Chapter 385: Chance Encounter
The red-robed young woman gritted her teeth as she shifted her gaze away from the man with the coarse beard, and she began making a rapid string of hand seals to further accelerate the flying boat.
Meanwhile, the black-robed young man beside her swept a sleeve through the air, sending a burst of gentle azure light flying into the body of the bearded man.
The bearded man's complexion instantly improved slightly, and he gave the black-robed young man a grateful nod.
Right at this moment, the vast expanse of blue lightning faded to reveal the Lightning Worm Beast once again.
The injuries on its body seemed to have worsened a little, and many parts of its body were charred black and stained with blue blood.
However, it then let loose a loud roar, and arcs of blue lightning reappeared over its body.
At the same time, all of the blue blood on its body was set alight, transforming into a burst of blue flames.
The flames and lightning intertwined to form a vast expanse of dense blue mist that surged around the beast's giant body, and in the next instant, the blue mist abruptly exploded before vanishing into thin air along with the Lightning Worm Beast itself.
The black-robed young man had been paying close attention to the Lightning Worm Beast this entire time, and his expression instantly changed drastically upon seeing this. "Be careful!"
The red-robed young woman and the bearded man had also been keeping tabs on the beast with their spiritual sense, and they were quite alarmed by its sudden disappearance as well.
Before the three of them had a chance to do anything, a burst of spatial fluctuations suddenly emerged in front of the flying boat, following which a vast expanse of blue mist appeared, then swooped down upon the flying boat, instantly inundating the trio onboard.
As soon as the flying boat fell into the sea of blue mist, it was immediately stopped cold in its tracks as if it had flown into a swamp.
The three cultivators onboard also felt a tremendous burst of invisible force constricting around them, and they weren't completely immobilized, but much to their alarm, their movements were severely restricted.
Immediately thereafter, the giant Lightning Worm Beast appeared in front of them, and its body had swelled even further, resembling a small mountain.
At the same time, it was giving off an immense Spatial Tempering Stage aura.
A hint of despair appeared in the eyes of both the red-robed young woman and the bearded, and a grim look had also appeared on the black-robed young man's face.
The Lightning Worm Beast opened its cavernous mouth, releasing around a dozen thick bolts of blue lightning that surged toward the flying boat at an astonishing speed.
At the same time, the surrounding sea of blue mist churned violently as it enveloped the trio of cultivators onboard.
The sea of blue mist then transformed into an enormous ball of mist that churned and swirled with tremendous force while arcs of lightning flashed within it, and it was unclear what was happening inside.
Right at this moment, the ball of blue mist abruptly fell still, then bulged outward before exploding with a resounding boom to reveal the trio of cultivators inside.
At this moment, the black-robed young man was holding a giant fiery crimson sword that was several dozen feet in length. The sword was burning with scorching crimson flames and giving off terrifying spiritual power fluctuations.
His face had turned as pale as a sheet, while his clothes were in tatters, and blood was trickling down from the corners of his lips.
The bearded man and the red-robed young woman were in even worse condition. Both of them had had their clothes torn to shreds, while their faces had turned deathly pale. In particular, the bearded man's body was soaked in blood, and his left arm had been severed at the elbow.
The azure flying boat was nowhere to be seen, and the wreckage of a spirit boat could just barely be made out within the sea of mist behind the trio.
The flames on the surface of the giant fiery sword that the black-robed young man was wielding flashed momentarily before rapidly shrinking down, transforming into a crimson spirit talisman that was around half a foot in size with a fiery sword design emblazoned on its surface.
The talisman was giving off formidable fier-attribute spiritual power fluctuations, but they were extremely unstable.
All of a sudden, the talisman burst into flames and was incinerated into ashes in the blink of an eye.
A pained look appeared in the black-robed young man's eyes upon seeing this, but there was no time to grieve over the talisman as he yelled, "Run!"
Immediately thereafter, he flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light, and the bearded man and the red-robed young woman also mustered what little remained of their strength as they flew away as quickly as they could.
However, they weren't able to make it very far before the Lightning Worm Beast re-emerged from the blue mist behind them.
A long gash had appeared on its lower abdomen, and the wound was bleeding profusely. It was not an injury to be scoffed at, but over all, the beast was in far better condition than the trio of human cultivators.
Even though its prey was getting away, the Lightning Worm Beast didn't appear to be worried at all, and a hint of mockery appeared in its eyes.
All of a sudden, the surrounding blue mist enveloped its entire body, and it set off in pursuit of the trio of the cultivators at an incredible speed.
All three of the human cultivators were carrying severe injuries, so they were flying far slower than before, but the speed of the Lightning Worm Beast hadn't diminished in the slightest, and the distance between them quickly began to shrink.
The trio of cultivators were extremely anxious, but there was nothing that they could do.
Before long, the gap between them had already been closed down to less than five kilometers.
At this point, their magic power reserves were close to running dry, and none of them had any more powerful treasures up their sleeves, so the situation was looking very dire.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light suddenly appeared on the distant horizon out of nowhere, and it was approaching them at a rapid speed.
The enormous aura emanating out of the streak of azure light far exceeded that of the trio of cultivators and the Lightning Worm Beast behind them.
The despair on the faces of the three cultivators instantly turned to hope and elation, and the three of them yelled out in unison, "Save us, Senior!"
The streak of azure light slowed down slightly, and the trio of cultivators were ecstatic to see this.
A hint of fear flashed through the Lightning Worm Beast's eyes at the sight of the streak of azure light, but as it turned its gaze back to its prey, the fear in its eyes was instantly replaced by a vicious gleam.
All of a sudden, it stopped cold in its tracks before opening its mouth, and countless arcs of blue lightning appeared within the sea of mist before converging rapidly toward its mouth, forming a giant ball of lightning that was several hundred feet in size in the blink of an eye.
The ball of lightning then shot forth toward the trio of cultivators, while the Lightning Worm Beast turned and fled toward the distance with the sea of blue mist surging around it.
The ball of lightning was extremely fast, and it looked as if it were about to swallow up the trio of cultivators in the blink of an eye.
A cold harrumph rang out from within the streak of azure light, immediately following which a pillar of azure light that was as thick as a bucket descended out of the heavens to strike the ball of lightning.
The pillar of azure light pierced through the ball of lightning with ease, and the Lightning Worm Beast was terrified to see this.
The sea of mist around it churned violently as it fled into the distance at even faster speed, only for another pillar of azure light to shoot out of the streak of azure light.
The pillar of azure light was far faster than the Lightning Worm Beast, catching up to it in a flash before transforming into a giant streak of azure sword qi that was several thousand feet in length.
The sea of blue mist was instantly torn apart to reveal the Lightning Worm Beast inside.
The beast had stopped cold in its tracks, and a gash was running all the way down its body.
In the next instant, its enormous body split up into two halves, and a vast expanse of blue blood interspersed with internal organs rained down onto the sea below.
The trio of cultivators had all stopped in their tracks and were observing the unfolding situation with awestruck expressions.
Only then did the streak of azure light in the air fade to reveal a square-faced middle-aged man.
The trio of cultivators exchanged a glance with one another, then hurriedly flew toward the middle-aged man before extending deep, respectful bows. "Thank you for saving our lives, Senior!"
The fact that he was able to slay the Lightning Worm Beast so easily indicated that he was at least a Body Integration cultivator, and he could even be a Grand Ascension cultivator, so they had to treat him with the utmost respect.
The middle-aged man took a glance at the trio, and his gaze lingered momentarily on the black-robed young man as he asked, "Are you all cultivators of Black Wind Island?"
"That's right. We reside on Black Wind Island, and I grew up in Black Wind City, so I'm very familiar with everything there. If you need anything, I'd be happy to be of service, Senior," the black-robed young man immediately replied.
"You sound like a guide," the middle-aged man remarked with a faint smile.
"Truth be told, I did work as a guide for some time in the past," the black-robed young man replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"What's your name?" the middle-aged man asked.
"My name is Mu Xue. These two are Fang Xi and Fang Wei," the black-robed young man replied in a respectful manner.
The middle-aged man raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he didn't say anything in response.
The man was none other than Han Li, who had finally arrived near Black Wind Island after around a month of travel.
He was certainly not expecting to meet Mu Xue here, and if it weren't for the fact that they were acquaintances, he wouldn't have stopped to save them. After all, it was very common for cultivators to perish during battles against demon beasts.
Back when they parted ways, Mu Xue had only been at the Core Formation Stage, yet he was had since reached the Deity Transformation Stage, and even though he had benefited from the spirit stones and cultivation arts bestowed upon him by Han Li, this was still quite an impressive rate of improvement.
Mu Xue naturally hadn't identified him, and he had no intention of revealing his identity to Mu Xue, either.
Mu Xue's trio was rather puzzled by Han Li's silence, but they didn't dare to interrupt him, so they could only stand together in silence.
"This place is not very safe. I just so happen to be on my way to Black Wind City, so I'll take you there," Han Li said.
He patted his storage pouch as he spoke, and a ball of azure light flew out from within, forming an intricate palm-sized spirit boat that resembled an azure bird.
The flying boat then rapidly swelled to over 100 feet in length, and four furry azure wings appeared on either side of the boat amid a flash of azure light. They resembled the wings of a fledgling, and they were flapping rapidly to keep the flying boat aloft.
"Wow, it's so adorable!" the red-robed young woman couldn't help but exclaim.
The bearded man was currently attending to his own injuries, and he immediately turned to the young woman with a warning glare upon hearing this.
The red-robed young woman immediately realized her mistake. It would've been appropriate for her to praise this senior's flying boat as profound, but calling it adorable was not very appropriate at all, and she hurriedly lowered her head as a faint blush appeared on her face.
"It's alright. Come onboard," Han Li said with a warm smile.
Mu Xue and the red-robed young woman immediately obliged, flying onto the boat, while the bearded man took a hesitant glance at Han Li, then looked back at the demon beast carcass down below as he said, "Please pardon me for my rudeness, Senior, but this Lightning Worm Beast carcass..."
"It's fine. I have no use for this carcass, so if you want it, then you can have it," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.
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