson light, and the walls were riddled with fist-sized crimson crystals.
However, Han Li wasn't looking at all of these precious materials. Instead, he was looking at a set of headless remains that lay slumped at the entrance of one of the tunnels.
Even though the body was complete aside from its missing head, its skin was completely shriveled up, as if its blood and flesh had somehow been completely stripped away, leaving only a pouch of skin behind.
The purple-haired woman and the burly man had naturally also seen the set of remains, and a hint of surprise flashed through their eyes.
The purple-haired woman glanced at the robes being worn by the set of remains, and her expression immediately darkened as she made a grabbing motion toward the headless body.
A small scrap of cloth detached itself from the robe before being drawn into her grasp.
Han Li took a glance at it to find that a faint silver "Bai" character was emblazoned on that scrap of cloth.
"This is a disciple of our Bai Family, but it's hard to tell which one it is," the purple-haired woman said with furrowed brows.
The burly man harrumphed coldly before also making a grabbing motion toward the headless body, and an azure leather pouch was drawn toward him before exploding at his behest, releasing a swarm of huge crimson wasps. Each of these wasps was as large as an adult human hand, and they were buzzing incessantly.
"These are Blood Sifting Wasps! If I recall correctly, Bai Yan possesses a swarm of these devilish insects, right?" the burly man asked with a dark expression.
One of the Spatial Tempering Stage disciples of the Bai Family stepped forward, and confirmed, "Indeed, Senior; these are none other than Bai Yan's Blood Sifting Wasps. I've seen him use these wasps in battle on multiple occasions." This was an elderly man with snowy-white hair, and there was a hint of sorrow in his eyes, suggesting that he seemed to have shared some type of bond with this Bai Yan.
The purple-haired woman sighed as she raised a hand to release a fireball that incinerated the body into ashes, then murmured to herself, "In that case, these must be Bai Yan's remains. He's the most powerful one among the disciples that we left at the oasis stronghold; how did he end up here?"
In reality, no one was all that surprised by the gruesome sight of the shriveled headless corpse. After all, there were countless beings in the Elder Devil Realm who cultivated by devouring the blood essence of others, so this wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence.
"Let's keep going; perhaps we'll find some leads up ahead," the burly man suggested after a brief pause for contemplation.
No one offered any objections, and they continued into the tunnel where the remains had just been found. However, everyone was proceeding with more caution, and after making their way along the tunnel for several thousand feet, they encountered five or six more headless corpses, all of whom were confirmed to be Bai Family disciples who had been left at the stronghold.
The burly man's expression darkened further and further with each headless body that was discovered, and after walking for a while longer, he suddenly turned to the purple-haired woman, and asked, "How far away are we from that devilish beast? It won't be able to detect us, will it?"
"Rest assured, Big Brother; spiritual sense is greatly inhibited in the Illusion Howl Desert in the first place, and that's only further exacerbated by the disruptive effect of the true fire Qi in this mine. We're currently still around three kilometers away from the devilish beast, so there's no way that it'll be able to detect us. However, I'm not sure if that will continue to be the case if we get any closer than this," the purple-haired woman replied after briefly glancing down at the jade pendant in her hand.
After a brief pause for contemplation, the burly man decided, "In that case, let's all unleash our concealment techniques right away."
"Do we really have to start right away? Using concealment techniques in this desert is going to be very taxing on our magic power. So be it, better safe than sorry, I guess," Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon mumbled reluctantly before opening his mouth to expel a black badge, which transformed into a cloud of black mist that enshrouded his entire body.
Immediately thereafter, both the mist and Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon himself gradually faded into nothingness.
Han Li also followed suit as he made a hand seal, upon which black light swirled over his body, and he transformed into a barely visible black shadow.
As for Han Qizi, he abruptly swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of glacial light, upon which his entire body became as translucent as an ice statue.
Bai Yunxin and the others each summoned a silver flag before tossing them up into the air in unison to create a silver light formation. The formation descended upon all six of them, and they instantly disappeared as well.
Seeing as everyone had already concealed themselves, the burly man and the purple-haired woman also did the same as one of them released a burst of black Qi from their body, while the other summoned a handkerchief-like treasure.
Thus, the group continued onward, and much to their surprise, this tunnel was far longer than they had anticipated. Even after walking for a long while, they still hadn't made it to the other side.
As they progressed, the straight tunnel suddenly began to wind and twist, and the stone walls around them also became very coarse and rugged; they had entered a natural underground fissure.
Other rifts of different sizes had also begun to appear around them, ranging from only around a foot in width to several tens of feet wide. Scorching winds would occasionally blow through those rifts, carrying a charred sulfurous scent.
Around an hour later, after everyone had flown out of a nondescript-looking rift, a giant underground lava lake suddenly appeared down below.
The lake was over 1,000 acres in area, and it was filled with bubbling red lava. The edge of the lake was surrounded by charred rocky ground, but there were a series of reddish-purple crystals embedded into those rocks, and they were shimmering with a peculiar red light under the lava's illumination.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this.
These reddish-purple crystals were manifestations of fire-attribute Qi that had been compressed to the extreme. Even though they were quite small, all of them were extremely rare top-grade Firecloud Stones.
At just a rough glance, he discovered that there were tens of thousands of these crystals, and they would be worth an astronomical number of devil stones or spirit stone; it was no wonder that the Bai Family was willing to pay such a heavy price to try and salvage this mine.
However, what was rather befuddling to Han Li was that there was no devilish beast to be seen here. The underground lava lake was indeed extremely massive, but its structure was very simple, and there weren't any obvious hiding places.
The burly man also seemed to be a little perplexed as he transmitted his voice toward the purple-haired woman.
"Is this the right place, Sister? Is that devilish beast really here?"
"There's no mistaking it; its blood essence is definitely pointing toward this place," the purple-haired woman replied without any hesitation.
"In that case, it's most likely hiding within the lava down below; it seems that it really hasn't detected our arrival yet. Yunxin, set up the formation right away. Fellow daoists, we'll be requiring your services soon as well," the burly man said as he turned to everyone else.
The six Bai Family disciples immediately gave affirmative responses before scattering around the lava lake, then summoned stacks of formation flags and formation plates to begin setting up a giant formation.
As for Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon and Han Qizi, they also descended toward the lava down below, then stopped and hovered in mid-air over 100 feet above the surface of the lava lake
.
Even though the two of them were still concealed by their respective secret techniques, they still summoned protective devilish treasures in a cautious manner.
Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon opened his mouth to produce a shimmering blue bowl that was emanating blue glacial light, while Han Qi Zi swept a sleeve through the air to produce 12 translucent flags, which transformed into 12 balls of glacial light that revolved around his body.
Meanwhile, Han Li gently stomped a foot down onto the air below, and five-colored light erupted underfoot, forming a five-colored lotus flower that carried his body downward on a slow descent.
The five-colored lotus flower was extremely vibrant and was releasing wisps of glacial Qi; it had been manifested by none other than these five-colored glacial flames.
Chapter 2064: Devilish Beast
Han Li, Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon, and Han Qizi were hovering above the lava lake in a triangular formation while releasing their spiritual sense downward.
However, there were layers of peculiar energy fluctuations within the lava that prevented Han Li's spiritual sense from reaching any deeper than just over 1,000 feet into the lake.
For Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon and the others, their spiritual sense was far less powerful than Han Li's, so that distance was shortened to around 300 to 400 feet for them.
A distance of just over 1,000 feet only allowed Han Li to discover that there was a massive black shadow lying at the bottom of the lake. However, due to the energy fluctuations in the lava, he was unable to see the shadow clearly, so he couldn't determine whether this was their target for this trip.
Even though the black shadow laid completely still as if it were dead, Han Li was still surveying it with great caution.
As Bai Yunxin and the others were setting up the formation, the two devilish lords of the Bai Family were also in action.
The burly man had summoned his antiquated mirror again, and it transformed into over 100 mirror fragments that spread all over the air above the lava lake, shining black devilish light down upon it.
The burly man's lips tremored silently, and he wore a slightly strained expression, clearly finding it rather difficult to unleash his abilities while the majority of his magic power was being restricted.
Meanwhile, the purple-haired woman made a hand seal, and a suit of devilish armor that was as pristine white as jade appeared over her body. At the same time, she made a grabbing motion with her other hand, and a long inky-black halberd appeared in her grasp.
She swept the weapon through the air, and an inky-black giant horned tiger projection appeared, snarling viciously as if it were about to pounce at any moment.
Around 15 minutes later, the six Spatial Tempering Stage Bai Family disciples finished setting up the formation, and balls of black Qi immediately surfaced around the lava lake. Bursts of killing intent and flashes of cold light were contained within the balls of black Qi, as if they were holding countless sharp blades.
The six Spatial Tempering Stage Bai Family disciples had concealed themselves within these balls of black Qi and were controlling the entire formation.
The burly man then transmitted his voice toward Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon. "The formation is ready, Fellow Daoist Luan Dragon; please force the beast out of the lava now."
A cold look appeared in Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon's eyes upon hearing this, and he immediately let loose a loud cry before pointing a finger toward the blue bowl he had summoned.
The bowl shuddered before expanding drastically in size, transforming into a blue moon, and at the same time, it released a thick pillar of blue light that shot forth toward the lava down below with ferocious might.
The pillar of light stirred up the lava lake like a giant rod, and in the blink of an eye, massive waves had been swept up over the surface of the entire lake.
In the next instant, a thunderous roar of fury rang out, and the lava parted as a burst of green Qi emerged, forcing the pillar of blue light out of the lake.
A cold smile appeared on Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon's face upon seeing this, and an astonishing aura erupted from his body. At the same time, he flicked his fingers toward the blue bowl to release around a dozen streaks of black light, all of which vanished into the bowl in a flash.
A loud ringing sound suddenly erupted out of the blue moon, and countless white runes appeared over its surface. As a result, the blue pillar of light it was releasing became around twice as thick as it had been before, and it crashed down from above with renewed might. The burst of opposing green Qi was completely caught off guard and was instantly destroyed, following which the pillar of blue light plunged deep into the lava lake again.
A resounding boom rang out within the lake, and it seemed that the attack really had struck the devilish beast that was hiding within the lake.
"How did you like that?" Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon chortled as he prepared to unleash more attacks with his blue bowl.
However, right at this moment, the entire cave suddenly began to tremor violently, and a crimson wave of light swept up over the surface of the lava, surging directly toward Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon, and even Han Li and Han Qizi were caught up within the scope of the attack.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged as the five-colored lotus beneath his feet rotated slightly, and a five-colored glacial light barrier appeared around him, easily keeping the crimson light at bay.
Han Qizi also remained on the spot as the 12 balls of glacial light around him swelled drastically to form a barrier of glacial light as well.
In contrast, Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon suddenly let loose a cry of alarm as his body was instantly flung back by a burst of enormous invisible power, and he crashed violently into a massive stone wall, sinking several feet into it as countless rock fragments rained down from above.
At the spot where Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon had been standing before, a massive beastly claw that was covered in green flames had appeared, and that appeared to have been what had sent Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon flying.
After being smashed into the stone wall, most of Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon's clothes had been torn away, but a suit of inky-black armor had appeared over his body to nullify most of the impact. As such, even though he was looking quite disheveled, the injuries that he had sustained were actually quite minor.
Even so, his face instantly turned as red as blood, and a burst of power erupted from his body, shattering the stone wall around him, thereby allowing him to free himself.
Immediately thereafter, he cussed in a furious manner as he made a grabbing motion, and a strange long-handled blade appeared in his grasp amid a flash of yellow light. Immediately thereafter, the black swirling around his body swelled drastically, and he slashed the blade toward the giant claw like lightning with both hands.
A yellow blade projection swept forth, covering a distance of several hundred feet in a flash before viciously slicing toward the beastly claw.
However, despite its massive size, the beastly claw was unexpectedly agile and instantly vanished into thin air.
Thus, the yellow blade projection struck nothing but empty space.
Immediately thereafter, violent waves surged over the surface of the lava lake down below, and a gigantic creature that was enshrouded in green devilish flames emerged. The creature was over 200 feet in size, and its roar resembled the moo of a cow.
Han Li and Han Qizi immediately shot back, and the former rubbed his hands together before raising them to release countless threads of grey light, while two of the 12 balls of glacial light around the latter's body hurtled directly toward the giant beast. As soon as these balls of glacial light were hurled through the air, white icy halos appeared around them as a show of their fearsome glacial might.
However, the giant devilish beast remained completely unfazed. It abruptly raised its head, and the green flames around its body instantly transformed into layers of green light barriers. Regardless of whether it was Han Li's grey threads of light or those icy halos, the
y were both instantly destroyed as if they had encountered the bane of their existence.
Han Li's heart jolted slightly upon seeing this.
His Divine Essencefused Light was able to repress five-elemental power, so it was quite a surprise to him that these green devilish flames were able to nullify them so easily.
However, the two balls of glacial light unleashed by Han Qizi seemed to possess some type of peculiar power, allowing them to tear through the green flames and hurtle directly toward the devilish beast.
The devilish beast immediately expelled two bursts of black Qi out of its mouth in response, and after the two opposing powers clashed, the balls of glacial light reverted back into a pair of translucent flags that descended from above.
A hint of surprise flashed through Han Qizi's eyes upon seeing this, but he immediately made a grabbing motion, drawing the two flags back to him as streaks of white light, which vanished into his body in a flash.
Right at this moment, the devilish beast let loose a loud roar, and the temperature within the entire cave instantly increased by severalfold. Crimson fireballs emerged around its body, yet just as it was about to unleash an attack, the burly man and purple-haired woman sprang into action.
The burly man began to chant something while pointing a finger at all of the mirror fragments in the air, and they released bolts of black lightning in unison, intertwining to form a black lightning net that descended from above.
Meanwhile, the purple-haired woman stabbed her black halberd viciously downward, and the giant black tiger projection around it let loose a thunderous roar before swooping down as a streak of black light.
The space in the wake of the black light twisted and warped, and it appeared directly above the devilish beast in a flash, completely undeterred by the oncoming balls of green flames.
However, the green flames around the body of the devilish beast suddenly swelled drastically, then formed a two-headed devilish python projection that clashed with the tiger projection.
Both of these projections were formed by devilish Qi, but it was as if a clash were taking place between an actual pair of ferocious devilish beasts.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1189