After the two women departed from the wooden cabin, its doors remained shut for 10 consecutive days.
During this time, the defenses on Firecloud Island were bolstered significantly.
Not only did all of the serpentine beings no longer travel to other islands to hunt and collect materials, the entire race retreated into the earthen city, and all of the major restrictions in the city were activated despite the vast expenditure of spirit stones that doing so would incur.
The earthen city walls had seemed to be extremely frail and vulnerable before, but they had since been enshrouded under three layers of light barrier that were crimson, yellow, and green, respectively.
There were also several thousand elite serpentine warriors within the city that were heavily armed and ensuring that the city was constantly patrolled.
At the same time, all of the Fire Yang Race priests had gathered together, and all of them were priming themselves for the upcoming battle alongside their high priestess and her daughter.
The palace they were situated in had also been enshrouded under a layer of five-colored light, and the source from which the five-colored light was emanating was none other than that conical treasure at the center of the plaza.
As for the normal serpentine beings within the earthen city, all of them had received instructions from the higher-ups telling them to stay at home unless they absolutely had to come out.
A tense and oppressive atmosphere naturally settled over the earthen city as a result.
On this day, just as the priests were meditating within the palace, a voice suddenly pierced through the restriction outside and sounded directly within the hall that they were situated in.
"Fellow Daoist Huo, I"ve already refined the pill and come out of seclusion. Please open up the restriction and let me come in."
The voice belonged to none other than Han Li.
The white-robed priests were all stirred upon hearing this while an ecstatic look appeared on the woman"s face.
It was naturally impossible for her not to be worried that Han Li would break his promise and depart as soon as he recovered. However, the entire race was in grave peril, and she had no alternatives. Giving the pill to him could earn them a powerful ally, whereas refraining from doing so would spell certain doom.
Thankfully, she"d made the right gamble, and Han Li hadn"t broken his promise to her.
Thus, the woman immediately flipped her hand over to produce a s.h.i.+mmering red jade disk with an elated look on her face, then tapped it a few times with her finger.
The five-colored light barrier around the palace flashed before an opening appeared, but it only took the span of a few breaths before the barrier sealed over again.
During this brief window of time, golden light flashed outside the palace gates, and a humanoid figure appeared, seemingly out of thin air, before making his way into the palace in an unhurried manner.
The humanoid figure wore an azure robe and had a set of ordinary facial features, but his eyes were particularly bright and piercing. He was naturally none other than Han Li.
His condition had improved drastically compared to just over 10 days ago, clearly indicating that the Scorching Sun Divine Pill had indeed been extremely effective.
"Thank you for coming to a.s.sist us, Senior. Has your magic power completely recovered?" the woman asked in a fervent manner.
Zhu"er was still slightly reluctant to greet him, but she could only rise to her feet with a slight pout on her face.
"The Scorching Sun Divine Pill was indeed quite extraordinary, but my injuries were also extremely severe, so I"ve only recovered to around 70% to 80% of my peak condition. The rest of the recovery process can"t be aided by pills and can only be facilitated through rest and recuperation. However, if your enemies aren"t too powerful, I should be able to lend you a hand," Han Li replied with a smile.
The woman"s expression initially changed slightly after hearing that Han Li hadn"t fully recovered, but she was then elated after hearing Han Li"s confident declaration.
It appeared that Han Li was even more powerful than she"d estimated. Otherwise, where could his confidence be stemming from?
Many of the priests in the palace had seen Han Li before, while the others were only meeting him for the first time.
As such, Han Li"s arrival naturally stirred up a heated yet muted discussion between them.
Han Li ignored the pairs of eyes that were fixed on him and sat down on the chair that the woman had prepared for him in advance. After making some small talk with her, he closed his eyes and fell silent.
The woman cast a stern gaze toward the priests in the room, and all of them immediately stopped chattering as well.
Thus, the entire palace turned completely silent.
However, Han Li could still sense a pair of eyes lingering on his face, and his brows furrowed slightly as he abruptly opened his eyes, just in time to see Bai Zhu"er appraising him with a wary expression.
As soon as their eyes met, a hint of horror flashed through the young woman"s eyes, and she hurriedly averted her gaze.
It appeared that the Weeping Soul Beast had truly given her quite a fright during their previous encounter.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li"s face as he closed his eyes again and fell into deep thought.
The fire-attribute power within the Scorching Sun Divine Pill had been easily refined by his Spirit Engulfing Fire Raven, and the woman hadn"t exaggerated about the pill"s effects at all. It wasn"t able to facilitate an instant recovery for him, but it most definitely was superior to all of the regenerative pills that he was carrying.
His lost blood essence and spiritual sense had been replenished at an incredible rate, and as for his magic power, even without the a.s.sistance of this pill, the past half a month or so of rest had been enough for it to completely recover.
Seeing as the pill really had helped his significantly, Han Li naturally wasn"t going to revoke his promise. He had already progressed to the Spatial Tempering Stage and possessed many powerful abilities. There was a good chance that he"d be able to escape from a Body Integration cultivator, so he naturally wasn"t going to fear any enemies that the Fire Yang Race could have.
Coincidentally, less than half a day after Han Li had emerged from seclusion, the enemies finally arrived.
The ground within the earthen city suddenly began to rumble violently, and it was as if many ma.s.sive monsters were galloping toward the city from al directions.
The priests sitting within the palace rose to their feet almost in unison, and most of them wore extremely anxious expressions.
Even though the woman hadn"t divulged any information regarding the Black Rakshasa Race, it was quite apparent to them that the enemies they were going to face on this occasion were extremely powerful.
In contrast, the woman remained quite calm, and she only furrowed her brows slightly even as the ground began to tremor beneath her feet.
"There"s no need for panic; we"ve already set up ample defensive measures, and it would be impossible for our enemies to break through our three layers of restrictions in a short time. Let"s ascertain who our enemies are and how many of them we"re facing first!" The woman immediately rose to the occasion as the leader of the priests, instantly calming everyone with her logical instructions.
Han Li also opened his eyes in response to this commotion, but he remained completely expressionless.
He"d partic.i.p.ated in countless battles more significant than this one in the past, so the events currently unfolding certainly weren"t enough to faze him.
At this moment, the woman rustled a sleeve, and a red badge suddenly appeared in her hand before she waved it toward the center of the palace.
Red light immediately flashed from the surface of the badge, following which a ball of red light shot forth from it before disappearing into the ground.
A loud buzzing sound rang out as red light flashed from the ground, and a crimson formation appeared, at the center of which flames were tumbling and surging incessantly.
The woman rapidly waved her badge through the air a few times, and the flames converged to form a crimson crystal ball that was around 10 feet in diameter.
The surface of the crystal ball was glittering and translucent, and it was slowly revolving above the center of the formation.
Eight white-robed serpentine beings suddenly stepped forward before sitting down around the edge of the formation. All of them then began to chant something as they cast one incantation seal after another into the crystal ball.
Immediately thereafter, countless wisps of flames appeared within the center of the formation, forming fiery snakes that were around as thick as a human finger before squirming into the crystal ball.
An astonis.h.i.+ng turn of events then unfolded.
Red light suddenly flashed violently a few times from the surface of the crystal ball, following which an extremely vivid image appeared within the flames.
The image was broadcasting the scenes unfolding all over the earthen city, depicting groups of armed serpentine beings surging up the city walls. There were also groups of serpentine beings on lizard steeds gathering near the city gates.
Among these groups, there were many high-ranking serpentine beings that were yelling war cries and instructions with killing intent in their eyes.
Thousands of serpentine beings were gathered in the blink of an eye, and Han Li looked on with a hint of surprise on his face.
The function of this spell formation and crystal ball was rather similar to that of his Myriad Dragon Beads, and it was rather surprising to him that a small race like the Fire Yang Race had access to such treasures.
"Switch to an image of the scenes outside the city walls!" the woman instructed with a dark expression.
The ground was becoming to tremor more and more violently, clearly indicating that those ma.s.sive beings were not far away from the earthen city.
The eight white-robed serpentine beings responsible for activating the formation instantly cast more incantation seals, and the image within the crystal blurred before being inundated by red light. Moments later, a new image appeared, revealing the scenes unfolding outside the city walls.
It was already getting rather late, so the image within the crystal ball was slightly dim. Thus, the serpentine beings were initially unable to see anything, but all of them still looked on with bated breath.
Only Han Li continued to look on with the same expression as before.
They didn"t have to wait long before a particularly violent tremor ran through the ground, and the loud rumbling noise suddenly died down.
Not long after that, all of the white-robed serpentine beings drew a sharp breath and their expressions changed drastically in unison.
In the darkness of the night, a series of ma.s.sive cow-like creatures that were around 70 to 80 feet tall and over 100 feet long began to emerge. All of them were clad in suits of black scale-like armor, and each of them was carrying a ma.s.sive frame comparable to the size of cabins on their backs.
These frames were filled with humanoid figures of different heights, and it was if they had taken up all of the area on the backs of these giant creatures.
Even though these cow-like creatures were all extremely ma.s.sive, they were currently able to approach the earthen city in a completely silent wraith-like manner after decelerating drastically.
"Those appear to be Black Armor Beast. Those beings riding on these beasts; could they be..." one of the white-robed serpentine beings murmured in disbelief.
"They can"t be Black Rakshasa beings! Our Naga Race should"ve exterminated all of them long ago!" another serpentine being yelled vehemently.
"That"s right, it can"t be those beings!"
"Exactly, they should"ve disappeared tens of thousands of years ago!"
All of the other white-robed serpentine beings immediately chimed in in agreement, seemingly in an attempt to inject themselves with courage.
However, once those giant cows emerged from the night and the humanoid figures on their backs became visible, all of the priests fell silent with grim expressions on their faces.