When even Shi Kun spoke these words, Liu Shui'er's willow-leaf brows knit tightly together for a good while before she finally let out a soft sigh and agreed.
However, they were not far from where they had parted ways with the two Sea King Clan cultivators, so it was obviously out of the question to sit down and meditate here.
If those two changed their minds, or lured some other fierce beast or alien race to the area, Han Li and his two companions would find themselves in immediate danger.
The trio therefore flew onward for another half day before finally catching sight of a small, pale-green mountain in the distance. The spiritual energy inside was fairly dense.
To be cautious, all three swept the mountain from top to bottom with their spiritual sense several times over.
All three relaxed.
The mountain was not tall, but a pack of grey wolf beasts had taken up residence in it. Their cultivation was all exceedingly low — the strongest among them being at most around the Foundation Establishment stage.
With that settled, the three descended on streaks of light and wiped the pack out without the slightest effort.
The wolves' cave at the mountain's mid-slope was actually quite nice — the spiritual energy was rich, and although there was a faint stench, a quick cleansing with Liu Shui'er's water-attribute magical power freshened the place up nicely.
The three claimed the cave, each taking a corner, and sat cross-legged to meditate.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
When Han Li completed one Grand Heavenly Cycle Circulation of the Magical Power within his body, he seemed to sense something and slowly opened his eyes, sweeping his gaze outward.
The cloaked woman seated on the other side happened to open her beautiful eyes at the same moment, and her gaze met Han Li's directly.
A sharp light flickered in her pupils — her Magical Power had clearly been fully restored.
"I congratulate the fairy on making a full recovery." Han Li smiled faintly and spoke in a composed tone.
"This little sister is deeply ashamed — I've been a burden to Brother Han." Liu Shui'er sighed softly.
"Heh heh, earlier in the Dark Beast Forest, if Fairy Liu hadn't held those four high-ranked dark beasts at bay by herself, how could Fellow Daoist Shi and I have escaped unscathed?" Han Li replied in an offhand manner.
"Haha, Brother Han, I can hardly agree with that. With your unfathomable powers, you may not have been able to annihilate all those dark beasts on your own, but breaking through the encirclement single-handedly would surely have been more than sufficient. For Fellow Daoist Shi and me to have lost only a trickle of vital essence and still escape the Dark Beast Forest — that's already a far better outcome than we could have hoped for." From the other corner of the cave, Shi Kun had also opened his eyes, and he broke in with a hearty laugh.
"You two think too highly of me. I do have a few formidable techniques, but most of them can only be used once. If I were surrounded by too many dark beasts, whether I could actually preserve my life would be an open question. Heh heh — but with Fellow Daoist Shi's extraordinary physical toughness, as long as you don't try to go head-to-head, breaking through an encirclement should be more than enough for you." Han Li stroked his chin and gave Shi Kun a half-smiling look.
"Perhaps. Since Fairy Liu's Magical Power has been restored, let's be on our way. The sooner we find the ruins of that restriction array, the sooner we can breathe easy." Shi Kun chuckled softly and abruptly rose to his feet.
Han Li and Liu Shui'er exchanged a glance but raised no objections.
A short while later, three streaks of light in different colors shot out from the mountainside, spiraled once, and then pierced through the sky and vanished.
…
Six or seven days later, the trio found themselves surrounded by swarms of strange birds, each bearing four wings on its back and spitting wind blades from their beaks.
Han Li and his companions each activated their respective treasures. Under a deluge of radiant light, showers of blood rained down from the sky, and the birds were all annihilated within the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
…
Half a month later, at the edge of a vast, seemingly endless lake in the middle of a grassland, Han Li and his two companions held their breath and reduced their streaks of light to faint afterimages, drifting along high overhead in utter silence, not daring to release even a trace of aura.
On the lake's surface below, a group of enormous creatures — neither horse nor fish — floated lazily near the shore.
Water columns as thick as water barrels shot from the mouths of these mountain-sized monsters, sprayed playfully at one another. When the columns struck their targets, they simply burst apart in a flash of blue light and vanished.
Occasionally a column missed its mark and struck the dry land instead. The resulting boom would shake the earth, and craters dozens of zhang across would instantly crater the shoreline — a truly terrifying sight.
Fortunately, Han Li's group were all skilled in concealment, and these titanic beasts were too caught up in their game to notice three tiny figures — no bigger than ants to them — drifting overhead.
The trio passed safely above the lake at last.
…