Chapter 1501: White Shadow

"No time to lose! Let's go now. In a little while, the ghostly creatures will entangle us again." Suppressing a flicker of excitement, Han Li declared firmly.

Yuan Yao and the other woman had no objections. The three of them immediately departed, leading the remaining ghost soldiers and riding their escape light. On the way, Yuan Yao and Yan Li's escape lights merged into one. Each holding the other's hand, they began to chant incantations and cast a spell.

After black and white spiritual light shimmered around them, both opened their mouths and each spat out a spherical bead, one white and one black. The two beads spun rapidly, then merged into a single, fist-sized eyeball, distinctly black and white.

Yan Li and Yuan Yao, still within the escape light, closed their eyes. Then, manipulating the black and white eyeball to scan their surroundings, they immediately veered off in a certain direction, guiding Han Li with them.

Witnessing such a peculiar secret technique, Han Li felt a mix of belief and doubt, but he could only follow the two as they flew.

"Brother Han," Yan Li suddenly reminded him, "the ghost path secret technique we are using, while it can guide us out of the current mist, cannot be altered in direction once we are on our way. Otherwise, all our efforts will be wasted."

Han Li's expression subtly changed, and he couldn't help but ask:

"So you're saying, even if we encounter other ghostly creatures or battle groups along the way, we'll have to brave our way through them?"

"That's right!" Yan Li let out a bitter laugh. "Brother Han, now you know why the two of us, despite possessing a secret technique to exit the mist, were still ensnared by ghostly creatures and unable to leave!"

"Hmph," Han Li sneered, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "As long as they're not powerful beings like the Six-Legged Wood Azure or similar entities, we'll just charge straight through. The truly formidable ghostly creatures should all be busy entangling the four demon kings."

Even though she had witnessed Han Li's power before, hearing such an audacious remark, Yan Li's expression froze, becoming somewhat strange.

"What's wrong, Fellow Daoist Yan?" Han Li asked calmly, his gaze sweeping across her face. Being no ordinary person, he immediately discerned what she was thinking. "Do you think my words are arrogant?"

"How could I think such a thing!" Yan Li pursed her lips and chuckled softly. "Although I haven't deeply interacted with Brother Han, I've heard my junior sister mention countless times how you easily slew fellow cultivators in the Human Realm."

Han Li was somewhat surprised and couldn't help but glance at Yuan Yao. The latter, however, lowered her gaze, a faint blush subtly appearing on her pale, flawless cheeks.

Han Li fell silent.

"Fellow Daoist Han, with such confidence," Yan Li asked again, her eyes slightly shifting, "I presume your divine abilities are comparable to those of a Void Refinement stage cultivator?"

"As long as it's not a late Void Refinement stage existence, I can still put up a fight." This was no time for modesty, Han Li replied calmly.

"My, my!" Yan Li remarked with wonder. "I truly don't know how you cultivated such divine abilities, Fellow Daoist. When my junior sister and I first met you back then, Brother Han was merely a Qi Condensation stage cultivator. Now you are comparable to a Void Refinement stage existence. Reflecting on it, it truly feels like a fleeting dream."

"Miss Yan, why are you so melancholic?" Han Li cast a sidelong glance at her.

"It's nothing," Yan Li sighed. "My junior sister and I cultivated the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Art, and we don't know if it's a blessing or a curse, nor do we know what our cultivation path will be like in the future. Are we truly destined to become like ghost spirits, completely transforming our bodies into ghostly forms and cultivating the Heavenly Ghost path?"

Nearby, Yuan Yao's expression also dimmed upon hearing this.

Han Li, however, furrowed his brow, and after a moment of contemplation, he said:

"Although I don't know much about ghost path cultivation techniques, since we are in the Spirit Realm, even those without spiritual roots can find ways to develop them. As long as your bodies haven't truly become those of ghostly creatures, given the numerous incredible cultivation arts and secret techniques in the Spirit Realm, there should be a way to restore your human forms."

"Is that true!" "Can a method to restore our human forms truly be found in the Spirit Realm?" In an instant, Yuan Yao and Yan Li asked almost in unison, their faces filled with ecstatic joy.

"While your Yin-Yang Reincarnation Art is indeed peculiar, it is not an irreversible cultivation technique. Based on my understanding, it should be possible to dispel the Yin energy from your bodies and restore your human forms. However, your cultivation will likely suffer some damage, and you might even have to endure considerable hardship. As for the specific method, it would be best to inquire thoroughly once we return to human territory." Han Li said meaningfully.

"If there's a way to restore our human forms, what does it matter if we suffer some hardship or lose some cultivation!" Yuan Yao replied without hesitation. Yan Li also nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Han Li smiled faintly, but just as he was about to say something more, his expression suddenly darkened. His escape light flickered, and he transformed into a green rainbow, vanishing into the mist ahead.

The two women froze for a moment and couldn't help but exchange glances.

In just a few breaths of time, the sound of ghostly wails erupted from the mist ahead. This was followed by over a dozen surges of murky gray Yin energy shooting skyward, and the intense, crisscrossing sounds of sword energy, which then fell silent almost immediately.

A spiritual light flashed, and the green rainbow shot out from the mist again. After a single hover, it appeared beside the two women, and Han Li's figure emerged from it.

"Let's go. Just some ordinary ghostly creatures!" Han Li said lightly, his expression showing no change.

"Ordinary ghostly creatures?" Yan Li and Yuan Yao were somewhat speechless. Although they hadn't personally witnessed the battle with the ghostly creatures in the mist, the dozen-plus surges of Yin energy from earlier had been astonishingly powerful, definitely not something ordinary ghostly creatures could unleash.

However, Han Li's composed demeanor truly put the two women at ease. From then on, they focused entirely on manipulating the black and white eyeball to find the correct route, and continued flying forward without pause.

In this manner, all the ghostly creatures they encountered along the way were swiftly and thoroughly eliminated by Han Li's decisive methods. He even encountered small battle groups where Abyss demon beasts and other ghostly creatures were embroiled in chaotic fights; Han Li, with lightning-fast, imperceptible techniques, similarly slew some of the obstructing ghostly creatures, carving out a path for them.

The two women and the remaining ghost soldiers took advantage of the opening and swiftly flew past.

The Abyss demon beasts, who had initially thought help had arrived, stared at each other in blank dismay before continuing to desperately fight the other ghostly creatures.

It was unclear whether Han Li and the others were simply lucky, or if the route they took happened to be the most loosely guarded part of the encirclement. Along the way, they didn't encounter any overly formidable fierce ghosts, nor did they run into any large battle groups. This allowed them to weave their way out and fly to a very distant area.

Several hours later, the surrounding mist finally thinned, and the frequency of encountering ghostly creatures gradually decreased. Seeing this, Han Li and the others were naturally overjoyed! They knew they hadn't taken a wrong turn and had reached the edge of the mist.

As Han Li slew several more batches of ghostly creatures and led the two women and the remaining ghost soldiers as they pushed hard towards the outer perimeter, his expression suddenly shifted. His escape light abruptly halted, and he gazed intently forward.

"What's wrong, Brother Han? Did you find something?" Yuan Yao's heart tightened, and she couldn't help but ask. Yan Li also looked on with surprise and doubt. Unfortunately, their spiritual senses were limited and couldn't scan very far.

"It seems there's still a bit of trouble if we want to leave," Han Li said, his expression unreadable. Just then, a 'giggling' sound of a woman's laughter suddenly came from the thin mist in the distance! The laughter grew louder and louder, reaching their vicinity in the blink of an eye and echoing incessantly from all directions.

Yan Li and Yuan Yao were initially unconcerned. After all, they were also half-ghosts; how could ordinary ghost path soul-hooking techniques harm them in the slightest? However, after the laughter entered their ears for only a moment, both women suddenly felt their bodies grow weak, their spiritual senses becoming dazed, and their eyelids feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds.

"Oh no!" Yuan Yao's reaction was quite swift. After a low cry in her heart, she barely managed to retain a sliver of clarity in her mind and attempted to cast a spell to resist the exhaustion. But the moment she tried to mobilize the Yin energy within her body, a chill ran through her heart, and she became utterly panicked.

The Yin energy within her body was completely empty, not a single trace remained! "What's going on?" Even though she knew her internal state was certainly related to the woman's laughter, as drowsiness overwhelmed her, Yuan Yao could no longer hold on. Her eyes narrowed, and she was about to topple over.

Yan Li, standing nearby, swayed precariously, her situation no better than Yuan Yao's. Some of the armored Dark Ghosts, weapons still in hand, were already plummeting from high above.

"Hmph!" A faint cold snort suddenly came from the side. Though the sound was not loud, it was exceptionally clear in Yuan Yao's ears, followed by a slight prickling sensation that subtly pierced her spiritual sense. She shivered as if shocked; the exhaustion in her body vanished instantly, and at the same time, the Yin energy within her body surged forth again.

Having narrowly escaped danger and filled with surprise and joy, Yuan Yao instinctively activated the spiritual energy within her body. Gray spiritual light circulated around her body, instantly enveloping and protecting her entire form. She quickly turned her head and saw that Yan Li was also emitting a gray glow, and even the dozen or so Dark Ghosts who had been falling had now risen back into the air.

Yuan Yao let out a long breath, and her gaze shifted, landing on the young man who had been hovering steadily nearby, his figure as unmoving as a mountain. It was clear that the one who had just saved them from their predicament was Han Li.

At this moment, Han Li's face was expressionless, and he remained oblivious to the ghostly laughter around them. But suddenly, a blue light flashed in his eyes, he abruptly flicked his sleeve, and a golden sword light swept out towards a certain empty space nearby.

With a 'whoosh', where the golden light passed, a faint white figure unexpectedly appeared in that empty space. The white figure's form slightly twisted, and the sword light flashed past, yet it strangely failed to harm it in the slightest.

Han Li's expression shifted; a black large hand and a white palm glowed, and he pressed them into the empty space where the white figure was, fast as lightning! Immediately, a patch of hazy gray light mist and a surge of five-colored light flames appeared out of thin air above the white figure and simultaneously swept downwards.

The hazy mist and five-colored light flames, spreading across the sky and covering the earth, enveloped the white figure like a net of heaven and earth, leaving it no escape.

Seeing this, Yuan Yao and Yan Li couldn't help but show joy on their faces. They had witnessed the power of these two divine abilities, which Han Li had used many times before, and most of the previous ghostly creatures had been slain by them.

However, a scene that greatly exceeded the two women's expectations appeared! The white figure let out a soft chuckle, its form flickered, and it instantly split from one into four, and from four into eight. In the blink of an eye, the empty space was filled with faint white figures, which continued to split incessantly, as if limitless, immediately exceeding the coverage range of the hazy mist and five-colored light flames.

Seeing this, Yuan Yao and Yan Li exchanged glances, their faces filled with horror. (To be continued)