"Sure." Bai Bi was rather unwilling to comply with Lei Lan's suggestion, but didn't offer any objections seeing as Han Li hadn't turned down this proposal.
Thus, the three of them changed directions and headed straight toward the place where the scent of blood was emanating from.
After flying for close to 10 kilometers, a smudge of green appeared up ahead, and there really was an oasis there that was around half a kilometer in size.
The three of them arrived in the air above the oasis in the blink of an eye.
In reality, the so-called oasis was black and yellow in color, and there were almost no tall trees there. Most of the plants growing on the oasis were a few short bushes and unknown weeds.
There was a pond that was over 100 feet in size situated at the center of the oasis, but the water within the pond was crimson in color. The bodies of a dozen or so black abyss beasts of different sizes littered the ground beside the pond, and they had all been punctured by a series of stone spikes.
The blood within these carcasses was flowing relentlessly into the pond, and the entire oasis was filled with the nauseating scent of blood and gore.
"Why would these beasts have appeared in the desert? They should be inhabiting the forest that we just passed through," Lei Lan mused with a surprised expression.
"They've only been recently slain. Otherwise, their blood would've coagulated," Bai Bi analyzed after some close inspection.
Meanwhile, Han Li appraised the situation before suddenly flying in circles around the oasis.
Moments later, he returned to his original spot and fixed his gaze on that crimson pond.
"Did you discover something, Brother Han?" Lei Lan asked in a curious voice.
"I have, indeed," Han Li replied as he swept a sleeve toward the ground.
A burst of golden light shot forth before splitting up into seven or eight streaks of sword Qi that disappeared into the ground around the pond.
Lei Lan and Bai Bi both faltered upon seeing this, yet before they realized what was happening, a series of anguished howls suddenly erupted from the spots where the streaks of sword Qi hand punctured the ground, following which several bursts of black blood came flowing to the surface. The nearby ground exploded as several ape-like demons emerged.
Each and every one of these ape demons was several feet tall with two pairs of ears. They were all wielding crude stone spears, but the tips of those spears were emanating faint white light.
As soon as those apes appeared, Bai Bi recalled something before exclaiming, "Those are Resentful Ape Beasts! That means this oasis is an illusion created by a Giant Spirit Flower!"
"Giant Spirit Flower?" Lei Lan exclaimed while Han Li's eyes flashed.
Right at this moment, violent tremors ran through the ground beneath them amid a series of rumbling booms.
At the same time, a crimson shadow flew forth from the blood water in the pond, appearing in front of Han Li in a flash before pouncing viciously toward his face.
Lei Lan and Bai Bi were alarmed to see this, but the crimson shadow was far too fast for them to offer their assistance to Han Li.
However, Han Li himself merely harrumphed coldly as his arm shot forth in a blur.
Following a loud thump, a hand that was as pristine white as jade appeared before him like lightning, catching that crimson shadow firmly in its grasp.
Only then did the holy disciples catch a clear glimpse of the creatures. This was a crimson being that was around as thick as a human arm and resembled a long tongue. There was a fist-sized ball of flesh growing on the front part of its body, which was riddled with black spikes that were around an inch in length each, and all of these spikes were squirming incessantly.
However, it was as if Han Li's hand wasn't even made from blood and flesh as he was able to grasp directly onto those black spikes without any fear of injury.
Right at this moment, five white skulls suddenly emerged from his five fingers. The skulls opened their mouths in unison, and a burst of five-colored flames erupted from within.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the tongue-like creature was frozen into a strip of five-colored ice.
Han Li immediately swatted the frozen creature, and it shattered amid the sound of cracking chinaware before disintegrating into a swath of light.
A thunderous demonic roar erupted from the ground below, and it seemed to be filled with pain and fury. Crimson light swirled within the pond, and the blood water vanished in the blink of an eye. The entire oasis then crumbled amid a resounding boom, revealing a massive object.
The top of the object was absolutely gargantuan, while its bottom was extremely thin. It was a massive demonic flower of a similar size to the oasis that had been present until a moment ago.
The petals of this demonic flower were of the same silver hue as the sand in this desert, but the core of the flower was as crimson as blood and was formed from the blood pond. The tongue-like creature that had just attacked Han Li was only one of its thick filaments.
Not only that, but several tens of those so-called Resentful Ape Beasts were standing atop the flower's gigantic petals, and all of these beasts were looking upward with sinister expressions. At the same time, they made hurling motions with the spears in their hands, and several tens of foot-long stone spikes appeared before flying toward Han Li's trio.
"So this is a Giant Spirit Flower? It is indeed quite interesting, but isn't this flower a mid-grade demon beast? Aren't there supposed to be very few mid-grade demon beasts on the first level?" Han Li mused with a faint smile.
On this occasion, there was no need for him to do anything. Lei Lan and Bai Bi raised their hands in unison, sending for a vast expanse of silver lightning and golden threads that intertwined to pulverize the oncoming stone spikes.
"Just because there are very few of them doesn't mean that they won't appear, Brother Han. On top of that, we chose to commence the trial at a very bad time as this is the exact time period before the demon beast torrent of the earth abyss. Hence, it's not all that strange to see mid-grade demon beasts appear on the first level," Lei Lan explained with furrowed brows.
Even though this was a mid-grade demon beast, it was far less troublesome of an opponent that those Yin Spider Wasps from before, so she remained completely unfazed.
"Is that so? I've heard that this flower's nectar is an exceptional pill refinement ingredient. Seeing as we've encountered one, why don't procure some of this nectar?" Han Li suggested with a smile as he suddenly flicked his 10 fingers downward.
10 small golden swords shot forth from between his fingers, hurtling downward as 10 streaks of golden light.
A loud roar erupted from the core of the flower, following which countless red shadows shot forth, attempting to strike down the flying swords.
If a normal Flying Spirit Race being were to encounter such a ferocious attack, it would be quite a headache for them to deal. However, Han Li merely pointed a finger toward his flying sword, and brilliant golden light erupted from the swords, completely vanquishing the oncoming red shadows.
The golden light then swayed once again to manifest several tens of streaks of identical sword Qi that came raining down from above.
The Resentful Ape Beasts seemed to be aware that they were facing a crisis of life and death upon seeing this, and they let loose sharp screeches as they hurled forth their stone spears. All of the spears also transformed into tens of streaks of white light midflight as they flew toward the streaks of sword Qi.
However, these crude stone spears were naturally no match for the powerful Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. As such, they were immediately reduced to powdered stone in the face of the sharp flying swords.
Immediately thereafter, the streaks of golden sword Qi merely flew around the Resentful Ape Beasts, and all of them were sliced in half.
At the same time, the streaks of sword Qi sliced viciously into the demonic flower, instantly shredding it into countless pieces. The massive flower crashed heavily onto the ground with large volumes of green liquid flowing from it all over the ground.
The Giant Spirit Flower and those Resentful Ape Beasts had been slain by Han Li in one fell swoop.
Lei Lan and Bai Bi were left with nothing to do, and they could only glance at each other with wry smiles on their faces.
"Alright, I'll go down and get some nectar, and we'll continue in our journey after that," Han Li instructed as he withdrew his flying swords.
He then descended toward the ground before flipping his hand over to produce a small green vial, which he pointed toward the now incomplete core of the flower.
A burst of azure light immediately shot forth, sweeping over the flower's core and extracting balls of pink liquid that entered the vial.
Han Li shook the small vial, and a peculiar fragrance wafted toward him. A smile appeared on his face, and the small vial disappeared amid a flash of azure light.
Lei Lan and Bai Bi also descended before producing containers to extract some nectar for themselves.
"Let's go." Han Li spread his wings and rose into the air again.
Bai Bi immediately followed suit as a streak of golden light. Lei Lan was about to do the same when she cast a glance at the remains of the giant flower on the ground, and for some reason, she decided to flick a finger toward it.
A loud thunderclap erupted as an arc of silver lightning shot forth, striking and destroying the yellow branch that remained connected to the demonic flower.
Only then did she spread her wings and fly toward Han Li and Bai Bi.
Thus, the three of them disappeared in the blink of an eye, and peace and quiet returned to the area.
Two hours later, the ground nearby suddenly tremored, following which several massive black tendrils abruptly emerged from the ground amid a resounding boom. Immediately thereafter, a black demonic flower that was several times larger than the Giant Spirit Flower that had just been destroyed appeared from the ground below.
The flower was like a gigantic mountain, and the tendrils connected to it slapped onto the ground, thereby allowing it to stabilize itself. Right at this moment, an enraged voice sounded from atop the flower. "Who would dare to destroy the spirit flower?"
At the center of the giant black flower, there was a silver wooden chair, atop which sat a slender figure holding a green leather whip with a set of blurry facial features.
Yellow light flashed, and a furry figure suddenly appeared before the silver chair. It immediately half-knelt onto the ground in an extremely respectful manner as it said, "There's no need to be enraged, Mistress. The flower appears to only have been destroyed recently, so the perpetrators couldn't have gotten far away. Allow me to do some investigating first."
"Alright, then. I still have to conduct the sacrificial ceremony, so I'll leave this to you. Regardless of who it is, make sure that they die for what they did," the woman said in a cold voice before cracking her whip into the empty air.
A white rift appeared in a flash, and spatial fluctuations erupted nearby. Immediately thereafter, boundless black mist erupted from within the white rift, and it appeared that space had been torn open by the whip.
