At the sound of a beast's roar, Han Li's eyes snapped open in surprise, a look of bewilderment crossing his face.
Given the immense strength of his spiritual sense nowadays, even without deliberately releasing it, he could take in everything within several hundred zhang of himself as naturally as breathing. Moreover, when he had first landed on this island, he had specifically swept his spiritual sense over the surrounding hundred li of ocean and had not detected a single demon beast anywhere nearby.
Since an unexpected situation had now arisen, Han Li naturally would not let it go uninvestigated. He immediately sent his spiritual sense surging outward, probing the seabed beneath the small island.
The beast's roar was coming from below!
In mere moments, Han Li's expression shifted. He suddenly transformed into a streak of brilliant cyan light and shot high into the sky, arriving several hundred zhang up before circling to a stop. His face was grave as he gazed downward.
Almost simultaneously, gusts of ocean wind carrying a foul stench erupted in all directions. The nearby sea surface churned into countless whirlpools of varying sizes, while row upon row of waves more than ten zhang tall surged up one after another, crashing into one another with thunderous booms. Countless droplets of seawater rained down through the low air.
In an instant, the entire region seemed to tear apart — earth shattering and sky splitting — a sight that made one's heart tremble with dread.
Han Li swept his gaze around and was horrified to discover that the same chaos stretched across the sea within a hundred li in every direction, all of it caught in the raging storm.
When he had sent his spiritual sense probing toward the seabed moments ago, the moment it had passed a thousand zhang into the deep ocean, it had been forcibly pulled inward by something.
Although he had reacted quickly and withdrawn it immediately, a wisp of his spiritual sense had still been forcibly seized — a small loss, but a loss nonetheless.
That was why he had alarmedly flown into the air, treating the anomaly beneath the sea with the utmost seriousness.
Could there be some powerful demon beast down below? But even a tenth-level demon beast emerging wouldn't produce such terrifying commotion. Could it be a legendary Spirit Transformation stage demon beast? That didn't quite seem right either, judging by the signs.
If his memory served, once a demon beast surpassed the tenth level, it too would be subject to the restrictions of the sparse spiritual energy in the Human World. How could one dare to stir up such wanton havoc? That would be equivalent to burning away its own life essence!
Han Li's thoughts grew increasingly uneasy.
That said, once a demon beast surpassed the tenth level, it could adopt the same realm classifications as human cultivators. Of course, one could still continue using designations like eleventh level, twelfth level, and so on. It was just that human cultivators generally did not use such terminology.
After all, once a demon beast crossed the tenth level, it stood at the very apex of the Human World. How could human cultivators dare regard such a terrifying existence as an ordinary monster?
But the commotion below was a bit too extravagant! Even a late-stage cultivator like Han Li, who had weathered countless grand encounters, felt his heart growing uneasy.
Yet the thing beneath the ocean simply refused to surface, allowing the storm to intensify further — waves of over a hundred zhang were now surging skyward.
Han Li's expression flickered, and he finally made his decision. No matter what was causing the disturbance below, it would be best not to take the risk. He should leave immediately.
With that thought settled, he turned around, ready to transform into a streak of light and flee from above the island.
But just at that moment, a piercing shriek reached his ears — sharp and shrill beyond measure.
Caught off guard, Han Li felt his mind buzz as though struck by a gong. The world spun around him, and he plummeted straight out of the sky.
His cyan protective barrier had been unable to stop the shriek in the slightest.
However, after falling only about a dozen zhang, a deep rumble sounded from his body. Purple flames erupted several chi high around him, while arcs of golden lightning crackled and danced within the flames, completely shielding him within.
The dizziness in Han Li's mind vanished instantly. His body steadied, halting his descent, and he once again hovered in midair.
But his expression was naturally grim, and he raised his head to look skyward — the shriek had clearly come from above.
The originally overcast sky had at some point been blanketed by a vast expanse of black shadow. The dark mass stretched as far as the eye could see, yet was strangely blurred, giving one the eerie impression of a moon reflected in water or an image in a mirror — utterly bizarre.
The shriek was emanating from deep within that black shadow!
Han Li stared at the dark clouds that had appeared overhead, his expression somber.
That he had failed to detect this phenomenon in the sky despite his heightened vigilance was itself extremely peculiar.
Without wasting a thought, he cautiously extended his spiritual sense toward the heavens, but before it even touched the black shadow, a repulsive force deflected it, preventing it from penetrating even slightly.
This only heightened his wariness.
Drawing a deep breath, Han Li's figure blurred, transforming into a dazzling streak of cyan light that shot toward the distant horizon.
Whatever had happened here, the wisest course was to flee without looking back.
At his current speed, with his full power devoted to flight, it took only a few flashes before the cyan light had traveled more than ten li.
Just then, the shriek in the sky abruptly ceased. Over the small island Han Li had just vacated, the fabric of space began to twist violently.
With a tearing sound, a section of the black shadow erupted in brilliant white light, and a blinding spatial rift materialized out of thin air.
From within that white radiance, a colossal shape slowly extended, pressing gradually downward toward the sea below.
In the distance, Han Li happened to glance back and witnessed the scene. He started in alarm, then squinted to get a closer look — and his face drained of color.
The unknown behemoth was clearly the talon of some sort of demon bird. Its entire visible surface was a deep azure, and the portion that had emerged was several hundred zhang in size, like a mountain materializing from the void.