Chapter 830: Strange Beast

"No need to be impatient. This spirit grass has been here for so many years; it's impossible for there to be nothing guarding it. Otherwise, even if there were illusion arrays outside, the spirit fruit would have long since been swallowed by other ancient beasts." Han Li was equally excited, but on the surface, he appeared calm, and now he replied unhurriedly.

"Brother Han means that there is still an ancient beast guarding this place?" Zi Ling had already heard Han Li mention the existence of ancient spirit beasts in the Fallen Devil Valley, so she was startled upon hearing this, and her head cleared up a bit.

"That's right. Look, there are two obvious chewing marks on the top of the spirit grass. Two spirit fruits should have been swallowed by the guarding ancient beast twice. Although raw consumption of the Spirit Candle Fruit does not trigger a breakthrough in cultivation, it does have some effect on breaking through bottlenecks. No wonder that thing couldn't bear to swallow them all at once." Han Li said slowly. Then, his gaze swept across the green lake, and after a slight pause, he looked at the small lake surface.

Undoubtedly, if something was lurking nearby, it must be hidden in the lake.

After entering the Inner Valley, Han Li had removed the cloak from his head. When he was driving the Wind-Riding Chariot and using the Bright and Clear Spirit Eyes along the way, he didn't avoid Zi Ling. After all, this woman had already guessed that he had a way to avoid spatial rifts, so there was no need to hide anything from her.

Therefore, when he scanned the lake water with his spiritual sense and found nothing unusual, blue light flickered in his pupils, and his gaze instantly penetrated the lake water, which was dozens of zhang deep, and went straight to the bottom of the green lake, his expression shifting.

"What? Did Brother Han discover something?" Zi Ling, who had been carefully observing Han Li's expression, raised her brows and asked with a frown.

"You should step back a bit. This guarding ancient beast seems a bit tricky; I'm afraid I'll have to use some methods to solve it." Han Li's expression returned to normal in an instant, and he turned his head to say calmly to Zi Ling.

The ancient beast in the lake actually had a way to avoid his spiritual sense detection. Han Li naturally thought highly of it.

"Then I will have to trouble Brother Han!" Zi Ling knew that her cultivation was low and that staying by Han Li's side would only be a hindrance, so she agreed sensibly. Immediately, she flew backward for thirty or forty zhang before stopping and floating in the air motionless.

Seeing Zi Ling move away, Han Li didn't hesitate to reach out and unhook three spirit beast pouches from his waist, casting them into mid-air. Then, forming a hand seal with both hands, tens of thousands of golden flying insects surged out from the three pouches, dancing in the sky, covering the sky and blocking the sun, turning the sky for dozens of zhang around into a strange, golden color.

"Ah!" Zi Ling, who saw this scene from afar, couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, her face revealing a look of shock.

This woman naturally knew that Han Li practiced insect-driving arts, and she had even witnessed it twice with her own eyes during the battle against the Six Dao descendants in the Void Heaven Palace. However, the flying insects that were now almost evolving into mature forms were far from comparable to the Gold-Devouring Beetles of the past, whether in size or color.

Now, these golden, ferocious-looking spirit insects, tens of thousands of which were released by Han Li at once, had an extraordinary momentum. It was normal for Zi Ling to be horrified by this.

Han Li had no intention of caring about Zi Ling's shock. After setting up the Gold-Devouring Beetles, he flicked his large sleeve, and thirty-six Green Bamboo Cloud-Swarm Swords shot out from his sleeve, transforming into dozens of golden lights a foot long, circling and dancing under the insect cloud.

He struck several magic arts into the air.

All the golden sword lights trembled, immediately splitting into hundreds of identical sword lights, and their brilliance shone brightly.

"Go!"

Han Li pointed at the sword lights in the air and let out a low shout.

The hundreds of sword lights trembled in the air, and one by one, they began to disappear from their original positions, turning the space under the insect cloud empty in the blink of an eye.

The Great Geng Sword Array had been set up by him in an instant.

Han Li pursed his lips, feeling truly at ease now, and lowered his head to look at the lake water, a trace of ferocity flashing across his face.

Rubbing his hands together, golden light shone brightly, and thunderous sounds erupted. A golden electric ball the size of a fist appeared between his hands, and under Han Li's cold expression, it gradually grew larger, becoming dazzling and blinding.

In an instant, the electric ball grew to the size of a child's head.

Han Li pushed with both hands, and amidst the rumbling sounds, the electric ball shot out with a "pfft" sound, striking the lake surface ten zhang away.

Golden light flashed wildly, and a huge thunderous sound erupted. The electric ball exploded, and the entire lake surface was instantly covered in electric arcs of varying thickness, with crackling sounds continuing incessantly.

Zi Ling felt a chill in her heart from behind, biting her red lips, her bright eyes flickering.

Before the golden arcs could dissipate, the lake surface suddenly churned and surged.

A massive whirlpool several zhang large suddenly emerged in the middle of the lake surface, followed by a muffled low roar from the bottom of the lake, and a black and white demonic energy shot out from the whirlpool, wrapping a strange-looking ancient beast inside.

This ancient beast had a strange appearance; its six or seven-zhang-long body resembled a puddle of pitch-black rotten meat, covered in pits and holes of varying sizes, but in the middle, a giant meat ball resembling a head was slightly raised, and aside from a pitch-black eyeball, there were no other organs. At the very least, Han Li didn't see any mouth, nose, or similar things.

In short, this ancient beast looked truly disgusting, and even Han Li couldn't help but mutter in his heart. Zi Ling in the distance, seeing the appearance of this ancient beast, felt even more horrified, feeling a sense of hair-raising dread.

However, Han Li had never heard of this ancient beast wrapped in black and white energy, nor had he seen it in any classic books. He couldn't help but glance at Zi Ling, but this woman gave Han Li a bitter smile, clearly not knowing the origin of this beast either.

Facing this thing of unknown origin, Han Li naturally wouldn't slowly explore its roots or let it display any divine abilities.

So, he immediately raised his hand, struck a magic art onto the insect cloud in the air, and let out a long, clear whistle from his mouth.

Suddenly, the sky-filling insect swarm buzzed loudly, gathered toward the middle, and immediately transformed into a giant golden cloud, falling down to cover the ancient beast.

When this ancient beast heard the buzzing of the Gold-Devouring Beetles, it seemed to know that things were bad, and its body expanded and contracted, spraying unknown emerald-green liquid from those holes toward the golden cloud in the sky.

A fishy, foul-smelling breath, which made one want to vomit, spread out.

Han Li's brows furrowed first, but then he relaxed.

Because the Gold-Devouring Beetles hit by these green liquids were completely fine, without the slightest damage. And after the golden cloud covered it, it wrapped the ancient beast inside. But this beast had black and white energy protecting its body, so although it was drowned in the golden insect cloud, it was unharmed for a time.

This beast, seeing countless flying insects desperately tearing at the black and white energy it had spent many years practicing, and seeing a small part of it being torn away in the blink of an eye, was terrified in its heart. Its body sank, and it rushed downward, wanting to plunge back into the lake water.

But at this moment, Han Li, who had been prepared, suddenly stretched a finger toward the lake water. At the tip of his finger, with a "pfft" sound, a blue fire ball the size of a walnut appeared, and then he flicked his finger lightly, and the blue fire ball shot out immediately.

With a "zzzt" sound, the fire ball exploded, and the blue light was blinding.

Then, a layer of blue, misty cold energy spread rapidly, and wherever it passed, the lake water turned into thick ice. In an instant, the entire green lake was frozen into a giant block of ice.

The ancient beast's plan to dive into the water naturally fell through. Instead, it bumped its head against the blue ice and was bounced back.

This beast was even more terrified. Its black and white energy shook fiercely, and it flew out diagonally, carrying the dense golden insects on its body.

But with a flash, just as it flew to one side of the green lake, in the empty air, golden light flashed, and a thin golden thread appeared strangely, sweeping past the ancient beast in a flash.

A small piece of pitch-black rotten meat fell from the insect cloud, dripping with blood.

The ancient beast's black and white energy protective shield was instantly broken, and the ancient beast's body was shaved off by the golden thread. Without the protective shield, countless golden insects surged up, crawling all over the ancient beast's body.

This ancient beast let out a miserable scream, spiritual light flashing on its body, and a layer of strange green fire "pfft" appeared on the surface of its body, covering all the Gold-Devouring Beetles that had gathered in front of it, burning fiercely.

Unfortunately, although the green fire was a powerful divine ability this beast had practiced for many years, these Gold-Devouring Beetles were indifferent to this degree of demonic fire, and instead, their ferocity was stimulated. These flying insects, without prior consultation, accelerated their devouring. Suddenly, this beast was in unbearable pain, and its direction flashed, and it fled desperately to the other side of the green lake.

Han Li stood by the lake with his hands behind his back, coldly watching the ancient beast wrapped in the insect cloud flying and crashing everywhere like a headless fly. Unfortunately, this place had already been set up with the Great Geng Sword Array by him. Although he hadn't officially activated this array to strangle this beast, it still caused golden threads to appear wherever the beast fled, cutting off a piece of the ancient beast's body fiercely.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the beast's body had disappeared, and its screams became weak and powerless, finally falling onto the ice surface with a "thud," unable to move at all.

This nameless ancient beast's true divine ability actually lay in breath-concealment and transformation. Once it used this divine ability to transform and hide somewhere, even a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator couldn't discover its tracks, but its combat ability could only be said to be average.

Unfortunately, this beast was first seen through by Han Li's Bright and Clear Spirit Eyes, then muddledly targeted by the Gold-Devouring Beetles, and trapped by the Great Geng Sword Array, unable to use its innate ability to escape, and thus died easily at Han Li's hands.

A moment later, the golden insect cloud buzzed and flew into the sky. The ice surface was suddenly empty, leaving only a black and white strange round bead, which was the beast's demon core.

At this moment, Zi Ling flew forward, looking at Han Li with envy, and said:

"Brother Han, your divine abilities are truly unfathomable. Even exterminating this kind of ancient spirit beast is done without any effort. It seems the rumors outside that Brother Han is the most powerful person below the Three Great Cultivators are not empty words."

"It's not that Han's divine abilities are extraordinary, but that this ancient beast wasn't very powerful, far inferior to the several kinds of ancient beasts I've seen before." Han Li shook his head, saying indifferently. Then he raised his hand, grabbed into the void, and with a "whoosh," the demon core was sucked into his hand.

Han Li lowered his head to look, and black and white spiritual light flashed incessantly on the surface of the demon core. This was the first time he had seen a demon core of this color. He couldn't help but reveal a look of interest.

(Web) ===== CHAPTER 831 =====