Although Han Li spoke convincingly, whether it would actually work was another matter entirely. Even Han Li himself wasn’t entirely confident, as everything he knew about the Ten Absolute Poisons came from ancient texts—he had never conducted any tests himself.
However, moments later, all doubts in the minds of Han Li and his two companions vanished. As soon as the giant apes flew several dozen zhang away, the previously quiet mountaintop suddenly erupted with a series of shrill, grating screeches.
The moment the screeches reached Han Li’s ears, he felt his blood churn violently, his head grew heavy, and he nearly plummeted from the sky. Startled, he immediately circulated his spiritual energy throughout his body to stabilize himself. With a quick glance, he saw that the other two—Nanlong Hou and the old man surnamed Lu—were in no better shape, swaying unsteadily before regaining their balance.
Han Li frowned, inwardly alarmed. The attack from the screeches didn’t seem to target the mind but rather directly assaulted his true essence. No matter how powerful his spiritual sense was, it was useless against such an unusual assault. The fact that these Violet-Striped Scorpions possessed such a bizarre innate ability was truly unexpected. It seemed the records in the ancient texts couldn’t cover everything.
Just as Han Li was silently musing, thirteen or fourteen dark-purple streaks of light shot out from the mountaintop, flashing toward the fleeing giant apes in an instant. Han Li immediately urged the apes with his spiritual sense, and the split souls controlling them activated their maximum speed, transforming into white streaks that shot into the distance.
Even in that brief moment, Han Li, relying on his powerful spiritual sense, managed to catch a glimpse of the creatures within the purple streaks. Aside from their terrifying size—each about a zhang long, with dark-purple glossy bodies and a pair of transparent wings—they looked no different from ordinary scorpions.
The leading scorpion, however, was far larger than the others, measuring about two zhang in length, clearly the leader of the swarm. Seeing its ferocious appearance and the yellow mist spewing from its mouth, Han Li couldn’t help but narrow his eyes slightly.
The giant apes’ speed was clearly inferior to the purple streaks, but in the chase, they managed to lure the Violet-Striped Scorpions far away. In the blink of an eye, they had turned into tiny black dots in the distance.
Moments later, a loud shout came from above: “Go! The puppets have already triggered some kind of restriction and are being pursued!” As soon as the words were spoken, Han Li’s body shimmered with spiritual light as his concealment spell dissipated, and he shot forward at full speed. The other two, seeing this, immediately transformed into golden and white streaks of light, streaking toward the mountaintop.
All three knew that these Violet-Striped Scorpions moved like the wind. If they didn’t seize the moment to pass the mountain ahead, they would be in serious trouble. Fortunately, none of them were slow, and Han Li, even without using his Wind and Thunder Wings, relied on his cultivation far surpassing that of his peers to cross the mountain in an instant.
At that moment, Han Li sensed the connections to the remaining giant ape puppets sever one after another. Startled, he didn’t dare to linger, flying over ten li away from the scorpion nest in one breath.
Only when they stopped on another mountaintop did the three of them finally relax.
“This time, we owe it all to Brother Han’s Emerald Poison and his puppets. Otherwise, getting past this would have been an absolute nightmare,” Nanlong Hou said with a smile, his tone full of gratitude.
“It was nothing, just a fortunate coincidence,” Han Li replied, glancing at Nanlong Hou without revealing any emotion. Though the Emerald Poison had originally been part of the treasures left behind by Cang Kun the Transcendent, Han Li saw no need to explain further and simply brushed it off vaguely.
The old man surnamed Lu, seeing how easily the matter had been resolved, also offered sincere praise. Han Li smiled in response, exchanged a few polite words, and then the three of them resumed their journey.
The path ahead returned to the flat terrain of the beginning, and they flew uneventfully for half a day before the air gradually grew hotter.
The lush vegetation on the mountains became increasingly sparse as they advanced, eventually giving way to barren, rocky slopes—an eerie sight. By the end, the stones on these mountains took on a fiery, unnatural hue, and on some peaks, they could vaguely see fissures of molten rock, glowing intensely and spewing scorching winds and pale-gray ash, creating a scene reminiscent of a blazing furnace or a scorched hell.
Han Li and Lu Weiying exchanged surprised glances, but seeing that Nanlong Hou remained unperturbed, they deduced they were still on the right path and said nothing more.
Before long, a towering crimson peak, several thousand zhang high, appeared before them. Most of the mountain was obscured by fiery-red clouds, making it stand out starkly against the surrounding smaller hills.
Nanlong Hou, leading the way, halted his flight upon seeing the peak. Han Li and Lu Weiying exchanged glances, their spirits lifting in unison.
“Fellow Daoists, the cave at the base of that peak is the lair of the Fire Toad Beast. The remains of the ancient cultivator are inside. However, this creature is said to have keen senses. We should stop here and discuss our approach,” Nanlong Hou said gravely, turning to face them.
“At the base of the peak?” Han Li’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he swiftly extended his spiritual sense toward the area. Sure enough, at the foot of the massive peak, there was a large fiery-red cave entrance, from which waves of hot wind occasionally blew. To avoid alerting the beast, Han Li quickly withdrew his spiritual sense without probing further.
“What’s there to discuss? With Brother Han’s ice-attribute techniques as the main force and the two of us assisting, we can just eliminate the Fire Toad Beast directly,” Lu Weiying said without hesitation.
“Brother Lu, it’s not that simple,” Nanlong Hou countered. “According to Cang Kun the Transcendent, the Fire Toad Beast’s lair is half submerged in molten rock. No matter how severely injured it is, once it plunges into the lava, it will recover instantly. Fighting it in such an environment would put us at a severe disadvantage. The best approach is to set up a formation first, lure it out of its lair, and then kill it. For this purpose, I’ve prepared a set of water-attribute formation tools.”
Hearing this, the old man surnamed Lu offered no objections, and Han Li also saw no issue with the plan. After finalizing their strategy, the three began their preparations. In addition to the large formation Nanlong Hou mentioned, Han Li set up several supplementary formations around it as a precaution.
Once everything was ready, they decided to conceal themselves nearby while Han Li used a puppet beast to lure the ancient Fire Toad out of its lair.
With a pat on his spirit beast pouch, the remaining white wolf puppet flew out. Han Li then sat cross-legged near the formation, manipulating the puppet as it sped toward the cave at the base of the towering peak.
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