Chapter 1699: Lightning Bird Puppet
Golden light flashed, and the Gold Devouring Beetles completely disregarded the grey light around them, swooping in before engaging all of the Silver Swarm Insects in battle.
Even though they were outnumbered by the silver insects by a ratio of around 10:1, they were far larger than their opponents, and they also possessed significantly more powerful bodies, as well as devouring abilities.
The silver insects' sharp teeth and front limbs couldn't even leave so much as a single scratch on the exoskeletons of the golden beetles, whereas the Gold Devouring Beetles were able to tear their opponents apart and devour them with ease.
It was a completely one-sided battle, and despite how heavily outnumbered the Gold Devouring Beetles were, the Silver Swarm Insects simply stood no chance.
After most of the silver insects had been eradicated, what remained of the swarm finally lost all of their courage and attempted to flee for their lives. However, they were still trapped in the Divine Essencefused Light, so they were all hunted down and devoured by the Gold Devouring Beetles.
When there was only one final silver insect left, it suddenly self-detonated, and silver light flashed as a barely visible shadow shot forth from within its body, then attempted to fly away in a stealthy manner.
If Han Li were a normal being, there was a good chance that he would've failed to notice such an inconspicuous shadow. However, Han Li was able to immediately catch sight of it as blue light flashed through his eyes, and he reached out without any hesitation.
A pristine white hand was extended out of his sleeve, and he spread his fingers apart to blast forth bursts of five-colored glacial flames. The flames swept through the air at a rapid speed, almost instantly enveloping the shadow, which had only fled to just over 100 feet away.
The shadow shuddered before being completely immobilized in the glacial flames, and it was revealed to be a faint silver insect projection with the face of a human.
The projection struggled within the glacial flames with all its might, presenting a rather unsettling sight to behold.
Han Li's expression darkened upon seeing this, and he curled his five fingers inward in a seemingly nonchalant manner.
The glacial flames down below instantly transformed into countless five-colored threads of light at his behest, then wound themselves around the immobilized human-faced insect projection.
The threads of light then abruptly tightened, and the insect projection was sliced into countless segments as a result.
Only then did Han Li heave a faint sigh of relief, and he swept a hand through the air, upon which the five-colored threads of light vanished in a flash.
He then quickly pointed a finger at the swarm of Gold Devouring Beetles down below, and they transformed into golden flowers again before flying back toward him, then disappearing up his sleeve.
After that, Han Li made a grabbing motion downward, and the black mountain also shrank drastically before returning to his hand.
From the instant that he'd released the Gold Devouring Beetles to the moment that he'd drawn them back into his spirit beast bracelet, only an extremely short time had elapsed.
As such, even though he'd released quite a large quantity of Gold Devouring Beetles on this occasion, he didn't actually exhaust much of his spiritual sense at all.
Of course, Han Li had already decided when he'd first released the Gold Devouring Beetles that if he couldn't end this battle quickly, he'd immediately withdraw the beetles without any hesitation. Otherwise, it simply wouldn't be worth exhausting too much of his spiritual sense to kill these silver insects.
However, just as he'd expected, the Gold Devouring Beetles were the bane of these Silver Swarm Insects, and he was able to kill them with ease.
If he had used any other treasures, he wasn't confident that he would've been able to eradicate these insects so cleanly and quickly.
Thus, after taking a glance at the direction where the battle between the two insect swarms was presumably still raging, Han Li flew away as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distance after just a few flashes.
Almost at the exact same moment, within the waves of Silver Swarm Insects close to 100,000 kilometers away, a silver insect that was far larger than normal Silver Swarm Insects suddenly raised its head and cast its gaze toward Han Li's direction.
This silver insect had the face of an elderly man, whose brows were currently furrowed in bewilderment.
After staring at the direction that Han Li was situated at for a while, the silver insect cast its gaze directly up ahead again.
Several kilometers away, the silver insects were still clashing with the swarm of green butterflies, and the battle was still extremely intense.
After a brief hesitation, the human-faced silver insect let loose a long sharp screech, upon which all of the nearby silver insects surged toward it in a frenzy.
In the blink of an eye, a giant silver insect was taking shape with the human-faced insect at its very center, and the giant insect was only continuing to expand in size.
After a while, all of the silver insects in an area within a radius of around 500 meters had gathered to form a colossal insect that was over 1,000 feet in length.
The massive insect flapped its wings, and two gusts of fearsome winds were instantly swept up as its gigantic body was propelled forward through the air.
......
Han Li didn't know the origins of the strange soul that he'd destroyed, but he knew that killing it definitely wasn't a good thing.
As such, after departing from this place, he immediately changed directions a few times in quick succession, then used the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman to conceal himself for a while before he finally felt safe to continue his journey as normal.
Even though Han Li had separated from his two companions, he wasn't all that worried as he was currently powerful enough to put up a good fight even against early-Body Integration Stage beings.
Thus, he chose a route to follow and continued to travel toward the restricted ruins.
Two months later, in the sky over a desert that was enshrouded under a vast yellow sandstorm, spiritual light suddenly flashed, and three strange-looking azure carriages shot forth from the distance alongside arcs of azure lightning.
After just a few flashes, the three azure carriages arrived in the area, and they all stopped in a uniform formation over 1,000 feet above the sandstorm.
Only then were the true appearances of these carriages revealed, and they were all rather antiquated, but beautiful patterns had been inscribed onto their surfaces. On top of that, they were also riddled with flashing azure runes of different sizes.
In front of each carriage was a pair of water-buffalo-like beasts that were wearing suits of azure armor. Their large eyes were as crimson as blood, and wisps of azure smoke billowed out of their nostrils from time to time.
As this azure smoke drifted through the air, the surrounding air temperature was immediately raised significantly, thereby striking one with a strange scorching feeling.
Standing within each carriage was a pair of short humanoid figures, as well as an azure-armored puppet that was far larger in size in comparison.
The puppets were around 20 feet tall with a saber strapped to each of their waists and two shimmering silver short spears attached to each of their backs. All of them were holding the reins of the water-buffalo-like beasts that were drawing the carriages, and through their visors, pairs of glowing red eyes could be seen.
As for the short humanoid figures on the carriages, they also wore suits of armor, and each of them had a massive shimmering wheel on their back. Their faces were riddled with grey freckles and tusks were protruding out of their mouths, giving them quite a hideous appearance.
At present, the six short humanoid figures were inspecting the sandstorm down below intently while discussing some things with one another in low voices.
Moments later, they seemed to have completed their discussion, and one of them raised a hand to produce an ancient copper mirror, which was hurled into the sandstorm.
The copper mirror descended into the sandstorm before emanating an azure halo that quickly proliferated in all directions.
The violent sandstorm was immediately settled as the azure halo swept through the air, creating a picturesque scene of peace and harmony, as if the sandstorm had never even existed in the first place.
After the sandstorm abated, the ruins of a massive palace was revealed, and it stretched further than the eyes could see.
The short humanoid figures were all elated to see this, and they called out to one another before immediately preparing to swoop downward in the carriages.
However, right at this moment, a rumbling thunderclap suddenly erupted in the distant sky.
All of a sudden, a particular resounding thunderclap rang out, and a ball of azure light abruptly appeared in the distance. The ball of lightning then shot forth through the air, covering a distance of several thousand feet after just a few flashes, taking it close to the three carriages in the blink of an eye.
The six short humanoid beings were quite startled by this development, yet at the same time, they were also able to catch a clear glimpse of what lay within the azure ball of lightning.
This was a giant bird puppet that was over 200 feet in length, and judging from its appearance, it was a vastly renowned Lightning Bird!
However, much to their surprise, the puppet was heavily damaged, missing most of its feathers and even one of its talons.
Even so, the bird still had a layer of dazzling azure lightning around its body, creating a very intimidating and harrowing sight to behold.
The six short foreign beings' hearts stirred upon seeing this, and one of them immediately let loose a long cry. Immediately thereafter, all three carriages hurtled toward the giant puppet in unison as three streaks of azure light.
Prior to making contact with the puppet, the three huge azure-armored puppets flicked their reins at the same time, and the six water buffalo beasts let loose thunderous roars in unison, then opened their mouths to expel bursts of azure flames that formed a rumbling sea of fire.
Almost at the exact same moment, the six foreign beings let loose low cries in unison, and the silver wheels on their backs shot forth at once.
These wheels then abruptly swelled drastically in size to form six bright moons, and they surged toward the Lightning Bird puppet as if they were threatening to slice its body into pieces.
Silver light flashed within the puppet's eyes upon seeing this, and the azure arcs of lightning around its body swelled by around twofold while it reached out with its only remaining talon.
A massive azure talon projection immediately appeared high up above, obscuring the entire sky as it came crashing down toward the three carriages.
The puppet was completely disregarding the silver moons and azure sea of flames surging toward it.
This came as quite a surprise to the six foreign beings, and they were feeling slightly panicked as a result.
Thankfully, the six of them had fought alongside one another on many occasions, thereby allowing them to develop exemplary teamwork and chemistry. One of them let loose a loud cry, and all six of them hurriedly made hand seals before pointing their fingers up into the sky in rapid succession.
The six moons immediately let loose a loud buzzing sound before converging toward the giant azure talon projection. They then combined as one to form a massive disk with a diameter of over 100 feet before hurtling directly upward.
The giant talon projection and the disk clashed amid a resounding boom, and azure and silver light intertwined with one another.
At this moment, the azure flames also swept up the Lightning Bird puppet, clashing with the protective arcs of azure lightning around its body amid strings of dull thunderclaps.