Chapter 239: Madman
Its bonded glacial qi was extremely formidable, able to seep into the bodies of its enemies without their detection, and thanks to that, it had never lost a battle, but this human cultivator was somehow completely unaffected by it.
At this moment, the Heavy Water True Axis within Han Li\'s body was slowly revolving, absorbing all of the glacial qi that was surging into his body.
He made a grabbing motion, and four streaks of azure swordlight instantly appeared before swelling to close to 1,000 feet in size each, intertwining with one another as they flew through the air.
Countless azure sword projections were conjured up, destroying all of the oncoming blue light.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li made a hand seal, and the four massive streaks of swordlight fused as one in the blink of an eye to form an enormous sword that was over 10,000 feet in length, and thick arcs of golden lightning appeared on its surface as it swept viciously toward the Glacial Blowfish.
The Glacial Blowfish shuddered upon seeing this, seemingly extremely fearful of the golden lightning, and it opened its mouth up wide before letting loose a sharp screech.
Ripples that were visible even to the naked eye appeared in the surrounding space, and everything encompassed within the ripples was abruptly rooted to the spot, as if some type of restriction had been placed upon them.
Han Li felt his entire body tighten up, and he was completely unable to move, while his golden lightning sword was also immobilized in mid-air.
The Glacial Blowfish let loose a low roar, and the bone spikes on its body abruptly lit up, while the black mist around it surged through the air, transforming into an enormous black python as it pounced directly toward Han Li.
A hint of surprise initially appeared on Han Li\'s face, but he then gave a cold harrumph, and a massive axial projection suddenly appeared around him before revolving on the spot, releasing a burst of terrifying power that easily destroyed the restrictive force in the surrounding space.
As a result, the golden lightning sword was instantly freed, and it came crashing down to clash against the giant black python.
Arcs of golden lightning wrapped themselves around the massive black python as a string of resounding booms rang out.
The huge python let loose an anguished wail, and its enormous body exploded into countless plumes of black smoke that spread through the air in all directions.
A fearful look appeared in the Glacial Blowfish\'s eyes upon seeing this, and bright bluish-black light erupted from its body as it turned to flee.
Right at this moment, a cold harrumph rang out within the Glacial Blowfish\'s ears, immediately following which it was struck by a burst of excruciating pain directly in its mind, as if a red-hot poker had been plunged into its soul. As a result, it let loose an involuntary cry of agony, and the pain was so severe that it was instantly stopped cold in its tracks.
In the next instant, a golden sword projection flashed past, entering through its mouth before emerging from its rear end. An enormous volume of blue blood instantly came gushing out of the two massive holes, forming a pair of blue blood fountains.
The light in the Glacial Blowfish\'s quickly faded, and the nascent soul in its body didn\'t even get a chance to try and escape before it was destroyed by the golden sword projection.
Han Li made a beckoning motion with one hand, and the golden lightning sword circled around before flying back, then reverted back into four flying swords in a flash before vanishing into his body.
Immediately thereafter, he swept his other hand through the air, releasing a burst of blue light to envelop the Glacial Blowfish\'s carcass.
A layer of blue ice instantly appeared over the surface of the giant carcass, instantly stopping the bleeding.
His mission was to recover this carcass, so he couldn\'t afford to lose too much blood.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li stowed the Glacial Blowfish carcass away, then flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light without pause.
……
Inside the secret chamber of a secluded residence in a certain city on the Ancient Cloud Continent.
A scholarly-robed middle-aged man with the appearance of a schoolteacher was seated with his legs crossed in front of a crimson pill furnace, making a hand seal with a look of concentration on his face. He was controlling the flame beneath the furnace, seemingly in the process of refining a batch of pills.
All of a sudden, the pill furnace shuddered, and a string of dull explosions rang out, following which a charred smell wafted out from within.
A dark look appeared on the man\'s face, and he heaved a long sigh.
Right at this moment, a burst of azure light suddenly lit up on his body.
He immediately pulled out an azure fox mask upon seeing this, then placed the mask onto his own face.
The mask released a burst of azure light, which formed a massive light screen in front of him.
Immediately thereafter, light flashed from the center of the screen, and a storage pouch appeared.
"Oh? I didn\'t think that this mission would be completed so quickly!" the man murmured to himself with a surprised expression, then made a grabbing motion to draw the storage pouch into his grasp while sweeping his other sleeve through the air, and a massive Glacial Blowfish carcass instantly appeared before him.
"What a clean killing blow! I don\'t think even I would\'ve been able to preserve such a complete carcass if I had gone after this beast on my own. Wyrm 15, eh? I\'ve never heard of this person before, but it appears they\'re quite a formidable character," the man mused to himself.
……
At the same time.
Inside the cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak, Han Li was also wearing his Transient Guild mask, and a storage pouch appeared before him following a flash of light from the light screen up ahead.
He drew the storage pouch into his grasp before emptying its contents, and a pile of top-grade spirit stones instantly spilled out onto the ground.
After counting the spirit stones, a pleased look appeared on his face, and he stowed the spirit stones away again with a sweep of his sleeve before searching for his next mission.
……
Somewhere on the Thunderstorm Sea.
Thick bolts of lightning were flashing incessantly through the dense, dark clouds up above, and occasionally, bolts of lightning would come crashing down onto the sea below.
There were several enormous balls of light near a black island situated somewhere on the Thunderstorm Sea, and they were releasing such a massive commotion that even the sound of the thunderclaps in the area was drowned out.
Different attacks would occasionally be seen hurtling through the air, churning up the sky and the sea down below.
Among the two sides locked in battle, one was a group of five True Immortal cultivators, all of whom were wearing Transient Guild masks, two of which were azure, while the other three were blue.
They were battling a colony of close to 100 lightning bats, each of which was several hundred feet in length with purple lightning revolving around their bodies, and every single one of them was giving off a Grand Ascension Stage aura, blasting thick pillars of lightning out of their mouths in retaliation.
Despite the fact that the five Transient Guild cultivators were severely outnumbered, their superior quality more than made up for their lack of quantity, and they held a clear upper hand over the lightning bats, striking down one bat after another in quick succession.
A black spear pierced into the body of a lightning bat amid a flash of black light, and arcs of silver lightning surged along the length of the spear, flowing into the lightning bat\'s body through the wound it had inflicted.
The lightning bat instantly exploded, and a glittering and translucent purple bead appeared.
An azure-robed man then shot forth like lightning before catching the purple bead in his grasp.
The man was wearing an azure cow mask with the characters for "Wyrm 15" engraved upon it, and after clinching the purple bead, he did pause even for a moment before plunging back into the fray.
Lightning continued to flash over the length of the black spear in his hand as he pierced it through the body of another lightning bat.
All of the nearby lightning bats began to screech in fury upon seeing this.
Thick bolts of purple lightning came hurtling toward the azure-robed man from all directions, making it impossible for him to take evasive measures.
The man\'s expression remained completely unchanged as she stowed away the lightning crystal that he had plucked out of the lightning bat\'s body, and a protective layer of silver lightning appeared around him to keep all of the oncoming attacks at bay.
The silver barrier was trembling incessantly in the face of the oncoming attacks, but it showed no signs of breaking at all.
All of a sudden, the azure-robed man pounced at another lightning bat, with the black spear in his hand releasing a series of spear projections.
He was like a tiger that had broken into a sheep\'s pen, slaying four or five more lightning bats in the span of just a few breaths.
The other four cultivators were all stunned by his display of power.
The individual attacks from these lightning bats weren\'t all that formidable, and it wasn\'t much trouble for them to withstand even four or five attacks at once, but anything beyond that would begin to pose a threat to them. After all, lightning in any significant quantity was not a force to be underestimated.
However, the azure-robed man had no qualms about his own safety at all as he swept through the lightning bats\' ranks with ease.
The other four cultivators hurriedly sprang into action as well, hunting down some of the straggling lightning bats.
Close to an hour later, the final lightning bat was slain by a black spear projection.
Its body exploded to reveal a purple bead, which was taken by the azure-robed man.
With that, the entire flock of lightning bats had been slain, and close to half of them had been killed by the azure-robed man.
The azure-robed man gently exhaled, then flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light without even sparing a glance at his companions.
The other four cultivators exchanged a few glances, then also went their separate ways in silence.
Meanwhile, the azure-robed man appeared somewhere above the Thunderstorm Sea amid a flash of silver lightning, and the mask on his face projected an azure light screen.
After casting an incantation seal onto the light screen, a projection of a blurry figure emerged.
"Here are 47 lightning bat crystals," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a small pile of purple lightning beads.
The blurry figure nodded in response. "According to the mission\'s stipulations, your reward will be 47 Immortal Origin Stones."
A hint of elation appeared on Han Li\'s face as he swept a sleeve through the air, and the small pile of lightning bat crystals vanished into the array at the center of the light screen in a flash.
Shortly thereafter, a small pile of Immortal Origin Stones within the array amid a flash of light.
Han Li quickly stowed the Immortal Origin Stones away, then turned to search for his next mission.
……
One day, three years later, on the Crimson Dawn Peak.
A streak of azure light shot forth from afar, landing on the mountain summit in a discrete fashion. The azure light faded to reveal none other than Han Li, and his face was looking slightly pale.
He entered his cave abode without alerting any of his servants, then sat down with hsi legs crossed in his secret chamber as he pulled out his Transient Guild mask to conjure up the azure light screen.
After that, he pulled out three black badges, each of which had the visage of a menacing black ghost engraved upon it.
He cast an incantation seal to teleport the three badges away using the array, and moments later, around three dozen Immortal Origin Stones were transmitted to him.
He inspected the Immortal Origin Stones briefly with his spiritual sense before stowing them away, but there was a peculiar look in his eyes.
His mission on this occasion had been to kill a group of evil cultivators residing on the border of the Ancient Cloud Continent. They were proficient in various types of arrays and secret techniques that made them quite difficult to deal with, which was why six Transient Guild members had been sent after them, and almost all of them had been high-level azure-masked members.
During the course of the mission, Han Li had made an observation by chance.
Among the Transient Guild members that had completed the mission, the majority of them had been cultivators from the Blaze Dragon Dao. In particular, the leader had unleashed a set of extremely formidable flying swords to slay the mid-True Immortal Stage leader of the evil cultivators with ease.
Han Li had been struck by a sense of familiarity upon seeing this. In particular, that Transient Guild member\'s flying sword manipulation techniques reminded him greatly of Deputy Dao Lord Xiong Shan.
Even though the man\'s aura had been concealed by his Transient Guild mask, Han Li was almost certain that he was Xiong Shan.
However, he only pondered this matter for a moment before ridding himself of that rain of thought.
It hardly mattered to him whether that person was Xiong Shan or not.