Chapter 1645: Killing

The woman was also wide-eyed with shock, but she quickly recovered and interjected, "Senior Han is absolutely right; this is no place to linger. There might be other demonic beasts hiding here, so we should leave quickly."

Hearing this, Yue Zong finally snapped out of his daze and nodded repeatedly.

Immediately, the three resumed their journey, enveloped in their escape light.

This time, they flew for less than half an hour before emerging from the thin mist, finally leaving the area.

The three had no intention of stopping, speeding directly into the depths of the mountain range ahead.

Han Li and the others were unaware that just as they left the mist, on the other side, a faint silver light shot from the horizon. After a few flickers, it suddenly stopped before the mist.

As the escape light receded, a petite figure with pointed ears and a face like a peach blossom was revealed, a long, fluffy tail swaying gently behind her. This seemingly beautiful woman scanned her surroundings, then formed a hand seal with one hand and chanted incantations. With a "bang," a ball of silver mist instantly erupted from her body, transforming into swirling runes that rapidly spread in all directions, eventually vanishing without a trace.

"Indeed, I didn't pursue the wrong direction! This is truly the place," the woman murmured to herself, a hint of joy on her face, as she dispersed her spell. "However, this seems to be the new dwelling place of those mutated human-faced vultures. They possess the Golden Crow bloodline and are under Blood Arm's command, so they won't be easy to deal with. But that's fine. At least those outsiders won't be able to escape this place easily." With a flash of silver light, she vanished into the mist.

More than an hour later, at the spot where Han Li had previously killed several demonic birds, the silver light receded, and the woman reappeared.

After a light sniff, a hint of surprise and doubt appeared on her face. She then formed a hand seal with one hand and cast a spell again, just as before.

A moment later, the woman's expression became uncertain.

The woman pondered for a while, then suddenly let out a long howl.

It was like a tiger's roar, yet almost a dragon's cry!

But even after the howl had echoed for a long time, the surroundings remained silent, with no sign of movement. The woman let out a long breath, and the howl abruptly ceased, but her eyebrows were tightly furrowed. After a long moment, she shook her head, her eyes flickering, and soared away in her escape light. Her direction of travel was exactly the same as Han Li and the others.

In a hidden mountain valley deep within the Demon Gold Mountain Range, thousands of various demonic beasts had gathered, filling the sky and ground with their forms. Some were as large as small mountains, while others were merely fist-sized.

In the midst of these demonic beasts stood a huge rock, tens of feet high.

On the rock lay a large-headed demonic creature several feet tall; it was the giant toad.

However, this demonic beast's body had shrunk countless times compared to before, making it somewhat inconspicuous among so many more ferocious-looking demonic beasts. The giant toad lay motionless on the massive rock, seemingly waiting for something.

Meanwhile, the thousand or so other demonic beasts surrounding it mostly showed impatience in their eyes, yet they also remained calm.

After a long moment, the numerous demonic birds in the sky suddenly parted. A huge bat, several feet long with golden patterns covering its body, swooped down from the sky, finally folding its wings and stopping before the giant toad. "My lord, the time has come," it said, "and everyone who should be here has arrived!"

"In that case, let's proceed," the giant toad said, its words brief and to the point, reiterating only the objective. "Let me repeat the objective this time: Kill all outsiders who have entered the mountain range and seize a disc-shaped artifact from them. Then, use this artifact to find that 'Spirit Ganoderma' for me, so it can ultimately be offered to Lord Iron Demon. Whoever finds this Spirit Ganoderma will be heavily rewarded."

The thousand or so demonic beasts in the mountain valley had all gained sentience. Upon hearing this, they immediately dispersed; some flew away from high altitude, while others burrowed deep underground. All headed towards the outer regions of the mountain range. The giant toad itself also leaped and joined the army of demonic beasts.

But this beast did not notice that several thousand feet high in the valley's sky, within a seemingly ordinary gray cloud, a dark shadow was deeply hidden.

This dark shadow, its blood-red eyes flashing, coldly stared at everything below.

Only after all the demonic beasts had left the mountain valley did this entity fly out from the cloud.

It was actually a huge, blood-red parrot, about a foot in size.

After circling in the air for a moment, with a soft "bang," the parrot suddenly self-destructed, disintegrating into a cloud of blood mist.

Faint blood-red runes flashed and vanished within it.

At the same time, in a heavily restricted stone house deep underground within the Demon Gold Mountain Range, a strongman who had been meditating with closed eyes on his bed suddenly let out a soft exclamation and opened his eyes. He was pale-faced and grim-eyed.

"What is Titanium Wing Demon up to?" the strongman muttered, his expression uncertain. "Lord Holy Ancestor is about to awaken, yet he's sending so many people to kill outsiders! And what is this 'Spirit Ganoderma,' that he's mobilizing almost all his high-tier demonic beasts for it?" A moment later, he lightly clapped his hands once or twice. With two soft "pats," the stone door automatically opened, and an graceful woman walked in from outside.

The woman wore a blood-red palace dress, but her face was obscured by a faint layer of blood mist, making her true appearance indiscernible.

"Greetings, Father!" the woman said, bowing gracefully as soon as she reached the strongman.

"Xue Ying, rise," the strongman said, waving a hand and asking indifferently, "Have Iron Wing Demon and Multi-Eye arrived at the underground palace yet?"

"Reporting, Father, they have not yet appeared in the underground palace," the woman replied, her voice slightly low but pleasant.

"Not here yet. It seems there truly is a problem," the strongman said, his eyes flashing thoughtfully.

"Father, have you received some news?" the palace-dressed woman asked, her voice tinged with curiosity.

"Yes, Titanium Wing Demon's subordinates have all left their usual dwelling," the strongman slowly replied.

"What? All of them left! Could it be..." the woman exclaimed, startled.

"It's not what you're thinking," the strongman said, shaking his head. "They all went to the outer regions of the mountain range, preparing to capture all the Spirit Realm cultivators who recently entered in one fell swoop!"

"Kill Spirit Realm cultivators! What does that mean?" the palace-dressed woman asked, stunned.

"This is also why I called you here. It seems to be related to something called 'Spirit Ganoderma'," the strongman commanded, a cold glint in his eyes. "The Holy Ancestor is about to awaken, and I cannot leave. You go and investigate this matter thoroughly first. Once you have any news, report back to me immediately." "Yes, Father," the palace-dressed woman replied, a chill in her heart. She then respectfully withdrew from the room, and the stone door closed automatically. The strongman let out a light breath and closed his eyes again to meditate.

Above a gray-white forest in the outer regions of the Demon Gold Mountain Range, a Soul Transformation stage cultivator was desperately fighting two demonic beasts resembling black bears, controlling three red flying daggers.

These two demonic beasts were not only several feet tall, but their four huge paws wielded sharp fingertips, generating countless claw-like streaks that tore through the air. These intertwined with the flying daggers, emitting a series of clear ringing sounds. Their offensive was exceptionally fierce, and the Soul Transformation stage outsider could only barely defend himself.

But the next moment, a series of strange "cawing" sounds suddenly came from the horizon, followed by a patch of black cloud drifting closer.

It was a flock of hundreds of black, single-horned monstrous birds.

One of them was about ten feet long, with jade-green eyes that emitted an eerie, cold light.

The Soul Transformation stage outsider was instantly terrified upon seeing this. But entangled in battle with the two giant bears, he couldn't move an inch. He could only frantically urge his three flying blades, sweating profusely, which transformed into three dazzling rainbows, protecting him tightly.

But after a strange cry from the leading demonic bird, hundreds of birds swarmed forward. The flying blades only managed to kill a dozen or so before they were torn to shreds by the flock. Even the giant bear-like demonic beasts he was fighting were not spared and also met their demise in the stomachs of these demonic birds. But finally, one of the demonic birds suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a disc-shaped artifact.

The leading demonic bird saw this, and a look of joy flashed in its eyes. It opened its mouth and spat out a ray of light, sucking the disc into its belly. Then it flew away with the flock of demonic birds in another direction. Above a mountaintop, five leopard-like demonic beasts were spitting downwards.

Above the mountaintop, a shimmering yellow light barrier floated. When the grey-white demonic energy struck it, the light barrier trembled incessantly.

And below the light barrier, two outsiders were desperately shaking a banner flag each, using their spiritual power to maintain the precarious light barrier, clearly in grave danger. In another wide area, the old man surnamed Yan and the pale-faced youth transformed into two streaks of escape light, fleeing desperately. Behind them, a strange emerald-green cloud and a series of dark hurricanes menacingly pursued them relentlessly.

Seeing the latter two getting closer and closer, the old man surnamed Yan secretly cursed in his heart. Gritting his teeth, he suddenly flipped his hand, pulling out a somewhat worn golden talisman.

While chanting incantations, he flung it out.

With a loud "boom," a dazzling golden light suddenly appeared, like a blazing sun.

Spinning rapidly, wherever the golden light passed, all demonic energy rapidly dispersed and faded. The display was astonishingly powerful.

The green cloud and black wind behind them saw this, and their escape speed involuntarily paused.

But a moment later, the golden light completely vanished.

And the old man and pale-faced youth who had been in front were nowhere to be seen.

Similar situations occurred within a few days, all over the outer regions of the Demon Gold Mountain Range.

Most of the outsiders who had entered fell into the mouths of demonic beasts one after another; only a mere seven or eight people managed to save their lives.

Those who managed to survive were naturally not ordinary individuals. As soon as they noticed the abnormality of demonic beasts from deep within the mountain range appearing in the outer regions, they immediately went into hiding and became extremely cautious.

After the demonic beasts obtained some of the outsiders' tracking discs, they spread out like a net, searching everywhere in the outer regions of the mountain range.

But strangely, neither the remaining outsiders nor the demonic beasts could find any trace of the Spirit Ganoderma. Meanwhile, after several days of travel, Han Li and the others finally safely approached the target area.