Of course, these Flying Rainbow Fish were indeed quite powerful, but the value of their inner cores far outweighed their powers, which was why they had been hunted into extinction so quickly by powerful beings in primordial times.
Han Li was truly very surprised to encounter these strange fish here, and even though the records on the ancient tome had stated that the venom of these fish was extremely fearsome, Han Li was rather skeptical about these claims.
Thus, he immediately waved a hand through the air, and a grey light barrier appeared before him. He then flipped over his other hand, and a burst of five-colored flames surged forth.
The two intertwined with one another to form a light barrier that shielded him within, and immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air, upon which several tens of small azure swords shot forth in a frenzy.
The azure swords circled around before splitting up into several hundred streaks of shimmering azure sword Qi that were flashing with a cold light.
One of the Flying Rainbow Fish let loose a sharp screech upon seeing this, and all of the flying fish converged toward Han Li in a menacing manner as streaks of light.
"Slash!"
Han Li's expression darkened as he made a hand seal while letting loose a low cry, and the hundreds of streaks of sword Qi shuddered before erupting forth in all directions, sweeping through the school of fish as thick pillars of azure light.
All of the flying fish in the path of the streaks of sword Qi were sliced in half, and their bodies plummeted from the sky amid a torrential downpour of green blood.
Over 1,000 of the flying fish were slain in the blink of an eye, and a strong stench of blood and gore wafted through the surrounding air.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were extremely sharp, but there was a limit to their numbers, so they couldn't kill all of the flying fish at once. As such, there were still some flying fish that managed to get closer to Han Li.
All of them let loose sharp screeches before expelling fist-sized balls of green liquid out of their mouths that hurtled directly toward Han Li.
Han Li's expression changed slightly as he switched to another hand seal, and all of the streaks of surrounding sword Qi abruptly converged around him before transforming into massive azure lotus flowers.
The azure lotus flowers rotated slowly in mid-air, completely shielding Han Li within a barrier of sword Qi.
Han Li was well aware that as long as he could keep the poison attacks of these Flying Rainbow Fish at bay, it wouldn't be impossible for him to eradicate all of them at once.
After all, Flying Rainbow Fish relied extremely heavily on their poison. Even though his cultivation base had improved significantly, he was still rather unsure of his ability to withstand this legendary poison.
However, he would regret it if he left without at least giving it a try. It was said that those rainbow cores had extraordinary effects and would be extremely beneficial to his Gold Devouring Beetles. If he could evolve the Gold Devouring Beetles once again, then this was a risk that was worth taking.
After all, he had several powerful treasures and abilities that would allow him to escape if things were to go awry.
At this moment, the outermost layer of giant azure lotus flowers had already bloomed, and the azure flower petals formed layers of azure sword barriers that were extremely vibrant to behold.
The green liquid struck the seemingly airtight barrier formed by the lotus petals, and plumes of smoke began to rise up into the air, following which holes of different sizes appeared on the barrier.
The azure sword barrier was quickly riddled with holes, and it became quite evident that the poison of these Flying Rainbow Fish could easily melt through even the sword Qi formed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. This was quite an incredible discovery to Han Li, and his heart jolted with shock, but his expression remained calm and collected.
The azure sword barrier had been damaged, but his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were able to almost instantly recover.
Right at this moment, Han Li made a hand seal before releasing a burst of five-colored flames from his pristine white hand, and as soon as the green liquid came into contact with the five-colored flames, the latter was also melted away. A grim look finally appeared in Han Li's eyes as he switched to another hand seal yet again, and five-colored flames flashed before beginning to rotate at an incredible speed.
The flames formed a five-colored tornado that repelled many of the oncoming balls of green liquid, but there were simply too many Flying Rainbow Fish in the surrounding area, and there seemed to be no end to the poisonous liquid that they were expelling.
The five-colored flames had been unleashed to their full power, but they were still whittled down into nothingness, revealing the innermost grey light barrier around Han Li.
The green liquid gushed forth, and a loud sizzling sound rang out.
Han Li's eyelids twitched violently, and he abruptly let loose a cold harrumph as he opened his mouth to expel a fist-sized ball of silver flames.
The silver flames glowed with scintillating light before expanding to around 10 feet in size, then transformed into a huge Fire Raven.
"Go!" Han Li pointed forward without any hesitation, and the silver Fire Raven spread its wings and raised its head before letting loose a loud cry.
It then flew directly out of the grey light barrier, and all of the green liquid that struck its body instantly evaporated into mist of different colors as if it had met the bane of its existence, leaving the massive Fire Raven completely unscathed.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, yet right at this moment, a portion of the Flying Rainbow Fish suddenly let loose strange cries in unison, following which all of them abruptly expelled their poisonous green liquid toward the same point in the sky above.
A giant green python that was comprised entirely of poisonous liquid instantly took shape, and it was around 70 to 80 feet in length.
It was an extremely life-like python, and it arched its body before pouncing directly toward the huge Fire Raven, leaving a rank odor in its wake.
The Fire Raven naturally wasn't going to back down; it flapped its wings a few times before opening its mouth again to expel a burst of piercing white flames.
This was the Golden Crow True Flames that the Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven had devoured in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges.
As soon as the flames came into contact with the poison python, the former swelled drastically as if oil had been poured onto it, and the giant python was instantly inundated by a scorching sea of fire, then quickly reduced to nothingness amid an anguished wail.
Right at this moment, Han Li let loose another loud cry before making a hand seal and pointing a finger at the silver Fire Raven.
The massive Fire Raven's silver feathers stirred before all of them transformed into a white color.
In the next instant, an earth-shattering boom erupted as the Fire Raven self-detonated, sending countless thin threads of flames hurtling forth in all directions.
All of the balls of green liquid in the air were instantly punctured by their fire threads before erupting into flames.
All of the poison attacks were eradicated in the blink of an eye, and the grey light barrier, which had already been severely ravaged, quickly recovered to its former state amid a flash of grey light.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Han Li also finally sprang into action. He pointed his 10 fingers forward in rapid succession, and bursts of azure light flashed as the azure flying swords that had already vanished suddenly reappeared.
All of them then transformed into lethal sword Qi again before hurtling forth in all directions.
The Flying Rainbow Fish were still relentlessly blasting forth balls of green poison, but the countless white fire threads in the air completely nullified this threat.
Without the impediment posed by the poisonous liquid, the hundreds of streaks of sword Qi were completely unstoppable. The more powerful Flying Rainbow Fish could still survive for an attack or two, but the low-grade Flying Rainbow Fish were quickly hacked into one dismembered carcass after another.
Thus, with the combination of the fire threads and sword Qi, all of the Flying Rainbow, of which there had been around 40,000 to 50,000, were slain by Han Li.
When he waved a hand through the air to withdraw his swords and Fire Raven, the surrounding air was already completely empty. However, as he cast his gaze down below, he was rather taken aback to find that aside from the dismembered carcasses of the Flying Rainbow Fish, there were also many other dead fish that had floated to the surface with their bellies facing the heavens.
The nearby surface of the lake was entirely filled with white fish bellies, creating an extremely peculiar sight to behold.
Han Li inspected the slightly green water of the lake, and he immediately realized why this had happened.
Most of the poison expelled by the Flying Rainbow Fish had been eradicated by the Golden Crow True Flames, but a lot of it had been repelled earlier and fell into the lake down below, thereby killing a large number of nearby fish.
Even though he was already somewhat aware of how potent this poison was, the scenes on the lake were still quite harrowing for him to behold.
If it weren't for the fact that he had cultivated the Spirit Engulfing True Flames, he definitely wouldn't have been able to take care of these fish so easily. He would've most likely had to release his Gold Devouring Beetles at the expense of his spiritual sense or use his Profound Heavenly blade segment again, both of which would've severely weakened him.
As such, he was naturally reluctant to adopt those methods unless he had to.
A contemplative look appeared in Han Li's eyes, and he suddenly swept a sleeve downward to release a ball of white light, which transformed into an adorable little girl in a flash.
"Qu'er pays her respects to her master! What are your instructions, Master?"
As soon as Qu'er appeared, she extended a curtsey toward Han Li with a wide smile on her face.
"Go and extract the inner cores out of the heads of all of those fish; I made sure to preserve their heads when I killed them earlier. Come and find me on the island once you're done," Han Li instructed.
"Yes!"
Qu'er immediately nodded before raising a hand, upon which countless thin blades surged forth from her back, then hurtled down toward the surface of the lake.
Qu'er herself also began to slowly drift down toward the lake while Han Li flew toward the island in the distance as a streak of azure light.
A short while later, the azure light faded, and Han Li appeared above the tall grey mountain.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the mountain, and only after a long while did he abruptly flip a hand over to produce a shimmering golden disc.
This was a treasure that had been given to him by the Stone Cocoon Race prior to his journey, and he raised an eyebrow as he opened his mouth to expel a ball of azure Qi onto the disc.
The azure Qi vanished into the disc in a flash, following which he raised his other hand and cast a white incantation seal onto the treasure as well.
A startling turn of events immediately unfolded.
The golden disc flashed with golden light and emitted a loud ringing sound while releasing a series of silver runes.
The disc then shuddered before escaping Han Li's grasp and hurtling toward the mountain down below as a ball of golden light.
