Chapter 83: A Flash of Wit in a Crisis

"Break!"

The golden-furred giant ape opened its mouth and spat out a plume of azure mist, which vanished in a flash as it merged into the black-blue orb of light. The orb's surface brightened, and countless black and blue runes of all sizes emerged, spinning rapidly.

With a buzzing sound!

Strands of black-blue light shot out from the orb, scattering in all directions, instantly weaving into a massive black-blue net that covered an area several miles in radius.

This was a divine ability Han Li had once stumbled upon, combining his Bright Spirit Eyes and Annihilation Eye. However, once used, it nearly drained his magic power instantly.

As soon as the black-blue net formed, a certain spot suddenly trembled and twisted, as if it had touched something.

The giant ape's form flickered, transforming into a golden shadow that shook off the azure wind dragon on its back and darted toward that spot like lightning.

The azure wind dragon roared, twisting its body to give chase.

The giant ape moved like the wind, appearing at the anomaly in the net in the blink of an eye. Before the wind dragon could catch up, one of its palms, glowing with golden light, reached out and struck down fiercely.

A thunderous crash echoed through the void, which rippled violently.

A mass of black runes emerged and then simultaneously dissipated, revealing a huge figure stumbling out—the centaur beast. Its remaining head bore an expression of extreme terror.

Before it could react, another furry golden fist, wrapped in light, smashed down!

The centaur beast's movements were still sluggish; in haste, it crossed its arms to protect its head.

At that moment, a cold snort came from the giant ape's mouth.

The beast felt as if its mind had been stabbed by an awl; it screamed in agony, its movements freezing.

The golden fist slipped through the gap between the beast's arms and struck its remaining head.

Bang!

The beast's last head burst like a watermelon. Its massive body convulsed and fell to the ground. The azure wind dragon, which had just been about to pierce the giant ape's heart with its horn, let out a mournful cry and disintegrated inch by inch.

With a "pfft," a green shadow shot out from the beast's headless corpse.

"Eh!"

The giant ape that was Han Li's transformation flickered its eyes and let out a soft exclamation.

The green shadow was a miniature centaur wrapped in azure whirlwinds, also with three heads. It appeared solid and substantial, not a soul but an existence similar to a cultivator's nascent soul.

One of the miniature centaur's heads flashed black, and with a surge of black light, it vanished into the void with a series of afterimages.

The giant ape let out a low shout; a black light flickered between its brows, and the Annihilation Eye manifested. With a slight movement, a fine black thread shot out from it and disappeared into the void.

The void over a hundred zhang away trembled, and the miniature centaur stumbled into view, all three faces filled with horror.

Suddenly, silver light flashed around it, and crisscrossing silver flame chains emerged, instantly forming a huge silver flame net that tightened inward.

The miniature centaur's left head flashed green, and the azure whirlwind around its body spun, transforming into an azure wind pillar that protected it, preventing the silver flame net from closing.

In that brief moment, the giant ape took a step and appeared in the air, its arm suddenly swelling with a crackling sound, and it punched the azure wind pillar like lightning.

"Boom!"

A terrifying fist force broke through the air; the azure wind pillar collapsed like dry twigs, and the miniature centaur inside let out a piercing scream before being crushed like an egg with a "bang."

The golden-furred giant ape was now drenched in blood, most of its body stained red. But it turned without pause and lunged at the one-eyed giant lying not far away.

The giant's heart had been pierced by the lightning halberd formed by the centaur beast, a grievous wound. Yet its vitality was incredibly tenacious, and it had not perished.

Now, the blood hole in its chest was sealed again by a layer of fine yellow crystal sand, but its aura was still extremely weak, and even moving seemed difficult.

Seeing the golden-furred giant ape charging, the giant's face filled with terror. It let out a roar, and around it, a large amount of yellow crystal sand quickly condensed beneath it into a sand boat, barely lifting its body and flying away. At the same time, the single eye on its forehead lit up with white light.

"Swoosh!"

A white beam shot out from it, heading straight for the giant ape's head.

The giant ape that was Han Li's transformation felt a chill in his heart. Though he didn't know what the white light was, recalling how the centaur beast had been hit by it, he knew it was something to avoid at all costs.

As he thought, golden light flashed on his body, and he rapidly shrank back into human form.

The one-eyed giant grinned, and a faint white light flickered in its single eye.

The white beam trembled and, as if alive, turned downward, continuing to shoot toward Han Li with astonishing speed.

Han Li was horrified; he wanted to dodge sideways, but it was too late.

Just as the beam was about to touch him, a flash of wit came to him. An idea struck, and he pulled the Heavenvoid Bottle from his neck, tossing it toward the incoming white beam.

An unexpected scene unfolded!

As soon as the white beam touched the Heavenvoid Bottle, it vanished into it like a stone sinking into the sea, leaving no reaction on the bottle's surface.

Seeing this, Han Li's mouth opened slightly, then a look of surprise appeared. He waved his hand to retrieve the bottle, and without examining it closely, continued charging toward the one-eyed giant.

The giant's single eye was wide with disbelief, but it quickly came to its senses. It channeled the remaining magic power in its body, causing the yellow crystal sand boat beneath it to flare with yellow light, increasing its speed as it flew away.

But halfway, Han Li transformed back into a golden-furred giant ape and opened its mouth wide.

Roar!

An earth-shattering roar erupted from its mouth!

A misty white wave surged forth, distorting the void wherever it passed, instantly covering an area several hundred zhang ahead.

This sonic wave, being so far away, couldn't harm the thick-skinned one-eyed giant much, but it shattered the unstable sand boat beneath it.

The giant's massive body lost balance and plummeted from the air.

Below, golden light flashed as the golden-furred giant ape flew up and punched upward fiercely, striking the giant's head squarely.

"Bang!"

The giant's head burst, splattering red and white matter.

Swoosh!

A somewhat dim yellow light shot out from its body—the one-eyed giant's nascent soul.

As soon as it appeared, silver light flashed above, and a silver flame net descended, enveloping it and tightening, trapping it inside.

Countless silver runes shot out, adhering to the nascent soul's body, forming a silver seal in an instant, leaving it suspended motionless in midair.

All this happened like lightning; before the one-eyed giant's nascent soul could use any means, it was already trapped.

What it didn't expect was that Han Li, having learned from the previous experience, had released the Essencefire Bird in advance, waiting for it to fall into the trap.

"Bang!"

The giant's corpse hit the ground heavily. Its spiritual patterns dimmed, and its massive body turned into dried rock, then with a series of crackling sounds, it shattered into countless tiny yellow crystal grains.

But the gray single eye remained, rolling a few times on the ground.

Not far away, a green figure landed gracefully—Han Li, back in human form.

He was now looking down at the green bottle in his hand, his eyes flickering as if deep in thought.

Since he had obtained this bottle, despite its miraculous nature, it had never behaved like this before.

Was it because of its proximity to the Celestial Heavenvoid Bottle? Or had something in the white light from the one-eyed giant caused this reaction?

After a moment, he looked up, waved his hand, and the gray eye was drawn to his palm by a suction force.

The eye now looked like an ordinary stone bead, emitting no aura. But since it could shoot beams with a hint of law power, it was clearly no ordinary object.

On a whim, Han Li gently touched the eye to the Heavenvoid Bottle.

A crisp "clang" sounded.

Neither the eye nor the bottle showed any change.

Seeing this, he shook his head with a smile. Without further thought, he rehung the green bottle around his neck, took out a jade box, carefully placed the eye inside, and stored it away.

At this moment, the silver flame sealing the giant's nascent soul flew over to him with great intelligence.

Han Li looked up at the one-eyed giant's nascent soul, a contemplative expression on his face.

What use was the nascent soul of a beast whose cultivation far exceeded that of a Great Ascension stage cultivator, comparable to a true immortal? He couldn't determine for now, but one thing was certain: even in the celestial realm, this item would be extremely rare.

But he had no time to ponder this now. With a flick of his sleeve, he pasted several talismans on the nascent soul's body, then withdrew the Essencefire Bird, placed the nascent soul in a wooden box, and stored it away.

Then he walked toward the centaur beast's corpse a few hundred zhang away and, following the same procedure, tossed it into his storage bracelet.

After doing all this, he let out a long breath.

This fierce battle had truly exhausted him, but fortunately, it was only a close call. Most of his injuries were superficial and not serious.

He looked around and saw that the small island was now a scene of devastation. Countless ancient trees were broken, and debris and rubble covered the pitted ground.

Only farther away, where the battle hadn't reached, did it retain some of its original appearance.

Han Li closed his eyes slightly and released his spiritual sense, instantly covering the entire landmass.

After a moment, he raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

After a brief deliberation, he moved and dashed into the depths of the dense forest.