The silver-haired Spatial Tempering youth, Senior Zhu, loudly announced from the front, “Fellow Daoists, be careful. There is an unknown demon bird in the mist, but fortunately, they aren’t very strong. So long as you are careful of the acid they spit, it shouldn’t be fine. As for the mist itself, let me and my wife deal with it.”
Afterwards, the others waited as the silver-haired youth opened his mouth and spat out a long white jade bottle. It spun in the air and had its mouth pointed at the white mist.
The youth formed a hand gesture with both his hands and muttered an incantation, causing the jade bottle to brightly light up.
A muffled crackle sounded, followed by the bottle releasing an azure wind.
When the wind flew out, it only carried a faint azure light, but after it traveled ten meters, it blew into a raging gale. Then in the blink of an eye, it turned into a violent tornado.
The mist on the surface of the lake violently roiled as it split apart.
A clear path opened in the mist.
“We go!”
With Senior Zhu’s command, he and his wife took the initiative to first fly through the path. The jade bottle he earlier released began to circle above his head and continued to release violent gales.
When the others saw this, they felt a sense of relief and followed after them.
As Senior Zhu had mentioned, after they entered five kilometers in, meter-long white birds with flat beaks and dark-green claws began to appear from the surrounding mist.
The birds were clearly targeting the cultivators. As soon as they emerged from the mist, they opened their mouths and released black ice arrows.
With several shouts, the cultivators released their magic treasures, summoning formations of swords or several ancient shields.
When the black ice arrows struck, they immediately turned into black smoke. It left dense and numerous holes in the treasures where they struck.
The masters of the magic treasure revealed shock when they saw this. One of them immediately shouted, “Quickly kill them. Their acid can corrode our treasures!”
The others felt their hearts tremble when they heard this and immediately displayed their various techniques. Streaks of swift light and waves of mist moved in the direction of the demon birds.
Under the wave of attacks, the demon birds turned into balls of gore and blood, instantly dying in their entirety.
When the others saw this, they felt relief.
The birds had been truly weak.
A quarter-hour later, several strange cries sounded from the mist. Suddenly, another flock of white birds flew out from the mist and pelted the cultivators with black ice arrows.
Startled, the cultivators flusteredly released their treasures and blocked the attacks before exterminating the birds once more.
When the last of the birds turned into a bloody pulp, many bird silhouettes began to appear from the mist.
The cultivators became restless when they saw this and many of them wore expressions of unease.
Han Li frowned and he swept his spiritual sense through the mist. Bird cries began to sound out from the mist surrounding them from every direction, including from above and below them. There were too many to keep track of.
Although Han Li had encountered many dangers, even this caused him to feel a chill on his back.
Senior Zhu’s calm voice sounded from the front, “Everyone, don’t be scared! These birds are only launching probing attacks on us. When they see that a dozen waves of their attacks are ineffective, they will scatter.”
When the others heard this, they began to activate their treasures and slaughtered any of the white birds that came to attack them.
Thirteen waves of the birds attacked them in succession. Eventually, long sharp cries sounded from the flocking birds and they scattered, withdrawing from the mist around them.
When the cultivators saw this, they felt relief and seized the opportunity to head forward.
Half a day later, the mist cleared around them. Their surroundings lit up and they saw a huge mountain at the center of the lake. It was overwhelmingly large and seemed to reach out from the bottom of the lake.
The portion of the mountain they could see was filled with green stone. Apart from the moss that grew on top of them, there were no other pants.
After the group came to a stop, Senior Zhu clicked his tongue and said, “It is here! Hehe, we have to thank Fairy Ying and her comrades in finding this place.”
The veiled woman chuckled and said, “We found this mountain unintentionally as we were pursuing a beast. This was only a fortunate encounter.”
Senior Zhu laughed and spoke with excited eyes, “In truth, if one isn’t lucky, it would be difficult to find this secret land. Nevertheless, we came across a group of True Toads. If it were on the outside, It would’ve been likely found by others. Let us start.”
The other cultivators nodded with a smile.
“The True Toad Nest is located in a natural underground cave at the bottom of the mountain. We’ll act as we originally planned. We’ll first attract the Black Blood Ants and kill them. Everyone, be careful. Although the ants are a grade-eight demon beast, they are innately capable of breaking our defensive shields and light. Furthermore, they are incredibly venomous. If they bite us, immediately swallow an antidote or your life will be forfeit. Alright, everyone prepare yourselves. I will light the Sandalwood Crane Incense.” Following his quick warning, Senior Zhu flipped his hand and suddenly produced a palm-sized incense burner. He struck a half-foot-long stick of green incense.
He flung the incense burner up where it slowly revolved in midair.
Senior Zhu raised his hand and flicked his finger, igniting the incense with a flash of red light. The green incense stick then released a trail of azure stroke.
When Han Li looked at the incense burner, an odd expression appeared on his face.
‘The Sandalwood Crane Incense looked unremarkable and it didn’t have much of a scent either? Was it truly effective against the Black Blood Ants?’ Han Li worriedly mused.
At that moment, the cultivators began to separate and conceal themselves.
Han Li was among them, flying three hundred meters up. Just as he was about to cast a technique, a white streak flickered and a slender silhouette appeared by his side.
Han Li was stunned and looked at the silhouette. She was the dainty woman, Fairy Xiao.
The woman was also surprised Han Li chose the same location. She soon smiled and politely said, “Brother Han, I have a Hundred Bewildering Lights Flag. It is rather marvelous at concealing a location. How about I use it to hide us both?”
“Hehe, in that case, I’ll have to trouble you,” Han Li courteously replied.
“It is only a slight effort. Brother Han is being too formal!” She faintly smiled and raised her hand, producing a small snow-white flag. It then spun a circle above them.
The woman struck the flag with a spell seal and it blurred, suddenly producing a white mist. It brilliantly shined, covering them in a mist in the blink of an eye.
A moment later, the mist vanished alongside Han Li and Lady Xiao.
Han Li stood in his original location and raised his hand. Even with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he still wasn’t able to see it.
With a tone of surprise, Han Li praised, “Your treasure is truly marvelous. It is much more powerful than ordinary concealment treasures.
“Fellow Daoist Han must be joking. This Hundred Bewildering Lights Flag may be truly powerful in invisibility, but it isn’t capable of concealment from spiritual sense. It is only useful against creatures with weak spiritual sense like these insect beasts.”
To his surprise, Han Li swept his spiritual sense past the woman and immediately verified her words to be true. He lamented, feeling it was a pity.
As his Brightsight Spirit Eyes couldn't see through the invisibility, it would be a formidable treasure if it could also hide from spiritual sense.
At that moment, the others also hid and withdrew their aura.
A moment later, apart from the small incense burner floating in the air, there was nothing else in sight.
The Sandalwood Crane Incense was truly effective. In only the time it took to finish a meal, buzzing sounds came from the direction of the mountain. At an unknown cave at the center of the mountain, a group of large winged ants flew in their direction.
The ants were each about half a foot long and were fanged. There was also a pair of green wings on their back. It appeared as if they were flying birds. They were truly startling.
It was obvious the ants were heading for the incense burner. Eventually, they made their way from the mountain to the incense and were completely surrounded by the cultivators.
Suddenly, the nearby space around the burner fluctuated. Senior Zhu and the beautiful woman appeared at nearly the same time and he shouted, “Attack!”
Lights lit up in every direction and soon, several tens of treasures appeared, turning into mists of light as they swept at the ant swarm. Large scale attacks such as fireballs and lightning struck as well.
From the fierce barrage, it appeared the cultivators wanted to end the ant swarm in a single strike.
With multiple huge explosions, the ants were submerged in rainbow light. Soon, waves of heat and cold swept out from the center of the barrage, forming an immense storm at the center of the explosions. The pressure of the winds even blew the cultivators a few steps back.
When the light and winds faded, all the ants disappeared, leaving not even a trace of ash behind.
