Chapter 443: Ghost King (5)
Despite being startled by this strange transformation, Han Li took a quick glance behind him and sneered at the sight.
A majority of the grey ghost shadow had already been devoured, and the last third of its ruined body was already on the verge of being consumed. He reckoned that if it were to now escape, its origin Qi would be immensely damaged, rendering it incapable of further attacking.
The Gold Devouring Beetles truly deserved its high ranking among exotic insects. Regardless of whether they were devouring spiritual Qi or Yin ghosts, they were immensely vicious. But, they were slightly slower when they were devouring the latter.
As Han Li thought this, the man-faced tiger abomination was at a loss for a short moment before revealing pleasant surprise at being awakened. It looked at Han Li, the ghost shadow being devoured behind him, and then looked at his own body.
It started laughing with an extremely hoarse voice and a freakish smile. The laughter gradually grew louder and continued as if there were no end. The nearby ghost mist eventually started roll from the laugh's vibrations.
Han Li didn't seem to mind this and only focused his cold eyes on the tiger abomination's movements. But after a short moment, Han Li's face grew pale, and his expression became grave.
The tiger abomination's weird laughter not only continued to become louder, but it also became more resounding and increasingly filled with Qi. Even after using the Great Development Technique to guard his mind, he felt dizzy as if countless claps of thunder roared past his ears.
'Not good!' As Han Li was carefully observing him, he seemed to have recalled something and his expression greatly changed.
Han Li hastily turned his head to find an alarming scene. The grey ghost shadow had unexpectedly disappeared without a trace, and his thousands of Gold Devouring Beetles were powerlessly lying on the ground, occasionally flapping their wings. They no longer had the vigor to continue devouring ghosts.
In his annoyance, Han Li hastily took out several spirit beast pouches and quickly stored the incapacitated Gold Devouring Beetles into them. While still enduring the deafening laughter, he turned his head to look at the others' fight.
He was initially astonished by what he saw, but soon grew relieved.
Fairy Violet Spirit and that black-robed man were in a fierce battle against the phantoms. Although the black-robed man's cultivation was far superior to the ghosts, he didn't have an overwhelming advantage due to the nature of his techniques and his greatly weakened magic treasure.
As for Fairy Violet Spirit, she had concealed herself away in a glow of radiance by using a stone tablet and was only attempting to defend herself.
Han Li was slightly baffled when the two were unaffected by the strange laughter. But after some consideration, Han Li realized why.
It seemed that the power of two-headed abomination's strange laughter was limited to a small area. As a result, it was able to produce an astonishing power that his incredibly durable Gold Devouring Beetles were incapable of tolerating, causing them to fall off the grey ghost shadow.
Although these exotic insects have yet to reached their full potential, the might of the strange light could clearly be seen.
Were it not for the soul concentrating effect of the Great Development Technique, he feared he would've also become incapacitated to the strange laughter, only to await death.
The more he thought of it, the more he became aghast. Han Li had already determined that despite not being at Nascent Soul stage, it was definitely no weaker than a late Core Formation cultivator. Han Li suspected that this being was the a so-called ghost king.
At that moment, the abomination seemed to notice that the strange laughter had no effect on Han Li, who has still steadily standing. It eventually stopped and eerily stared at Han Li with its two heads.
Han Li felt uneasy upon looking at it, but he narrowed his eyes and boldly met its gaze.
At that moment, the badly damaged grey shadow appeared behind the abomination and shot straight towards the two headed abomination without any signs of stopping.
Han Li was at a loss from the sight, and his gaze continuously shifted.
'The ghost shadow had already transformed. Why wasn't it hiding from a distance? Why did it come back?'
While Han Li was bewildered, he saw something he was incapable of imagining. The eyes of the abomination strangely glinted and it grabbed hold of the grey ghost shadow. The black tiger head then widely opened its mouth and quickly swallowed down the grey shadow.
Han Li watched with complete astonishment. But what occurred next immediately dispeled Han Li's doubts.
As the abomination roared to the sky, another protrusion appeared at its neck. It emerged to revealed a tiger head with a grey human face. The face of the third tiger head resembled that of an average woman.
After a moment of shock, Han Li quickly restored his calm expression.
After the grey tiger head appeared, it narrowed its eyes, and its face became deathly pale as if it were heavily injured. But not long after, it opened its blood-red eyes and stared at Han Li with an expression of deep resentment. When Han Li saw this, he felt goosebumps appear on his body, and he felt his heart tremble.
At this moment, the head with the man's face at the center let out a fierce hiss. Afterwards, the abomination started to fearlessly approach Han Li in large strides.
A black light flashed from its body with every step, causing its body to swell. After about a dozen steps, the abomination was as tall as a three story building. The sight caused Han Li to blanch.
Without taking the time to think, Han Li waved his arms, summoning over a hundred huge ape puppets around him. The puppets simultaneously opened their mouths and densely filled the sky with beams of various colored light.
Han Li then pointed the huge azure sword, having it join the assault as a long blur of frightening speed and astonishing pressure.
When the three headed abomination saw this, the middle head revealed a trace of astonishment, but it soon sneered.
The left and right head widely opened their mouths. While the pure tiger head began spouting out orbs of black light, the grey woman's head filled the entire area of wisps grey ghost flames.
The combined attack of the flame wisps and light orbs managed to forcibly block the many light beams. Although a few of the beams managed to pierce through, the few staggered light beams were completely ineffective.
Han Li unconsciously frowned. With a cold glint from his eyes, he suddenly casted a sword incantation seal. Shining with even brighter radiance, the azure streak traveled with increased speed.
Under the cover of the huge ape puppet's attacks, the huge sword instantly pierced through the flame wisps and light orb with unchallenged momentum. It flew around the waist of the beast and attempted to slash through it with a flash of brilliance.
But what Han Li saw next left him at a loss for words.
The three heads of the abomination simultaneously released a bizarre roar and swiped its two claws at a speed Han Li couldn't perceive, resulting in the huge sword being trapped in its grasp.
The two hairy tiger claws seemed unaffected by the sharpness of the swordlight. Although the sword continuously swayed in its grasp, it was unable to break free. Han Li was unsure as of what to do.
Although the Bamboo Cloudsword wasn't refined for long and didn't contain much power, it was inconceivable for it to be caught with mere claws. Could it be that their claws had been refined into a magic treasure?
Han Li's thoughts went off on a tangent.
When the abomination had restrained Han Li's flying swords, the three heads revealed a malicious expression. The middle head smiled sinisterly before opening its mouth and releasing a dense, black Yin Qi towards the struggling flying sword, gradually whittling away the intensity of its light.
Han Li's heart dropped upon seeing this.
The abomination's methods were ruthless, and its cultivation was immense. If he were to drag this on, this would not end well. He had to brave the risk and end this as soon as possible!
With that thought, Han Li couldn't help but turn his head towards the other group. The black-robed man and Fairy Violet Spirit were completely focussing their attention on fighting the demon beasts and had no time to look in Han Li's direction.
With that, a strange expression flickered through Han Li's eyes, and he slowly turned his head back.
The abomination's left and right heads were still busy dealing with the intense barrage of his huge ape puppets, and the middle head was fully focused on spouting out black Qi to corrupt his Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
'You're courting death!' Han Li's heart soared with killing intent. Without any further hesitation, he formed an odd sword incantation gesture and fiercely pointed at his flying sword.
Chapter 444: Black Robes
Han Li pointed at the huge sword that was struggling to break free of the abomination's grasp.
It suddenly grew still and started to sparkle with green light.
When the middle-head that was spouting out black Qi saw this, it was stunned. Before it could even react, the flat of huge sword released several tens of arcs of faint gold lightning.
The arcs of lightning were incredibly fast. In an instant, the lightning traveled up from its furry claws onto its huge body, creating a net of golden light around the abomination's body.
The abomination's three heads simultaneously expressed shock. But before it could even move, Han Li uttered the word, "Suffer." The net of lightning covering it ruptured.
A scorching, blinding white light thoroughly submerged the abomination, leaving it incapable of being seen.
In that instant, Fairy Violet Spirit and the black-robed man couldn't help but look over in surprise. As for their opponents, the Weiwu Ghosts and the two Nightfiends, they appeared to be at a loss for a moment before suddenly fleeing away.
The two were alarmed at the scene, but after some hesitation, they merely watched them as they fled.
However, the Weeping Soul Beast took this opportunity to forcefully snort and absorb one of the fleeing spirits into its nose.
As for the blinding white light, it persisted for some time before fading away. The tiger abomination was standing motionlessly in place, and its three heads appeared frightened. However, their expressions were completely still. When a gust of cold wind flew past it, its huge body scattered the sky with grey ash before disappeared without a trace.
All that remained was the huge sword and a fist-sized tricolored pearl floating in midair. The colors black, green and grey were interweaved in the sparkling pearl.
Han Li let out a long sigh and waved his hand. With a dim cry, the huge azure sword dispersed into eight blades and flew back to Han Li. However, four of those blades had faded away in mid-flight. The other four blades obediently returned into Han Li's body and sunk into dormancy.
The previous arcs of lightning cleanly exhausted the swords' entire accumulation of its Divine Devilbane Lightning. They urgently required long term nurturing.
Han Li glanced at the strange pearl. With several blurs, his body appeared in front of the pearl. After intensely staring for it, he started muttering to himself.
After a short moment, a malicious expression flashed from his face. With a flip of his hand, an azure flying sword appeared in his hand. Han Li fiercely chopped down at the pearl with a flash of radiance.
Pang. The pearl was chopped into two, releasing three streaks of black Qi flying away as if they were fearfully escaping. However, Han Li flicked the finger of his other hand and shot out three egg-sized fireballs towards them.
Puff. Puff. Puff. The three strands of black Qi faintly released miserable wails upon being struck with the fireballs before they were dissolved by the flames.
These demon ghosts was extremely devious. They hid away within the magic treasure and lured him into grabbing it. Had he fallen for it, he'd be in an inescapable confrontation for the control of his body.
However, this was something he had earlier anticipated when the body of the tiger abomination was exterminated by the Divine Devilbane Lightning.
After all, with the Gold Lightning Bamboo's grand reputation along with legends of its "Devilbane" characteristics, it would be truly heaven-defying if a full discharge of the four swords were unable to extinguish a demon ghost.
It was because he had this trump card that he so calmly and confidently entered the ghost mist. Despite having felt incredibly baffled when faced against the fused ghost demons, he was able to keep calm particularly because of this.
Naturally, he had originally refrained from using the Divine Devilbane Lightning since the black-robed man and Fairy Violet Spirit were nearby. However, he hadn't expected the fused body of the tiger abomination to be extraordinarily ferocious. When it had foolishly used its claws to grab hold of his Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, he naturally couldn't let go of such a great opportunity to use his Divine Devilbane Lightning.
With that, he erased a monster that was no weaker than a late Core Formation cultivator from this world.
Han Li lowered his head to look at the split pearl and lightly shook his head. He then turned around and walked towards Fairy Violet Spirit.
When the black-robed man saw this, his face was full of shock. Although he wasn't able to pay close attention to Han Li's battle, he had caught sight of the ghost demon's soul possession, transformation, and combined body. It had left him so aghast that he had immediately decided to flee once Han Li appeared entirely unable to be its match. The three headed demon tiger had appeared frighteningly powerful.
But he didn't expect that the such a monster so easily eliminated with just a burst of dazzling white light. He found it truly hard to believe. Could it be that he possessed a Heaven-Earth Inversive Antiquity from legend? He couldn't think of any other method that an early Core Formation cultivator like Han Li could use to exterminate the dreadful three-headed monster.
But if this were the case, he could entice Han Li and obtain a great supporter to accompany him through the Heavenvoid Hall. After all, he believed that only Nascent Soul eccentrics were capable of extinguishing such a powerful demon without the slightest injury.
With that thought, the black-robed man's astonished expression gradually disappeared to be replaced with a complicated expression as he looked at Han Li.
As for Fairy Violet Spirit, although she was greatly amazed by these events, she had already guessed that Han Li was an unordinary Core Formation cultivator. She quickly calmed down and looked at Han Li with a smile.
"Senior Han's abilities are truly remarkable. He was able to effortlessly exterminate such a dreadful ghost demon. It seems I was truly fortunate to have teleported together with Senior!" Fairy Violet Spirit gracefully said.
When Han Li heard this, he insipidly denied her, "Effortlessly? That wasn’t effortless in the slightest."
"Senior is truly modest!" Fairy Violet Spirit's eyes were glowing with humor. It was obvious that she believed that Han Li wasn't being completely honest.
"What did Fellow Daoist use to produce that white light? It was immensely powerful." The black-robed man spoke for the first time, but his voice was muffled and hoarse, sounding quite unnatural.
This unpleasant voice caused Han Li's eyes to flicker with a strange expression. He looked at the black-robed man with a smile.
After Han Li's smile faded away, he indifferently said, "So Fellow Daoist is a female cultivator! There is no need to speak with a fake voice. Fairy Violet Spirit and have already seen through it."
Fairy Violet Spirit gave a charming smile upon hearing this.
The black-robed woman was initially startled, but her eyes soon revealed humiliation and anger.
A long while later, she spoke with a delicate, soft voice, "Since you Fellow Daoists have already seen through it, I will no longer hide this. It merely made matters convenient."
With that said, the black-robed woman hesitated for a moment before removing the hood of her black robe, revealing an astonishingly gorgeous face.
Not only did this woman have incredibly fair and soft skin, but she had long, silky hair that was draped over her shoulder. She wore a dazzling garland on her head that added a mysterious charm, causing her to appear elegant and unyielding.
Despite being also a woman, Fairy Violet Spirit appeared breathless at the sight of the black-robed woman's beauty. But something soon came to mind and she stealthily took a glance at Han Li.
What she saw left her feeling somewhat uneasy.
Han Li had been looking at the black-robed woman in a daze. His eyes revealed a strange, unclear expression.
A blush appeared on the black-robed woman's flawless face. With both pride and gloom in her head, she coldly said, "Has Fellow Daoist had enough to look at, or is there something something wrong with my face?" With that said, the black-robed woman's expression sunk.
Han Li didn't grow angry at the rebuke, but neither did he withdraw his gaze. Instead, he let out a long breath and examined the woman with a mysterious smile. He appeared rather interested.
Not only did she raise her eyebrows this time, but her face also grew cold. Even Fairy Violet Spirit felt apprehensive, doubting whether or not Han Li was acting out of wicked thoughts.
But after some further thoughts, her uneasiness seemed had disappeared.
Due to predetermined innate aptitudes, there were far fewer female Core Formation cultivators in the cultivation world in comparison to male cultivators. Thus, a large majority of high grade Dao companion pairs normally consisted of a man with Core Formation cultivation and a woman at Foundation Establishment. As such, the effectiveness of pair cultivation was not ideal for the male cultivator. As for the small number for female Core Formation cultivators, they attracted many suitors that believed themselves to be worthy of them.
It made sense for a female cultivator possessing such beauty and deep cultivation as the black-robed woman to cause Han Li to feel tempted.