Chapter 848: The Long Road Ahead

"Brother Li, what are you taking the beast core for? It can't be used to refine spiritual power, and it doesn't seem to have much value for artifact refining either," Shi Chuankong asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Take a look first," Han Li said with a smile, tossing it to Shi Chuankong.

Shi Chuankong caught it in his hand, examined it carefully for a moment, and then a hint of surprise flashed across his face.

"This beast core actually contains such strong blood and flesh energy. If an ordinary person were to take it, they would likely be able to enhance their physical strength," Shi Chuankong said.

"Indeed. Although this realm is devoid of spiritual energy and demonic qi, it still has its own natural laws," Han Li nodded.

"These exotic beasts must have become so physically powerful because of this environment," Shi Chuankong agreed.

"The remnants living here, after so many years of adaptation, would naturally know the effects of these beast cores. They might collect them as a resource for physical cultivation. Since we've just arrived and encountered them, we might as well collect some. Who knows, they might come in handy later," Han Li said.

"Brother Li is thoughtful. But this place has been abandoned for so long. I wonder what those who were exiled here have become after all this time," Shi Chuankong nodded.

"Compared to the Immortal Realm, the various races in the Holy Realm have more talent in physical cultivation and have always revered the path of body refinement. Those exiled here, unable to use their cultivation, would likely focus on physical training to survive," Han Li said thoughtfully.

As he spoke, his mind stirred, his eyes brightened, and he extended his divine sense in all directions.

Upon testing, he found that although his divine sense could still be used, it was also suppressed by the invisible force of this world, its range reduced to about a hundred miles.

After scanning for a while, he suddenly reached into his bosom and pulled out a folded beast hide. When he opened it, a map drawn on it was revealed.

Shi Chuankong and the Crab Immortal came over to look at it as well.

"I just used my divine sense to probe the surroundings and compared it with this map. It seems we are in this area," Han Li said, pointing to a scattered group of islands on the edge of the map.

"The Gray Scale Island Chain... it seems to be a remote place as well," said the Crab Daoist.

At that moment, Han Li's voice suddenly echoed in his mind lake: "Well, Fellow Daoist Crab, now that you've entered the Accumulated Scale Void, have you recalled anything?"

"I do have some faint sensations in my heart, but I'm not sure if it's because the distance is too great. The sensations are very vague, and I can't tell whether it's good or bad," the Crab Daoist transmitted back.

"It seems this place is indeed related to your lost memories. Do your sensations have a direction?" Han Li transmitted.

"According to the map, the general direction should be toward the central area indicated on the map, but I can't confirm the specifics yet," the Crab Daoist replied after a moment of thought.

"For now, we don't know where Violet Spirit is, so let's take this as our direction. If those remnants have survived to this day, they are likely to have gathered in the central area as well," Han Li transmitted.

"Fellow Daoist Li, this realm prohibits spiritual energy. Although I have immortal essence stones as my internal power source, I can only perform ordinary attacks like you, and none of my thunder techniques can be used. Once the immortal essence within the stones is depleted, I will fall into slumber," the Crab Daoist suddenly said.

"As I expected, even you are suppressed by the laws of this realm. From now on, no matter what happens, try not to engage in battle as much as possible to avoid consuming immortal essence. I can't use my storage ring, so I only have a few medium-grade immortal essence stones on me," Han Li said.

"That will have to do. With these immortal essence stones, I can sustain my activities here for a while," the Crab Daoist nodded.

"Watch out! Something is coming..." At that moment, Han Li's expression suddenly changed slightly as he shouted.

Hearing this, the Crab Daoist and Shi Chuankong both tensed up.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

Soon, a sound of rustling came from afar.

The three looked around and saw a white line appearing on the ground in the distance ahead, slowly advancing toward them.

As it drew nearer, the white line gradually widened, beginning to cover the entire ground.

"What the hell is that? There are so many of them!" Shi Chuankong muttered.

Han Li said nothing, staring intently, and saw that on that black line were actually countless white crabs, each the size of a fist, densely clustered together, scrambling to crawl toward the giant lizard's carcass.

Taken individually, these crabs were small and delicate, their appearance quite endearing, but when tens of thousands of them gathered together, the sight was truly unsettling.

The dense mass of crabs climbed onto the giant lizard, quickly wrapping it up like a white blanket.

Some of the crabs even crawled into its body through the holes in its head.

After just a dozen breaths, a scene that surprised even Han Li and the others appeared.

The crab army surged like a tide over the giant lizard's corpse; the lizard, which moments ago had been covered in scales and intact flesh, was now reduced to a stark white skeleton, utterly clean, not even a shred of sinew or meat left.

If not for the large amount of yellowish-brown blood seeping into the ground beneath the skeleton, Han Li and the others might have thought the skeleton had been lying there for ages, weathered by wind and time.

Shi Chuankong's expression was extremely grave. Subconsciously, he leaped up, intending to fly into the air, but as soon as he jumped, he fell back to the ground under the spatial pressure.

Clearly, he had not yet adapted to being unable to use immortal spiritual power or demonic qi.

“Fellow Daoist Shi, there’s no need to panic. These white-shelled crabs seem to be merely scavengers and won’t threaten us,” the Crab Immortal suddenly spoke.

Shi Chuankong looked over and saw that the white crabs were indeed all skirting around their feet, swarming toward the centipede corpse.

In just another dozen breaths, the centipede was also devoured completely, reduced to a pile of scattered bones.

“Fellow Daoist Crab, how can you still recognize these as white-shelled crabs?” Shi Chuankong asked, surprised and somewhat puzzled.

“I just thought they looked like them; I said it offhand,” the Crab Immortal paused, then replied noncommittally.

Shi Chuankong rolled his eyes, speechless.

“Let’s go. This is no place to linger. We should press on and see if we can encounter any surviving prisoners here, and inquire about news of Zi Ling,” Han Li said.

Shi Chuankong was about to speak, but seeing the worry faintly visible on Han Li’s face, he couldn’t help but sigh and comfort him: “Brother Li, you don’t need to worry too much. Fellow Daoist Zi Ling, like you, is a cultivator who ascended from a lost realm. That itself is proof of her strength. Even if she’s stranded in the Scale Void, she’ll be fine.”

“Thank you, Fellow Daoist Shi. I owe you much this time; otherwise, I’m afraid entering this place would have cost me considerable effort,” Han Li nodded, but the worry in his eyes did not diminish much.

“You don’t need to be so polite with me. If you think about it, you saved my life! That said, even back in the Grey Realm when the situation was so dire, I never saw such an expression on your face. It seems that Fellow Daoist Zi Ling is truly extremely important to you. Enough, enough, I think we don’t need to rest; let’s be on our way,” Shi Chuankong waved his hand and sighed.

“Indeed, time is of the essence. Right now, Timeless Soul is still sleeping in my cave bamboo tower. Although I placed plenty of Purple Sun Warm Jade and arranged puppets to tend to her, as long as I’m in the Scale Void, I can’t enter the cave. If it drags on too long and something goes wrong, it will be troublesome,” Han Li frowned deeply.

“Brother Li, the more so, the more you need to calm your mind. The Scale Void is unlike other places. Though you have many abilities, most cannot be used here. So on the road ahead, we must be even more cautious,” Shi Chuankong said seriously.

“Let’s go. We continue,” Han Li’s expression hardened, and he stopped overthinking, nodding.

With that, the three found their bearings and resumed their journey.

Crossing a nearby ridge, they came upon a slightly sloping plain, fairly flat, stretching for several hundred li.

But as far as the eye could see, the ground was covered with shocking cracks, not a speck of green vegetation in sight. When the wind blew, dust would rise, only to quickly fall back under the spatial pressure.

Han Li and the other two walked down from the ridge, advancing across the land that resembled a dry riverbed, leaving three long trails of footprints stretching toward the island’s edge.

Though they couldn’t fly, their pace was not slow.

Along the way, they occasionally saw strange scaled beasts of various shapes, but none attacked them proactively. To save time, Han Li and the others did not provoke them either.

Thus, by sunset, the three had reached the edge of the island.

The sun had mostly set, and the remaining half of the red sun cast its afterglow from the horizon, dyeing the entire land orange-red. The plain began to echo with the cries of strange beasts, large and small, rising and falling.

Han Li looked back at the distant plain, then frowned as he gazed ahead.

Beyond the island’s edge, a layer of hazy black mist spread like smoke over a lake, separating the island they were on from another adjacent island.