Chapter 540: Entering the Barren Wasteland

Han Li only felt the air around him suddenly tighten; unable to withstand this devouring force, his backward-darting figure immediately halted and instead flew toward the giant sand beast's mouth.

A fierce light blazed in Jintong's eyes. He was about to pounce, but Han Li reached out and pulled him back, then without a word cast a spell that turned him into a golden ring on his hand.

Han Li was originally not far from the giant sand beast. Now, instead of retreating, he advanced. The beast's enormous mouth appeared before him in an instant, seemingly about to swallow him.

Han Li showed no panic on his face. He made a hand seal with one hand and waved.

A flash of golden light appeared on his body, and a ring-shaped golden wave emerged, rapidly spreading outward, instantly forming a golden domain about thirty to forty li in size, enveloping a small part of the sand beast's body.

Enveloped by the golden domain, everything around suddenly slowed down, including the devouring force from the sand beast's mouth.

Han Li's body immediately felt lighter. After steadying himself, he suddenly urged the golden wings behind him.

With a thunderclap, his figure vanished again, and the next moment appeared behind the giant sand beast's head.

With a low shout from his mouth, a layer of golden fur emerged on his body, and his frame rapidly expanded, transforming in an instant into a golden ape several hundred zhang tall.

At the same time, a flash of dark green light appeared in the ape's hand, and a dark green giant sword materialized, slashing toward the giant sand beast.

A massive crescent-shaped dark green sword beam shot out, filled with countless dark green runes dancing within, emitting a vast law fluctuation.

Sensing the situation behind it, the giant sand beast hastily stopped its devouring. A brilliant yellow light burst from its entire body, forming a yellow crystal membrane on its surface. At the same time, it twisted its huge body, trying to dodge to the side.

But now, enveloped by Han Li's golden domain, its speed was greatly reduced, and its body was enormous, making it impossible to evade. The crescent sword beam struck solidly on the back of its neck.

The yellow crystal membrane flickered violently and weakened rapidly. It held for two breaths before being cut through by the crescent sword beam.

Puchi!

The crescent sword beam plunged into the sand beast's neck, carving a wound nearly a hundred zhang long, from which pale yellow blood gushed out.

Seeing this, Han Li frowned slightly.

Although the wound was not small, relative to the sand beast's massive body, it was only a minor injury.

At this moment, the giant sand beast let out a furious roar, seemingly enraged by the injury.

A brilliant yellow light burst from its entire body, with countless earthy yellow runes tumbling within, then spreading outward, instantly forming a yellow domain a hundred li in radius.

Enveloped by the yellow domain, Han Li's body immediately felt heavy, and the gravity around him increased a hundredfold.

He frowned, about to do something.

Just then, a huge whistling sound came, and the sky darkened. It was the giant sand beast's tail, not covered by the time domain, sweeping toward him.

Entering the time domain, the tail's speed greatly decreased, but it was still astonishingly fast. It appeared before Han Li in a flash, and a terrifying force surged toward him.

Under the greatly increased gravity, Han Li had no time to dodge. He let out a loud shout, and the dark green giant sword in his hand blazed with light, slashing out with the force of thunder.

With a loud crash, the nearby void trembled violently!

The ape that Han Li had transformed into was sent flying like a bundle of straw by the sand beast's tail, heavily crashing into the sand sea below.

Most of the giant ape's body was buried in the sand sea. Golden blood flowed from the corner of its mouth, and the tiger's mouth of the hand holding the sword was torn open, but that was all; it had not suffered serious injury.

At this moment, the sand sea on the ground surged like water, forming a huge whirlpool. A powerful tearing force emerged from it, wrapping around the golden ape and pulling it downward.

Meanwhile, with a flash of yellow light, several sand beasts leaped out from the nearby sand sea and pounced toward Han Li.

These sand beasts were similar in size to the one Jintong had just killed, not large, and their bodies were apparently condensed from sand grains, but they also emitted a vast Golden Immortal-level aura.

The giant sand beast also turned around and opened its mouth wide to devour Han Li again.

The wound on its neck squirmed, and countless blood threads sprayed out, intertwining and rapidly fusing. The wound disappeared at a visible speed.

Han Li frowned slightly. The dark green heavy sword in his hand swept around his body.

At the same time, a flash of green light appeared around him, and three green giant swords emerged—the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords—also sweeping around him.

Countless sharp sword qi exploded, tearing and cutting through the surrounding sand sea.

Han Li broke free from the sand sea's grip and leaped out. The golden lightning on his wings blazed brightly.

However, these lightning powers were suppressed by the sand beast's domain, only about thirty percent of their original strength.

With a flash of golden lightning, Han Li's figure vanished, appearing over ten li away the next moment. Although he had only escaped that short distance, he had avoided the sand beast's bite.

The lightning on Han Li's wings flared again, and his entire body turned into a golden arc of electricity, flickering as he rapidly fled forward.

The giant sand beast roared in fury and chased after Han Li with its massive body, but its speed was still somewhat inferior to Han Li's full-powered lightning遁.

After several consecutive flashes, Han Li finally left the range of the sand beast's domain.

With another flash of lightning, he appeared thousands of li away, far from the giant sand beast.

Han Li waved his hand, and the golden lightning on his body blazed again. Numerous bolts of lightning interwove to form a lightning array.

With a tremendous thunderclap, the lightning array blazed with light, and his figure blurred before vanishing once more, completely leaving the sensory range of the giant sand beast.

The giant sand beast let out a furious roar, its eyes filled with unwillingness, and its massive tail lashed the sand sea in vented rage.

The sand sea for thousands of miles around churned like angry waves, rumbling with muffled thunder.

…

Above a dense mountain forest, the void suddenly rippled, and a mass of golden lightning emerged, rapidly expanding into a golden lightning array.

Han Li's figure materialized within the array, having returned to human form.

The dark green heavy sword and the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also reverted to normal size, swirling around him.

He waved his hand to put away the swords, then extended his divine sense to sense everything around him.

Confirming that the sand beast had not pursued, he breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Uncle, why run! Let me get into that thing's belly, and we'll attack from inside and out—I'm sure we can take it down!" Gold Boy flew out from Han Li's hand and shouted.

"The small sand beast could already injure you; the big one surely has its tricks. This is its territory; we shouldn't linger." Han Li shook his head and said.

"Master speaks sense. Safety first, no need to take risks." Pixiu's voice came from the white jade pendant, somewhat flatteringly.

"Little White! What Uncle says makes sense, but what I say doesn't? I think you're itching for a beating!" Gold Boy flew into a rage, pounced on Han Li's waist, and bit down on the white jade pendant.

Pixiu immediately yelped and repeatedly begged for mercy.

"Alright, you two, settle down. This is the Wildlands; be cautious." Han Li reached out, grabbed Gold Boy by his little topknot, and lifted him up, saying.

Though Gold Boy stopped shouting, he still angrily bared his teeth at the white jade pendant, while Pixiu dared not make another sound.

Han Li shook his head and looked around, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

This was the true Wildlands; as far as the eye could see, there were endless primeval forests, brimming with vitality.

The spiritual energy here was also rich, no less than some spirit veins in the Northern Frost Immortal Domain, but it was somewhat chaotic and unstable, far from the tranquility of the Northern Frost Immortal Domain.

With a flash of white light, Pixiu's figure materialized. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, a look of long-lost intoxication on his face.

Han Li looked downward, then flickered and landed on a branch of a large banyan tree in the forest.

This tree was enormous, at least a hundred zhang tall, and this single branch was so wide that it could easily seat ten people side by side.

Such banyan trees were common in the milder climates of the Northern Frost Immortal Domain, but none were this huge—at least ten times larger than ordinary banyans there.

Han Li looked around, his curiosity deepening.

Not only this banyan, but all the trees and plants he recognized here were significantly larger.

Other plants he didn't recognize were also enormous in size.

In comparison, Han Li almost felt as if he had been hit by some spell and shrunk.

Of course, there were also smaller plants, but not many.

"This place is quite interesting!" Gold Boy looked around, also showing surprise.

"You said you were born in the Wildlands—are all the plants here unusually large?" Han Li asked Pixiu.

"The trees and vines in the Wildlands have always been like this; it's just that other places are too small." Pixiu replied.

Han Li nodded thoughtfully but said nothing.

"Master, the demon beasts here are ferocious and bloodthirsty—true savage beasts. You must be careful when traveling." Pixiu added.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind." Han Li nodded.

As soon as he spoke, a fierce roar came from nearby. With a gust of bloody wind, a black ape, two zhang in size with a dark red horn on its head, leaped out from behind a large tree and pounced at Han Li, its claws slashing down fiercely.

Han Li didn't move; he simply flicked his finger, and a beam of green light shot out.

With a "pfft," the black ape's body was split in two at the waist, and a spray of blood splattered.

"Truly ferocious." He raised an eyebrow, then ignored the black ape's corpse and looked toward the surrounding primeval forest, feeling a sense of relief.

At any rate, he had finally left the Northern Frost Immortal Domain completely and no longer had to worry about pursuers from the Celestial Court for now. Though the Wildlands were dangerous, with his current cultivation and strength, he was confident he could protect himself.

After taking a deep breath, Han Li's hand flashed with white light, and two items appeared: the jade token map given by Jiao San and a jade slip map of the Wildlands he had purchased in Yuanhuang City.

He probed both with his divine sense, then withdrew and waved his hand to summon the jade flying carriage.

"Let's go. Let's explore this wilderness properly." Han Li floated onto the carriage and said.

Though the Wildlands were dangerous, precisely because few cultivators ventured here, resources from the dawn of heaven and earth might still remain, stirring a long-lost excitement in his heart.

Gold Boy and Pixiu seemed equally excited and immediately jumped on.

As Han Li cast a spell onto the carriage, its body blazed with light, transforming into a jade rainbow that shot forward into the sky.