Chapter 2048: Grassland Beast Tide

Then he activated his sword light, continuously sweeping it towards the surrounding demonic beasts. However, his gaze shifted, sweeping the area not far behind him.

There, Patriarch Long and others were also slaying other demonic beasts.

The Feathered Robe Maiden, with continuous flicks of her ten fingers, unleashed torrents of silver light that shot out like a rainstorm, causing large numbers of demonic beasts to fall from the sky.

A member of the Lin family, on the other hand, wielded a fire-red jade ruler that was entirely crystalline. Blazes of intense flames scattered and shot forth from it, instantly transforming demonic beasts into fireballs.

Patriarch Long and Elder Hui, one transformed his hands into two massive golden claws, unleashing countless claw shadows that whistled eerily through the void with each swing. The other, with movements of his sleeves, caused clouds of green gas to billow out.

Demonic beasts that approached within a hundred zhang of the two were either instantly torn into countless pieces or immediately stiffened and died from poison.

As for the Spirit Race, the Hidden Scholar held a cyan ancient lamp, from which dozens of purple lamp flames circled and flew out, enveloping an area of void about the size of an mu.

Wherever the purple shadows passed, numerous demonic beasts vanished, transforming into wisps of green smoke.

As for the mysterious Spirit Race member Bai Qi, his limbs remained motionless within his protective spiritual light; he simply drifted slowly forward. Yet, wherever the white light passed, nearby demonic beasts were torn apart, as if simultaneously struck by countless sharp blades.

The thin Elder Jin Gu, on the other hand, had a gong-like artifact before him. It seemed to emit only a low hum, but all charging demonic beasts, upon approaching it, immediately swayed unsteadily as if drunk, eventually falling headfirst to the ground.

The last person, a young man named "Zhi Shui" (Still Water) with a wooden expression, had donned a silver battle armor at some unknown point, completely shielding his body without revealing an inch of skin. He then transformed into a hurricane and charged into the foremost group of beasts.

Wherever the roaring sound passed, mangled remnants of demonic beasts flew everywhere, displaying a remarkably bloodthirsty and berserk appearance.

After observing all this, Han Li's brows furrowed slightly.

Their group wondered if they were simply unlucky, or if traversing this Demon Realm grassland was truly not advisable.

They had only walked along the edge of the grassland for about a dozen days when they unexpectedly encountered a massive, tide-like horde of beasts emerging from the depths of the grassland.

Han Li and the others, well aware of the terrifying beast tides in the Spirit Realm, were naturally startled and immediately intended to avoid the horde by taking a detour.

However, they had still underestimated the ferocity of this demonic beast tide. The demonic beasts pouring out of the grassland were seemingly endless and inexhaustible, and uniformly, they were all these wolf-like demonic beasts.

These beasts were not high-ranking; most were at the Foundation Establishment or Core Formation stages, and even the most powerful seemed to be only comparable to Deity Transformation cultivators. Yet, their sheer numbers were enough to drive ordinary cultivators to despair.

Even though Patriarch Long and the others, from the beginning, unleashed powerful techniques without reservation, slaying millions of these demonic beasts in one go, they were forcefully enveloped and drawn into the tide, which relied on its seemingly infinite numbers.

Wave after wave of demonic beasts completely surrounded Han Li and his group. No matter how many were killed, the number of beasts around them never seemed to decrease, as if their numbers were truly inexhaustible.

Although Patriarch Long and the others considered their divine abilities vast, in this situation, they could only huddle together and cooperatively fight their way forward.

However, this group of demonic beasts also seemed to have targeted their group, continuously launching what appeared to be suicidal attacks against them from morning till night, giving them no time to rest or catch their breath.

They had been fighting amidst these demonic beasts for two days and two nights, yet now, wherever their eyes looked, there were still dense black shadows everywhere, with no sign of breaking out of the encirclement.

Thus, not only did Han Li inwardly gasp, but Patriarch Long and Saintess Qianqiu also frowned deeply.

Compared to this, the beast tides that erupted in human territories were a world apart. Perhaps only the massive sea beast hordes in the Spirit Realm's oceans could rival this.

Han Li suddenly raised a hand, and with a great crackling sound, several golden lightning arcs, as thick as bowls, flashed and plunged into another surging group of beasts.

Immediately, golden light flashed, and lightning intertwined.

Three to four hundred demonic beasts were instantly reduced to charcoal and utterly annihilated.

Even though these demonic beasts were fearless of death, seeing this sight caused them to cry out in fear, and their instinctive movements slowed momentarily.

Seizing this opportunity, Han Li's figure flickered, and he vanished without a trace.

The next moment, a fluctuation appeared beside Patriarch Long, and Han Li flickered into existence nearby.

"Brother Long, this situation is not looking good," Han Li said gravely to Patriarch Long. "Although our magic power is profound, there are simply too many demonic beasts to kill them all. Furthermore, given their fearless nature, there must be a beast king or similar entity behind them, driving them. No matter how many losses they sustain, they will continue to relentlessly pursue us."

"Fellow Daoist is right; I had also considered that," Patriarch Long nodded grimly. "Otherwise, after we've killed so many of them, these demonic beasts should have retreated by now. We cannot continue this stalemate with them, or it might become troublesome if high-level devils passing by discover us. I must kill that beast king to completely disperse these demonic beasts." He then suddenly pressed a palm towards the distant void.

With a thunderous roar!

Immediately, a giant, indistinct palm appeared in the sky and descended.

An invisible, immense force immediately pressed down aggressively onto the area below.

Hundreds of demonic beasts wailed, instantly crushed into minced meat. At this moment, Patriarch Long's lips moved slightly as he transmitted a message to the Spirit Race members, discussing a few points.

Then, after a slight flicker in his eyes, he turned to Han Li and said:

"Fellow Daoist Han, I have already communicated with Fellow Daoist Qianqiu."

"In this expedition, only the four of us possess late-stage cultivation, so we should be able to single-handedly kill the beast king. Let Fairy Ye and the others continue to hold this position and draw the attention of these demonic beasts, while the few of us will each head in one of four directions to locate and kill the beast king. The time limit will be three hours. If that time passes, Brother Han, you must immediately return, and we will devise another way to break out of the beast tide. However, I believe the beast king cannot be too far away. Otherwise, the control would be greatly diminished, and it would be impossible to make these ordinary demonic beasts fearless of death."

"That sounds good. I just searched the eastern side with my divine sense. The demonic beast aura there is quite strong, so the beast king might be hiding there. I will head in that direction."

Patriarch Long naturally agreed without hesitation. He then gave a few instructions to Elder Hui, took a long stride, and headed towards the western beast horde, seemingly slow but actually moving with great speed.

As for Saintess Qianqiu and Bai Qi, both late-stage Holy Spirits, they headed south and north, respectively, towards the other two directions.

Amidst the frenzied roars of numerous demonic beasts, the three vanished into the shadowy horde in a blink of an eye.

The Feathered Robe Maiden and other slightly weaker cultivators consciously adjusted their positions, subtly forming a circle, and remained there to resist the swarming demonic beasts.

Seeing this, Han Li took a deep breath. With a movement of his body, he too transformed into a streaking cyan rainbow and shot out.

Swoosh, swoosh, the sound of sword energy echoed.

Wherever the cyan rainbow passed, blood flowed like a river, and demonic beasts were cut in half.

Han Li charged in for over two hours.

Along the way, the seventy-two small swords, activated seemingly effortlessly, circled and danced erratically near his escape light like seventy-two flood dragons, subtly emitting traces of invisible, strange coldness.

Some demonic beasts were severed even before the cyan light fell upon them.

It was clear that after Han Li's cultivation had greatly advanced, not only did his magic power surge, but the power of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also increased significantly out of thin air.

However, Han Li felt a subtle anxiety in his heart.

Although he had encountered several mutated demonic beasts along the way, their strength was only comparable to late-stage Deity Transformation cultivators; they could not possibly be the beast king commanding so many beasts.

Seeing that three hours were almost up and the number of demonic beasts ahead showed no sign of decreasing, he hesitated, wondering if he should turn back and rejoin the others first.

Just as he was contemplating, his expression suddenly shifted, and his gaze, filled with surprise, swept across the beast horde ahead.

Almost simultaneously, a series of violent explosions faintly echoed from the distance ahead. Then, the ferocious demonic beasts that had been charging at Han Li suddenly let out whimpers, changed direction in unison, and fled back.

This scene made Han Li pause for a moment, but after narrowing his eyes, he immediately activated his escape light without hesitation.

With a shrill whistle, the cyan rainbow instantly emitted dazzling cyan light and shot straight through the air towards the opposite side.

The demonic beasts blocking the way were shattered by a sweep of the cyan sword light. Yet, even so, the other demonic beasts continued to retreat frantically backward without looking back.

With a shift in Han Li's thoughts, the sword light he projected forward subtly changed; it still appeared as streaks of cyan light, but its power was greatly restrained. He then followed a portion of the demonic beasts, shooting straight towards the distant sounds of explosions.

With his current escape speed and without demonic beasts blocking his way, he naturally escaped over a hundred li in an instant.

But at this moment, Han Li suddenly stopped his escape light and, with a slight change in expression, scanned the area ahead.

He saw that in the air, only a few li away from him, a large group of demonic beasts, entirely emerald green, had suddenly appeared, coldly blocking the path ahead.

These demonic beasts were much larger than their counterparts, their coarse fur faintly glowing with an emerald phosphorescence, and a faint, pungent stench emanated from them, indicating they were extremely poisonous.

The hastily retreating demonic beasts, upon seeing these mutated kin, immediately split to both sides without hesitation, bypassing them and fleeing to the rear.

Han Li paid no attention to this, but his gaze, following the fleeing demonic beasts, intently looked further into the distance.

Behind this group of green demonic beasts, there was a conspicuously open area where a dozen or so taller, light-silver demonic beasts were fiercely attacking two human figures.

Beside these light-silver demonic beasts, there lay a demonic beast with jet-black fur but two strange, five-colored horns on its head. It was motionless in mid-air, blood bubbling from its body.

Above this demonic beast's head, a light-silver artifact quietly hovered. Embedded within it was a half-burnt gray incense stick, slowly emitting wisps of green smoke.

These green wisps of smoke strangely formed a faint, almost imperceptible circle around the periphery of this open area.

Further away, another group of green beasts, accompanied by a dense mass of ordinary demonic beasts, had completely encircled this open area, making it impenetrable.

Regardless of the type of demonic beast, they constantly emitted furious growls, yet not a single one dared to charge into the large circle formed by the green smoke, as if they were incredibly wary of these wisps.