Chapter 1348: Barbarian Beastman

"It's a Beastman! Kill him quickly, don't let him unleash his Human-Beast Fusion ability!" Upon seeing the strange man's appearance, Daoist Ma cried out in alarm, his face paling as if he'd seen a viper.

Hearing the words "Beastman," the Blue-eyed Big Man and his companions revealed expressions of horror. Without hesitation, they unleashed various ancient artifacts – such as rulers, seals, and banners, all rarely seen in the outside world – which instantly transformed into multicolored light clusters and flew forth. Flashing with spiritual light, these treasures immediately enveloped the monster and giant beast below, trapping them beneath their immense power. It was clear that Han Li's subordinates were extraordinarily wary of these foreign creatures known as Beastmen.

What puzzled the Blue-eyed Big Man and his companions, however, was Han Li's complete inaction. After exposing the Beastman's illusion, he simply floated to the side, hands clasped behind his back, seemingly leaving everything to them. The Blue-eyed Big Man and the others felt vexed, but the monster's counterattack below gave them no chance to question Han Li.

The monster below let out a grotesque laugh. With a shake of its shoulder, the yellow hurricane re-emerged, sweeping upward to meet the assault. At the same time, the creature below suddenly glowed with an unusual emerald light, and dozens of identical fleshy tendrils astonishingly extended from its underside. With a slight sway, these fleshy tendrils transformed into shimmering green light and shadows, also attacking the air in conjunction with the hurricane. Whether it was lightning, flames, or other elemental attacks unleashed by the magic treasures, or the crisscrossing sword qi and saber light, they vanished without a trace upon encountering the hurricane. When they struck the green light and shadows, they were simply bounced back. The Blue-eyed Big Man and his companions were thrown into a flurry, no longer able to concern themselves with anything else.

As Han Li stood by, observing impassively, no one noticed that the silver fish in the pond below had, at some unknown moment, coalesced into two large masses. With a faint flash of silver light, they suddenly transformed into two silver eyes. Almost simultaneously, the seemingly calm water surface rippled, revealing a transparent, several-zhang-long mouth filled with crystalline fangs that resembled ice blades. This pond itself was astonishingly a transformation of an unknown, entirely transparent monster.

At that moment, the transparent giant beast moved, pouncing towards Han Li who was floating in the air. It was not only perfectly transparent but also moved silently, as if it were an incorporeal entity. Han Li, however, remained suspended silently in the air, observing the other battle, completely still, as if he hadn't noticed the abnormality below him.

In an instant, the transparent giant beast was only a few zhang away from Han Li. A tyrannical gleam flashed in its silver eyes as its massive mouth snapped towards him. A gray light flashed behind Han Li as the Arcane Magnetic Divine Light eerily swept out, transforming into countless slender threads of light that shot straight down. The giant beast was startled and tried to dodge, but it was too late! A sound like rain on a bamboo fence emanated as the shimmering gray threads of light instantly pierced through the beast, then wrapped around it, firmly entangling the majority of its body.

Han Li's figure blurred slightly, and he turned to face the giant beast with a phantom-like swiftness. Without a word, he opened his mouth, and a small mountain, whooshing, shot forth. The mountain spun, expanding countless times, and suddenly transformed into a towering peak over a hundred zhang tall, appearing directly above the transparent giant beast. Upon seeing this, the giant beast immediately knew something was terribly wrong. Its body trembled violently in desperation, attempting to break free. Unfortunately, the beast's true form was a water-attribute exotic creature, belonging to the Five Elements, making it impossible to easily escape the Arcane Magnetic Divine Light's binding. The gray light threads flashed rapidly, binding the beast even tighter. Han Li, meanwhile, was already muttering incantations.

After a buzzing sound, the giant peak descended. Upon contact, it naturally crushed the giant beast, sending it plummeting from the air. A deafening rumble echoed. The peak pressed the giant beast more than halfway into the ground, pinning it firmly in the earth, rendering it utterly unable to move. Only then did Han Li expressionlessly examine the beast.

A loud roar came from behind. Han Li's eyebrow twitched slightly as he slowly turned around. It was the green monster, still locked in fierce combat with the Blue-eyed Big Man and his companions. Seeing the transparent giant beast restrained by Han Li, it let out a chilling cry of alarm. The monster ceased manipulating the hurricane above its head to bother the Blue-eyed Big Man and his group. Instead, it slapped the giant beast beneath it with one hand, and its body swiftly sank downward, vanishing into the beast's form in an instant.

"Oh no, he's going to merge! Stop him quickly!"

The Blue-eyed Big Man was initially delighted to see Han Li calmly subdue the other monster, but his face immediately tightened upon witnessing the green monster's actions. Young Master Ying and his companions were all startled by these words and frantically infused their treasures with spiritual energy, causing their power to instantly surge. In a short while, the unmanned yellow hurricane was dispersed by the treasures. But even this brief delay allowed the giant beast's body below to shimmer with emerald light, its form distorting and reshaping.

First its feet, then its hands, and finally its body slowly elongated. Then, a bare head emerged. Under the monster's control, the giant beast transformed into a colossal, entirely dark-skinned giant, dozens of zhang tall, covered in purplish-black scales, with lantern-like eyes that glowed with an ominous emerald green light. The moment it appeared, it immediately, and without hesitation, hurled two fierce punches at the light haze high in the sky, purple-black light continuously swirling around its fists.

With two thunderous roars, the light haze formed by over a dozen treasures in the air was shattered by its raw power. Most of the magic treasures let out pained wails and scattered, fleeing high into the sky. Only Fairy Xu raised an eyebrow. With a cold snort, she pointed a finger at her pure white flying sword. Instantly, the flying sword let out a long cry, transformed into a several-zhang-long ice blade, flickered in place, and then eerily vanished.

The next moment, about seven or eight zhang above the giant's head, the ice blade flashed out of thin air, wildly hacking downward. This woman actually intended to single-handedly kill this formidable Human-Beast Fusion foe. But what this female cultivator hadn't anticipated was that despite the giant's immense size, its reaction was remarkably swift. Seeing the ice blade descend, it opened its massive mouth, and a yellow wind whistled forth, instantly blowing the sword off balance and preventing it from descending even an inch.

A purplish-black hand then shot out like lightning, seizing the ice blade. A ferocious expression immediately appeared on the giant's face as its other hand also gripped the sword. From its demeanor, it seemed intent on destroying the flying sword then and there. Upon witnessing this, Fairy Xu's face instantly turned pale. This blade was her life-bound artifact; if it were damaged, she, too, would undoubtedly suffer greatly due to their mental connection. The woman desperately activated her sword arts, trying to recall the flying blade. But despite the ice blade suddenly emitting waves of milky-white cold energy and vibrating violently throughout its form, it remained utterly unable to break free from the giant's grasp.

Just as the giant took a deep breath, about to exert force with its arms, the nearby space rippled. Right in front of the giant, a bowl-sized black beam of light suddenly shot forth, striking its chest. Strangely, this black beam, incredibly slender compared to the giant's massive frame, actually made it stumble and recoil several steps. And the instant the black beam ceased, a fist-sized silver firebird also shot out from the same spot, spreading its wings and unceremoniously pouncing towards the giant.

Strangely, the seemingly mighty giant's emerald pupils suddenly contracted upon seeing the silver firebird, and a look of fear appeared on its face. The moment its stance stabilized, it unhesitatingly turned and bolted backward. But the giant had barely taken two steps when sudden popping sounds erupted from beneath the nearby ground. Over a dozen red threads shot forth, abruptly wrapped around the giant's massive feet, and then flared with crimson light, transforming into thick fiery ropes that bound the giant's legs together. This prevented it from moving forward! In a mix of anger and alarm, the giant clawed downward with both massive hands, intent on tearing the fiery ropes apart.

But at that very moment, the silver firebird behind it gave it no chance. With a lightning-fast dart, it transformed into a ball of silver flame and pounced onto the giant's back. With a muffled thud, the silver flames exploded as if oil had been poured onto a fire, rapidly spreading and blazing fiercely. The giant could no longer bother with the fiery ropes; piercing screams tore from its throat. A yellow hurricane suddenly erupted around its body, sweeping towards the silver flames, intent on extinguishing them.

However, a horrifying sight unfolded: the moment the yellow hurricane touched the silver flames, not only did it fail to extinguish them, but it also caught fire itself. In just a few breaths, the mountain-sized giant was completely engulfed in the inferno. The screams from within the flames abruptly ceased. The giant's massive body swayed a few times, then finally crashed to the ground. In the blink of an eye, its corpse was completely consumed by the silver flames, leaving not the slightest trace in this world.

From the unexpected appearance of the black beam to the giant being utterly consumed by the silver flames, it was but a fleeting moment. Yet, it left the Blue-eyed Big Man and his companions in the air utterly dumbfounded. Although Han Li's Spirit Devouring Heavenly Flame had been used once before to eradicate a swarm of beetles, it had never displayed such terrifying power. Now, the Beastman, which had rendered the Blue-eyed Big Man and the others helpless, was effortlessly destroyed by a single flame. How could Han Li's subordinates not feel as though they were dreaming, their faces etched with disbelief?

At this moment, Han Li's figure flickered, and he suddenly appeared above the silver flames, casually beckoning downward. First, the silver flames suddenly rolled up and condensed into a ball, transforming back into a firebird that flew back to him. Immediately after, the dozen or so fiery ropes flickered, reverting to red threads, which Han Li collected into his sleeve with a shake.

"Collect that beast," Han Li calmly instructed, glancing at the other giant creature still pinned beneath his Arcane Magnetic Mountain. "Once we return to the city, hand it over to the Spirit Hall for proper handling."

"Yes, junior will go immediately!" the Blue-eyed Big Man replied, his heart tightening. He quickly agreed, then with a flip of his hand, a pure white gourd suddenly appeared in his palm, which he then sent flying towards the beast. The gourd's surface was inscribed with numerous silver tadpole-script characters; it was a specialized artifact designed for the temporary imprisonment of exotic creatures. Regardless of the exotic race or their mighty abilities, as long as they were not True Spirit level beings, they could be absorbed into it. This, of course, was only possible when the exotic creature had completely lost all power of resistance, was utterly motionless, and could not fight back.