Chapter 564: Meeting Between the Eight Spirits

While this discussion was taking place between the tribal leaders, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on the stone bed in the inner room of his cave abode. His eyes were tightly shut, and there was a layer of azure light swirling around him.

Neither Jin Tong nor Xiao Bai were currently with him, and it was unclear whether they had been stowed away.

He was still completely oblivious to the sinister plot that the Beast Race was hatching against him, and he was wholeheartedly focused on preparing for the battle that was to come.

Compared with his status as a wanted fugitive of the Heavenly Court, this situation was an even more difficult one to contend with, and it could be said that this was the biggest crisis that he had faced since coming to the True Immortal Realm.

By some strokes of luck, he had been able to kill a High Zenith Stage Immortal Envoy of the Heavenly Court, but in this case, he was facing a formidable foe that was far more powerful than even Gongshu Jiu.

Even though the chances of overcoming this ordeal were extremely slim, he naturally wasn't going to just give up.

Time slowly passed by, and after a while, Han Li opened his eyes, while the azure light swirling around him also faded.

He cast an expressionless gaze toward the outer room, then slowly closed his eyes once again.

At the same time, a figure was racing through the sky near the valley that Han Li was staying in, and they arrived on the scene as a streak of azure light before drawing to an abrupt halt in mid-air.

It was none other than the white-robed Nuo Qinglin, and he extended a hand forward as he instructed, "Come with me."

A slender hand reached out of thin air to remove the hood of a cloak, and Nuo Yifan suddenly appeared amid a flash of gray light.

"Father, Senior Li has shown us nothing but kindness, how can we..."

"This is not what I want to see, either, but the decision was arrived at by all of our tribes, and I cannot go against it," Nuo Qinglin interjected before she had a chance to finish.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"But it's the wrong decision! Father, you've always denounced humans as an honorless and treacherous race, but how are we any different from them with what we're doing right now?" Nuo Yifan protested with tightly furrowed brows.

"This is a decision made by our king, what else can I do?" Nuo Qinglin sighed.

A disappointed look appeared on Nuo Yifan's face upon hearing this, and she fell silent as she turned to look at the mountain face in the distance.

At this point, all of the Calm Dawn beings within a radius of several hundred kilometers had already been evacuated, and the entire area had been surrounded by an elite army of several thousand Beast Race warriors, led by dozens of grand elders from various tribes.

All of the chiefs of the eight holy tribes aside from Nuo Qinglin were also all hovering in the sky above the mountain face, staring intently at Han Li's cave abode.

Chief Yin Shen of the Menace Lion Tribe swept a hand through the air, and a small yellow flag appeared in his grasp before he waved it at the dozens of grand elders in the distance.

The grand elders raised the bone staves in their hands in unison upon seeing this, and they also began to chant a strange incantation.

As soon as their incantation rang out, the river that was flowing through the Dark Star Canyon instantly became extremely violent and turbulent, while bursts of azure and purple light emerged from the vines draped over the nearby mountain faces, forming a series of fox head totems.

As these fox heads emerged, the canyon suddenly began to turn dark, and before long, it was as if day had transitioned into night.

At the same time, specks of starlight rose up from all directions, forming a radiant river of starlight that descended straight down from the night sky, filling the entire canyon with a strange and profound power.

As the chanting from the grand elders continued, all of the thousands of elite Beast Race warriors began performing what appeared to be a ceremonial dance.

Before long, streaks of light had converged to form a massive restrictive array around the mountain face, completely surrounding the entire mountain face and the cave abode upon it.

"Please come out, Fellow Daoist Li. The tribes of our Beast Race have something to discuss with you," Yin Shen declared in a thunderous voice, and his voice was echoing incessantly within the canyon.

There was no response.

"Please come out to see us, Fellow Daoist Li," Yin Shen repeated.

He could clearly sense that Han Li's aura was still in the cave abode, so he wasn't worried that Han Li had snuck away.

Many of the Beast Race warriors present had witnessed Han Li's battle against the insect spirit, so even though they didn't want to admit it, deep down, they were quite fearful of Han Li.

Not only was that the case for them, even the likes of Ulu and Nuo Qinglin were extremely wary of him, but they had no choice but to do this for the survival of their race.

After calling out for a third time, all of the Beast Race warriors present finally began to develop a sense that something wasn't quite right.

"Is there something wrong?" Ulu asked with tightly furrowed brows, while the other chiefs were just as perplexed.

"He's just playing mind games with us. I'll force him to come out!" Deng Gui of the Night Owl Tribe harrumphed coldly, then swooped down toward the mountain face like a bird of prey.

However, before he was able to descend upon the cave abode, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from the mountain face, and the cave abode abruptly exploded violently, sending powerful shockwaves sweeping through the air in all directions.

Deng Gui's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly flew back in retreat, hovering in mid-air a safe distance away from the mountain face.

All of the other Beast Race warriors also began staring at the mountain face with apprehensive looks on their faces.

From the wreckage of the cave abode emerged an azure-robed man, who looked up at the Beast Race chiefs with a calm and composed expression.

Aside from a few of the chiefs present, none of them dared to meet his gaze. It was as if the proud Beast Race had lowered its head in the face of a human.

Among these few chiefs were Yin Shen, Nuo Qinglin, and the chief of the Divine Elephant Tribe.

At this moment, Nuo Qinglin was looking at Han Li with a complex combination of sympathy, apology, and resignation in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Han Li remained silent and composed, and he refrained from releasing his mid-Golden Immortal Stage aura. Even so, there was still a sense of immense pressure emanating from his body, and all of the Beast Race warriors were becoming more and more uneasy by the second.

The entire area had descended into a strange silence, but right at this moment, Yin Shen roared, "Attack!"

As soon as this order was issued, all of the grand elders immediately began waving their bone staves through the air while chanting an incantation, and blood began to flow out of the palms of their hand before trickling down onto their bone staves, staining them a bright red.

At the same time, a giant true spirit projection began to emerge above the array that surrounded the entire mountain face, and it was gradually taking on a more and more substantial appearance.

Bursts of tremendous pressure also came crashing down from the sky, striking all of the Beast Race warriors present with a sense of asphyxiation.

Before long, the first true spirit descended upon the mountain face. It was none other than the armor-clad six-tailed fox, Suliu.

Immediately after him came a giant rhinoceros the size of a mountain and a huge falcon with feathers that resembled dark metal.

Bursts of tremendous energy fluctuations surged through the air as all eight of the true spirits revered by the Beast Race emerged one after another, and all of them were glowering at the azure-robed man down below.

Even in the face of the eight true spirits, Han Li continued to stand in silence with his hands clasped behind his back.

Suliu stared at Han Li for a moment longer, following which his brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and he swooped down from above with tremendous force before swinging one of his tails at Han Li.

A resounding boom rang out as the entire mountain face collapsed, and Han Li was buried beneath the rubble.

Everyone else was quite dumbfounded to see this, unable to comprehend what they were witnessing.

"You idiots! He's already run away long ago!" Suliu exclaimed as he turned to all of the tribal leaders present with a furious expression.

As he lifted his tail, Han Li was nowhere to be seen. Instead, all that remained in his place was a dark yellow bean and an azure horse mask, both of which were glowing faintly amid the wreckage.

Shortly thereafter, the bean fell dark after exhausting the final hint of spiritual energy within it.

Nuo Qinglin arrived on the scene, and Yin Shen turned to him as he asked, "How did this happen? How was that human tipped off in advance?"

A hint of fury welled up in Nuo Qinglin's heart at Yin Shen's accusatory tone, and he asked in a furious voice, "How would I know? Are you suspecting me?"

"I heard that your daughter was quite close with that human..." Deng Gui mused in a suggestive manner.

"Shut your mouth!" Nuo Qinglin snapped. "Yifan has been sealed in her room ever since we decided on this plan!"

Suliu also turned to Deng Gui with a menacing expression as he asked, "What did you say about Yifan?"

Deng Gui immediately lowered his head upon hearing this, not daring to say anything further.

Suliu wasn't particularly powerful among all of the true spirits worshiped by the Beast Race, but he was the son of the king of the true spirits, Yohu, so it was certainly not a good idea for anyone in the Beast Race to get on his bad side.

Ulu and Marlon exchanged a glance with each other, and each of them could see their own schadenfreude mirrored in one another's eyes. Everyone knew that Suliu was extremely fond of Yifan, yet it seemed that Deng Gui had a death wish.

One of the main reasons why the Calm Dawn Tribe was one of the eight holy tribes was because the true spirit that they worshiped was Suliu, and the other important factor was how fond Suliu was of Nuo Yifan.

The black hawk was the true spirit revered by the Night Owl Tribe, and it also gave Deng Gui a cold, reprimanding glare. Sweat immediately began to bead up on Deng Gui's forehead as he fell into a fearful silence.