Chapter 1415: The Might of Mountain Slaying

"An Integration Stage cultivator isn't someone you can just decide to kill. At the very least, you and I together wouldn't be a match for one. Enough idle chatter; let's get down to business. I didn't expect to encounter human cultivators so soon. This place should be at least half a year's journey from Tianyuan City, the human stronghold." The young woman interrupted her companion's fantasy, a frown creasing her brow.

"What's so strange about that? They were most likely human cultivators out searching for treasure. Since they've been eliminated, our mission is complete. If there are any stragglers, the cleanup crew can handle them. We're only responsible for clearing obvious targets," the winged demon said with a grim chuckle, shaking its wings.

"That's true. Let's go. The main army should be arriving soon."

The beautiful woman smiled faintly and nodded. With a sway of her figure, she instantly vanished. The demon, meanwhile, opened its maw wide and inhaled forcefully, sucking the headless corpse into its mouth. After a few chews, it swallowed the body whole. Then, with a flap of its enormous wings, it likewise disappeared into the void.

Not long after the two strange beings departed, a peculiar buzzing sound emanated from the horizon. It started as a low hum, then grew steadily louder. At the edge of the sky, a single black dot appeared, then two, then three… In an instant, countless black dots emerged, densely packed, swarming across the sky like an enormous insect horde.

These black dots numbered in the thousands, each moving with astonishing speed. In a mere moment, they approached the massive mountain.

At this point, the true nature of the black dots became perfectly clear: they were all winged beings identical to the previous demonic woman. Both sexes wore very little, with bare legs and arms, covering only vital areas. The male winged beings were significantly more numerous than the females, and they soared past the colossal mountain in a mixed, howling throng.

These winged strange beings continuously appeared in the sky, flying overhead without pause. For a full hour, black dots continued to emerge from the horizon in an endless stream, as if boundless.

A while later, the sound from the horizon changed. In addition to the buzzing, there was now a rumbling like thunder. Then, a colossal object, resembling a mountain, appeared at the edge of the sky.

This object was two to three thousand zhang (approx. 6 to 9 kilometers) tall, pale yellow in color, and shaped like a conical beehive. It rotated slowly and continuously in the air.

In front of this colossal object, dozens of winged flying snakes, crackling with electrical light, slowly pulled it forward. Beside the beehive, teams of armored winged beings, wielding massive blades, pushed the gigantic object forward with exceptional coordination.

Although this object appeared incredibly cumbersome, it was surprisingly fast. The hurricane-force winds it generated as it flew over the mountain even stirred up the water mist below, dispersing much of it.

This action by the enormous "beehive" immediately angered the white bird-beasts hidden in the mist below. Flocks of birds instantly soared from the mist, opening their beaks and spitting streams of dark liquid towards the sky.

Upon seeing this, the silver-armored strange beings showed no hesitation. They immediately charged downwards, swinging their massive blades, like tigers unleashed into a flock of sheep. In just a few brief encounters, they had slaughtered almost half of the strange birds.

The remaining birds, sensing the dire situation, cried out strangely and fled back into the mist below.

The silver-armored strange beings did not pursue. They simply retracted their weapons and returned to the sky, continuing to escort the colossal object past.

No sooner had this enormous "beehive" disappeared into the distance than another, similar in shape but larger, appeared from the horizon. This second "beehive" was also closely protected by a large group of winged strange beings.

In this manner, these enormous beehives appeared one after another on the horizon, each one colossal. Nearly a hundred of them flew past before they finally ceased appearing, replaced instead by groups of bizarrely shaped ancient beasts.

Some had three heads and two wings, others had dragon heads and black tails. Some were over a hundred zhang tall, while others were only a few feet in size. On the backs or near these ancient beasts, one or more winged strange beings guided them. Tens of thousands of these creatures flew past in a mighty, continuous procession.

After these ancient beasts had passed, long, dark, gleaming shuttles appeared on the horizon. Each was several tens of zhang in length, pointed at both ends.

There weren't many of these shuttles, only about a thousand, but their speed was incredible. In a mere flash, they traversed from one end of the horizon to the other.

In just a few moments, these black shuttles vanished from the vicinity without a trace.

For a time, the sky became eerily empty.

However, it wasn't long before a flash of spiritual light appeared on the horizon, followed by more groups of black dots. As they drew closer, those who saw their true appearance couldn't help but gasp.

Most of these winged strange beings were similar to the previous ones – the males equally hideous, the females as beautiful as flowers. However, within each group, there were also several colossal strange beings, dozens of zhang tall, whose physiques far dwarfed their counterparts.

All these strange beings had ancient runes of gold or silver appearing on their bodies. Some also had sharp bone horns of varying lengths protruding from their bodies, and even their faces. They looked utterly ferocious, as if devils had descended to the world.

This group of strange beings flew much slower than their kin who had passed earlier. As soon as they arrived nearby, one particular group immediately descended, then dispersed in all directions, many disappearing directly into the void.

Meanwhile, two of the colossal strange beings remained suspended motionless in the air, their faces expressionless.

Between these two gigantic creatures, another winged demon of normal size floated, its arms crossed over its shoulders.

Not only were this individual's fleshy wings more than twice the size of those of ordinary strange beings, but its pupils were also pale gold, and its skin was unusually crimson. It merely watched the others' search coldly, but after a moment, its golden eyes shifted, and its gaze fell upon the remarkably conspicuous giant mountain below.

Before long, a hundred other strange beings flew back, standing rigidly and appearing remarkably submissive before this individual.

"The vanguard detected two Soul Transformation human cultivators in the vicinity, correct?" the golden-eyed strange being asked, his face expressionless.

"Lord Mengxiang," a young female strange being replied respectfully, "the intelligence we received confirms this location. However, we have searched for hundreds of miles around, except for this mountain, and found no other traces of humans. This mountain appears to contain spirit magnetic stone veins, which we cannot directly detect."

"Spirit magnetic stone veins! That's simple enough, isn't it? Just take it apart and see!" The golden-eyed strange being sneered. It then raised its palm, and a brilliant crimson light emerged, instantly transforming into a blood-red orb of light that pulsed slightly.

Closing its five fingers, the strange being rotated the light orb in its hand, then lightly waved it towards the enormous mountain.

A sheet of red light shot forth from its hand and immediately swelled, becoming incredibly vast. A significant portion of the sky was bathed in a brilliant crimson glow.

The strange being suddenly flipped its palm downwards and lightly waved it. Instantly, a red line flashed across the top of the colossal mountain, and then everything appeared normal again.

Just then, the two colossal, mountain-like strange beings in the air simultaneously moved their arms, delivering a series of fierce blows to one side of the giant mountain.

Two immense, invisible forces, strong enough to almost tear through space, surged forth. They then combined into a single, overwhelming torrent that fiercely struck the side of the mountain peak.

An incredible scene unfolded.

A thunderous roar resounded, and the entire giant mountain groaned. Half of the peak slowly slid downwards, as if it were made of tofu.

Han Li was currently within a vast cave, his body enveloped in shimmering gray light that protected him completely. However, his expression was exceptionally grim as he stared intently at a spot only seven or eight zhang away.

There, a large man in gray robes lay split into two halves in a pool of blood. Beside him was a small flag, flickering with silver electrical arcs.

A chill ran down Han Li's spine.

Just a moment earlier, a red light had suddenly flashed through this spot. The large man had been directly in the path of the red line, resulting in his body being silently bisected.

As a result, the magical formation, originally maintained by the array flags the man held, instantly failed. A swarm of fist-sized, pitch-black shadows immediately seized the opportunity to scatter and escape from the dissipating lightning.

After a moment of shock, the other cultivators immediately displayed expressions of mingled surprise and anger. The female cultivator surnamed Xiao, who held a crimson jade ruler in one hand, also looked astonished. Dozens of zhang away, on the other side of the cave, shimmering light, constant explosions, and roars indicated that the young man surnamed Zhu was leading the remaining dozen or so cultivators in a joint effort to encircle and suppress the group of green-eyed True Toad Beasts.

Han Li's thoughts raced. Just as he was about to activate his Primal Magnetic Divine Light to sweep up the hundred or so shadow insects and prevent them from truly escaping, the ground beneath him suddenly shook violently. Following this, the other half of the cave floor collapsed, and simultaneously, the underground river within the cave churned, sending out furious waves over ten zhang high that surged towards him.

The entire cave began to crack and shatter inch by inch.

Only then did Han Li realize that something truly catastrophic had occurred. Filled with horror, he instinctively formed a hand seal, and the gray light enveloping his body instantly expanded severalfold. The surging waves immediately engulfed his figure…

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a dozen streaks of escaping light flashed forth from the shattered remains of the colossal mountain, which now only had half of its peak remaining.

As the light converged, a dozen figures immediately appeared in the low air. Among them were the young man surnamed Zhu, the beautiful woman, and others. However, after surveying their surroundings, their faces turned pale and bloodless.

All around them, a hundred densely packed winged strange beings were staring at them menacingly.

The aura of almost every one of them seemed to be no less than that of a Soul Transformation cultivator, and there were as many as six or seven at the Void Refinement stage or higher.

"There are quite a few people, but only two Void Refinement human cultivators. I'm too lazy to bother with them; I'll leave them for you to handle. Capture them alive if possible; perhaps we can extract some information from them," the golden-eyed strange being remarked calmly, having instantly discerned the cultivation levels of the young man surnamed Zhu and the others.

With a shake of its wings, it vanished from its spot, reappearing over a hundred zhang away the next instant. After two more flashes, it completely disappeared from the horizon without a trace.

This strange being, capable of cleaving a mountain ten thousand zhang tall with a single strike, truly abandoned the matter at hand.