Blood Sea Siege

In the blink of an eye, Han Li’s white light and the blood cloud behind him had chased each other for over a hundred li, but the distance between them had already been closed by more than ten zhang.

As Han Li inwardly complained of his bitter luck, he was unaware that Wang Chan, commanding the blood cloud behind him, was equally astonished.

He knew that the blood escape technique of the Blood Spirit Grand Art, while not daring to claim the top spot among the Six Sects, was absolutely among the top five in speed among their secret techniques—far faster than an ordinary top-grade flying artifact. Yet now, under his full-power flight, he was momentarily unable to catch up with Han Li, who was fleeing on his small boat. This unexpected turn only deepened Wang Chan’s killing intent.

Han Li knew that if he kept running like this, within less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, he would surely be overtaken. He had to do something.

So his hand reached into his storage pouch and pulled out a stack of low-grade Continuous Fireball Talismans. He paused slightly in his flight, hurled several of them backwards without a second thought, then continued his desperate escape. The moment he did, a series of rumbling explosions sounded from behind.

Unable to resist, Han Li turned his head to look back.

The leading edge of the surging blood cloud seemed to have been scattered somewhat, thinned out, faintly revealing the form of the Ghost Spirit Sect’s young master.

A flicker of joy stirred in Han Li’s heart. He was about to activate the remaining talismans when Wang Chan, within the blood cloud, suddenly raised his hand. A green light, growing from small to large, shot straight toward Han Li—it was the flying fork artifact Wang Chan had been standing on earlier.

Left with no choice, Han Li redirected the talismans from the blood cloud toward the green fork. The explosions of twenty or thirty linked fireballs sent the black-qi-covered giant fork tumbling several times in the air, preventing it from getting close to him for the moment.

But in that brief delay, the blood cloud opposite had already restored its original form, once again raging and writhing with furious flames.

Just then, Wang Chan suddenly let out several piercing shrieks that shot into the sky. With these sky-rending cries, the blood cloud swelled abruptly, spreading across the sky in an instant, as if to blot out the sun itself.

Then the surging blood cloud’s speed increased severalfold. Like a crashing wave, it surged from behind to the front of the Divine Wind Boat, rapidly spreading and instantly trapping Han Li, man and artifact alike, in the middle of the air.

Startled, Han Li hurriedly stopped the Divine Wind Boat just before it collided with the blood cloud, and from his storage pouch he pulled a pair of pitch-black claw-like artifacts. At that moment, the eerie green fork quietly struck again from behind.

“Go!”

Han Li, as if with eyes in the back of his head, barked and hurled the pair of artifacts backward. The moment they left his hand, the claws transformed into zhang-sized shapes, viciously grabbing at the incoming green fork.

The green fork, not to be outdone, released several streams of black qi from its prongs, which swiftly wrapped around the giant claws layer after layer, seemingly about to immobilize them completely.

Seeing this, Han Li formed a hand seal. The pair of giant claws suddenly swelled with black light several feet long, slashing violently. In a few strokes, they tore the surrounding black qi to shreds, preventing it from solidifying.

“Not bad! Not bad! Truly not an ordinary top-grade artifact, to so easily break the Yin Soul Threads on this Green Yin Fork. It seems I wasn’t wrong to come myself!” Wang Chan’s voice echoed ethereally from outside the blood cloud. At the same time, the green fork let out a mournful hum before retreating into the blood cloud and vanishing without a trace.

Han Li also recalled the pair of top-grade Black Flood Dragon Claw artifacts, the Black Flood Dragon Claws, to his front, warily scanning his surroundings.

He was now completely encased in the sky-obscuring blood sea, with no gap left to escape. The air was filled with a nauseating stench of blood.

It seemed he would have to use force to open a path if he wanted to break free. Thinking this, Han Li was about to release the Black Flood Dragon Claws again.

But before he could act, the blood cloud before him suddenly churned. Then, two zhang-sized, gaudily-clawed, blood-red monsters leaped out. These monsters had short horns and trailing pointed tails, their eyes as red as Wang Chan’s. Brandishing their sharp claws, they charged at Han Li.

“What are these?”

It was the first time Han Li had seen such demonic creatures. Their appearance was eerily similar to the legendary little ghosts, which sent a chill down his spine. Hurriedly, he released the Black Flood Dragon Claws, grabbing one in each claw and easily tearing them to pieces. The fragments reverted to blood cloud and returned to their place.

Han Li relaxed slightly. So they weren’t that hard to deal with after all.

But before this thought had even fully formed, Wang Chan’s mocking voice came from all directions.

“Heh heh! Sir, don’t relax too soon! The blood ghosts of my Blood Spirit Grand Art aren’t so easily dismissed. The real show is just beginning!”

Hearing this, Han Li’s heart sank.

But his mind was as firm as rock, and he was not easily swayed by the other’s words. Ignoring everything else, he spun his artifacts and struck fiercely at the blood cloud. The result was that the Black Flood Dragon Claws, upon contact with the blood cloud, easily sank into it.

A flicker of joy rose in Han Li’s heart, but in the next instant, the pair of Black Flood Dragon Claws became sluggish, swaying as if on the verge of losing control. Startled, Han Li hurriedly exerted full force to recall the artifacts, managing just before they were completely lost to pull them back out of the blood cloud and return them to his side.

“Eh! Your artifact is not very afraid of my blood’s corruption. This young master wants it even more!”

Wang Chan first let out a faint sound of surprise, then made no effort to hide his greed.

At the same time, the blood cloud surged and roiled in all directions, and from within it crawled out one blood ghost after another, scrambling eagerly toward Han Li.

With a wooden expression on his face, Han Li wielded the Black Flood Dragon Claws so tightly that not a drop of wind could pass through. Any blood ghost that charged at him was instantly cut to pieces and reverted to blood cloud.

After Han Li had killed over a hundred blood ghosts in a row, and saw that ghostly creatures from every direction were still emerging endlessly, he sighed inwardly. As expected, the worst-case scenario had arrived: these monsters were inexhaustible. Kill one, and another would be born from the blood cloud, maintaining a constant count of around thirty.

It seemed the Ghost Spirit Sect’s young master intended to drain him to death here.

Thinking this, Han Li naturally refused to continue like this.

He slapped his storage pouch and pulled out several stacks of low-grade, mid-to-low-tier talismans—seventy or eighty sheets in total. Then, in one breath, he hurled them all at one side of the blood cloud. Fireballs, ice cones, and the like flew headlong in that direction, and Han Li himself followed up with several swift-cast Fire Snake spells.

After seeing that the Continuous Fireball spell could slightly disperse these blood mists, Han Li had secretly noted it. Now he was pinning his hopes on these spells to help open a path.

“Dream on!”

Wang Chan muttered darkly. The fact that Han Li carried so many talismans was truly beyond his expectations. After all, aside from the upper-grade ones, low-grade talismans were of little use to Foundation Establishment cultivators.

But this Ghost Spirit Sect young master, though proud and arrogant, truly did not dare to let his blood mist withstand these spells head-on. His Blood Spirit Grand Art had only been trained to the second layer; it couldn’t withstand such a savage bombardment of spells. As for artifact attacks, he wasn’t very afraid of them, given the blood mist’s corruptive properties.

With Wang Chan’s shout, several black skulls suddenly emerged from the blood cloud before the spells arrived. They simultaneously opened their mouths, spewing streams of black qi that immediately blocked the spells now before them. After a fierce bombardment, apart from the skulls shaking a few times, the blood cloud behind them remained utterly unmoved.

Han Li’s expression darkened. He couldn’t help but glance at the other directions. But before he could act, black skulls surfaced from the blood cloud in those directions as well. At the same time, Wang Chan’s cold laugh came through:

“You think there’s still a chance for a break? Be a good meal for the blood ghosts! I truly want to see you being devoured alive by them. I imagine the bloody scene will be absolutely wonderful. I can hardly wait to watch it!”

The Ghost Spirit Sect young master’s wild laughter rang out again, its madness unmistakable.

“A madman.”

Muttering to himself while driving the Black Flood Dragon Claws to deal with the newly formed blood ghosts, Han Li broke out in a cold sweat as he frantically thought of a countermeasure.

By now, he had already taken out a medium-grade spirit stone and held it in his hand, beginning to replenish his mana. After all, this endless slaughter of blood ghosts was truly taking a toll on him, a mere early Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Meanwhile, Wang Chan was sitting cross-legged at the very peak of the blood mist, continuously forming hand seals to spawn one blood ghost after another, feeling extremely pleased.

This Yellow Maple Valley cultivator, though low in mana, had some rather peculiar artifacts on him that looked quite impressive. Thinking about how his collection would gain a few more fine items after this battle, he couldn’t help but feel a slight smugness, and even the bloodthirsty madness in his heart seemed to abate somewhat.

Suddenly, a “bang” sounded from within the blood cloud, and a blast of green-red mist appeared. In the blink of an eye, it enveloped Han Li’s form, slowly spreading outward. Soon, it had also wrapped around the blood ghosts and intermingled with the nearby blood cloud.

Wang Chan was startled at first, but then he noticed that wherever this green-red mist touched his blood cloud, it was immediately absorbed into it. He relaxed.

Although the mist was constantly being absorbed by the blood cloud, it showed no sign of thinning even after a while. The thick green-red fog prevented the Ghost Spirit Sect’s young master from seeing clearly what Han Li was doing, which aroused his suspicion.