Chapter 1266: An Unfamiliar Place
Han Li lay on the ground in a completely still manner, experiencing the uncomfortable heat rising up from the ground while calculating the time in his heart.
If he wasn't mistaken, he had already been lying here for three months based on the timing conventions of the human world.
There were currently three suns and four moons in the sky, and Han Li knew that during the night, all of those suns would also convert themselves into moons. When daytime arrived, all of those moons would then transform into scorching suns one by one, until there were seven suns hanging in the sky.
This meant that there were constantly seven celestial bodies of light hanging in the sky. The difference was that temperatures were unbearably hot during the day, and freezing cold during the night.
From his observations, it appeared that the days and nights in this place were extremely long; roughly three times the length of the days and the nights in the human world. The temperature difference between daytime and nighttime was also absolutely staggering, and he would most likely already be dead if not for his special constitution.
This place was naturally no longer part of the human world, but was it the Spirit Realm? Han Li couldn't be sure.
The spiritual Qi here wasn't very abundant, seemingly not too different from the amount of spiritual Qi produced by a normal spirit vein in the human world, and furthermore, he had arrived here completely by accident. As such, he had no idea whether he had actually reached the Spirit Realm.
Thinking back to the events that had taken place within the spatial node, an expression of lingering fear appeared in Han Li's eyes.
But then again, if it weren't for the accident that had taken place on the final stretch of the journey, Han Li had no confidence at all in his ability to withstand the relentless waves of spatial storms that had appeared in the end. After all, most of his protective treasures had been destroyed, including even his Eight Spirit Ruler. If it weren't for the fact that his Spiritform Talisman had activated in the nick of time, he would've most likely been reduced to nothingness in the spatial node already.
However, his current situation wasn't very optimistic, either.
When he had just exited the spatial node and appeared in this place, he had been forcibly separated from the Ice Phoenix, and the restrictions that they had set up in each other's bodies were beginning to take effect. Thankfully, he had mastered a vast array of secret techniques, and one of them allowed him to forcibly repress this restriction. Otherwise, he would already be dead from magic power backlash.
Even so, the residual power of the restriction was still wreaking havoc within his body, relentlessly destroying his meridians and bodily structures. If it weren't for the fact that the Wood Birth Bead's immortal body ability was constantly repairing his bodily structures, his body would've been reduced to a pile of mush already.
At present, there was one burst of power constantly destroying his body while another burst of power was relentlessly repairing the damage that was being done. This was naturally an extremely painful process. During this time, not only was he unable to draw upon any magic power, he was also unable to move even in the slightest. Furthermore, the destructive power was inflicting damage at a slightly faster rate than the regenerative power.
As such, his body would still be destroyed eventually if things continued like this.
In this dire situation, Han Li was forced to expel all of his treasures and store them into a storage pouch, then use a secret technique to dispel his Nascent Soul. In doing so, the enormous amount of power created by the dissipating Nascent Soul would inject itself into his body, thereby enhancing his regenerative ability.
However, the price he had to pay for this was that he wouldn't have so much as a single shred of magic power within his body for over 100 years, and nor would he be able to use any spiritual power or spiritual sense.
Even if a cultivator of a higher caliber than Han Li were to make a rough examination of his body using their spiritual sense, they would only regard him as a mere mortal, and they wouldn't be able to detect that anything was amiss unless they conducted a more thorough examination.
The consequences were quite dire, but the effects of unleashing this secret technique were also very potent.
During the past three months, the remaining power of the restriction had finally completely disappeared, and most of his meridians had been healed.
According to his estimation, it would only take him a month or so before he would be able to walk again.
With that in mind, he turned his head to the side with great difficulty, only to be greeted by the sight of a vast expanse of barren grey sand stretching as far as the eyes could see, with not even a single blade of grass in sight.
He was currently situated in a bleak desert, and most of his body had been covered by this strange type of sand, making him appear as if he were a deceased corpse.
The suns in the sky were gradually reduced from three to two, then to one, and it finally appeared as if dusk was approaching.
However, as opposed to closing his eyes and settling in for another freezing night, Han Li's eyes abruptly widened as a faint blue light flashed through his pupils.
A short while later, a series of sharp cries suddenly erupted from the sky above. Immediately thereafter, one black spot after another appeared in the air, amounting to a total of over 20 dark shadows, all of which came swooping down rapidly toward Han Li.
Even though Han Li was unable to inject any magic power into his eyes, he was still able to clearly make out the appearances of these black spots with his astonishing eyesight.
They were a group of strange black birds with falcon heads and bat bodies. Each and every one of them was around four to five feet in size. They all had a pair of sharp claws growing from their respective abdomens, and their black fleshy wings were fully spread to create a sinister sight to behold.
These birds flew extremely quickly, and had plummeted to an altitude of just over 300 feet in the blink of an eye. It appeared they were targeting Han Li as prey for their next meal.
A cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes and his four limbs remained completely still, but he suddenly turned his head and inhaled sharply.
A small clump of grey sand abruptly materialized into a ball before flying toward Han Li.
Just as the ball of sand was about to fly into his mouth, Han Li blew out a gentle gust of wind, upon which the ball of sand began to hover beside his mouth as if it were completley weightless, rotating on the spot without traveling any further downward.
At this moment, the flock of birds was only just over 100 feet away, and Han Li felt as if he could already catch a whiff of the putrid nauseating scent of rotten blood and gore wafting out from within their beaks.
Han Li's face remained expressionless, but his depressed chest suddenly bulged as he blasted out a gust of strong wind into the ball of sand.
The ball of sand was immediately dispersed into countless specks of azure light that shot forth into the air, striking the first few birds among the flock amid a series of dull thumps.
The birds that had been struck let loose shrill cries of agony before fleeing away into the distance. However, they only managed to fly for about 100 feet before collapsing to the ground with blood gushing from their bodies, clearly having been severely wounded by Han Li's innovative attack.
An incredible turn of events then unfolded.
Upon catching sight of their wounded companions, the rest of the birds completely lost interest in Han Li, flying toward their injured companions instead before tearing them into shreds in the blink of an eye. After that, all of them flew away in contentment with a chunk of their companions' flesh caught between their beaks.
Thus, Han Li was all alone in this vast desert once again.
His expression remained unchanged, as if he were already accustomed to such occurrences. However, the contemplative look in his eyes suggested that he was in deep thought about something.
A while later, the final sun in the sky also gradually darkened as it transformed into a moon.
Han Li had witnessed this spectacle countless times already, yet he was still struck by a sense of awe and wonder at the sight of the seven moons in the sky.
All of a sudden, a slightly bewildered look appeared on Han Li's face, but unfortunately, he was unable to do anything aside from turning his head slightly to the side.
After a short while, a faint rumbling intermingled with the sound of thundering horse hooves erupted in the distance. It appeared that there seemed to be a large group of travelers approaching.
Han Li's brows furrowed, and a hesitant look appeared on his face as he tried to decide whether he should act to intentionally catch their attention.
If he didn't make a sound, it wouldn't be easy for them to discover him, given the fact that most of his body was obscured by the sand of the desert.
However, Han Li didn't have to grapple with this dilemma for very long as a crimson fist-sized bird had appeared about three hundred to four hundred feet above Han Li, letting loose a clear cry that was audible for several kilometers.
It was clearly sending a message to the group of travelers.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh upon seeing this. The bird was at too high of an altitude for him to try and replicate his sand attack, so he could only wait in silence.
As expected, only a short while had passed before the ground beneath him began to tremor, seemingly as if something were traveling toward him.
Following a burst of low roars, a few knights riding on a type of strange beast stopped far away from Han Li, looking at him from afar with cold expressions.
Han Li turned his gaze toward these "people".
They were dressed in a rather strange way, but they definitely were humans.
Han Li was quite relieved to see this.
The group of knights was comprised entirely of men who appeared to be between 20 to 40 years of age. Some of them wore full suits of shiny armor while others were wearing nothing aside from a few faintly shimmering slabs of bones that covered their vital regions. However, all of them were holding an extremely heavy-looking club-like weapon each. These weapons were much thicker on the end than they were in the hilts, and there were many sharp spikes protruding from them, giving them a very sinister and dangerous appearance.
What was even more intriguing to Han Li was that all of these men were riding massive azure wolves as steeds. Each and everyone one of these wolves had a single straight black horn growing on their heads, and were clad in thick slabs of armor. They were each over 20 feet tall with burly musclebound bodies, putting on a very intimidating display even in stillness.
As Han Li appraised this group of people, the knights on their monstrous steeds also seemed to have arrived at the conclusion that Han Li posed no threat to them. As such, their expressions eased, yet they still showed no intention of approaching him.
One of the men, who appeared to be over 40 years old with a deep scar on his face, suddenly turned to a young man beside him and said something. The young man immediately pulled out a round white disk before spurring on his wolf steed to approach Han Li.
The young man stopped several tens of feet away from Han Li and said something that was completely unintelligible to him. The lack of reaction from Han Li brought a frown to the young man's face, and he gently waved the round disk in his hand toward Han Li.