After straying only several hundred feet off the path, both Xie Lian and Lü Shi immediately detected something.
After flying for no more than 2,000 feet, a massive deep crater that was around 80 feet in size emerged up ahead.
There were seven stone pagodas around the giant crater that were in ruins, and the ground was riddled with countless deep trenches, indicating that a fierce battle had taken place here.
At the center of the giant crater laid the charred black remains of a giant insect, and it seemed that this was only less than half of the insect's entire carcass.
Even though the carcass was incomplete, it was still quite menacing to behold, and both Xie Lian and Lü Shi couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.
This insect was similar in appearance to the average stemborer with a glossy exoskeleton, but on its long and thin neck was an extremely hideous male head, complete with all of its facial features and a head of disheveled green hair that resembled wild grass.
The carcass was lying still on the ground without any blood around it, having clearly perished here a long time ago.
"So this is a true descendant of the Stemborer Queen; it really is very disturbing to look at," Xie Lian said as her face paled slightly.
"It truly is. I didn't think that these insects would be so unsightly; the Stemborer Queen is most likely even more disgusting to look at. What do you think, Fellow Daoist Han?" Lü Shi asked.
"Perhaps so. I won't just come to any conclusions before I see the Stemborer Queen for myself," Han Li said with a faint smile, then suddenly swept a sleeve toward the giant crater.
A loud boom rang out as a burst of invisible power struck the insect carcass, causing it to flip onto its back.
Xie Lian's complexion paled even further at the sight of the insect's underside.
The insect had around a dozen shattered limbs attached to its abdomen, some of which were very sharp and lined with hard black fur, just like the limbs of actual insects.
However, the other limbs were fair and delicate, bearing a strong appearance to human hands, but instead of five fingers, each hand was comprised of three fingers, one of which was quite thin, while the other two were thicker.
Lü Shi's eyelids spasmed upon seeing this, and he raised a hand to conjure up a blue fireball, which he immediately sent flying toward the insect carcass.
The fireball didn't seem to be releasing any heat, but the air around it had become quite warped and blurry, clearly indicating that the flames were extremely fearsome.
As soon as the fireball struck the insect carcass, the latter immediately burst into flames.
Moments later, Lü Shi made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the carcass, and a dull thump rang out as the blue flames instantly vanished to reveal the carcass again.
However, aside from the fact that it was slightly more charred black than before, the carcass appeared to have been largely unaffected.
Lü Shi and Xie Lian's expressions darkened even further upon seeing this.
"Interesting! Let me give it a try as well," Han Li chuckled as he raised a hand to flick three of his fingers through the air.
Three streaks of azure sword Qi instantly erupted from his fingertips before striking the carcass in quick succession.
Three dull thumps rang out one after another, and the three streaks of sword Qi achieved completely different outcomes.
The first streak of sword Qi was instantly repelled, the second streak managed to slice through a part of the carcass's exoskeleton, and the third streak was able to slice the carcass cleanly in half.
A hint of surprise appeared in the eyes of both Lü Shi and Xie Lian upon seeing this, while Han Li began to stroke his own chin with a contemplative expression.
Xie Lian asked, "Were those three streaks of sword Qi you unleashed just now of different levels of power, Brother Han?"
"That's right. The first streak contained around half of my full power, the second streak was a full-power strike, while the third streak was infused with a flying sword that's a bonded treasure of mine," Han Li replied.
Xie Lian and Lü Shi were naturally unaware that Han Li had lied about the first two streaks of sword Qi and only told the truth for the third one.
His powers were far superior to those of an ordinary Grand Ascension Stage being, so the first streak of sword Qi had only contained around 20% of his full power, while the second one was only imbued with around 50% of his full power.
Even so, Xie Lian and Lü Shi were quite stunned by how resolute this carcass was.
"Not only is this insect virtually immune to Fellow Daoist Lü Shi's true flames, it can even withstand Fellow Daoist Han's sword Qi to a certain extent; looks like these descendants of the Stemborer Queen are even more fearsome than I'd imagined. What should we do if we encounter one of them?" Xie Lian asked with a grim expression.
"There's no need to fear; if we really do encounter one of these insects, we'll just have to attack it as normal. I'm confident that the four of us combined will be able to bring down a mere insect," Lü Shi chuckled coldly in response.
"One or two of them won't be an issue, but what if we encounter seven or eight, or even more of these insects? Would you still be so confident then?" Xie Lian sighed.
Lü Shi's confident facade slipped a little upon hearing this. "Surely there aren't that many of these things around."
"Hehe, it's indeed very unlikely to encounter so many of these insects. If the Stemborer Queen had the ability to produce so many descendants, it would've most likely broken out of this ancient seal long ago," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
"I certainly hope so. Otherwise, we could potentially find ourselves in some huge trouble. It looks like the last group of fellow daoists to have entered this underground palace were the ones who killed this insect; I wonder why they left in such a hurry. I hope there aren't more of these things up ahead," Xie Lian said with a wry smile.
"In any case, we're already here, so we can't back down now. We've already wasted quite a bit of time here; let's keep going. It would be truly regrettable if our tardiness affects Fellow Daoist Bao Hua's plans," Han Li said in a calm manner, then drifted back the way he had come.
Through his examination, he had determined that these insects didn't pose much of a threat to him, so he naturally wasn't going to be too concerned.
Daoist Xie followed along behind him in silence, and Xie Lian and Lü Shi were rather surprised by Han Li's decisive departure.
However, they knew that Han Li was right, so they could trail along behind him as well.
Daoist Xie seemed to be completely obedient to Han Li, and Han Li had just displayed spiritual sense far superior to that of Xie Lian and Lü Shi, so the two of them were unconsciously beginning to follow Han Li's lead.
Shortly thereafter, the four of them returned to the path and continued onward according to the map.
As they progressed along the path, they didn't encounter any obstacles, and that came as quite a relief for both Xie Lian and Lü Shi.
Even though they were both at the Grand Ascension Stage, they definitely didn't want to encounter an insect like the one they had just seen.
At this moment, the four of them had arrived in a spacious garden with shimmering silver trees all around them. These trees had palm-sized silver flowers growing on their branches that were very beautiful to look at, but didn't give off any aroma.
Initially, Lü Shi had been rather wary of these trees, but his concerns were assuaged after Xie Lian informed him that this was a plant unique to the Elder Devil Realm, and it served no purpose other than as a low-grade pill refinement ingredient.
"Brother Han, according to the map, that hall up ahead should be where the formation core is situated. Once we repair it, our mission will be complete," Xie Lian said as the three of them emerged from the garden, upon which a grey hall appeared in the distance.
"Looks like our journey was quite smooth; I wonder if the same applied for our other fellow daoists," Han Li replied with a nod.
For some reason, as soon as he had arrived in the garden, he couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that he was being watched.
Considering how powerful his spiritual sense was, it was virtually impossible for him to be unable to detect someone if they were nearby.
This meant that the one watching them either possessed incredible powers and could avoid the detection of his spiritual sense, or this was merely a figment of his imagination brought on by the powers of the ancient seal and all of the restrictions in the underground palace.
In any case, Han Li had naturally become a lot more cautious, but as soon as they emerged from the garden, this strange feeling suddenly vanished, leaving him feeling quite perplexed.
……
Meanwhile, an indistinct humanoid figure situated in a dark underground cave in the deepest part of the underground palace suddenly began to cackle to himself.
"I can't believe someone from a lower realm has managed to cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique to the second stage! Haha, the heavens really are smiling down upon me! Looks like I won't be trapped here for much longer…"
Initially, the cackling was very loud, but it gradually became clearer and more deranged, striking the listener with a bone-chilling sensation.
