Chapter 1571: Battling a Body Integration Cultivator
However, Han Li had no intention of battling an early-Body Integration cultivator under these circumstances. He flapped his wings without any hesitation, and spiritual light flashed from his body as he shot forth through the air as an azure thread, accelerating to close to twice his original speed, thereby allowing him to match the speed of the streak of red light.
In just the span of a few breaths, the two of them had disappeared into the distance.
The humanoid figure within the streak of red light was naturally none other than the elderly man from the Jiao Chi Race.
Using the Profound Heavenshifting Disk, he was able to track down Han Li's location, but before he could get close to Han Li, the latter suddenly accelerated and fled at an alarming speed.
The elderly man's heart jolted with shock upon seeing this, but his astonishment was then quickly replaced by elation.
It appeared that the being that he was pursuing was quite powerful, so it was quite likely that he was carrying one of the items he was seeking.
Thus, the elderly man was even more determined to hunt Han Li down.
The two of them hurtled through the air like a pair of shooting stars, making no efforts to conceal themselves, and it only took them a short while to cover a distance of hundreds of kilometers.
During this time, the streak of red light was still unable to chase down the azure thread, and the elderly man was truly becoming rather surprised.
Even though he wasn't proficient in movement techniques, his spiritual sense had clearly just revealed to him that his target was only a seventh-tier upper race being. As such, it was quite incredible that he'd managed to avoid being chased down over such a vast distance.
However, the elderly man was a fearsome Body Integration Stage being, after all, so he naturally possessed a vast wealth of battle experience.
As such, he abruptly stopped cold in his tracks before flipping a hand over expressionlessly to summon a purple talisman.
He waved the talisman gently through the air, and a cloud of purple mist erupted, instantly permeating through an area with a radius of over 100 feet and completely concealing his body within.
Han Li had been keeping an eye on his pursuer this entire time, and his brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
He also immediately stopped mid-flight before casting his gaze behind him with narrowed eyes. He was rather curious about just what his opponent was plotting.
The purple cloud of mist tumbled and surged before suddenly vanishing, and the elderly man within it also disappeared without a trace.
Han Li's expression changed slightly, and he instantly released his spiritual sense to encompass an area with a radius of several tens of feet.
However, the elderly man was still nowhere to be found, as if he'd truly completely disappeared.
A grim expression appeared on Han Li's face, and he made a hand seal as blue light flashed through his eyes, activating his Brightsight Spirit Eyes ability.
However, even with his spirit eye ability, he was still unable to track down the elderly man.
Han Li's heart truly sank this time.
Body Integration Stage beings were extremely fearsome opponents, so losing sight of one in battle could prove to be lethal.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately fled into the distance as an azure thread.
He didn't know where his opponent was lurking, but staying in this place for too long would naturally be extremely dangerous for him.
However, if his opponent gave chase, then Han Li was confident that he'd be forced to reveal himself.
Thus, the azure thread hurtled through the air, covering a distance of over 1,000 feet in just a single flash and rapidly disappeared into the distance.
As Han Li flew through the air, he continued to cast his gaze behind him while maintaining his spirit eye ability.
Moments later, he finally discovered something, and he raised an eyebrow in response to this discovery.
Extremely deep within the ground several kilometers behind him, there was a purple humanoid figure traveling through the soil without any impediment.
It was none other than the elderly man from the Jiao Chi Race.
He had unleashed some kind of ability that had allowed him to instantly burrow several hundred feet deep into the ground, and Han Li failed to notice him initially due to a split second of complacency.
However, for the elderly man to remain so blurry and indistinct even in the face of Han Li's Brightsight Spirit Eyes indicated that he was using quite an extraordinary concealment technique. Furthermore, not only had the elderly man managed to conceal himself underground, he was traveling even quicker through the soil than he was when flying in the air.
Not only did the soil not impede him in the slightest, there were specks of yellow light constantly flying out from within the soil before injecting themselves into his body to further enhance his speed.
Even though Han Li was already flying as quickly as he could, the elderly man was still slowly gaining on him.
Han Li was rather surprised by this discovery, but he showed no sign of stopping or slowing down.
Meanwhile, the elderly man that was surging through the soil was growing rather frustrated.
He had thought that his disappearance would strike panic into Han Li's heart, and even if he decided to flee the scene, he would gradually decelerate or even temporarily stop.
However, Han Li had fled without any hesitation, and even after flying for so long, he still didn't slow down even in the slightest.
That was quite surprising to the elderly man. He was very confident in his concealment abilities. so in his mind, there was no way that a being with a cultivation base far inferior to his would be able to see through him with their spiritual sense.
The only exception would be if said being possessed some kind of spirit eye ability, but the probability of that was so low that it was virtually negligible.
Seeing as Han Li hadn't fallen for his ploy, the elderly man could only continue to give chase using his earth movement technique.
However, he could naturally also see that he was traveling slightly faster than Han Li using this movement technique, so he naturally wasn't going to give up in his chase.
Thus, the two of them traveled for thousands of kilometers without pause. Han Li could see the purple humanoid figure drawing closer and closer to him underground, and his expression gradually darkened as he began to inspect his surroundings.
All of a sudden, a pair of tall mountains positioned alongside one another appeared up ahead. Both of the mountains were quite lush and steep, and there was a dense forest in between the two of them.
Han Li's heart stirred upon seeing this before he cast a glance downward with blue light flashing through his eyes.
At this point, the purple figure was only just over 1,000 feet away from him and was on the cusp of chasing him down.
Thus, Han Li took a deep breath before suddenly changing directions and flying toward that forest.
The azure thread flashed through the air before plunging into the forest, following which Han Li reappeared.
Immediately thereafter, he rustled a sleeve, and several tens of small swords shot forth from within.
He made a hand seal, and all of the small swords plunged into the ground as azure threads.
Countless azure threads then flashed through the air, and the surrounding trees were all felled in an instant.
Thus, an area with a radius of several thousand feet had opened up in the blink of an eye.
After doing all that, Han Li swayed before appearing atop a tree stump that was several tens of feet tall, then pointed a finger up ahead in an expressionless manner.
Immediately thereafter, the azure light faded, and all of the azure threads concealed themselves into empty space.
Han Li then made a hand seal, and a loud thunderclap rang out as countless thin arcs of golden lightning erupted from his body, forming a golden and silver lightning robe.
Following a surge of black Qi, a suit of black baleful armor also appeared beneath his robes.
After doing all that, Han Li opened his mouth to produce a small translucent shield, which began to rapidly rotate around him.
Having made all of his preparations, Han Li simply clasped his hands behind his back and looked up into the sky in a completely stationary manner.
In the soil deep beneath Han Li, the elderly man was appraising Han Li's every move with a vicious look in his eyes.
He had finally chased down Han Li, but instead of pouncing right away, he wasn't in a hurry to strike.
However, the elderly man didn't have much patience for an opponent with such a significantly inferior cultivation base, either.
He swept his spiritual sense through the surrounding area to confirm that there were no other beings or traps nearby, following which a sinister look appeared on his face, and he abruptly disappeared from within the soil.
In the next instant, an earthshattering boom erupted, and the tree stump that Han Li was standing on exploded as a pair of massive crimson hands shot forth from the soil down below in an attempt to grab at his legs.
However, Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this attack, and his body blurred without any premonition before he abruptly appeared over 100 feet away in a flash.
A cold harrumph rang out, and Han Li had only just reappeared when red light flashed before him, and the elderly man also revealed himself.
A ferocious light flashed through his eyes as he raised both arms up into the air in unison. Two crimson fist projections instantly appeared before hurtling toward Han Li, sending a scorching heatwave surging toward him.
This high-grade Jiao Chi being was also a simultaneous cultivator!
A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes as he reached out with an inky-black hand, pressing downward from above.
A small black shadow flew forth from his palm in a flash, then transformed into a small mountain that was several tens of feet tall before descending in a soundless manner, heading directly toward the red fist projections.
The elderly man's lips twitched upon seeing this, and instead of changing his attack, a derisive sneer appeared on his face.
He was fully aware of just how powerful those fist projections were, and that was something that Han Li would only come to realize in the instant before his death.
With that in mind, the elderly man activated his cultivation arts to an even greater extent, and the pair of fist projections instantly swelled to around twice their original size, making them comparable in size to human heads. Furthermore, the crimson light emanating from the surface of the fist projections also became extremely bright, illuminating the nearby air in a piercing red hue, and the scorching temperatures radiating from them was making the surrounding air completely twist and warp.
He was planning to use this pair of fist projections to shatter the Divine Essencefused Mountain.
A peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, the fist projection and the underside of the small black mountain clashed in a completely soundless manner.
The projections and the mountain tremored in unison before becoming completely motionless, as if they'd been captured in a stationary snapshot in time. However, a halo of grey and red light then appeared between the two before proliferating outward in all directions at an alarming rate.
Han Li felt his eardrums tremor as a doomsday-like burst of rumbling rang out. The tree stumps down below were all instantly reduced to sawdust upon making contact with this halo of light, and the earth tremored violently as a huge crater with a radius of several hundred feet and a depth of around 10 feet was blasted into the ground.
Han Li's heart jolted with shock as he hurriedly cast his gaze downward with blue light flashing through his eyes.
There, the Divine Essencefused Mountain remained completely motionless, but the pair of fist projections beneath it had been eradicated. A pair of mundane-looking human hands were currently resisting the small mountain with all their might, preventing it from crashing directly downward.
The owner of that pair of hands was none other than the elderly man.
At this moment, his arms were slightly bent, and his face was flushed in an unhealthy manner, but he truly had managed to keep the Divine Essencefused Mountain at bay with just his hands and his immense strength.