Chapter 1982: Encountering the Wilderness

A thunderous boom!

The demonic energy that had been surging out of the jade coffin, after a loud bang, unexpectedly coiled back and flowed into the black coffin. In an instant, the black energy that had filled the entire hall vanished without a trace.

The patterns engraved on the surface of the jade coffin suddenly brightened, flickering with dazzling white light. The jade coffin itself was pitch black, and the interwoven black and white created an eerie, almost suffocating sensation. However, this spiritual light only flashed for a few breaths before quickly dimming. At that moment, faint buzzing sounds emanated from within the jade coffin. Hundreds of ancient silver characters shot out, spiraling in the air before suddenly coalescing into six gigantic, shimmering silver phantoms.

Some of these phantoms were extraordinarily tall and burly, while others were slender and towering, with two horns on their heads. Each one resembled a humanoid demonic creature. Their appearance was fleeting; in a flash, they dissolved into specks of silver light and vanished into thin air.

The next moment, a groan escaped from the jade coffin. An arm, encased in black armor, suddenly lifted out, followed by a slender black armored warrior who slowly rose from the coffin. This warrior was completely covered by an ancient black battle armor, and their face was directly concealed by a mask resembling a green-faced, fanged demon, with only two clear, pale blue eyes visible within.

"Sister Liuji, is your physical body alright? How much of your true form's divine power can you exert?" Yuan Sha asked with concern as soon as she saw the female warrior stand up.

"Although there's still some suppression in this realm, I can wield about twenty percent of my true power, which is enough to handle any opponent below the Mahayana stage," the female warrior replied with a light chuckle, stretching her body.

"Twenty percent is indeed enough to dominate the human race. Sister, you've awakened at just the right time. I'm currently facing some trouble and could use your help." Yuan Sha's expression relaxed upon hearing this.

"Trouble? What kind of trouble? Hmm, it seems you're not alone. Who among our Holy Race is in that Qiankun Plate next to you? Could it be that old fellow, Poison Dragon, has also descended to the Spirit Realm?" The female warrior scanned outward, immediately noticing the large jade plate next to the stone hall, and asked with some surprise.

"It's not Poison Dragon; it's Bloodlight's mundane avatar controlling this artifact. Furthermore, he and I are currently working together to hunt down a human cultivator. This individual possesses powerful treasures like the Demon Suppressing Lock, the Purple Word Cauldron, and the Twofold Qi of Chaos!" Yuan Sha replied without hesitation.

"Demon Suppressing Lock and the Twofold Qi of Chaos? That's quite interesting. I'm somewhat intrigued myself. Tell me the full story, in detail!" A flicker of surprise appeared in the female warrior's eyes, but her voice remained remarkably calm.

"It's like this: I was originally entrusted by another of your avatars, Sister, to prevent a certain action by the human race that would be detrimental to our Holy Race. But when I reached the site of the operation, I discovered..." Yuan Sha nodded upon hearing this and slowly began to recount the tale. "...And so, we can only continue to wear down that human boy. Bloodlight is clearly not entirely reliable either. Once we truly catch that human cultivator, it's highly probable that something else will happen between him and me."

It took the woman a full fifteen minutes to recount the general course of events, after which she let out a long breath and gave a bitter laugh.

"Listening to you, it seems Bloodlight must have some other tricks up his sleeve; otherwise, how would he dare harbor such intentions against you? His ability to manifest an avatar in the Spirit Realm by borrowing a body is certainly more than just a notch weaker than your direct descent with an avatar. However, you needn't worry. Since I've awakened at this moment, I naturally won't stand idly by. The Twofold Qi of Chaos is also highly beneficial to us Holy Ancestors; it would be a pity for it to fall into Bloodlight's hands. Furthermore, this avatar I've brought down has plenty of demonic crystals to replenish your magic power," the female warrior said calmly after listening.

"Excellent! With your help, Sister, I'll naturally have no worries." Yuan Sha also appeared exceptionally pleased.

A month later, a vast mountain range shrouded in a grey, misty haze appeared before Han Li. This mist was not only unusually dense but also ascended directly into the sky, seemingly merging with it, appearing boundless.

At this time, Han Li sat cross-legged in a pale-colored triangular flying carriage, his eyes closed, silently regulating his breath while holding a top-grade spirit stone in each hand.

As the flying carriage, transformed into a streak of azure light, drew closer to the mountain range, Han Li seemed to sense something. His eyebrow twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Finally, we've arrived. This must be the legendary Edge of the Southern Sky. It truly lives up to its reputation as a super magical formation that has protected the human race for so many years. If not for the merging of the two realms, which greatly weakened the restrictive power, passing through this place would indeed be extremely difficult," Han Li murmured, then calmly closed his eyes again.

However, the flying carriage he rode showed no intention of stopping. After a few flashes, it plunged into the mist without the slightest hesitation.

Half a day later, the stone hall and the giant jade plate also arrived, flying side-by-side. Upon seeing the situation, Yuan Sha and Bloodlight, who were piloting the two artifacts, each materialized, discussed briefly, and then similarly urged their treasures into the mist.

For them, having pushed Han Li to such an extent, giving up was naturally out of the question. Even knowing the dangers of the savage world, they could only steel themselves and continue the pursuit.

Three months later, Han Li appeared above a swamp. With a flick of his finger, countless streaks of pale-colored sword qi crisscrossed, instantly hacking a colossal purple lion, trapped within a golden lightning net, into countless pieces of flesh. A shower of blood rained down from the sky.

With a single hand, he made a grasping motion in the air. A ball of purple light shot out from the blood rain and, with a flicker, landed in his palm. It was a glistening demonic core, the size of an egg!

"After all that effort, I've finally dealt with this late-stage Void Refinement Purple-Eyed Lion. With these demonic cores, I should be able to refine a batch of Spirit-Absorbing Pills. With these pills, my magic power should be able to last for a while longer." Han Li exhaled slowly, his face somewhat pale, but a faint smile touched his lips as he muttered to himself.

Although he had many elixirs for restoring magic power, constant consumption over nearly a year had naturally led to their depletion. Relying solely on spirit stones for recovery would be far from enough to sustain his escape.

With a resolve in his heart, Han Li simply took the risk of finding several locations where high-level ancient beasts resided, swiftly killing them to obtain some demonic cores. Using these cores as primary ingredients, supplemented by other spirit herbs, he could refine a batch of magic power restoration pills in the shortest possible time.

Although the limited time meant the concoction process was rushed, significantly wasting the efficacy of the demonic cores, Han Li couldn't afford to be particular about it. However, this action did bring some peace to Han Li's mind. As long as he could promptly kill ancient beasts to acquire enough materials for pills, he believed he could last longer than his pursuers.

A day later, Bloodlight's three avatars and Yuan Sha also appeared at the swamp. Gazing at the ancient beast's remains, which had long turned into a pile of shredded meat, all four of their expressions darkened. Clearly, they had vaguely guessed Han Li's intentions. While they couldn't immediately devise a counter-measure, being in a situation where retreat was impossible, they could only steel themselves and continue the pursuit.

Fortunately, both parties possessed numerous demonic crystals, so for a time, they didn't have to worry about running out of magic power. In this manner, Han Li continuously killed ancient beasts and refined restorative pills along the way, gradually leading his pursuers deeper into the savage world.

Occasionally, when he couldn't acquire ancient beast demonic cores or refine pills, Han Li resolutely chose to directly consume some immortal spirit herbs and fruits sourced from the Guanghan Realm. Although these spirit medicines had varied properties, they all contained extremely pure spiritual energy. While their efficacy was greatly reduced when consumed raw, they still provided a timely replenishment of some magic power.

However, this method naturally led to an accumulation of miscellaneous medicinal properties within Han Li's body, posing some harm to his health. Under normal circumstances, he could simply spend some time to expel or refine these properties with his magic power, and he would be fine. But given Han Li's desperate flight, he couldn't afford to waste either time or magic power on this matter. He could only temporarily suppress these medicinal properties deep within his body, intending to deal with them later.

With Han Li's current divine abilities, this wouldn't pose an immediate problem, but over a prolonged period, continuing to consume other spirit medicines raw would eventually become a major hidden danger. Han Li was well aware of this, but for the sake of his life, he had no choice but to reluctantly persevere.

Thus, with him fleeing and the pursuers chasing, another half a year passed by unnoticed.

On this day, Han Li was sitting cross-legged in the flying carriage, meditating with his eyes closed. In front of him stood a spirited-looking woman in a white dress, forming hand seals with one hand. Crystalline light flowed over her body as she piloted the flying artifact for Han Li. This woman was precisely the Psychic Puppet.

Although the puppet's magic power was far inferior to Han Li's, greatly slowing down the flying artifact's escape speed, it at least prevented them from stopping somewhere and waiting for the pursuers to catch up when Han Li needed to recuperate. This allowed Han Li to catch his breath intermittently.

Otherwise, such a long-distance flight, even with the aid of elixirs and spirit stones, would have been impossible to sustain until now.

Even so, Han Li's complexion was visibly much worse than half a year ago, and his aura had become faint and ethereal.

Suddenly, Han Li's expression changed, and he abruptly opened his eyes. Almost simultaneously, a clap of thunder echoed a few miles from Han Li in the void. Countless silver arcs emerged, converging and intertwining to form a gigantic, shimmering silver lightning array.