Chapter 565: Deeper In

"Don't be useless all day and blame women when things go wrong." Su Liu muttered a rebuke, then his figure gradually faded and vanished into the void.

The other true spirits exchanged a few words, then did not linger and departed one after another.

Above the ruins by the cliff, only the people of the eight great sacred clans remained, looking at each other with grim expressions.

Several hundred zhang away, Nuoyifan, who had concealed his form, watched the commotion from afar. He let out a long breath as if completely drained.

...

On a solitary peak tens of thousands of li from the Dark Star Canyon, Han Li sat cross-legged under a towering ancient tree, his body enveloped in a layer of golden light, eyes closed in meditation.

At that moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth curling into a faint, mocking smile.

"Uncle, why are you grinning so slyly all of a sudden?" Gold童 noticed this from the side and asked in confusion.

"The beast race has chosen to make a move against me," Han Li said slowly.

Hearing this, Gold童's face showed some disappointment, and she frowned as she looked at the white jade Pixiu, who was beaming with joy.

At her glare, Xiao Bai quickly restrained his smile and said cautiously, "Boss, a bet is a bet. I won this time..."

Gold童 snorted coldly, raised her hand, and tossed a crystal stone rich in spiritual energy to Xiao Bai.

"Those beast race bastards are real ingrates, actually repaying kindness with enmity..." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, furious.

When she said the words "bastards" and "ingrates," Gold童 deliberately emphasized them, causing Xiao Bai, who was about to swallow the crystal stone, to freeze and almost choke.

He even began to regret betting with Gold童 on whether the beast race would target Han Li.

"I have true spirit bloodline, and I'm accompanied by an immature Pixiu. To them, I look like walking nourishment for their king. Plus, their hatred for humans is no less than for the insect race. It would be unwise to stay there any longer." Han Li smiled and said.

"You're truly far-sighted and prescient, Master," Xiao Bai praised after swallowing the crystal stone.

"Xiao Bai, I never noticed you were such a bootlicker, so good at flattery," Gold童 raised an eyebrow and asked.

"Hehe, it's just that since following Master, life has been much better. Not only do I get to eat heavenly treasures, but I also have such a brilliant boss like you to look after me. I wouldn't have dared to dream of this before," Xiao Bai said with feigned sincerity.

"You have good taste." Gold童 was pleased with this remark and nodded in satisfaction.

"Speaking of which, Master, your previous doppelgänger technique was absolutely brilliant. Putting a mask on a puppet, dressing it in your clothes, and hiding a substitution talisman inside—as long as it doesn't fight, it's practically indistinguishable from the real thing," Xiao Bai praised.

"Enough flattery. Leaving the beast race means we can no longer use their true spirits to deal with that Metal Devouring Immortal. Our situation will only get worse from here," Han Li stood up and said.

"Uncle, I have a faint feeling that its power is slowly recovering..." Gold童 said worriedly.

"The隔元法链 wasn't refined by me, so its effect is naturally inferior to that of Fengtiandu's. Moreover, that Metal Devouring Immortal is so powerful; the confinement won't last long. It will probably come after us soon," Han Li sighed.

"Then what should we do?" Gold童 asked anxiously.

"Now that we have part of the beast race's map, we'll take it step by step. If I have enough time to restore the time Dao patterns, with the help of the True Word Wheel, there might be a chance to severely wound it and buy us time to escape the Primordial Waste," Han Li said.

"So where do we go now?" Gold童 nodded.

Han Li didn't answer immediately. Instead, he flipped his hand to take out the map, examined it for a moment, and then said:

"According to the map, the territories of the beast and insect races are only on the fringes of the Primordial Waste. Further south is deeper into the wild. Regardless, let's get as far away from these insect and beast race areas as possible."

With that, he waved his hand, summoned the jade flying carriage, called Gold童 and Xiao Bai aboard, and drove the carriage away as a flash of green light.

Half a day later.

Han Li stood at the front of the green flying carriage, pouring his immortal spiritual power from his feet into the carriage, driving it forward at full speed.

The spiritual patterns on the green carriage flickered intermittently, emitting strands of green light that converged into a spindle-shaped glow, spewing backward.

The carriage flew forward with incredible speed, the surrounding scenery blurring as it rushed past.

But even so, his brows remained furrowed.

Although the green carriage's speed was impressive, he knew it was far from its limit—at most, he was using only twenty to thirty percent of its power. After all, its original owner was a Taiyi Jade Immortal, and with his mid-Golden Immortal cultivation, driving it was naturally a strain.

Such speed was sufficient for ordinary travel, but under the current circumstances, it fell short.

As thoughts raced through Han Li's mind, he suddenly raised his hand. A flash of golden lightning appeared beside him, and the figure of Crab Immortal materialized.

"You take control of the carriage," Han Li instructed Crab Immortal, then stepped back and sat down.

Crab Immortal's immortal spiritual power was weaker than Han Li's, so after he took over, the green light around the carriage dimmed slightly, and its speed decreased.

Ignoring this, Han Li flipped his hand, took out the "Dragon Five" mask, and put it on. With a mental command, a layer of red light formed on the mask, condensing into a red light screen before him.

This red light screen from the Reincarnation Palace mask was similar to that of the Wuchang Alliance mask, except it had an additional Earth Ranking.

Han Li quickly found the bounty area and posted a bounty task seeking a method for Golden Immortals to drive Taiyi-level immortal artifacts, offering a generous reward in immortal spirit stones.

After doing this, he didn't put away the mask but instead switched to the trading area and began browsing carefully.

A moment later, a pile of earth-yellow array flags and plates, a white umbrella-shaped immortal artifact, and a jade jade lock appeared on the empty ground beside him, all emitting waves of strong spiritual power.

These items caught Gold童's eyes, but after glancing at Han Li, who was still browsing, she swallowed her saliva and forced herself to look away.

Time passed, and before long, another half day had gone by.

The red light screen rippled and dissipated.

Han Li took off the mask, put it away, and let out a soft breath.

"Uncle, you spent a lot of immortal spirit stones. What good things did you buy?" Gold童 immediately rode Xiao Bai over, her eyes scanning the empty ground in front of Han Li.

"These are useful things; you can't eat them." Han Li waved his sleeve, and the items on the ground vanished.

"Hmph..." Gold童 pouted.

"By the way, any movement from that Taiyi Metal Devouring Immortal?" Han Li changed the subject.

"It seems its recovery speed is faster than before... But fortunately, it hasn't come after us yet..." Gold童's face tightened as she spoke.

"Gold童, how long can you stay inside the Pixiu's stomach?" Han Li asked seriously.

"Xiao Bai's stomach is a self-contained space filled with a special power. It can't digest my body, but it affects my soul. I can only stay inside for at most half an hour at a time before I need to come out," Gold童 said, patting the Pixiu's head.

"Only half an hour..." Han Li frowned.

Hiding inside the Pixiu could block the Taiyi Metal Devouring Immortal's detection, which was very useful for escape, but only being able to hide for half an hour was insufficient.

If they really ran, it meant the enemy could lock onto him every half hour.

"Xiao Bai, is there any way to extend the time Gold童 can stay inside you?" Han Li pondered and then asked the Pixiu.

"The space inside me is a Pixiu's innate divine ability, but I'm not yet mature and can't fully control everything inside. Having Boss stay for half an hour is already my limit. To extend the time, I'm afraid... I'm afraid Boss will have to find a way herself," the Pixiu shook its head.

"So, as long as we strengthen soul protection, we can extend the time you stay inside the Pixiu. That shouldn't be too hard." Han Li thought for a moment, a hint of a smile in his eyes, then flipped his hand and put on the Reincarnation Palace mask again.

A red glow emanated from the mask, quickly forming the red light screen again.

He opened the trading area, searched for a while, and soon stopped at an item.

"Soul Armor Talisman? What's that?" Gold童 followed Han Li's gaze and asked.

"Let's try it; it might be useful," Han Li said with a faint smile.

When he had been dealing with the backlash of the Spirit Refining Art, he had searched extensively for soul-related items and had come across the name of the Soul Armor Talisman.

As the name suggested, it was a special talisman that could provide defense for the soul. Its effect was decent, but the price was exorbitant—five hundred immortal spirit stones for a single talisman, and it only lasted for a short time.

Without much hesitation, Han Li took out five hundred immortal spirit stones and bought one.

A white light flashed, and an oval white talisman appeared in the item transmission array. It was inscribed with a cloud-like pattern, emitting a strong soul power fluctuation, along with some other peculiar auras.