Chapter 781: Intercepted

After taking a pill, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the green storage bracelet, and several minutes later, an elated look suddenly appeared on his face as he raised a hand to make a grabbing motion, upon which a piece of gray bone appeared in his grasp.

It was an object similar to a jade slip, and it contained a map of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range.

Right at this moment, a streak of dark purple light flew back from afar, then reverted back into Shi Chuankong.

"I've taken care of all of them, and I was able to perform a soul search technique on one of them. They were all subordinates of the Golden Rhinoceros King, one of the Ten Hazards, and the man you just killed is called Tie Yu, one of the Golden Rhinoceros King's most prized subordinates," Shi Chuankong informed.

"I see. Take a look at this, it's a map of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range that I found in Tie Yu's storage bracelet," Han Li replied as he handed the gray bone to Shi Chankong.

An elated look appeared on Shi Chuankong's face upon hearing this.

"That's great! We'll finally be able to know where we're going now."

However, his elation was then replaced with a grim expression as he continued, "I've heard that the Golden Rhinoceros King is an extremely violent and vindictive man. Now that we've killed his subordinates, he'll most likely be sending more people after us soon, so let's get out of here."

Han Li raised no objections to this, and the two of them flew away into the distance, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.

......

At the Golden Rhinoceros King's cave abode.

Inside a resplendent golden hall, the Golden Rhinoceros King suddenly kicked aside the seductive maidservant who was massaging his leg, then stood up with such force that his flabby rolls trembled as he hurled the golden chalice in his hand viciously onto the ground.

The chalice was instantly smashed on the ground, spilling out all the red wine inside.

The maidservants around him immediately kowtowed to the ground while trembling in fear, not even daring to raise their heads for fear of meeting the same fate as the chalice.

"That useless fool! Someone go check if Tie Yu's head is still intact. If it is, then bring it back to me, and I'll place it at the foot of the stairs so I can step on it every day!" the Golden Rhinoceros King roared in his comical, high-pitched voice, but no one dared to display any amusement.

Around a dozen of his subordinates outside the palace immediately gave an affirmative response before hurriedly departing, but the Golden Rhinoceros King was still feeling furious as he whirled around to grab onto a golden chalice before hurling that one onto the ground as well.

A brawny man clad in a suit of golden chainmail armor stepped forward from the side of the hall, then extended a respectful bow as he said, "Don't be angry, my king. I'm willing to succeed where Tie Yu has failed and claim Shi Chuankong's head for you."

The man had a similar build to the Golden Rhinoceros King, but as opposed to flabby rolls, his body was one that consisted solely of bands of thick muscle. His facial features were also quite similar to those of a human, with the exception of his sharp fangs and his nose, the latter of which resembled a ball of black coal.

The Golden Rhinoceros King's expression eased slightly at the sight of the man, and a contemplative look appeared in his eyes as he turned his gaze to another man, this one dressed in a white robe.

It was a tall man with a sword strapped to his back, he had a snake-like head with only a pair of small holes in the place of a nose. There was a cold look in his eyes, and he resembled an icy statue.

"If he's managed to kill even Tie Yu, then this Shi Chuankong must have some tricks up his sleeve. I suppose that makes sense, given the compensation that Shi Zhanfeng was willing to offer me in exchange for his head. Tong Yu, Yin Yu, go after them together, and try to capture him alive," the Golden Rhinoceros King said.

The brawny Tong Yu took a glance at the white-robed man, then said, "There's no need for that, my king, I can get the job done on my own."

"Do I need you to tell me what to do?" the Golden Rhinoceros King asked in a cold voice as his eyes narrowed slightly.

A hint of fear flashed through Tong Yu's eyes as he hurriedly replied, "I wouldn't dare, my king."

"Why are we capturing him alive, my king?" Yin Yu asked.

"Only by keeping him alive can I use him as leverage in negotiations with Shi Zhanfeng. I'm going to require additional compensation now that even Tie Yu has fallen," the Golden Rhinoceros King explained as he grabbed onto one of his maidservants and began fondling her.

"Alright, I'll make sure to capture him alive," Yin Yu replied with a nod.

"You can go now," the Golden Rhinoceros King instructed, and the two promptly departed.

......

Several days later.

An inconspicuous ball of silver light was glowing within a dense forest in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range that was enshrouded in purple mist, and there were faint spatial fluctuations emanating from the silver light.

Inside the ball of silver light, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were standing across from each other, while laying in between them was a charred octopus-like carcass that was several hundred feet long. The creature had hundreds of tentacles, but most of them had already been severed at this point.

"I can't believe it took us this long to take down a mere True Immortal Stage Hundred Tentacle Beast!" Shi Chuankong mused as he aimed a kick at the charred carcass.

"It possessed some abilities that made it very difficult to track down. If it wasn't for your spatial spirit domain, it'd most likely still be eluding us right now," Han Li said.

"Alright, now that we've harvested its demon core, we should continue on our way. The Golden Rhinoceros King isn't just going to let us go free," Shi Chuankong said.

"Let's travel on my flying carriage from here onward. We can fly at a higher altitude to avoid being harrassed by these demon beasts," Han Li replied with a nod, and he summoned a green jade flying carriage as he spoke.

Shi Chuankong nodded in response as he withdrew his spirit domain, then hopped onto the flying carriage, which sped away as a streak of green light.

However, the carriage had only traveled several dozen kilometers before drawing to an abrupt halt.

Two figures were standing in mid-air up ahead, namely a brawny man in a suit of golden armor and a tall white-robed man.

"I don't think they're here for a friendly chat," Shi Chuankong mused with furrowed brows. "They didn't even bring any small fry with them this time."

Han Li examined the two men momentarily to find that the golden-armored man was at the late-High Zenith Stage, while the white-robed man was at the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage, and both of their auras were far more powerful than Tie Yu's.

"Which one of you killed Tie Yu?" Tong Yu asked.

"Are you here to avenge him?" Han Li scoffed.

"I just want to know who killed that idiot," Tong Yu replied with an amused expression.

"That won't be difficult at all for you to find out. Once you're dead, you can go and ask him yourself in the afterlife," Shi Chuankong said with a faint smile.

Tong Yu took a glance at Shi Chuankong, then turned his gaze to Han Li as he said to Yin Yu, "We have to keep that one alive. I'm not very good when it comes to finesse, so I'll leave him to you, but I'll gladly take care of this one."

Yin Yu slowly drew his sword, neither nodding in agreement nor shaking his head to refuse this arrangement.

Tong Yu seemed to have already grown accustomed to this, and he stomped a foot down onto the space below, upon which he abruptly vanished from the spot amid a resounding boom.

Han Li's pupils contracted slightly at the sight of Tong Yu's astonishing speed, and he instantly stowed his green jade flying carriage away before launching himself forward.

A streak of azure light crashed into a streak of black light three hundred feet away amid an earth-shattering boom, and Han Li felt as if he had crashed into a mountain, one that was only continuing to gather momentum over time in waves.

Initially, he was able to remain firm in opposition, but as the waves of force compounded upon one another, he began to struggle more and more, and finally, with the seventh wave of compounding force, he was finally sent flying back through the air.

Shi Chuankong was just about to enter the fray when a streak of white swordlight suddenly appeared before descending toward his head.

He immediately dodged to the side, but as the streak of swordlight descended, it began to suck in the surrounding world's origin qi, expanding further and further in size like a snowball rolling down a snowy mountain, causing the nearby space to warp around it.

Shi Chuankong could feel a burst of tremendous suction force surging out of the streak of swordlight, and he hurriedly made a hand seal to conjure up a spatial barrier to keep the suction force at bay, following which he sprang back in retreat.

The spatial barrier was instantly torn to shreds by the streak of swordlight, but at this point, Shi Chuankong had already retreated to a safe distance away, and after steadying himself, he flipped a hand over to summon a silver spear.

Meanwhile, Yin Yu was glowering at him like a hunter observing his prey.

At the same time, Tong Yu and Han Li were clashing against each other over and over again, and just like their first clash, the longer they remained in opposition against one another, the more momentum Tong Yu was able to build up.

Han Li could sense law power fluctuations emanating from Tong Yu's body, but he couldn't fathom what type of law powers these were.

However, he had found a solution to the problem, which was to only engage in brief clashes against Tong Yu before disengaging himself to search for another opportunity to strike.

However, despite Tong Yu's rough appearance, he was a very shrewd combatant, and that, coupled with his incredible speed, meant that Han Li was unable to find any holes in his defense.