Chapter 1154: The Bloodline of the Eight Kings

Facing the sky full of blood-red blades, Han Li not only did not retreat a single step, but instead his body glowed with azure light as he accelerated forward, charging directly into the blades.

But the imagined dismemberment by the blades did not occur. Han Li, relying on his physical body, shattered all the blades into pieces and stomped down toward the silver-horned giant rhinoceros below.

The latter was startled at first, surprised by the strength of this human's physique, but sensing that his aura was not particularly powerful, it was not afraid and raised its axe to meet him.

Han Li stepped onto the edge of its giant axe, and the power of the stars within his body suddenly erupted, causing a violent explosion beneath his foot.

A crisp cracking sound!

Countless spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the giant battle axe, and it shattered into pieces with a clatter.

The silver-horned giant rhinoceros holding the axe felt its arms shake, a numbing sensation instantly spreading through its body. Its legs bent, and under the immense force, it knelt directly.

Han Li, taking advantage of the momentum, rose into the air, his figure flickering instantly to avoid a treacherous sneak attack from the cloud-striped tiger-leopard, brushing past it and grabbing the back of its neck. With a gentle squeeze, a force seeped in, rendering it powerless to resist.

Holding the limp cloud-striped tiger-leopard in one hand, Han Li descended again, stepping onto the shoulder of the silver-horned giant rhinoceros, which had just tried to stand, forcing it back to its knees.

All this seemed lengthy, but in reality, it happened between Han Li's rise and fall. Most members of the two tribes hadn't even seen what happened clearly before finding their leaders subdued by Han Li.

Those who had charged toward the ridge earlier rushed back, surrounding Han Li in the center, shouting for him to release their tribal leaders.

Han Li ignored them, lifting the cloud-striped tiger-leopard in front of him and asking:

"What tribes are you? Why are you fighting here?"

The powerless cloud-striped tiger-leopard only lifted its eyelids to glance at Han Li, its eyes full of hatred and anger, but it did not answer.

"I think you should know what soul-searching is, right? Don't force me to use it; the experience is absolutely unpleasant." Han Li's face turned cold as he said.

Hearing this, the cloud-striped tiger-leopard's body trembled slightly, but it still did not speak immediately.

"No tears until seeing the coffin..."

Han Li sneered, raised a finger, and pointed it toward its forehead. A crystal light flashed at his fingertip, and a crystalline thread extended like a spirit snake, writhing and twisting toward the cloud-striped tiger-leopard's brow.

"We are the Cloud-Striped Tiger Tribe, and they are the Silver-Horned Rhinoceros Tribe. The reason we are fighting is due to a blood feud between our tribes." Unexpectedly, it was not the cloud-striped tiger-leopard but the silver-horned giant rhinoceros beneath him, unable to move, that spoke.

Hearing this, Han Li's expression shifted slightly, but he thought to himself that there seemed to be more to this matter.

"You actually speak for your sworn enemy. It seems you don't want me to search his soul. That only means one thing: you deliberately want to hide something from me..." Han Li looked down at the silver-horned giant rhinoceros beneath him and sneered.

The latter, both frightened and annoyed, could only curse inwardly.

Humans are indeed all insidious and treacherous!

Having said that, Han Li hesitated no more and directly touched his fingertip to the cloud-striped tiger-leopard's brow.

A crystal light lit up at his fingertip, and a crystalline thread shot into the latter's head.

"Roar..."

A violent shout came from the silver-horned giant rhinoceros's mouth. The two tribes, which had been fighting fiercely moments ago, now disregarded the safety of their leaders and charged at Han Li like a tide.

With a thought from Han Li, a patch of azure light shot out from around him. The thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flashed with golden light, transforming into thirty-six golden thunder pillars, encircling him for hundreds of feet.

Electric light wildly flashed on the golden thunder pillars, and huge golden thunderballs surged out, leaping between the thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, with crackling sounds of electric currents unceasing.

These wild barbarian creatures, naturally afraid of heavenly thunder and earthly fire, were blocked by Han Li's golden thunder wall and hesitated, not daring to advance.

Taking advantage of this moment, Han Li quickly performed soul-searching on the cloud-striped tiger-leopard.

After a moment, his eyes flickered slightly, and he slowly withdrew his finger, his expression turning somewhat strange.

From the cloud-striped tiger-leopard's memories, Han Li learned the true reason for the conflict and deadly struggle between the two tribes.

The silver-horned giant rhinoceros had not lied; there was indeed a blood feud between their tribes, having fought for millions of years in this barbaric region.

However, the direct cause of this conflict was not that.

It turned out that thirty years ago, the True Spirit King, long revered as the common lord of the barbarian tribes, suddenly issued a decree to hold a Blood Sacrifice Assembly at the Barbarian Sacred Hall in the Eight Desolate Mountains, summoning all tribes that still retained the bloodline of the ancient Eight Kings to gather there.

These ancient Eight Kings were the eight True Spirit Kings who ruled the Barbarian Realm in ancient times. However, due to unknown changes in the history of the Barbarian Realm, only one True Spirit King remained among the original eight.

The descendants of the other True Spirit Kings had varied fates. Some, with purer bloodlines, remained regional overlords; others, with mixed bloodlines, lost their kingly status but had widespread descendants, making their influence not to be underestimated.

As for the worse-off, their bloodlines might have been severed, making them hard to trace.

This Blood Sacrifice Assembly, originally the grandest gathering in the Barbarian Realm since ancient times, had not been held for tens of millions of years due to the incomplete bloodlines of the Eight Kings.

Once the news of the True Spirit King's intention to reconvene this assembly spread, it was like a stone thrown into water, stirring up a thousand waves across the entire Barbarian Realm. All tribes in the Barbarian Realm considered it an honor to participate.

The Silver-Horned Rhinoceros and Cloud-Striped Tiger tribes were no exception.

However, these two tribes had no connection to the bloodlines of the Eight Kings. Not to mention the sixteen most powerful great barbarian tribes, they couldn't even secure a place among the top hundred barbarian tribes. They were merely minor tribes and naturally unqualified to attend this Blood Sacrifice Assembly.

Of course, these two remote minor tribes had not originally hoped to participate, as the tribes retaining the bloodlines of the eight True Spirit Kings were mostly among the sixteen great barbarian tribes.

But due to an accident, the Silver-Horned Rhinoceros tribe discovered a young beast outside their tribal territory, which surprisingly contained the residual bloodline of one of the ancient Eight Kings.

The young beast seemed to have suffered severe injuries and was still in a deep slumber, protected by the Silver-Horned Rhinoceros tribe.

However, just as the Silver-Horned Rhinoceros tribe was preparing to secretly escort the young beast to the Eight Desolate Mountains, the news somehow leaked and reached their enemy, the Cloud-Striped Tiger tribe.

The latter naturally could not bear to let the Silver-Horned Rhinoceros tribe achieve such a great merit. Once the Silver-Horned Rhinoceros tribe gained power from this, the Cloud-Striped Tiger tribe would face extinction. Thus, they seized the opportunity to attack the Silver-Horned Rhinoceros tribe, determined to seize the young beast.

Han Li loosened his grip, and the cloud-striped tiger-leopard in his hand went limp, falling to the ground unconscious.

"Where is the young beast you rescued now?" Han Li looked down at the silver-horned giant rhinoceros pinned beneath him and asked.

The latter remained silent, but a strange light suddenly lit up in its eyes.

Startled, Han Li quickly slapped his palm onto its head and rebuked: "Afraid I'll search your soul, so you want to self-destruct your primordial spirit? You're really ruthless to yourself."

"Don't think you can get any information from me!" the silver-horned giant rhinoceros roared at Han Li, blood already seeping from its mouth.

A patch of crystal light lit up in Han Li's palm, using his soul refinement technique to protect its sea of consciousness and primordial spirit, preventing its self-destruction.

"Your tribe has tens of thousands of members. What use is it for you alone to self-destruct your primordial spirit? If I want to find that young beast, no one can stop me. Understand? I admire your mental fortitude, unafraid to die to protect that so-called True Spirit King bloodline, and I don't want to kill you. Don't seek death yourself." Han Li frowned and said.

Hearing this, the silver-horned giant rhinoceros calmed down a bit, but then it said:

"You humans are full of tricks; I can't trust you. Just kill me quickly."

"Believe it or not, I mean no harm to the young beast you mentioned. I just have some questions to ask you. If you answer honestly, I'll let you go after I'm done." Han Li said.

Seeing that Han Li had neither killed the cloud-striped tiger-leopard nor allowed him to self-destruct, the silver-horned giant rhinoceros began to believe him a little.

"Is that true?" it asked skeptically.

"Where is your tribe's territory located in the Barbarian Realm?" Han Li asked.

Hearing Han Li's question, the silver-horned giant rhinoceros hesitated, clearly not expecting Han Li to ask that.

"We belong to the Earth Dragon clan's subordinate territory, located at the southwestern border of their domain." After a brief pause, the silver-horned giant rhinoceros answered.

Han Li was as stunned as it was upon hearing this answer. What kind of answer was that?

"How is the territory of your Barbarian Realm divided? And what is its positional relationship with the various great immortal domains?" He frowned and continued asking.

"Our Barbarian Realm is boundless. Territory division is based on the domains of the major tribes, such as the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan's territory, the Great Ming Peacock clan's territory, and so on. As for the Earth Dragon clan's territory, relative to the Immortal Realm, it lies roughly between the Gold Origin Immortal Domain and the Spirit Terrace Immortal Domain." the silver-horned giant rhinoceros replied.

"The Gold Origin Immortal Domain adjacent to the Spirit Terrace Immortal Domain—isn't that the Great Gold Origin Immortal Domain where the Nine Elements Temple is located?" Han Li pondered for a moment and murmured.

He hadn't expected that his physical traversal would accidentally land him near the Great Gold Origin Immortal Domain.

At this thought, the idea in Han Li's mind resurfaced.

But soon, he suppressed it. His previous encounter with the pursuit of the ice and fire women had made him understand the gap between his current strength and a true mid-stage Da Luo cultivator. Venturing into the Great Gold Origin Immortal Domain to seek news of Gold童 would be tantamount to seeking death.