Countless Green Spirit beings were quickly reduced to ashes by the eruption of lightning, and in the blink of an eye, only several tens of Green Spirit beings remained.
All of them were naturally horrified to see this, and only then did they realize that the enemy on the giant ark was far beyond what they could deal with.
Thus, they immediately fled for their lives, and Han Li displayed no intention of continuing to pursue them.
Right as he was about to return to the ark's cabin, three streaks of light suddenly shot forth from the distance.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as he stopped in his tracks, and moments later, the three streaks of light faded to reveal the trio of Green Spirit beings from earlier, who were extremely enraged to see so many of their elite brethren lying dead around them.
They had predicted that their brethren wouldn't have been able to prevent the enemy from advancing, but such a high number of casualties was beyond their expectations.
After all, it had only taken them around 15 minutes to catch up to the giant ark.
The three Green Spirit beings immediately cast their eyes toward Han Li, upon which astonishment appeared on all of their faces.
"That really is a Grand Ascension Stage human being!"
Han Li was also looking back at the trio, and he had identified them to be mere mid-Body Integration and late-Body Integration Stage beings, so he wasn't concerned in the slightest.
"So a Grand Ascension cultivator really has arisen among the human race. May I ask your name? Also, don't you think it's unbecoming of someone like you to kill so many juniors of our Green Spirit Race?" one of the three Green Spirit beings asked in a furious voice.
"They dared to get in my way; if I didn't teach them a lesson, I would become the laughing stock of my fellow daoists. As for my name, that's not something that you need to know," Han Li replied in a cold voice.
A thought suddenly occurred to the burly man, and his expression changed slightly as he asked, "Did you come from another realm?"
"So what if I did?" Han Li asked.
"If you really are from another realm, then for the sake of all of the races in the Small Spirit Sky, we're going to have to make sure that you never leave this Green Sea," the thinner of the two men said with a cold light in his eyes.
"What gives three Body Integration Stage beings like you the confidence to say this? Are you pinning your hopes on those Ancient Ancestral Tree Spirits?" Han Li asked with a hint of a smile on his face.
The burly man's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this. "You know about the Ancient Ancestral Tree Spirits? Looks like you didn't enter this realm by accident."
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response.
"It looks like we'll have to summon the Ancient Ancestral Tree Spirits, fellow daoists. For the sake of the Small Spirit Sky, we have to capture this man no matter what. There are three of us and only one of him, so we definitely have an advantage," the woman in the trio said as a fierce light flashed through her eyes.
The two men immediately nodded in agreement.
Over the years, they had developed a near-blind sense of worship toward the Ancient Ancestral Tree Spirits, and even in the face of a Grand Ascension Stage being who had never appeared in the Small Spirit Sky before, they were very confident.
Thus, the three of them raised their left arms in unison, and their sleeves were immediately torn apart, revealing an extremely vivid ancient tree image on each of their arms.
The three ancient tree images were different from one another: one of them was extremely lush with countless leaves and branches, another one was tall and ramrod straight with a shimmering silver hue, and leaves and branches that resembled swords, and the final one was extremely colorful with flowers of different sizes covering all of its branches.
"Reveal yourselves, ancestral spirits!" the three Green Spirit beings yelled in unison as they each made a hand seal.
Azure light immediately swept over their left arms, and three small tree projections emerged.
The world's origin Qi within the forest down below abruptly stirred, and countless green threads surged out of all of the trees before flooding into the three tree projections in a frenzy.
In the blink of an eye, the projections had swelled drastically in size, transforming into massive trees that were over 1,000 feet tall and flashing with green light.
As for the three Green Spirit beings, they had all vanished on the spot.
The trunks of the three giant trees blurred slightly, and a face appeared on each of them; those faces were identical to those of the trio of Green Spirit beings who had just disappeared.
"So these are Ancient Ancestral Tree Spirits? The purity of the wood-attribute spiritual Qi they contain is truly remarkable!" A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes as he sensed the powerful auras being released by the three massive trees.
At this moment, the three giant trees warped and blurred before transforming into a trio of giants.
One of the giants had long green hair and was wearing a suit of azure wooden armor, another giant was more slender with a pair of resplendent wings on its back and a giant green sword in its hand, and the final giant was the most imposing of the three, wearing a suit of silver armor that was riddled with hooked spikes, and it was wielding a huge silver hammer in each hand.
As soon as the three giants appeared, the one with long green hair immediately declared, "It's still not too late to surrender. All you have to do is tell us the location of the entrance into this realm, then return to your own realm. Otherwise, once the ancestral spirits spring into action, even we won't be able to control their actions, and it would be too late to regret your decision once you perish by their hands."
"What insolence! Even if you were true Grand Ascension Stage beings, you would still be nothing in my eyes. However, this possession secret technique that you're using is quite interesting; it would be worth studying this secret technique once I capture you."
"Let's not waste any more time with useless chatter! The human race has always been our sworn enemy; he's looking down on us just because he's a Grand Ascension Stage being, so let's show him the power of the Ancient Ancestral Tree Spirits!" the slender giant said in a furious voice.
As soon as its voice trailed off, the three giants immediately began to charge toward the Inkspirit Holy Ark.
Han Li stood at the front of the ark, and a faint smile appeared on his face at the sight of the approaching giants. All of a sudden, he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a bolt of silver lightning that transformed into the expressionless Daoist Xie.
"Brother Xie, your cultivation arts are perfect to counter these Ancient Ancestral Tree Spirits, so I'll leave them to you. If possible, please capture one of them alive," Han Li instructed.
"Leave them to me," Daoist Xie replied as he cast his gaze toward the three giants in the distance.
He then stomped a foot onto the ark and shot forth toward the trio of giants amid countless arcs of silver lightning, transforming into a giant golden crab that was several acres in size mid-flight.
After that, the gigantic crab extended its pair of pincers forward, then opened its mouth to release a pillar of silver lightning, which reached the slender giant in a flash.
At the same time, spatial fluctuations erupted above the other two giants, and a pair of massive pincer projections came crashing down toward them alongside a vast expanse of silver lightning.
The three giants were naturally very alarmed to see this.
Never did they think that their opponent would be able to summon such a fearsome being who just so happened to possess lightning-attribute abilities, which directly countered their own wood-attribute powers.
The burly giant raised its hammers and unleashed countless hammer projections toward the descending pincer projection, while the long-haired giant made a hand seal, and countless massive vines emerged from its suit of azure wooden armor amid a flash of spiritual light.
The vines intertwined with one another as they rose up into the air, forming a giant net to oppose the other pincer projection.
As for the slender giant, it wore a grim expression and was preparing to oppose the oncoming bolt of silver lightning with its green sword.
The surface of the giant sword warped slightly, and it suddenly transformed into a huge green shield with countless spirit patterns etched on its surface.
Immediately thereafter, a string of earth-shattering booms rang out as a series of devastating clashes took place, and a vast expanse of silver lightning erupted forth in all directions.
Right at this moment, the giant golden crab let loose a low roar, and countless silver lightning runes suddenly appeared on its back, then converged to form a massive lightning formation.
The lightning formation quickly vanished into thin air amid a rumbling boom, and in the next instant, it appeared above the three giants amid a burst of violent spatial fluctuations.
The giant golden crab also appeared above the trio of giants before fusing as one with the lightning formation, which began to slowly descend from above.
The three giants immediately let loose enraged roars, and they released bursts of violent auras, only for them to be torn apart by the massive lightning formation on contact.
In the next instant, the lightning formation transformed into a lightning cloud that completely inundated the three giants.
Rumbling thunderclaps rang out incessantly alongside cries of pain from the three giants, and balls of lightning were exploding violently within the cloud.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he strode back into the ark's cabin without any hesitation.
Even the three patriarchs of the Elder Devil Realm had been quite wary of Daoist Xie's powers; there was no way that these three counterfeit Grand Ascension Stage beings would be able to last very long against him.
Furthermore, Daoist Xie even had an advantage in terms of the attribute of his cultivation arts, so the outcome of this battle was already a foregone conclusion.
Around 15 minutes later, the sound of footsteps rang out outside the cabin, and Daoist Xie strode in with a calm expression.
Han Li was seated on a chair, studying a cultivation art, and he immediately raised his head before asking with a smile, "Did you kill them all?"
"Of course not; you asked me to capture one alive, didn't you?" Daoist Xie replied as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a small silver vial.
Han Li drew the small vial into his own grasp, then injected his spiritual sense into it to discover a Nascent Soul that was several inches tall and identical in appearance to the thin man among the trio of Green Spirit beings.
Han Li nodded with a pleased expression and didn't ask about what had become of the other two Green Spirit beings.
Spiritual light flashed from his hand as he stowed the small vial away into his storage bracelet, following which the giant ark set off again, and on this occasion, no more Green Spirit beings dared to get in its way.
