Chapter 389: Boundless Mist
A loud crackling sound rang out, and arcs of golden lightning suddenly appeared over the surface of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that had sliced into the black tentacle. Immediately thereafter, the pair of swords swelled to over 100 feet in size while rapidly revolving like lightning, slicing the two tentacles around Han Li into several pieces, all of which dissipated into clouds of black qi.
A slightly raspy roar of pain rang out from deep within the vortex, and Han Li took a moment to steady himself before peering deep into the vortex with blue light flashing in his eyes.
Deep inside the vortex was a huge black shadow that was currently rapidly approaching him.
Han Li made no attempt to retreat or take evasive measures upon seeing this. The suction force in the surrounding space was still acting upon him, and while the force wasn't strong enough to immobilize him, it was certainly inhibiting his movements.
He made a beckoning motion, and a flash of golden lightning appeared nearby, following which the flying sword that had just slain the toad yin beast also flew back to his side.
The three golden lightning swords were hovering around him while slowly revolving through the air.
In the next instant, a huge black shadow flew out of the vortex up ahead, revealing itself to be a massive octopus that was several hundred feet in size.
The giant beast had a pair of flashing red eyes that were the size of water vats, and they were filled with fury and resentment.
There were around a dozen tentacles dancing behind the octopus, sweeping up gusts of fierce wind. The two tentacles that had just been severed were rapidly healing at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye, and the tremendous glacial aura emanating from the beast's body was comparable to that of a late-True Immortal cultivator.
As soon as the beast revealed itself, all of its tentacles instantly intertwined to form a huge black next that swept toward Han Li.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
This yin beast was quite formidable, but it didn't seem to possess a high level of intelligence. It was solely driven by its bloodlust and acted almost entirely on instinct. Han Li had learned a couple of secret techniques that could allow him to engage in basic communication with spirit beasts, but those spirit beasts had to possess a certain level of intelligence.
He had originally planned to capture this beast and use one of those secret techniques to ask it some questions about this area, but it seemed that plan wasn't going to work.
With that in mind, he shook his head as he made a hand seal, and the three giant lightning swords arranged themselves into a triangular formation at his behest before hurtling directly toward the giant octopus yin beast.
The golden lightning on the three giant swords then reared up before intertwining to form a golden lightning net with countless thick arcs of golden lightning erupting from its surface to clash against the huge net formed by the octopus's tentacles.
A string of dull thumps rang out as black qi and golden light erupted in all directions.
As soon as the black qi on the surface of the tentacles came into contact with the Divine Devilbane Lightning, it was instanty eradicated, while the arcs of golden lightning spread over the tentacles to inflict a series of wounds.
Even though the black tentacles were inherently vulnerable to Divine Devilbane Lightning, they were formed by such dense black qi that even the Divine Devilbane Lightning was unable to eradicate them with just a single strike.
An agonized roar rang out from the octopus yin beast's mouth, and only then did a hint of fear appear in its eyes as it occurred to the beast that this was an insurmountable opponent.
It immediately swiveled around with the intention of fleeing the scene, but Han Li certainly wasn't going to allow it to get away.
A sharp gleam flashed through his eyes as he made a hand seal, and the three giant swords instantly released a barrage of golden sword projections that surged rapidly toward the octopus's tentacles.
Those tentacles had already been severely weakened, and they were instantly torn to shreds by the barrage of sword projections.
The octopus yin beast let loose another agonized roar, and it paid no heed to its own severed tentacles as it opened its mouth to release a ball of inky-black liquid.
As soon as the liquid emerged, it immediately swelled to form a giant black cloud that was around an acre in size to inundate the three giant golden swords and all of the sword projections.
The three giant swords were instantly immobilized by a burst of restrictive force within the cloud, while the severely wounded octopus yin beast fled into the distance at an incredible speed, seemingly completely unaffected by the suction force from the vortex.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he made another hand seal, and the three golden swords instantly fused as one to form a massive sword that was around 1,000 feet in size.
Thick arcs of dazzling golden lightning then appeared over its surface, giving off an astonishingly formidable aura.
The enormous sword swiveled around slightly, then released a burst of tremendous power, and the surrounding black cloud was instantly torn apart.
Immediately thereafter, the huge sword vanished amid a flash of golden lightning, and in the next instant, it appeared directly above the octopus yin beast's head before swooping down upon it with unstoppable force.
The octopus yin beast was completely powerless to resist as its body was sliced into two, following which the two halves of its body exploded into two vast clouds of black qi.
The giant golden sword then shot back to Han Li at his behest before splitting back up into three azure flying swords that flew back up his sleeve.
However, in the next instant, a hint of blue light flashed through his eyes, and he swept a hand through the air to release a burst of azure light into the black qi.
The burst of azure light quickly returned to him, bringing with it a dark green ball.
It was a fist-sized ball enveloped within a layer of green light, and it appeared very similar to a wood-attribute spirit stone, except the glacial energy fluctuations emanating from the object were completely different from wood-attribute spiritual qi.
Could this be a demon core?
All of a sudden, he recalled the soul stones that he had gathered in the Umbra Realm back when he was still in the Mortal Realm. [1]
The aura emanating from this green bead was very similar to that of soul stones, except this bead's aura was countless times more powerful.
Han Li flipped a hand over to stow the green bead away, then began inspecting his surroundings with a contemplative look in his eyes.
This area in the Soul Stirring Wind really was rather similar to that of Stormwind Mountain in the Umbrea Realm. [2] Could it be that these two places were somehow related?
Han Li only considered this matter for a moment before shaking his head and casting his gaze out of the vortex.
Right now, his top priority was to leave this vortex, so he had no time to ponder such trivial matters.
The suction force being released by the vortex was quite formidable, but it wasn't enough to inflict any substantial harm upon his body.
However, it was going to make it rather difficult for him to leave.
After a brief moment of contemplation, a burst of azure light appeared over his body alongside arcs of golden lightning, and he transformed into a streak of golden and azure light as he flew toward the mouth of the vortex.
As soon as he left the central area of the vortex, the surrounding storm instantly became more powerful.
Han Li felt the surrounding air constrict around him, following which his body was swept up involuntarily by the storm.
He gave a cold harrumph as the light radiating from his body brightened, yet instead of forcibly going against the rotational force of the storm, he went along with it while simultaneously flying outward.
Moments later, Han Li emerged from the churning black mist on the outskirts of the vortex.
His complexion was a little pale, and he continued flying until there was some distance between himself the vortex before he finally drew to a halt and heaved a sigh of relief.
The vortex had been more powerful than he imagined, and it had cost him a significant amount of immortal spiritual power to break out of it.
After taking a recovery pill, he reverted back to his true appearance as he removed his Reincarnation Palace mask.
After stowing the mask away, he continued to fly onward as a streak of azure light, and before long, he had been flying for several days once again.
There were no other hazards within this sea of black mist aside from the occasional giant vortex, and these vortexes came in a diverse range of sizes, but the vast majority of them were larger than the one that he had first encountered, with some of them even several times larger.
He could tell that the suction force that the largest ones of those vortexes was releasing was too formidable even for him to deal with, and if he were to get too close, he would most likely be sucked in and trapped inside indefinitely.
However, whenever he encountered a smaller vortex, he would slay the yin beast residing inside, and as a result, he ended up with quite a few more of those green beads.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and the sea of mist behind Han Li suddenly began to churn violently.
He stopped in his tracks as blue light flashed within his eyes, and immediately thereafter, he hurriedly flew away to the side.
Not long after he did so, an enormous vortex surged rapidly through the sea of mist behind him before quickly vanishing out of sight.
Han Li remained still on the spot for a moment longer before continuing onward.
During the past few days, he had gradually become more and more proficient at avoiding these vortexes.
Shortly thereafter, a strange sound suddenly rang out from within the mist up ahead, and a cold look appeared on Han Li's face as he immediately swept a sleeve through the air.
An azure flying sword shot out of his sleeve, then rapidly swelled to over 1,000 feet in size, and it was radiating dazzling azure light as it flew into the churning mist up ahead.
As soon as the giant sword flew into the mist, a resounding boom rang out, and the azure sword was sent flying back, while the azure light on its surface was thrown into a state of disarray.
A burst of tremendous force was transmitted to Han Li through the giant sword, and he shuddered as he took an involuntary step backward while sweeping his sleeve through the air once again at the same time.
Around a dozen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew out before also swelling to over 1,000 feet in size each, then plunged viciously into the mist up ahead.
Even though Han Li still hadn't yet caught a glimpse of the yin beast up ahead, he could tell that it was more formidable than any that he had previously encountered.
Streaks of azure sword qi shot out of the mist up ahead, causing it to rumble and churn violently.
Immediately thereafter, all of the giant azure swords were sent flying back with a deafening boom.
On top of that, a thick layer of black ice crystals had appeared over the blades of all of the swords, and the azure light that was emanating from them had dimmed significantly.
1. For more information on soul stones, please refer to RMJI Chapter 681: Soul Stone. ☜
2. For more information Stormwind Mountain, please refer to RMJI Chapter 593: Stormwind Mountain. ☜
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