Winds Stir Overseas — Flight and Pursuit

Chapter 561: Winds Stir Overseas — Flight and Pursuit

When he saw his flying swords prove ineffective against the two demon beasts, Han Li was naturally shocked at first. But upon further reflection, it seemed entirely normal.

Nine out of ten high-grade demon beasts specialized in cultivating their physical bodies. Some of the species that were naturally thick-skinned and sturdy could even train their demonic bodies to the point of directly clashing with a fellow cultivator’s magic treasure without taking damage.

Moreover, the lifespan of a demon beast was usually several times, or even dozens of times, that of an ordinary cultivator.

Thus, the higher the grade of the demon beast, the more time it had to train its physical body to a degree that left human cultivators utterly astonished.

This was why, below the Nascent Soul stage, cultivators could rely on their magic treasures and intelligence to slay grade-eight and below demon beasts. However, once a demon beast passed its transformation stage and its demonic body was largely complete, combined with its suddenly opened spiritual wisdom, it would instead gain the upper hand over a human cultivator of the same stage.

A flood dragon was a member of the scaled clan among the world’s spiritual beasts. A grade-eight flood dragon was already a match for an ordinary grade-nine beast, so its defenses would naturally not be low. As for the turtle demon before him, it was one of the most defensively powerful among all turtle species.

For Han Li’s flying swords, which he had only just begun to refine and had yet to unleash their full power, it was not at all surprising that they could do nothing to the two immobilized demon beasts.

If it had been a Nascent Soul old monster with a magic treasure that had been nurtured for centuries, the two immobile beasts would naturally have lost their lives.

Or, if it had been a Nascent Soul old monster lying helpless on the ground, Han Li could have easily slain him with his current flying swords. Of course, Man Brutal Beard, whose physical body had been refined to be nearly on par with a demon beast’s, would be an exception.

As for the Vajra Subduing Lightning, although it was incredibly effective against demonic techniques and evil arts, it had no special克制 effect against demon beasts. The lightning’s power originated from the Golden Lightning Bamboo itself, but given Han Li’s current cultivation level, he could only truly unleash ten or twenty percent of its might.

Understanding all this, Han Li felt no particular discouragement.

He knew very well that once he advanced to the Nascent Soul stage and spent over a hundred years exclusively nurturing the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, the power of his magic treasures would naturally skyrocket.

At that time, turning several flying swords into a giant sword to break through the two beasts’ demonic body defenses would absolutely not be a difficult task.

After all, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were top-grade magic treasures he had forged with tremendous effort. He had firm faith in their potential.

For now, Han Li could easily slay ordinary late Core Formation cultivators and even grade-seven ordinary demon beasts. But when facing Nascent Soul old monsters and grade-eight demon beasts, he did not dare to harbor any thoughts of a direct confrontation.

The Core Formation stage and the Nascent Soul stage were two completely different worlds!

These thoughts flashed through Han Li’s mind several times in an instant. He glanced down at the turtle demon beneath his feet and at Feng Xi, who was still enveloped in the white light on the other side. A few unusual expressions flickered across his face, shifting between dark and bright.

He asked himself that, aside from taking the risk of trying the Dry Blue Ice Flame, he had no way to destroy the two demon beasts in a short time.

But even so, Han Li estimated that the turtle demon would be manageable. However, against the Rift Wind Beast’s freakish protective treasure, the odds of successfully killing it were less than thirty percent.

Because he could not control the Dry Blue Ice Flame in the slightest, nor could he manipulate it to concentrate its power on the two beasts.

In that case, the actual effect of the ice flame would be greatly reduced.

What made Han Li even more hesitant was that he could release the ice flame but could not take it back. If he failed to destroy the Rift Wind Beast, this supreme treasure would simply be a gift to it, only to let the enemy’s power increase greatly.

If that were the case, it would be better to keep it for himself!

After forming his Nascent Soul and then refining this item, the Dry Blue Ice Flame would definitely become another trump card for him.

Han Li did not deliberate for long, nor did he have much time to waste.

The turtle demon was still fine, its body still puffed up. But the Rift Wind Beast’s lower abdomen was already more than half the size it had been at the start, and the grim shadow on its face was growing denser by the moment.

Seeing this, a chill rose in Han Li’s heart.

He estimated that before long, this beast would be able to completely suppress the medicinal power of the spirit liquid and regain the ability to move and use its mana.

So Han Li gritted his teeth. He bent down and ripped the storage pouch off the turtle demon at his feet, then kicked the immobile beast into the terrestrial fire pool without another glance.

After finding another storage pouch among the remnants of the Poison Flood Dragon, he put away the demon cores. His figure flickered, and he reappeared behind the Rift Wind Beast, kicking it into the churning terrestrial flames as well.

Then, without even looking at the two beasts’ predicament, Han Li transformed into a streak of azure light and fled at full speed.

He did not believe that, even if the two demon beasts were immensely powerful, he could not simply find an island to hide on. There was no way they could find him, right?

With a thunderous boom, Han Li blasted a large hole in the stone door, and his遁 light vanished without a trace.

The refining room fell into utter silence!

After an unknown amount of time, a howl of extreme venom and rage erupted from the terrestrial fire pool. A dazzling white streak shot out from the flames, tearing through the roof and the cave’s formation restrictions, disappearing in an instant.

The next moment, the white light appeared directly above the small island. It circled the area at a speed invisible to the naked eye before flying back to its original spot.

The light converged, revealing the form of Feng Xi, the grade-nine Rift Wind Beast.

His appearance seemed perfectly composed, as if he had been unharmed in the terrestrial fire. However, his teeth were clenched in fury, and one hand was still clutching the massive body of the turtle demon, which remained immobile.

The turtle demon lacked a protective treasure. Its entire body was scorched and charred, its hair and beard completely gone. It seemed it had suffered a bit in the terrestrial flames.

The Rift Wind Beast’s eyes flickered with white light as he swept his gaze around. After a moment of gloomy contemplation, a ferocious expression abruptly twisted his face.

Without a word, he formed a hand seal. White light flickered at his fingertip, and a flash of murderous intent crossed his face.

He locked onto a certain direction and transformed into a white streak, tearing through the air.

...

At the same time, more than ten thousand li away, Han Li—who was frantically fleeing using his blood-colored cloak—broke out in a cold sweat.

Just now, the Wind Spirit Restriction inside his body, which had been bound by the Vajra Subduing Lightning, suddenly stirred and began to act up, becoming somewhat unstable.

But fortunately, Han Li reacted quickly. He hurriedly cut off the spiritual power flowing into the cloak and used his pure spiritual power to forcibly suppress this abnormal change.

Having entered the late Core Formation stage, although Han Li could not yet control the blood-colored cloak with perfect ease, he could at least casually sever the forcibly channeled spiritual power.

This increased the battle treasure’s practicality by a notch.

At this moment, Han Li’s expression changed dramatically. He knew that the Rift Wind Beast had finally broken free.

Without a second thought, he immediately changed direction, frantically pouring spiritual power into the cloak to flee at top speed.

He had thoroughly infuriated this beast earlier. If he were caught, being cut into pieces and having his soul extracted and refined would be the least of his worries.

But what vexed Han Li was the fact that even separated by such a vast distance, the beast still had a way to manipulate the sealed Wind Spirit Restriction inside his body.

This caught Han Li completely off guard, and a wave of regret washed over him.

Perhaps, back in the refining room, it would have been the wiser choice to take the risk and sacrifice the Dry Blue Ice Bead.

But dwelling on it now was pointless. Han Li could only turn into a mass of blood light and flee without pause.

In the following period, sometimes two or three hours, sometimes the length of a meal, the Wind Spirit Restriction inside Han Li would inevitably flare up.

Although he managed to suppress it in time each instance, he would then have to immediately deviate from his escape path, fearing that the enemy would lock onto his position and catch up.

Han Li’s escape speed was far inferior to that of the Rift Wind Beast. But he always held the initiative, managing to put a great distance between them each time.

Yet afterward, relying on his感应 to the Wind Spirit Restriction, Feng Xi would relentlessly pursue and close the gap again.

And so it went. Han Li and the Rift Wind Beast chased each other in a one-behind-the-other game of hide-and-seek across the vast ocean for over a month.

Throughout his flight, Han Li was both terrified and deeply frustrated!

In order to avoid being pursued forever by the Rift Wind Beast, he naturally wanted to refine away the Wind Spirit Restriction inside his body.

But this thing was unbelievably stubborn. After a month of effort, Han Li saw no sign of it shrinking in the slightest. It was simply not something a Core Formation-stage cultivator could refine.

With no other choice, Han Li gave up on that idea and wholeheartedly devoted himself to escaping and concealing his presence.

However, there was one thing that puzzled Han Li. The Rift Wind Beast did not seem to use his detection technique very frequently. If he had, the beast would have been able to intercept him long ago.

This left Han Li somewhat baffled.

Unbeknownst to Han Li, several thousand li away, Feng Xi was nursing an equally vexed frustration.

It was not that he was unwilling to use his detection technique more often to pinpoint Han Li’s location. It was that his current situation was essentially the same as Han Li’s.

Although the beast had forced the foreign substance hidden within the spirit liquid into one place and temporarily wrapped it with his spiritual power, this substance would inevitably flare up at regular intervals.

He was forced to stop his pursuit to use his cultivation to suppress it.

Though he was confident that if he had time to sit in meditation, he could completely refine the substance, he was currently locked in a relentless pursuit of Han Li and had very little mana left, making it impossible to do so. He could only choke down a bellyful of resentment and furiously continue the chase.

As for the turtle demon, although it had long since recovered, Feng Xi found its escape speed too slow and simply left it behind to give chase alone first.

Beyond his fury, he was also greatly surprised by Han Li’s incredible escape speed.

He vaguely guessed that the other party must have some kind of speed-enhancing treasure.