It was said that the earth abyss had seven levels, and each successive level was far more vast than the previous one. Even so, the area of the first level was certainly nothing to be scoffed at. As such, it would take around four to five days for Han Li's trio to reach the entrance they were heading toward.
The journey was quite smooth on the first day. They flew over a dense forest the entire time and occasionally encountered a few groups of suicidal beasts, but no mishaps occurred.
However, on the morning of the second day, all three of them were suddenly struck by the feeling that their surroundings had darkened significantly.
Han Li looked up with a surprised expression to find that the grey mist in the air above, which had been emanating faint light, had disappeared. It had been replaced by a vast expanse of black rocks that were situated in the air at altitudes of over 100,00 feet, and there were stalactites hanging from them.
There were even some lush patches of moss and vines growing along the surface of these rocks.
They'd flown out of the area encompassed by the gate of the earth abyss and finally officially arrived in the first level of the underground world.
Thankfully, the trees here all glowed with a faint light, perhaps due to the fact that they'd been growing in darkness for long periods of time, and there were unknown minerals on the ground that were also shimmering faintly.
As such, their surroundings weren't entirely pitch-black, and they could still see many things even from a distance.
It was just that the feeling in the air had completely changed in that surroundings seemed to have become more sinister and menacing.
Furthermore, the occasional clouds of black mist and gusts of frosty winds that swept toward them further contributed to this harrowing sensation.
However, what was especially worthy of note was that not long after they'd flown into this dark area, Han Li felt his spiritual sense being restricted, and he could only release it out of his body for several hundred feet.
He had mastered the Great Development Technique, so his spiritual sense was far superior to cultivators of the same cultivation base. As such, Bai Bi and Lei Lan were most likely only able to release their spiritual sense for several tens of feet at most.
With that in mind, Han Li cast his spiritual sense behind him, and sure enough, both of the holy disciples were wearing grim expressions on their faces.
However, none of them were all that surprised by this occurrence.
Prior to departing from the holy city, the Tian Peng Race elders had warned them about this.
Not only did intruders like them have their spiritual sense handicapped, even the native dark demon beasts of the earth abyss were also afflicted by this. However, these demon beasts had been dwelling in the earth abyss for a long time, so they were already accustomed to this handicap. In contrast, the beings of the Flying Spirit Race were naturally yet to acclimatize to this, and it was quite an unsettling experience for most.
In spite of this, Han Li remained completely unfazed. After all, it wasn't the first time that he'd encountered a situation where his spiritual sense had been restricted, so he was quite experienced.
After flying onward for several more hours, Han Li's brows suddenly furrowed. He raised a hand and quickly pointed a finger toward the moonlight stones hovering up ahead.
All of these moonlight stones immediately exploded and disappeared into nothingness.
The azure light flashing from Han Li's body also faded as he came to an abrupt halt.
Their surroundings had become blurry and indistinct, and even the black winds sweeping toward them seemed to have cooled even further.
Bai Bi and Lei Lan had also reflexively faltered in their flight, but neither of them knew why Han Li had stopped.
A curious look appeared on Lei Lan's face, but before the two of them had a chance to raise any questions, a gentle buzzing sound suddenly rang out from their surroundings. This sound then gradually intensified, following which countless green specks of light appeared before rapidly converging toward the three of them.
"Yin Spider Wasps!" Lei Lan immediately exclaimed with alarm.
Bai Bi's expression also changed drastically upon hearing this.
"Indeed. These low-grade demonic wasps are the most troublesome to deal with among all of the low-grade demon beasts of the earth abyss. They like to attack all moving and glowing objects, so they must've been attracted by the moonlight stones," Han Li said in a calm voice.
Even without that introduction from Han Li, Lei Lan and Bai Bi were well aware of the behavioral patterns of these wasps.
Within the balls of green light, there were countless tiny sinister creatures with the upper bodies of spiders and the lower bodies of wasps. Their bodies were entirely green in color with an exception of a series of yellow rings, and they gave off a very sinister appearance.
From a rough visual estimation, it appeared that there were over 10,000 of these demonic wasps hanging in the air around them.
As such, even early-Spirit Generals like Bai Bi and Lei Lan were forced to regard the situation with caution.
It wasn't that they were fearful of these mere demonic wasps. It was just that with their vast numbers, killing all of them would expend quite a bit of energy, and they had only just entered the first level, so they didn't want to engage in any unnecessary battles.
However, these demonic wasps didn't appear to be willing to let them leave without a fight, so they could only prepare for battle.
One of them spread open their wings, which were crackling with thin arcs of silver lightning while the other made a hand seal, and faint golden threads of light appeared behind around their body.
Han Li glanced at the two of them before opening his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames.
The fireball transformed into a fist-sized silver Fire Raven in a flash.
The Fire Raven spread its wings before self-detonating on the spot, transforming into over 100 silver sparks that spilled forth in all directions.
An incredible scene then ensued.
As soon as the silver sparks entered the surrounding specks of green light, the latter was instantly snuffed out.
Even though there were only just over 100 of these silver sparks, the green specks of light in the surrounding area were completely unable to bypass them en route to Han Li's trio.
Bai Bi and Lei Lan were quite astonished to see this.
Yin Spider Wasps were renowned for being extremely troublesome to deal with, so they naturally weren't that easy to destroy. These wasps were actually manifestations of a type of dark impure energy, so it was very difficult to kill them with normal attacks. Even if they were slain by physical attacks, they could draw upon the aura of darkness around them to recover to full health in a very short time. The only way to completely eradicate them was to completely destroy their bodies, leaving no trace behind.
That was why these demonic wasps were so renowned as troublesome obstacles despite the fact that they were only low-grade demon beasts. Of course, these demonic wasps only posed such a major hindrance in a place like this that was rife with the aura of darkness. If they were to appear above the ground, then they'd immediately lose this ability.
In fact, many other demon beasts in the earth abyss were significantly more powerful in this environment, and would be severely debilitated if they were to be taken out of their natural habitat.
This was also the main reason why the Flying Spirit Race was able to seal off the entrance to the earth abyss so effectively. If the earth abyss demon beasts didn't possess this glaring weakness, then the Flying Spirit Race wouldn't be able to restrict them so easily.
The Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames appeared to be drifting through the air in a gentle and harmless manner, but in reality, every single spark completely incinerated a Yin Spider Wasp as soon as contact was made, and even the aura of darkness within their bodies was completely engulfed.
As such, there was naturally no way for these wasps to recover.
Furthermore, the Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames possessed traces of spiritual nature, so they could attack enemies of their own accord even without instructions from Han Li's spiritual sense.
As such, Han Li merely stood in mid-air for a while with his hands clasped behind his back, and all of the Yin Spider Wasps were completely eradicated.
He then waved a hand through the air in a casual manner, and all of the silver sparks converged to form a fist-sized Fire Raven again, which disappeared into his body in a flash.
"Let's go," Han Li prompted before flying ahead as a streak of azure light.
Lei Lan and Bai Bi could only forcibly repress the astonishment in their hearts as they followed along in silence.
Regardless of how conceited they were or what they thought of Han Li, after that display of power, they no longer expressed any signs of opposition to Han Li's orders.
Thus, the three of them travel through this humid forest for a day and a night before finally emerging on the other side.
The scenes up ahead changed drastically, and the trio was greeted by the sight of a strange silver desert. From afar, it appeared that every single grain of sand in the entire desert was emanating a cold light, creating an extremely bleak and barren sight.
"Is my memory playing tricks on me? According to the annotations on the map, this should be a large river; why is it a desert instead?" Han Li hovered in mid-air as he carefully inspected a formation plate with a hint of surprise on his face.
"You're right, Brother Han, this is indeed where a river should be on the map." Bai Bi and Lei Lan were also quite bewildered after inspecting their maps.
"Could it be that the river's dried out, and all of the water has seeped into the second level?" Lei Lan speculated.
"Doesn't look like it. Even if all the water has seeped away, what's this desert doing here?" Han Li immediately shook his head in disagreement.
"Then what do you think happened here, Brother Han?" Bai Bi asked with a smile.
"I don't know, but there's no need for us to delve any further into this matter. We're merely traveling, not conducting a geographic survey of the earth abyss. Let's keep going; just make sure to keep your guard up after we enter the desert," Han Li replied in a calm voice following a brief silence.
"That's true," Bai Bi chuckled.
Thus, the three of them flew into the silver desert up ahead as streaks of spiritual light.
Even though they had spoken about this place in a rather nonchalant manner, all of them reflexively flew a little fast after entering the desert, trying to get away from this slightly unsettling place as quickly as possible.
The three of them flew for tens of thousands of kilometers, but they were still greeted by nothing but silver grains of sand, and not even a single blade of grass had been sighted.
All of a sudden, Han Li's expression changed as blue light flashed through his eyes, and he abruptly turned toward a certain direction. "What's that?"
"What is it, Brother Han?" Bai Bi asked with a hint of alarm.
"There appears to be an oasis over there, and I can detect the scent of blood in the air," Han Li replied in a solemn voice.
"I can also smell that, and it's indeed coming from that direction," Lei Lan chimed in with furrowed brows.
"Could it have been left behind by some earth abyss beasts?" Bai Bi speculated in a hesitant voice.
"That doesn't seem to be the case. The world's origin Qi over there is clearly a little chaotic, which suggests that some kind of ability had been unleashed there. We should go and have a look," Lei Lan suggested.
