Chapter 681: Creatures of the Gray Realm

"This is the first time I've fought humans, and I was rather curious, so I decided to observe for a while. Your companion over there isn't really remarkable in any way, but you're rather interesting. I can sense an aura of our kind within you," the white-robed man said.

Han Li offered no response as he continued to stare intently at the white-robed man.

He noticed that there was a layer of faint gray light over his body, and the aura that was emanating from it was very similar to Mo Yu's.

"You're not going to say anything? I've heard that your Immortal Realm has always seen our Gray Realm as a primordial land filled with barbaric and unintelligent beasts, but from what I've seen, it seems like your kind is nothing special," the white-robed man sneered in a derisive fashion.

After that, he sat down onto the shoulder of the scaled beast, and a layer of gray light appeared over his hand as he pressed his palm onto the golden lock around the creature's neck. The golden light radiating from the lock immediately dimmed slightly, as if it were being suppressed.

A layer of faint gray light then appeared over the scaled beast's body, and it was able to move again.

How is he suppressing the time law powers in the lock?

Han Li thought to himself with a bewildered expression.

Before he had a chance to ponder this matter any further, the dozen or so ape-like creatures around him came pouncing at him once again.

Han Li flipped a hand over to produce the gourd that contained his Dao Warriors, then tossed it up into the air before casting an incantation seal onto it.

Numerous dark yellow beans instantly shot out of the mouth of the gourd amid a flash of yellow light, and they transformed into hundreds of Dao Warriors before rushing at the ape-like creatures.

"Oh? This is what your kind refers to as Dao Warriors, right? How interesting," the white robed young man remarked with an intrigued expression.

"There's no need to protect me anymore, go and help Fellow Daoist Hot Flame," Han Li said to the Essence Fire Raven.

As soon as his voice trailed off, the suit of fiery silver armor on his body instantly receded before reverting back into a silver fire raven that was perched on his shoulder. After that, it spread its wings and let loose a clear cry as it flew toward Immortal Lord Hot Flame.

At this moment, Immortal Lord Hot Flame had his hands full dealing with the scaled beasts and the ape-like creatures, and if it weren't for the slowing effect of his golden mirror, he would've most likely already been defeated.

Only after receiving reinforcements in the form of the Essence Fire Raven and a large number of Dao Warriors was he finally able to catch his breath and take a glance in Han Li's direction.

At this moment, Han Li and the white-robed young man were still observing each other from afar, and neither of them was in a hurry to attack.

"I hear that you Gray Immortals have cultivation arts that allow one to integrate baleful qi into their body, do you have any cultivation arts to expel baleful qi?" Han Li suddenly asked.

The white-robed young man was initially rather taken aback by this question, but a thought then occurred to him, and he erupted into laughter.

"Now wonder there's so much baleful qi in your body, you must've somehow gotten your hands on one of our cultivation arts, right?"

Looks like it'll be faster to just search his soul...

With that in mind, Han Li sprang up into the air, then channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, and he instantly vanished from the spot.

The white-robed young man faltered slightly upon seeing this, and only then did he realize that Han Li had intentionally concealed his own power and was now moving far faster than before.

A burst of bright gray light appeared in his eyes as he clenched his fists tightly and let loose a loud roar.

A layer of dense baleful qi erupted out of his back like a giant black shield right as Han Li appeared behind him, and Han Li's sword struck the baleful qi shield with a resounding clang before being repelled upward.

With a wave of his hand, the golden lock around the scaled beast's neck lit up, then shrank down rapidly before locking itself around the Gray Immortal's ankle, upon which a golden rune appeared on his chest.

The Gray Immortal's body instantly stiffened, while the black baleful shield behind him also fell completely still.

Despite this, Han Li didn't immediately rush in for the kill. Instead, he flipped a hand over to summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd, and he aimed the mouth of the gourd directly at the Gray Immortal, upon which the spirit patterns on the surface of the gourd lit up in unison.

Immediately thereafter, he thrust the palm of his hand firmly into the underside of the gourd, and a green vortex appeared at its mouth, following which a burst of tremendous power erupted forth from within.

The Gray Immortal's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he no longer pretended to be immobilized as he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized black badge, then tossed it upward, and the badge instantly rose up into the air before swelling to the size of a shield.

A head of a beast that Han Li had never seen before was engraved onto the badge, and its eyes suddenly began to glow with dark red light as if it had sprung to life.

At the same time, it opened its mouth to reveal a crimson vortex, which was giving off bursts of peculiar energy fluctuations.

A low roar rang out from within the crimson vortex, following which it released a burst of radiant crimson light, which struck the oncoming Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, and a loud clang rang out as the azure light around the sword faded.

The flying sword was stopped cold in its tracks, while the burst of crimson light was also shattered and swept back into the badge.

At this point, the Gray Immortal had finally realized that his human was not going to be a pushover as he expected, and a serious look had appeared on his face to replace his previous mocking sneer.

With a flick of his wrist, a burst of gray light appeared over his hand, and it was as if he had put on an extremely thin gray glove.

He grabbed onto the golden lock around his ankle, and the golden light around the lock flickered erratically before fading altogether, following which it was forced open with a faint crack.

After summoning his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword back to himself, Han Li took a deep breath as a surprised look appeared on his face.

He had no idea how this Gray Immortal was able to suppress the law powers contained within a ninth grade immortal treasure.

He took a glance at Immortal Lord Hot Flame to find that with the assistance of the Essence Fire Raven and the Dao Warriors, he had already managed to slay several of the ape-like creatures, but he was still locked in a fierce battle against the remaining ape-like creatures and the scaled beasts.

Han Li didn't know if the Gray Immortal had any allies nearby, or any reinforcements on the way, so he had to end this battle quickly.

With that in mind, he immediately released his golden spirit domain, but only to the point that it encompassed himself and the Gray Immortal, as well as the scaled beast beneath the latter.

Immediately thereafter, Han Li channeled his Mantra Domain ability and declared, "Positional shift..."

Before the white-robed young man had a chance to do anything, he and Han Li somehow switched positions, and he was hovering in mid-air in the spot where Han Li had just been standing a moment ago, while Han Li was standing on the shoulder of the scaled beast.

From there, Han Li sliced off the scaled beast's head with a swing of his sword, sending large volumes of green blood splattering in all directions.

Some of the blood sprayed onto the white-robed young man's face, and he wiped it from his cheek with his hand to find that it was warm and sticky, seemingly not an illusion.

A hint of panic finally flashed through his eyes at the sight of Han Li, and right at this moment, Han Li spoke once again.

"Decapitate..."

A faint thud rang out, and the white-robed young man felt a cold sensation on his neck, following which the world began to spin around him.

His head had already been separated from his body, and as it tumbled toward the ground, it let loose a scream of horror and indignation.

A streak of silver light instantly shot out of his eyes, then transformed into a tiny silver figure that was around three inches tall. The silver figure had a set of indistinct facial features, and immediately attempted to flee the scene.

However, it had only just flown out of the Gray Immortal's body when it discovered that its physical body was still standing on the scaled beast's shoulder, and it hadn't been decapitated at all.

Only then did it realize that it had fallen prey to an illusion.

A look of alarm and fury appeared on the tiny silver figure's face as it attempted to fly back into its body, but right at this moment, a golden vortex appeared behind the silver figure without any warning, and it was instantly rooted to the spot.

However, instead of allowing the vortex to devour the silver figure, Han Li flew onto the scene and grabbed onto the silver figure, following which a translucent thread shot out of his glabella as he prepared to forcibly search the silver figure's soul.

The silver struggled violently for a short while, but after realizing that its struggles were futile, a burst of gray light suddenly appeared on its abdomen.

Han Li's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly tried to place a restriction upon the silver figure, but it was already too late, and it exploded with a dull thump.

A resigned look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and began to fly back down toward the scaled beast.

To his surprise, the scaled beast had sensed the demise of its master, and it immediately opened its mouth to try and devour the Gray Immortal's body whole.

Han Li gave a cold harrumph as three balls of golden lightning emerged from the tip of his sword, and he swooped down from above before slashing his sword at the scaled beast.

A resounding boom rang out as the scaled beast's body was sliced into two alongside the ground beneath it, and green flames erupted in all directions, while its green blood gushed onto the ground.

With a flick of his wrist, Han Li drew the Gray Immortal's body to himself, and after conducting a search, he was unable to find the black badge that the Gray Immortal had used before. However, he did find a white bone bracelet on his wrist.

Is this a storage tool?

Han Li attempted to refine the bracelet, but it displayed no reaction, so he slipped it onto his own wrist for now.

After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to open the Flower Branch domain, then tossed the body of the Gray Immortal onto the first floor of the pavilion where Mo Guang was staying.

Immediately thereafter, he closed the domain and withdrew his spirit domain before rushing over to Immortal Lord Hot Flame's side.

It didn't take very long at all for the two of them to eradicate all of the remaining enemies, and Immortal Lord Hot Flame's brows were tightly furrowed as he stared at all of the bodies strewn over the ground.

"Are these beings all from the Gray Realm?"