Chapter 1482: Infernal Spirit Crystal
These silver threads were naturally none other than the strange infernal river fish that Han Li had seen saw at the beginning.
All of these fish were shaped like thin and long needles, and even though they couldn't do anything to high-grade demon beasts, they ere most definitely lethal to low-grade demon beasts.
Mere moments later, most of the demon beasts that had charged into the passageway were punctured countless times and perished in the face of these silver fish.
The demon beasts behind them were greatly startled upon seeing this, and many of them conjured up protective barriers of spiritual light around their bodies. The profound ghosts and puppets around them also began to swing their weapons through the air, keeping most of the silver threads at bay.
However, there seemed to be no end to the silver threads emerging from the black light barriers.
One of the crimson-robed figures let loose a long cry, and all of the low-grade demon beasts charged toward the other side of the chasm with all their might.
Even though they were all low-grade demon beast, they were still astonishingly fast when traveling at full speed.
Demonic Qi surged, and many of the demon beasts managed to cover a small portion of the passageway.
Right at this moment, a sudden turn of events abruptly unfolded! A series of black shadows appeared from the black light barriers amid bursts of unsettling cries.
Black creatures of different forms squeezed their way out of the light barriers, and some of them opened their mouths to blast forth white arrows of water, while others pounced onto the demon beasts and tore at their bodies with their sharp fangs.
All of the demon beasts that were struck by the arrows of water stiffened the perished on the spot. Even those with protective spiritual light around their bodies seemed to be unable to withstand the infiltration of those arrows as black Qi began to surface from their bodies, and they only managed to last a few more steps before falling dead.
Meanwhile, the demon beasts that had been latched onto fanged black shadows only managed to thrash around violently for a short while before their bodies were reduced to puddles of putrid black liquid.
These black shadows all had lethal poisons in their mouths! "So those are Yin ghosts!" A blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and he looked on with a hint of shock in his heart.
Using his spirit eyes, he was naturally able to see everything. Those black shadows were comprised of countless body parts thrown together in all types of different random configurations, and they were all zombie-like ghostly beings without any intelligence. All they did was charge toward the living demon beasts with all their might, completely ignoring the puppets and ghostly soldiers.
Of course, there were tens of thousands of low-grade demon beasts in the chasm, and they were certainly far from completely defenseless. Following a period of panic and turmoil, all of them began to unleash retaliative attacks like fireballs and blades of wind against these Yin ghosts.
However, much to their surprise, no matter what kind of attacks landed on the bodies of the YIn ghosts, the attacks merely disappeared into their bodies without any effect whatsoever!
All of the demon beasts were in a state of complete panic now.
"Idiots! Yin ghosts are unable to leave the infernal river. As long as you get to the other side, you'll be safe." Liu Zu's cold voice suddenly rang out within the passageway like claps of thunder, making the ears of the demon beasts ring loudly.
Only then did they realize what they had to do, and all of them ignored the attacks from the Yin ghosts as they focused wholeheartedly on getting to the other side of the passageway as quickly as possible.
The distance of over 100,000 feet was covered in just a few flashes by some of the fastest demon beasts.
The remaining demon beasts trudged onward under the protection of the puppets and the ghostly soldiers, and even though they suffered extensive casualties, the good thing was that they had massive numbers. As such, despite the huge number of demon beasts that perished, those actually only accounted for a fifth of the total number of demon beasts that had entered the passageway.
Meanwhile, more and more low-grade demon beasts were being forced into the passageway like floodwaters by their high-grade counterparts.
The scent of blood and gore quickly filled the entire passageway.
All of the demon monarchs looked on from outside the passageway with grave expressions on their faces, but none of them showed any intention of offering their assistance to the demon beasts. Instead, the seemed to be waiting for something.
Just as Han Li was pondering their intentions with furrowed brows, a massive black shadow suddenly descended toward the top of the passageway.
The previously stable and stalwart black light barrier suddenly began to tremor violently.
Following a series of resounding booms, a few massive tentacles broke through the barrier of light like giant pythons, then rushed into the passageway.
With just a casual swipe, a dozen or so demon beasts were swept up before being dragged out of the light barrier into the infernal river like lightning.
Those demons beasts were devoured by the massive black shadow amid a string of bloodcurdling howls, following which the huge tentacle appeared in the passageway again.
The nearby low-grade demon beasts were immediately thrown into complete turmoil. "It's here! Attack!" As soon as those tentacles appeared, the demon monarchs were all elated as the white-haired beauty, the two crimson-robed figures, Mu Qing, and Liu Zu abruptly disappeared on the spot amid flashes of spiritual light.
In the next instant, the five of them reappeared in the section of the passageway where the tentacles had crashed through.
Four of them raised their hand and grabbed the air in unison.
Four massive hands constructed from spiritual light different colors instantly materialized in a flash. Each of those hands grabbed onto a tentacle before pulling downward at once.
With the combined efforts of four Body Integration Stage beings, even a massive mountain hundreds of thousands of feet tall could most likely be plucked up from the ground.
Following a thunderous roar and a resounding boom, the owner of the tentacles was forcibly dragged into the passageway by the four demon monarchs.
It was a gargantuan ball of white flesh! It had no nose nor eyes, but it did have a huge mouth that took up most of its body. Furthermore, there were seven or eight long tentacles on the upper half of its body, half of which were being held by the hands of spiritual light, but the other half of those tentacles immediately thrashed violently, crashing directly toward the demon monarchs.
A cold harrumph sounded, following which a white streak of sword Qi appeared out of thin air. Black light flashed, and the giant ball of flesh was sliced apart down the middle.
A humanoid figure then shot forth like lightning, digging something out of the ball of flesh before rapidly darting back.
The humanoid figure was none other than Liu Zu, who had refrained from attacking this entire time, and he was currently holding a white egg-sized crystal that was shimmering in the darkness.
"We've finally got the Infernal Spirit Crystal. With this thing, it'll be a lot easier for us to overcome that hurdle." Liu Zu nodded with a pleased expression as he examined the object in his hand.
All of the other demon monarchs were also elated to see that they'd secured the crystal so easily.
"Hehe, there's only infernal river spirit in an infernal river, and there's no way that we wouldn't catch its attention after making such a massive commotion. It may be quite powerful, but it's no match for our combined powers," one of the crimson-robed figures cackled.
The jointed attack they had unleashed just then appeared to be quite simple, but it was something that they had rehearsed countless times. Only then were they able to slay this infernal river spirit with such apparent ease.
Mu Qing swept a sleeve through the air, pulverizing the oncoming Yin ghosts with a streak of green light as she said, "Now that we have this thing, let's hurry up and pass through this river as well. We're lucky that nothing more powerful than Yin ghosts have shown up on this occasion."
No one else had any objections, and they all flew toward the other end of the passageway as streaks of spiritual light.
At this moment, the high-grade demon beasts had received an order from Liu Zu and the others, and all of them also sped into the passageway.
Han Li and the golden ape followed suit.
For high-grade beings like Han Li, these silver fish and Yin ghosts were naturally nothing to be feared.
Furthermore, they were also flying far more quickly than low-grade demon beasts.
Thus, it only took them a few moments to arrive at the other end of the passageway, where they found themselves in a boundlessly cavernous space.
At this point, there was still a constant stream of low-grade demon beasts charging into this space through the passageway.
After a while, all of the demon beasts as well as the profound ghosts and puppets finally made it through the passageway. The puppet and ghost army was almost completely intact without any casualties, but a portion of the low-grade demon beasts had perished, and many of the survivors were riddled with injuries. Thankfully, all demon beasts had remarkably recovery abilities, so that wasn't a cause for concern.
However, the demon monarchs paid no heed to this and were gathered together to discuss something.
Meanwhile, Han Li hovered in the air, surveying his surroundings.
At this moment, he was at an altitude of tens of thousands of feet, and from his vantage point, he could see that everyone was situated in a bleak barren blank comprised entirely of black soil and dark yellow grass that was a few inches tall.
The water from the infernal river formed a white sky overhead that encompassed the entire earth down below.
After ascertaining their rough location, Liu Zu flew over and ordered, "We'll proceed as we originally planned with the Yin Armor Profound Ghost leading the way, and the puppets taking up the rear."
Everyone was immediately cast into turmoil as they hurriedly reorganized themselves into the designated formation.
Meanwhile, Han Li remained behind Mu Qing alongside the golden ape.
Mu Qing was currently standing atop her giant golden flower, and was situated at the center of a group of high-grade demon beasts.
Liu Zu and the white-haired woman led the 8,000 ghostly soldiers at the front, and the two crimson-robed figures were naturally allocated to the rear, where they would control all the puppets.
The entire army flew through the air at a rapid rate like a massive black dragon, leaving the passageway behind in the blink of an eye.
Several hours later, the army had flown out of this vast expanse of black land, yet the sight that greeted them next made Han Li drawn an involuntary sharp breath.
There were stark white bones all over the ground, stretching as far as the eyes could see. All types of bones were littered over the plains up ahead, and all of them were of different shapes and sizes, clearly having belonged to many different types of living beings. The bones were all strewn haphazardly over the ground, and they appeared to have been there for an extremely long time.
Furthermore, there was a putrid smell wafting toward everyone from deeper within the plains, and that made them even more uneasy.
However, the army only stopped momentarily before they were led into this harrowing land of bones by Liu Zu and the white-haired beauty.
The progressed onward for close to 10 kilometers, and their surroundings were still littered with piles up piles of bones while the putrid odor in the air was only growing more and more unbearable.
Han Li had already summoned a layer of protective spiritual light to ward off this godforsaken stench, and blue light was flashing his eyes he constantly surveyed his surroundings.
Even though his spiritual sense was still severely restricted, he was able to see very far with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
All of a sudden, Han Li's calm expression stiffened, and he let loose a low cry.