Chapter 162: A Gift

The surrounding crystalline wall began to tremble violently as it struggled to contain the powerful shockwave, and a burst of deafening rumbling rang out.

The six mountainous snow toads also shuddered violently, and black blood began to seep out of all of their eyes as their auras quickly fell into decline.

Before the explosion had even completely subsided, several draconic roars suddenly rang out in rapid succession from within the crystalline wall.

Immediately thereafter, a vast expanse of fiery radiance erupted out of the black and silver light as three fiery wyrms formed by crimson flames emerged. Each wyrm was over 1,000 feet in length, and scorching flames were pouring out of their mouths as they pounced toward the surrounding crystalline wall.

A resounding boom rang out as the crystalline wall shuddered violently, and it instantly began to melt away as plumes of black smoke rose up from its surface.

A loud sizzling sound rang out, and before long, the three crimson fiery wyrms had already melted a large hole into the crystalline wall. Upon flying out of the wall, the three wyrms intertwined to form a churning river of crimson fire that swept directly toward the pair of enemy cultivators.

At this point, the hideous man had already flown back onto the head of the golden-eyed snow toad, and the two men hurriedly made a series of hand seals with alarmed looks on their faces as they witnessed the destruction of their array.

In the next instant, the six snow toads opened their mouths in unison to blast forth a vast cloud of black glacial qi, which formed a wall of ice in mid-air to oppose the river of flames.

Meanwhile, Han Li also flew out of the crystalline wall, and he appeared in a rather sorry state with his robes in complete tatters. However, aside from some slight jostling to his internal organs, he remained largely unharmed.

He raised his head to look up at the scorching river of crimson flames up above, and a complex look flashed through his eyes.

The fiery river didn't just contain the power of fire laws. Instead, it was imbued with the power of blood laws, the aura of which was very similar to that of the deceased Gong Shuhong.

He turned to discover that Gang Jiuzhen's dress had also been torn in many places, revealing large sections of her fair and delicate skin. The red veil that was covering her face had also disappeared, and her gorgeous features were looking a little pale.

Despite this, her eyes were filled with cold killing intent, and the square jade pendant clutched in her hand continued to glow brightly whiles the runes inscribed upon it flashed incessantly, but its crimson color had significantly faded compared with before.

At this point, Han Li could basically confirm beyond a reasonable doubt that this woman was indeed Wyrm 3.

Back on Red Moon Island, Wrym 3 had declared that she had some matters to take care of following Gong Shuhong's demise, and it seemed that these matters had mostly involved collecting the treasures left behind by Gong Shuhong.

A string of loud crackling rang out incessantly as plumes of black mist rose up from the point where the river of fire was clashing against the wall of ice, resembling a dark cloud that obscured the night sky.

At this point, the two cultivators standing atop the toad's head were looking far less comfortable and composed than before.

Their cultivation bases were inferior to Gan Jiuzhen's, and now, the Six Toad Fire Melting Array that they had been relying heavily upon had been broken. The two of them exchanged a glance, and both of them were beginning to consider fleeing the battle.

The three snow toads on the other side had also arrived on the scene, but the glacial qi surging out of the mouths of the six toads was only just enough to keep the river of crimson flames at bay.

Gan Jiuzhen gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and she opened her mouth to expel a ball of blood essence, causing her complexion to pale even further.

She then pointed a finger at the ball of blood essence, and it transformed into a miniature dragon before instantly vanishing into the jade pendant in her hand.

Yet another draconic roar rang out, and the crimson light glowing from the jade pendant became even brighter as a fourth crimson fiery wyrm flew out from within before joining the river of fire, granting it a boost in power and momentum.

At the same time, the color of the jade pendant had faded even further.

With the inclusion of the fourth fiery wyrm, the river of flames was expanded even further, and a fearsome aura began to spread through the surrounding area.

The two cultivators standing atop the toad's head immediately felt their heart rates elevating drastically, while the blood in their veins also began to churn and surge in an uncontrolled manner.

The two of them were understandably alarmed by this turn of events, and they hurriedly diverted a part of their immortal spiritual power to quell the unrest in their bodies. As a result, there was less immortal spiritual power to support the six snow toads, and the glacial qi surging out of their mouths instantly became diminished.

The surging river of flames instantly overwhelmed the diminished glacial qi, inundating the snow toads and the two men in the blink of an eye.

Two agonized howls rang out from within the flames, and flashes of light began to appear from the treasures being frantically summoned by the two cultivators, but it didn't take long before those flashes of light and their anguished screams subsided.

Han Li withdrew his nine flying swords upon seeing this, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing wisps of immortal spiritual power out of his fingertips to collect all of the heavy water particles that had scattered throughout the area following the explosion of the Heavy Water Veined Lightning.

Moments later, all of the commotion within the sea of crimson flame finally subsided.

Gan Jiuzhen made a hand seal with one hand, then reached out with her other hand, and the vast expanse of crimson flames instantly reverted back into four crimson wyrms that rose up into the heavens before vanishing into the jade pendant in her hand.

All that remained in mid-air was a pair of severely ravaged bodies that were tumbling down toward the ground.

As for those snow toads, their bodies couldn't compare with the body of an immortal, and they had been incinerated to the point that there was nothing of them left.

Gan Jiuzhen flipped a hand over to produce several pills that she devoured, then made a beckoning motion, and two storage bracelets rose up into the air before falling into her grasp.

However, she didn't even look at them before tossing one of them to Han Li, who caught the storage bracelet without any hesitation.

"Fellow Daoist Liu, there's a question that's been on my mind this entire time. Have we met somewhere before this trip?" Gan Jiuzhen asked as she turned to Han Li with a hint of scrutiny in her eyes.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged as he replied in a calm voice, "If I had met someone as stunning as you before, I would be sure to remember you, but I don't recall any previous encounters between us."

Gan Jiuzhen's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, and it was clear that she didn't really believe what Han Li was saying.

However, she had no intention of pursuing this matter any further, and she said, "In any case, I owe you my thanks for today. I don't like to owe anyone any favors, so you can have this Azure Wind Lock Immortal Talisman as a gift."

She swept a sleeve through the air as she spoke, and a purple talisman flew out toward Han Li.

Han Li raised a hand to catch the talisman, and he took a glance at it to find that it was riddled with extremely profound silver runes, indicating that it was a high-grade talisman that had been written in beveled silver text.

The talisman contained an abundance of spiritual power, and it appeared to have been of an even higher caliber than the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman and the Armor Origin Talisman.

"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Gan." Han Li cupped his fist in a salute, then stowed the talisman away for further examination later.

"I'll ignore the fact that you followed me here this time, but don't blame me for turning on you if this happens again," Gan Jiuzhen declared, then promptly turned and departed.

A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face as he watched Gan Jiuzhen's departing figure, and he didn't linger here any longer, quickly flying back the same way he had come to return to the ark.

The battle had taken place very far away from the ark, so no one else had noticed anything, and the two Body Integration Stage elders of the Chengquan Trading House had been seated on the deck this entire time.

Han Li took a moment to conceal himself, then returned to his room on the ark in a stealthy fashion.

The night quickly passed by, and the flying ark continued on its journey at first light the next day.

It naturally didn't take long before the man with the Kou surname discovered Gan Jiuzhen's disappearance.

Aside from Han Li, no one on the ark knew what had happened that night, and Han Li naturally wasn't going to tell anyone about what had transpired.

The man with the Kou surname was a little perplexed and dismayed, but there was nothing he could do. After all, they hadn't arrived at their destination yet, and he hadn't issued the reward for the mission, so essentially, Gan Jiuzhen had protected the ark for a large stretch of their journey free of charge.

In contrast with the Lost Grave Forest, the Black Rock Desert was extremely desolate, with not even a single living creature to be seen.

The flying ark was traveling at top speed, and not even the concealment restrictions had been activated as all of the spiritual power was contributing toward further acceleration.

The ark was flying so quickly that it was nothing more than a white shadow in the air, and even though there were no signs of any demon beasts in the area, Han Li was still requested by the man with the Kou surname to stand on lookout duty with the two Body Integration Stage elders.

Close to half a day passed by very quickly, and the flying ark was venturing quite deep into the Black Rock Desert.

Han Li was standing on one side of the ark, surveying the ground down below, and just a moment ago, he had clearly felt the gravitational force in the area beginning to increase.

The flying ark was somewhat affected by this, and the white light glowing from its surface began to flicker slightly, while its speed was also negatively impacted.

After a moment of contemplation, Han Li released his enormous spiritual sense, sending it several thousand feet deep into the ground.

There's a vast abundance of Origin Magnetic Profound Iron here. No wonder it's able to generate such tremendous suction gravitational force.

Aside from that, he had also verified that there were no dark beasts lurking in the area, unless they were hiding even deeper underground.

Han Li continued to probe even deeper underground with his spiritual sense, and a surprised look quickly appeared in his eyes.

Due to the presence of the underground ore veins, there were all types of chaotic underground energies and gravitational forces intertwining deep beneath the earth, preventing his spiritual sense from being able to extend down any further.

Instead of forcing the issue, he made a compromise and began to spread his spiritual sense outward instead.

A short while later, Han Li abruptly raised his head and cast his gaze forward, seemingly having spotted something.

However, after a moment of contemplation, he decided not to raise the alarm, but blue light was flashing in his eyes as he took a closer look.

Moments later, one of the Body Integration Stage elders on the other side of the ark suddenly sprang to his feet, having detected the presence of some black lizards up ahead with his spiritual sense.

Having already made this trip many times, he was quite familiar with the Black Rock Desert, and he immediately identified these black lizards to be a type of dark beast known as Darkback Iron Lizards, which were quite commonly seen in the Black Rock Desert. Their bodies were as hard as iron and steel, but they weren't particularly powerful, and the ones up ahead were roughly around the Foundation Establishment Stage.

The only concern that he had was that these lizards were social creatures that often resided in packs that numbered in the hundreds of millions, and their sheer numbers alone could prove to be very difficult to deal with.

Furthermore, according to his knowledge, these creatures shouldn't have been active during the day.