Just as Han Li was pondering this, his expression suddenly changed drastically, and he and Qu Hun came to a halt in their flight.
For in the empty space ahead, where there had not been a single person, space suddenly blurred and warped, and with a scraping sound, a humanoid demonic creature crawled out from within.
"What is this?" The moment Han Li saw it, he could not help holding his breath.
The monster was emerald green all over, clad in a suit of glossy jet-black iron armor. Bare-handed, with claws a little over an inch long that were incomparably sharp and a mouth full of scorched-yellow fangs, it gave the two of them a ferocious grin.
"An animated corpse?" The thick, rancid corpse gas drifting over on the wind let Han Li recognize the demon's true identity at a glance, and his heart quietly shuddered.
Judging from its appearance alone, this was certainly no low-grade animated corpse like an "Iron-Armor Corpse"; most likely it had been ritually refined by the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin through some special method.
At this thought, Han Li raised his hand, and the Green Radiance Sword transformed into a green flood dragon several zhang long that shot viciously through the air. At the same time, Qu Hun beside him, without a word, flicked his finger, and a slender strand of blood-red light flashed out and vanished in an instant—it was the Blood Spirit Diamond that Qu Hun had painstakingly cultivated.
With a muffled thud.
Though launched later, the Blood Spirit Diamond arrived first, boring an exceedingly small hole in the animated corpse's chest, and the corpse demon looked down at it with a trace of bewilderment.
Han Li was overjoyed. Under his urging, the green flood dragon struck the creature's body right after.
Green light scattered in all directions as the demon was sent flying backward several zhang, but it let out a low growl, immediately steadied its form, and fixed Han Li with a savage, murderous glare.
"Not good! This demon is actually unafraid of attacks from ordinary magic treasures?" Han Li hastily recalled the Green Radiance Sword, his heart sinking.
The corpse demon had taken his blow yet remained completely unscathed; even that tiny hole was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Han Li's expression darkened. Suddenly he pulled Qu Hun close, and the two of them merged into a single long rainbow that flew off at an angle, intending to skirt around the corpse and escape from one side.
It was not that Han Li feared he truly could not deal with this animated corpse, but that he genuinely feared that if they fled too late, the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin would free his hands and come after them. Naturally, avoidance was best where possible.
Moreover, when he stole a glance about, he saw that the cultivators fleeing in the other distant directions had all been intercepted by numerous more of the same animated corpses. Who knew how many of them the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin had refined?
Heart tightening with dread, Han Li drove the long rainbow with all the strength he and Qu Hun could muster, gaining another thirty percent in speed. Before their eyes, they were about to sweep past the animated corpse at its side.
But the corpse demon's eyes flashed green light, its figure suddenly blurred—and it vanished from the spot!
At this all-too-familiar sight, Han Li deflected his sword light to one side almost by reflex. Instantly, five claw-like streaks of black light whistled past their original spot, piercing viciously a dozen-odd zhang away before dissipating.
Han Li drew in a cold breath and wheeled his sword light around. Sure enough, the animated corpse was standing not far behind him, several-inch-long streaks of black light flickering in and out of sight atop its two sharp claws.
What incredible speed! The corpse demon was now a good several dozen zhang from where it had stood, yet it had arrived in the blink of an eye!
This was nearly as uncanny as Han Li's teleportation when he used the Mist-Wandering Step on the ground, yet this corpse demon could even do it in midair—utterly outrageous!
Han Li's face turned livid.
He knew there was no breaking away now without dealing with this animated corpse. Perhaps this was exactly why the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin could calmly ignore their flight?
Once he understood this, Han Li steeled himself and slapped a hand on his storage pouch.
At once, more than a hundred streaks of azure light and two of red light shot out from within it, densely blanketing the space all around him.
When the radiance subsided, it revealed two Blood Jade Spiders and over a hundred azure giant apes. Each of these apes had a broad mouth and jutting fangs and stood two zhang tall. The moment they showed themselves, they raised their hands, and ten strands of azure light as thick as fingers shot from the ten fingers of each one, raining down on the corpse demon from every direction.
Faced with this dense barrage from which there was no escape, savage light flared from the corpse demon's eyes. A cloud of black qi spewed from its mouth to meet those slender azure lights head-on, while it crossed its two hands in front of itself as a shield and, following the black qi, charged straight up against the attack.
In the end, the black qi neutralized more than half of the azure light, and the rest finally struck the animated corpse's body, sending azure smoke billowing all over it as light burst out in every direction. But the corpse demon only bared its fangs briefly before charging with savage fury in great strides into the midst of the giant apes.
Cracks of "kacha" rang out one after another as the black light of its claws hacked several giant apes nearby into a number of pieces. At this sight, Han Li knitted his brow, and Qu Hun beside him at once released blood-red light more than ten zhang high, which in the blink of an eye condensed into an enormous blood saber that chopped viciously down at the animated corpse.
With a soft clang, the blood saber struck the corpse demon atop its head, emitting a sound like metal—it could not cut into its body in the slightest.
Moreover, the blow seemed to have provoked the corpse into a rampage. It flipped one hand, seized the blood saber in its grip, and grabbed at it with its other hand as well, as if intending to destroy the saber and vent the fury in its heart.
At this scene, far from being alarmed, Han Li showed delight!
At Qu Hun's pinch of his incantation gesture, the blood saber suddenly transformed into purple flames that instantly blazed furiously over the animated corpse's body. The corpse shrieked in alarm, beating at the flames with both hands without pause, utterly at a loss.
However, the corpse demon quickly discovered that although these purple flames were hard to put out, they dealt it no real harm and could simply be ignored. Overjoyed, it immediately went searching again for the true culprit.
But just as it raised its head, two huge snow-white nets dropped over it without a sound, snaring the completely unprepared creature good and tight—the giant webs spat out by the Blood Jade Spiders.
Greatly alarmed, the corpse demon struggled with all its might, but at the same time those purple flames transformed into a fire snake of purple flame as thick as a bowl's mouth and coiled viciously around its body.
Bound by the twofold restraint of web and fire snake, the fiend could not break free for the moment.
Seeing this, Han Li did not hesitate. His figure became a long rainbow once more; with a sweep of his hand he recalled the spirit beasts and puppets, and he and Qu Hun fled far away without a backward glance.
If his ears had not deceived him, a third bloodcurdling scream had just drifted faintly over from the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin.
If they did not seize this chance to escape, they would truly be captured by that old fiend and driven like slaves.
Han Li and Qu Hun pooled their strength and fled more than a hundred li in one breath, bending east and west along the way to change direction several times before they found a small unnamed island.
The two immediately landed on the island and sank more than ten zhang deep into the earth. Then they took out the light gauze that concealed one's aura and draped it over themselves while channeling the Nameless Formula.
Even after doing all this, Han Li remained uneasy at heart, unsure whether they could fool the spiritual sense of the two old fiends. After all, the spiritual sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator was surely far beyond that of ordinary cultivators.
Poor Han Li had no idea that at that very moment, over a hundred li away, the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin was standing leisurely in place, showing not the slightest intention of continuing his pursuit.
Beside him had appeared a burly man in a red shirt with a purple face, along with a dozen or more animated corpses emerald green all over.
And before the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin and the vulture-faced elder, the middle-aged man floated unconscious in the air, several eerie long needles glowing with blue light still embedded in his body.
As for Elder Zhao and the others, they stood behind the two men trembling with fear, not daring even to breathe heavily, without a shred of the arrogance of Core Formation cultivators left.
"I never imagined that girl Ziling would still manage to slip away! I had originally intended to capture her and present her to Fellow Daoist Chi, but it seems I'll have to look for another chance later," the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin said, his expression calm.
"You are too kind, Senior Wu. Although that girl Ziling engaged my services at the price of providing ten fine cauldrons, what I had my eye on was in fact the girl herself. But since your grandson also seems quite interested in this woman, I'll leave her to your grandson!" the purple-faced burly man said with a hearty laugh.
"Then many thanks, Fellow Daoist Chi! After I return, I shall send twenty more female cultivators of good aptitude to Primordial Turtle Island as compensation. Speaking of which, your master counts as a senior of ours as well. Pass along my greetings for me, will you?" At these words, a rare trace of a smile appeared on the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin's face.
"This junior has not seen my master in a long while either. Should I see her, I will certainly pass on your greeting, Senior!" Old Fiend Crimson Fire spoke with the utmost courtesy. But then his eyes rolled, and he suddenly continued:
"Still, now that girl Ziling has escaped this time, I'm afraid she may go seek out the people of the Star Palace. Could that bring us any trouble?" A hint of concern showed on Crimson Fire's face.
"The Star Palace? Heh heh! There is nothing to worry about there," the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin sneered, unconcerned.
"As far as I know, the several elders of the Heavenly Star Palace are all in secluded cultivation and would never bother themselves with such trifles now. And as for those two undying relics, the Heavenly Star Sages—for no reason at all they cultivated something called the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light, and as a result the two of them can now only leave Heavenly Star City for half a month on a few fixed days each year, or their cultivation will greatly regress. It seems that on the next trip to the Heavenvoid Hall, our generation will be rid of two great enemies," the Old Ancestor of Extreme Yin continued, with a touch of gloating.
"My master has mentioned this matter to me before as well. So long as the Heavenly Star Sages stay holed up in Heavenly Star City, with the aid of those Yuan Magnetic Peaks they are practically invincible in this world. What is more, if they ever truly bring the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light to full mastery, they will no longer be trapped and confined to Heavenly Star City. When that time comes, the Scattered Star Seas will still be their domain!" The corner of Crimson Fire's mouth twitched as he spoke, his face full of worry.