Chapter 449: Relentless Mirages
Lu Yuqing had also noticed the oasis up ahead, and she said, "This is already the 83rd mirage, Brother Han. From this point, we have to begin traveling in the northeastern direction."
Han Li immediately summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis upon hearing this, the Eye of Truth appeared at the center of the axis at his behest.
Faint golden light was radiating from the eye as it cast its gaze forward, and immediately thereafter, the azure flying boat changed directions slightly, flying in the northeastern direction of the oasis.
Even though Han Li had changed directions, the oasis still appeared directly up ahead, and it began to expand on the horizon as the flying boat continued onward.
Han Li made no attempt to try and avoid the oasis, instead flying the spirit boat straight into it.
The surrounding scene suddenly changed as the barren and desolate desert gave way to a lush oasis that was filled with dense greenery and lakes.
The air had also become very moist, while the heat completely faded, and it was as if they had arrived in a cool and refreshing world, one that was in stark contrast with the environment that they had just been in.
However, the surrounding oasis was constantly spinning, making one feel very dizzy and disoriented.
Han Li's expression remained calm and collected, and it seemed that he was already accustomed to this. He continued to make a string of hand seals as he inspected his surroundings through his Eye of Truth, while Lu Yuqing had already closed her eyes and sat down with her legs crossed, channeling her cultivation arts to protect her mind.
The azure flying boat continued onward in a very stable fashion, completely unaffected by the changes in the surrounding environment.
After flying for around 15 minutes, the surrounding oasis suddenly fell away layer upon layer like a series of popped bubbles, and the environment reverted back to that of the parched desert.
Han Li displayed no reaction to this whatsoever, and he continued to look straight ahead while guiding the azure flying boat onward.
"I didn't think that these mirages would be so unavoidable. Thank heavens you're here, Brother Han. Otherwise, even if I had the map and knew the correct route, it would've been impossible for me to get to the destination," Lu Yuqing said with a smile as she slowly opened her eyes.
Han Li merely gave a faint smile upon hearing this.
"We're already not far away from that passageway, but according to what I've heard, the passageway is guarded by a Golden Immortal Stage demon beast, so it won't be easy to bypass," Lu Yuqing continued.
"Do you know what type of demon beast it is?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"No. All I've heard is that it's quite formidable, and that it's already been guarding that passageway for countless years," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head.
"I see. In that case, I suppose we'll just have to adapt according to the situation," Han Li said with a contemplative nod.
Han Li's calm and confident demeanor instilled within Lu Yuqing a great deal of reassurance.
Close to a day passed by in the blink of an eye, and they encountered several more mirages during that time, all of which were smoothly negotiated by Han Li using his Eye of Truth.
According to Lu Yuqing's map, the passageway wasn't very far up ahead.
At this moment, the flying boat was still flying onward, but Han Li's brows had become slightly furrowed.
He was no longer concerned about the mirages in the Boundless Sand Sea, and the only thing that was weighing on his mind was the demon beast that was guarding the passageway.
If the demon beast really had already been guarding the passageway for countless years as Lu Yuqing proclaimed, then who knew if it had managed to develop some special abilities during that time?
Right at this moment, another oasis appeared up ahead, and Han Li hurriedly rid himself of his train of thought so he could focus on the task at hand.
Lu Yuqing examined her map momentarily, then said, "This is the final mirage before the entrance of the passageway. There's no need to change directions, just fly straight ahead."
Han Li nodded in response, and he summoned his Eye of Truth once again as the azure flying boat continued directly forward.
Right as it was about to fly into the oasis up ahead, four more oases suddenly appeared consecutively up ahead.
The five oases formed a pentagon, with each one resonating with one another, and all of them began to glow bright in unison, transforming into an enormous ball of green light in the blink of an eye.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing were both quite taken aback to see this, but at this point, it was already too late to try and stop the flying boat.
The azure flying boat vanished into the ball of green light in a flash, and the surrounding desert vanished once again.
However, on this occasion, instead of appearing in an oasis, Han Li and Lu Yuqing found themselves in a chaotic space with countless glowing green shadows flashing, pulsing, and intertwining with one another, presenting a very disorienting sight to behold.
At the same time, bursts of formidable illusory force surged forth from all directions, and the illusion here was countless times more potent than the oases that they had previously encountered.
"How could this be?" Lu Yuqing exclaimed with a stunned expression.
As soon as her voice trailed off, a burst of formidable illusory power descended upon her, and her eyes instantly became dazed and glazed over as she stood completely rooted to the spot, seemingly having already fallen under the control of the illusion here.
The same type of illusory power was surging toward Han Li as well, and he was naturally far better equipped to handle it than Lu Yuqing, but even so, he was still struck by a rush of dizziness.
He took a deep breath as he hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, and a cool and refreshing sensation instantly surged through his mind to erase the fog of dizziness.
Right at this moment, Lu Yuqing suddenly began flailing her arms and legs erratically through the air as a hint of insanity appeared in her eyes.
Immediately thereafter, she turned to Han Li with fierce killing intent in her eyes, and a silver longsword appeared in her grasp amid a flash of silver light.
The sword was radiating extremely bright and pure silver swordlight in the form of countless threads of silver light, and it was pierced directly at Han Li at an astonishing speed.
Even before the sword arrived, a burst of extremely formidable sword intent had already descended upon Han Li, making him feel as if there were countless red-hot needles piercing into his soul.
Even with his formidable spiritual sense, he still couldn't help but give a muffled groan, and he couldn't help but feel stunned by this unexpected turn of events.
On the way here, he had never seen Lu Yuqing use a sword before, so it was a huge surprise to him that her mastery of the sword was already so advanced that she could already harm the souls of her opponents with her sword intent alone.
However, her sword intent was still nowhere near powerful enough to inflict any substantial damage upon him, and he immediately flicked his fingers through the air, releasing five streaks of azure sword qi that intercepted the oncoming silver longsword before threatening to tear it apart.
However, to his surprise, the silver longsword suddenly sprang up like an agile fish, even though it had already left Lu Yuqing's grasp, and it was able to struggle free from the five opposing streaks of sword qi.
At the same time, radiant azure light erupted out of Lu Yuqing's body as she abruptly vanished from the spot.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, and in the next instant, five identical Lu Yuqings appeared all around him, every single one of which was giving off formidable sword qi.
The silver longswords being wielded by the five Lu Yuqings lit up once again before being thrust directly at him, with each one aimed at one of his vital regions.
A film of starlight appeared over Han Li's body to keep the five silver longswords at bay, and at the same time, Han Li swept his gaze across the five Lu Yuqings through his Eye of Truth, upon which a look of realization instantly appeared on his face.
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a thick arc of golden lightning, which hurtled toward one of the Lu Yuqings on his right at an incredible speed.
That Lu Yuqing instantly slashed her sword through the air, conjuring up a dense silver sword barrier around her entire body.
The arc of golden lightning struck the sword barrier, and a burst of loud crackling instantly rang out as close to half of the lightning was eradicated by the countless opposing sword projections.
However, the silver sword barrier was also trembling unsteadily, and it didn't take long before it completely exploded, while the silver longsword in Lu Yuqing's hand was also shattered into countless silver pieces.
What little remained of the arc of golden lightning struck Lu Yuqing with tremendous force, and she was instantly sent flying through the air like a ragdoll before crashing into the side of the flying boat, upon which the other four Lu Yuqings around Han Li vanished without a trace.
The only remaining Lu Yuqing gave a muffled groan before springing to her feet. The killing intent in her eyes hadn't abated in the slightest, yet before she had a chance to do anything, a thick translucent chain emerged out of thin air around her, then wound itself around her body like lightning.
The chain was glowing faintly, and it had a rather insubstantial form.
It was a chain formed by Han L's spiritual sense, and even though it had rendered Lu Yuqing completely immobilized, the insane look on her face remained, and she continued to struggle with all her might.
Han Li quickly began to chant an incantation while flicking a finger through the air, releasing several incantation seals in rapid succession, all of which vanished into Lu Yuqing's body one after another.
Countless runes instantly emerged from Lu Yuqing's body, then transformed into several translucent rings that constricted around her.
The protective azure light around her body instantly melted away like snow under the scorching sun, and she slumped to the ground in an unconscious state.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
This was a secret technique that he had invented by emulating the restrictive law powers within the Seven Bright Star Rings, and evidently, it had worked quite well.
After successfully subduing Lu Yuqing, a perplexed look appeared on his face.
The silver longsword that she had been using earlier was extremely mediocre. In fact, it couldn't even be considered to be a spirit treasure, and if it weren't for that, perhaps he would still be struggling to restrain her.
The power that she had just displayed had been far more formidable than what she had revealed prior to this point, and Han Li couldn't help but wonder if she had been hiding her true power this entire time.
He took a long look at the unconscious Lu Yuqing, then quickly withdrew his gaze.
At this moment, he was still in quite a perilous situation himself, so he didn't have time to ponder the true nature of Lu Yuqing's powers.
With that in mind, the True Extreme Film around him faded, and he sat down with his legs crossed as he peered into the surrounding chaotic space.
This was quite a formidable illusion, but he could tell that fundamentally, it was no different from the oasis illusions that they had encountered prior to this.
With the experience that he had accumulated in breaking through those illusions, he was confident that he could break out of this one as well.
With that in mind, he immediately began to chant an incantation, and all of the immortal spiritual power was channeled into the Mantra Treasured Axis in front of him.
The axis immediately began to radiate dazzling golden light, and in particular, the Eye of Truth at its center had become extremely bright and translucent.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel