Chapter 1187: Devilfication
A chill ran down Han Li's spine.
The crimson eyes down below were filled with violence and brutality, and they were not the eyes of a normal human being. Instead, those eyes belonged to a crazed and bloodthirsty wild beast.
Han Li was still wondering whether the crazed being down below was the target for his trip when the thunderous roar came to an abrupt halt, and the black figure down below swayed before disappearing into the surround devilish Qi.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but he merely drew a silver shield from within his sleeve in a calm and unhurried manner. The shield then transformed into a silver light barrier that enshrouded his entire body within.
Just as he had set up those defensive measures, the devilish Qi behind him suddenly began to surge as a hirsute black devilish arm shot forth like lightning, crashing straight into the light barrier.
A thunderous boom erupted, and the devilish claws embedded themselves over a half a foot into the silver light barrier.
Han Li felt the barrier of light around him tremor violently as a burst of immense force came sweeping toward him.
His expression changed slightly, and only after striding forward two small steps was he able to absorb the force of this fearsome impact.
At the same time, he waved a hand through the air and a golden sword that was several feet in length appeared. He wrapped his fingers firmly around the hilt of the sword before lashing out rapidly behind him without even turning his head.
Golden light flashed, and half of a hirsute arm was severed by the golden sword.
The black figure roared as it stumbled backward a few steps before righting itself. However, it continued to glower at Han Li with crazed ferocity in its crimson eyes.
Han Li turned around and examined the black figure before heaving a faint sigh. "So it really is you. It appears you failed in your attempt to inject devilish Qi into your body, and have lost your sanity from devilfication."
The black figure was only around 100 feet away from him, so he was naturally able to catch a clear glimpse of it.
The devilish creature bore a strong resemblance to Han Li's Sovereign Devil Corpse, but most of its black robes had been torn away, revealing large swaths for long corpse fur. There were also inky-black fist-sized scales that had grown over some of his vital regions, and those scales were shimmering with a sinister light amid the darkness. The skull-like face of the Sovereign Devil Corpse had been enshrouded under a thin layer of black Qi, and he could indistinctly make out a set of extremely twisted features beyond the veil of devilish Qi.
Not a single drop of blood was dripping from the devil corpse's severed arm, and it appeared that it had no blood within its body at all.
It was emitting a low snarl from its mouth and staring intently at the golden sword in Han Li's hand, but it didn't charge toward Han Li again.
Han Li's powerful sword strike had planted the seed of wariness in its heart. Hence, even though it wanted nothing better than to tear Han Li into shreds with its bare hands, its self-preservation instincts were preventing it from attacking. There was a storage pouch hanging from its waist, but it appeared to have completely lost its intelligence due to its devilfication, to the extent that it didn't even have the mental capacity to summon weapons to use in battle.
It turned out that even though the devilish Qi in the Myriad Depth Devilish Abyss wasn't as potent as that which was sealed within the Kunwu Mountain, its degree of devilfication was still far beyond the second Nascent Soul's anticipation. Furthermore, the second Nascent Soul had predicted that Han Li would be arriving at the abyss soon, and in its urgency, it increased the influx of devilish Qi into its body during the final stage of its cultivation.
The second Nascent Soul did indeed possess the Great Development Technique, yet it was too busy cultivating the Profound Yin Arts, and had only reached the second layer of the Great Development Technique. As such, even though its spiritual sense was more powerful than other cultivators of the same cultivation base, it was still quite a stretch to expect it to be able to withstand the prolonged influx of devilish Qi.
As a result, the devil corpse was able to withstand the devilfication process, yet the Nascent Soul was unable to do so and succumbed in the end, thereby losing its sanity and intelligence.
At this point, the devil corpse was nothing but a half-devil creature that was ruled over solely by its instincts and propensity for slaughter. It was not that much superior compared to a demon beast that yet to attain intelligence.
Han Li carefully examined his opponent, and was finally able to verify that it had indeed lost all of its intelligence. He heaved a long sigh of relief upon making his observation, but at the same time, he found this development to be rather amusing.
He had regarded the second Nascent Soul to be an extremely powerful enemy, and had flown for a consecutive month without rest to get here, only to be faced with such a farcical scenario, one that left him rather speechless.
However, it would undoubtedly be a lot easier to subdue such a buffoon of an opponent, and capturing it should be a piece of cake.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately lifted his hand without any hesitation, raising the Triflame Fan high in the air.
Seeing as his opponent had lost all of its intelligence, there was no need for him to hold back. All he had to do was forcibly incinerate its body with his Triflame Fan. Without a body, his second Nascent Soul would naturally be forced to surrender.
Just as three-colored flames were appearing over the surface of the Triflame Fan, the devil corpse suddenly let loose an almighty roar. Gusts of devilish wind were swept up around it, following which extremely pure devilish Qi abruptly converged toward its severed arm before rapidly taking shape.
An incredible scene then unfolded; the devil corpse's severed arm was completely healed in the blink of an eye, and it was as if Han Li had never even struck it.
"Instantaneous regeneration!"
Han Li faltered upon seeing this, but a cold smile then appeared on his face as he injected even more spiritual power into his Triflame Fan.
Instantaneous regeneration was a rare ability, but he had killed more than one or two demon beasts with that inherent ability.
As long as he could completely destroy its body with overwhelming power, there would be nothing left for it to regenerate.
A sharp cry rang out as a Fire Raven that was several feet in size flew out from the fan. There were three-colored runes revolving around its body as it hurtled directly toward the devil corpse. In the face of these devastating three-colored flames, all of the surrounding devilish Qi was instantly reduced to nothingness.
The devil corpse also seemed to have sensed that something was amiss. If the second Nascent Soul had retained its intelligence, it would definitely be unwilling to face such an immensely powerful attack head-on.
However, the devil corpse's killing intent only seemed to have been intensified by the sight of these fearsome flames, and it let loose an almighty roar as the surrounding devilish Qi surged toward it in a frenzy.
The devil corpse immediately grew several feet in height. It then opened its mouth and blasted forth a pillar of inky-black light, heading directly toward the three-colored Fire Raven.
An earthshattering boom erupted. Within the depths of the devilish abyss, a three-colored ball of light and a ball of black light exploded in unison, and both sides seemed to be evenly matched in power, thereby resulting in an intense impasse.
"Hmm?" A hint of surprise appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this.
The Triflame Fan was so powerful that even Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn't dare to take its attack head-on.
Even though he was only unleashing a portion of the Triflame Fan's power, it still came as quite a surprise to him that the mid-Nascent Soul Stage devil corpse was able to stand up against ist.
He looked on at the clash taking place nearby, and his eyes narrowed slightly.
The three-colored runes revolved around the flames flashed violently before the flames were finally able to overpower the black ball of light, slowly engulfing it before surging toward the devil corpse.
A vicious light appeared in the devil corpse's eyes upon seeing this, and it sucked the nearby devilish Qi into its mouth in preparation to blast forth another black pillar of light.
Han Li's expression darkened upon seeing this, and a pair of azure and white wings appeared on his back following a loud thunderclap.
These were his recently refined Thunderstorm Wings.
The wings on his back flapped gently, and his entire body disappeared amid a light breeze.
In the next instant, an azure arc of lightning flashed behind the devil corpse. Han Li emerged soundlessly from within the arc of lightning before aiming a devastating punch toward the devil corpse's back.
A massive shimmering azure fist appeared in the air before hurtling toward the devil corpse from behind.
The devil corpse was completely caught off guard and sent flying amid a loud thump, flying headfirst into the vast expanse of three-colored flames up ahead.
The devil immediately let loose a roar of fury and the utmost horror as bursts of inky-black devilish Qi surfaced over its body in an attempt to keep the flames at bay.
However, the three-colored flames enshrouded the devil corpse's body right before Han Li's expressionless eyes, rapidly brushing aside the black Qi before forcing the devil corpse to disintegrate while it was completely powerless to resist.
The three-colored runes flashed and the devil corpse was completely engulfed.
A cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he prepared himself to snuff out the three-colored flames and capture the second Nascent Soul within.
However, right at this moment, the three colored flames suddenly shuddered violently. A ball of crimson light suddenly exploded within, forcibly blasting a hole into the flames.
A streak of black light then shot forth from within, reaching a height of over 300 feet above Han Li after just a few flashes.
Han Li's heart jolted with surprise as he focused his gaze upward. He discovered that there was a green Nascent Soul enshrouded within the black light, holding an inky black flag within its little hand. It was none other than Han Li's second Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul looked back at Han Li with a cold expression, and the clarity in its eyes suggested that it had completely recovered its intelligence.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he immediately flapped his Thunderstorm wings, upon which he abruptly disappeared from the spot.
The second Nascent Soul's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and it tossed the small black flag down below. As it did so, it made a hand seal before stabbing a finger toward the flag.
The Ghost Sifting Banner that Han Li had repaired many years ago revolved through the air as black light flashed violently over its surface. It then self-detonated amid a resounding boom.
Countless strands of black light shot forth to create a dense net, encompassing an area with a radius of several kilometers below the Nascent Soul.
The second Nascent Soul then let loose a long cry as it turned and flew upward with all its might.
Beneath the black net, an arc of azure lightning suddenly appeared out of thin air, following which Han Li's figure was revealed.
He looked at the descending black net, then up at the second Nascent Soul, which had almost disappeared from his line of sight, and a cold expression flashed through his eyes.
He abruptly flapped a sleeve through the air, sending a streak of dazzling golden light slashing into the black net. However, the black net merely wobbled slightly, yet showed no sign of unraveling.
Han Li's brows furrowed as he pointed a finger toward the golden light.
The golden light swayed, and a layer of golden lightning arcs appeared slashing toward the black net again.
Following a thunderous boom, a large hole was finally blasted into the net.
Han Li immediately hurtled through the hole, transforming into a streak of azure light as he rushed directly toward the second Nascent Soul.
Meanwhile, at the entrance to the Myriad Depth Devilish Abyss, there were several tens of cultivators standing around the seal with formation flags and formation plates in their hands.
All of them wore expressions of rapt focus as spiritual light of different colors shimmered from their respective formation tools, indicating that the formation had already been activated.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom erupted from within the white seal, followed by a violent tremor. A massive inky-black sword that was several tens of feet in length punctured through the seal before inflicting a gash upon it that was over 100 feet in length.
A ball of black light then shot forth from within.