Chapter 942: Escape

Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this, and the profound acupoints on his legs flashed momentarily as he darted several feet to the side, evading the oncoming attack.

At the same time, he slashed his scimitar through the air, and a streak of white light flashed past as the giant ape puppet's head flew up into the air, while its body came tumbling down from above.

It appeared that Han Li had slain the giant ape puppet with ease, but it had come at a cost, and he was struck by several arrows and a large rock in the process.

The True Extreme Film around Han Li's body flickered erratically as all of the oncoming projectiles shattered upon impact, and the arrows weren't all that difficult to deal with, but the rock was imbued with tremendous power that surged into Han Li's body through his True Extreme Film, striking him with a great deal of discomfort.

However, he couldn't afford to be delayed here, so he took a deep breath before launching himself forward again.

Looking at the endless sea of puppets down below, Han Li couldn't help but be overcome by a sense of despair.

Even with his exceptional physical prowess, he was at a point where he was having to scrape the bottom of the barrel. If he couldn't escape from this place soon, then this would become his final resting place.

"Leave me behind and go on your own. You should be able to make it out of here without me weighing you down," Shi Chuankong suddenly said.

Han Li offered no response as he continued to fly forward while parrying away all of the oncoming arrows.

The latest volley of arrows had only just passed when more puppets sprang up from the ground to pounce at the two of them, and Han Li displayed on fear at all as he charged straight into the wall of puppets up ahead.

The starlight radiating from his body wasn't as bright as before, but he was still extremely fast and agile, weaving his way through the puppets like a fish in water while occasionally cutting down some of the puppets that he was unable to avoid.

At this point, he had already become very well-versed in dealing with these puppets' attacks.

He darted to the side to evade an attack from a tiger-headed puppet, then decapitated it with a swift slash of his scimitar.

However, right at this moment, two giant ape puppets suddenly burst onto the scene roughly ten feet in front of him, and they swung their maces at him with all their might, one from the left, and one from the right.

At the same time, two more giant ape puppets appeared behind him before also swinging their maces at him from behind.

The four puppets were working together in perfect tandem, and their four maces were all coming at Han Li from different directions, cutting off all avenues for retreat or evasion.

A cold look appeared on Han Li's face as he lashed out with his white scimitar, unleashing countless blade projections to oppose the four oncoming maces.

A string of loud booms rang out as the four maces were knocked back along with their puppet wielders.

However, Han Li's body also shuddered violently from the impact, and his face was completely drained of color. The starlight around his body was flickering erratically, and it was taking quite an effort just to remain aloft in the air.

However, right at this moment, the crimson key in the front of his robe suddenly released a burst of crimson light that surged into his body, transforming into a burst of warmth that quickly passed through all of his meridians.

This surge of warmth seemed to be a cross between bloodline power and starpower, and it was extremely immense.

The exhaustion that Han Li had accumulated up to this point instantly faded away, and in the blink of an eye, he was restored to peak condition.

This was naturally a massively pleasant surprise, and Han Li was ecstatic as he unleashed a flurry of blade projections that were far brighter and larger than before to cut down all of the puppets within a radius of over a hundred feet.

All of the oncoming puppets were instantly eradicated, including the four giant ape puppets.

Shi Chuankong was astonished to see this, and he asked, "How..."

"Now's not the time to talk," Han Li interjected. "Let's get out of here first."

Having been restored to peak condition, Han Li's speed was drastically enhanced, and before long, the two of them had been flying for several more hours.

A fiery red desert appeared up ahead, marking the conclusion of this set of gargantuan ruins.

"We've finally reached the end!" Han Li exclaimed in an ecstatic manner.

Right at this moment, all of the puppets down below let loose furious roars as they began attacking with all their might.

The snake-headed puppets were firing off arrows without pause, while the other puppets sprang up into the air to attack Han Li and Shi Chuankong, completely unconcerned about being harmed by the arrows.

In response, the starlight radiating from Han Li's body brightened significantly, and he sped through the puppet army as a white shadow, slicing through their ranks with ease.

It didn't take long before Han Li flew out of the army of puppets before entering the red desert, and for some reason, the puppets didn't seem to dare to step into the desert.

They stopped in their tracks on the edge of the desert, roaring in fury and indignation at Han Li and Shi Chuankong until they vanished into the distance.

After entering the red desert, Han Li flew onward for a while longer, and only after verifying that the puppet army had indeed refrained from coming after them did he heave a sigh of relief before descending onto the ground.

The ground below was radiating scorching heat, causing the nearby air to ripple slightly, but this amount of heat had no effect on Han Li and Shi Chuankong.

"This place is quite hot, but it shouldn't be enough to pose much of a hazard to those puppets. I wonder why they suddenly stopped," Shi Chuankong mused with a puzzled expression.

"I think they're not incapable of coming after us, but they don't dare to for some reason," Han Li said.

"That sounds about right," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.

"By the way, why did you warn me not to fly into the yellow clouds earlier?" Han Li asked.

Even above the red desert, there was still a dense layer of yellow clouds up above, and flashes of white light could be seen within it.

"There's a very powerful restriction in those clouds, and it'll attack anyone that ventures into them," Shi Chuankong explained as he pulled a dagger.

The dagger had countless flashing star runes engraved upon it, and it was a pseudo-star artifact that was not inferior to Han Li's scimitar.

With a flick of his wrist, the dagger was sent flying up into the air as a streak of white light, and it quickly vanished into the yellow clouds.

The clouds above immediately began to churn violently, following all of the white light within them converged before transforming into thick bolts of white lightning that struck the dagger from all directions, instantly reducing it to nothingness.

The white lightning then quickly dissipated and reverted back into the same white light as before, while Han Li looked on with an astonished expression.

Earlier, he had been rather curious about the yellow clouds and had considered venturing into them, but ultimately decided against it.

Thankfully, he had made the right decision. Otherwise, those bolts of white lightning would've been enough to at least severely wound him, if not kill him on the spot.

"How do you know about this, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked.

"It was mentioned in the information that Pokong gave me," Shi Chuankong replied as a sullen look appeared in his eyes.

"It seems like His Highness is very familiar with what things are like in the Great Ruins. Has he been here before as well?" Han Li asked.

Shi Chuankong faltered slightly upon hearing this, then shook his head as he replied, "I'm not sure."

A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face, and he didn't ask any further questions.

"This place seems to be relatively safe, so let's take a rest here before continuing onward," Shi Chuankong suggested, and he was still looking very pale and weary.

Han Li nodded in response.

After such an extended period on the run, he was also feeling quite tired.

The two of them scoured the surrounding environment to ensure that there weren't any hazards lurking nearby, then took some pills before sitting down to rest.

Three days flew by in a flash.

"How are your injuries, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked.

"I'm mostly recovered now. At the very least, I can move around just fine, and I'll be fully recovered soon," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.

"Good. If we encounter any enemies from here onward, just leave them to me and focus on your own recovery," Han Li said.

The two of them then took a moment to discuss how they were going to proceed. They didn't know what was waiting for them deeper in this red desert, but they clearly couldn't return to those ruins, so ultimately, they decided to venture further into the red desert.

The desert was astonishingly massive, and even after traveling for over two months, they still hadn't reached the end.

They encountered no dangers or treasures along the way, and there was nothing to be seen aside from boundless seas of red sand.

"I didn't think there would be such an enormous place in the Great Ruins," Han Li remarked as he sped onward.

"Could it be that we're currently heading toward the edge of the Great Ruins?" Shi Chuankong asked with tightly furrowed brows as he rushed along behind Han Li.

The abundance of starpower in the Great Ruins had a very positive effect on injury recovery, and over the past two months, he had already made a full recovery.

"I don't think so. I can sense that the starpower here is more abundant than before, so we should be going deeper into the Great Ruins. Besides, even if we change directions now, there's no guarantee we'll be on the right track, so let's just keep going. Surely we'll get out of here eventually," Han Li said, and Shi Chuankong nodded in agreement.

All of a sudden, Han Li stopped in his tracks and cast his gaze forward with an elated look in his eyes.