Chapter 919: Forced Retreat
Soulfall Sand truly wasn’t an ordinary treasure. Master Wild Sand had to secretly kill many low-grade cultivators, using their primal souls, large quantities of materials, and over a hundred years of strenuous effort in order to refine it so that it could corrupt other magic treasures.
Whenever he encountered an enemy in the past, he would simply released the Soulfall Sand and caused his opponent’s treasures to suffer a great loss in power. This was effective in many occasions, eventually earning him the grand title of “Master Wild Sand.” He was considered amongst the most illustrious figures of the Heretical Daoists.
One of the main reasons of why he dared to provoke the illustrious evil cultivator King Glorious Blaze was his confidence in the Soulfall Sand.
But now, this unknown cultivator entered the formation and was able to easily dissolve it without the slightest harm to himself or his spirit beast. As a result, Master Wild Sand no longer dared to use the Soulfall Sand to attack them and hastily withdrew it with an incantation gesture. Then, he began to hesitate on what he should do next.
At that moment, Lord Heavenwind revealed his original appearance with a shriveled black face and small eyes, saying, “Brother Wild Sand, don’t you have the Bluecrystal Heavensand? Use it to deal with that person. Although we don’t know what that huge ape is, it seems to only be capable of restraining Yin Qi and soul ghosts. It shouldn’t have any power over a pure Daoist treasure like the Bluecrystal Heavensand. So long as we manage to kill this person, we will be able to advance our original plan.”
For this plan, the two had spent a great amount of effort in order for this to succeed. They were unwilling for their plan to fail at the very last stage.
Master Wild Sand strongly shook his head and said, “The Bluecrystal Heavensand was something I spent quite some effort acquiring. Because of my deep relationship with Madam Heavenstone, she allowed me to borrow it, but I had to repeatedly swear I would only use the treasure to protect myself. If anything happened to even a single grain of it, it would be difficult to explain.”
“But the cultivator before us has incisive techniques and treasures,” Lord Heavenwind said anxiously, “If we don’t use it, we won’t be able to block him. All of our previous efforts will be for nothing. Let alone the other treasures, we absolutely must acquire the old devil’s Heavenly Corpse Pearl! It is a rare body cultivation treasure and is crucial for us to break through to the next layer of cultivation!”
Master Wild Sand snorted and said, “The Heavenly Corpse Pearl is important, but so is the Bluecrystal Heavensand! This sand isn’t something that can be repeatedly used. After a single use, I will have nothing left. Madam Heavenstone might be close to me, but I won’t be able to acquire heavensand a second time. Additionally, this person’s abilities are deep and immeasurable. It might not be able to defeat him. If he manages to endure the attack, then matters will become even worse.”
“But...” Although Lord Heavenwind felt that his words made sense, he was still unwilling to give up. Just as he thought to further persuade him, a fiery light suddenly streaked across the sky and flew a circle above the cloud before flying into Master Wild Sand’s hands.
“This is...” Master Wildsand looked at the sound transmission talisman with surprise and sank his spiritual sense into it without any further hesitation.
Soon, his face turned sullen and he waved his hand, extinguishing the talisman.
“Let’s go!” Master Wild Sand coldly shouted. “Even the Bluecrystal Heavensand won’t be able to do anything now. Those useless Earthfiends and Devilwind Seeds were broken through by the corpse soldiers under control of that concubine Jadeflower, and she’s sent large numbers of high-grade spirit corpses in this direction. It will be dangerous if we stay here any longer.”
Lord Heavenwind’s plans were completely stifled and could only helplessly follow.
The two hastily cast incantation gestures and flew alongside the cloud of black sand as it gathered together in the sky before taking off into the distance. During that entire time, neither Lord Heavenwind and Master Wild Sand had made another appearance.
As Han Li stood on the shoulders of the huge ape, he stared in the distance with a cold expression.
As his time was limited, he would’ve released the Heavenvoid Cauldron if the battle showed no signs of coming to an end. Given how the cauldron sealed the Endless Sky Saintess’ spirit sand, dealing with this cloud of sand shouldn’t have been a problem, but the main cause for concern was that the Heavenvoid Cauldron was a Divine Spirit Treasure. Although few cultivators outside of the Scattered Star Seas should recognize it, he was unwilling to reveal it to others; else if someone were to realize what it was, there would be no end to the trouble ahead of him.
When King Glorious Blaze saw that Master Wild Sand and Lord Heavenwind make a complete retreat, he felt great relief. However, the corpse flames on his body remained ablaze as he saluted Han Li, saying, “Fellow Daoist’s abilities are vast. You were actually able to break through the Soulfall Sand. It was an eye-opening experience. I must thank you for the kindness of saving my life.”
When Han Li heard this, he shot an appraising glance on the ten thousand year old corpse monarch and wore an expression of indifference.
The mist of sand had quickly retreated, but the corpse monarch’s condition was far from good; the spiritual Qi released from his body was less than half of his original state. It appeared that spitting out his corpse flames to block the Soulfall Sand while he was heavily injured came at the great cost of vitality.
Although King Glorious Blaze was an unordinary cultivator, with his heavy injuries and Han Li’s recent display of power, he couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart as he grew more wary, fearing that Han Li would turn to attack him while he was weakened.
As for the huge ape underneath Han Li, it stood in place with half-closed eyes ever since the mist of sand left, as if it were savoring the feeling of the large quantities of black sand in its stomach.
At that moment, Han Li immediately sensed King Glorious Blaze’s hostile gaze and met his stare. Then, the Weeping Soul Beast opened its mouth and clicked its tongue at King Glorious Blaze, looking at him as if he were something tasty.
King Glorious Blaze felt his blood run cold at the sight of this. After seeing the ape easily swept away the Soulfall Sand and realizing how fearsome it was, he felt a faint sense of dread. He guessed that the beast was a natural nemesis of his nature and inwardly cursed as a result.
When Han Li had examined him, he sensed a corpse Qi that was present in the vajra barrier, and from his name “King Glorious Blaze”, Han Li managed to piece together his identity.
The refined corpse that Jin Yuan had mentioned was actually the corpse monarch before him.
But after forcefully using the Great Development Technique to clear his mind, Han Li pondered about how time he had left until the Soullock Seal took effect once more, the possible secret techniques that King Glorious Blaze still possessed, and the abilities he revealed in his recent display of strength. He would no longer be able to catch him off-guard, and even with the assistance of the Weeping Soul Beast, his odds of slaying him in the short time he had left wasn’t very high.
After a moment of deliberation, Han Li forcefully stifled his killing intent, but since he ended up saving him in passing, he wasn’t about to allow this opportunity to pass him by. Breaking the tense atmosphere, Han Li’s expression relaxed and he slowly said, “Although my show of force was a result of their own actions, I did end up saving your life. Didn’t you say you were going to compensate me? I am quite interested in how you’re going to do that.”
Han Li didn’t believe himself to be an upright man of honor, and with the baleful Qi backlash coming closer each day, he wasn’t about to spare this gravely injured corpse monarch.
King Glorious Blaze relaxed upon hearing this and chuckled, “I don’t have much on me. Only a few spirit stones and other materials. If it is to your liking, we can return to my cave residence and I’ll be sure to pay you in full.”
After staring at him for a while, Han Li calmly said, “There is no need to trouble you so much. However, I have taken a liking to your golden pearl. Would you be able to gift it to me?”
King Glorious Blaze’s expression grew sullen, but after he looked at the huge ape, he forced a smile and said, “Do you mean this item?” Then he opened his mouth and spat out the golden pearl.
Han Li indifferently nodded upon seeing it.
“This item is called a Heavenly Corpse Pearl. It is a treasure that is formed after a corpse monarch refines the Heavenly Corpse Arts. This isn’t something that can be easily revealed to others. If I guessed correctly, the two demons of Fangjian Mountain were most likely going after this item.” King Glorious Blaze blinked and then smiled before pointing at the golden pearl in front of him, saying, “However, the pearl is no longer useful to me, so you can go ahead and take it.”
To Han Li’s surprise, the pearl shot towards him and he reached out towards it, catching it in midair with the sudden appearance of a large azure hand.
The old devil had simply given him the pearl?
Han Li wrapped in the pearl in azure light and examined it with narrow eyes, finding there to be nothing wrong with it.
When he mentioned this item, he intended only to haggle and see what King Glorious Blaze could give him. This sudden turn of events left him bewildered.