Chapter 230: Wasting Time
Meanwhile.
Sun Ke's group of six had already arrived deep in Pine Fruit Mountain.
Their route was the safest of the three routes, so the demon beasts that they had encountered hadn't been all that powerful, and thanks to the camaraderie that they had built, it had been a relatively smooth journey thus far.
At this moment, Bai Suyuan was flying beside Sun Ke, and her gaze was roaming over the vast snowland as she said, "Senior Martial Brother, according to the map, we'll reach the area where the Snow Dove Beasts are active in about 1,000 more kilometers."
"Those beasts are said to be quite docile, but their power is nothing to be scoffed at, and there have been precedents of such beasts actively attacking cultivators, so we'll have to be careful," Sun Ke said.
As soon as his voice trailed off, Bai Suyuan suddenly stopped in her tracks, then cast a wary gaze toward a forest that was several thousand feet up ahead.
Sun Ke immediately stopped as well, then raised a hand to indicate for everyone else to do the same.
The other four disciples in the group had already split up and summoned their respective treasures.
"I didn't think a bunch of kids like you would be able to detect my presence."
A hoarse voice rang out as a tall and imposing white-robed elderly man slowly rose up into the air from within the forest up ahead.
Bai Suyuan was feeling rather alarmed, but she still put on a respectful demeanor as she asked, "May I ask who you are and why you're hiding here, Senior?"
She was unable to detect the elderly man's cultivation base, and there was no way that she would've been able to sense his presence had it not been for the fact that she was carrying a special treasure. Furthermore, the manner in which he was sneaking around clearly indicated that he didn't harbor any good intentions.
The same thoughts had clearly occurred to Sun Ke and the others as well, and they exchanged a few glances, seemingly trying to decide on how to proceed.
"You don't need to know who I am, Bai Suyuan. What a pretty little flower you are. The Moonlight Immortal Physique truly lives up to its reputation. Come with me, and don't try to put up any futile resistance," the elderly man said.
Bai Suyuan's expression remained unchanged, but her heart clenched up slightly as she warned, "Stay away! The elders of our sect are in the nearby vicinity!"
A mocking sneer appeared on the elderly man's face as he jeered, "Quit trying to bluff me, little girl. The elders arranged to protect all of you in secret have already been diverted away by me, so no one's coming to save you. Now then, are you going to do things the easy way or the hard way?"
Sun Ke and the others were quite alarmed to hear this.
They didn't have any powerful backers in the sect, but seeing as they had managed to secure the right to participate in the trial, all of them naturally had their own information sources, so they were aware that there were going to be inner sect elders protecting them in secret during the trial.
This was like a safety net that instilled within them a sense of reassurance, but now that these elders had apparently been diverted elsewhere, they were naturally feeling a little fearful.
"I've never met you before, so why do you insist that I come with you, Senior?" Bai Suyuan asked.
Instead of answering Bai Suyuan's question, the elderly man smiled and said, "You've always wanted to know what happened to the patriarch of your Bai Clan, right? If you come with me, I'll tell you where he is."
"You know our clan's patriarch?" Bai Suyuan hurriedly asked.
"Of course I'm familiar with Elder Bai Fengyi," the elderly man replied in a casual voice.
A hint of hesitation appeared on Bai Suyuan's face, and even with all her wiles and cunning, she was at a slight loss for what to do.
"Don't listen to him, Junior Martial Sister Bai! He's just saying that to lure you into surrendering yourself over to him!" Sun Ke hurriedly cautioned.
"You're right! If you really do know our clan's patriarch, then show me a token of his!" Bai Suyuan said.
A cold look appeared on the elderly man's face upon hearing this. "I've tried to be nice, but seeing as you insist on testing my patience, you'll have to bear the consequences! I can't afford to waste any more time here!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly raised a hand, then thrust it forward with his fingers spread apart. A shimmering golden bead instantly shot forth through the air, reaching within 200 feet of Bai Suyuan in the blink of an eye.
In the next instant, dazzling golden light erupted from the bead, and it transformed into a large golden net that descended upon her.
Bai Suyuan immediately shot back in retreat as quickly as she could, but there was simply far too massive a power disparity between the two, and she was unable to evade the attack even though she had reacted right away.
As for Sun Ke and the others, there was no time for them to do anything, and they could only look on helplessly as the golden net began to close in on Bai Suyuan.
Right at this moment, a burst of azure light appeared in the air without any warning, immediately following which a figure emerged in front of Bai Suyuan before sweeping a hand through the air.
A ball of black liquid instantly surged forth, crashing heavily into the golden net.
As soon as the two made contact with one another, the golden net instantly plummeted toward the ground as if something incredibly heavy were weighing down upon it.
"What? How could this be?" the elderly man exclaimed with a surprised expression.
"Elder Li!"
After taking a moment to steady herself, Bai Suyuan was both surprised and elated to find that she had been saved by a familiar figure.
Indeed, the one standing between her and the elderly man was none other than Han Li.
Instead of turning to look at Bai Suyuan, Han Li's gaze remained firmly fixed on the elderly man as he said, "You've already wasted more than enough time here. Also, I've been nearby this entire time, so why are you saying that I left? If these disciples report me to the sect for neglecting my duties, then I'll have merit points deducted."
"Now wonder that figure had an identical aura to yours, but it felt like something wasn't quite right with it. In any case, is a mere early-True Immortal cultivator like yourself going to stand against me?" the elderly man chuckled coldly.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he raised a hand to summon a set of seven flying swords, which circled around in the air for a moment before forming a sword array that flew directly toward Han Li.
The runes on the flying swords were glowing brightly as they released bursts of white flames, making the flying swords resemble a massive fire raven with its wings spread open.
Han Li raised both hands in response, and a torrent of heavy water gushed forth, transforming into a black flood dragon that was around 10 feet in length in mid-air before hurtling directly toward the white fire raven.
A string of loud explosions rang out as countless specks of white flames were sent flying in all directions, instantly melting the snow on the ground into water vapor wherever they landed.
The snow on around a dozen of the nearby pine trees quickly melted away, following which the trees themselves erupted into flames as well.
A peculiar look appeared in Sun Ke's eyes at the sight of Han Li, and he approached Bai Suyuan before asking, "Who is this elder, Junior Martial Sister Bai?"
Bai Suyuan's attention was entirely focused on the battle unfolding before her eyes, so she failed to notice the peculiar look on Sun Ke's face as she replied, "He's an inner sect elder by the name of Li Feiyu."
Sun Ke was naturally astonished to hear this.
This Elder Li shared the same name as the man that he had met on the Seafaring Lightning Boat, and most importantly, their auras were very similar.
However, the cultivation base of this Li Feiyu was worlds apart from that of the Li Feiyu from the Seafaring Lightning Boat, and Sun Ke couldn't help but wonder if they were actually the same person.
Right at this moment, the elderly man let loose a loud roar, and the white fire raven formed by his flying swords spread its wings as it pounced at Han Li's black wyrm, forcing the latter back into retreat.
Han Li made a hand seal while chanting an incantation upon seeing this, and a black disk that was around a foot in size with countless fine and complex spirit patterns on its surface suddenly appeared behind him.
The disk was giving off a powerful aura of water laws, and it was none other than this Heavy Water True Axis.
All of a sudden, the Heavy Water True Axis began to rapidly revolve at Han Li's behest before flying rapidly toward the white fire raven.
As it approached the fire raven, the Water Dao Runes on the Heavy Water True Axis began to glow with dazzling blue light, while the water law aura emanating from it became even more potent.
The elderly man's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and with a flick of his wrist, he sent a shimmering golden talisman flying through the air, and the talisman vanished into the fire raven's body right before it was about to clash with the Heavy Water True Axis.
A resounding boom rang out as the golden talisman transformed the white fire raven into a ball of scorching white light before clashing against the Heavy Water True Axis.
Tremendous shockwaves erupted in all directions from the epicenter of the clash, and half of the shockwaves were scorching hot, while the other half were cool and refreshing, but both were extremely destructive and destroyed all of the trees in their path.
Sun Ke and the others hurriedly fled back in retreat, quickly fleeing to several thousand feet away.
A string of loud clangs rang out as the Heavy Water True Axis revolved furiously on the spot as it clashed against the ball of scorching white light, and it seemed that the two had come to an impasse.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, and the heavy water wyrm that had been forced back into retreat earlier rose up into the air once again before hurtling toward the ball of white light.
A dull thump rang out, and the heavy water wyrm was sliced apart by the sharp sword intent emanating from the seven flying swords as soon as it plunged into the ball of white light.
A vast expanse of black heavy water erupted in all directions, but immediately thereafter, the Heavy Water True Axis suddenly began to glow brightly while releasing a burst of peculiar suction force.
All of the nearby heavy water was instantly sucked into the axis as a result, making the Heavy Water True Axis even heavier than before.
Thanks to its increased weight, it was revolving with greater momentum, and the ball of white light was slowly forced back into retreat.
The elderly man's view was obstructed by the ball of light, so he hadn't yet noticed that something was amiss. He had thought that Han Li had injected more magic power into his Heavy Water True Axis, so he hurriedly responded by injecting more magic power into his ball of white light as well.
Meanwhile, with another sweep of his sleeve, an even larger heavy water wyrm was sent flying through the air, but this time, instead of flying into the ball of white light, it plunged straight into the Heavy Water True Axis.
A dull thump rang out, and the heavy water wyrm instantly vanished into the axis without a trace.
Radiant black light erupted from the Heavy Water True Axis, and it expanded by about an inch diameter while becoming even heavier.
All of a sudden, the elderly man felt a burst of mountainous force hurtling toward him, and it was so heavy that he was struck by a sense of asphyxiation.
He hurriedly made a hand seal to support the ball of white light so that it wouldn't be instantly destroyed, and at the same time, he opened his mouth to release a tiny golden wooden puppet.
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