Chapter 1683: Sea Guardian Ape
The three of them flew for four days and four nights, encountering only a few islands along the way.
All of these islands had been taken over by other sea beasts, all of whom possessed extremely powerful auras.
Sea beasts of this caliber weren't powerful enough to scare the three of them away, but they were clearly far more powerful than the octopus beast, so even the three of them would've had some difficulty facing them.
As such, both Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun were quite relieved that they'd listened to Han Li's advice. Otherwise, they would've had to delay the cultivation of that secret technique after they'd found land.
However, land was clearly not that easy to find.
On the fifth morning, a faint black line finally appeared on the surface of the ocean in the distance, and all three of them were quite elated to see this.
"We've finally flown out of this accursed ocean," Shi Kun laughed heartily.
Liu Shui'er was also quite elated, but she cautioned, "You should still be on your guard, Fellow Daoist Shi. According to the experience of those who have come before us, land is far more dangerous here than the ocean. We may have found land, but it's best to withdraw our auras so we don't end up alerting any powerful ancient beasts to our presence."
"Don't worry, Fairy Liu, I do enjoy a good battle, but I'm well aware of my limitations," Shi Kun replied in a nonchalant manner.
Liu Shui'er was feeling slightly more reassured upon hearing this.
With Shi Kun's cultivation base and experience, she naturally shouldn't have to issue such a reminder, but Shi Kun seemed to enjoy battling a little too much, which was why she had been slightly concerned.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he was just about to say something as well when violent winds were suddenly swept up in the distance over the surface of the ocean. A cloud of murky white mist began to appear, and it was spreading at a rapid rate.
"What's that?" Han Li was rather taken aback by this sudden development.
Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun had naturally also witnessed the strange scenes unfolding up ahead, and they exchanged a slightly bewildered glance with one another.
Without the need for any further communication, all three of them stopped cold in their tracks before casting their eyes toward the distant shore.
Almost as the exact same moment, a loud cry rang out from the shore, and the sea of mist that was a few acres in size churned violently along with the ocean around it.
At the same time, an astonishing primordial aura erupted into the heavens from below the mist.
Immediately thereafter, a giant beast that was several times larger than even the giant octopus they'd slain surfaced from the ocean. This was a furry giant ape-like beast with a single horn on its head.
As soon as the beast flew out of the sea, it threw its head back and let loose an unbearably sharp cry.
As soon as Han Li's trio heard this loud cry, their expressions changed drastically, and spiritual light flashed from their bodies as they hurriedly conjured up thick light barriers to shield themselves within, then exchanged fearful glances with one another.
As soon as the sharp screech had reached their ears, their eardrums had been struck by a sharp pain. At the same time, the blood within their bodies began to churn violently, causing their limbs to experience an uncomfortable pins and needles sensation.
The three of them were naturally quite startled by this.
However, unbeknownst to them, this was only just the beginning.
In the next instant, the sharp screech emanating from the giant beast's mouth suddenly turned into a thunderous roar that caused the nearby air to tremor audibly.
Not only did the surrounding sea mist quickly disperse as a result of this almighty roar, countless vortexes of different sizes had been formed in the nearby seawater as well.
Countless fish of all types floated to the surface with their bellies facing the heavens, having been killed by the soundwaves from the sea beast's devastating roar.
All of a sudden, the surface of the ocean in a radius of around 50 kilometers was riddled with fish carcasses.
At this moment, the light barriers around the bodies of Han Li and the others began to tremor violently, as if they were being dealt heavy blows, and their expressions darkened significantly.
Liu Shui'er had turned completely pale, and her body was trembling involuntarily, looking as if she were going to plummet downward at any moment.
Shi Kun's body was as still as a mountain, but there were thick veins pulsing on his forehead, and his eyes were threatening to bulge out of their sockets, clearly indicating that he was going through extreme exertion.
Among the three of them, Han Li remained the least affected, and his face had only paled slightly.
Strangely enough, the thunderous roar was exerting an immense amount of pressure toward all three of them, but they were completely unable to move, as if their feet had been rooted to the spot.
The roar erupting from the giant beast's mouth grew louder and louder, and there were now even transparent soundwaves that were visible to the naked eye surging through the air.
After being swept through by these soundwaves, an indentation that was over 100 feet deep was blasted into the nearby surface of the ocean, thereby forming a massive water crater.
Waves that were several thousand feet tall instantly took shape before sweeping forth in all directions as if there was an immense force propelling them from behind.
Han Li and the others were situated several tens of kilometers away, but it still felt as if those waves were going to crash into them at any moment.
Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun were both very alarmed by this development, yet both of them were completely rooted to the spot.
The transparent soundwaves were less than 500 meters away from them after just a few flashes, and Shi Kun finally managed to open his mouth slightly. In doing so, he managed to utter a faint raspy sound, and yellow light began to flash from his body, but he was still completely unable to move.
Sweat began to pour down his forehead as horror appeared in his eyes, as well as in the eyes of Liu Shui'er.
Just as the transparent soundwaves were about to reach them, golden light suddenly flashed past Han Li's face, and he let loose a cold harrumph.
The harrumph wasn't very loud, but Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun both shuddered in response, following which spiritual light flashed from their bodies, and expressions of elation appeared on their faces.
Immediately thereafter, Shi Kun stomped a foot into the air and shot back as a streak of yellow light.
Meanwhile, Liu Shui'er made a hand seal, and her body blurred before she abruptly vanished on the spot.
When she reappeared, she was already over 1,000 feet away.
In just a few flashes, she had traveled close to 10 kilometers, even managing to outspeed Shi Kun in the process.
As for Han Li, he'd already sped away as a streak of golden light after letting loose that cold harrumph.
After all three of them had fled for close to 20 kilometers, all of them finally stopped in their tracks before turning back.
The transparent soundwaves that were surging toward them finally ran out of power a few kilometers away from them.
Unbeknownst to them, right after they'd regained their mobility, a vicious light flashed through the giant sea beast's eyes, and it cast a final glance at the direction they'd fled in before returning to the shore as if nothing had ever happened. Throughout this process, the almighty roar erupting from its mouth didn't cease for even a single moment.
"What kind of sea beast is this? Just its roar alone was enough to restrict our bodies and magic power. Could it be that this is a legendary true spirit Giant Mountain Ape?" Shi Kun said with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
Liu Shui'er seemed to have recovered some of her composure, and she said, "It can't be a Giant Mountain Ape. If it really were a true spirit being, then we would've perished to its roar already. Even so, this is not something that we can afford to mess with. I think it better matches the description of a Sea Guardian Ape."
"A Sea Guardian Ape! Is that the legendary ape that's supposedly able to tear wyrms apart with its bare hands and swallow holy race beings alive?" Shi Kun drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.
"That should be it. After all, the roar of the Sea Guardian Ape has been vastly renowned ever since ancient times. We were most likely only able to escape alive because it wasn't directly attacking us, and we were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time," Liu Shui'er mused with a wry smile.
"In that case, we really are very fortunate to have escaped with our lives. If it weren't for Brother Han saving us with that ability of his, the two of us would most likely be dead by now." Shi Kun suddenly cast his gaze toward Han Li with a peculiar look in his eyes.
His expression was also mirrored on Liu Shui'er's face as she said, "Indeed. I didn't think that Brother Han would possess an ability capable of nullifying the roar of a Sea Guardian Ape."
"It's nothing much; I just so happened to have cultivated some secret techniques that were able to provide some resistance against this beast's roar. Thankfully, we were quite far away, so we weren't afflicted by the full power of that roar. Otherwise, even I would've been in trouble as well," Han Li said in an indifferent manner.
Liu Shui'er and Shi Kun exchanged a skeptical glance upon hearing this.
After a brief pause, Liu Shui'er smiled, and said, "In any case, you saved me and Brother Shi. I'll have to repay you for that in the future."
"Indeed, I owe you a massive favor, Brother Han," Shi Kun also chimed in in agreement.
"There's no need to take this to heart, Fellow Daoists. This Vast Glacial Realm is fraught with peril; who knows how many beings just as or even more powerful than that Sea Guardian Ape exist here? It's quite likely that I'll also be needing you two to save my skin from time to time during this trip," Han lI replied with a smile.
"Fellow Daoist Han, you..." Liu Shui'er was just about to say something else when a strange long cry suddenly erupted in the distance alongside the thunderous roar. This was an extremely alluring cry, like the voice of an angel.
The three of them were quite startled to hear this, and their conversation immediately cut off as they cast their eyes toward the distance again.
From such a far distance away, even though the white mist had already been cleared by the soundwaves, they were still only able to catch an indistinct glimpse of what was happening.
There, they discovered that a massive purple bird was flying toward the giant ape from the opposite shore, and it was none other than that bird that was releasing the heavenly cry.
It was too far away for them to get an accurate gauge of the bird's size, but it appeared to be quite comparable in stature to the giant ape.
Furthermore, the bird was completely immune to the effects of the giant ape's roar, and was flying directly toward it.