Chapter 2045: Might of the Devouring Devilish Ants
In the blink of an eye, close to half of the residents of Blood Crow City had fled.
"With so many devilish beings fleeing at once, they"ll provide great cover for us and significantly minimize the risk that we"ll have to incur. However, it"s very strange that the Blood Crow City Lord still hasn"t appeared. If he were present to oversee proceedings, the situation surely wouldn"t be as chaotic as it currently is," the man from the Lin Family said with furrowed brows.
A contemplative look also appeared in the Long Family patriarch"s eye upon hearing this.
As for Han Li, his expression remained completely unchanged and didn"t betray anything.
After that, they didn"t delay any longer and snuck out of the city along with a huge group of tens of thousands of devilish beings.
As soon as these devilish beings left the city, they split up into around a dozen smaller groups and began to flee toward the same direction.
It was clear that they were hoping to exploit potential holes in the ant tide.
These devilish beings all had different cultivation bases, so their speeds naturally varied as well, and with no one to lead them, they quickly scattered into a disorganized rabble that extended for several tens of kilometers.
The high-grade devilish beings at the front displayed no intention of slowing down and formed a group of their own.
The low-grade and mid-grade devilish beings could only trail far behind and look on helplessly as the high-grade devilish beings disappeared into the distance.
Han Li and the others didn"t join those high-grade devilish beings. Instead, they flew along at a leisurely pace among the second group.
Around 15 minutes later, an explosive boom suddenly rang out up ahead, and a huge purple cloud of Devouring Devilish Ant emerged.
Within the cloud of ants, bursts of black Qi and lightning were rumbling incessantly, unleashed by none other than the high-grade devilish beings up ahead.
The cloud of ants was over 100 acres in size, but in the face of the devastating attacks unleashed by the high-grade devilish beings, devilish ants fell from the heavens in ma.s.sive burning clumps, and in the blink of an eye, close to half of the cloud of ants had been destroyed.
The devilish beings further back let loose ecstatic cries upon seeing this and also joined on the attack.
As a result, this cloud of devilish ants was wiped out within the span of just a few breaths.
Many of the devilish beings were greatly encouraged by this, and they began to form the opinion that these devilish ants weren"t actually as fearsome as they were rumored to be.
However, the more experienced devilish beings still wore grim expressions and immediately continued onward after a brief conversation with one another.
Right at this moment, the entire sky suddenly dimmed, and a layer of purple mist emerged without any warning before slowly descending from above.
This mist was formed by tens of millions of devilish ants, and the entire sky had been turned purple by their staggering numbers.
These devilish ants had hidden themselves high up in the air and swooped down to surround everyone after they were delayed by that smaller group of devilish ants.
"We"ve been ambushed!"
"Charge! We have to get out of here for a chance to survive!"
All of the devilish beings down below were instantly plunged into turmoil, and hundreds of streaks of light shot forth in different directions.
As for how many of them would actually be able to escape, that was something that only the heavens knew.
"Brother Han, Fairy Ye, there"s no need to disguise our cultivation bases any longer; let"s split up here!" the Long Family patriarch said with a dark expression as he raised a hand to summon a snowy-white canoe, which he instantly flew onto.
Elder Hui and the man from the Lin Family also flew away toward different directions as streaks of light after exchanging a glance.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I"ll be going ahead," the woman from the Ye Family said with a smile, and she released a burst of five-colored light, which transformed into a five-colored phoenix projection that swept up her body before vanis.h.i.+ng into thin air.
In the next instant, the fire-colored phoenix projection reappeared several thousand feet away, then disappeared after another flash.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal, upon which a pair of translucent wings appeared on his back amid a loud thunderclap.
With a flap of those wings, he transformed into an azure and white thread of light that shot forth into the distance, and he also disappeared from view after just a few flashes.
Thus, all of them had split up and gone their separate ways, detaching themselves from the devilish beings.
They all possessed powers comparable to devilish lords, so they were naturally far faster than the average high-grade devilish being.
Even before the sea of ants up above had fully descended, Han Li and the others had already rushed out from under them and flew away rapidly.
As for the devilish beings behind them, they were instantly inundated by the purple clouds, and strings of loud explosions began to ring out once again.
Han Li flew for close to 20,000 kilometers before his expressions changed slightly, and he suddenly stopped as he cast his gaze forward with a wry smile on his face.
Several tens of kilometers away, another purple cloud had appeared, and it was rapidly surging toward him.
"Looks like I"ll have to force my way through; I hope I don"t attract the attention of the ant queen," Han Li murmured to himself as he made a hand seal, and he gently flapped his wings to conjure up a series of fist-sized b.a.l.l.s of azure lightning, all of which exploded to form a silver lightning formation that was several tens of feet in size beneath him.
A loud thunderclap rang out as countless arcs of lightning sprang out of the formation, and Han Li chanted something while making a series of hand seals, following which he abruptly vanished from the center of the formation.
Within the sea of ants close to 1,000 kilometers away, the same lightning formation reappeared, and silver lightning snakes flashed in a frenzy, destroying a ma.s.sive patch of nearby devilish ants.
However, more devilish ants converged from all sides and began to devour the flas.h.i.+ng lightning.
In the blink of an eye, the lightning area had shrunk down to just over half its original area, and it was on the verge of being destroyed.
Right at this moment, Han Li emerged at the center of the formation amid a rumbling boom, and as soon as he appeared, he cast a cold gaze around himself while rapidly sweeping a sleeve through the air.
72 small azure swords shot forth in a unison, then formed a sword barrier that s.h.i.+elded him from all sides.
The lightning formation was finally destroyed, and countless Devouring Devilish Ant came surging toward Han Li.
Han Li remained completely expressionless, but the sword barrier around him dispersed into a series of azure lotus flowers, instantly shredding thousands of Devouring Devilish Ant into mincemeat and preventing them from approaching Han Li.
However, Han Li"s expression immediately darkened slightly as he could sense that some of the spiritual power within the flying sword had disappeared; it had clearly been devoured by the Devouring Devilish Ant before they were killed.
The amount of spiritual power that had been devoured was virtually negligible, but over time, it was all going to add up.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li opened his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames, which transformed into a silver Fire Raven that was around 10 feet in size and began to fly around him.
This was none other than his Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames.
At this point, the Fire Raven had already developed a hint of spiritual nature, so even without requiring any instruction from Han Li, it spread its wings and sent countless feathers flying in all directions, which transformed into streaks of azure light that plunged into the sea of ants.
These streaks of silver light then exploded into scorching silver flames within the sea of ants, and any Devouring Devilish Ant that came into contact with even the slightest sliver of these silver flames was instantly vaporized.
Thus, a pocket of empty s.p.a.ce that was several kilometers in size was opened up within the purple sea of ants.
Han Li pointed a finger forward, and the wisps of silver flames reverted back into countless feathers that returned to the Fire Ravens. However, his expression then immediately changed slightly as he could clearly sense that some of the energy within the Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames had also gone missing.
These flames were able to kill Devouring Devilish Ants with ease, but it clearly couldn"t avoid having its energy devoured, either.
Han Li was naturally unwilling to expend the energy of his Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames, so he could only sweep a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that stowed the silver Fire Raven away again.
During this short delay, the surrounding pocket of s.p.a.ce was instantly filled by Devouring Devilish Ants again, and they continued to pounce toward Han Li with ferocious might.
On this occasion, Han Li made a grabbing motion, and a burst of grey light and plume of five-colored glacial flames erupted out of his body, then swept forth in all directions as ma.s.sive waves.
In the face of the grey light, the devilish ants were reduced to dust, while the five-colored glacial flames froze thousands upon thousand of devilish ants into chunks of five-colored ice that plummeted out of the heavens.
However, after Han Li withdrew these two types of abilities, he shook his head and heaved another sigh.
After that, he didn"t conduct any further experiments and flew toward a certain direction as a streak of azure light with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords carving out a path for him.
In the wake of his flying swords, countless devilish ant carca.s.ses were being left behind, and he wasn"t flying any slower than he would without any impediment!