Chapter 892: Vulture

Volume Six: Spirit Treasures

In this situation, having such a formidable spirit worm to control greatly secures one's life.

With a thought, the small banner in his hand instantly expanded a few sizes. The golden Gold-Devouring Beetle circled once before diving into the banner's surface. After a flash of black mist, it vanished without a trace.

Han Li then tossed the small banner without hesitation. The black-green Nascent Soul grinned, opened its mouth, and directly sucked the Yin Luo Banner into its body. It then abruptly transformed into a black lotus, which, with a flicker, disappeared into Han Li's crown.

Han Li then took a deep breath and closed his eyes, intending to begin comprehending the incantation for breaking the seal, to prepare for any future contingencies.

But suddenly, his expression changed, and he looked up.

Although his cultivation was sealed, Han Li's spiritual sense remained entirely unimpaired. If his previous perception was correct, that Tuotian Immortal Master had once again flown past their caravan.

This was quite interesting.

This Tuotian cultivator, who was clearly searching for him, had flown over the caravan almost every two or three days for the past dozen days. However, each time he merely passed by hastily, never descending to inquire about anything from the caravan. This rendered Han Li's previously prepared methods for concealing his identity useless.

Although puzzled, Han Li was naturally pleased with the man's actions and immediately closed his eyes.

At this moment, a loud shout from Ying Lu came from outside the carriage.

“Everyone, perk up! In two more days, we'll reach the Holy Temple's designated encampment. There, we can rest safely for two days.”

“Holy Temple encampment?” Han Li's heart stirred slightly at these words. But after a brief contemplation, he dismissed the thought and calmly resumed comprehending the incantation.

However, just half a day later, Han Li sensed another tribal caravan nearby. This caravan didn't seem particularly large, but it had about a dozen more people than the Cang Lu tribe's contingent. Judging by the two caravans' directions, they were set to meet in an hour. As these people appeared harmless, Han Li paid them no further mind.

Nearly an hour later, both tribute caravans discovered each other's presence almost simultaneously.

Naturally, chaos ensued among both parties, but after a brief period of communication between their respective representatives, it turned out that the other caravan's tribal leader was an old acquaintance of Ying Lu, from a small tribe called Red Wolf. Ying Lu and the other leader were both overjoyed. Without hesitation, the two caravans merged and continued their journey together.

“Brother Ying Lu, where is your tribe's Immortal Master? Is he perhaps in the carriage?” The other leader, a large man with a full beard, asked curiously, surveying the Cang Lu tribe's carriages.

“Isn't your tribe's Immortal Master also in a carriage? I wonder how many Immortal Masters the Red Wolf tribe brought along this time.” Ying Lu replied vaguely.

“How many? Only one, of course. I had to swallow my pride and pay a hefty sum to persuade a free-roaming Immortal Master to temporarily stay with my tribe. Does your tribe have two Immortal Masters?” The burly man squinted at the elder and chuckled.

They had some acquaintance from years ago, so they spoke without much reservation.

“Two? Of course, it's just one. It was equally difficult to persuade an Immortal Master to escort us on our journey,” Ying Lu said with a sigh. After exchanging glances with the burly man, both couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh, feeling a strong sense of shared misfortune.

“Alright. Regardless, having an Immortal Master in the team always provides much more security. And now we're only a little over a day's journey from the encampment, so there shouldn't be any more problems. However, for the remaining part of the journey, I'll be passing through the territories of larger tribes, so I need to be extra careful. How about this: after we've rested, we could arrange to travel with a few other small tribes? That way, it would be much safer.” The elder's eyes shifted slightly as he proposed.

“Let me think about that, please. There have been instances before where several small tribes traveled together, but it backfired because one of them carried extremely valuable tribute, leading to significant trouble for everyone involved.” The burly man hesitated, speaking with some reservation.

“Brother Ba, you worry too much. Such incidents are extremely rare, one in a hundred at most. The chances of a small tribe like ours having valuable tribute are far lower than the chances of being directly robbed on the road,” Ying Lu said, shaking his head dismissively.

“Alright, let's discuss this further when the time comes.” The burly man, whose surname was Ba, didn't flatly refuse, seemingly having been swayed a little.

At this point, the common members of both caravans had integrated well, conversing in perfect harmony.

In particular, the few young women from both caravans were surrounded by the young men, with clear, light laughter occasionally echoing from their midst.

Since these women had been chosen to participate in the tribute, they were naturally top talents from their respective tribes, exceptionally beautiful. No wonder the young men from both tribes immediately grew excited.

Hearing the laughter behind him, Ying Lu couldn't help but shake his head. He was about to turn back and admonish his people, to prevent them from offending the Immortal Master in the carriage.

Just then, a strange bird cry echoed from high above, sounding neither like an eagle nor a vulture, yet it reached everyone below with startling clarity.

Upon hearing the sound, the elder's face instantly paled. He hastily turned to look at the burly man beside him, only to see that the man's expression was equally grim, his eyes wide with alarm.

“Everyone, dismount and take cover immediately! It’s an ape-vulture demon bird! Quickly, call out Immortal Master Han!” the elder cried out in panic. Almost simultaneously, the burly man shouted similar instructions to his own people.

“Hide behind the carriages! Quickly, ask Immortal Master Feng to deal with the demon birds!”

At the mention of "ape-vulture", the entire caravan erupted into chaos. Everyone dismounted in a panic, their faces pale with fear; some timid individuals even tumbled off their horses in their haste. All of them either crawled under their horses or hid behind the carriages, looking up at the sky with ashen faces.

In the sky, three black specks had appeared at some unknown time, rapidly growing larger. Almost instantly, three brown demon birds came into view.

They had ape heads and bird bodies. Beneath their two-zhang-long gigantic wings, they also possessed a pair of furry ape arms. From their gaping, blood-red mouths came bloodcurdling cries that made everyone's heart sink.

Although ape-vultures were only second-tier demon birds of the vast plains, they were far more intelligent and ferocious than other demon beasts of the same rank. Not only were they incredibly strong, with talons that could shatter stone and rend metal, but their strange cries also had peculiar effects. Ordinary mortals, let alone even low-level Foundation Establishment Immortal Masters, often found them difficult to handle. These demon birds rarely appeared on the plains, but now two had suddenly appeared, which filled the caravan members with extreme shock and terror.

“What's the panic? They're just a few second-tier demon beasts, aren't they?” A cold huff came from one of the Red Wolf tribe's carriages. Then, a red light flashed on the carriage, and a figure suddenly shot out from it. The figure floated in low altitude, standing on a piece of brocade silk, and coldly commanded.

Upon seeing this person, Ying Lu was startled and couldn't help but freeze.

This person was also an Immortal Master wearing a green hood, and from the sound of their voice, they seemed quite young.

“Immortal Master Feng, please be extra careful. These are three ape-vultures!” Brother Ba loudly reminded him, his voice slightly off-key. Before hiring him, the burly man had inquired about this Immortal Master's cultivation. He knew that Immortal Master Feng was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage, having just acquired official Immortal Master qualifications. Logically, dealing with even one ape-vulture would be a stretch for him, which caused the burly man great concern.

Meanwhile, the elder, who was still on the ground, hastily looked towards one of his tribe's carriages. When he saw a person also wearing a green hood standing on the carriage shaft and looking up at the sky, his heart slightly relaxed. As long as Immortal Master Han's cultivation wasn't too low, the two of them working together might be able to scare off the three ape-vultures.

At this moment, the three ape-vultures naturally spotted the other blue-robed figure floating on a magical artifact. These ape-vultures had encountered Tuotian Immortal Masters before and knew they were not to be trifled with. However, they were momentarily reluctant to give up the numerous prey below, so they hesitated. The three demon birds began circling about a hundred zhang above the ground.

“Hmph! You're courting death.” The blue-robed figure, seeing that the ape-vultures had not been intimidated, grew somewhat impatient. Without a word, he raised his hand, and several talismans shot out, instantly transforming into fiery snakes several zhang long, heading straight for the demon birds.

“Oh! Fire Snake Art!” Han Li, standing on the carriage, couldn't help but let out a soft exclamation, a hint of surprise in his heart.

Although the Fire Snake Art was only a low-level spell, when refined into talismans, it wasn't something a Foundation Establishment cultivator could casually and lavishly use. This person was definitely not an ordinary cultivator. Han Li narrowed his eyes, growing somewhat interested in him.

But then, Han Li frowned, letting out a silent sigh.

Although the three fire snakes were extremely fierce in their momentum, they were easily dodged by the three ape-vultures with a flash, due to the great distance. The blue-robed figure's understanding of the Fire Snake Art was extremely superficial; he evidently didn't know how to command the fire snakes to track the enemy midway, thus wasting several talismans.

Instead, he provoked the ferocity of the three demon birds.

The largest one let out a sudden cry, and all three simultaneously retracted their wings, plunging directly towards the blue-robed figure.

The blue-robed figure, seeing that the fire snake talismans had failed, seemed to momentarily freeze. Then, seeing the demon birds diving towards him, he immediately became flustered.

After a moment of scrambling, he produced a shimmering white small sword and hastily chanted incantations, intending to activate it to attack the enemies.

Seeing this, Han Li shook his head repeatedly.

The demon birds were about to attack, yet he didn't first release a protective shield to defend himself. Instead, he intended to use a magical artifact to meet their assault head-on. Wasn't this courting death? It seemed this person was indeed a novice who rarely engaged in combat.

However, that small sword was a high-grade magical artifact, so this person indeed had some background.

The blue-robed figure's incantations were recited with extreme proficiency. Just as the demon birds closed in, the magical artifact was finally activated. He abruptly flung the small sword forth.

A flash of light appeared. The small sword transformed into a white rainbow several feet long, striking directly at the central ape-vulture with incredible speed.

The demon bird also sensed danger and abruptly shifted its body, attempting to evade the white light. But it was too late, so it had to forcefully claw at the white rainbow with one black talon.

After the white light paused, a mournful cry echoed from the air. A dark talon was easily severed by the sword light and fell, blood immediately scattering from the sky. However, the other two demon birds instantly flew to the blue-robed figure's head from either side, their four sharp talons fiercely clawing at his crown.