Upon hearing this, Lei Lan and Bai Bi's expressions changed. They hurriedly flew back into the spirit carriage.
In an instant, the carriage transformed into a ball of milky-white spirit light and tore through the void, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Almost simultaneously, from a pitch-black, lightless region on the third level of the Earth Abyss, a startled cry of surprise rang out.
An exceptionally pale and slender arm extended from the darkness, and clutched between its fingers was a yellow-tinged wooden spirit tablet carved with a ghostly face.
"What happened? The Eight-Faced Beast's soul fire has been extinguished. Hmph, that useless waste of a beast — he can't even handle such a trivial matter! It seems the person who's interfered with my plans has some ability after all. Fine, such a minor matter can be dealt with later. As long as these people haven't left the Earth Abyss, I'll be able to find them eventually," the woman muttered coldly with a tone of absolute confidence, and then the darkness fell silent once more.
Two days later, first level of the Earth Abyss.
A faint white blur drifted across a vast expanse of black grassland when, without warning, over a dozen dark figures burst from the towering blades of grass, hurtling low toward the sky.
They turned out to be a pack of over a dozen enormous mantises, their faces hideous and their eyes gleaming an eerie green.
They stood nearly three feet tall, their bodies black as iron.
A series of booming sounds erupted from within the carriage, and over a dozen silver arcs of lightning shot from the white blur, striking each of the insect beasts with unerring precision.
The massive mantises crumbled into ash without so much as a sound, vanishing into thin air.
Four days later, in a region thick with towering stone spires, the spirit carriage soared boldly through the air while below, several stone demons — creatures that appeared to be assembled from broken rubble — leaped nimbly from pillar to pillar, refusing to fall behind.
A whooshing sound of splitting air rang out as countless golden threads flashed from the carriage and, in the span of a heartbeat, pierced through the bodies of every stone demon. The threads then constricted with tremendous force.
After a burst of golden light flared outward, the stone demons shattered into countless fragments, thoroughly destroyed.
Seven days later, above a vast valley shrouded in churning gray-white mist,
Both Lei Lan and Bai Bi could not hide the joy in their eyes.
The flying carriage beneath their feet had vanished without a trace. Whether it had been destroyed by the monsters encountered along the way, or stowed away by Han Li, was unclear.
"It seems there's nothing out of the ordinary here. Let's go in. If we follow this path downward for a day, we can reach the second level. This place is so remote that the exit should be relatively safe — it's unlikely anyone would set up an ambush here," Han Li said. He then spread his wings and was the first to plunge into the mist.
The two Holy Children of the Heavenly Peng Clan had no intention of retreating at this point. With solemn expressions, they followed close behind.
The gray mist was not particularly dense; even deep within it, one could faintly make out the surroundings within a dozen zhang or so.
Several winged serpents, each about a foot long, periodically darted from the mist to attack the trio.
But naturally, all of them were dispatched with ease.
After about an hour, they finally emerged from the fog and found themselves at the far end of the valley.
There, carved into the enormous cliff face at one end of the valley, was a massive crack that had split open of its own accord.
It wound and twisted downward, plunging into the depths of the earth.
Upon seeing this fissure, Han Li smiled. Without the slightest hesitation, he led the two behind him straight into it.
Three orbs of spirit light flew deeper and deeper into the crack, making several turns before finally vanishing from sight.
A day and a night later, near a massive downward-opening crevice, a series of strange, thunderous sounds suddenly erupted.
A gale of black wind surged from the opening, coating the nearby stone walls in a layer of pale black ice — the cold was clearly extreme.
But seizing the opportunity, three orbs of light of different colors burst from the wind, flickering several times before reappearing several dozen zhang away, where they resolved into three clearly visible figures.
It was none other than Han Li and his companions.
"The Abyss Wind in that passage is far too fierce — I nearly couldn't make it through. Why wasn't this mentioned in any of the intelligence reports?" Bai Bi looked back toward the crevice they had exited, his face drained of all color.
"If the intelligence didn't mention it, this wind must be a recent phenomenon. Otherwise, our clan's predecessors would certainly have noted it," Lei Lan said, her lovely face also showing signs of considerable cultivation depletion. She could not help but glance toward Han Li.
Han Li stood with his arms folded, surveying the area around them with an expression showing not the faintest trace of strain, bearing no signs of cultivation loss whatsoever.
"Could the gap in power between a low-grade Spirit General and a high-grade Spirit General really be this vast?" The thought of how she had nearly failed to hold on until they flew out of the fissure — and how she had only survived thanks to Han Li stepping in — filled Lei Lan with a profound sense of helplessness.
"We've already wasted too much time on the first level. There's no need to squander more on the second level searching for Netherflame Fruit. We should head straight for the third level," Han Li said, withdrawing his gaze and speaking in a tone that brooked no argument.