After flying for roughly 500,000 kilometers, a black line appeared in the distance.
Upon getting closer, it became clear that this was a boundless desert; it was naturally none other than the Illusion Howl Desert.
Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly as blue light flashed through his pupils, and he discovered that this was a grey desert that stretched as far as the eyes could see. Aside from some short shrubs, the desert was completely devoid of life, and it seemed to be no different from an ordinary desert aside from its peculiar color.
The sky over the desert was quite dim and covered in dark yellow clouds. Even though the sky within and outside the desert were only separated by a fine line, it was as if they were two different worlds.
After reaching close to 10 kilometers away from the desert, the burly man led everyone on a descent.
"From here onward, our movement techniques could fail, so we'll have to advance on Eight-footed Devilish Lizards. Our Bai Family only has around 30 Eight-footed Devilish Lizards in total, and all of them are extremely precious. We've brought 11 of them with us for this trip, and that's already out limit; please make sure to look after them during this trip, and if we encounter any danger, withdraw them into your spirit beast bracelets right away to keep them safe," the burly man said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Haha, rest assured, Brother Bai; we're all aware of how important these Eight-footed Devilish Lizards are to your Bai Family. However, why didn't you decide to bring along these juniors for this trip? If they had remained behind, you wouldn't have had to bring out so many Eight-footed Devilish Lizards," Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon asked in a curious manner.
"The six of them have a combination technique that makes their combined powers comparable to those of an early-stage devilish lord, so we decided to bring them along," the purple-haired woman explained with a smile.
"I see, my apologies for jumping to conclusions," Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon replied with a nod.
A peculiar look flashed through Han Qizi's eyes upon hearing this, but he didn't say anything in response.
As for Han Li, he merely smiled and remained silent, but he was wondering if he would be able to secure these devilish lizards during this trip.
However, the thought only occurred to him for an instant before it was abandoned. He was very confident in his own powers, but it was still too risky to face four devilish lords at once whom he knew nothing about.
On top of that, plotting against the Bai Family could alert the other major families of Illusion Night City to what he was doing, and that could attract powerful enemies, perhaps even Sacred Ancestors.
Thus, it simply wouldn't be worth the risk.
At this moment, the purple-haired woman flicked her wrist, and an azure bracelet flew forth before expelling a burst of five-colored light, releasing 11 giant devilish beasts that were around 50 feet in length and roughly 20 feet tall.
At first glance, they resembled massive lizards, but their bodies were entirely covered in black scales, and each of them had eight identical thick legs. On top of that, there were shimmering silver saddles on the backs of these devilish beasts, so they were clearly already tamed.
So these are Eight-footed Devilish Lizards? Each of them is only releasing a Core Formation Stage aura, and there doesn't seem to be anything special about them, Han Li thought to himself as he glanced at these devilish lizards.
Everyone was given a devilish lizard and a beast controlling badge by the burly man, and Han Li immediately flew onto his devilish lizard before looking down at it.
The silver saddle had some simple devilish runes inscribed on its surface, and it was very comfortable to sit on. Han Li waved his beast controlling badge toward the devilish lizard, and a streak of silver light shot forth before vanishing into the lizard's body in a flash.
The devilish lizard let loose a low roar before immediately galloping forward, and even though it wasn't very fast, its eight legs ensured a very smooth ride.
The burly man and everyone else had already gone on ahead, and the line of 11 devilish lizards progressed toward the desert.
The distance of less than 10 kilometers was covered in a short while, and as soon as the devilish lizards entered the desert, sand came billowing toward everyone from all directions. All of a sudden, silver light flashed from the saddles on the backs of the devilish lizards, creating a white barrier of light that kept all of the wind and sand at bay.
However, Han Li didn't pay any heed to that; what had attracted his attention was that once they entered the desert, the Eight-footed Devilish Lizards suddenly sped up by severalfold, and they had become even faster than galloping stallions.
At the same time, a peculiar type of energy fluctuations was emanating from their bodies, allowing them to slowly absorb the scorching energy within the desert.
In contrast, Han Li was struck by a burst of indescribable power as soon as he entered the desert, restricting his magic power by as much as 90%. On top of that, both devilish Qi and spiritual Qi were extremely sparse due to a certain type of chaotic power of heaven and earth that was rejecting both types of energy.
The Illusion Howl Desert was certainly living up to its status as one of the restricted areas of the Elder Devil Realm.
Han Li was quite surprised by this series of changes, but everyone else displayed no reaction, clearly already accustomed to all of this.
Around half a month later, Han Li's group found themselves surrounded by a nest of green foot-long scorpions atop a massive sand dune.
The scorpions were emitting sharp hissing sounds, and streaks of dark green poisonous light were shooting out of their pincers toward Han and the others from all sides.
However, Han Li and the other Body Integration Stage beings merely sat back and watched as Bai Yunxin and the Spatial Tempering Stage beings fought the scorpions with their devilish treasures.
Even though the majority of their magic power had been sealed away, these devilish lizards were still nowhere near powerful enough to pose a threat to Bai Yunxin and the others. Bursts of devilish Qi surged and exploded, and countless devilish scorpions were reduced to dust before they could approach Han Li's group.
Several days later, the Eight-footed Devilish Lizard that was leading from the front suddenly stopped and let loose a low roar.
The burly man who was riding atop the lizard raised a hand with furrowed brows to unleash an attack toward an empty patch of sand several hundred feet away.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the sand exploded upward, creating a giant crater with a diameter of close to 100 feet.
In the next instant, a giant yellow python that was around 500 to 600 feet in length erupted out of the sand before pouncing toward the burly man.
Bai Yunxin and the others were quite alarmed to see this, while the burly man's brows furrowed slightly as he murmured to himself, "I didn't think we'd encounter a Golden Sand Python; those juniors won't be able to handle it. Looks like I'll have to expend some magic power to take care of it myself."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he flipped a hand over to produce a black bracelet, then tossed it toward the oncoming giant python.
The bracelet swelled to several tens of feet in size amid a flash of light, then vanished into thin air.
Immediately thereafter, the burly man pointed a finger at the giant python, and black light flashed around the python's neck, following which the giant bracelet reappeared before compressing with ruthless might.
The giant python immediately let loose an anguished cry before tumbling out of the sky, then writhed violently on the sand in unbearable agony.
The burly chuckled coldly upon seeing this before making a hand seal, and the giant bracelet suddenly shrank down to around the size of a human hand.
A geyser of black blood erupted several tens of feet up into the air, and the giant python was decapitated, falling dead onto the sand.
However, the burly man didn't stop there. He immediately opened his mouth to expel a ball of crimson devilish flames, which struck the python's corpse and quickly incinerated it into dust.
The giant python's soul attempted to escape during the process, but it was also swept up and incinerated into nothingness by the devilish flames.
"That Golden Sand Python looked to be at the late-Spatial Tempering Stage; it's very impressive that you were able to kill it so quickly, Brother Bai," Han Li said with a smile as he made his way over to the burly man.
"You're far too kind, Brother Han. A devilish beast of this caliber will be rather troublesome for Yunxin and the others to deal, but it naturally poses no threat to the likes of us. If I were to encounter the three devilish scourges of the Illusion Howl Desert, I would have to run for my life," the burly man replied with a wry smile.
"The three devilish scourges?" Han Li was rather intrigued to hear this.
"Have you not heard of them, Fellow Daoist?" The burly man was rather taken aback.
"I've heard of them, but don't know the exact details about them. They must be quite powerful for you to be so wary of them," Han Li replied as he stroked his own chin in a calm manner.
