Chapter 145: Search
All Han Li saw was a burst of blinding white light, and in the next instant, he found himself in an azure stone hall, standing atop a teleportation array.
As soon as everyone emerged from the teleportation array, several people immediately flew out of the hall, including the three scourges.
Only one person could complete this mission, so the competition was very fierce.
Han Li and the rest of the cultivators exchanged a few glances, then made their way out of the hall in silence.
The hall was situated on a plot of elevated land, and one could see a complex system of streets and roads down below, as well as countless humanoid figures that were as tiny as sesame seeds.
It was clear that this was also a city, and it appeared to have been quite a large and bustling city as well, but it naturally couldn't compare with Black Wind City.
"You seem very confident, Brother Liu. Could it be that you already have an idea of where to begin your search?" Guan Yong asked with a smile.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face as he replied, "I'm afraid not, Brother Guan. I'm currently racking my brains, trying to think of where Young Mistress Lu could be. What about you? Have you thought of anything?"
"I'm just as lost as you are. Looks like all we can do is search for her by brute force," Guan Yong sighed.
The two of them chatted for a short while before parting ways, and at this point, everyone else had also already left.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, which contained a detailed map of the Black Wind Sea. He then injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip and quickly tracked down the location of Assembly Island.
Looks like I was right.
A contemplative look appeared in his eyes, and he rose up as a streak of azure light before hurtling away into the distance. Before long, he had already flown out of Assembly Island, and he flew around the nearby sea for a while to ensure that he wasn't being followed.
He then made a hand seal, and countless arcs of silver lightning erupted out of his body, instantly forming a round lightning array with a diameter in excess of 100 feet.
There were countless silver runes flashing within the array, and the array abruptly vanished amid a resounding thunderclap, leaving behind only several arcs of silver lightning that also quickly dissipated.
Several days later.
A flash of lightning appeared somewhere on the Black Wind Sea, and a silver array appeared out of thin air before quickly vanishing to reveal Han Li, who was looking a little weary.
He took a glance at his surroundings, and he spotted a black dot on the horizon, which seemed to have been an island.
"Finally," he murmured to himself, and instead of continuing to use his lightning teleportation array, he flew toward the island as a streak of azure light.
Given his current speed, it didn't take him very long at all to arrive at the island.
The earth on the island before him had a peculiar red hue, and the same applied to all of the vegetation on the island as well. This was none other than Red Moon Island, the island that he had previously visited on his mission for the Transient Guild.
Assembly Island was the closest of Black Wind Island's subsidiary islands to Red Moon Island, and in addition to that, Han Li was aware that there was a very good chance that Lu Mo was Wyrm 16, so he knew that it was very likely that Lu Yuqing had also gathered sufficient leads to find out that Lu Mo had perished on Red Moon Island.
Even though this was all just speculation from Han Li, he had no other leads, so there was no other direction for him to pursue.
He cast his gaze toward Red Moon Island, and his brows furrowed slightly.
The island was too massive, so even with his spiritual sense, it would take an extremely long time to scour the entire island.
After a moment of contemplation, he shot forth as a streak of azure light once again, flying toward the Red Moon City in the Kun Province, where Wyrm 16 had met his demise.
At the same time, his spiritual sense was fully activated to inspect his surroundings.
He couldn't search the entire island, so he could only pick out the likeliest locations.
It took him no more than half a day to cover close to half of the journey to his destination Red Moon Island, but he hadn't been able to find any further leads along the way thus far.
All of a sudden, he seemed to have noticed something, and he drew to an abrupt halt before descending onto the ground.
Down below was a lush forest, and there was a long trench in the ground that was thousands of feet in length. The soil on the edge of the trench had been completely charred black, as if it had been incinerated.
"These signs of battle are very recent, so the battle seems to have taken place not long ago," Han Li murmured to himself.
There was still some heat emanating from the charred soil, and judging from the damage caused, the person responsible had to have been at least a Grand Ascension cultivator.
Han Li didn't linger here any longer as he rose up into the air once again and continued to fly onward.
He made sure to be extra vigilant, and sure enough, he discovered many more similar signs of battle along the way.
Close to an hour later, Han Li had descended onto a grassland.
The ground up ahead was completely charred black and riddled with countless craters that were thousands of feet deep, clearly indicating that a fierce battle had recently taken place here.
He spread his spiritual sense through the area, then beckoned toward a certain direction, and the soil in one of the large craters up ahead stirred slightly, following which a piece of black cloth flew out from within and into Han Li's grasp.
Looking at the piece of black cloth, Han Li was reminded of the black attire worn by the cultivators serving the island master's manor on Black Wind Island. The material was identical.
With that in mind, he immediately rose up into the air once again as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distance in a flash.
A short while later, silver lightning flashed above the giant crater, and he returned to the same spot.
There weren't any further signs of battle up ahead.
He didn't know who Lu Yuqing's enemies were, but it was clear that she and her companions had been defeated here, and it was unclear whether she was dead or alive.
All of a sudden, bright blue light began to glow from Han Li's eyes, and at the same time, his Law Destruction Eye appeared on his glabella amid a flash of black light.
The three bursts of light, one black and two blue, converged in front of him to form a huge black and blue eye, which was releasing waves of black and blue light that proliferated outward in all directions.
All of the world's origin qi in the surrounding area instantly appeared in his mind with exceptional clarity, resembling countless specks of light that were moving around in all directions in a chaotic fashion.
Even though there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to these chaotic specks of light, he was able to spot a trail of crimson light that seemed to have been drifting in a certain direction.
He immediately set off toward that direction, flying as quickly as he could, vanishing into the distant horizon in a flash.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li drew to an abrupt halt, then flew in another direction.
The person who had left the aura behind had changed directions here.
Only after several more directional changes did the lingering aura finally follow a single direction, and Han Li was able to truly commence his pursuit.
A rumbling thunderclap rang out as countless arcs of silver lightning erupted out of his body, and another loud thunderclap rang out as he vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he reappeared hundreds of kilometers away, then disappeared once again amid another flash of lightning.
He didn't dare to teleport too long a distance each time for fear that his target would change directions again, but even so, he was still traveling at an extraordinary speed.
The lingering aura in the air was becoming clearer and clearer, indicating that he was closing in on his target.
In a region of the sea somewhere near Red Moon Island, a streak of bright red light was hurtling through the air at an incredible speed, containing a fiery red flying ark.
Atop the flying ark stood three figures, two of which were a square-faced middle-aged man and an elderly man with a white beard. Both of them were wearing azure robes with an azure feather design emblazoned on the sleeve.
The two of them were standing beside a gorgeous white-robed young woman, whose entire body had been bound by a chain of red light, and she was glowering at the two men with intense fury and resentment in her eyes.
"Speed up a bit more," the elderly man urged as he inspected his surroundings with tightly furrowed brows.
"This is already as fast as this Dragon Feather Ark can go, Brother Qi. Any faster than this and the ark's spiritual nature will be harmed. Besides, we've already killed all of those Black Wind Island cultivators and changed directions multiple times, surely no one will be able to track us down," the square-faced man said in a nonchalant manner.
"We can't afford to grow complacent before we return to Azure Feather Island. Keep accelerating, I'll cover the costs to repair any damage to your ark," the elderly man urged.
"Fine."
The square-faced man gave a slightly exasperated shrug, then released a series of incantation seals.
Countless crimson runes instantly appeared around the flying ark, resembling an undulating wave.
The ark immediately sped up by about 30%, hurtling along so quickly that the surrounding scenery had turned into a complete blur.
The elderly man's expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and a flipped a hand over to produce an array plate.
However, right as he was about to activate the array plate, his expression changed drastically, and he swung around to look behind the ark.
"What is it, Brother Qi?" the square-faced man asked with a perplexed expression.
"Someone's chasing after us!" the elderly man exclaimed with a grim expression.
The square-faced man immediately turned to look behind the ark as well, and a surprised look appeared on his face.
Sure enough, a speck of silver lightning had appeared on the horizon, and it was flashing incessantly.
Furthermore, with each flash, the silver lightning would become a little larger, indicating that whoever was chasing after them was quickly closing in.
"What incredible speed!" the elderly man exclaimed with a stunned expression, while a hint of elation appeared in Lu Yuqing's eyes.
"Shit!"
The square-faced man gritted his teeth, then expelled a mouthful of blood essence, and he made a rapid series of hand seals while the blood essence transformed into a ball of crimson light that vanished into the flying ark.
Streaks of fiery red light instantly erupted out of the ark, and it was as if the entire ark had been set alight. As a result, it sped up by twofold and began hurtling through the air as a red blur.
Even though the flying ark had accelerated even further, its speed was still clearly inferior to its pursuer, and the distance between them was still slowly diminishing. Before long, the pursuer was only several dozen kilometers away.
A dark look appeared on the elderly man's face upon seeing this, and he was just about to spring into action when another flash of silver lightning appeared behind him before vanishing in a flash.
In the next instant, a rumbling thunderclap rang out directly above them, and a ball of silver lightning appeared, followed by another resounding thunderclap as a bolt of silver lightning that was as thick as a water tank came crashing down with devastating power.
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