The Black Spirit leader wore an expression of disbelief. He shouted and grabbed the arm in his chest.
A cold glint then flashed from Han Li’s eyes and golden light brightly shined from his arm. A meter-long sword then strangely appeared from his hand.
A flash of swordlight flickered, followed by a metallic ring.
Not only did the Black Spirit leader’s arm fall off, but his body had been sliced in two by the sword light. Only a crystal core and a ball of green flames appeared from the bisected body; his soul had been destroyed by the swordlight.
The other Black Spirit holy disciples turned pale with fright. Their leader was a high spirit general grade being. In regards to cultivation and abilities, he was unrivaled. How could the Tian Peng holy disciple slay him in a single strike?
Soon, four of the Black Spirit holy disciples let out furious shouts and they aggressively dived towards Han Li in the form of large black crows. As for the remaining two, they wordlessly exchanged a glance and withdrew their feathers, immediately taking off to the distance in black streaks of light.
Han Li smirked and thunder rang from his back as he disappeared in a flash of lightning.
The large black birds were startled by this and couldn't help but stop.
In that brief delay, azure light flashed and the image of a winged figure appeared underneath one of the black crows.
Before the crow could take action, the figure’s arm moved and released a glaring flash of golden light.
The crow was startled, but its body immediately felt a chill before it was split into two. The two corpse halves rained blood into the air as it fell.
The figure underneath blurred and strangely vanished once again. Soon after, it appeared near another golden crow and waved its hand, releasing another streak of swordlight.
The crow was similarly cut down faster than the speed of sound. Its iron-like feathers weren’t able to stop the attack in the slightest.
As such, Han Li’s figure continued to flicker with ghost-like agility several more times, before he clearly stopped in midair. The remaining four Black Spirit disciples were cleanly massacred.
However, Han Li didn’t stop there. He glanced at the two Black Spirit disciples a hundred meters away and expressionlessly spread his wings, tearing through the air in a white streak.
Air shrieked as he cut through it!
With formidable speed, he only traveled for thirty meters before blurring and disappearing into a thin white line.
The line then strangely wrapped and disappeared into space.
Behind one of the desperately fleeing Black Spirit disciples, a white-azure line appeared along with a fluctuation of space.
In a blur, the line pierced through their body, quickly circled around it, and released a golden flash.
By the time the Black Spirit disciple was separated into eight pieces, the white line wrapped and disappeared once more.
Soon, azure-white light brightly flashed from above the remaining Black Spirit Tribe disciples. In a blur, Han Li came into full view. His hand silently blurred, turning the small golden sword in his hand into dense sword light.
In a flicker of golden swordlight, it cleaved into the head of the being below.
Horrified, the Black Spirit disciple simply folded his wings and slapped the top of his head.
As black light flashed from his wings, their feathers turned into countless arrows, filling the air in the dense barrage. Then, a black wooden shield appeared from his skull and turned into a black cloud as it faced the golden sword light.
Regardless, the shield was unable to withstand the incisiveness of his Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
Golden light flashed and the black cloud was split into two along with the Black Spirit disciple’s body.
As for the black feather arrows, they were blocked in midair by a grey mist.
When the grey light swept past them, the arrows disappeared, leaving Han Li completely unharmed.
Han Li looked at the corpses with a raised brow as if something came to mind and he reached out to them.
With a rustle, a foot-long black feather flew out from one of the corpses and into his hand.
Han Li stroked the feather in his hand as he observed them.
The pitch-black feather glowed and traces of gold faintly shined from them. With a slight shake, black talisman characters appeared from them and they turned into balls of black flame, releasing a scorched scent into the air.
Han Li revealed interest and black light flashed from his hand.
As for the corpses, they were each given a fireball and turned to ash.
Han Li circled the air at a low height, collecting all of the black feathers from the corpses and took them into his hand.
In an azure flash, Han Li returned to the others in a fierce streak.
“Let’s continue!” Han Li said as if nothing had happened.
Lei Lan and the others had pale complexions but they obediently nodded nonetheless.
Half a day later, Han Li arrived in the air of an unfamiliar land. Not far from him was a short dense forest. Most of the threes in the forest were only a bit over ten meters tall, but their leaves were a sickly yellow and released a putrid scent.
When the party stopped at the edge of the dense forest, Han Li stood in front and silently observed the forest with a sullen expression.
Bai Bi and the others didn’t know what he was thinking. They simply stood ten meters behind him, not daring to stand at his side. They all viewed Han Li with traces of awe.
To tell the truth, ever since Han Li easily killed the seven Black Spirit holy disciples, they realized how truly powerful Han Li was.
Perhaps even the legendary Sevenpass Race’s Ao Qing and the Nan Long Race’s Fei Ye couldn't rival him.
Therefore as they continued on their way, Lei Lan and the others spoke to Han Li with an unconscious tone of reverence as if Han Li was one of their clan seniors.
With a powerful companion like Han Li, they shouldn’t have much trouble passing the trial.
Han Li eventually said with a soft voice, “If I’m correct, this is the Rotten Leaf Forest. It is the place most concentrated with filthy Qi on the second level. Our luck is good to have come here. Although our chances aren’t high, we can acquire Infernal Flame Fruits here. Do you plan on spending some time to find them here, or will you rush to the Myriad Vine Path?”
The three hesitantly exchanged a glance and Bai Bi respectfully replied, “Brother Han, The Rotten Leaf Forest isn’t very large. Although our spiritual senses are restricted, we’ll be able to search through it in only half a day.”
Feeling that there was no problem, Han Li nodded and said, “Oh, I understand. Half a day’s time isn’t much. We’ll stop here for the time being.”
Lei Lan and the others were happy to hear this.
If they could find the Infernal Flame Fruits here, they wouldn’t have to risk looking for them in the third level.
The three had a quick discussion and Qin Xiao shook her sleeve, summoning a dozen more lizard puppets. She had them spread out to various parts of the rest before disappearing.
Ll and Bai Bi were also making their own preparations.
Lei Lan raised her head and summoned a white jade box. She muttered to it a moment and its lid flew off to reveal tens of inch-long butterflies. They flickered with silver light and flew off.
Bai Bi’s wings trembled and a dozen small golden snakes shot out from his body. They burrowed into the ground with a flicker.
Following that, the three sat down cross-legged in the air, controlling their puppets and insects to search through the forest.
Han Li floated motionlessly in the air, completely separating himself from the matter.
Time slowly passed by.
Hours later, Lei Lan and the others searched through most of the forest but to no avail.
But after consuming so much spiritual sense in the search, their complexions had turned faintly pale.
Han Li held his arms behind his back and he frowned. He looked at the horizon with a trace of shock.
At that moment, he sensed a powerful aura, but it quickly flickered and disappeared, causing him to doubt his senses.
His eyes flickered. Just as he thought to examine this more closely, Lei Lan cried out in alarm and delight.
Han Li tossed the matter to the back of his mind and turned around in surprise, “What? Did you truly find the Infernal Flame Fruits?”
Lei Lan’s beautiful eyes lit up and she excitedly said, “That’s right. I’ve truly found an Abyss Fruit Tree. Furthermore, it has six fruits. Most of them seem ripe.”
Bai Bi’s heartbeat quickened. Unable to further control his butterflies, he asked, “Junior Martial Sister Lei, are you sure?”
“That’s right, the earth abyss has many fruits that appear similar to Infernal Flame Fruits. Junior Sister Lei, let me have a look,” Qin Xiao spoke with a trembling voice.
The woman also was distracted from using her puppets.
Lei Lan shook her head and confidently said, “I can’t be wrong. Although this is the first time I’ve seen it, both the tree and fruit are exactly as described.”
Han Li calmly said, “Very good, let’s go verify it. If there is no problem, we won’t have to head to the third level.”
Originally, one could find the fruit on the second level, but the odds weren’t very high. It wasn’t an impossible outcome.
“Yes, let’s head over.” Lei Lan happily answered. She quickly stood up.
The other two also stood up. Although they were trying to appear calm, their excitement was betrayed by their eyes.
With Lei Lan leading the way, the party flew at full speed. A quarter-hour later, they arrived at a deep part of the forest covered in grey Qi.
Lei Lan pointed down and said, “It’s here. There is a pond nearby and the Infernal Flame Fruits are growing at the side of the pond.”