He cast his gaze toward the origin of the golden lightning to discover that the long-haired foreign being had already emerged from his golden ball, and that a blue humanoid puppet that was around 20 feet tall had appeared beside him.
The puppet was entirely blue in color, and one of its hands was raised with thin arcs of lightning flashing in between its fingers.
This Jia Tianmu had not only two high-grade puppets, but also a third one that was capable of unleashing Divine Devilbane Lightning! That came as quite a surprise to Han Li. However, he was only caught in a stunned stupor for an instant before flapping his wings and hurtling toward the silver battle ark as a gust of fierce winds. Azure light flashed, and his massive avian body swelled dramatically once again.
Immediately thereafter, the massive bird's talons came crashing down upon the battle ark with piercing lightning flashing alongside them.
The talons instantly pierced into the battle ark amid a string of resounding booms, and a massive hole was torn into its silver surface.
The giant bird then opened its cavernous mouth, and a thick bolt of lightning blasted forth, disappearing into the hole in a flash. Lightning flashed, and cries of anguish rang out from within the battle arks as countless Jiao Chi being's were slain in the blink of an eye. However, the giant bird didn't rest there. It flapped its wings downward in a violent manner, and a gust of fierce white winds swept forth.
It then released the massive battle arks, and the latter was swept up by the gale-force winds before plummeting toward the ground. The battle ark crashed onto the ground amid a resounding boom, and the massive bird let loose a long cry before folding its wings away, then shrinking down to its humanoid form amid a flash of azure light. Han Li cast his gaze onto the ground down below, then made a hand seal, and several tens of small azure swords appeared in unison in the surrounding area. The swords tremored before hurtling through the as streaks of azure light, making short work of the ruined battle ark down below.
Han Li then turned his attention to the battle ark that he had previously felled, manipulating his flying swords to destroy that ark as well.
At this moment, the armored warriors and giant falcons in the surrounding area had also almost been completely eradicated by the Weeping Soul Beast and the Leopard Kirin Beast. Only a few fortunate survivors had managed to flee into the extremely far distance, but the rest of their companions had all been slain.
Han Li couldn't be bothered to send his two beasts after those beings, and he merely waved a hand through the air, upon which a black ring whizzed out of his sleeve.
The massive black ape instantly shrank down and disappeared into the black ring as a streak of black light, along with the Leopard Kirin Beast, which also returned as a streak of golden light. Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and the black ring flew back to him before being stowed away. Only then did Han Li cast his gaze toward the distance where Jia Tianmu was standing, then suddenly flew over to him as a streak of azure light.
After just a single flash, he appeared around 10 feet before Jia Tianmu in a wraith-like manner, then appraised him in a cold and expressionless manner.
Jian Tianmu's heart stirred upon seeing this, but he quickly put on a smile before cupping his fist in a grateful salute. "Thank you for saving me, Senior; I'll be sure to fulfill my promise and reward you with a sentient puppet once we return to the Myriad Ancient Race."
"You sure are brave to have dared to drag me into your mess. Aren't you afraid that I'll kill you right now?" A hint of killing intent surfaced within Han Li's narrowed eyes.
"Surely you jest, Fellow Daoist; if you had intended to do that, I'd already be dead. Besides, I only brought you into this matter as I had no alternatives, so I hope you'll forgive me, Senior," Jia Tianmu replied with a smile."How did you know I was nearby? In my own opinion, my concealment techniques are quite effective, especially against those of a lower cultivation base than myself," Han Li suddenly asked after a brief silence.
Following a brief hesitation, Jia Tianmu opened his mouth to expel an object, which landed in his hand before he offered it up for Han Li's inspection. "Of course I wouldn't have been able to detect your presence on my own; it was all thanks to this thing."
Han Li focused his gaze on the item to find that it was a black and white bead with what appeared to be a series of spiritual Qi vortexes swirling on its surface. "What's this?" Han Li found the item to be rather familiar somehow.
"Are you unfamiliar with this item, Senior? This Sense Enhancement Bead is a treasure refined from the inner core of a type of a rare spirit beast known as the Nie Beast. It can temporarily enhance one's spiritual sense by about twofold, but after every usage, there will be quite a few after-effects, and the treasure will need to be nurtured within the user's body for many years before it recovers. However, it's extremely useful in dire situations," Jia Tianmu explained in a truthful manner. "Spiritual sense enhancement by twofold?" Han Li was stunned to hear this.
If this treasure were able to enhance one's cultivation base by roughly twofold, then he wouldn't be all that surprised. After all, treasures that could be used to temporarily enhance one's power were rare in the Spirit Realm, but not non-existence. However, this was the first time he had heard of something that could enhance one's spiritual sense in the Spirit Realm. One's spiritual sense normally increased along with their cultivation base as well as the cultivation arts used, so generally speaking, no treasure could affect one's spiritual sense."Sense Enhancement Bead… Nie Beast…" Han Li murmured to himself as a peculiar look appeared in his eyes.
Jia Tianmu's heart stirred at the sight of Han Li's expression, and he hurriedly added, "However, the Nie Beasts required to refine this bead are almost extinct in the Spirit Realm, and once a Sense Enhancement Bead is used, it can't be used by any other person. If one were to forcibly devour a Sense Enhancement Bead that had already previously been used by someone else, they would be driven insane due to their spiritual sense becoming overly chaotic."
"I see." Han Li was rather disappointed to hear this, and the hint of killing intent that had just welled up in his heart quickly faded.
However, he still found the black bead to be extremely familiar. In fact, there seemed to be one in his storage bracelet.
Han Li suddenly recalled back to when he had slain that unknown beast in the Devilfall Valley countless years ago. The inner core of that beast was very similar in appearance to this Sense Enhancement Bead. Could it be that the mutant beast from back then was a Nie Beast? A hint of excitement welled up in Han Li's heart as that thought occurred to him.
If he also possessed a Sense Enhancement Bead, then wouldn't he be able to unleash close to twice as many Gold Devouring Beetles as he'd normally be capable of? In dire situations against overwhelmingly powerful enemies, he'd be able to scare them away with his Gold Devouring Beetles!
Despite these thoughts running through his mind, Han Li didn't ask any further questions about the Sense Enhancement Bead as he didn't want to arouse suspicion from Jia Tianmu. Instead, he glanced at the humanoid puppet beside them, then asked in an indifferent voice, "Judging from how intent the Jiao Chi beings were on capturing, you must be no ordinary being, right? How about you introduce yourself first?"
"I'm just an upper race third-tier being who knows a thing or two about puppet refinement, which has earned me a bit of renown in my race," Jia Tianmu replied with a nonchalant smile."Is that so? Your puppet refinement skills must truly be extraordinary for the Jiao Chi Race elders to hold you in such high regard," Han Li mused in an indifferent manner.
Jia Tianmu merely chuckled and refrained from offering a response on this occasion. Instead, he surveyed the surrounding area before a slightly concerned look appeared on his face. "Senior, this is not a place that we should linger in. How about you leave with me first before we discuss any other matters?"
"Hmph, you're right about that, but I have no intention of going with you. From now on, we go our separate ways. You're such a big target; I don't want to get swept up in your mess a second time," Han Li harrumphed coldly. He then twisted around, and azure light shimmered from his body as he prepared to depart.
"Wait! The further ahead you go, the more Jiao Chi beings you'll encounter. Even with your powers, it won't be a simple task to escape from this area. I know of a secret teleportation formation that can take us directly out of the area that has been taken over by the Jiao Chi Race," Jia Tianmu hurriedly said with an urgent look on his face."A teleportation formation? You're not lying to me, are you?" The azure light radiating from Han Li's body faded as he turned to Jia Tianmu with a surprised look on his face.
"Rest assured, Senior, this is a secret teleportation formation set up solely for special members of the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races like myself. Once we get there, you'll be able to immediately ascertain the validity of my claim. If you discover that I'm lying, you can do with me as you please," Jia Tianmu replied with a smile. Han Li fell into silent contemplation upon hearing this.
It was indeed the case that he'd encountered Jiao Chi Race patrols with increased regularity along his journey. As such, he really was rather unconfident about his chances of being able to escape from this area. If he could use a teleportation formation that would take him away from here, then that would naturally be a very attractive option.
He didn't have any ties with neither the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races nor the Jiao Chi Race, but the violence that the Jiao Chi Race had displayed in slaughtering the entirety of Green Light City indicated to him that even if he were to surrender himself and offer up the jade box, there was no way that they would spare him.
In contrast, it seemed that the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races weren't as oppressive toward outsiders, so it would be a good idea to travel to their territory, then slowly try and find a way back to his original continent.
Furthermore, he was carrying two jade boxes that had to be taken care of, and this Jian Tianmu seemed to be quite an important figure in the Myriad Ancient Race, so perhaps he'd be able to help in that respect. After contemplating all these matters, Han Li nodded as his expression eased, and he said, "Alright, in that case, I'll be happy to come along. Please lead the way, Fellow Daoist Jia."Jia Tianmu was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly expressed his gratitude to Han Li.
The spiritual power within the few types of special spirit stones used in his puppets had been completely exhausted, so there was no way that a third-tier upper race being like him would be able to travel to the place where the teleportation formation was situated on his own. However, with Han Li's protection, he would have a far greater chance of getting to his destination without being captured or killed.
Thus, Jia Tianmu immediately rose up into the air to recover the puppets that had been taken by the Jiao Chi beings, then stowed the humanoid puppet away before flying into the distance, leading the way for Han Li. Two streaks of light, one golden and one azure, disappeared into the distance after just a few flashes.
