Chapter 179: Arriving on a New Continent
The crescent-shaped saber projection crashed into the bodies of the two lightning beasts, and a scintillating black sun instantly appeared out of thin air to envelop both creatures.
In the next instant, the black sun exploded violently amid an earth-shattering boom, causing the nearby space to twist and warp.
Rings of black shockwaves swept through the air in all directions, destroying everything in their path.
Only after a long while did these black shockwaves subside to reveal the giant clam and the lightning whale.
At this point, all of the purple lightning around the giant clam had already vanished, and a series of cracks had appeared on its shell, out of which blue blood was seeping out incessantly.
The lightning whale was in an even more sorry state. The black ball in front of it had reverted back to its original size, and its surface was riddled with cracks.
Furthermore, there were several huge wounds on the lightning whale's body that extended all the way from its head to its tail. The wounds weren't very deep, but the sea around it had still been stained red by its blood.
As for Han Li, he was already nowhere to be seen.
The giant clam's shell opened up slightly, revealing its glowing green eye, which was flashing erratically in alarm and fear.
Even though it had lost the prized object that it had been nurturing for countless millennia, it had managed to survive the attack, and it could always create another pearl given more time.
On the other side, the lightning whale opened its mouth to swallow the black ball, and its eyes were also filled with alarm and unease.
At the same time, the wandering serpent thunderstorm was slowly subsiding.
The pair of giant beasts exchanged a glance with one another, and they naturally had no intention of continuing their battle as they slowly descended into the depths and went their separate ways.
Meanwhile, the Seafaring Lightning Boat was already several thousand kilometers away, and Han Li abruptly reappeared in his room in a flash.
Only after setting up several more restrictions in his room did he sit down with his legs crossed. He then flipped a hand over to summon the black saber, and there was a hint of elation in his eyes.
During that battle, he had finally developed an understanding of the black saber's power. Even though its destructive power couldn't compare with that of the Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword, he finally had a strong immortal treasure in his possession.
However, the saber still didn't truly feel like an extension of his body yet, and he would have to refine it for some time to achieve perfect synergy with the weapon.
With that in mind, he opened his mouth to release a ball of azure flames to envelop the saber, then devoured it into his belly.
After that, he flipped his hand over once again to produce the head-sized purple ball.
The ball wasn't perfectly spherical in shape. Instead, it was an ovular object that was as translucent as jade and dark purple in color.
At this moment, there wasn't even a single arc of lightning on its surface. Instead, it was giving off a purple glow, while faint law fluctuations were emanating from within.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he inspected the object. He had thought that this would be the giant clam's demon core, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that this didn't seem to have been the case.
It was said that demon beasts that reached the True Immortal Stage no longer had demon cores. Instead, they would manifest nascent souls, just like human cultivators.
Once they mastered the power of laws, they would mostly deposit those law powers in a certain part of their body. For example, the Primordial Fei Beast that Han Li had slain had deposited its power of time laws in its single eye.
However, there were also some True Immortal Stage demon beasts that focused the essence in their bodies around the power of laws that they had mastered to form a demon root.
Unlike demon cores, demon roots weren't vital to the survival of True Immortal Stage demon beasts. Instead, they were more like naturally occurring treasures, and every single one of them was extremely precious.
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then cupped the ball in both hands and slowly injected his immortal spiritual power into it.
As a result, the purple light glowing from the ball brightened a little, but no further change was observed.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and after a moment of contemplation, he released some arcs of silver lightning into the purple ball.
The purple ball immediately began to glow brightly, and arcs of purple lightning that were as thick as a grown man's arm emerged over its surface amid a string of dull thunderclaps.
Arcs of purple lightning that were as thin as strands of spider silk had also appeared within the ball, and upon closer inspection, one would discover that they were formed by countless lightning runes, which were constantly changing forms while giving off formidable lightning law power fluctuations.
An elated look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he began scrutinizing the lightning runes within the purple ball intently, trying to glean the secrets of lightning laws through his observation.
Close to a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, the purple ball was hovering in mid-air as it slowly revolved on the spot with arcs of purple lightning flashing all around it.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed beneath the purple ball, and he was observing all of the changes taking place in the ball through the use of his spiritual sense.
A long while later, he opened his eyes, then heaved a resigned sigh as he swept a sleeve through the air.
The purple lightning flashing over the surface of the ball instantly faded, following which it fell into his hand.
Even after observing the purple ball for close to a year, he was no closer at all to mastering the laws of lightning.
"Looks like I was too naïve," he murmured to himself with a wry smile.
The powers of laws were extremely profound, and no small degree of fortune was required to master such powers. Even though he had obtained a ball that contained the power of lightning laws, that was certainly no guarantee that he would definitely be able to master the laws of lightning.
Even though he was already prepared for such an outcome, he still couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
Having said that, this hadn't been a completely fruitless endeavor.
Following this near-year-long stint of observation, he had developed a more thorough understanding of the power of lightning, and his proficiency in the control of lightning had also improved in subtle ways.
Han Li set the purple ball down beside him, then drew a ball of heavy water out of his True Water Pouch.
After that, he pointed a finger at the purple ball, and arcs of purple lightning emerged, fusing with the ball of heavy water at his behest.
As soon as the two made contact with one another, they immediately began to reject each other fiercely.
Han Li remained calm and collected upon seeing this, making a rapid series of hand seals to release a string of incantation seals that enveloped the purple lightning and heavy water from all directions, forcing the two to slowly combine and integrate with one another.
Three days later, Han Li was holding a fist-sized ball in his hand with some purple lightning patterns on its surface.
This was another ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning, except this time, he had used the purple lightning from the purple ball.
Even though he hadn't tested it out, he could tell that it was definitely more formidable than the Heavy Water Veined Lightning he had refined using the power of the Lightning Bird.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to stow the ball of lightning away, following which he took a glance out the window.
After such a long journey, the Seafaring Lightning Boat had already left the central region of the Thunderstorm Sea, and the lightning flashing through the dark clouds in the sky had clearly become more sparse.
At this point, over half of the journey had already passed by, and he would be arriving on the Ancient Cloud Continent in just two or three more years.
This was a very encouraging thought for Han Li, and he drew another ball of heavy heavy water out of his True Water Pouch.
He had to make some extensive preparations prior to reaching the Ancient Cloud Continent.
……
Three years later.
There was a snow-covered cliff that was over 100,000 feet tall and shaped like an eagle's beak.
Atop the cliff stood a grand and imposing pass that was over 1,000 feet tall and constructed from some type of dark red stone material, and there was a golden plaque that carried the name "Eagle Beak Pass" hanging above the pass.
Beneath the cliff was a sea of white clouds that extended for tens of thousands of kilometers, with mountain summits poking through the clouds at intervals of several dozen kilometers. Those mountain summits resembled islands on a vast sea, and they appeared to have been quite tiny and insignificant, but in reality, all of them belonged to majestic mountains that were hundreds of thousands of feet tall.
These mountains belonged to the vastly renowned Crane Call Mountain Range of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and even though this was only a remote branch of the mountain range, it was still an exceptional visual spectacle.
It was very early in the morning, and the sun was only just beginning to rise, basking the entire sea of clouds in a warm, golden glow.
The clouds surged and churned in the face of the cold mountain wind, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
All of a sudden, what sounded like a string of cow moos rang out. The sound was very low and deep, but was also extremely penetrative and rang out across the entire sky.
At the same time, a gigantic creature was breaking through the vast expanse of golden clouds as it slowly flew toward the Eagle Beak Pass.
The creature was several thousand feet in size, and it resembled a dark green turtle. Its four massive flippers resembled a set of oars that were slowly moving through the clouds, propelling the enormous creature forward.
A three-story louchuan-like structure that exhibited exceptional craftsmanship had been constructed on the shell of the giant turtle, and it was complete with engraved golden and jade pillars, presenting a lavish sight to behold.
At this moment, there were several hundred people standing on the deck of the louchuan, most of whom were appreciating the scenery around them with relaxed and carefree expressions.
At the very front of the louchuan, situated closest to the turtle's head, was an azure-robed man with a medium build. He was holding onto the thick and sturdy dark wood railing in front of him as he cast his gaze toward the Eagle Beak Pass in the distance.
The man was none other than Han Li, who had traveled here from the Primordial Wave Continent.
After arriving at the Seafaring Lightning Boat, he had parted ways with Sun Ke, and the giant turtle that he was riding at this moment was a beast by the name of the Cloudfaring Turtle.
Despite their enormous size, these creatures had a very gentle and mild personality that made them easy to tame. At the same time, they had an enormous load capacity and were able to travel through the sky at extremely high altitudes, so they were often kept by large trading houses to serve as a mode of long-distance transportation.
Not all of the cities on the Ancient Cloud Continent had teleportation arrays, and having only just arrived on this new continent, Han Li was still yet to find his footing, so he decided to pay the fare to take the Cloudfaring Turtle. Along the way, he would be able to familiarize himself with the Ancient Cloud Continent.
The giant turtle let loose another long call as the edge of its shell made contact with the port of the Eagle Beak Pass, resulting in some slight tremors that quickly subsided.
Ushered by the manager of the Cloudfaring Turtle, all of the passengers began to make their way down a wooden ladder constructed along the slope of the turtle's shell to step onto the tall cliff.
Han Li followed the stream of disembarking passengers onto the cliff, and he couldn't help but look up at the imposing pass before him.
According to his map, he had officially reached the central region of the Ancient Cloud Continent.
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