The savage look on the giant's face flickered. With a single hand movement, the pitch-black club on its shoulder was suddenly gripped firmly. The countless eyeballs across its body blazed with light and began to blink in rapid succession.
So many eyes moving simultaneously on a single body — anyone who witnessed the sight couldn't help but feel a chill crawl down their spine.
Han Li hovered in the air, and seeing this, felt a surge of delight in his heart. He held his breath.
As long as those two creatures below actually started fighting, their mission would become far simpler.
With a muffled bang, the lizard opened its mouth and a streak of crimson shadow shot out. Immediately after, a burst of silver light erupted from the soil beneath its massive claw.
The crimson shadow retracted, dragging out something strange with a hole pierced clean through its body from the earth. It crashed heavily onto the ground.
Han Li narrowed his eyes and focused his gaze, only then realizing it was a silver puppet shaped like a humanoid dragon — a dragon's head atop a human body.
However, the puppet's core had been pierced straight through by that terrifying tongue of the giant lizard, and half its body had already self-destructed, reduced to nothing more than a heap of scrap metal.
It seemed that at the very instant the puppet had moved to attack, it had still revealed its presence and been spotted and destroyed by the giant lizard.
Although the Thousand-Eyed Giant across from it was not particularly sharp-witted, even it was momentarily stunned by this. Then, after the eyeballs across its body rotated once, countless black threads shot out from them in a flash.
Another deafening boom rang out as a second puppet hidden beneath the giant was pierced through by seven or eight of those black threads simultaneously.
No one knew what these black threads were made of, but after splitting apart in every direction, they sliced the several-zhang-tall puppet to pieces with ease, as though nothing could withstand their edge.
Watching this scene, Han Li drew in a sharp breath, his eyes flickering nonstop.
It seemed the danger of this venture far exceeded even his worst estimates. However, the Spirit Herb fruit was directly tied to the source of future Void Refining–stage medicinal pills. No matter how great the risk, he would just have to grit his teeth and take the gamble.
After all, as long as he obtained the seeds of that spirit herb, he could cultivate them indefinitely.
With these thoughts swirling through his mind, Han Li forced himself to calm down once more.
The giant, for its part, let out a few grunting sounds of warning before settling the club back onto its shoulder.
The giant lizard stared at the giant with emotionless eyes, shifted its enormous body, and slowly lowered itself back to the ground.
The two colossal creatures had once again returned to their earlier standoff.
Yet Han Li continued to stare intently downward, not daring to let his attention waver for even a moment.
Since the puppets had proven useless, according to the original plan, Long Dong and the others should now be working together to lure the giant lizard and the giant away from the area, creating an opportunity for him to seize the fruit.
Sure enough, after only a few breaths' time, a melodious pipa melody drifted from above the lizard's head. Rings of yellow light materialized in the air and descended directly toward the creature's crown. At the same time, a flash of white light revealed a pair of white-gold halberds. They swayed once, and two enormous arcs of white radiance slashed downward from the sky like twin flood dragons bursting from the water.
Almost simultaneously, two figures appeared high in the air several dozen zhang above — the white-robed young woman and Long Dong.
The young woman was delicately plucking the strings of her counterfeit spirit treasure pipa with one hand, while Long Dong wore a grave expression as he drove his two treasures through the air.
Despite its massive body, the giant lizard moved with startling agility. The instant the aerial attack appeared, it let out a low roar and sprang to its feet. The crimson horn atop its head flashed, and a swath of scarlet light suddenly burst forth, whirling in a circle to catch both the rings of yellow light and the two arcs of white radiance at once.
Then green light flickered across the lizard's back, and the sharp hissing of tearing air rang out in rapid succession. A volley of foot-long bristles transformed into emerald streaks and shot skyward. At the same moment, its enormous tail swept through the space where it had been, leaving nothing behind but a blur of afterimages before vanishing entirely.
The next instant, the twenty-something-zhang-long tail appeared out of nowhere on one side of the young woman and Long Dong, whipping toward them with vicious force. Before it even made contact, a violent gale erupted and engulfed both of them in its wake.
This giant lizard truly deserved its reputation as a mutated ancient beast — the moment it came under attack, its counterstrike was as fierce and devastating as a torrential storm.
Though they had known the lizard would be difficult to deal with, the white-robed young woman and Long Dong both jumped in alarm.
Fortunately, neither of them had any intention of trading blows head-on with the creature.
The young woman flicked her wrist, sending a golden talisman soaring through the air. It burst into a sphere of golden light that enveloped her, and then she flickered like a phantom, vanishing from sight before reappearing in a strange space over thirty zhang away.
Long Dong let out a long, dragon-like roar. A set of hazy yellow battle armor materialized over his body, its surface covered entirely in metallic scales that shielded him from head to toe without a single gap. A pair of enormous bronze wings spread from his back.
The wings beat once, and a trail of afterimages bloomed across the sky. From a distance, it looked as though countless figures blanketed half the heavens — the spectacle was nothing short of staggering.
Both the volley of emerald bristles and the giant lizard's tail swept through empty air beneath those uncanny escape techniques.
However, the two of them did not dare pause their flight for even a heartbeat in midair, because those emerald streaks circled back as though possessed of a spirit and continued to pursue them relentlessly, while the great tail, after shimmering with an odd radiance, had begun to phase in and out of semi-invisibility. It whipped up gale after gale as it gave chase without relent.
For a time, the giant lizard and the two cultivators were locked in a spirited chase across the sky.
Even though the lizard had devoted more than half its attention to the pair, it still kept a wary eye on its great foe, the Thousand-Eyed Giant, at all times — afraid the creature might seize the spirit fruit while it was distracted. But upon glancing over, the lizard felt somewhat reassured.