Chapter 2278: Fish Monster

Han Li raised an eyebrow and swept a glance over the swarm of bats before him. He extended a palm from his sleeve and lightly pushed it forward.

With a muffled *boom*, the spiritual energy within a hundred-mile radius trembled violently. Countless strands of multicolored light suddenly materialized in the air, rapidly converging into a massive, mountain-sized multicolored palm that descended menacingly upon the bat swarm.

The surrounding space was abruptly enveloped by an indescribable, overwhelming force.

Dense clusters of ordinary blood bats exploded into crimson mist before the colossal palm even fully descended.

As for the transparent shockwave, it was instantly obliterated under the immense pressure.

Only the giant bat let out a furious roar, its golden markings flaring to life as they detached from its body, forming a golden barrier to shield itself.

Yet, under the crushing force, the golden barrier twisted violently, trembling incessantly. The giant bat was pinned flat within, unable to move an inch.

“Interesting. An innate protective ability! Pity it’s still too weak—otherwise, it might have been worth taming as a spirit beast,” Han Li murmured, a flicker of surprise in his eyes, tinged with regret.

He then pointed a finger at the multicolored palm from a distance.

Instantly, the giant palm radiated dazzling light, swelling even larger.

With another *boom*, the palm finally descended. The surrounding space darkened momentarily before a burst of light erupted in violent turbulence.

The golden barrier shattered into fragments, and the giant bat disintegrated without even a sound.

Han Li chuckled, flicking his sleeve forward. The multicolored palm trembled and vanished into thin air.

The world returned to its original state.

However, where the giant bat had once been, faint golden runes flickered intermittently.

Han Li narrowed his eyes and, without hesitation, raised his hand in a beckoning motion.

A sharp whistling sound followed as the golden runes shot toward him, landing in his palm in a flash.

He glanced at them, then pressed his hands together, rubbing the runes between his palms.

A metallic grinding noise arose, accompanied by erratic golden flashes.

When he separated his hands again, a shimmering golden beast hide lay in his grasp.

The faint golden patterns on the hide matched the glowing markings that had adorned the giant bat.

“This could be valuable for crafting defensive artifacts. At least today wasn’t a complete waste,” Han Li muttered to himself. With a flip of his hand, the beast hide disappeared.

Suddenly, his expression shifted as if sensing something. A blue glint flashed in his eyes, and his gaze pierced hundreds of miles away, where a massive flock of gray, unidentified avian creatures was charging toward him.

Han Li’s eyes sharpened, instantly discerning their features—four-winged, single-horned, monstrous eagles with savage, bloodthirsty eyes.

Frowning, he withdrew his gaze and glanced at the lingering crimson mist below the hill. Shaking his head, a green glow enveloped him as he transformed into a streak of light, vanishing into the distance.

Though these creatures posed no threat to him, he had no intention of wasting time fending off endless waves of beasts drawn by the scent of blood.

His priority was to locate the Time Spider.

Time passed swiftly, and two days elapsed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Han Li had slain several formidable demonic beasts and collected some rare materials, but nothing of significant value.

Aside from two unidentified poisonous plants, the other items, though precious, were of little use to him at his current cultivation level. He decided to keep them as rewards for his disciples.

On the third day, within a valley strewn with black boulders, Han Li finally discovered traces related to the Time Spider.

He stood in a hidden beast den in a secluded corner of the valley, where several humanoid-bear creatures lay motionless on beds of dried grass. Their fur was snow-white, their flesh withered to near-skeletal thinness, yet their bodies bore no wounds—as if they had died of natural aging.

Han Li observed one of the half-exposed corpses for a while before flicking his sleeve, sending forth several fiery serpents that reduced the bodies to ashes in moments.

Though the corpses vanished, faint glimmers of crystalline light remained on the ground.

With a grab of his hand, several foot-long crystalline threads flew into his grasp, encased in a sphere of green light.

He swept his divine sense over them.

His expression shifted slightly as he extended a finger, silently penetrating the green light to touch one of the threads.

A bizarre scene unfolded—the seemingly translucent thread flashed, and a layer of blue light surged up his finger, rapidly spreading along his arm.

Wherever the blue light passed, his flesh visibly withered and aged, exuding an eerie aura of decay.

Han Li’s face darkened. With a flick of his finger, he withdrew it from the thread. Golden light erupted along his arm as a surge of golden energy dispersed the encroaching blue light.

A verdant crystalline glow then flowed over his arm, restoring it to its original fullness and luster in an instant—as if the previous moment had been an illusion.

“Indeed, the power of time. Though not yet a true temporal law, it’s an exceedingly rare innate ability. This must be the Time Spider’s territory,” Han Li murmured, exhaling slowly, a glint of excitement in his eyes.

With a flash of green light, the crystalline threads vanished from his hand.

Though they posed no real threat to him, they were not items to be left carelessly exposed.

Next, Han Li flew out of the den and began meticulously scouring the surrounding area, centering his search on the valley.

However, when he returned hours later, his expression was grim.

His earlier investigation had yielded no results.

Hovering silently above the valley, Han Li pondered deeply.

Suddenly, his brow twitched as if recalling something. He formed a hand seal, releasing his divine sense deep into the earth, probing hundreds, then thousands of feet below, relentlessly pushing deeper.

After the time it took to brew a cup of tea, his expression brightened with a trace of delight. Transforming into a streak of green light, he shot toward a distant location.

His figure reappeared above a lake not too far away. After a brief glance downward, he plunged into the water.

With a *splash*, his figure vanished beneath the surface.

Moments later, thunderous roars echoed as golden lightning crackled across the lake, churning the water violently. Countless bizarre fish floated belly-up, their bodies charred and barely alive.

Once the thunder subsided, the lake fell eerily silent, as if lifeless.

Meanwhile, Han Li found himself in a crude tunnel thousands of feet underground, surrounded by jagged, pale-green stones. The narrow passage twisted downward, barely wide enough for one person.

This was the suspicious location he had discovered after repeated divine sense sweeps.

The pale-green stones were no ordinary material, yet the entire lakebed was composed of them. Even with his formidable divine sense, Han Li had initially failed to penetrate too deeply—hence his earlier oversight.

But upon spotting another crystalline thread embedded in a protruding green rock, all doubt vanished. With a swift movement, he accelerated his descent.

After plunging nearly ten thousand feet, waves of scorching heat began rising from below.

The temperature was so extreme that any ordinary being would desiccate instantly upon contact.

Han Li, however, remained unfazed. A faint green glow around his body effortlessly repelled the heat.

After navigating several twists and turns, a red glow flickered ahead, accompanied by faint growls and human speech.

Han Li narrowed his eyes. Without any visible movement, his figure blurred as spiritual light shimmered around him, concealing his presence entirely.

Emerging from a surge of crimson flames, he silently arrived above an underground lava lake.

The molten lake churned violently, spewing pillars of fire as thick as bowls, which struck the tunnel exit, polishing the surrounding rocks to a smooth, fiery red.

At the lake’s center floated translucent crimson crystals of varying sizes—each an exceptionally pure fire spirit stone, surpassing even the finest found in the Spirit Realm.

Yet Han Li paid them little heed, his attention fixed on a group of aquatic demons and a lone “woman” by the lakeshore.

The demons had humanoid upper bodies and fish-like lower halves, each with four arms. The males wore golden armbands, while the females adorned silver headbands. Some wielded crimson short halberds, others fought bare-handed, their bodies flickering faintly.

Opposite them stood a young woman who appeared no older than twenty-one or twenty-two, her expression calm despite the growls directed at her.