As for all of the other secret techniques he had taken with him, those were mere accessories.
However, there were some of them that had caught his eye, and he planned to cultivate those when he got back.
After quickly assessing the Lightningwield Technique recorded in the jade slip to verify that there were no issues, Han Li stowed the jade slip away before making his way toward the teleportation formation not far away.
Daoist Xie was still waiting for him there, and he gave Han Li a slight nod.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Brother Xie. Let's go and meet the elders of the holy island; I'm sure they're growing tired of waiting," Han Li said with an apologetic smile.
Daoist Xie naturally had no objections to this, and thus, the two of them quickly departed using the teleportation formation.
......
Several days later, a white jade ark emerged from the holy island before flying away into the distance.
Han Li, Daoist Xie, and Silvermoon were all on the ark, and they were accompanied by the white-haired holy island elder with the Luo surname.
Han Li was standing at the front of the ark with his brows slightly furrowed, seemingly contemplating something quite important.
"Fellow Daoist Luo, the Black Owl Monarch has been severely wounded by me, and he won't be plotting against our two races for at least several centuries. As for the other races, I'm sure they wouldn't dare to do anything without Grand Ascension Stage beings among their ranks. However, as a safety precaution, you have to ensure that news of my departure doesn't get leaked for at least the next century," Han Li instructed.
"Yes, Senior Han; I'll do everything in my power to keep your departure from the Spirit Realm a secret. Having said that, do you really have to leave so soon, Senior? You've only just reached the Grand Ascension Stage; why don't you take some time to consolidate your cultivation base before entering the Elder Devil Realm?" the elderly man asked in a hesitant manner.
"It's been a long time since fellow daoists Mo Jianli and Ao Xiao have disappeared in the Elder Devil Realm, and they could be in grave danger; how can I continue to delay? As for consolidation, that's not required for me. I progressed to the Grand Ascension Stage primarily using a body refinement cultivation art, so I don't need much time for consolidation," Han Li explained with a shake of his head.
"In that case, I won't say anything more about this matter. The spatial node that we're traveling to now is one that was used by the devilish army during their retreat. Even though the passageway has already disappeared and transformed into a spatial node, there are occasional reports of violent spatial fluctuations erupting out of it, so it's clear that the inter-realm walls in there are still quite fragile. With your powers and that Star Defying Plate, it should be easy for you to break into the Elder Devil Realm."
"As long as there are no issues with the spatial node, this shouldn't be an issue," Han Li replied.
"Senior Han, if you're willing to wait for a while longer, I'm sure the other major races will send more people into the Elder Devil Realm to investigate. After all, they also have Grand Ascension Stage beings that have disappeared in the Elder Devil Realm," Li Rong interjected.
"Hehe, even if that does happen, those people will only be concerned about the Grand Ascension Stage beings of their own races; no one will care about beings from small races like ours. Besides, those super races may have already sent more people into the Elder Devil Realm to investigate; I'm certainly not going to hold my breath and wait for them to go out of their way to report back to our two races," Han Li chuckled coldly in response.
Both Li Rong and Elder Luo fell silent upon hearing this.
A thought then seemed to occur to Han Li, and he said, "There's no need for you to be concerned; Brother Xie and Silvermoon will be accompanying me into the Elder Devil Realm, so I'll be able to ensure self-preservation. However, it would be unsafe to take Guo'er with me, so I'll have to get you to look after her."
"Rest assured, Senior Han; we'll take Fellow Daoist Zhu back with us to cultivate on the holy island following your departure," Elder Luo hurriedly replied with a respectful bow.
Zhu Guo'er pouted slightly with displeasure upon hearing this, but she didn't dare to raise any objections.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face, and his lips tremored slightly as he transmitted his voice toward Zhu Guo'er.
"It will take some more time for the entrance to the Small Spirit Sky to open up, so stay on the holy island and cultivate for now. After you make some progress, you'll be able to look after yourself once we find the Small Spirit Sky."
Zhu Guo'er's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and she immediately nodded in response.
As for Silvermoon, she was very concerned for Patriarch Ao Xiao's safety, so she was naturally more than willing to accompany Han Li into the Elder Devil Realm.
Thus, the jade ark continued onward, and after flying for around half a month, it arrived at a lush grassland.
After flying deeper into the grassland for two days and two nights, the ark stopped above the remains of a stronghold.
"This should be the place. There were once devilish troops situated here, but it's been abandoned for a long time," Elder Luo said after consulting a formation plate in his hand.
Han Li cast his gaze upward upon hearing this, and he discovered that there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary with this place aside from a blanket of grey clouds in the sky.
All of a sudden, Han Li's expression changed slightly as he pointed a finger at his own glabella.
A third vertical eye quickly emerged there amid a burst of black Qi, and as soon as the eye was opened, it released a beam of black light that vanished high up in the air in a flash.
In the next instant, a burst of rumbling rang out within the grey clouds, followed by a burst of faint spatial fluctuations that was detected by everyone on the ark.
Elder Luo and the others were ecstatic to sense this, and Han Li nodded as he withdrew his third eye before sweeping a sleeve through the air.
Countless formation treasures immediately shot forth in all directions before vanishing into thin air amid flashes of light.
Moments later, Han Li rubbed his hands together before thrusting them downward, releasing a thick bolt of golden lightning that disappeared in a flash.
In the next instant, a rumbling thunderclap rang out, and a giant lightning formation that was around an acre in area emerged.
Han Li then swept his sleeve downward again, and a ball of white light emerged, containing a disk that was around a foot in size.
This was none other than the vastly renowned realm-breaking treasure, the Star Defying Plate.
As soon as the plate was released, it revolved in the air above the giant formation, then transformed into a silver moon that was suspended in mid-air.
"Let's go," Han Li said before taking a step forward and vanishing on the spot.
A dull thump rang out as Han Li appeared at the center of the formation down below with lightning revolving all around him, and Daoist Xie and Silvermoon also followed along.
Han Li aimed a parting glance at Elder Luo and Li Rong, then made a hand seal before pointing a finger upward.
The silver moon above the formation immediately emitted a clear ringing sound, following which a pillar of five-colored light was released straight into the grey clouds.
At the same time, a loud thunderclap rang out from the formation beneath Han Li, and six pillars of black and white light erupted forth, disappearing into the same spot where the pillar of five-colored light had just struck the grey clouds.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the silver moon up above immediately vanished, only to be replaced by a giant black hole.
Han Li took a deep breath, and golden light radiated from his entire body, sweeping up the two people beside him before he flew up as a streak of golden light.
A burst of violent spatial fluctuations erupted forth, and the streak of golden l
ight instantly vanished into the black hole.
Chapter 2215: Stemborers
In the air above a swamp that was filled with rotting mud, a massive black hole appeared, and a streak of golden light containing several humanoid figures emerged from within the black hole.
This was none other than Han Li's trio.
Han Li briefly inspected his surroundings, following which his brows furrowed slightly.
There was not a single living being around them.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li released his spiritual sense through the surrounding area, upon which he immediately discovered that there was a large cluster of stone buildings near the edge of the swamp.
There were hundreds of these buildings, and there were several protective formations set up around them.
However, these formations had been destroyed, and after sweeping his spiritual sense into the buildings, Han Li discovered that their interiors were completely wrecked, and that there wasn't even a single devilish being within them.
Han Li was rather surprised by all of this, but he quickly arrived at a decision. "Let's go to the nearest city and find out where we are first."
In contrast with when Han Li had last entered the Elder Devil Realm, he was now at the Grand Ascension Stage and had Daoist Xie by his side, so he had nothing to fear even if he were to encounter one of the three devilish patriarchs.
Thus, the three of them set off, and after flying west for no more than half a day, Han Li's expression suddenly changed slightly as he stopped in mid-air.
Daoist Xie also stopped on the spot as he peered into the distance, while Silvermoon was left feeling rather perplexed as she couldn't see anything in the distance.
"What's going on, Brother Han? Have you and Brother Xie discovered something?"
Han Li nodded calmly in response. "There's something coming from up ahead."
Silvermoon faltered slightly upon hearing this before hurriedly casting her gaze into the distance as well.
A short while later, a strange buzzing sound rang out in the distance, and it became louder and louder, seemingly drawing closer to them.
Moments later, spiritual light flashed up ahead, and several hundred streaks of light emerged before hurtling directly toward Han Li.
These were hundreds of devilish beings of different cultivation bases, and they were fleeing for their lives as if they were being pursued by something extremely fearsome.
Just as Silvermoon was wondering what it could be that was chasing these devilish beings, a massive dark cloud appeared up ahead amid a loud buzzing sound, surging along in hot pursuit of the devilish beings.
Silvermoon hurriedly injected her spiritual power into her eyes as she peered carefully into the grey cloud, upon which her face immediately paled in horror.
The grey cloud was made up of countless strangely-shaped insects.
The insects ranged from the size of human fists to around the size of a grown man. They either had hooked spikes all over their bodies, and mouths full of sharp fangs, and their appearances were vastly different from all ordinary devilish insects. Some of the largest insects even had two heads, seemingly being the leaders of the swarm.
In the face of such a fearsome insect cloud, it was no wonder that Silvermoon was displaying such a fearful reaction.
The insects within the swarm were all flying at different speeds, with the larger insects clearly faster than their smaller counterparts.
In the blink of an eye, some of the devilish beings that were lagging behind were caught by the larger insects.
These devilish beings had no choice but to fight while they fled, and fierce battles quickly erupted.
However, as soon as these devilish beings slowed down a little, the rest of the insect swarm immediately caught up and devoured them.
A string of agonized howls rang out as all of the devilish beings that were lagging behind instantly disappeared within the sea of insects, and Han Li's expression finally changed slightly upon seeing this.
He suddenly turned to Daoist Xie, and asked, "Brother Xie, do you see any difference between these insects and the other devilish insects of this realm?"
"Their auras are different, and their devilish Qi is rather impure; it seems they're not originally from the Elder Devil Realm," Daoist Xie replied.
"I see, so these insects must be related to the Stemborer Queen," Han Li sighed.
Silvermoon drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. "The Stemborer Queen? Is that the creature that's behind the tribulation of the Elder Devil Realm and forced my grandfather and Senior Mo to enter the Elder Devil Realm?"
"That's right," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"If these insects are related to the Stemborer Queen and they've appeared in the Elder Devil Realm in such huge numbers, does that mean that the Stemborer Queen has already escaped from its seal?" Silvermoon asked with a strained expression.
"Not necessarily, maybe these are only descendants of the Stemborer Queen," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
Silvermoon wanted to ask another question, but during this short period of time, over half of the fleeing devilish beings had been devoured by the swarm of insects, and only a dozen or so remained.
All of them were high-grade devilish beings, but they were extremely disheveled and wore horrified expressions.
Even with the naked eye alone, Han Li was able to clearly see the expressions of the devilish beings at the front of the group.
These devilish beings were quite taken aback to see Han Li's trio hovering in mid-air, seemingly completely disregarding the swarm of insects in the distance.
A devilish woman who appeared to be in her twenties yelled in an urgent voice, "What are you standing there for?! The stemborers are here; hurry up and run for your lives!"
Immediately thereafter, she whizzed right past Han Li's trio and continued to flee into the distance.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he cast his gaze toward the insect cloud, then suddenly swept a sleeve through the air.
Three miniature mountains immediately appeared before him amid a resounding boom, and they instantly swelled to tens of thousands of feet tall before hurtling directly toward the insect cloud.
At the same time, the grey insects swarmed around the three giant mountains and completely surrounded them.
Han Li pointed a finger toward the distance, and the three mountains began to revolve on the spot.
Grey light was released from the black mountain, and all of the insects that came into contact with this grey light instantly vanished.
Meanwhile, countless streaks of invisible sword Qi were being released by the azure mountain, slicing countless insects into dismembered pieces that rained down from above alongside a shower of green blood.
As for the five-colored mountain, it was releasing radiant five-colored halos that instantly crushed all of the insects in its wake into mincemeat amid a string of anguished howls.
In the blink of an eye, three massive areas had been cleared out within the sea of insects.
Regardless of how many insects swarmed toward the three giant mountains, they were all killed without any exception.
Shortly thereafter, the grey insect swarm had become extremely sparse.
All of a sudden, one of the remaining two-headed giant insects let loose a shrill cry, and all of the insects immediately turned around and fled.
Han Li's eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately pointed a finger at the black mountain in the distance.
The black mountain instantly vanished amid a burst of grey light at his behest, then emerged without any warning above the two-headed giant insect alongside a burst of spatial fluctuations.
Grey light swept forth from the underside of the black mountain, and the giant two-headed insect only had a chance to let loose a despairing cry before it vanished amid the grey light with all of the other insects around it.
At this point, the remaining insects had alrea
dy fled into the distance, and they quickly disappeared out of sight.
Han Li seemed to have no intention of continuing to pursue these insects, and he merely waved a nonchalant hand toward the distance.
The three giant mountains quickly shrank down to around a foot tall each, then disappeared into thin air.
In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted within one of Han Li's sleeves, and the three miniature mountains reappeared before vanishing in a flash once again.
Only the span of a few breaths had passed since Han Li had first released his three extreme mountains, and the devilish woman who was fleeing for her life took a quick glance behind herself, upon which she almost plummeted out of the sky.
"How is that possible!" the woman exclaimed with incredulity in her eyes.
The other fleeing devilish beings faltered slightly upon hearing this, then also turned their attention toward the same direction, and they were naturally stunned as well.
The fearsome insect swarm that had been pursuing them had suddenly disappeared without a trace, and all of them drew to a halt before casting their eyes toward Han Li's trio with astonished expressions.
It was clear that these three had something to do with the insect swarm's sudden disappearance.
The devilish woman was the first to return to her senses, and she carefully appraised Han Li's trio while contemplating whether she should approach them.
Right at this moment, Han Li's voice rang out in the ears of all of the devilish beings in the group. "Please come over here; I have some questions I'd like to ask you."
The devilish woman's heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and she did as she was told after a brief moment of hesitation.
The other devilish beings didn't dare to disobey Han Li's orders, and they also flew over to him.
Han Li had eradicated the insect cloud with ease, so he was definitely far too powerful for them to oppose.
Chapter 2216: Black Gourd City
The devilish woman was the first to arrive, and she didn't dare to get too close as she extended a respectful salute from around 70 feet away. "Thank you for saving our lives, seniors."
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1270