Chapter 172: Put an End to Things
Chapter 172: Put an End to Things
That's a pity.
Han Li turned to the direction that Fang Ban had fled in, but then quickly withdrew his gaze.
Fang Ban had already sustained severe injuries during that battle, so even if he remained intent on coming after Han Li, at the very least, he wasn't going to be able to do that anytime soon.
With that in mind, Han Li took one final glance at the furious octopus, then flew away into the distance along the seabed as a blurry shadow.
He traveled for tens of thousands of kilometers in one go, and only ensuring that the octopus hadn't detected him did he spring out of the sea before making a hand seal to conjure up a silver lightning array around himself.
A loud thunderclap rang out as he vanished on the spot, then reappeared in the next instant tens of thousands of kilometers away.
He then conjured up another lightning array without pause, teleporting him tens of thousands of kilometers in another direction.
He repeated this process quite a number of times before stopping on a small and deserted island.
There, he flipped a hand over to release a large pile of array treasures and other items before taking around half a day to set up a star array on a plot of empty island on the island, one that was identical to the star array that he had set up on Dark Veil Island.
He then also set up around a dozen protective arrays around the entire island to transform it into a fortress, one that even a late-True Immortal cultivator would be unable to break through in a short time.
Only after doing all of this did Han Li heave a faint sigh of relief before sitting down at teh center of the star array on the island with his legs crossed.
Not long after that, layers of multi-colored light began to appear, enshrouding the entire island and presenting an extremely eye-catching sight.
Thankfully, this region of the sea was extremely desolate with not a single person around, so he didn't have to worry about catching the attention of anyone harboring sinister intentions.
Day quickly turned to night, and stars began to appear in the sky.
A vast expanse of dazzling starlight appeared on the island, and even the surrounding restrictions weren't able to completely conceal it.
Countless rays of starlight cascaded down from the heavens, forming seven scintillating pillars of starlight that crashed down from above.
A burst of dull rumbling rang out from the island, and it was audible even dozens of kilometers away.
Time slowly passed by, and over two months flew by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, all of the light barriers encompassing the small island faded to reveal Han Li, who was holding a black chain around the same thickness as an infant's arm in his hand.
This time, his nascent soul hadn't been completely sealed, and with his prior experience, it hadn't taken him very long to remove the chains from around his nascent soul, but despite this, there was still a grim look on his face.
No matter what he tried, he was unable to completely remove that tracking mark in his body, and as time passed by, it was becoming more and more likely that Fang Ban would've recovered from his injuries to continue the hunt.
Furthermore, the fact that Fang Ban still hadn't shown up after all this time was evoking within Han Li a sense of unease.
He stood silently in mid-air with a contemplative look in his eyes, and moments later, he took a deep breath, seemingly having arrived at a decision.
He stowed away all of the array treasures on the island, then flew into the distance as a streak of azure light.
……
Over three more months passed by in the blink of an eye, and a roar of elation that pierced straight up into the heavens suddenly rang out from within a certain mountain range somewhere on the Primordial Wave Continent.
In the next instant, a burst of dazzling azure light appeared somewhere in the mountain range, only to vanish a moment later before reappearing in the sky.
Within the azure light was none other than Fang Ban, and he was chortling with glee.
"Even the heavens are on my side! Who could've imagined that the Azure Wyrm Pill would allow me to open up my 24th immortal accupoint?"
A burst of enormous spiritual pressure was emanating from his body as he spoke. At this point, he had already progressed to the late-True Immortal Stage, and it was as if he had been completely reborn anew.
He was glowing with joy as he sensed the changes in his own body, and only after a long while did his excitement subside, following which a cold smile appeared on his face.
"Run all you want, Han Li, but you're not getting away from me!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he shot forth as a streak of azure light, traveling eastward at a terrifying speed.
Meanwhile, Han Li was flying through the sky as a streak of azure light himself above a lush forest countless kilometers away.
All of a sudden, a dark look appeared on his face. Just now, the tracking mark that had sat dormant beneath his nascent soul for the past few months had suddenly stirred slightly.
"He's finally coming after me again... It's time to put an end to this..." Han Li murmured to himself, then accelerated even further as he sped through the air.
Even though he was flying at full speed, it still took only less than half a month before Fang Ban's familiar aura appeared on the edge of his spiritual sensory range, and the distance between the two of them was quickly being closed down.
No wonder he didn't appear for so long, he made a breakthrough! This is most certainly not good...
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as a grim look appeared on his face, but he didn't slow down in the slightest.
Before long, the two of them were only separated by a few thousand kilometers.
Only then did Han Li make a hand seal, and silver lightning erupted out of his body as he prepared to conjure up his lightning array.
Fang Ban's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this from afar, and countless azure runes surged out of his body.
Immediately thereafter, his speed was almost doubled, transforming into a blurry azure shadow as he let loose a draconic roar.
A burst of peculiar soundwaves spread rapidly through the air, causing the space to ripple as soundwaves instantly permeated throughout the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand kilometers.
Han Li was instantly struck by a rush of dizziness upon hearing this sound, and the formation of his silver lightning array was paused as a result.
Even though he was able to snap back to his senses an instant later, at this point, the azure shadow was now alarmingly close to him.
A bright saber projection swept through the air like lightning before striking the lightning array.
In the face of the saber projection, the arcs of silver lightning were as fragile as tofu, and the entire array was instantly destroyed.
Han Li immediately plummeted out of the sky upon seeing this to just barely evade the saber projection, and at the same time, he instantly adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form amid a flash of golden light.
He had only just completed his transformation when the azure shadow arrived directly before him, only to be greeted by a giant golden fist, which was carrying such tremendous power that even the nearby space was rippling violently.
However, Fang Ban was able to evade the golden fist projection with ease by sidestepping several dozen feet in an instant, and immediately thereafter, one Fang Ban turned into three.
One of the Fang Ban's lashed out with his saber to strike the giant ape's arm, and the blade of the saber was plunged into the golden ape's flesh, inflicting a huge wound that immediately began to bleed profusely.
In the past, the giant ape's defenses had been sufficient to ward off the saber, but this was no longer the case.
Meanwhile, the other two Fang Bans were pouncing at the giant ape like lightning while lashing out with their sabers at the giant ape's neck and chest.
The golden ape let loose a thunderous roar as its entire body swelled in dize, and countless rays of golden light surfaced over its fur.
Each ray of golden light was actually a strand of golden monkey fur, and they shot forth in all directions, screeching through the air while the space in their wake trembled violently.
The three Fang Bans' expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and they shot back in retreat in unison while conjuring up azure light barriers around their own bodies.
The countless strands of golden fur struck the protective barriers, producing a sound much like that of rain pelting down on banana leaves.
The azure protective barriers flashed erratically, but remained intact. However, the three Fang Bans were still pushed back by quite a distance by the power imbued within the strands of golden fur.
The giant golden ape didn't unleash any further attacks, instantly transforming into a Lightning Bird instead.
A rumbling thunderclap rang out as the Lightning Bird vanished from the spot amid a flash of silver lightning, only to reappear several thousand kilometers away.
"You're not getting away!" Fang Ban roared as his three clones instantly fused back into one, and he shot forth in pursuit as a blurry azure shadow.
However, the silver Lightning Bird wasn't making any effort to conserve its power of lightning as it unleashed its lightning movement technique over and over again, quickly opening up a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers between itself and Fang Ban.
Immediately thereafter, countless arcs of silver lightning erupted from the Lightning Bird's body to form a silver lightning array.
Meanwhile, Fang Ban was closing in at an incredible speed from the distant horizon.
A resounding thunderclap rang out, and the Lightning Bird vanished into thin air only an instant before Fang Ban arrived on the scene.
Fang Ban drew to a halt with a dark look in his eyes, but a cold smile then immediately appeared on his face.
Given how recklessly Han Li was using his power of lightning, he was going to exhaust this power very soon, and once that happened, his fate would be sealed.
With that in mind, Fang Ban continued in his pursuit of Han Li as a streak of azure light.
Three days later.
There was a dilapidated little brick temple situated in a lush forest on a mountain. The red paint on its outer walls had already completely peeled off, and they were hanging off the walls in flakes that were harder than the bark of old trees.
Out of the two wooden doors, one of them had already snapped off and was resting against the other relatively more intact door, leaving a gap that was around half a person wide.
Through the gap, it could be seen that the temple hadn't been visited for a very long time. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs, and a thick layer of moss had grown over the bluestone floor as well.
An unrecognizable deity statue was situated inside the temple, but its head had fallen off and rolled to a corner of the temple.
Seated with a weary look on their face and their back resting against said head was none other than Han Li.
Right at this moment, he seemed to have detected something, and he immediately raised his head to look up at the sky through one of the holes in the dilapidated temple's roof, but he saw nothing but clearly blue skies.
He immediately flew out of the temple amid a flash of lightning, then fled toward the distance, followed by a streak of azure light several thousand kilometers away.
A high-speed chase ensued, and the two streaks of light passed over several dozen mountain ranges in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was rapidly burning through his immortal spiritual power reserves as he accelerated to as fast as he could go, but he was refraining from using his lightning movement technique, and as a result, the gap between himself and Fang Ban was constantly shrinking. Before long, they were separated by less than 1,000 kilometers.
Right at this moment, a mountain range in the shape of a semi-circle appeared up ahead, and Han Li immediately swooped down directly toward the snow-tipped summits of one of the mountains.
Not long after he landed on that mountain, plumes of dense white mist immediately began to rise up from the mountain summit, quickly enveloping the other mountains in the mountain range as well.