Chapter 1499: Encountering Fierce Battle

Volume 1: Upheaval at the Seven Mysteries Sect

Mu Qing, standing atop a golden flower, turned her head almost simultaneously. A potent, strange, putrid stench intensified, causing her face to betray a hint of discomfort. From the distant White Bone Wasteland, a surging, rolling sound suddenly emerged, followed by a dense wave of gray-white shadowy energy rolling in.

The gray energy stretched endlessly, as far as the eye could see. Yet, wherever it passed, white bones on the ground rose up, forming legions of bizarrely shaped skeletons.

These skeletons varied in size, their eye sockets glowing with bright red light as they stared towards Six-Legs and the other deep-abyss creatures.

In an instant, the gray energy was almost upon the deep-abyss creatures.

All the low-level deep-abyss creatures stirred uneasily.

Han Li's expression subtly changed, and he couldn't help but glance at Mu Qing, who was beside him.

Her face was calm, betraying no unusual emotion, as if she had long anticipated this.

Just as Han Li was feeling puzzled, a low shout suddenly came from the rear of the team. Two streaks of blood-red light shot out from among the puppets, meeting the oncoming gray energy. With two 'bangs,' the blood-red streaks transformed into two surging, bloody, foul winds and collided with the gray energy, unleashing continuous, rumbling explosions as they burst forth between them.

As the gray energy and bloody winds intertwined, a sound like wind and thunder erupted, sweeping a large number of newly awakened skeletons nearby into its vortex and tearing them all to pieces.

However, from other directions, the skeletal army, still enveloped in gray energy, rose into the air one by one and surged towards the deep-abyss team hovering at low altitude. In an instant, more than half of the sky was densely covered by these skeletons. Their numbers were immense, beyond counting. Han Li was utterly appalled!

Just then, the white-haired beautiful woman at the very front let out a strange cackle. As her body spun around, a colossal, disheveled ghost figure suddenly emerged from behind her, swelling to hundreds of feet in size in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, the ghost figure opened its massive mouth, and a stream of green energy whistled out, sweeping a large number of airborne skeletons into it. A strange phenomenon then occurred.

As soon as the airborne skeletons were enveloped by the green energy, the gray energy clinging to them instantly dissipated, and they disintegrated, falling from the sky.

The green energy, once expelled from the ghost figure's mouth, seemed endless. In a flash, it cooperated with the two bloody hurricanes, sweeping away the overwhelming number of skeletons. Mu Qing and Six-Legs didn't even need to make another move!

Witnessing this scene, Han Li couldn't help but gasp.

After the bloody squalls disappeared, the two blood-robed figures transformed back into two streaks of blood-red light and shot back. Once the green energy dissipated, the colossal ghost figure behind the white-haired beautiful woman flickered and vanished.

“These are merely Yin Bone Monsters, the easiest creatures to deal with in the Land of the Styx,” Mu Qing suddenly murmured, gazing at the vast expanse of white bones in the distance. “What we encounter later won't be so easy to handle.” She seemed to be talking to herself, yet also hinting at something. Han Li and Jin Ling, who were nearby, heard her clearly and exchanged glances. Han Li looked thoughtful, while Jin Ling's furry face showed no expression. Under Six-Legs' command, the deep-abyss team continued its advance.

Two days later, above a blood-red swamp, flocks of strange, blood-red bats frantically attacked the deep-abyss creatures.

As soon as these blood-red bats were torn apart or slain by the deep-abyss creatures, their scattered remains would recombine and astonishingly restore them to their original state. Only by destroying them multiple times, or by using fire-attribute spells, could they be truly annihilated. Once they latched onto a deep-abyss creature, they would greedily suck its essence blood, turning their prey into a pile of withered corpses in just a few bites.

The larger bats were several tens of feet long, while the smaller ones were about a foot in length. Among them, a dozen of the largest had human faces on bat bodies, spitting out crimson blood-light. Any creature struck by the blood-light instantly turned to dust. Their power was so immense that even high-level demonic beasts could not withstand a direct hit.

Therefore, this time, not only did all the deep-abyss creatures participate, but even the Four Demon Kings unleashed their divine abilities together, killing those human-faced blood bats one by one.

Han Li was enveloped in golden electric arcs. As soon as the blood-red bats touched the golden electric light, they immediately transformed into clumps of bloody mist within the golden light, then vanished into nothingness. At this moment, he finally understood why Mu Qing, the beautiful woman, and others were so exceptionally envious of the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning.

Clearly, many of the spectral creatures in the Land of the Styx contained varying amounts of demonic energy within them. Using the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning against them was indeed extraordinarily potent.

Although the blood-red bats were numerous, under the counterattack of the Four Demon Kings and numerous other deep-abyss creatures, puppets, and Dark Ghosts, their numbers rapidly dwindled, becoming sparse in the blink of an eye.

The remaining two or three human-faced bats, seeing the unfavorable situation, emitted several 'poofs,' spraying out clouds of blood mist from their bodies before turning around and fleeing into the sky.

Their escape speed was so fast that in just a few flashes, they reached the edge of the sky, and with another flash, they vanished completely without a trace.

Seven days later, in a strange, shimmering blue mist, countless black ghost figures, constantly changing shapes, danced around the deep-abyss creatures.

Although they did not approach closely, they emitted strange ghost wails from their mouths—some sharp and piercing, others soft and eerie—causing the low-level deep-abyss creatures to sway, their eyes glazed over, as if they could collapse at any moment.

At this moment, a large black bell flew out from the team. After a colossal bell chime resembling a dragon's roar, most of the ghost figures disintegrated and vanished. The remaining ones retreated in all directions, wailing, disappearing into the mist.

One month later, above a vast expanse of murky black water, a three-headed giant whose body was covered in rotting green flesh stood on the lake's surface. Wielding a massive beast bone with both hands, it battled a Purple Blood Puppet of nearly comparable size. Nearby, countless lake specters and deep-abyss creatures were engaged in a chaotic melee.

At this point, the number of deep-abyss creatures had dwindled to less than ten thousand, most of them being mid-to-high level beings. Even the eight thousand Ghost Soldiers and ten thousand puppets had suffered significant losses.

Han Li raised a hand, and a golden light flashed. The ox-headed, human-bodied specter before him was instantly cut in half. Immediately, a gray glow swept out from behind him, causing several long bone arrows shot from a certain direction to vanish instantly.

At the same time, he pressed his other hand against the empty air behind him. As a five-colored cold flame swirled out, two green-faced, fanged fiends that had appeared behind him instantly turned into ice sculptures. Just then, a whooshing sound suddenly came from above. A fierce gust of wind pressed down from the sky. Han Li's expression changed; his figure blurred slightly, and he vanished from his original spot.

A giant wolf-tooth club, tens of meters long, smashed onto the spot where he had just stood. The ground nearby flashed with black light and collapsed into a deep pit several feet deep. The owner of the wolf-tooth club, a one-eyed giant corpse covered in green fur, looked around blankly.

Suddenly, above the giant corpse, a green light flashed, and Han Li's figure appeared. He simply pressed his single hand down into the empty air.

A dark, small mountain appeared out of thin air. With black light flowing all over it, it instantly transformed into a colossal mountain a thousand *zhang* tall. With a mighty 'boom,' the black mountain not only crushed the giant corpse beneath it but also reduced all other spectral creatures within a hundred *zhang* radius to dust.

Han Li let out a long breath, then leisurely floated high in the sky and surveyed the surroundings in the distance.

Spectral energy rolled and mist billowed in all directions. Beyond a thousand *zhang*, even with his Bright Spirit Eyes, he couldn't see anything clearly.

He could only discern from the astonishing spiritual lights erupting periodically in the distance and the continuous rumbling sounds that many deep-abyss creatures were still struggling to resist the spectral army's attacks. He just didn't know where the Four Demon Kings had dispersed to at this moment, or if they had been surrounded by the vengeful spirits of the Styx. Han Li's mouth twitched, and a bitter smile appeared on his face.

In the previous month, during the first ten days or so, although they engaged in continuous battles, their journey was generally smooth, and they advanced further and further. However, during the latter half of the month, no more spectral creatures appeared in the dozen or so perilous regions they passed through.

Several of the fierce specters and malevolent spirits in these places had special divine abilities. Even the Four Demon Kings were somewhat wary, and they had specifically refined eight thousand Ghost Soldiers and ten thousand puppets in preparation for forcing their way through. As for the low-level deep-abyss creatures, few remained after the previous fierce battles. Facing this anticipated situation, Six-Legs and the others discussed it. Although somewhat uneasy, they naturally wouldn't turn back. They could only proceed with greater caution and continue leading the team forward.

As a result, on this day, after the team reached a highland where, according to Mu Qing, no powerful spectral creatures existed, countless spectral armies suddenly swarmed from all directions. Their numbers were so vast that they blotted out the sky and covered the sun.

Led by over thirty vengeful spirits whose power was comparable to that of Void Refinement cultivators, they released dense shadowy mist, instantly surrounding and then, catching them off guard, scattering the entire team, forcing Han Li and the others to fight individually!

Han Li initially resisted the attacks of these specters alongside Jin Ling and other nearby deep-abyss creatures.

However, this shadowy mist, whose spectral ability was unknown, caused anyone who strayed even slightly during the battle to immediately lose their sense of direction within the mist.

Although Han Li's spiritual sense was not weak, and he possessed the Bright Spirit Eyes, he still lost contact with the others after half a day of fighting.

He could only vaguely hear the sounds of distant battles, while all around him, groups of specters continuously charged out, fearless of death.

Fortunately, although these specters were numerous, they were at most at the Nascent Soul or Spirit Transformation level and could not pose a real threat to him.

After another period of fighting just now, he had temporarily eliminated all nearby specters and gained a moment of respite.

However, based on previous experience, in a short while, new groups of specters would charge out to entangle him, making it impossible to kill them all. Han Li's expression was uncertain for a moment. Then he suddenly flicked his hand downwards; the colossal mountain flickered and vanished. He himself, with a flash of green light, transformed into a streak of green rainbow and shot towards the direction where the sounds of battle were weakest. Han Li needed to escape from the mist-shrouded area and ensure his own safety first.

If absolutely necessary, he wouldn't care about his apprehension towards Six-Legs, the white-haired beautiful woman, and the others. He would just release his Soul Cry Beast and forcefully cut his way out of the encirclement.

Otherwise, with an endless number of them to kill, these specters might truly surround and kill him alive.