Winds Stir Beyond the Seas – Escape

Chapter 604: Winds Stir Beyond the Seas – Escape

On a flat, massive boulder near the summit of Stormwind Mountain, a silver giant ape over ten zhang tall beat its chest and roared toward the sky. Beneath its enormous shadow stood Han Li and his companions.

Han Li stared silently at the heavens with a grave expression. The two women beside him were deathly pale, a trace of panic clear in their eyes.

Over a thousand Yin beasts of various sizes, all bearing fleshy wings, circled and swooped above the boulder. The largest were five or six zhang across, while the smallest were barely a foot long. Every single one was hideous and savage in appearance.

Yet these flying Yin beasts seemed to fear the fierce aura of the giant ape—the transformed manifestation of the Crying Soul Beast. For the moment, they did not dare to dive down, but neither did they show any sign of leaving. A stalemate had formed.

Han Li, however, felt no relief.

From the greedy, bloodthirsty eyes of these beasts, he could tell their patience was wearing thin. At any moment, they might lose their restraint and swarm down en masse.

Han Li silently cursed the fat elder who had provided him with情报. Though the man had mentioned the existence of flying Yin beasts above Stormwind Mountain, he had never said there would be so many. Whether he had deliberately concealed the truth or genuinely did not know, Han Li could not say.

They had only just passed through the misty region, letting out a brief sigh of relief, only to be immediately discovered by these flying Yin beasts and trapped here. Left with no choice, Han Li had released the Crying Soul Beast and commanded it to take its giant ape form.

He was naturally confident in the Crying Soul Beast's ability to counter Yin creatures. But the sheer number of beasts in the sky was overwhelming. Whether the Crying Soul Beast could handle so many at once, Han Li was not entirely sure.

Still, since things had come to this point, there was no use overthinking. He could only give it his all.

With this thought, Han Li turned and whispered a few words to Mei Ning and Zi Ling, whose faces were still pale. Then he retrieved a small red crossbow and a folded beast-hide soft shield from his bosom, handing one to each of them. He himself shook his sleeve, and a series of crisp clatters rang out as ten small flying swords fell to the ground.

A thin beast-tendon was attached to each sword, connecting to a finger of Han Li's hand, like a rope dart. But to manipulate ten such swords at once, as he was doing, was unprecedented.

Just as Han Li finished his preparations, the beasts in the sky finally exhausted their patience.

A three-headed Yin beast, the largest of them all, suddenly let out a strange screech. The dozen or so beasts closest to Han Li immediately folded their wings and dove down, no longer heeding the oppressive aura of the giant ape.

The great battle had begun.

At the same moment these beasts charged, the giant ape sucked in a deep breath through its nose, then clamped its mouth shut and forcefully expelled the air. A vast expanse of silver light rolled out from its massive nostrils, enveloping nearly all of the diving beasts. The flying Yin beasts immediately let out miserable shrieks within the silver light, tumbling and falling in all directions.

But two smaller beasts slipped through the net. Flapping their fleshy wings, they managed to avoid the silver light and lunged fiercely at Han Li and his companions from both sides.

With a thunderous boom, the giant ape casually threw a punch, sending one of the beasts flying several zhang away. It tumbled off the edge of the boulder and disappeared into the depths below.

The other beast, about five or six feet in size and resembling a vulture, seized the opportunity to reach the air above Han Li and the others, raising its sharp claws without the slightest hesitation.

Han Li's face darkened. He did not move from his spot, but his ten fingers twitched with incredible agility.

The ten flying swords sprang up, whistling as they transformed into a glinting, icy azure sword net that shot straight toward the beast above.

A shrill, miserable scream came from the beast's throat.

Even without infusing it with magical power, the sharpness of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords was not something this small beast could withstand. It was instantly torn to shreds, chunks of flesh and blood flying through the air. Han Li's form swayed slightly, but he still ended up splattered with some gore. He furrowed his brow briefly, then dismissed it.

Because another wave of beasts was already charging down from the sky.

This time, it was no longer a dozen or so, but over twenty, diving from all directions. Behind them, the remaining beasts looked eager to join in.

Han Li’s heart tightened. Without a moment's hesitation, he waved both hands, lengthening the beast-tendons by several feet. The azure sword net appeared once more, but this time its coverage had expanded significantly, shielding Mei Ning and Zi Ling as well.

Silver light, azure radiance, and miserable screams wove together…

……

Seven or eight days later, under the blazing midday sun, a stretch of murky, yellow-tinted sea lay silent. There were no waves, no sea breeze—everything seemed deathly still. It was as if no living thing existed here at all, a dead sea in truth.

But then, in one spot on the sea, the water churned. A plume of black mist suddenly surged up from the depths.

The ink-black fog spread rapidly, expanding to over a hundred zhang in the blink of an eye.

At that moment, a crash of thunder rang out. Within the mist, a silver light flashed. A ball of dazzling silver radiance appeared above the black fog, and within it, a bulky human figure could faintly be seen, with what appeared to be a pair of silver wings spread behind its back.

Before anyone could make out who it was, the silver light flickered violently a few times, then vanished. The next instant, it reappeared at the edge of the black mist.

In a continuous rumble of thunder, the figure within the silver light kept appearing and disappearing. In the blink of an eye, it had turned into a speck of light on the horizon, and then disappeared from sight entirely.

It looked very much like someone fleeing in panic.

The sea fell silent once more. Only the black mist continued to expand, and black arcs of electricity began to flicker silently within it.

……

A thousand li away from the black mist, the ball of silver light flickered and finally dimmed, clearly revealing the bulky figure inside. It was Han Li, holding Zi Ling in one arm and Mei Ning in the other, the three of them pressed closely together in what appeared to be an intimate embrace.

Han Li himself seemed fine, despite the warmth and fragrance of the women in his arms. His expression was calm. The two women, however, had faint blushes on their faces, making them look both pitiful and alluring.

“Alright. There’s no way the ghostly mist will spread this far. We’re finally out of that damned place.” After scanning his surroundings, Han Li’s expression relaxed. He then calmly released the two women from his embrace, displaying a rather gentlemanly demeanor.

“We truly owe this all to Fellow Daoist Han. If not for your remarkable escape technique, it’s hard to say whether we would have made it out of the Netherworld Domain.”

“Sister Zi Ling is right. If Brother Han hadn’t acted so quickly to help us, we might have been sucked back into the Netherworld Domain. We are truly grateful.”

As soon as they left Han Li’s embrace, Zi Ling and Mei Ning’s protective light immediately flared up. Floating beside Han Li, they repeatedly expressed their thanks.

Days earlier, after several close calls, the trio had finally relied on the Crying Soul Beast’s display of power to kill all the flying Yin beasts and scale the summit of Stormwind Mountain. While waiting for the rift to open at the peak, the two women had surprisingly hit it off, talking at great length, and soon sworn each other as sisters.

Han Li found this somewhat unexpected.

They had only waited a few days at the summit when a spatial rift over ten zhang wide appeared in the sky several hundred zhang above them. A vast amount of natural spiritual energy surged in from outside. Their abilities were instantly restored, and overjoyed, they immediately flew out.

But the moment they emerged from the rift, a tremendous pulling force appeared behind them, freezing them in place and threatening to drag them all back into the Netherworld Domain. Fortunately, Han Li reacted swiftly. He unfurled the Wind Lightning Wings on his back, and after a few flashes, he had one arm wrapped around each of the women, holding them tight. He then activated his Lightning Evasion Technique, instantly escaping the black mist and flying a great distance in one breath.

Faced with such a life-saving grace, the women’s words of gratitude to Han Li were genuinely heartfelt.

“Where is this place? It feels a bit strange… too quiet.” After the blush on her face faded, Zi Ling finally had a chance to scan the surrounding sea. Her delicate brows furrowed.

“Strange! It really is, just as Sister Zi Ling said. There’s not a trace of sea breeze, and the water is far too calm.” After looking around, Mei Ning also wore a puzzled expression.

Han Li did not say anything. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and released his spiritual sense, beginning to probe the depths of the sea nearby.

After a moment, Han Li was startled. A look of surprise appeared on his face.

“What is it, Brother Han? Did you find something? Why are there so few fish in the sea? And the ones that are here all look like fierce sea beasts, but not quite demon beasts.” Zi Ling, who had also probed with her spiritual sense, opened her beautiful eyes and spoke with surprise.

“Wait a moment!” Han Li took a deep breath. With a flick of his finger, a several-zhang-long azure streak of sword-light suddenly appeared, shooting straight down into the deep sea.

A moment later, under the astonished gazes of the two women, the corpse of a strange sea beast floated up to the surface.