Chapter 164: Hidden Powerful Being
Before everyone had a chance to react, another thunderous roar rang out from behind them.
The earth exploded as another giant lizard of roughly the same size as the Body Integration Stage lizard emerged, and it was just as fearsome in appearance, with bright patterns all over its back and a pair of long dark red horns on its head.
Furthermore, it was also giving off a Body Integration Stage aura!
"Those are both iron lizard kings! No wonder there are so many of them here," Elder Liu murmured to himself as his pupils contracted drastically.
The eyes of the man with the Kou surname suddenly lit up as he asked, "Does that mean that if these iron lizard kings die, then the battle will be over?"
"That may be the case, but the two of them are quite evenly matched, so I\'m afraid there won\'t be a decisive outcome anytime soon. Under normal circumstances, Elder Qi and I would perhaps be able to slay the lizard kings, but given the current situation..." Elder Liu\'s voice trailed off here, and he heaved a faint sigh at the sight of the countless iron lizards around the ark.
Right at this moment, the two lizard kings exchanged a glance from afar, then sprang up into the air as fast as lightning.
The two massive creatures clashed violently amid a resounding thump in the air not far away from the ark, then engaged one another in a ferocious tussle.
Violent shockwaves were sent sweeping through the air in all directions, interspersed with bursts of dazzling black and red light.
All of the smaller iron lizards nearby were instantly sent flying, and some were even torn to shreds by the shockwaves.
In the face of the powerful shockwaves, the protective light barrier around the ark was trembling violently, and the ark itself was forcibly diverted away from its original path.
The man with the Kou surname took a glance at the gradually thinning light barrier, and he urged in a panicked voice, "The ark isn\'t going to be able to last much longer! You have to think of something, seniors!"
However, the two Body Integration Stage elders were only able to do their best to keep the waves of iron lizards at bay, and even that was proving to be a tall order for them, so there was no way for them to do anything else.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly raised a hand before flicking a finger through the air.
A burst of blinding white light abruptly erupted out of nowhere, causing everyone to instinctively close their eyes.
Furthermore, a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations had surged out of the white light to completely disable the spiritual sense of everyone on the ark.
In the next instant, Han Li vanished from the spot amid a flash of silver lightning, then reappeared an instant later directly above the heads of the two giant lizard kings several thousand feet away.
Golden light flashed from his fists as he sent them crashing down upon the heads of the lizard kings, and the two giant creatures didn\'t even have any time to react before their heads were shattered with ease like a pair of eggs, sending huge volumes of blood and intracranial fluids splattering in all directions.
The two giant lizards didn\'t even have a chance to cry out before they were reduced to a pair of corpses that fell out of the sky before slamming heavily down onto the ground.
Meanwhile, silver lightning flashed from Han Li\'s body once again, and in the next instant, he had already returned to the ark.
All of this had transpired within the span of no more than a second, and all of the white light vanished immediately thereafter, as if it had never even appeared in the first place.
Everyone on the ark was completely rooted to the spot.
"What was that white light just now?" someone asked.
No one had an answer, and even the two Body Integration Stage elders were feeling completely dumbfounded.
All of a sudden, one of the Body Integration Stage elders realized that all of the iron lizards in the area had suddenly stopped fighting. Furthermore, the bloodlust in their eyes had faded, replaced by a look of shock and panic.
In the next instant, several loud roars rang out from within the hordes of iron lizards, and the two opposing armies quickly separated before scurrying away and fleeing back into the earth. In the blink of an eye, more than half of the iron lizards in the area had disappeared, and the landscape finally became visible again.
"Look! The two iron lizard kings are dead!"
Someone on the ark had spotted the pair of iron lizard king bodies laying on the ground several thousand feet away, and at this moment, the pair bodies were being carried away by some slightly smaller iron lizards.
Everyone was astonished to see this, including the pair of Body Integration Stage elders.
"Regardless of what happened here, I think our best course of action would be to get out of here as quickly as possible," Han Li said.
The man with the Kou surname hurriedly nodded in response. "You\'re right, Senior Liu. Full speed ahead!"
The flying ark began to glow with bright white radiance as it continued onward at full speed, quickly flying out of the area.
They weren\'t pursued by any iron lizards, and everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief upon seeing this.
"What happened just now?"
"I don\'t know. After that flash of white light, both of the iron lizard kings were killed!"
"If you ask me, there must\'ve been a hidden powerful being on the ark, and they must\'ve been the one that killed the two iron lizard kings, but they didn\'t want to blow their cover, so they used that white light to disguise their actions."
"That\'s preposterous! If you ask me, some immortal must\'ve just so happened to have been passing through. There\'s no way any ordinary person would\'ve been able to kill two Body Integration Stage demon beasts in the blink of an eye!"
"If it really was just some immortal passing by, then why did they release that white light as a smokescreen?"
Everyone on the ark was discussing what had just happened, and the atmosphere had become a little peculiar.
The two Body Integration Stage elders were also subtly examining everyone on the ark, as if they were trying to figure out who this hidden powerful being was.
However, they didn\'t dare to pry excessively.
Given how that person was able to kill those two iron lizard kings so quickly, they had to have been at least a Grand Ascension cultivator, or even a legendary True Immortal, and they certainly didn\'t dare to risk irking such a powerful being.
Meanwhile, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on the deck of the ark, and he occasionally came under scrutiny from those around him, but he paid those prying eyes no heed.
The rest of the trip was very smooth, and they emerged from the Black Rock desert that night without coming under any further attacks, much to everyone\'s relief.
After flying out of the Black Rock Desert, they were greeted by the sight of a vast grassland.
Time slowly passed by, and everyone\'s curiosity toward the identity of that mysterious powerful being gradually faded as the days of monotonous travel continued.
Over half a year passed by in the blink of an eye, and the ark was flying over a bleak desert.
Their destination, Bright Hill City, was already very close, situated just on the other side of this desert.
The journey had been quite smooth, and the ark had encountered some perilous situations, but none as dire as the one they had run into in the Black Rock Desert.
At this moment, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in his room.
He was making a rapid series of hand seals as a ball of heavy water was slowly fusing with the arcs of silver lightning in front of him.
Soon, a black ball emerged, and it was another ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
An elated look appeared on his face as he stowed the ball of lightning away.
Along this journey, Han Li had been refining Heavy Water Veined Lightning whenever he had some spare time, and at this point, he had already exhausted close to half of his supply of heavy water to produce over 30 balls of Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
He took a moment to adjust his robes before rising to his feet, then emerged onto the deck and cast his gaze toward the yellow desert down below.
The desert was called the Boundless Sand Sea, and it was extremely vast, but the demon beasts here were very weak and sparse, so it was a very safe area.
Even the two Body Integration Stage elders weren\'t standing on lookout duty on the deck.
This journey had taken a long time, but once he arrived at Bright Hill City, he would have access to teleportation arrays that would significantly speed up his travels.
The man with the Kou surname just so happened to be nearby, and he immediately approached Han Li before extending a greeting, in response to which Han Li gave a slight nod.
The man with the Kou surname was looking rather excited as he said, "We\'re less than a day away from Bright Hill City now, Senior Liu. Thank you for your efforts over the course of this journey."
"You\'re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Kou. I took on this mission, so it\'s only right that I fulfill my duty," Han Li replied with a smile.
"What are your plans after reaching Bright Hill City, Senior Liu?" the man with the Kou surname asked.
"I..." Han Li\'s voice abruptly trailed off here as he suddenly turned his gaze to the right.
Several shadows had appeared on the distant horizon in that direction, alongside an extremely faint howling sound.
He immediately released his spiritual sense, upon which a grim look appeared on his face.
"What\'s wrong, Senior Liu?"
The man with the Kou surname followed Han Li\'s gaze while also releasing his spiritual sense, and his expression instantly changed drastically as he yelled, "It\'s an astral wind storm! Stop the ark and dig a hole for the ark to hide in! Hurry!"
None of the books that Han Li had purchased mentioned this so-called astral wind storm, but judging from the reaction displayed by the man with the Kou surname, it had to have been something quite dangerous.
The ark erupted into complete pandemonium as others quickly began to notice the approaching storm on the horizon, and those who were familiar with the climate in the area were extremely alarmed.
The ark gradually drew to a halt, following which the two Body Integration Stage elders flew out of their rooms.
Elder Qi flipped a hand over to produce a large yellow flag, and the flag swelled drastically to several dozen times its original size at his behest, radiating dazzling yellow light as it did so.
The elder swept a sleeve through the air, and a thick pillar of yellow light shot forth before hurtling into the desert sand down below.
The earth in a radius of several dozen kilometers trembled violently as the earth abruptly split open before parting in either direction.
Moments later, a massive black rift appeared on the ground, resembling a dark abyss that was several thousand feet deep.
Meanwhile, the black shadows in the distance were quickly approaching, revealing themselves to be a series of giant black clouds, within which a thunderous howling sound was ringing out incessantly.
Ferocious gusts of wind were whipped around the ark, sending vast volumes of sand flying up into the sky.
"Hurry!" the man with the Kou surname urged.
The ark immediately descended into the massive rift in the ground, quickly vanishing into it.
Elder Qi then swept the flag that he was holding through the air, and the rift closed itself from above, forming a massive underground cavern around the ark.
Meanwhile, ferocious gusts of yellow wind swept over the desert up above like a flight of massive wind dragons that obscured the entire sky.
The sand of the desert was whipped up into a frenzy by the wind, and the entire area had been plunged into complete chaos.
The gusts of wind resembled the whip of a giant that was repeatedly lashing against the ground with devastating impact, and even though the flying ark was several thousand feet beneath the ground, everyone could still clearly hear the thunderous commotion ringing out up above.