Chapter 1389: Insect Might

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Qidian Original

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“An illusion?” Han Li was momentarily startled by the sight. But then, with a flick of his sleeves, dozens of small golden swordfish flew out, transforming into foot-long golden swords in a flash.

He mentally activated his sword spell. Each flying sword blurred slightly, splitting into identical sword-lights that then circled and danced.

Immediately, golden light filled the sky, and sword qi crisscrossed, shattering all the monsters within dozens of yards.

Beast blood, severed corpses, and monster roars filled the air around Han Li.

However, Han Li frowned slightly. Both the sensation of his flying swords striking and everything he witnessed felt incredibly real. These monsters didn’t appear to be illusions at all. Others would be unable to discern any falsity.

He felt a mix of surprise and suspicion, though his face remained expressionless. The sword-lights formed by his numerous flying swords continued without pause, protecting him thoroughly.

From afar, the old Taoist priest, standing on the back of the Mirage Beast, saw this and revealed a peculiar smile.

The monsters appearing all around seemed endless. Han Li’s sword-lights were incredibly sharp, and in a blink of an eye, hundreds of monsters had fallen beneath his blades.

However, the shattered corpses of these slain monsters floated in the nearby air instead of falling. As a result, the scent of blood grew increasingly thick and unusually pungent.

A moment later, when Han Li sensed something was amiss, the Mirage Beast beneath the old Taoist priest let out a cry. All the shattered corpses instantly transformed into dense black mist, surging towards Han Li.

Hundreds of sword-lights circled and danced around him, occasionally slicing open portions of the black mist. However, as more mist entangled the swords, they all became sluggish and slow.

At the same time, the colossal Mirage Beast swayed, quietly transforming into a streak of black energy that surged forth and vanished, concealed within the black mist.

The next moment, two long red shadows shot out from the black mist without any warning. In a flash, they eerily appeared before Han Li, one darting straight for his head and the other aiming directly for his chest and heart, moving with lightning speed.

Had Han Li not been circulating his cultivation art throughout his body, with blue light flickering in his eyes and his Brightsight Spiritual Eyes ability pushed to its limit, he truly wouldn’t have been able to perceive such rapid attacks with just his spiritual sense.

Han Li’s expression darkened. Without using any magical artifacts, a golden light flashed dangerously, and his two hands, seemingly slow yet incredibly swift, shot out to grasp.

Simultaneously, his hands became resplendent with golden light, as if forged from pure gold.

With two thudding sounds, his two peculiar golden hands firmly grasped the two fresh red tentacles, each with a fleshy bulb at its tip. A tremendous force suddenly surged up his arms.

However, Han Li’s shoulders merely swayed slightly, and he appeared unaffected.

Seeing this, the old Taoist priest was startled, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

One should know that this Mirage Beast not only possessed uncanny illusionary abilities but was also renowned among the Shadow Clan for its immense strength. The fact that it had just flicked a hundred-yard mountain flying with its two tongues demonstrated its power.

Yet, this unassuming human youth had managed to grasp the Mirage Beast’s two tongues with his bare hands, and he looked incredibly relaxed. This was simply too unbelievable.

However, the old Taoist priest wasn't truly worried. The Mirage Beast was not merely a creature of brute strength.

Indeed, after its tongues were caught in Han Li's grip and remained motionless despite a fierce tug, they suddenly burst with white light, transforming into two crimson giant pythons. With gaping, ferocious mouths, they lunged forward, aiming to bite Han Li's head.

Han Li felt a tremendous shock in his fingers. The parts he gripped became incredibly cold and slippery, and the pythons seemed genuinely intent on breaking free.

Blue light surged in his eyes. Han Li's glittering golden hands flickered, eerily transforming into black and white. A phantom image of a small silver mountain appeared on the back of the dark, abyssal hand, while its five fingers expanded by more than a fold.

With a 'thump,' blood splattered. This hand had actually crushed the python into two pieces.

Meanwhile, the crystal-clear, jade-like hand transformed its five fingers into five white skeletal heads. With an eerie flick, they simultaneously bit into the python's vital spot.

The skeletal heads' grinning mouths sucked furiously a few times, and the python's body instantly became abnormally shriveled, its essence blood completely drained.

This was precisely the result of Han Li integrating the Primordial Magnetic Divine Mountain, the Five-Child Conjoined Devil, and his own hands.

This method was a unique cultivation technique recorded in the 'Hundred Veins Artifact Refinement Manual'.

Cultivating one's limbs into treasured artifacts was naturally an immensely long process. However, by using existing treasures to take a shortcut, this process could be significantly shortened.

The result of his cultivation using this method was not only the refinement of his hands' divine abilities with the power of the two treasures, but also, during combat, the combined power of his hands and the treasures became exceptionally agile, and their might far surpassed using them individually against foes.

Thus, Han Li, catching his opponent off guard, instantly annihilated the pythons formed from the Mirage Beast's tongues.

The old Taoist priest clearly hadn't anticipated such a result. In his shock and anger, before he could make any move, two intensely painful beast roars erupted from the black mist. Immediately, the black mist split, and the Mirage Beast lurched forward, but midway, its body blurred, suddenly becoming transparent and disappearing.

This beast actually possessed an invisibility ability.

A moment later, the beast's roars echoed around Han Li. It was impossible to determine its exact location.

This time, even with blue light incessantly swirling in his eyes as he scanned in all directions, he couldn't perceive it in the slightest.

Seeing this, Han Li chuckled lightly.

He waved both his large sleeves, and immediately, a buzzing sound erupted from the cuffs, followed by countless golden light points surging out.

As soon as these golden light points shot out, their bodies swelled rapidly, each transforming into a half-foot-long giant beetle.

These were precisely the mature Gold-Devouring Beetles that Han Li had painstakingly cultivated to perfection.

Over a thousand of these giant beetles flew out, swirling everywhere in the nearby air.

In an instant, with so many beetles in the sky, the monster was quickly bumped into by one and forced to reveal itself.

Without Han Li even needing to command them, all the Gold-Devouring Beetles buzzed and swarmed, and the golden insect cloud instantly engulfed the monster.

The Mirage Beast let out an intensely painful howl, but then, with a 'poof,' its massive body transformed into a rolling mass of black mist and fled.

Ordinary insects would naturally be helpless against such an intangible form.

However, an incredible scene unfolded! Just as the black mist was about to flash through the gaps between the Gold-Devouring Beetles and escape, these terrifying beetles, with a flash of golden light from their claws, clung stubbornly to the black mist. Then, without hesitation, they lowered their heads and began to devour it furiously.

With thousands of such large beetles devouring simultaneously, even though the black mist transformed by the giant beast was extensive, more than a tenth of it was bitten away in the blink of an eye.

Piercing screams immediately emanated continuously from the black mist, which then churned. From within, ten slender, golden and silver snakes, each about a yard long, shot out. One bite each, and they swallowed ten giant beetles with lightning speed.

With another blurred flick of their heads, ten more beetles vanished into the snakes' mouths.

But immediately, after the ten golden and silver snakes let out hisses, they all writhed on the ground. Instantly, they reverted back into clumps of black mist.

One by one, the golden giant beetles safely flew out of the black mist, circled once, and then reattached themselves, continuing to devour ravenously.

These spiritual insects showed no signs of injury whatsoever.

Subsequently, the black mist quickly transformed into several types of beasts specifically designed to counter insects, but none of them could harm the Gold-Devouring Beetles in the slightest. On the contrary, during this brief delay, nearly half of the black mist was torn away, and the speed at which it transformed into monsters became sluggish and slow.

From the moment Han Li released his swarm of insects until the black mist was visibly on the verge of being annihilated, only a few breaths passed. The old Taoist priest in the distance stared intently at these giant golden insects, his eyes wide. A strangely unusual expression gradually appeared on his face. “Gold-Devouring Beetles… mature Gold-Devouring Beetles!” the old Taoist priest muttered twice, then suddenly, without hesitation, slapped the top of his own head with one hand.

With a flash of red light, a crimson shadow surged out from his crown. After circling once, it suddenly transformed into a dazzling, startling rainbow that fled over a hundred yards backward. After a few more flashes, it vanished without a trace at the horizon.

The old Taoist priest's body, left behind, turned into a mummified corpse. A gentle breeze swept by, and the corpse, carried by the wind, disintegrated into a wisp of dust.

“Hmm?” Han Li, who had been standing still, let out a soft exclamation, staring in the direction where the startling rainbow had vanished. His expression became uncertain.

“To abandon even such a rare beast… do mature Gold-Devouring Beetles truly have such a great reputation?”

Having said this with some doubt, Han Li turned his head to look at the black mist, which was almost completely devoured. Han Li stroked his chin, then suddenly raised a hand and beckoned. Immediately, the Gold-Devouring Beetles in the distance flew up. After circling once, they all shrank to the size of grains of rice and then vanished into his sleeves.

After completing all of this, Han Li turned to leave, but suddenly his expression drastically changed, and his body swayed several times. After a stumble, he almost plunged directly from the air.

“How is this possible? Why has my spiritual sense been depleted so much, almost damaging my nascent soul?”

Han Li quickly inspected himself internally, and his face instantly turned pale with alarm.

His powerful spiritual sense, almost comparable to a Void Refinement stage cultivator, had astonishingly been depleted by seven or eight tenths, nearly exhausting it completely. Yet this process had been silent. He hadn't noticed any abnormality whatsoever.

“Could it be…”

Han Li was no ordinary person; he immediately thought of the mature Gold-Devouring Beetles he had just commanded. His face looked grim as he had a faint premonition in his heart.

He suddenly flicked his sleeve again, and a speck of golden light shot out, then transformed into a giant beetle, flapping its wings as it circled and danced nearby.

Han Li immediately probed with his spiritual sense, and a moment later, he stood rooted to the spot, stunned.

As soon as the giant beetle was released, his spiritual sense began to slowly deplete at a noticeable rate.

While it didn't seem severe, this was just one Gold-Devouring Beetle. If hundreds or thousands were simultaneously activated, the magnitude of spiritual sense consumption would be unimaginable.

With his current Void Refinement-level spiritual sense, he absolutely couldn't sustain it for more than a brief moment. Even more terrifying was that unless he internally inspected his spiritual sense, this consumption was silent and imperceptible; he wouldn't be able to detect it at all.