Chapter 539: Sand Sea Strange Beasts

Seeing this, the Shipmaster's expression changed involuntarily. If the ferry's keel were bitten through by these sand beasts, the entire ship would become fragile and unable to hold out until reaching the Barbaric Continent, eventually breaking apart completely.

His face turned stern, and his figure shot out in a long leap, directly flying out of the ferry's range and heading straight below the ship, as fast as a thunderbolt.

These sand beasts and man-faced scorpions were quite sensitive to cultivators' auras. As soon as they detected the Shipmaster's presence, they surged toward him like a flood.

Black light flared around the Shipmaster, and visible black ripples spread out, enveloping both himself and the ferry. It seemed he had activated his domain, but he clearly did not want to cause too much commotion, so he limited the domain to a ten-zhang radius around the ship.

As soon as those sand sea strange beasts charged into his domain, they were entangled by wisps of black mist, and white foam bubbled up on their bodies as they corroded and dissolved.

The three larger sandworms, slightly stronger, still failed to get within three zhang of him before their flesh and blood dissolved into pink foam.

"A Golden Immortal cultivator, truly formidable..."

"Is this a domain? How powerful!"

"As expected of Lord Shipmaster..."

...

Seeing this, the people on board burst into praise.

But Han Li's expression suddenly changed. He grabbed Gold童 and flashed toward the stern of the ship.

Right behind them, the sand sea ahead of the ferry suddenly erupted like a volcano, sending yellow sand flying into the air, flinging countless man-faced scorpions and small sand beasts away.

The next moment, a giant sand beast, twice the size of the ferry, burst out of the sand sea. Its body twisted in midair, and it opened a bloody maw that seemed capable of devouring heaven and earth, biting straight down at the ferry.

The Shipmaster, standing in front of the ferry, bore the brunt. His face filled with terror, and a beam of escape light rose around him as he tried to flee far away.

But a dark red vortex swirled inside the sand beast's maw, emitting a powerful pulling force that ignored the Shipmaster's domain and held him in place.

With a loud crack!

The sand beast's maw bit down, swallowing half the ferry, including the Shipmaster.

The broken ferry lost power and fell toward the sand sea. Before the cultivators inside could escape, they were overwhelmed by dense swarms of man-faced scorpions and small sand beasts.

For a moment, the sand sea echoed with wails and howls, and the stench of blood grew strong.

Except for over a hundred True Immortal cultivators who reacted quickly and escaped, the rest of the ferry's passengers became souls lost in the sand sea in an instant.

Someone shouted, "Run!" The remaining hundred-plus True Immortals, disoriented, lit their escape lights and fled in all directions.

Amid the chaos, a strange thought crossed Han Li's mind: "Where is Shi Chuankong?"

From the start of the incident until now, he had not shown himself. Han Li did not believe that such a person would easily die in a sand beast's mouth.

As he pondered, he took Gold童 and headed toward the direction of the Barbaric Continent, about to fly away, when he noticed the giant sand beast charging straight at them.

Han Li's pupils contracted slightly.

Although this sand beast was powerful, it was only at the mid-Golden Immortal stage. He was not afraid.

Just as he was about to strike, Gold童's voice reached his ear:

"Uncle, you don't need to act. Let me handle it."

Gold童's eyes were full of excitement. Without waiting for Han Li's agreement, she shot forward, transforming into a golden beetle, and with a flap of her wings, pounced at the giant sand beast.

Han Li hesitated for a moment but did not stop her. He stood with his hands behind his back in midair, his gaze following Gold童 toward the giant sand beast.

Before reaching it, Gold童 waved her two front claws. A loud tearing sound rang out as hundreds of sharp golden crystal beams shot out from her claws, then split into two groups, one left and one right, slashing at the sand beast.

The giant sand beast seemed to sense Gold童's power and halted. Without any visible movement, two thick sand pillars rose from the nearby sand sea, spinning and roaring as they met the golden crystal beams from both sides.

A layer of yellow light appeared on the surface of the two sand pillars, faintly radiating fluctuations of law power, making them seem indestructible.

Gold童's eyes flashed with golden light. The two waves of golden crystal beams brightened, and the individual beams collided and merged, forming two dazzling golden rainbows hundreds of zhang long, which struck the sand pillars.

As soon as they touched, golden and yellow light flashed simultaneously, followed by a crisp "pop."

The two yellow sand pillars were instantly cut in half from the middle and collapsed!

The two golden rainbows did not stop, continuing to slash at the giant sand beast, reaching it in a flash.

But the sand beast did not dodge. A dark red light appeared in its maw, forming another dark red vortex, twice as bright as the one that had killed the Golden Immortal earlier.

A tremendous devouring force surged from the sand beast's mouth, instantly enveloping the two golden rainbows.

The two golden rainbows halted their charge, then spun and veered off course, flying into the vortex in the sand beast's mouth and disappearing.

Seeing this, Han Li's face showed a hint of surprise, but he still did not intervene.

Gold童's body blazed with golden light, turning into a large golden mass that pounced toward the sand beast.

The sand beast opened its bloody maw again, and the dark red vortex inside brightened sharply.

A devouring force several times stronger than before enveloped the golden mass. The nearby void rippled visibly and collapsed.

The golden mass spun and vanished into the sand beast's mouth, swallowed.

The white jade pendant at Han Li's waist flashed, and the form of Pixiu appeared.

"Master, the boss has been swallowed. Should we rescue her?" Pixiu spoke in human tongue.

"No need." Han Li shook his head with a light laugh.

"But..." Pixiu was taken aback, about to say more.

Just then, a loud noise interrupted his words.

The giant sand beast suddenly let out a painful cry. Its massive body fell onto the sand sea, writhing and twisting violently, as if in great agony.

With a dull "thud!"

A dazzling golden light pierced through the sand beast's body, punching a large hole. A pale yellow thick liquid flowed from the wound, whether blood or something else.

Then a series of dull thuds followed. One after another, golden lights shot out from the sand beast's body, more and more, riddling it with holes.

The sand beast writhed even more violently, letting out earth-shattering screams.

"I was worried for nothing!" Seeing this, Pixiu flashed white and flew back to Han Li's waist.

"Roar..."

The giant sand beast suddenly raised its head, letting out a mournful roar, and then its body exploded with a "bang," scattering into pieces of flesh.

A golden beetle shot out, none other than Gold童.

She looked a bit disheveled, with some spots on her golden carapace slightly dimmed, as if corroded, but it was only minor damage, nothing serious.

In her claws, Gold童 held a yellow crystal the size of a human head, within which dark red light flickered, faintly forming a vortex, emitting strong fluctuations of law power.

Seeing this, Han Li raised an eyebrow.

The sand beast's dying cry struck him as unusual.

As he pondered, Gold童, in her golden beetle form, flew to Han Li's side, circled him, and buzzed:

"Uncle, it's done! Any reward?"

"I'll let you eat your fill later. But first, let me see that sand crystal." Han Li chuckled and reached for the crystal in Gold童's hand.

"This is mine."

Gold童 nimbly shrank back, transforming into human form. With a flash of golden light, the yellow crystal disappeared, stored away somewhere.

"This is no place to stay. Let's go." Han Li shook his head and was about to summon the green flying carriage to leave.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

The entire sand sea began to rumble and shake without warning. The sand flowed like water, and huge sand waves rose into the air.

At the same time, an immense aura appeared beneath the sand sea, approaching rapidly.

Seeing this, Han Li's expression changed. He quickly grabbed Gold童, and a pair of golden wings, the Wind Lightning Wings, appeared on his back.

With a flash of dazzling lightning, his figure vanished from the spot.

The moment Han Li disappeared, the sand sea below exploded. A colossal head shot out like lightning, its gaping maw snapping shut.

But Han Li had already used lightning teleportation, so the maw bit nothing.

A flash of lightning appeared in the void over a hundred li away, and Han Li's figure emerged.

The huge head shook, and another enormous sand beast slowly crawled out from underground, ten times larger than the one Gold童 had killed.

Han Li's heart tightened.

This giant sand beast's aura was immense, giving him the feeling of being infinitely close to a Taiyi realm cultivator.

Han Li's expression turned somewhat grave, but he did not immediately flee. In this unfamiliar sand sea region, blindly running around might attract other troubles.

Although the mountain-sized sand beast's head had no eyes, Han Li could sense its fury. It suddenly opened its maw and let out a thunderous roar, causing the nearby void to tremble.

Before Han Li could react, the sand beast's massive head shot up from the sand sea and lunged at the two of them.

Despite its enormous size, the beast was lightning fast, closing to within ten zhang of Han Li in the blink of an eye.

Han Li's entire body blazed with golden light as he shot backward.

The giant sand beast opened its maw wide, and dazzling dark red light gathered inside, forming a massive dark red vortex.

Boom!

A devouring force that seemed capable of sucking in heaven and earth instantly enveloped Han Li and Gold童, who had barely escaped less than ten li away.