Chapter 1567

Although the giant crab was huge in size, its lateral speed was not slow; in a moment it had rushed to within seven or eight zhang of Han Li, almost ready to attack him with its two giant pincers after just one more lunge.

Han Li's eyes flashed with a fierce color, his lower abdomen slightly bulged, and his lips moved as if he were about to spit something out.

But just then, a sharp, piercing whistle tore through the air, and a flash of silver light shot from afar, striking the giant crab's massive body in an instant.

Though the crab's pale blue carapace appeared impenetrable, upon contact with the silver light it emitted a dull thud and was actually pierced through, the point embedding itself into the shell.

A spray of green blood flew out.

That silver light was in fact a silver fork about a zhang long, but its upper half was firmly embedded in the crab's back, only the lower half protruding and swaying wildly.

Injured, the giant crab let out a heaven-shaking, earth-rending cry, its charging body halted, and it instantly changed direction, rushing toward the valley mouth.

The earlier attack had not caused significant damage to this massive creature; instead, it only enraged the monster's ferocity.

Seeing this, Han Li was naturally startled and hurriedly turned his head to look toward the valley mouth as well.

At the mountain valley entrance, seven or eight figures of varying heights stood, though it was unclear when they had arrived.

These figures had upper bodies that appeared both male and female, each holding silver-glinting throwing weapons such as javelins and flying forks; the males bore bare, muscular arms, while the females wore tight-fitting short leather sleeves, all exuding a fierce aura.

When Han Li's gaze swept over the lower halves of these figures, his face instantly showed an expression of surprise.

These people actually had no legs below the waist, but rather snake bodies of varying thickness, with diverse colors and some faint, barely visible scales.

They were alien beings, seemingly a kind Han Li had never even heard of before.

Han Li immediately reached a conclusion in his heart.

Before he could think further, the giant crab had already rushed to near those alien men and women.

But at a low shout from what appeared to be the leading burly man, the figures flickered rapidly and promptly formed two rows—six men in front, seven women behind.

The burly man gave another fierce cry, and the front row simultaneously thrust their silver spears with force.

Instantly, six silver flashes struck the giant crab's massive body, but each only penetrated halfway into its flesh, failing to seriously wound it; instead, as green blood flowed, the crab went completely berserk, and from its mouth a nauseating white foam sprayed far away.

Seeing the white foam, the leading man's face changed slightly, and he muttered two quick words under his breath, sounding somewhat flustered; but he reached behind his back with one hand and produced a flat, round, grayish-white stone tablet, on which a faint luster flickered, suggesting it was unusual.

Yet the burly man hesitated not at all, gripping the object firmly and hurling it straight at the white foam.

The moment the stone tablet left his hand, it transformed into a cluster of red light that shot forth; upon colliding with the white foam, it emitted a tremendous, heaven-shaking boom.

A mass of raging flames enveloped the white foam, and moments later both vanished into nothing.

The giant crab seized the opportunity to charge to within ten or more zhang of the alien people; but at that moment, the front six suddenly shifted their bodies, splitting into two waves and shooting outward to the sides, then simultaneously shaking their wrists, leaning back, and causing the originally fierce onrushing giant crab to freeze in place.

A blue flash appeared in Han Li's eyes! Only then did he clearly see that between each person's wrist and the giant crab there were six thumb-thick, half-transparent fine threads, and as the six alien single-armed individuals exerted force together, the threads were pulled taut.

These six alien men clearly possessed extraordinary arm strength, but what caught Han Li's attention more was that each wore a yellowish-brown armguard on the wrist, its surface flashing with spiritual light, seemingly a low-grade magical device; relying on their own strength plus the armguards' aid, these six actually managed to halt the giant crab's charging momentum.

However, this pause lasted only an instant, and the giant crab's two giant pincers flashed out like lightning.

Immediately came two muffled "boom-boom" sounds; the six fine threads were snapped in two or more, cleanly cut as if by a blade, causing the two alien men who had been straining desperately to tumble backward.

Seeing that after a few more swings of the crab's giant pincers it would completely break free.

But at this moment, several women of the rear row opportunistically hurled their silver forks from their hands.

After a muffled sound, the giant crab let out a shrill, miserable cry; seven of its leg joints were simultaneously pierced by gleaming silver objects, causing them to bend instantly, leaving only the last hind leg intact.

But it could absolutely no longer maintain bodily balance.

With a "boom," the giant crab's massive body collapsed to the ground, smashing the nearby grass into a pit several feet deep.

This blow caused the originally tense alien people to suddenly shout in joy, as if victory were already in hand.

And the giant crab, having lost its mobility, was indeed utterly unable to fight back.

Those alien people, men and women alike, swarmed forward, and when they were about a zhang away from the crab, they hurled the backup weapons slung on their backs in a frenzy, targeting various vital spots on the crab's body.

At such close range, with the giant crab unable to rise, their attacks naturally never missed.

In a moment, the giant crab was pierced through by dozens of spears and flying forks and died completely.

Han Li lay on the ground watching all this, his expression calm, but his thoughts raced rapidly.

From the method these alien people used to kill the giant crab and the weapons and low-grade magical devices they employed, there seemed to be some background; however, if only these current abilities were considered, even if he could not rise now, he could pose no threat to them.

On the contrary, although these alien people were agile, they showed no trace of spiritual aura on their bodies, appearing not to be cultivators but rather resembling body refiners among humanity.

As Han Li pondered, the alien figures had already, in the blink of an eye, disassembled the giant crab, organizing the edible meat and roe into neat portions on the ground, their movements utterly practiced—evidently, slaying such monsters was not their first time.

At this moment, a beautiful alien woman with an especially supple waist suddenly twisted her way over to the side of the leading burly man, then pointed with her finger at Han Li lying on the distant ground and spoke in a pleasant voice—somewhat resembling human speech, but upon closer listening still unclear, and sounding somewhat muffled as if one-third indistinct.

That burly man had an ancient bronze complexion, was not only the tallest among all the aliens, but also the sole one whose lower snake body was ink-black in color.

The others' lower bodies were either pale green or pale white, distinctly different from the burly man's.

Upon hearing the woman's words, the burly man's pair of piercing eyes instantly shot toward Han Li, and fortunately met Han Li's calm gaze.

Seeing Han Li's eyes as still as water, the burly man's heart jolted; after glancing once more at Han Li's lower legs, his face suddenly changed drastically, he hurriedly said two words to the woman, and then rushed over here in haste.

Though the burly man's lower body was a snake body, his movement was astonishingly fast—just a couple of twists and he had gone over ten zhang away; in a few breaths, he stood before Han Li.

Han Li silently gazed at the alien before him, saying nothing; but if observed closely, one would notice his bulging lower abdomen had not returned to normal, still slightly swollen.

Of course, the burly man, seeing Han Li for the first time, could naturally not perceive the difference.

However, as the burly man stood before Han Li, he suddenly bent his body, placed one arm before his chest, and actually performed a respectful bow, simultaneously uttering a phrase Han Li could not understand at all.

Han Li's mouth corner twitched, revealing a hint of a wry smile.

Even though he had, during his time in Tian Yuan City, nearly mastered all known human languages of the alien races, the burly man's speech before him was clearly none he knew.

After a moment's hesitation, Han Li asked two questions in a language commonly used on the Feng Yuan Continent; but seeing the burly man's blank expression, it was clear he could not understand at all.

Furrowing his brow, he then tried several other alien languages in succession; but the burly man, with one arm scratching his head, appeared equally unable to comprehend.

Han Li sighed and said nothing more.

But the burly man, at this moment, carefully observed Han Li's current state, seemingly noticing his inability to move, and suddenly turned his head and shouted a few calls toward the other aliens.

Instantly, four of the alien women among them put down what they were doing and came running like flies.

The burly man solemnly instructed the several alien women with a few sentences; the women showed expressions of surprise at Han Li, then immediately shifted to expressions of reverence.

After these women also bowed to Han Li, they all hurried toward the only dozen or so large trees in the mountain valley.

Only a flash of silver light was seen, and several smaller trees among them were knocked down by a strange silver blade they held in their hands.

The alien women waved their silver blades for a moment, and in a short while they actually used these trees and some animal hides they carried to construct something resembling a giant sled.

Then the alien women lifted one end in pairs and hurried over to this side.

By this time Han Li naturally saw clearly that these "snake people" meant him no harm, and the bulge in his lower abdomen quietly returned to normal.

Then the four snake women placed the "sled" in front of them, two of them walked over and respectfully said a few words, inquiring about something.

Even if the language was still not understood, Han Li knew their intent at this moment; after a brief pause of 'yin', he slightly nodded his head.

Immediately, several snake people before him 'showed' expressions of great 'joy'.

The two snake women then respectfully performed another salute, and only then carefully lifted Han Li's feet and upper body, placing him gently onto the "sled".

The two women carefully adjusted Han Li's posture, making sure he would feel no discomfort.

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