After a short while, the Blood Cloud remained a misty mass, with no sound. Those little ghosts, once they approached the thickest part of the mist, were immediately shattered to pieces, and nothing could be detected.
At this, Wang Chan could no longer remain still. He formed hand seals, and those skulls floating on the surface of the Blood Cloud opened their mouths, dozens of thick black beams of light shot out simultaneously, aimed directly at the spot where Han Li had originally been.
A faint tremor echoed with a "bang."
Within the dense mist, a white light flickered faintly. Amid the intense clash of black and white lights, a white light barrier appeared, half-visible, within the mist. This slightly stunned the Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, but he immediately recalled the white scale shield Han Li had summoned at the very beginning.
Wang Chan frowned, hesitated for a moment, then muttered to himself:
"For the sake of obtaining so many exquisite magical artifacts, I’ll just sacrifice some essence blood! Just to prevent this kid from pulling some trick and slipping away."
After saying this, Wang Chan suddenly extended his right index finger to the corner of his mouth, bit it lightly, then squeezed out a drop of extremely thick, dark blood from the cut, letting it drip gently into the Blood Cloud beneath him. Then, he plunged both hands deep into the Blood Cloud, focusing his energy to activate the technique.
As Wang Chan slowly recited the incantation, the bright red Blood Cloud that had been enveloping Han Li began to spin, faster and faster, and gradually squeezed toward the center. The blood ghosts automatically dissolved and vanished.
The cyan-red mist, as the Blood Cloud spun faster, was quickly swept away by the Blood Cloud and integrated into it, causing the center to gradually become clearer, revealing a huge white light shield. This shield, centered around a white scale shield, hung like an inverted bowl.
Under the center of the light shield, Han Li held one hand with a strangely shaped, handled small knife radiating an astonishing yellow glow, while the other hand held a stack of shimmering talismans, poised to attack. Floating beside him were a cyan and a red sphere, still emitting thick cyan-red mist. All of this was clearly visible to Wang Chan.
"You..." the Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect sneered several times upon seeing this, about to mock him further.
But before he could utter another word, he saw Han Li suddenly raise his hand below. The small knife shimmered slightly, transforming into a dazzling yellow glow several zhang long, shooting straight toward Wang Chan. Simultaneously, the stack of talismans in his other hand was thrown out, conjuring more than a dozen raging fire dragons in mid-air, all attacking together.
"Kid, magical artifacts can’t break through my Blood Spirit Grand Technique, unless..."
Wang Chan originally called forth the skulls again to spray black mist, utterly indifferent. But just as he smugly uttered the word "unless," he suddenly recalled something, and his expression changed drastically. He shot up like a crane soaring into the sky, fleeing from the Blood Cloud.
At the same moment, the yellow glow struck several skulls blocking its path with a series of "pfft" sounds, then broke through the Blood Cloud together with the fire dragons, surging out from where he had been sitting in meditation. Then, a white light flew out from the gap, speeding away into the distance. The yellow glow followed closely behind.
"A Talisman Treasure!" Wang Chan shouted in shock and anger.
He had been momentarily careless. He hadn’t realized that Han Li’s use of the dense mist earlier was merely to buy time to activate the Talisman Treasure. Otherwise, even if the opponent had a Talisman Treasure, he would never have allowed him time to activate it. However, for a cultivator at the early Foundation Establishment stage, the chance of possessing a Talisman Treasure was indeed very small, which is why he had overlooked it.
But even if the opponent had a Talisman Treasure, with his status as the Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, why would he fear it? He himself carried two Talisman Treasures. One of them was an extremely rare special-attribute Talisman Treasure, so naturally, he wouldn’t let Han Li escape just like that.
Furious, Wang Chan leaped into the Blood Cloud, rolling it up once more, and pursued at lightning speed using the Blood Escape.
After the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Han Li stood on the Divine Wind Boat, coldly watching the Blood Cloud approaching again. He suddenly waved one hand, and the yellow glow following behind executed a sudden U-turn, catching Wang Chan off guard as it stabbed directly at the Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect hiding within the Blood Cloud.
But Wang Chan, already prepared, threw the object he had ready. A golden, gleaming skull expanded in the wind, and its huge mouth actually caught the yellow glow in a single bite, preventing it from advancing even a fraction.
Han Li was startled and hurriedly tried to retract it, but the yellow glow merely bounced a few times inside the Golden Skull’s mouth, unable to do anything more.
Wang Chan let out a few sinister laughs, and the Blood Cloud beside him rose again, sending a chill through Han Li’s heart. It seemed he was about to be trapped once more. But just then, the Blood Cloud, which had just begun to boil slightly, suddenly subsided. Wang Chan, who had been forming seals, saw his expression change drastically. Not only did his flight speed slow, but a layer of blue-black also faintly appeared over his face.
Han Li, who had been watching his opponent intently, was momentarily stunned upon seeing this.
Then he saw the opponent’s face contort in terror as he let out a long, sharp cry. Ignoring even the Golden Skull that was still clashing with Han Li, he wrapped himself in the Blood Cloud and flew back at lightning speed along the way he had come. This left Han Li standing there, bewildered, unable to understand what was happening.
He could only hesitantly turn both the Golden Skull and the yellow glow into two talisman talismans, easily collecting them into his hand. Then, watching the Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect gradually disappear into the distance, he didn’t know what to do.
Pursuing him didn’t seem wise; he didn’t have that much courage.
However, hearing the opponent’s piercing cry gradually fading, Han Li immediately realized something and hurriedly steered the Divine Wind Boat in a different direction, disappearing over the horizon.
...
Not long after, Han Li, having just escaped danger, reflected carefully and deeply regretted his decision!
He finally understood why the opponent had retreated instead of chasing. The opponent had been poisoned, and it was none other than the incredibly rare ink flood dragon poison.
This was all because the opponent had dared to inhale a large amount of the poisonous mist released by the Azure Fire Miasma into his Blood Cloud.
These mists, during their refinement, had been refined according to his request, incorporating the residual core poison of the ink flood dragon. Now, these Blood Clouds, which had absorbed the mist and also contained a large amount of toxins, would inevitably be inhaled back into the body when the Young Master exerted himself during his flight to chase Han Li. Thus, it was no wonder he panicked and retreated after being poisoned!
The more Han Li thought about it, the more remorseful he felt. Returning now would certainly mean he was out of his mind! A perfect opportunity to kill a powerful enemy and seize more of his treasures had been let slip right before his eyes, which truly left Han Li somewhat depressed.
However, he still couldn’t understand why the opponent had abandoned even such a powerful Talisman Treasure as the Golden Skull and fled.
What Han Li didn’t know was that the Young Master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, who was equally cautious and had fled the moment things looked bad, was now fuming with rage. And beside him were the two Core Formation stage cultivators, the Li brothers, who were exchanging bewildered glances.
It turned out that after Wang Chan had fled back a short distance, he had encountered these two Ghost Spirit Sect elders who had already captured the other seven sects’ cultivators. They had come after him out of concern for the Young Master’s safety.
Upon seeing the poisoned Wang Chan, they naturally used their profound magical power to help him expel the poison quickly.
And this Young Master, whose poison had just been neutralized, vaguely guessed the reason for his poisoning, but he interpreted Han Li’s unintentional action as a trap deliberately set for him. This made Wang Chan, who had never suffered such a loss before, immediately hate Han Li to the core and subtly regard him as a formidable rival.
With these two thoughts in mind, Wang Chan, unwilling to give up despite his still-weakened state, led the two elders in a wild chase in the original direction for several hundred li, but still returned empty-handed. However, the frustration in his heart remained like a fishbone, forever lodged within.
As for the Golden Skull Talisman Treasure, which he had to abandon because it was temporarily impossible to retract while capturing the opponent’s Talisman Treasure, he didn’t care much. After all, it had been used many times and was likely a spent force, its power nearly exhausted. Even if Han Li had collected it, it could probably only be used once or twice at most, making it of little use.
But what truly enraged him even more was that, just as he returned to the small mountain peak where the ambush had been set, a Ghost Spirit Guard reported to him that a group from the Joyful Union Sect, one of the six demonic sects, had suddenly attacked them.
Although no one was injured or killed, the two female cultivators they had subdued had been snatched away. Judging by the leader’s “outstanding” beauty, it was none other than Tian Buque, the second son of the Joyful Union Sect Master. A young generation figure notorious for his ruthlessness, his reputation no less than Wang Chan’s.
Upon hearing this bad news, although Wang Chan’s expression merely darkened slightly, inwardly he felt as if he could spit blood. Han Li and Tian Buque, both were now on Wang Chan’s future must-kill list.
“Let’s go. Notify the Yan family ancestor. Begin the evacuation immediately!” After a long pause, Wang Chan finally said coldly.
At that moment, Han Li didn’t dare delay at all and flew rapidly toward Yellow Maple Valley. But halfway there, he encountered a mixed group of cultivators from Blade Forging Dock and Yan Yue Sect. Then, under the announcement of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator leading them, he was conscripted on the spot.