Wait a little longer. The blood cloud remained a foggy mass without any movement. Whenever the minor ghosts approached the densest part of the mist, they would instantly be torn to shreds, unable to detect any activity.
At this point, Wang Chan could no longer sit still. With a hand seal, the skulls floating on the surface of the blood cloud opened their mouths wide, and dozens of black beams as thick as bowls shot out simultaneously from all directions toward Han Li’s original position.
A faint tremor echoed.
A white glow flickered faintly within the mist. Amid the fierce collision of black and white light, a white light barrier appeared indistinctly in the fog, causing the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect to pause briefly before recalling the pristine scale shield Han Li had summoned earlier.
Wang Chan frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then muttered to himself, “Considering the number of high-quality magical instruments I’m about to acquire, losing some vital blood is worth it! I can’t let this guy slip away with some trick.”
After saying this, Wang Chan suddenly extended his right index finger to his mouth, gave it a light bite, and squeezed out a drop of incredibly thick blood from the wound, letting it drip into the blood cloud beneath him. He then plunged both hands deep into the blood cloud, focusing intently on channeling his energy.
As Wang Chan slowly chanted incantations, the crimson blood cloud enveloping Han Li began to rotate, spinning faster and faster while gradually compressing toward the center. The blood ghosts automatically dissolved and vanished without a trace.
As the blood cloud spun faster, the cyan-red mist was swiftly swept up and absorbed into it, gradually revealing a massive white light shield at the center. This shield, shaped like an inverted bowl, was centered around a white scale shield.
Beneath the light barrier, Han Li held a peculiarly shaped small knife with a handle in one hand, emitting a startling yellow glow, while his other hand clutched a stack of shimmering talismans, poised for attack. Beside him floated two spheres, one cyan and one red, continuously emitting thick cyan-red mist. Wang Chan saw all of this clearly.
“You…” The young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect sneered a few times, intending to mock further.
But as soon as he uttered that single word, he saw Han Li below suddenly raise his hand. The small knife trembled slightly and transformed into a dazzling yellow beam several zhang long, shooting straight toward Wang Chan. At the same time, the stack of talismans in his other hand was thrown out, materializing over a dozen fierce flaming dragons that charged forward together.
“Kid, magical instruments can’t break my Blood Spirit Art, unless…”
Wang Chan, initially unconcerned, summoned the skulls again to spew black mist. But as he arrogantly uttered the word “unless,” he suddenly remembered something, his face drastically changing as he shot upward like a crane, fleeing the blood cloud.
Simultaneously, the yellow beam shattered several skulls in its path with a series of “puff” sounds before breaking through the blood cloud alongside the flaming dragons. It surged out from where Wang Chan had been meditating. A white light then flew out from the breach, swiftly darting away, with the yellow beam turning to follow closely behind.
“A Talisman Treasure!” Wang Chan exclaimed in shock and fury.
He had been careless. He hadn’t realized that Han Li’s use of the mist was merely to buy time to activate the Talisman Treasure. Otherwise, even if his opponent had a Talisman Treasure, he would never have allowed him the time to use it. However, the likelihood of a Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator possessing a Talisman Treasure was indeed small, leading to his oversight.
But even if his opponent had a Talisman Treasure, how could Wang Chan, as the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, fear it? He carried two Talisman Treasures himself, one of which was an exceptionally rare special attribute Talisman Treasure. Naturally, he wouldn’t let Han Li escape just like that.
Enraged, Wang Chan plunged into the crimson cloud, drawing it around himself once again, and gave chase using the Blood Evasion technique, swift as a shooting star.
After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Han Li stood on his Divine Wind Boat, coldly watching the approaching blood cloud. He suddenly waved a hand, and the yellow beam following closely behind made an unexpected U-turn, stabbing back toward the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect hiding within the blood cloud.
But Wang Chan, already prepared, threw out an object in his hand. A golden skull enlarged against the wind, its massive mouth biting down on the yellow beam, preventing it from advancing any further.
Han Li was startled and quickly tried to retract it several times, but the yellow beam merely jumped around in the golden skull’s mouth before becoming powerless.
Wang Chan sneered a few times, and the blood cloud around him swelled again, sending a chill down Han Li’s spine as it seemed he would soon be trapped once more. But just then, the slightly boiling blood cloud suddenly calmed down. Wang Chan, who was in the midst of forming hand seals, paled drastically. Not only did his flight speed slow, but a faint blue-black hue also appeared on his face.
Han Li, who had been watching his opponent closely, was taken aback by this sight.
Then, he saw his opponent let out a long cry filled with terror. Without even bothering with the golden skull locked in stalemate with Han Li, Wang Chan wrapped himself in the blood cloud and shot back the way he came like lightning. Han Li stood dumbfounded, utterly confused.
Hesitantly, he transformed the golden skull and the yellow beam into two talismans, easily retrieving them. He then watched as the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect fled into the distance, unsure of what to do.
Chasing after him seemed too bold. However, as the other’s shrill cry grew fainter, Han Li suddenly realized something and hurriedly steered the Divine Wind Boat in a different direction, disappearing into the horizon.
…
Not long after, having narrowly escaped danger, Han Li carefully pondered the situation and felt immense regret!
He finally understood why his opponent had retreated instead of pursuing: Wang Chan had been poisoned, and by the exceptionally lethal ink蛟 venom. This was entirely because Wang Chan had dared to absorb large amounts of the toxic mist released by the “Cyan Fire Miasma” into his blood cloud.
While refining the mist, Han Li had deliberately incorporated the residual core poison of the ink flood dragon into it. Now, as Wang Chan absorbed the mist-infused blood cloud while pursuing Han Li, he must have inadvertently drawn the toxins back into his body during his energy circulation. No wonder he panicked and retreated upon being poisoned!
The more Han Li thought about it, the more he regretted it. Returning now would be sheer madness! He had let slip a perfect opportunity to eliminate a powerful enemy and seize his treasures, leaving Han Li deeply frustrated.
However, he still couldn’t understand why Wang Chan had fled without even retrieving the powerful golden skull Talisman Treasure.
Unbeknownst to Han Li, the equally cautious young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, who had fled at the first sign of trouble, was now fuming with rage! Beside him were the two Core Formation stage cultivators, the Li brothers, who exchanged bewildered glances.
It turned out that after Wang Chan had rushed back a short distance, he ran into the two Ghost Spirit Sect elders who had successfully captured all the other seven sects’ cultivators. Concerned for the young master’s safety, they had come after him as a precaution.
Upon seeing the poisoned Wang Chan, they immediately used their profound cultivation to help him expel the toxins.
Once the venom was neutralized, the young master vaguely deduced the cause of his poisoning. However, he misinterpreted Han Li’s unintentional actions as a deliberate trap. Having never suffered such a significant loss before, Wang Chan immediately developed a deep hatred for Han Li, secretly regarding him as a formidable rival.
Driven by these thoughts, the still-weak Wang Chan, unwilling to give up, led the two elders hundreds of li in the original direction of pursuit. Yet, they returned empty-handed, leaving Wang Chan with a lingering sense of frustration, like a fishbone stuck in his throat.
As for the golden skull Talisman Treasure he had been forced to abandon because he couldn’t retrieve it while restraining his opponent’s Talisman Treasure, he wasn’t overly concerned. After all, it had been used multiple times and was likely nearly depleted. Even if Han Li took it, it would only be useful once or twice at most.
But what infuriated him even more was that upon returning to the small mountain peak where they had set the ambush, a Ghost Spirit Guard reported that a group from the Hehuan Sect, one of the six demonic sects, had suddenly attacked them.
Although there were no casualties, the two female cultivators they had subdued had been taken away. The leader, with his strikingly “outstanding” appearance, was Tian Buque, the second son of the Hehuan Sect leader—a notorious figure among the younger generation, no less infamous than Wang Chan himself.
Hearing this bad news, Wang Chan’s expression darkened visibly, though internally he felt as if he were vomiting blood. Han Li and Tian Buque were now firmly on Wang Chan’s list of people to kill.
“Let’s go. Inform the Yan Family Ancestor to begin the evacuation immediately!” After a long moment, Wang Chan finally spoke coldly.
Meanwhile, Han Li, not daring to delay, sped toward the Yellow Maple Valley. However, along the way, he encountered a mixed group of cultivators from the Saber-Beak Clan and the Moon-Masking Sect. Under the announcement of their leader, a late Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, Han Li was unexpectedly conscripted on the spot.
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