Before his eyes lay nothing but empty space — not a single ghost of a soul in sight. Yet that low, rumbling growl only grew louder, as though in that brief instant it had already drawn near.
The woman's fair features drained of color in an instant. Wild with terror, she glanced in every direction, but then something struck her. She spun around and fled through the air at a speed even greater than before.
Yet in that moment's delay, a point of silver light flickered into existence in the distance where no one had been moments ago, then vanished. When it flared once more, it was only a hundred-odd zhang away.
Within the light was a silhouetted figure with wings spread from his back — Han Li, in pursuit.
Watching the woman streak away inside her crimson light, Han Li felt a flicker of surprise at her escape speed.
The world was vast indeed, and all manner of wondrous techniques and methods were truly innumerable. Even a female cultivator at the Core Formation stage could possess such a terrifying escape technique.
Who knew how many secret arts and magical treasures existed that were even faster than his Wind Thunder Wings.
A thought of this brought a wistful sigh from Han Li, but the wings on his back had not paused for even a heartbeat.
With another beat of the silver wings, Han Li transformed into an arc of light. In a flash he appeared directly in front of the woman. Then, with unhurried calm, he raised one hand, fingers slightly splayed, and five beams of azure sword light shot from his fingertips.
The woman's face went white as a sheet. She screamed, "Senior, spare my life!"
Immediately, the crimson light around her body blazed with blinding brilliance and merged with the incoming azure beams into a thick, dual-colored shield of green and red that enveloped her tightly.
Han Li furrowed his brow slightly, regarding her in silence. The five sword Qi struck the shield in quick succession.
A series of muffled thuds rang out.
This wind-and-fire attribute barrier was genuinely powerful. It managed to withstand the first three strikes of sword Qi. But when the fourth beam crashed into it, the shield shattered to pieces under the woman's desperate gaze.
She had no time to deploy any other means before the last two sword Qi pierced her vitals and extinguished her life.
Han Li watched the woman's body plummet downward and shook his head lightly. A flick of his finger sent a fireball streaking out, reducing her corpse to ash.
Her storage pouch and that ribbon-shaped magical treasure were drawn into his hand with a casual gesture.
"If I didn't kill you, sooner or later it would be a Nascent Soul monster from the Demonic Dao hunting me down."
Han Li sighed. Lightning crackled around his body, and he set off once more toward the next target locked down by his spiritual sense.
This time, his quarry was the cultivator with the deepest cultivation among them all — the black-robed cultivator. His cultivation had reached the peak of mid-stage Core Formation and appeared on the verge of breaking through to late-stage Core Formation.
But midway through the chase, Han Li suddenly slapped his spirit beast pouch, releasing a massive swarm of tri-colored Gold Devouring Beetles. Under the guidance of his spiritual will, every insect condensed into a dozen or so tri-colored flying swords that streaked in separate directions toward the Foundation Establishment cultivators who were fleeing for their lives.
Those people had shallow cultivation and slow escape speeds. Han Li couldn't be bothered to hunt them down one by one. The flying swords formed from these spirit insects would be more than sufficient to kill them all simultaneously.
As for the handful of Core Formation cultivators, he would handle those personally.
Their escape speeds were not slow, and relying on the spirit insects alone would likely be insufficient. The Gold Devouring Beetles could manage well enough over short distances, but once the quarry had fled this far, they simply wouldn't have the speed to keep up.
……
The black-robed cultivator stood atop a short, dark blade that gleamed with an oily sheen, his face grim as he pushed forward in silence.
He had set out this time to find the murderer of his sixth martial brother. He never imagined he would run headlong into a Nascent Soul cultivator. It seemed that even if this unknown cultivator hadn't been the one to kill his sixth brother, he certainly had some connection to those Spirit Command Sect cultivators.
And judging by how the Spirit Command Sect cultivators had been even more terrified than themselves when they saw pursuit coming from behind, nine times out of ten this was an enemy those Spirit Command Sect people had provoked — and they had simply been caught in the crossfire.
If the pursuer's intentions hadn't been so obviously hostile, and he likely intended to silence all witnesses, he really wouldn't have fled in such a wretched state.
But regardless, now that a Nascent Soul cultivator was involved, the matter of his sixth brother's death was no longer something they could handle.
Once he returned, he absolutely had to report to his master and let the old man take action.
For someone to so brazenly hunt down Core Formation cultivators of the Demonic Dao — this person was either a Nascent Soul monster from some other faction, or a passing rogue cultivator. Otherwise, even against the Demonic Dao's enormous power, they would surely have shown at least some measure of caution.
Just as the black-robed cultivator was worrying to himself, a strange crackling of thunder suddenly came from the side — intermittent, rising and falling in pitch.