She was completely unable to ascertain the cultivation bases of Han Li's trio with her spiritual sense, and that prompted her to act in an even more respectful manner.
"Who are you, and where is the nearest city?" Han Li asked in a concise manner.
"We are crystal gatherers from Chaotic Cloud Mountain, and the nearest city is Black Gourd City. If you want to go there, we'd be happy to lead the way, Senior," the devilish woman replied.
"Black Gourd City? I've never heard of it before. There's no need for you to lead the way; just give me a map of this area," Han Li instructed.
"I just so happen to have a detailed map of this nearby area; it would be my honor to offer it to you, Senior," the devilish woman said as she immediately offered up a black stone shard with both hands.
Han Li nodded as he drew the stone shard into his own grasp, then injected his spiritual sense into it, upon which a pleased look appeared on his face.
At this point, the other devilish beings had also already arrived, and they were all standing in a nervous silence.
"What's the deal with the stemborers you mentioned earlier? I don't recall such an insect in our holy realm, and their auras are slightly different from normal devilish insects as well," Han Li inquired as he stowed the stone shard away.
"Do you not know of these stemborers, Senior?" the devilish woman asked as a hesitant look appeared on her face, and a stir also ran through the other devilish beings, but none of them dared to say anything.
"I've been in seclusion for the past few centuries; is it very strange that I don't know of them?" Han Li asked.
"I see, then it's no wonder that you're not aware of these stemborers. These insects have only appeared in the past century, and apparently, they were originally all ordinary devilish insects, but for some reason, they suddenly mutated into their current forms. These stemborers are currently wreaking havoc across the entire holy realm, and there are even stories of entire cities being massacred by these insects. As a result, there's been a lot of unrest in our holy realm, and everyone is living in constant fear," the devilish woman explained.
"Oh? Have the three patriarchs and other Sacred Ancestors not stepped in to exterminate these stemborers? They're certainly more powerful than normal devilish insects, but they can still be easily killed by Sacred Ancestors," Han Li asked.
"With my lowly cultivation base, I don't have access to information about what the patriarchs and Sacred Ancestors are doing. All I know is that only a few Sacred Ancestors have stepped in in areas where stemborer infestations have been too severe. As for the rest of the Sacred Ancestors and the three patriarchs, all of them seemed to have disappeared at once," the devilish woman replied after a brief hesitation.
"All of the Sacred Ancestors have disappeared? When did this happen?" Han Li immediately continued in his line of questioning.
"I can't give you an exact time, but it seems to coincide with when the first stemborers began to appear," the devilish woman replied in a respectful manner.
"Alright, that's all I need to know; you can go now," Han Li instructed in an indifferent manner.
The devilish woman was quite relieved to hear this, and she said in a respectful voice, "Yes, we'll be taking our leave now, Senior."
After that, she quickly departed, and the other devilish beings hurriedly followed along after extending respectful bows toward Han Li's trio.
Following their departure, Silvermoon sighed, "It looks like all of the Grand Ascension Stage beings really have encountered some trouble. Otherwise, the situation in the Elder Devil Realm wouldn't be this bad."
"The current state of affairs is indeed quite grim, but we'll have to do some further investigation if we want to know exactly what's happening. I presume there are devilish lords in Black Gourd City, and I'm sure they'll know some things about the Sacred Ancestors and the Grand Ascension Stage beings from our Spirit Realm," Han Li said as a solemn look appeared on his face.
Silvermoon smiled, and replied, "You're right, let's make a trip to Black Gourd City then, Brother Han."
"Hehe, there's something that I have to do before that," Han Li chuckled before sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a burst of grey light, within which was contained a giant grey insect.
It was none other than the two-headed stemborer that he had just captured.
The insect possessed an aura that was around the late-Deity Transformation Stage, and clearly held an important position in the insect swarm.
As soon as the insect appeared, it immediately began to flap its wings desperately in an attempt to escape.
However, Han Li instantly released his terrifying aura, and the giant insect was slammed back down onto the ground by a burst of enormous invisible force.
The giant insect's two heads thrashed violently, but its body was completely immobilized, and it could only let loose bursts of fearful cries.
Han Li reached a hand out of his sleeve before pressing it toward one of the giant insect's heads, and five translucent threads shot forth from his fingertips before vanishing into the insect's head.
The struggling insect immediately shuddered before slumping onto the ground in a motionless manner, and at the same time, Han Li closed his eyes as faint golden light appeared all over his body.
He was unleashing a soul search technique on this giant insect.
After about 15 minutes had passed, Han Li opened his eyes, and the translucent threads were withdrawn from the giant insect's head before disintegrating into specks of translucent light.
The giant insect's head then began to fluctuate unsteadily in size before abruptly exploding.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air again, and a fireball shot forth to instantly incinerate the insect carcass into ashes.
"Did you get any information, Brother Han?" Silvermoon asked.
"I'm afraid not. This insect only has the most basic instincts and possesses no intelligence, so I couldn't find out anything," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"I see, that's not too much of a surprise. These stemborers have suddenly become very powerful due to their mutations, but it's not that easy to attain intelligence, and that's good news for us," Silvermoon said with a smile.
"Indeed. If the stemborers are only relying on basic instincts, then they won't pose a threat to us no matter how many of them there are. Let's go to Black Gourd City now; I'm sure we'll be able to get some information there," Han Li replied.
Thus, the three of them rose up into the air and flew north.
Three days later, Han Li's trio entered a highland that was full of black mud, and after flying for several more hours, a black city with an area of around 200 kilometers appeared in the distance.
This was none other than Black Gourd City.
However, the entire city was currently surrounded from all directions by another grey sea of insects with no end in sight, and the sounds of battle were audible even from extremely far away.
This sea of stemborers covered virtually the entire sky, and even though the stemborer swarm that Han Li had witnessed before was also extremely large, it was nothing compared to this one.
Currently, Black Gourd City was enshrouded under a black light barrier that sat atop the city like a giant upside-down bowl.
Dense layers of stemborers covered every single inch of the light barrier, and they were all attacking the light barrier in a frenzy.
Within the light barrier were countless devilish beings that were using devilish treasures of different descriptions or unleashing devilish techniques to strike back at the stemborers.
The stemborers currently attacking the city were clearly not that powerful, and they were being quickly slain by the attacks being unleashed by the devilish beings in the city.
There were also arrows flying out of the city like a torrential storm to exterminate even more of the stemborers.
At the center of the city stood hundreds of tall towers that were rumbling incessantly, around which lightning wa
s flashing incessantly. Hundreds of bolts of black lightning were constantly being released by these towers before splitting up into countless threads of black lightning that were reducing hordes upon hordes of stemborers to ashes.
It seemed that under the protection of the city's restrictions, the devilish beings could attack with reckless abandon and held the firm upper hand.
However, as blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes, he was able to ascertain the true nature of the situation, and his brows immediately furrowed slightly.
During this brief period of time, the black light barrier over the city had already dimmed slightly, and the devilish beings unleashing attacks from within the city were all in very bad condition, clearly already beginning to overexert their magic power.
All of a sudden, the rumbling in the city drew to an abrupt halt, and all of the towers ceased their lightning attacks.
Chapter 2217: Stunning Display of Power
Without the assistance of the lightning being released by the towers, the offensive power of the city was reduced by close to half, and layers upon layers of stemborers landed on the light barrier, causing it to dim at a rapid rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
"We have to save this city," Han Li suddenly said with furrowed brows.
Silvermoon nodded in response.
"Brother Xie, in order to resolve this issue as soon as possible, I'll have to get you to assist the two of us," Han Li said.
"No problem," Daoist Xie replied in a calm manner.
Thus, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, releasing the three miniature extreme mountains amid a flash of spiritual light.
Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and the Provenance True Devil Projection emerged behind him.
The projection opened its six eyes at his behest, then let loose a long cry akin to a dragon's roar.
The roar erupted directly up into the heavens, unleashing invisible soundwaves that surged toward the sea of stemborers.
The devilish beings in Black Gourd City were quite alarmed to hear this thunderous roar, yet before they had a chance to look for where the sound was coming from, the majority of the stemborers that were attacking the light barrier either self-detonated or plummeted out of the sky without any warning.
In the blink of an eye, only less than half of the insect swarm remained, and the ones that did remain had been thrown into complete disarray.
Right at this moment, spatial fluctuations erupted overhead, and three gargantuan mountains appeared above the sea of insects in a flash.
The giant mountains then came crashing down in unison, and in the next instant, vast expanses of light began to wreak havoc through the insect swarm alongside streaks of lethal sword Qi.
The stemborers were completely powerless to resist as they were felled in hordes by the three mountains, and only a few stemborers that were clearly far larger than their brethren were able to pose some resistance as they fled in a blind panic.
However, right at this moment, a thick bolt of silver lightning suddenly appeared up above amid a rumbling thunderclap, and the bolt of lightning instantly flashed through the bodies of the giant stemborers, reducing them to ashes alongside thousands of normal stemborers in the nearby area.
After the silver lightning dissipated, a young man in a set of daoist robes emerged in mid-air; it was none other than Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie cast his gaze toward the giant stemborers that had fled even further into the distance, and lightning flashed from his body as he shot forth once again as an arc of lightning.
Countless stemborers were felled in his wake, and all of a sudden, the Provenance True Devil Projection, which had swelled to tens of thousands of feet tall, appeared within the sea of insects amid an earth-shattering boom.
Han Li was standing at the center of the projection with his hands clasped behind his back, appraising the nearby stemborers in a completely expressionless manner.
There were currently countless purple runes flashing over the body of the massive projection, and as it swept its six arms through the air, silver fireballs were sent flying in all directions.
The silver fireballs quickly formed vast expanses of silver flames, each of which was around an acre in size, and the flames quickly engulfed large patches of stemborers.
Regardless of whether it was the normal stemborers or their larger counterparts, all of them began to struggle violently upon coming into contact with the silver flames before instantly being incinerated into nothingness.
In the face of Han Li and Daoist Xie, this virtually endless swarm of stemborers was being slaughtered at a rapid rate.
However, the normal stemborers were completely fearless even in the face of death, and they abandoned the assault against Black Gourd City as they flew directly toward Han Li and Daoist Xie in a suicidal manner.
Even with Han Li and Daoist Xie's incredible powers, it took them quite a while to completely clear the nearby area. However, there were still some giant stemborers that managed to escape, but Han Li had no interest in pursuing them.
He waved a hand toward Daoist Xie, then slowly descended toward Black Gourd City.
Silvermoon also flew over to Han Li in an unhurried manner, and the two of them descended toward the city together.
The countless devilish beings in Black Gourd City had been completely rooted to the spot by the display of power put on by Han Li and Daoist Xie, and now that the entire sea of stemborers had been eradicated, all of them instantly erupted into thunderous cheers.
As Han Li's trio descended toward the city, a few high-grade devilish beings hurriedly rushed out and opened up a gap in the light barrier, then extended respectful salutes as they welcomed Han Li and the others into the city.
An early-Body Integration Stage black-robed middle-aged man extended a deep bow toward Han Li and Daoist Xie, then said in a grateful manner, "Thank you for saving the tens of millions of citizens in our Black Gourd City, seniors. May I have the honor of knowing your name? Our Black Gourd City will never forget what you've done for us."
As for the normal devilish beings nearby, they had all fallen to their knees and pressed their faces onto the ground, not even daring to look at Han Li and Daoist Xie.
It was clear that in the eyes of normal devilish beings, Sacred Ancestors were virtually gods. Now that two Sacred Ancestors had suddenly appeared here, all of the devilish beings in the city were naturally ecstatic.
"There's no need for you to know our names. Where is your city lord? Get him to come and see me," Han Li instructed.
"Our city lord has severely overexerted himself during the resistance against the stemborers, and he's currently resting in his manor, but I've already sent people to notify him of your arrival, so he should be here soon," the middle-aged man replied in a careful manner.
"In that case, I'll wait for him here. As for everyone else, they can go and do whatever it is that they need to do," Han Li instructed in an indifferent manner.
"Yes, Senior, I'll get them to leave right away," the middle-aged man hurriedly replied with a respectful bow, then issued an instruction to all of the devilish beings in the surrounding area.
The normal devilish beings nearby hurriedly rose to their feet, then bowed three times toward Han Li's trio before departing.
Thus, Han Li's trio and a few high-grade devilish beings were the only ones left in the area.
After no more than 15 minutes had passed, a streak of black light rose up from a certain tall building in the city, then immediately sped toward Han Li's direction.
The black light faded, and a thin elderly man in a set of brocade robes appeared just over 100 feet away from Han Li.
The elderly man quickly swept his spiritual sense toward Han Li's trio before immediately extending a deep bow.
"Junior Hu Yan pays his respects to his seniors. Thank you for saving our city from what would've been certain destruction."
"You're the city lord?" Han Li asked in an expressionless manne
r.
The elderly man was at the mid-Body Integration Stage, and he replied with a fawning smile, "I've been the lord of Black Gourd City for over 1,000 years. If there's anything I can do for you, please feel free to tell me."
Han Li nodded with a pleased expression at the sight of Hu Yan's respectful display, then turned to the other devilish lords as he said, "You can all go now; I wish to speak to Fellow Daoist Hu alone."
The middle-aged man naturally didn't dare to go against Han Li's orders, and he immediately replied, "We'll be taking our leave then, Senior."
Moments later, Hu Yan and Han Li's trio were the only ones left in the area.
Hu Yan was naturally extremely nervous to be in the presence of two Grand Ascension Stage beings, but he maintained an extremely respectful expression and stood with his hands by his sides.
"I'm sure such a massive swarm of stemborers couldn't have gathered in a short time; when did they start attacking your Black Gourd City?" Han Li asked.
"Those stemborers only appeared in the area several years ago, and I've led many hunting parties to exterminate them, but was unable to kill all of them. Much to my surprise, they were able to organize a swarm of such terrifying proportions and attack our city only two days ago," Hu Yan replied.
"They only appeared two days ago? These stemborers may not be very intelligent, but it seems that they do have some organizational abilities," Han Li said as he stroked his own chin in a contemplative manner.
"Indeed, Senior. There are simply too many of these stemborers for them to be completely exterminated, and the swarms are constantly merging together to bolster their numbers. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many horrific instances of entire cities in our holy realm being massacred by stemborer swarms," Hu Yan hurriedly explained.
"Setting that aside for now, there's something else I want to ask you," Han Li said after a brief pause.
"Please go ahead, Senior," Hu Yan prompted.
"My fellow daoists and I have only recently come out of a long period of seclusion, and the appearance of these stemborers came as quite a surprise to us. What I want to ask you is where are the three patriarchs and other Sacred Ancestors? Why haven't they appeared to exterminate these stemborers? I heard that they all disappeared under mysterious circumstances not long after these stemborers appeared; why is that?" Han Li asked.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1271