Chapter 981

At that moment, a red flash appeared—a red needle mysteriously materialized beside the giant wolf.

With another flash, the flying needle transformed into a red thread that pierced the green flame shielding the corpse wolf.

With a soft “puff,” the red thread, razor-sharp, sliced cleanly through the green flame.

Startled, the giant wolf frantically shook its head, but the red thread still plunged into its neck and emerged from the other side.

Letting out a roar of agony, the corpse wolf immediately blasted black mist from all four paws, which vanished into the dark wind.

Seeing this, the old man and the others were naturally overjoyed.

“Chase it!”

Someone shouted loudly, and all of them burst into spiritual light, preparing to pursue with their flight spells.

But at that moment, a cry suddenly came from Han Li’s waist.

The sound was faint, but Han Li’s expression changed drastically—he flipped his hand and shot out several Qing-mengmeng sword qi, striking the ground over ten zhang away.

With a series of thunderous booms, a dark glow flashed on the ground, and several jet-black human hands mysteriously emerged; their fingers twitched, effortlessly deflecting the sword beams.

Then, dark wind surged violently, and three wavering human figures faintly appeared—exactly the three corpses that had shown up once at the crossroads.

They had no clear motive, yet somehow avoided the crossroads’ formation, followed the group here, and had skillfully hidden themselves all along.

But when Han Li and the others prepared to leave, one corpse accidentally leaked its aura, alerting the Ti Hun beast in Han Li’s spiritual beast pouch, forcing it to reveal itself.

Though these corpses were equally emaciated, their heights and builds differed slightly; with Han Li’s exceptional memory, he instantly recognized one as suspiciously familiar—it should have been reduced to ashes.

Han Li’s expression subtly changed, and the black-robed beautiful woman and Bai Yao also simultaneously gasped in shock.

“How did these corpses come back to life? When I found them, they were completely lifeless.”

It was the black-robed woman’s surprised voice—she must have encountered another one in a different cave.

Bai Yao’s shock, meanwhile, stemmed from the same reason as Han Li’s, her face showing a flicker of doubt.

"So you recognize these ghostly entities? But we have no time for this—first, chase the Yin Zhi Horse! Han Dao, Chang Shimei, you two stay behind to handle these ghosts; the rest of us will pursue the spiritual object. If it hides again, it’ll be far harder to find." The Fu elder, though equally startled by the three corpses, was solely focused on capturing the Yin Zhi Horse.

In his mind, whether Han Li and his sister dealt with the three strange corpse beings, or the three of them dealt with the corpse wolf, neither posed any real problem.

The others indeed had no objections.

After the black-robed woman responded and Han Li nodded, the Fu elder and his two companions immediately transformed into flight spells and soared into the air, chasing after the corpse wolf as it vanished into the dark wind.

After retrieving his crystallized flying needle, Han Li stood shoulder to shoulder with the black-robed woman, coldly staring at the corpses.

Though ghostly arts were inherently strange, the fact that corpses destroyed by exorcising thunder could reappear was truly unbelievable. Thus, though Han Li’s expression remained calm, he naturally increased his caution.

The beautiful woman, as an Elder of the Jiuyou Sect, knew much about demonic and ghostly arts, and likewise dared not underestimate these corpses. Though the crimson great sword hovering above her head glowed brilliantly, she made no move to attack.

Han Li and the woman remained calm, but the corpses, seeing the other three depart, could no longer hold back.

The tallest one in the center suddenly took two heavy steps forward, opened its mouth, and spat out a gray, misty thread that shot straight toward the woman.

“Die!” The woman’s face darkened as she let out a cold snort.

She shook her sleeve, and over a dozen fireballs shot out in a chain; then she pointed at the great sword above her head.

The great sword slashed through the air, and a crimson sword qi struck down fiercely.

In her mind, this unassuming thread was surely just condensed corpse qi—fire-based arts were its perfect counter.

But what happened next was astonishing!

With a series of “puff-puff” sounds, the gray thread passed through all the fireballs as if they weren’t there.

Then, in a flash of firelight, all the fireballs vanished instantly, completely absorbed by the thread.

The crimson sword qi that followed met the same fate—it struck the thread but achieved no more than the fireballs had; the thread merely swayed with resilient elasticity before the sword qi was likewise absorbed without a trace.

The thread advanced without pause, reaching the black-robed woman’s front.

Startled, she swiftly swept her sleeve, and a small green shield materialized; as it glowed, it expanded several times its size, blocking her front.

Almost simultaneously, the great sword above vanished in a flash and slashed down directly.

Spiritual energy and spells might be absorbed—but a magic treasure’s physical form should never suffer this! This was the black-robed woman’s instant thought.

As expected, when the great sword struck the gray thread, it caused the thread to pause momentarily.

Overjoyed, the woman prepared to activate the sword’s hidden power—when suddenly, the thread blurred and split into a hundred gray threads.

The threads flipped, instantly wrapping the great sword in a dense tangle.

Then, a strange dark glow surfaced on the gray threads; as the sword’s red light touched the dark glow, both dimmed. The sword’s surface slowly turned from red to black, as if being corrupted.

The woman’s spiritual connection to the sword instantly grew sluggish and unresponsive.

Shocked, the black-robed woman had no time to think—she slammed her storage bag, and a wheel-like treasure appeared in her hand.

But before she could activate it to free her sword, a thunderclap rang out beside her—a dazzling golden arc shot forth, striking the great sword directly.

Thunder roared, and the gray threads shattered inch by inch in the golden light—the sword regained its freedom!

“Thank you, Brother Han!”

The woman exclaimed in relief, quickly formed a hand seal, and the sword instantly transformed into three red streaks that flew back into her sleeve and vanished.

After helping her escape, Han Li paid no heed to pleasantries—he fixed his gaze on the air, his brow furrowed.

For as the corpses let out a low roar, the previously shattered gray threads re-coalesced, reforming into a single thread within moments.

At the same time, the other two corpses stepped forward, as if preparing to attack together.

Seeing this, the black-robed woman’s expression darkened—but after staring at the gray thread a moment longer, a sudden insight struck her.

“Sha Hun Si! These aren’t corpse qi—they’re sha qi!” she cried out, her face instantly turning pale.

“Sha qi?”

Han Li found the name vaguely familiar; after a moment’s thought, he recalled it being mentioned in the Great Expansion Treasure Scripture he’d read not long ago.

As soon as he remembered the description, his expression darkened.

This was one of the rarest ghostly great arts known to cultivators.

Sha qi—literally, “corpse sha”—was originally just sha energy, but not ordinary sha; it formed when the sha energy of a deceased cultivator, still lingering before dissipating, merged with corpse qi.

It was said to be extremely difficult to form—requiring at least a Golden Core cultivator’s corpse, plus many unknown conditions, for a rare chance to arise. But once formed, sha qi was immortal, could absorb the five-element spiritual energy, and specifically corrupted all magic treasures and tools—truly extraordinary, one of the highest-level ghostly arts.

As for Sha Hun Si, though he’d never heard of it, he now understood it must be a technique using this sha qi—no wonder it was so formidable.

It seemed his Exorcising Thunder could scatter it, but not destroy it utterly.

As Han Li swiftly pieced together all this, the three corpses simultaneously extended their hands, curled their fingers, and snapped—gray threads shot from each fingertip.

The black-robed woman took a deep breath, hurled her wheel-like treasure into the air, and began chanting incantations.

The wheel spun rapidly in midair, then shot out seven-colored spiritual light, forming a luminous curtain that enveloped Han Li and herself.

“Seven-colored spiritual light! A Buddhist treasure!”

Han Li had just raised his hand, golden lightning already flickering in his palm—seeing this, he froze, his face showing surprise.

The Sha Hun Si shot forward with incredible speed, striking the seven-colored barrier—but were blocked, unable to pierce through.

Han Li wasn’t surprised—Buddhist arts were inherently antithetical to ghostly techniques; even the formidable Sha Hun Si couldn’t break through Buddhist spiritual light so easily. But that the woman, a demonic sect Elder, possessed a Buddhist treasure was truly unexpected.

Seeing the Sha Hun Si fail to penetrate, the three corpses didn’t retreat—instead, their fingers trembled violently, and countless gray threads materialized around them, layer upon layer wrapping the seven-colored barrier, as if determined to trap them completely.

Han Li’s eyes flashed with cold light—he rubbed his palms together, then raised them simultaneously.

Two thick golden arcs erupted from his palms, striking the barrier. With crackling sounds, a golden lightning net formed on its surface, instantly reducing the outer gray threads to ash and erasing them.

The three corpses paid no heed—they continued spewing new Sha Hun Si, and the scattered gray mist reformed and restored itself.

"Chang Dao, break out!" Han Li said briefly.

Thunder sounded—he suddenly grew a pair of silver wings on his back.

The black-robed woman, startled and about to protest, saw Han Li’s transformation and swallowed her words; she touched a spot on the barrier, and a narrow slit opened.

Simultaneously, with a single beat of his wings, Han Li vanished in silver light.

The three corpses, now possessing intelligence, paused instinctively, their eyes darting left and right.

But in the next instant, a silver arc flashed ten zhang behind them—Han Li’s form reappeared. Without hesitation, the three corpses snapped their fingers, sending dozens of gray threads hurtling toward Han Li.

Han Li didn’t dodge—he opened his mouth and spat out three golden streaks in succession, striking the three corpses directly.

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