Chapter 778: Interception

In the low air of a dark, dense forest somewhere in the Ten Afflictions Mountain Range, two shadow-like streaks of遁光 were speeding along. They were Han Li and Shi Chuankong.

The forest here was exceptionally dim, with trees so black that the surrounding void seemed infected, giving everything a heavy, dark feeling.

The aura emanating from this forest was also unusually strange—not spiritual energy or demonic qi, but a special dark force. Many strange beasts lived in the forest, all exuding this same aura.

After concealing their遁光 with spells, Han Li and the other blended almost perfectly into the environment. Though they moved swiftly, they stirred little disturbance in the aura.

"The Ten Afflictions Mountain Range is truly peculiar, with such a unique environment," Han Li said, glancing downward.

They had been traveling like this for over ten days. Though they had encountered some fierce beast attacks along the way, they had easily dealt with them, and no life-threatening situations like before had occurred.

Their tense minds relaxed slightly.

"Compared to other parts of the True Immortal Realm, the underground qi veins here in the Holy Domain are relatively chaotic. The Ten Afflictions Mountain Range is even worse, with spiritual energy, demonic qi, and other elemental forces interweaving to create many special environments. Fellow Daoist Li, you may find it novel at first, but you'll get used to it after a while," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.

Han Li hummed in acknowledgment and was about to say something when his expression suddenly changed. He halted mid-flight and stared intently at a certain spot in the forest below.

"Fellow Daoist Li, what's wrong?" Shi Chuankong stopped as well and followed Han Li's gaze but saw nothing.

"Nothing, perhaps it was my imagination," Han Li said, a hint of doubt in his eyes.

He looked again carefully but found nothing, then beckoned Shi Chuankong to continue.

After their figures disappeared into the distant sky, on a huge black tree where Han Li had just been staring—

The tree had large, thick leaves, and among them hung many black, half-man-tall, strip-shaped fruits. These fruits also somewhat resembled human figures, looking rather eerie.

Suddenly, black light flickered on one of the black fruits. As the light shimmered, the fruit slowly transformed, with facial features appearing on its surface. It opened its eyes and gazed in the direction Han Li and the other had gone.

Ripples of black light swirled in its black eyes, flickering continuously.

At that moment, countless miles away, a black cloud several dozen acres in size was rolling forward at high speed.

Standing atop the black cloud were nearly a hundred half-human, half-beast figures, led by Tie Yu.

His expression was stern, faintly exuding a dark green baleful aura.

Seeing Tie Yu like this, the others kept their distance, none daring to stand near him.

Many sat cross-legged on various parts of the black cloud, seemingly performing secret arts, with multicolored strange lights flickering around them.

"What, still no news?" Tie Yu suddenly spoke.

The deadline he had promised King Golden Rhinoceros was one month, and now half of it had passed, yet he hadn't even found a trace of those two.

"Lord Tie Yu, we are searching with all our might, but the area is too vast, and those two seem quite cunning, leaving no clues... so we haven't found their whereabouts yet." A man in a gold robe stepped forward two paces, gritting his teeth and speaking in a low voice.

"Useless!" Tie Yu suddenly shouted harshly, a layer of green light rising from his body, condensing into green snake shadows. The cold snake eyes stared at the gold-robed man, as if ready to devour.

"This subordinate knows his mistake, I will immediately intensify the search..." The gold-robed man seemed extremely afraid of these snake shadows, trembling all over, falling to his knees with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly.

"Get out and continue searching. I'll give you three more days. If you still can't find them, then die!" Tie Yu scolded coldly.

The gold-robed man, as if granted amnesty, scrambled away in panic.

"Lord Tie Yu, we've found them!" At that moment, a dark-faced man who had been sitting cross-legged suddenly stood up, a joyful expression on his face, and quickly stepped forward.

The dark-faced man held a black wooden figure in his hand, which looked very much like a wooden puppet.

At that moment, the puppet's eyes opened, with circles of black ripples flickering inside.

"Speak quickly, where are they?" Tie Yu's face lit up with joy as he asked.

"Right there in the Black Scale Tree Sea. Those two are heading north at full speed." The dark-faced man quickly reported.

"Heading north, it seems they plan to leave the Ten Plagues Mountain Range. We can conveniently intercept them along the way!" Tie Yu sneered upon hearing this, immediately forming hand seals.

The black cloud beneath their feet immediately changed direction, churning violently, emitting rumbling sounds like thunder, and sped forward.

...

Han Li and Shi Chuankong continued flying forward, and in the blink of an eye, more than half a day had passed.

The black forest ahead gradually thinned, seemingly reaching its end, and a stretch of green mountains appeared before them.

Warm sunlight shone down, and the air became warm and comfortable. Gentle breezes blew in their faces, brushing past their bodies.

The view ahead widened, with endless mountain ranges stretching one after another, extending to the horizon, making one's heart feel expansive.

Shi Chuankong opened his arms and took a deep breath with satisfaction.

The black forest behind them had felt cold and gloomy everywhere, making even him, a demon, feel somewhat uncomfortable.

And although Han Li's face remained as calm as usual, one could see a hint of relief.

"Let's go..." Shi Chuankong exhaled and was about to speak.

"Watch out!" Han Li suddenly grabbed Shi Chuankong by the back of his collar and shot backward.

The moment Shi Chuankong's body left where he had been standing, a thick green arrow materialized out of thin air and pierced through that spot.

The green arrow was three or four zhang long and as thick as an arm, its shaft engraved with countless green patterns that emitted twisting green light, vaguely forming green serpent shadows and producing the sound of thousands of venomous snakes hissing.

The arrow flew at tremendous speed, tearing through the void with a piercing screech.

Dragged by Han Li, Shi Chuankong narrowly dodged the arrow, but he still caught a sweet scent in his nose, and a green light immediately appeared on his face as his body grew weak.

"Poison!" Startled, he quickly took out two white pills the size of dragon eyes, which emitted a strange fragrance, and swallowed them.

After taking the pills, a white light immediately radiated from Shi Chuankong's body, the green light on his face began to dissipate, and the weakness in his body subsided.

"Are you alright?" Han Li asked.

Although he had also smelled some of the poison, he had once cultivated the Myriad Poison Indestructible Body, which specifically countered strange toxins, and his physical strength was extremely formidable. Now that he had also cultivated the Taiyi Jade Immortal Body, this bit of poison could not harm him.

"I'm fine." Shi Chuankong shook his head.

"Who is there? Stop hiding and come out!" Han Li turned his head to look at a certain spot ahead and said calmly.

"Eh!" A surprised voice sounded from the void ahead, then black light flickered, and a patch of black clouds appeared, on which stood nearly a hundred half-human, half-beast figures—it was Tie Yu and his group.

"To be able to dodge one of my Poison God Arrows, you have some skill." Tie Yu looked at Han Li and said slowly.

As he spoke, he raised his hand and beckoned. The green arrow turned around and flew back, rapidly shrinking into a small green arrow that disappeared into his sleeve.

Han Li and Shi Chuankong's expressions changed slightly at the sight of the crowd before them.

"May I ask under which great king you serve? We two have strayed into the Ten Calamities Mountain Range and intend to leave. We have no intention of opposing the Ten Calamities Kings. We are willing to offer two hundred thousand demon spirit stones. Please be merciful and let us pass." Shi Chuankong stepped forward and said with a cupped-fist salute.

"You don't even know which great king's men we are, yet you dare enter the Ten Calamities Mountain Range? You deserve to die!"

"Hehe... Could this man be joking with us? A mere two hundred thousand demon spirit stones—you think that's enough to send us off!"

"Pah!"

"Leave your heads behind, and we'll be merciful enough to let your bodies pass!"

"Haha..."

On the black clouds, Tie Yu's underlings cackled, some even winking and making strange faces.

Seeing this, Han Li and Shi Chuankong's expressions darkened.

Tie Yu raised a hand, and his subordinates immediately fell silent, then he said coldly:

"You, are you aliens from beyond the mountains?"

"That's right, and who might you be..." Shi Chuankong's mind raced as he maintained his composure and asked.

"Any outsider alien deserves to die, and you two are no exception! Kill them, don't smash the bodies too badly, leave the heads!" A flash of deep-seated hatred suddenly flickered in Tie Yu's eyes as he spoke in an icy tone.

"Yes!"

The subordinates behind him all grinned fiercely and answered in unison, then swarmed forward, summoning various weapons that turned into colorful rays of light and charged aggressively at Han Li and the other.

These subordinates, whose true forms were fierce beasts, were not weak; there were over a dozen at the Golden Immortal level.

The three leaders—a silver-haired, green-eyed giant with a single horn; a tall, thin, red-haired elder with rough, bark-like skin; and a golden-haired young woman with wings on her back—had all reached the Taiyi realm, though only at the early Taiyi stage.

This force was more than enough to deal with Han Li, who had just advanced to Taiyi, and Shi Chuankong, a peak Golden Immortal demon.

The horned giant formed hand seals, and a dazzling green light erupted from his body, instantly condensing into a blinding green orb, which then detached and shot out, turning into a patch of green clouds.

Then the giant pointed, and a green light flew from his hand into the green clouds.

With a "puff," the green clouds ignited like oil-soaked fire, instantly becoming a mass of green flame clouds, radiating explosive law fluctuations as they descended toward Han Li and the other.

The red-haired elder muttered incantations, and a red light blazed from his body. Then, ripples appeared above his head, and three house-sized, ferocious tiger head phantoms flickered into existence, then blurred into three blood-colored shadows and vanished.

Ripples stirred in the void before Han Li and the other, and three enormous tiger head phantoms flashed into view, opening their bloody maws wide and biting down fiercely at the two.

Before the three tiger heads even descended, a chilling law aura had already arrived, making their hearts tremble and stirring an inexplicable fear.

The golden-haired young woman suddenly spread her wings wide, and countless dazzling golden lights rose from them, blindingly bright, like a golden sun blooming.

With a sudden flap of her wings, a loud hissing sound erupted, and countless golden beams sprayed from the wings, raining down on Han Li and the other.

Each golden beam was actually a golden feather, exuding extremely sharp law power.

The combined attack of the three Taiyi cultivators immediately overwhelmed the attacks of the other beast subordinates. The demonic energy within a hundred miles churned violently, and the void hummed and trembled, as if unable to bear the immense power fluctuations.

Facing the fierce onslaught, Shi Chuankong's expression changed, and purple-black light flickered around him as he prepared to act.

"Leave it to me!" Han Li flickered and blocked in front of Shi Chuankong, then his ten fingers flicked rapidly.

With sharp whistling sounds, eighteen beams of green light shot out from his sleeve, coalesced with a whirl, and turned into eighteen green flying swords—the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

After advancing to the Taiyi realm, Han Li's immortal spiritual power had greatly increased, and the number of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords he could drive had suddenly increased to eighteen!