"Hehe, what are you all still thinking about? Could it be that you intend to stay here until three months later?" A burst of loud laughter erupted from within the crowd, following which a humanoid figure sped toward the distance as a white blur.
There were several people behind him following along in silence, and they appeared to be brethren of his.
Seeing as someone was leading the way, many people in the crowd also banded together to fly toward the rift beneath the mist.
Moments later, only a small portion of people remained on the same spot.
These people were chatting among themselves, completely unfazed by the fact that their competition was getting a headstart on them.
Han Li and the Chi Rong beings were among these people.
Following a resounding boom, the massive gate behind them slowly fell shut. Five-colored light swirled over its surface, following which the gate disappeared without a trace.
A stir ran through the remaining people upon seeing this. "Let's go." Han Li swept his gaze across the giant wall where the silver gate had disappeared before waving a hand and flying through the air as a streak of azure light following a flap of his wings.
Bai Bi and Lei Lan immediately followed along as a ball of silver light and a ball of golden light, respectively.
As soon as Han Li and the others departed, several beings from foreign races focused their attention on his group.
Aside from Chi Rong beings, there were a few holy disciples from other unfamiliar Flying Spirit Race branches, and all of them looked on with cold and sinister expressions as Han Li and the other gradually faded into the distance.
Only after Han Li and the others had disappeared into the mist for a long while did Zhu Yinzi also spur the Chi Rong beings into action.
At this moment, there were only beings a dozen or so Flying Spirit Race branches remaining at the foot of the massive wall.
Most of these were branches that were quite powerful and situated very high up on the rankings. However, these people all wore indecisive expressions, and they were casting occasional glances toward the two of the remaining holy disciples.
One of them was a thin female child with dark skin; she was none other than Ao Qing of the Sevenpass Race. In contrast, the other person was a tall and broad man in a suit of black wooden armor. The man appeared to over 30 years of age with an unsettling light flashing within his two pairs of eyes. There was a broadsword that was of the same stature as him strapped to his back, and it was shimmering with cold golden light. It was unknown why he didn't place such a large object into a spatial storage device.
For some reason, all of the remaining holy disciples of the other power factions were waiting to see what these two were to do, and no one else departed.
After a while, the stalemate continued, and Ao Qing's brows furrowed slightly. She then giggled before flying away with a dozen or so of her brethren.
A cold light flashed through the eyes of the four-eyed man upon seeing this, and he strode forward, covering a distance of several tens of feet with a single step, pursuing Ao Qing as he also departed. Three men from the same race who were just as imposing as he was followed along behind him in silence.
All of the other Flying Spirit Tribe beings' expressions eased at the sight of their departure.
Many people even immediately gathered together to discuss some things.
After a while, these people departed in several successive waves as if everything had been planned out in advance.
Thus, the several hundred Flying Spirit Tribe holy disciples all disappeared into the black lands up ahead.
The area near the massive wall was now devoid of all beings.
At the same time, Han Li, Bai Bi, and Lei Lan were slowly flying through the air at low altitudes of just over 100 feet. The completely still and motionless grey mist up above was only just over 200 feet above their heads, and it stretched for as far as the eyes could see. That, paired with its monotonous and stifling grey hue made for a very depressing and oppressive effect.
What was even more curious was that despite the fact that they were in such a narrow space, there were occasional gusts of stiff winds that blew toward them from up ahead, and those winds were quite chilly.
Of course, these winds couldn't harm Han Li and the others, who were all at the Deity Transformation Stage, and they were able to easily shield themselves with spiritual light.
Even though many holy disciples had set off before them, most people didn't take the same path. Instead, many of them intentionally looped around in a large circle before advancing from another direction. This was to avoid encountering the holy disciples from the other branches prior to entering the earth abyss, thereby potentially leading to conflicts.
Han Li had also done the same.
After flying for just over 50 kilometers, he led the other two holy disciples to stray away from their original trajectory, choosing to forge ahead from another direction instead.
A distance of over 5,000 kilometers wasn't all that far at all for holy disciples like them.
As such, even though they'd intentionally slowed their speed, they still arrived at their destination after two hours.
The scenes up ahead had undergone a change. The sea of mist that had originally hung quite low in the air had risen to a higher altitude here, and the frosty winds sweeping toward them were much fiercer here. The color of the winds had also turned into a dark grey, and as it buffetted their bodies, layers of black ice and frost instantly materialized on their spiritual light barriers.
Of course, these winds were still unable to pose any threat to Han Li's trio, but all of them thickened the layer of protective spiritual light around their bodies.
A while later, all of them had emerged from those strange black winds, and they appeared in an unfamiliar place.
This was a flat space with an indeterminate radius, and their surroundings were enshrouded by those frosty black winds. There was still the same grey mist hanging in the air, but its altitude had risen to over 10,000 feet, and it was tumbling and surging erratically, creating a vastly different sight from the sea of mist they witnessed during the previous parts of their journey. However, none of that caught the attention of Han Li's trio. Instead, all of them were looking down below.
The black land down below had completely disappeared, and a gargantuan bottomless abyss stood in its place. There was black mist wafting throughout the entire abyss, and gusts of frosty black winds would occasionally billow out from within.
Han Li scanned his eyes downward to discover that he was unable to determine the dimension of this abyss, just as he'd been unable to ascertain the dimensions of the space they were currently situated in.
The three of them hung in mid-air by the abyss, and in the face of this vast space and colossal abyss, they were as insignificant as mere ants.
"This appears to be the gate of the earth trial. Let's descend, but be on your guard. Even though it's unlikely that we'll encounter earth abyss demons right away, it's still better to be safe than sorry." After appraising the abyss for a short while, Han Li issued a calm instruction for flapping his wings and plunging into the abyss, disappearing into the black mist following a few flashes.
Bai Bi and Lei Lan immediately followed suit.
Han Li slowly descended into the abyss with azure light flashing all of his body, and seven or eight fist-sized moonlight stones hovering around him. These stones were radiating white light that illuminated everything within an area of over 300 feet.
Looking around at the tumbling mist nearby, Han Li heaved a faint internal sigh.
The mist hadn't been very dense when he had first descended into the abyss, and he was able to clearly survey his surroundings even without using his spirit eyes.
However, after descending for tens of thousands of feet, the mist immediately became several times denser.
With Bai Bi and Lei Lan following close behind him, he naturally wasn't going to use his spirit eyes unless the situation absolutely demanded its usage, so he summoned these moonlight stones instead.
As such, he was able to see his surroundings with relative clarity.
However, it was just as he'd expected; this earth abyss gate was extremely vast, and even though they were so deep within the abyss already, they were still yet to encounter any demons.
This was naturally something that Han Li really liked to see.
After descending for a while longer, the mist down below suddenly became more sparse, and the black winds that had appeared from time to time had also disappeared.
Han Li and the others stirred upon seeing this. They knew that they were about finally about to reach the first level of the earth abyss.
A short while later, Han Li peered through the thin mist down below with narrowed eyes, and finally saw something different.
A black and yellow stretch of land had appeared before his eyes, and it as quite a lush land with massive trees growing on it and even a few strange-looking grey birds circling around in the air.
As soon as Han Li and the others emerged from the mist, Bai Bi murmured, "This should be the world of the earth abyss. It doesn't look like anything special."
"The first level of the earth abyss has been corrupted by the aura of darkness for a long time, but it's the most shallow of the seven layers. As such, aside from some demon beasts of the lowest caliber, there are also large numbers of normal beasts residing here. However, all of these beasts are extremely violent, and the vast majority of them are ferocious carnivorous beasts. The most powerful ones among these beasts are not inferior in power to low-grade demon beasts," Lei Lan explained.
Han Li remained completely expressionless, as if he were looking at but not seeing the scenes that lay before him. In reality, he had instantly swept his spiritual sense across an area with a radius of over 1,000 kilometers, and didn't discover the presence of any holy disciples or other powerful beings. It appeared that this place was definitely safe.
"Let's go down," Han Li instructed before descending.
Lei Lan and Bai Bi naturally followed along behind him.
An unsettling cry erupted as the grey birds down below discovered the presence of Han Li's trio, and they immediately pounced without any hesitation.
Han Li narrowed his eyes, and only now did he catch a clear glimpse of these strange birds. Their beaks were long and thick, and were filled to the brim with sharp fangs. There wasn't a single feather to be seen on their bodies, and all of them had strange grey skin as well as a bent single horn growing on each of their heads.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he flicked a few fingers through the air.
Several streaks of golden sword Qi shot forth in a flash, instantly puncturing the bodies of these birds. Blood rained down from above as these birds plummeted toward the ground.
However, before their carcasses had even fallen into the forest, a few thunderous roars erupted, following which the ground below began to tremor violently. It appeared that there were many massive beasts fighting over something.
A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes as he cast his gaze toward the source of the commotion. He then descended to an altitude of just over 1,000 feet and flew toward a direction that he'd decided on in advance.
"According to the holy disciples who'd participated in these trials in the past, there are many entrances from the first to the second level. However, there are only a dozen or so entrances among those that are relatively safe. It's almost impossible to find Infernal Flame Fruits on the first level, so let's head straight to the second level. The entrance that I've chosen is one that's quite secluded. Even though it'll take us more time to get there, we'll be able to avoid the ambushes set up by the enemies of our race," Han Li explained as he flew through the air.
Bai Bi's brows furrowed slightly, seeming opposed to Han Li's proposed course of action, but refrained from saying anything. Meanwhile, Lei Lan simply didn't really care.
Han Li smiled upon seeing this, and he didn't say anything further. Just because he was providing an explanation didn't mean he was discussing the matter with them. Seeing as the Tian Peng Race had asked him to protect these two holy disciples and ensure their success in this trial, then he naturally had to lead the way. The two holy disciples' cultivation bases were far inferior to his, so he wasn't afraid that they'd go against orders.
Thus, the three of them flew wordlessly at a low altitude, heading straight for the entrance to the second level.
