Chapter 1986

The eyelids of Yuan Cha twitched, and the originally tightly closed eyes opened once more, the pupils flashing with a green light, appearing exceptionally cold and detached.

"Hmph, you can be certain this time you won't make a mistake again. I've gone to such great lengths to capture you, and success is imminent. Even if this one before me is not the true body, if I can capture it alive, it will still be of great use to me. If you feel you cannot wait any longer, you may go ahead first. Once I have captured this fellow, I will naturally rejoin you." The woman said coldly.

"Since Fellow Daoist Yuan Cha has said as much, I have no choice but to take my leave first. As for a mere incarnation, with your divine powers, Fellow Daoist, there should be no problem. However, its true form is quite troublesome; we must join forces to have any hope of success. I hope you will not entertain any other thoughts." The blood-robed youth, upon hearing this, was somewhat surprised, his eyes flickering with doubt for a moment, then he spoke two sentences in a warning tone.

"Rest assured! For a matter that benefits both parties, how could I not understand? I desire this incarnation precisely because it has another important use; perhaps you will come to know of it soon." Yuan Cha let out a cold laugh, utterly indifferent in his reply.

Upon hearing the woman say this, the blood-robed youth, though still somewhat surprised in his heart, could not well object further, and could only say lightly:

"I will leave half of my forces behind, awaiting your command. Though the number is not great, it should still be of some small help."

"Many thanks!" Yuan Cha's expression softened somewhat as he nodded.

Thereafter, the blood-robed youth, with escaping light surrounding his body, transformed into a streak of blood-light that shot straight into the high heavens.

After a few flashes, the blood-light vanished completely into the jade disk, leaving no trace.

A moment later, the blood-colored light curtain emanating from the jade disk flickered once and then disappeared entirely.

Strangely, the elite demon warriors clustered around the jade disk were suddenly reduced by nearly half.

The next moment, the jade disk trembled, then transformed into a mass of white light that shot through the air and departed.

The remaining hundred or so demon warriors, under the leadership of a tall demon at the late Void Refinement stage, all descended toward the place where Yuan Cha was located.

After taking a few steps forward, this demon bowed deeply and greeted:

"Yuan Cha, my lord! Blood Light, my lord, has already departed. My lord, do you have any commands for us?"

Although this demon was a subordinate of Blood Light, facing Yuan Cha, his expression remained extremely respectful!

"No need, you just remain nearby." The woman glanced at this demon and gave a light instruction.

"As you command, my lord!" The demon naturally had no objections and immediately bowed in acceptance.

Thus, these hundred or so demons scattered around the stone platform and remained motionless thereafter.

Seeing this, Yuan Cha's eyes flickered, then he slowly closed them.

Meanwhile, the black cloud formed by the myriad crows, after a short while, had finished searching another corner of the valley, and under the witch's urging, surged forward with great momentum toward another area.

This time, after the crows flew about for not long, an anomaly finally appeared.

Over a hundred crows, as they flew past a patch of low shrubs, suddenly began circling the shrubs incessantly, emitting strange cries from their beaks.

"Found it!"

Yuan Cha's eyes snapped open simultaneously, and he let out a surprised cry from his mouth, then, dodging with his jade foot, he instantly transformed into a streak of white light that shot into the air, racing straight toward the patch of shrubs.

With her escape speed, naturally, after just a few flashes, she could reach that place.

At the same time, within that patch of shrubs, a sudden burst of purple misty light erupted, the void slightly distorted, and a strand of faint black qi shot out from within, accompanied by a strange whistle as it fled through the air.

But clearly, at this moment, the action had already come somewhat late.

Seeing this from behind, Yuan Cha, without a word, pointed a finger into the void above the black shadow.

The black crows that had been circling nearby suddenly let out harsh, noisy cries, spread their wings, and, like moths to a flame, all dove downward toward the black shadow.

Perhaps one or two, or even a dozen, would not amount to much, but when hundreds or even thousands dove together, the momentum was so great that the black qi had no choice but to pause its escape light and reveal its true form.

It was actually a pitch-black Nascent Soul, its appearance identical to Han Li's, but its entire body exuded thick demonic qi.

This was precisely Han Li's second Nascent Soul.

The cultivation of this second Nascent Soul could naturally not be compared to that of the primary Nascent Soul, but under Han Li's constant consumption of spirit 'medicines', it had already attained the cultivation of the Void Refinement stage, and its demonic path techniques were extraordinarily pure.

Although forced to stop, facing the flock of crows shooting through the air, it did not panic; it merely let out a great shout, rubbed its two hands together violently, then simultaneously flung them outward.

A great black wind arose, from within which two strands of pitch-black demonic qi shot out, one rolling into the form of two black 'colored' giant serpents, which then plunged straight into the crow flock.

The serpents swayed their heads and tails; wherever they passed, black winds raged, and the crows were torn apart by the violent gusts, seemingly unstoppable.

Seeing the black serpents gain the upper hand, the second Nascent Soul's hands did not cease their movements; after quickly forming several hand seals, its body suddenly began to spin rapidly.

At this very moment, a flash of spiritual light appeared in the air, the white light shot through, and in a flash, revealed a slender figure.

The moment Yuan Cha appeared, he showed no courtesy, a single jade hand forming a gesture as he reached downward into the void.

"Boom—boom—boom!" a tremendous sound!

A vast, misty white 'colored' hand suddenly appeared from the void, and with its fingers spread, it pressed downward.

With this woman's divine power, if she truly pressed this great hand down, the second Nascent Soul would naturally have no way to escape.

But fortunately, Han Li's demonic infant had already begun to employ another life-preserving divine ability; only see that rotating phantom suddenly startle and emit a sharp cry before bursting apart, from which more than a dozen clumps of black demonic flame shot out.

Each was only the size of a chicken egg, but upon being 'shot' out, they instantly transformed into tiny black figures, and after a few 'swish' sounds, they mysteriously appeared in places dozens of zhang away.

"Still trying to run!"

Yuan Cha raised his eyebrows, let out a spirited shout, and then uttered a strange hand seal!

In that instant, the surface of the white 'colored' light hand flowed with a strange crystal light, then instantly burst open, transforming into a vast, misty white halo of light.

A 'hiss-hiss' sound rose, countless crystal rays shot from the light halo, covering an area of over a hundred zhang, enveloping those dozen or so black 'colored' figures beneath it.

Those black 'colored' figures, just as they tried to activate their escape techniques to flee, were instantly pierced through by those crystal rays.

A series of 'thud-thud' muffled sounds!

Except for one black 'colored' figure, whose body twisted to let the crystal rays graze past its shoulder, the others, after being pierced by the crystal rays, instantly turned into clumps of black flame and dissipated.

They were merely phantoms after all!

The remaining black 'colored' figure was indeed the true form of the second Nascent Soul; upon seeing his illusion broken, his face 'color' changed, he suddenly opened his mouth and spat out several clumps of essence blood, while his two hands flew to form a seal, and he began to murmur incantations.

After the essence blood scattered in the wind, it turned into streams of blood mist that engulfed the second Nascent Soul.

"Hmph, still trying to play tricks!" Yuan Cha's face 'color' sank, he let out a cold snort, and then flicked his sleeve violently toward the blood mist.

A black 'colored' crimson silk, flashing past in an instant, shot from the cuff, and with just a movement, it passed like a phantom through the blood mist, cutting across.

But almost at the same time, a blood rainbow shot out from the blood mist, and after merely a flicker, it turned into a blood line and vanished without a trace.

The next moment, at the edge of the sky, the blood light flickered, the blood line flickered into view, then after a waver, it again blurred and disappeared.

"Blood Shadow Escape! So it is this kind of escape technique—this is somewhat troublesome. But to think of escaping my grasp with just this is nothing short of foolish daydreaming." Yuan Cha first showed a look of surprise, but after muttering a few words, his face turned icy cold.

Following her, she made a single-handed gesture toward the distance, and after the two massive stone pillars trembled, they shot up from the ground, rushed into the air, and merged once more into a gray-white stone hall, flying straight toward Yuan Cha.

Yuan Cha flew into the stone hall, and after issuing a command to the demon clan below, she transformed into a streak of white light and shot away.

Seeing this, the other elite demon clan members naturally fell into great chaos and gave chase.

In the blink of an eye, this place became utterly empty, with not a single person remaining.

Above a lake far from the second Nascent Soul, Han Li activated his sword technique, and a colossal azure dragon formed from countless sword lights bared its fangs and claws, tearing apart a high-ranking demon with a slender neck and a worm-like body, which let out a roar before being shattered to pieces.

Even the Nascent Soul hidden within could not escape in time and was instantly torn apart by the sword lights into fragments, turning into a wisp of green smoke and vanishing completely.

Han Li flicked his sleeve, and the azure dragon immediately let out a clear cry, disassembling and dispersing, once again becoming countless azure sword lights.

They swirled once, then shot back toward Han Li at his urging.

Only then did he see a sudden frenzy of green light flash across his body, after which all the sword lights vanished in an instant.

Beside the corpse of the torn-apart half-human, half-insect high-ranking demon, there were indeed over a dozen other fragmented bodies floating in midair, all appearing to be high-ranking entities of the demon clan.

And Han Li, having absorbed all the sword lights back into his body, had a face that turned deathly pale; after hastily circulating his cultivation method several times, his complexion improved somewhat.

"It seems they've already caught on—we can't keep going this way. Too bad, if these people had moved a bit slower, we might actually have had a chance to return to Tian Yuan City. We must not let them detect our pattern; we can only try our luck in other directions. Fortunately, the ones following us have already been dealt with, so we should have a good chance of truly escaping." Han Li exhaled lightly, glanced around, and whispered two sentences.

Originally, when Han Li performed the secret technique that day, he instantly created over a dozen illusions. Besides having Qu'er and the second Nascent Soul separately activate their physical forms and Golden Body, mixed within to mislead the pursuers, he himself quietly unleashed the Taiyi Huaching Talisman, rendering his body illusory and leaving it behind in place.

As Han Li's cultivation advanced greatly, the Taiyi Huaching Talisman, though miraculous, could not be sustained for long. Otherwise, Yuan Cha and the blood light would not have needed to break this talisman at all—if they had simply stayed in place for a while, they could have forced him to reappear.

Therefore, Han Li had not used this talisman during his prior escape.

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