Chapter 556: Caught Off Guard

"Those are Blood Leeches!" Nuo Qinglin exclaimed.

A puzzled look appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this, and Nuo Yifan explained, "These leeches are capable of entering a host's body and fusing as one with their blood, making them almost impossible to expel. On top of that, they'll devour the host's blood to form blood tumors, then self-detonate to kill their host along with themselves.

Due to how tiny and fast they are, they pose an extremely potent threat, but these leeches are very difficult to nurture, so the Insect Race shouldn't have too many of them."

Han Li nodded in response, and he was just about to say something when his expression suddenly changed drastically, and he grabbed onto Nuo Yifan before flying away from the floating platform as a streak of azure light.

Nuo Qinglin and the others faltered slightly before also doing the same, darting away in all directions.

In the next instant, the ground beneath the black platform abruptly exploded, and a gargantuan mouth erupted out into the open. The mouth belonged to none other than that giant Sand Beast from before, and it swallowed the entire platform whole in one go.

Nuo Qinglin and the majority of the tribal leaders were able to escape just in the nick of time, but several of the True Immortal Stage chiefs were not so fortunate, and they were devoured alongside the platform.

A string of bloodcurdling howls rang out from within the giant Sand Beast's mouth before quickly subsiding.

The tribes that had suddenly lost their chiefs were instantly plunged into a state of disarray, but thankfully, these tribes only comprised a very limited portion of the entire Beast Race army.

Meanwhile, Han Li and Nuo Yifan reappeared in the sky close to 20 kilometers away.

Han Li's brows were slightly furrowed, while Nuo Yifan was looking a little pale, and she hurriedly expressed her gratitude to Han Li.

After steadying themselves, Nuo Qinglin and the others were infuriated by the attack, and they immediately prepared to join forces to retaliate against the giant Sand Beast.

However, the Sand Beast paid no heed to them at all. Instead, it erupted out of the ground before pouncing at Han Li's duo at an extraordinary speed.

Han Li immediately grabbed onto Nuo Yifan upon seeing this, and at the same time, a burst of golden lightning flashed over his body, following which the two of them sped away as an arc of golden lightning.

Han Li's lightning movement technique was extraordinarily fast, and even though he was dragging along someone with him, he was still significantly faster than the giant Sand Beast.

The Sand Beast let loose an enraged roar as a flurry of countless yellow runes surged out of its body.

Immediately thereafter, it shrank down to around half its original size, but as a result, its speed was drastically enhanced as it set off in pursuit of Han Li's duo.

"Yifan!"

An urgent look appeared in Nuo Qinglin's eyes as he turned to chase after his daughter, but Ulu raised an arm to stop him as he said, "I'm sure your daughter will be fine for now with that human cultivator protecting her, Chief Nuo. For now, we have to focus on the battle at hand."

Nuo Qinglin cast his gaze downward upon hearing this, and he was alarmed to discover that several massive centipedes that were no smaller than the gray-skinned giants had appeared in the Insect Race army.

Even though they were still quite a bit smaller than the giant Sand Beast, they were still extremely eye-catching on the battlefield.

These centipedes were a bright silver color, and their legs were extremely sharp. They were charging straight into the Beast Race army while releasing toxic yellow mist incessantly out of their mouths, and any Beast Race warrior that came into contact with this yellow mist instantly began to rapidly decompose.

Some of the weaker ones among them were even reduced to puddles of toxic blood that continued to corrode the ground beneath them.

With the giant centipedes leading the way, the Insect Race army had seized the momentum, and it was eagerly pressing its advantage.

The Beast Race warriors were defending with their lives, but they were still being steadily forced back.

Nuo Qinglin quickly sent a male Calm Dawn being with a scar on his face after Han Li, then joined all of the other tribal leaders in the sky above the Beast Race army.

The tide of the battle had completely turned, and the Beast Race army was plunged into a state of panic and chaos, particularly in the wake of the black platform's destruction. However, upon spotting Nuo Qinglin and the others, all of the Beast Race warriors were instantly instilled with a sense of relief and reassurance, and morale was significantly elevated.

At the same time, three Beast Race Golden Immortals, led by a young woman whose face was concealed behind a veil, flew forward before summoning a small bone drum, a bone flute, and a white bone flag, which began to circle around in the air in front of them.

The three of them began to chant an incantation, and a layer of cold white light emerged over the three treasures.

In the next instant, the ground beneath their feet began to rumble and sway, then abruptly split as a series of thick beast bones emerged from beneath the earth.

These beast bones were several thousand feet tall and there were thousands of them, arranged in a uniform line to form an impregnable barrier in the path of the Insect Race army.

There were countless bestial runes engraved onto the beast bones, and in contrast with normal array runes, these ones appeared rougher around the edges, but were giving off extremely formidable spiritual power fluctuations nonetheless.

All of a sudden, the veiled woman switched to a different hand seal, and a black badge flew out of the top of her head amid a flash of black light.

The badge was rather bumpy and crude, and it seemed to have been carved out of the skull of a demon beast.

A design of a beastly head was engraved onto the surface of the badge, and the veiled woman expelled a mouthful of blood essence, which vanished into the badge in a flash.

A layer of black light instantly emerged over its surface, and a peculiar aura began emanating out of the badge, immediately following which countless streaks of black light shot out from within it before vanishing into the giant beastly bones.

The spirit patterns on the bones instantly began to glow brightly, and the bones themselves began to tremble as if they had sprung to life.

A series of spherical bulges abruptly emerged over all of the beast bones, following which countless sharp bone spears flew out within before raining down upon the Insect Race army like a volley of arrows.

All of this had taken place in the blink of an eye, and the Insect Race warriors at the forefront of the army were instantly punched full of holes.

The giant centipedes were the veiled woman's main target, and countless bone spears were sent raining down upon them.

However, their exoskeletons were extremely sturdy, and the sharp bone spears only able to raise trails of sparks and leave some white marks on their bodies.

Even though these bone spears weren't able to harm the giant centipedes, they clearly didn't enjoy the barrage, and they were screeching incessantly as they scurried back in retreat.

Right at this moment, four streaks of light flew out of the Insect Race army at an alarming speed.

All four streaks of light were giving off Golden Immortal Stage auras, and the veiled woman's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, following which she immediately cast an incantation seal into the white bone drum overhead.

The surface of the small drum flashed momentarily as a burst of deafening drumming rang out, and streaks of viscous white light shot out of the drum before also vanishing into the beast bones down below.

A string of loud cracks rang out as all of the beast bones shattered in unison, forming a vast expanse of liquid-like spiritual light, which then rapidly fused together to form an enormous white light barrier in front of the Beast Race army.

All types of bestial designs surfaced on the white light barrier, and bursts of white light were flowing over the light barrier like water. The light barrier didn't appear to be very sturdy at all, but it gave off an indestructible appearance.

The four Insect Race Golden Immortals arrived in front of the light barrier, following which the spiritual light around them faded to reveal a yellow-robed elderly man, a bald man with an intimidating physique, and two near-identical golden-robed women who appeared to be twins.

The four of them were all looking a little startled, clearly not expecting the white restriction to take shape so quickly.

However, the yellow-robed elderly man then immediately sprang into action, sweeping a sleeve through the air to release three streaks of golden light that crashed down heavily upon the white light barrier.

A series of ripples spread over the light barrier around the points where it was struck by the streaks of golden light, but the ripples quickly subsided.

Meanwhile, the golden light rapidly faded to reveal three strange insects with blade-like bodies.

These insects were a radiant golden color, and they were giving off an incredibly sharp aura, resembling three almighty golden swords.

The yellow-robed elderly man's expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he cast his gaze toward the three bone treasures up above as he remarked with a cold sneer, "I've heard that the Heavenly Devil Spirit Drum, the Threefold Origin Bone Flute, and the All-encompassing White Bone Flag of the Calm Dawn Tribe were three treasures refined using three sets of High Zenith Stage true spirit remains. I'm curious to see if they can live up to their resounding reputation!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air once again, and several dozen golden insects shot forth before quickly converging toward a single point.

The other three golden insects also flew over to join them, and in the blink of an eye, they had combined together to form a shimmering golden flying sword.

The yellow-robed elderly man then expelled a mouthful of blood essence into the golden flying sword, and it instantly began to tremble, while the golden light radiating from it grew even brighter.

All of a sudden, it swelled to over 1,000 feet in size, giving off a peerlessly sharp aura as it came crashing down upon the white light barrier with devastating force.

An earth-shattering boom rang out as a long gash was sliced into the white light barrier, but the gash wasn't very deep.

The three Beast Race Golden Immortals remained completely unfazed as they continued to chant incantations while making hand seals.

The white drum instantly swelled slightly in size while emitting a pounding sound, and the bone flute also began to blow, while the bone flag flapped through the air while releasing bursts of white light.

Immediately thereafter, the bodies of the deceased warriors of both races on the battlefield suddenly began to tremble violently.

The flesh on those bodies quickly peeled away to reveal sets of bloodstained skeletons, and these skeletons flew through the air before rushing into the white light barrier, mending the long gash on its surface in the blink of an eye.

The four Insect Race Golden Immortals were all quite surprised to see this, but a cold look then resurfaced in the yellow-robed elderly man's eyes as he swung his golden sword down once again.

At the same time, the other three Insect Race Golden Immortal Stages also lashed out.

The bald man swept a hand through the air, and a ball of radiant white light appeared in front of him.

Through the white light, one could see a white object that resembled a ball of putty that was constantly squirming and changing shape, presenting a rather harrowing sight to behold.