Chapter 306: Better to Do Without

Meanwhile, high in the sky tens of thousands of li away, a giant black crane opened its beak and let out a sharp screech, from which visible ripples emanated, carrying rolling black flames toward a silver firebird of equally massive size over a thousand zhang ahead.

Then it turned its head, looked back with lingering fear toward the direction of the blood sun’s explosion, and inwardly felt relieved.

Fortunately, it had been chased far away from there by the silver firebird earlier; otherwise, even a slight brush with the blood sun’s blast would have spelled trouble.

Facing the surging black flames, the silver firebird flapped its wings violently.

A loud crackling sound erupted!

Clusters of silver light flew out from its wings and exploded one after another, transforming into rolling silver flames that instantly churned the oncoming black flames into scattering fragments.

A flicker of wariness passed deep in the black crane’s eyes, but it said with a hint of mockery:

“Little one, your master is dead!”

Hearing this, the silver firebird froze for a moment, then let out a sharp cry. Its silver flames surged, turning it into a massive fireball that shot forward. Wherever it passed, the menacing black flames could not stop it at all and were absorbed into it.

The black crane had no intention of continuing the fight with the silver firebird. Taking advantage of the moment when the firebird was blocked by the black flames, it folded its wings and dove downward.

But halfway down, it suddenly changed direction and sped off in another direction.

In the void several thousand zhang away, a wisp of black smoke slowly coalesced, and Chongluan stumbled out, landing just on the back of the descending black crane.

“Go! Get out of here…” As soon as he landed on its back, Chongluan shouted urgently.

The black crane dared not hesitate. It immediately flapped its wings, sharply rising upward, ready to fly away into the distance.

But at that moment, countless golden arcs of lightning materialized and intertwined in the void a thousand zhang ahead, forming a golden lightning array several zhang in size.

With a thunderclap, Han Li’s figure flashed out, holding a green longsword wrapped in arcs of golden lightning, which he slashed down at Chongluan.

“Han Li!” Chongluan looked up and roared.

Gazing at the figure that had appeared out of nowhere, a hint of despair flashed in his eyes. He had even self-destructed his natal treasure, yet it had not harmed the other party in the slightest.

He grabbed at his chest, and a blood-red circular crystal shield flew out with a burst of light, blocking in front of him.

At the same time, all the remaining blood fiendish energy on his body surged out, condensing on his skin into a blood-colored battle armor.

Before the spiritual patterns on the armor were fully formed, the green longsword wrapped in golden lightning had already struck down.

“Boom…”

A deafening roar rang out. Dozens of golden lightning bolts, each over a hundred zhang long, burst from the blood-red crystal shield, dancing wildly in the sky like dozens of divine thunder whips.

“Crackle…”

The sound of electric sparks crackled continuously, and a pungent burnt smell filled the air.

Then, with a “crack,” a shattering sound was heard.

The blood-red crystal shield blocking Chongluan shattered with a bang, and Han Li’s longsword slashed down.

But a green light suddenly lit up on Chongluan’s forehead—his bronze forehead guard blazed brightly, blocking Han Li’s blade.

“Break!” Han Li roared.

Golden scales rippled on his arms as he gripped the sword hilt tightly and pressed down. The runes on the green longsword flared, and strands of golden lightning surged forth as the blade slashed down.

“No!”

Chongluan let out an unwilling roar, and the bronze forehead guard snapped with a “crack.”

With no further obstruction, Han Li’s longsword cleaved Chongluan’s head in two, while the black crane beneath him, as if struck by a massive force, plummeted toward the sea.

Nearing the sea surface, it immediately flapped its wings violently, sharply rising, and sped away into the distance.

Without needing Han Li’s command, the Spirit Flame Firebird, which had already devoured the black flames, spread its wings and gave chase.

Han Li grabbed Chongluan’s corpse by the collar to keep it from falling into the sea. Sweeping his divine sense, he frowned slightly.

At that moment, the aftershocks from the earlier blood sun explosion reached him. Though their power had diminished by more than a thousandfold, they still swept through as fierce gales, leaving him somewhat shaken.

In fact, he had only noticed the anomaly at the moment of the blood blade’s explosion. Any defensive measure would have been too late. In that critical instant, he had no choice but to summon the time power of the Truthful Word Wheel, causing a brief delay in the impact of the blood sun’s eruption.

Seizing that fleeting moment, he reversed the wheel and escaped. Guided by his divine sense, he used the Evil-Cleansing Divine Lightning from his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords to perform a lightning array teleportation and chased after him.

Just then, a black light suddenly flashed from the right sleeve of Chongluan’s corpse. A tiny black Nascent Soul figure, wearing a transparent cloak, emerged from the sleeve. Its features were identical to Chongluan’s. With a flash of black light, it vanished instantly.

But almost immediately, an explosive sound rang out.

Several hundred zhang away, a violent fluctuation erupted in the void. Chongluan’s Nascent Soul stumbled out, looking back in terror to find Han Li staring at him expressionlessly, his forehead split open to reveal a pitch-black eye.

“Destruction Eye…” Chongluan’s Nascent Soul was filled with despair.

Before its escape light could flare up again, Han Li had already swung his sword down at it.

A green sword light swept through, and the狂暴 sword qi tore apart, engulfing Chongluan’s Nascent Soul and the transparent cloak covering it, shredding them into pieces.

Watching the black specks completely disappear, Han Li did not relax. Instead, blue light flickered in his eyes as he carefully examined the surrounding void.

After a second thorough check, confirming that no trace of Chongluan’s aura remained in the void, he withdrew his Brightclarity Spirit Eyes, collected items like Chongluan’s storage bracelet, and then pursued the black crane.

The silver firebird had already intercepted it, forming a massive silver ring of fire around it.

No matter how the black crane charged left or right, it could not escape, and it kept screeching.

It could not fathom how its master had been defeated by this ordinary-looking young man, but the ironclad fact lay before it, undeniable.

“Spare me, senior! I am a rare beast from the wilderness, born with some insight into the law of fire. If you spare my life, I am willing to serve you as master! Also, I know many of Chongluan’s secrets!” the black crane shouted frantically as it saw Han Li approaching.

Han Li acted as if he hadn’t heard. He made a hand seal, and the green longsword in his hand traced an arc in the air, then plunged straight down, tip first.

With a tearing sound!

A giant sword shadow over a hundred zhang long emerged from the blade, piercing straight through the black crane’s head.

The black crane let out a mournful cry and plummeted toward the sea.

Han Li followed closely, flying down. Green light shone on his palm as he grabbed its Nascent Soul.

A miniature black crane phantom was caught in Han Li’s claw-like fingers, flapping its wings and struggling violently, its eyes filled with terror.

The Spirit Flame Firebird flew down, transforming into a silver flame child that landed on Han Li’s shoulder, staring at the black crane phantom with obvious greed.

“What’s the hurry?” Han Li glanced at the silver flame child and smiled.

Saying this, he gripped the phantom with his five fingers, closed his eyes, and light shone from his palm, enveloping it.

After a long moment, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, his mood becoming somewhat complicated.

In the black crane’s divine sense memories, there was little about Fang Pan.

However, from the scant content, it was clear that what Chongluan had said earlier was not false—he truly did not know who had instructed Fang Pan to deal with him.

In the crane’s memories, Han Li saw the earthen-yellow palace surrounded by vast deserts and the black chains covering the palace floor. His mind instinctively thought of “Separation Yuan Chains.”

In the center of the great hall, he saw the pitch-black throne and the figure draped in a snow-white cloak. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not make out the person’s face.

It seemed that deep in the crane’s memories, it feared this person to the extreme, never daring to look directly at him.

After a moment of silence, Han Li tossed the crane’s Nascent Soul to the silver flame child, then flew onto the crane’s back and collected all of Chongluan’s belongings, including the storage bracelet.

The silver flame child joyfully caught the crane’s Nascent Soul, opened its mouth, and swallowed it whole.

Its round little belly glowed with light, as if fierce flames were rising inside.

After also cutting open the black crane’s body to extract its demon core, Han Li turned to look at the Spirit Flame Firebird. He found that after devouring the crane’s Nascent Soul, its body was swaying as if drunk, stumbling about.

However, since he was spiritually connected to the firebird, he sensed it was unharmed and felt relieved.

He walked over, picked it up, and with a flash of light, retracted it into his body.

After doing all this, Han Li took a pill, looked back toward the Sacred Puppet Sect, and began to ponder.

From what he had seen earlier, the Sacred Puppet Sect was likely in grave danger. Returning now would probably be futile and would only put him in a dangerous situation.

After all, he had been hired by the Sacred Puppet Sect as a member of the Impermanence Alliance only to assist in defense, and he would never risk his life for the sect.

Moreover, Chongluan had previously infiltrated the Sacred Puppet Sect’s forbidden grounds for unknown purposes. Now that he had been killed by Han Li, returning early would inevitably cause many troubles.

As for the reward for this mission, it was better to do without. He had already killed several True Immortals, and the spoils of war alone were more than enough compensation, not to mention the wealth in their storage artifacts.

With this thought, he took one last look toward the Sacred Puppet Sect, then turned into a streak of light and flew off into the distance.