As soon as his voice trailed off, he suddenly reached out behind him in a flash, and a deafening boom rang out as a burst of enormous invisible power surged toward that direction like a giant net.
A blurry yellow figure was completely caught off guard and forced to reveal himself, but he was somehow able to struggle free as he twisted around in an alarmed manner, then sped away as a streak of yellow light.
"Hmph, you think you can still get away?" A cold look appeared on Hei Lin's face as he curled his fingers inward before pulling back his arm.
A dull thump rang out as a giant black palm emerged in the air above the yellow figure before swooping down like lightning.
The yellow figure tried to evade with all his might, but on this occasion, his efforts proved to be futile, and he was immediately caught by the giant hand.
A cold smile appeared on Hei Lin's face as he drew the yellow figure back toward himself, and at this point, the figure had been revealed to everyone as a thin yellow-robed young man.
Judging from his horrified expression, it was clear that he was well aware of whose hands he had fallen into, and after a brief hesitation, he chanted an incantation as he made a hand seal, following which his body began to swell drastically amid flashes of blinding yellow light.
Hei Lin's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately pointed a finger toward the distance.
A streak of black light surged through the air directly toward the young man, but it was already too late.
In the instant that the streak of black light pierced through the young man's body, a deafening explosion erupted, and the yellow-robed young man was able to self-detonate.
In the wake of the violent explosion, even the massive black hand was tremoring incessantly.
"I didn't think that he would self-detonate so soon," Hei Lin grumbled as his expression darkened significantly.
The giant black hand quickly disintegrated, and Han Li cast his gaze toward the spot where the young man had just self-detonated before a smile suddenly appeared on his face.
"That man's concealment techniques were quite profound, but I think his self-detonation isn't as simple as it looks."
Xue Ran reacted quite quickly, and he asked, "Oh? Are you saying that he didn't actually detonate his own true body?"
A hint of surprise also appeared on Mo Jianli's face upon hearing this.
"I think so. However, it most likely wasn't an ordinary puppet or clone, either. If this were his true body, then there's no way that a Body Integration Stage being's self-detonation would be so lackluster in power," Han Li said.
"That is indeed rather strange. On top of that, I could clearly see that he had no Nascent Soul within his body during his self-detonation," Xue Ran mused with a contemplative nod.
Hei Lin was still unwilling to give up, and he suddenly transformed into dark clouds that surged away in all directions.
In the blink of an eye, the black clouds had scoured through a massive area, but were unable to discover anything, and in the end, they could only return to the mountain, where they converged to manifest Hei Lin's body again.
"He's not hiding nearby, and it's quite lucky for him that he isn't. Otherwise, if he were to fall into my hands…" A hint of killing intent flashed through Hei Lin's eyes as he spoke.
"Haha, it's alright; that man was spying on us from the shadows, but I've already set up a sound restrictions here, so he wouldn't have been able to hear our discussion," Xue Ran said with a nonchalant wave of his hand.
"Could it be that he was sent out by the Asura Spiders?" Mo Jianli asked in a cautious manner as he stroked his own beard.
"Rest assured, even if that was an Asura Spider spy, he wouldn't have been able to glean anything from so far away; the ultimate outcome of the battle will still be decided through absolute power," Hei Lin said in a dismissive manner.
"Brother Hei Lin is right, but as a safety precaution, let's head to the lair right away instead of resting here any longer. If we do that, the Asura Spiders won't have a chance to do anything even if they're alerted to our presence," Han Li suggested.
"You want to go there right away?" Xue Ran's brows furrowed slightly in a reluctant manner.
"With our powers, we'll be able to rest by meditating on our flying treasures. By doing this, we'll be able to seize the initiative, and that should give us an advantage; perhaps we'll be able to gain an upper hand as soon as the battle begins," Han Li said in an unhurried manner.
Xue Ran hesitated momentarily before nodding in agreement. "Alright then. I had intended to refine a powerful secret technique before we go, but seizing the initiative is indeed more important."
"That's a wise decision, Fellow Daoist; let's set off right away," Han Li said with a smile before sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a white flying boat amid a flash of white light.
Xue Ran and the others quickly flew onto the boat one after another, following which Han Li made a hand seal, and the boat immediately flew away as a ball of white light.
Around 15 minutes later, a burst of faint yellow light emerged in a dense forest tens of thousands of kilometers away from the mountain that Han Li and the other were previously situated on.
The yellow-robed young man then stepped out from behind a huge tree before glancing at the direction the flying boat had disappeared in with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"Thank heavens I had the foresight to hide this far away. Otherwise, I would've truly been in severe peril. So there are four Grand Ascension Stage beings who have entered this realm; it's a pity that my clone was unable to hear their conversation, so I still don't know whether they're targeting the Asura Spider Race."
The yellow-robed young man was silent for a moment before a cold smile suddenly appeared on his face. "Regardless of whether those people are going after the Asura Spider Race, all I need to do is send this information back to them, then hide out here for a few days to weather the storm."
Having made that decision, he opened his mouth to expel a white wooden badge before grabbing onto it, then waved it through the air a few times.
Specks of silver light immediately appeared on the surface of the badge, forming tiny silver runes that vanished deep into the badge in a flash.
Meanwhile, the green-robed woman and the black-robed elderly man were discussing something in a secret chamber within the stone city that was the lair of the Asura Spiders.
All of a sudden, a faint buzzing sound rang out from a black stone platform in front of the two of them, and traces of silver light began to emerge on its surface.
The green-robed woman faltered slightly upon seeing this, then immediately raised a hand to cast an incantation seal onto the stone platform.
Lines of silver text instantly surfaced on the stone platform, and both the green-robed woman and the black-robed man's expression changed slightly upon reading the message.
"Four Grand Ascension Stage beings?" the elderly man murmured to himself with furrowed brows.
"I didn't think that that man would have other Grand Ascension Stage allies; this is very troubling," the green-robed woman said with a grim expression.
"They may not be coming after us, but we still have to take the necessary precautions. Have you summoned all of our subordinates back to the city?" the black-robed man asked.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Yi, aside from a few who are taking care of important tasks, everyone else has been summoned back to the city. I've even sent someone to undo the restrictions on the nine Yin corpses that are being soaked in the Earth Yin Swamp, and they'll arrive at the city in two more days at most," the green-robed woman replied.
"That's good to hear. I've also summoned some spirit beasts back to the city, but they'll also take some time to get here. However, even with all that, we still may not be able to defeat those outsiders. How about this? I've interacted with that Che Qizi on several occasions; how about I offer it some benefits so it can stay in our city for some time?" the black-robed man suggested.
"What? Che Qizi? That's preposterous! That thing has been looking to prey on us Asura Spiders for a very long time; allowing it into the city would be far too dangerous!" the green-robed woman refused as she shook her head vigorously.
The black-robed man's brows furrowed slightly as he said, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Luo; that Che Qizi does possess some troublesome abilities, but it's just a beast. If we join forces, we'll definitely be able to restrict it, and we need to focus on the bigger picture."
The woman seemed to have been swayed somewhat by the black-robed man's words, and she replied, "Hmph, setting that aside, it definitely won't be cheap to recruit its services."
"I'm aware of that, which is why this is what I propose…" The black-robed man seemed to have considered this in advance, and he communicated his plan to the woman through voice transmission.
"What? That's way too heavy a price to ask me to pay!" the green-robed woman exclaimed after hearing the plan.
"It's just a few dead eggs that can't be incubated; there's no point in keeping them. However, I'm sure they'll be enough to tempt that Che Qizi," the black-robed man chuckled.
Instead of giving a definitive response, the woman replied, "I'll have to think carefully about this first."
"Alright, but while you think about this, don't forget to contact that woman in the blood pond. If something unforeseen happens, we'll have to borrow his powers," the black-robed man said.
