Chapter 1980: Far Escape

However, gritting his teeth, Han Li decisively used the talisman after boldly dispatching both his spirit body and golden body. As expected, the Bloodlight and other Saint Ancestor avatars failed to detect the ruse in time, allowing him to pass this hurdle undetected.

Of course, this approach not only posed a certain risk to him, but also placed his spirit body and second Nascent Soul in an even more perilous situation. Fortunately, the spirit body was a transformation of a Ganoderma Immortal, and Qu'er, who controlled it, was also a materialized spiritual entity of heaven and earth. As long as they could seize the moment to revert to their original forms and hide, they should be able to evade the pursuers' detection.

As for the second Nascent Soul, he gave it another Grand Unity Purifying Talisman. Moreover, the Demonic Infant, having cultivated a secret technique from a demonic cultivation method, could transform its internal demonic energy into wings, thereby also practicing the Blood Shadow Escape technique.

With these two contingencies, the Demonic Infant naturally had a chance to escape. After all, once Bloodlight and the others discovered they weren't pursuing Han Li's true body, they likely wouldn't waste much time pursuing the decoy. This was also why, sensing the opportune moment, he immediately revealed his identity and began a slaughter among some demon cultivators!

By now, news of his true body's appearance must have reached Bloodlight and the others. Naturally unwilling to be re-engaged by them, he had no choice but to truly abandon Sky Abyss City and seek another escape route. With these thoughts, Han Li no longer hesitated. He immediately activated his escape light, turned, and flew through the air in a different direction.

Over the next two months, Han Li began to move erratically, darting unpredictably from east to west. Initially, this erratic movement made it impossible for Bloodlight to catch up. They could only rely on frequent reports from demon cultivators who spotted Han Li's whereabouts, then rush to those locations. Such tactics naturally made it impossible to truly pin down Han Li's location. By the time they arrived in the vicinity, Han Li had naturally long since vanished. Even stranger, the woman suspected to be Yuan Sha did not appear alongside the three Bloodlight avatars; her whereabouts remained unknown.

Han Li was naturally pleased by this development. Had his spiritual power not been limited, he would have even seized the opportunity to severely wound the Bloodlight avatars. However, given the circumstances, he could only reluctantly continue his escape.

After several unsuccessful pursuits, the three Bloodlight avatars gritted their teeth and surprisingly mobilized a large number of personnel, deploying them like a net across all controlled territories to act as lookouts. Furthermore, the demon could utilize the various teleportation arrays already controlled by the demon armies, allowing them to relentlessly pursue Han Li's trail.

Han Li's heart tensed, and he dared not relax. Often, as soon as he recovered even a fraction of his spiritual power, he would not dare to linger, fleeing tens of thousands of miles away. Even so, he was nearly cornered by Bloodlight and his two avatars on several occasions. Fortunately, relying on a faint premonition, whenever he felt uneasy, he would either immediately stop to meditate and restore his spiritual power, or flee tens of thousands of miles away, thus escaping several more dangers.

After several such close calls, Han Li naturally grew more cautious. He was forced to abandon his original plans to visit human strongholds, including Saint Emperor City and the Four Great True Spirit Families, and instead fled to other distant locations. Indeed, the number of demon cultivators in other directions significantly decreased, and the time it took for Bloodlight and his two avatars to track him down gradually lengthened. This immediately provided Han Li with much-needed relief. His meditation and rest time increased, and his spiritual power gradually replenished.

But unfortunately, good times were short-lived. Three months later, the woman suspected to be Yuan Sha's avatar suddenly reappeared among the pursuers. The moment she emerged, she, along with the three Bloodlight avatars, began a relentless pursuit, giving Han Li no opportunity to rest or recuperate. Often, he would have only just begun meditating for two or three hours when the demoness would invariably appear with the three Bloodlight avatars to resume the chase. Fortunately, with few other demon cultivators nearby, Han Li could still depart calmly.

However, over the next month, no matter how Han Li changed his location or direction, the four demons consistently appeared right behind him, clinging like maggots to a bone. Startled, Han Li finally realized something was amiss. The four demons seemed to possess a method of tracking his general location. Although not highly precise, it was sufficient to prevent him from shaking off their pursuit. Evidently, this tracking method was in the demoness's possession and had been recently acquired. Otherwise, he would have easily escaped them earlier by shedding his skin.

A chill ran through Han Li's heart. His various spells and stratagems proved useless in altering the outcome of being remotely located. He increasingly avoided fleeing towards densely populated demon areas, instead heading straight for desolate regions. In this manner, with one fleeing and the others pursuing, days turned into weeks, and they gradually arrived at the fringe of human territory. This area, being close to the Desolate World, was frequently intruded upon by ancient beasts breaking through restrictions. Consequently, no human cities were established here, making it one of the most desolate regions within human territory. Without human strongholds, there were naturally no large demon armies stationed in this desolate area.

Given Han Li's escape speed, few other high-level demon cultivators could still keep up with the four pursuers at this point. Those who did were only able to by being collected into Bloodlight's massive jade disk. Han Li's expression was grim as he sped forward, transformed into a streak of green light. At this point, with his current spiritual power, he could not sustain transforming into a giant roc for continued rapid travel. Therefore, he could only rely on ordinary escape light for his flight.

It had already been over half a year since he began his escape. Although his constant changes in direction prevented the four demons from truly catching up, the prolonged pursuit had left him utterly exhausted, despite his iron will. However, the more this situation dragged on, Han Li remained calm, resisting any impulse to turn and fight a life-or-death battle. Instead, he hardened his resolve, intending to maintain this stalemate with the four demons. He doubted that the four demons truly intended to chase him to the ends of the earth. After all, for the four demons to pursue him so relentlessly, their spiritual power consumption must be considerably higher than his. They also wouldn't have much time to recover.

Tens of thousands of miles away from Han Li, high in the sky, two clusters of white light—a stone hall and a giant disk—were flying through the air. Within the space of the jade disk, the three Bloodlight avatars stood shoulder to shoulder on a crystal wall, conversing with Yuan Sha, who appeared above them.

“So, Fellow Daoist Yuan Sha is still unwilling to enter the Qiankun Disk. You must be aware that if we continue this pursuit, each controlling our own treasures, the consumption of spiritual power will be considerable. I came in a hurry and didn’t bring many restorative elixirs. Although I obtained some from my subordinates earlier, they are nearly depleted after such a prolonged flight. If we continue the chase, we’ll have to rely on our main bodies’ spiritual power to sustain us, bit by bit. I cannot guarantee that I will outlast that human brat ahead! Who knows how many restorative elixirs that kid is carrying; he still shows no signs of his spiritual power being fully depleted! You likely didn’t bring many elixirs either, did you? In that case, we can only share a single treasure to take turns recuperating,” the central Bloodlight avatar reasoned with Yuan Sha.

“I certainly won’t object to taking turns to rest. But why don’t the three of you join me in the Stone Demon Palace, instead of insisting on my presence in your Qiankun Disk?” The blue-robed woman narrowed her eyes, unmoved.

“Hmph, Fellow Daoist, you’re asking the obvious, aren’t you? The Bloodlight and the innate Stone Qi of the Stone Demon clan, which we three cultivate, are naturally antagonistic and repel each other. Meditating and resting extensively in your Stone Demon Palace would be largely ineffective. Naturally, it would be much safer for Fellow Daoist Yuan Sha to join us in the Qiankun Disk,” the Bloodlight avatar said, shaking his head and flatly refusing.

“Oh really! But I’m more concerned that if I enter your Qiankun Disk and you decide to activate your Qiankun divine abilities, my life would be in peril. Bloodlight is notoriously adept at devouring others’ essence blood and spiritual power; it’s not as if you haven’t done such things before,” Yuan Sha sneered, directly and unceremoniously pointing out.

“Fellow Daoist Yuan Sha, you are truly too suspicious. Both my fellow Daoist and I are merely avatars here. If we were to do such a thing, and your true body found out, how could you ever let us off?” another Bloodlight avatar sighed and said.

“Heh heh, that’s hard to say. Even if there’s some truth to your words, I would never take such a risk. Perhaps the essence blood and spiritual power of one of my avatars wouldn’t tempt you, but if you add the Two Chaotic Qi and Demon Suppressing Lock in that Han boy’s possession, I’m afraid even I would be tempted by them,” Yuan Sha said with a cynical smirk, her lips twitching.

“What Two Chaotic Qi, Demon Suppressing Lock! Bloodlight doesn’t know what you’re talking about?” The expressions of the three Bloodlight avatars changed simultaneously. After exchanging glances, the central avatar shook his head in denial.

“Bloodlight, why bother with these petty tricks? I personally witnessed that boy collecting the Two Chaotic Qi and the Demon Suppressing Lock within the Yellow Springs Earth Fire. I’ve long heard rumors that the Demon Suppressing Lock might be in your possession, and it seems those rumors are true. I don’t know how you managed it, but that treasure somehow fell into the hands of a human junior instead. And this time, you brought all three of your avatars to the Human Realm, also for the Two Chaotic Qi, didn’t you?” The woman’s eyebrows suddenly arched as she sneered.

“Since you witnessed it yourself, I won't hide it from you. What do you want? Are you going to notify the Six Extremities and the others?” The central Bloodlight avatar’s expression turned grim, and he spoke with a cold tone.

“These Two Chaotic Qi are profoundly important to Saint Ancestors like us. How could I possibly allow others to claim a share? My condition is simple: I can yield the Demon Suppressing Lock and half of the Two Chaotic Qi to you, but the remaining Two Chaotic Qi, this human boy himself, and all other valuable treasures on him must be mine,” Yuan Sha stated slowly, her eyes glinting.

“Your appetite is indeed considerable. Setting aside other conditions, my Purple Mist Cauldron also fell into this boy’s hands, and I must reclaim that treasure,” the central Bloodlight avatar replied with a cold snort, his pupils contracting after a brief pause.

“The Purple Mist Cauldron was taken by that Han boy? That’s quite unexpected. If that’s the case, I have no objection to that treasure being returned to its original owner,” Yuan Sha said, pausing slightly with a surprised expression.

“Good, then it’s settled. We can consider ourselves officially allied. Should we now reveal the method for tracking this boy?” another Bloodlight avatar asked suddenly, his eyes subtly shifting.