Chapter 1563: Battle Ark
Right at this moment, a dull rumbling thump suddenly erupted from the outside the stone gate, following which the layer of white spiritual light surfaced along the walls. The spiritual light flashed sporadically, and the ground tremored violently as if the entire building were about to collapse.
"What's going on?"
These tremors naturally couldn't harm these three Spatial Tempering Stage beings in any way, but they were all still quite alarmed by this sudden development. The green-skinned being exchanged a glance with the big-headed being before both of them rushed out of the hall in unison. One of them transformed into a streak of azure light that flew out of the building while the other merely blurred before disappearing on the spot.
Even though there was a flight restriction imposed on the entire plaza, beings of their cultivation base could naturally still fly if they wanted to; doing so would only expend more magic power than normal.
Han Li didn't waste any time, either. He glanced at the teleportation formation and hesitated momentarily before abruptly sweeping a sleeve through the air. A streak of azure light shot forth before revolving around the formation, completely demolishing it before the streak of azure light returned to him.
Only then did Han Li exit the hall, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake.
As soon as he emerged from the stone hall, he discovered that the entire plaza had been plunged into complete chaos. Countless beings were scrambling to rush into the buildings around plaza while a blue light barrier had appeared in the air above, seemingly encompassing the entire city beneath it.
In the air above the light barrier, countless head-sized balls of white light were raining down in a torrential assault.
The balls of white light exploded as they crashed into the light barrier, and the latter tremored violently amid resounding booms, seemingly only barely able to withstand the ferocious attacks.
Han Li was quite stunned to see this, and he hurriedly cast his gaze outside of the light barrier as blue light flashed through his eyes.
Moments later, Han Li's eyelids twitched as he drew a sharp breath.
Through the use of his spirit eyes ability, he had identified what was unleashing the oncoming attacks.
A gigantic island had appeared in the air at altitudes of around 30,000 to 40,000 feet.
That's right, it was a shimmering island that appeared to have been forged from pure silver, and it was close to 100,000 feet in size. The entire island was riddled with white crystalline pillars that were shimmering with countless runes. These pillars were blasting forth one ball of light after another that were crashing down upon the light barrier overhead.
Meanwhile, the big-headed being pulled out a blue mirror and looked into it before his expression changed drastically, and he suddenly exclaimed, "This is bad; that’s a giant battle ark of the Jiao Chi Race! How could this be? Could it be that their army has arrived earlier than anticipated?"
"There's no use thinking about such matters right now; our top priority is to get away from here as quickly as possible! Brother Yuan, you've been in this city for many years, so surely you know of a few secret passageways that lead out of the city, right?" the green-skinned being urged in a flustered manner.
A hesitant look appeared on the big-headed being's face, but he then gritted his teeth as he said, "I do indeed know of a secret passageway that leads to a small mountain to the west close to 10 kilometers away from the city. However, I can't just abandon all of the citizens of this city. I'm going to gather everyone to the city gates and make a collective effort to escape. If we're lucky, perhaps some of us really will be able to get away."
"Alright, we'll do as you say," the being enshrouded under red light immediately chimed in in agreement.
Han Li and the green-skinned being also expressed their approval of this course of action.
Thus, the big-headed being didn't hesitate any longer. Yellow light suddenly flashed from his body, following which a streak of yellow light flew forth before transforming into a massive projection that was around 1,000 feet tall.
The projection was completely identical to the big-headed being, both in appearance and in attire.
Not only was the projection extremely massive, it was shimmering with dazzling yellow light, so it naturally stood out quite prominently.
All of a sudden, the projection let loose a low cry that was akin to the toll of an ancient bell, and everyone who heard this sound was suddenly instilled with a sense of calmness that combated the panic and anxiety in their hearts.
Thus, countless pairs of eyes turned toward the massive projection overhead in unison.
Only then did the projection face everyone with a solemn expression as it announced, "Don't panic, everyone; the city's protective formation is extremely resolute and will not be falling anytime soon. What you all need to do now is to gather at the four city gates. In fifteen minutes, I'm going to withdraw the restriction so everyone can attempt to escape. However, before that, allow me to issue a reminder to all of you; the Jiao Chi Race has suddenly unleashed an unannounced attack on us, so they're most likely intent on eradicating our 13 Heavenly Cloud Races. As such, I'd advise you to refrain from trying your luck by handing yourselves over in the hopes of being spared. From what I've heard, those who have been captured by the Jiao Chi Race have either been reduced to mindless slaves or have had their souls searched and their bodies used as tool refinement or pill refinement materials."
All of the beings on the plaza looked at one another upon hearing this, and someone suddenly let loose a loud cry, following which everyone dispersed and rushed toward one of the four city gates.
Thus, the big-headed being made a hand seal, and the projection in the air above instantly disappeared. After that, he turned to Han Li's trio, and said, "Come with me, fellow Daoists. The Jiao Chi Race will be making an extra effort to target us, so we can't escape with the others as that would only place them in even more danger."
All three nodded in agreement, and the four of them instantly flew out of the plaza together as four streaks of light.
At this point, the blue light light barrier overhead had already been completely inundated by the white light resulting from the explosions of the balls of light.
The barrier began to emit a low buzzing sound, which was an indication that the formation was at its very limits. The big-headed being looked up into the sky with a bitter expression as he flew through the air.
"Are you still reluctant to part with this city, Brother Yuan?" the being enshrouded under red light asked.
"I've been residing here in Green Light City for over 1,000 years, and I created all of the restrictions and formations here, so of course I'm unwilling to part with all of this," the big-headed being sighed in a forlorn manner.
"There's no need to be so depressed, Brother Yuan. The Jiao Chi Race may be quite powerful, but if our 13 Heavenly Cloud Races were to combine our powers, we'd definitely be able to match up against them. Perhaps this city will be recovered one day," the being enshrouded under red light consoled.
"I certainly hope so," the big-headed sighed with a wry smile on his face.
"Brother Yuan, how was the Jiao Chi Race army able to get here so quickly? Didn't our scouts report back that it'd still take them two more days to get here? Could it be that the army hasn't actually arrived and the initial forces of the Jiao Chi Race are responsible for this attack?" the green-skinned being asked.
"I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that, either. What we do know is that there definitely weren't any battle arks among the ranks of the Jiao Chi Race's initial forces, but the battle ark that's appeared now is a fortress level battle ark, which is only below the realm level and city level battle arks of their race. There's a very good chance that there are beings of the three holy race tiers within that ark, and we certainly can't hope to contend with such powerful beings," the big-headed being replied with a grim shake of his head.
"Hmph, even without any beings of the holy race tiers in there, there will definitely be no shortage of beings with cultivation bases comparable to ours in there, so we'll still have to run for our lives anyway. We can only hope that the beings in the ark haven't noticed us and have instead been drawn to the other beings fleeing the city instead," the being enshrouded under red light chuckled.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to the big-headed being to gauge his reaction, only to find that he remained completely indifferent, showing no intention to refute those claims.
Han Li immediately came to a realization upon seeing this. These beings were making themselves sound quite heroic in that they were escaping on their own for the sake of everyone else in the city, but they were merely using everyone as bait to lure away their enemies while they fled the scene.
Han Li was a little shaken by this realization, but he didn't say anything about it.
After all, these three were merely trying to save themselves, so they weren't really doing anything wrong.
However, Han Li still reflexively became more wary of these three beings.
With their cultivation bases, all four of them naturally flew extremely quickly, and it only took them mere moments before they arrived in front of a seemingly ordinary pavilion.
The pavilion's doors were tightly shut, and before the big-headed being had even landed on the ground, he swept a sleeve through the air to send forth a gust of fierce winds.
The doors of the pavilion were instantly shattered into nothingness as if they'd been struck by an immense force, and all four of them flew directly into the building.
The first floor of the pavilion was completely empty aside from a few tables and chairs, as well as a statue of an unknown deity that was several tens of feet tall positioned against one of the walls.
The statue was entirely black in color and had a bulging stomach along with four eyes and four arms. It was seated in a cross-legged manner, and its legs were disproportionately thin and frail compared to its massive stomach, thereby creating a rather peculiar sight to behold.
Han Li and the others swept their eyes around the room, but failed to find any entrances leading to the aforementioned passageway, and all of them turned to the big-headed being once again.
The big-headed being disregarded everyone's inquisitive expressions as he made his way over to the black statue.
He opened his mouth, and a round yellow gem shot forth from within, then disappeared into the statue's head in a flash.
A burst of piercing light flashed, following which a series of ripples proliferated over the surface of the statue.
All of a sudden, yellow light flashed from the statue's four eyes, and it suddenly rose to its feet.
Han Li and the others were quite stunned to discover that this statue was actually a puppet.
As the big-headed being made a series of hand seals, an even more astonishing turn of events unfolded.
The puppet waved its four arms through the air, and its body expanded to about twice its original size amid a flash of brilliant yellow light. Its massive stature took up virtually the entire space on the first floor of the pavilion, and it patted all four of its arms onto its stomach at once.
Spiritual light flashed, and a peculiar rune surfaced on its belly. A crisp crack then rang out as a small entrance suddenly appeared on its stomach, beyond which was a space that was several tens of feet in size.
There was a small teleportation formation around 10 feet or so in size situated on the ground within that space, and the big-headed being rushed into the puppet's stomach without any hesitation before standing atop the teleportation formation.