Chapter 1747: Pursuit

A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality

The rapid compression of a large amount of spiritual energy, followed by the immense spiritual pressure generated by its explosive burst, almost instantly tore apart the layers of restriction formations that Han Li, Shi Kun, and others had set up at the entrance.

A pillar of wind shot up from underground, then spread out and expanded, drawing almost everything within several miles into the hurricane. Simultaneously, ripples of spatial fluctuations rolled outwards vigorously in all directions.

Even though Han Li and the others were already a thousand miles away, they could still clearly feel the distant, world-destroying aura of destruction.

All three of their expressions subtly changed.

If they had reacted half a beat slower and remained within that space, things would likely have gone terribly wrong.

"Oh no. Those Horned Barbarians are coming this way. They're very fast; they'll be here any moment," Liu Shuier suddenly exclaimed.

"They have indeed discovered our presence and are using a secret technique to lock onto us. We can't stay here any longer; we must immediately split up and escape. These Horned Barbarians have been here for such a long time; they must be planning something significant. They might not relentlessly pursue us," Han Li whispered with a grave expression, as if sensing something at the same time.

Now that the treasure was in hand, they had originally intended to go their separate ways. Upon hearing Han Li's words, the other two naturally had no objections.

"In that case, I, Shi, shall take my leave first!" Shi Kun immediately cupped his hands towards Han Li and the other, and transformed into a streak of yellow light, soaring away. "Brother Han, we'll meet again in Cloud City in a few months," Liu Shuier also said with a wide smile.

The woman flicked her sleeve, and a palm-sized silver dugout canoe flew out. With a flicker, it transformed to about a zhang in length, appearing directly beneath her. With a graceful movement of her slender foot, she lightly landed on the canoe.

At the same time, the air rippled, and a ball of five-colored spiritual light burst forth from the void and merged into Liu Shuier's embrace. It was clearly a small, winged raccoon-like creature.

Once she retrieved her spirit beast, Liu Shuier had not a shred of hesitation. With a flash of silver light beneath her feet, the dugout canoe appeared dozens of zhang away and shot through the air in another direction.

Seeing this, Han Li's eye twitched. He formed a hand seal with one hand, and with a sudden clap of thunder, a pair of crystalline feathered wings appeared on his back.

With just a slight flap of his wings, he transformed into a streak of blue-white light, shooting forth.

In a few flashes, Han Li had already escaped several hundred zhang away, appearing at the edge of the sky.

Just then, a loud whooshing sound echoed nearby. A small white snake appeared, and with a flicker, it flew into the streak of light and disappeared. The streak of light paused only slightly, then shot forth at full speed, disappearing at the horizon.

A moment later, at the edge of the sky in another direction, a flash of spiritual light appeared. Over ten streaks of escape light, linked together, arrived with a whistle at the place where Han Li and the others had originally stayed. The escape lights retracted, revealing over ten Horned Barbarians in various attires.

The leading youth, with golden horns on his head, had an exceptionally grim expression. "These few are quite clever, and fast runners. But while we were planning something important, there were members of other races hiding and peeking. If we hadn't triggered the restriction, we probably wouldn't have discovered them. We absolutely cannot let them get away with this. Leng Han, Bai Guo, you two take the others and pursue the remaining two; I will personally pursue this last one," the golden-horned youth commanded through gritted teeth.

"Rest assured, Envoy Shushu. The two of us will certainly not fail your trust," two other Horned Barbarians, a man and a woman, immediately bowed and responded.

The man was over forty years old, tall and robust, with dense scales covering his skin and a pair of blue curved horns on his head. He appeared exceptionally fierce.

The woman was petite, with a beautiful face, a white short horn several inches long between her eyebrows, and was clad in an unknown silver dress.

After both of them beckoned to others in the group, three individuals from the group immediately flew out to each of them, standing behind them.

"You four go with Fellow Daoist Leng; I'll be fine on my own." The youth saw that four people in the group were still standing still, and he immediately frowned and gave the order.

"But, Envoy..." The remaining four were startled upon hearing this, and one of them mumbled hesitantly.

"Hmph, have you forgotten what treasure I have with me this time? Even without using the Profound Heavenly Saint Artifact, with my divine abilities, would I be afraid of a mere upper-realm cultivator?" The youth coldly snorted, his manner leaving no room for doubt.

Hearing the youth named Shushu speak like this, the remaining four exchanged glances, secretly agreeing. They nodded immediately, and then, dividing into two pairs, joined the teams of the blue-horned man and the white-dressed woman.

Subsequently, under the leadership of the two, these Horned Barbarians soared into the air one after another, transforming into over ten dazzling rainbows, pursuing in different directions.

These were precisely the directions in which Liu Shuier and Shi Kun had fled.

In the blink of an eye, only the golden-horned youth remained at the location.

The youth retracted his gaze from afar, coldly glanced in the direction Han Li had disappeared, and slapped his waist with one hand.

With a "whoosh," a ball of yellow light flew out.

A long cry, like a dragon's roar, erupted, and a deep yellow, lizard-like monster, appeared with a flicker.

This monster had six legs, two pairs of massive fleshy wings on its back, and instantly grew to over ten zhang in length, looking extremely ferocious.

The golden-horned youth's figure flickered, and he suddenly stood atop the giant lizard's head.

With a flip of one hand, a blood-red, yet crystalline and translucent snail appeared in his palm.

However, most of this spirit insect's body was retracted into its shell, its two antennae curled into a ball, presenting a lazy appearance.

The golden-horned youth frowned, flicked a finger on his other hand, and as a fragrant breeze wafted forth, a pea-sized crimson pill shot straight towards the snail.

The formerly lazy snail suddenly invigorated. With a flick of its head, it instantly shot out of its shell like lightning and swallowed the pill in one gulp.

The youth formed a hand seal with one hand and began chanting softly.

Instantly, the snail's two antennae stretched out, becoming extremely slender, pointing towards the direction Han Li had fled and beginning to flicker with dazzling red light. Upon seeing this, a cold glint flashed in the golden-horned youth's eyes, and he lifted one foot and stomped it down.

With a flash of golden light, the six-legged lizard's four fleshy wings flapped fiercely at the same time.

Instantly, a swirling mass of hazy yellow sand rose up, completely engulfing its form.

A moment later, when the sandstorm dissipated...

The monster and the youth had vanished without a trace from their original spot.

The blue-white streak of light, into which Han Li had transformed, moved at an incredible escape speed, appearing and disappearing in the air. In the blink of an eye, it had escaped over a hundred thousand miles away.

But within the escape light, his eyes flickered as he continuously scanned his body, inside and out, with his spiritual sense. His brows were slightly furrowed. Not long after he began fleeing, he felt as if he had been locked onto by something mysterious, and it had been relentlessly clinging to him.

And although he searched repeatedly, he found no clues whatsoever; it seemed it was not a simple secret technique or cultivation method.

In this way, no matter how fast he fled, he could not completely shake off the pursuers behind him.

Furthermore, although the escape technique he was currently employing had astonishing speed, it also consumed a considerable amount of magical power.

Given his current greatly diminished cultivation, he could not maintain this high speed for long. It seemed only by dealing with the pursuer behind him could he completely escape the situation of being relentlessly tracked.

And by employing some minor tricks during his escape, he had already ascertained that there was only one Horned Barbarian pursuing him.

As a result, after Han Li once again failed to find what he needed to solve the issue, his thoughts rapidly turned, and murderous intent instantly arose.

With his current late-Stage Void Refinement peak cultivation and numerous great divine abilities, even with his greatly diminished magical power, he was confident that dealing with a single pursuer of the same cultivation level would definitely not be a problem.

Thinking thus, Han Li did not immediately stop his escape light, but continued to maintain his current escape speed, relentlessly pressing forward.

After flying for tens of thousands more miles in one go, Han Li felt that even if the person pursuing him had reinforcements, they could not possibly arrive immediately from such a distance. So, his escape light retracted, and he stopped.

Han Li, whose figure became visible, without a word, flicked his sleeve, and dozens of small green swords surged out. With a flicker, they vanished into the surrounding void.

Then, with his hands clasped behind his back, he raised his head and looked towards the direction from which he had come, suspending himself motionless in the air.

Not long after, a loud whistling sound arose from the distant horizon, and a swirling yellow wind rolled forth.

The wind's approach was exceptionally fierce. Even before it neared Han Li, a rumbling sound like thunder emanated from it. Following that, the yellow wind swept away and completely vanished, revealing a giant six-legged, four-winged lizard in the distance.

Above the lizard's head, the golden-horned youth gazed intently at Han Li, his eyes slightly narrowed. A cold glint flashed in his eyes and was gone.

"What race are you from? You don't seem to be a Sky Cloud person. Never mind, no matter who you are, since you dared to spy on our affairs, there's only one path for you: death." As soon as the youth opened his mouth, he spoke words that were chilling to the bone.

Without seeing him make any move, the six-legged lizard beneath him suddenly let out a low roar, and a strange wind suddenly whipped up around its body. The beast then vanished from its spot with a spread of its four wings.

Yet the youth strangely remained in his original spot, and unhurriedly made a grabbing motion in the air with one hand.

A blurry black shadow emerged, twisting and flickering, it morphed and stretched, surprisingly forming a murky black shadow spear.

Han Li, seeing this, his mouth twitched. Suddenly, a golden light erupted from his body. He clenched one hand and suddenly punched towards the void to one side.

Before his fist fully connected, a golden fist-shadow shot out from his hand. With a flicker, it astonishingly transformed into an unusually solid and massive fist.

Wherever the fist wind passed, the nearby void actually emitted cracking sounds, and then began to shake and distort.

With a colossal "boom."

The massive golden fist exploded not far away, transforming into a golden halo that enveloped everything within several zhang.

A roar of shock and fury suddenly emanated from within the halo, followed by a sudden burst of yellow light, which then intertwined with and tore at the golden light.

The six-legged lizard astonishingly flickered out from the nearby void in a disheveled state, desperately spitting out yellow light to resist the golden light's attack.

And just then, the golden-horned youth, seeing that Han Li seemed somewhat distracted, an evil grin flashed across his face, and the black spear in his hand flickered, surprisingly disappearing silently from his grasp.