Chapter 1525: Returning to the Cave Abode
The young man faltered slightly upon seeing the projection and scales that Han Li had conjured but, but he didn't slow down in the slightest as he slashed his twin sabers through the air toward Han Li. A pair of black saber formations instantly hurtled forth in a cross formation. As soon as these saber projections appeared, all of the nearby black mist surged toward them in a frenzy.
The two saber projections instantly swelled to around twice their original size before reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye.
Han Li's eyelids twitched as his hands blurred slightly, and a pair of golden longswords suddenly appeared in his grasp. With a flick of his wrists, he slashed his longswords toward the saber projections in a merciless manner. A loud thunderclap erupted as golden arcs of lightning coiled around the long swords. As soon as the black saber projections clashed with the golden lightning, the former was instantly vanquished, much to the shock of the young man. In contrast, a cold smile appeared on Han Li's face.
The saber projections unleashed by his opponent clearly contained a lot of devilish Qi. Otherwise, even his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords wouldn't have been able to take care of them so easily. Seeing as this was the case, this young man was essentially committing suicide through his decision to challenge Han Li.
With that in mind, Han Li flapped the five-colored translucent wing on his back, sending forth a burst of five-colored light before the young man had recovered from his astonishment.
The light was extremely bright and piercing, as if a five-colored sun had surfaced from within Han Li's body. "Argh!"
The young man reflexively closed his eyes in the face of such scintillating light, and at the same time, he knew that he was in a perilous situation, so he stomped both feet violently into the ground and shot back like an arrow, retreating even faster than he'd come.
At this moment, a thunderclap erupted from within the five-colored light, following which an arc os azure and white lightning flashed behind the young man, and Han Li abruptly appeared out of thin air. He then slashed his two longswords toward his opponent with devastating force.
The young man's eyes were still closed and his spiritual sense was slightly delayed in its reaction, but such a blatant attack certainly couldn't escape his notice. As such, he immediately tossed his twin sabers behind him, and they shot forth as two streaks of black light.
He then made a hand seal, and the muscles on his body instantly disappeared, revealing a translucent white-jade-like skeleton. The skeleton tremored before releasing a white barrier of light that completely shielded its body within. Han Li's longsword came crashing down amid a couple of thunderclaps, only to be kept at bay by the streaks of black light formed by the twin sabers. Han Li didn't find this to be strange or unexpected in the slightest.
Instead, he'd be surprised if a pair of weapons manifested from a Spatial Tempering Stage demon beast's body didn't possess this much power. He had never intended or hoped to kill this demon beast with this pair of flying swords alone.
In the instant that he'd lashed out with his swords, the Provenance True Devil Projection swung its six arms through the air, and countless fist projections immediately blossomed like golden lotus flowers before crashing toward the white light barrier like a torrential downpour. Each and every one of the seemingly ordinary fist projections were imbued with Han Li's immense inhuman strength, and this overwhelming storm of attacks was something that had been unleashed through brute force alone.
In the instant the white barrier of light was struck the fist projections, the seemingly resolute barrier immediately began to tremor violently before quickly being shattered by the devastating fist projections.
All of this had taken place in only the blink of an eye, and only then did the demon beast twist around before opening its eyes.
Having had all of its flesh and blood disappear, his eyeballs were also nowhere to be seen, and had instead been replaced by two balls of green flames in his eye sockets.
The demon beast was mortified that his protective barrier of light had been destroyed so easily, and he immediately opened his mouth to blast forth several inky-black streaks of light toward Han Li. At the same time, his head exploded of its own accord, following which a green bead shot forth from within and hurtled toward the distance.
The remnants of his skeletal body quickly disassembled itself before forming a white bone shield that followed closely behind the green bead to protect it during his escape.
The demon beast had clearly identified that he was no match for Han Li, and immediately tried to flee the scene.
He had cultivated for many years within this Black Infernal Mist, and he was confident that if he could open up some distance between himself and Han Li, there was no way that the latter would be able to chase him down.
However, Han Li was already intent on killing him at this point. He didn't want to let this demon beast get away, only to return and potentially cause trouble for him int he future.
Thus, he let loose a cold harrumph as the grey light before him flashed. The streaks of oncoming black light merely fizzled out almost as soon as they came into contact with this grey light.
All of the golden fist projections in the air also abruptly disappeared while golden light flashed from his Provenance True Devil Projection. Six thick bolts of lightning then surfaced from the hands attached to the projection's six arms, and the six arcs of lightning transformed into six golden lightning spears in unison. The arms then blurred as the six golden spears were hurled through the air.
The golden spear streaked through the before crashing viciously into the white bone shield. To the credit of the shield, it was able to withstand the first three spears, but after being struck by the fourth spear, it finally exploded. The final two spears pierced through as a result, striking the green bead at the same time. Golden arcs of lightning flashed, and the green bead flashed erratically before exploding.
The projection of a Luminous Beast shot forth from within in a horrified manner. However, the golden arcs of lightning had already formed an inescapable net around the soul of this demon beast, and as the net converged, a bloodcurdling howl erupted from within before the projection of the Luminous Beast was completely destroyed.
Han Li had slain this Spatial Tempering Stage demon beast with ease.
Part of this was due to the fact that the demon beast had been too complacent after seeing Han Li's Deity Transformation Stage cultivation base, but this was also contributed to by the fact that Han Li had become far more powerful than when he'd departed from this massive island.
Even though he hadn't dedicated much time to cultivation, he's obtained the 12 Awakening Transformations from the Tian Peng Race, as well as the Lightningwield Technique from the earth abyss that significantly enhanced the power of his Divine Devilbane Lightning. After that, he'd consumed the true spirit bloods of the Kun Peng and the Five-Colored Peacock, thereby significantly boosting his magic power as well.
Even prior to reaching the late-Deity Transformation Stage, Han Li had been capable of killing Spatial Tempering Stage beings, so he certainly wasn't going to have any trouble with this demon beast.
On top of that, the demon beast didn't even seem to be carrying any treasures, so it stood even less of a chance against Han Li.
Han Li inspected the skeletal remains of the demon beast with a cold expression before flicking a finger to blast forth a crimson fireball. The remains of the demon beast immediately caught on fire and were burned to ashes in the blink of an eye.
After that, Han Li immediately departed from the scene had disappeared into the black mist.
On this occasion, he had managed to easily kill his opponent, but it was still quite frustrating that he'd had to engage in this battle for no good reason.
Of course, unbeknownst to him, he had just killed the behind that all of the mid-grade demon beasts in the Hidden Black Mountain Ranges saw as their backer and eventual savior.
He was the one who was going to eradicate their slave marks and grant them freedom, but those hopes had been completely dashed.
Of course, none of that had anything to do with Han Li. He continued to forge ahead in the black mist while contemplating the new sword art.
Close to a month later, black mist suddenly surged at the border of the sea of mist near a barren mountain, and a humanoid figure emerged from within.
He then rose up into the air and reached the summit of the mountain in just a few flashes. He was none other than Han Li, who had just emerged from the sea of Black Infernal Mist. He'd finally made it out of the mist, and he couldn't help but let loose a thunderous roar if excitement and elation, causing the air around him to ring and vibrate, and even the clouds high up in the sky were stirred up as a result.
Only then did Han Li assess his surroundings and quickly ascertained his position before flying toward a certain direction as a streak of azure light.
After a few flashes, he'd transformed into a black dot on the horizon, and he completely disappeared following a few flashes more.
Azure light flashed before a tall mountain enshrouded in white mist located deep within the Hidden Black Mountain Ranges, and Han Li appeared at the foot of the mountain. He looked up to the mountain to find that nothing seemed to have changed since his departure, and he made a hand seal as he heaved a long sigh. The white mist before him immediately surged before opening up a path for him. Han Li flew into his cave abode in an unhurried manner before immediately paying his medicine garden a visit. After verifying that everything was in order there, he was completely reassured, and he returned to his living quarters, falling asleep almost as soon as his lay down on his bed.
He slept for two days and two nights! He had rested for a night at the elderly man's cave abode, but on that occasion, he'd naturally been unable to rest to his heart's content.
When he finally woke up from his slumber, his exhausted body and mind had both been completely rejuvenated.
He got up in high spirits and entered his secret chamber to consolidate the rewards he'd reaped from his trip and continue to consume his True Toad Spirit Liquid. He then had to go into seclusion to reach the pinnacle of the Deity Transformation Stage as soon as possible before attempting a breakthrough to the Spatial Tempering Stage.
He also had to refine the wisp of spiritual sense contained within the Tian Peng Relic as quickly as possible so he could obtain the true dragon and heavenly phoenix mantras enclosed within the 12 Awakening Transformations. After that, he'd be able to fuse those true spirit bloods into his body.
As for the new sword art and the reinforcement of his flying swords, that was also an urgent matter that had to be taken care of as soon as possible.
With that in mind, Han Li made his way toward his secret chamber while laying a hand on the back of his own head.
A ball of black light immediately shot forth from the back of his own head before transforming into a miniature black humanoid figure that was several inches tall.
It was none other than his second Nascent Soul.
He then rustled both sleeves to summoning his Weeping Soul Beast and Leopard Kirin Beast.
Han Li waved a hand toward the three of them with a smile on his face, then tossed the mysterious small vial toward the second Nascent Soul before departing on his own.
The second Nascent Soul caught the small vial, also with a smile on its face, and only after Han Li had disappeared around the corner did it deliver a few instructions to the two beasts, then slowly fly away toward another direction.