Amid the swirling black energy, the demonized gold-robed man let out a wretched scream as a massive blood-red hole instantly appeared in his abdomen — the inside was completely hollow, as though his flesh and blood had simply vanished into thin air.
Yet such a blow was clearly insufficient to end the gold-robed man's life.
Although his features were somewhat contorted, he formed a seal with one hand while spreading the fingers of his other hand wide, hastily pressing it toward the wound. Before his palm even made contact with his body, a torrent of rolling black qi surged forth from it.
He clearly intended to heal the injury at once.
But in the very next instant, golden light flickered within the blood-red hole, and countless motes of light eerily materialized.
"No—!"
The moment the gold-robed man beheld this sight, he let out an earth-shattering scream, but it was already too late.
In the blink of an eye, those motes of light became blindingly brilliant, transforming into dense threads of golden luminescence that shot out in every direction at once.
Sharp whistling tore through the air as golden threads wove and flashed through the void. On the surface of the demonized gold-robed man's body, countless blood lines materialized.
Then a vast mist of blood dispersed outward, and innumerable scraps of flesh rained down from the sky.
The Golden Giant Crab's power was truly unfathomable — it had not even needed to unleash its third strike before effortlessly slaying this incarnation of the Nirvana Sovereign. Even the Nascent Soul hidden within the gold-robed man had not escaped the annihilation of the golden threads.
"I have already struck twice, so you still have one remaining chance to call upon me. If you don't require it now, you may come to petition me again in the future. However, this Sacred One can only remain in this location. The next time, you must lure the target you wish me to deal with to the vicinity of the Thunder Sea before I can act." After the golden glow on the Golden Giant Crab's surface dimmed slightly, it spoke once more in its droning monotone.
"You can't leave here? Why is that?" Han Li was taken aback and asked calmly.
"Without sufficient Immortal Spirit Power, I cannot move freely for very long," the Golden Giant Crab replied.
"Immortal Spirit Power… you mean—" Han Li's expression shifted slightly.
"The celestial and terrestrial energy contained in your offerings. The reason I agreed to act is that these offerings contain certain things I require. This Sacred One is a puppet body — every movement consumes Immortal Spirit Power. Half the energy from the offerings I will store away as payment." The Golden Giant Crab proceeded to lay everything out in thorough detail.
"You're a false Immortal puppet? But it seems you've developed spiritual intelligence, so I should address you as 'Fellow Daoist.' The Creation Dew I gave you just now — how long can it sustain your activity?" Han Li's face showed a peculiar look, and his thoughts raced as he asked.
"I am a false Immortal puppet refined in the Upper Realm. Through an unexpected mishap, I drifted down to this Lower Realm. My original master perished in that incident, so after so many millennia, I was able to cultivate a sliver of autonomous spiritual awareness. The Creation Dew you gave me is not the genuine article, but it is the purest immortal dew I have encountered in all these years — it contains roughly half the efficacy of the real thing. A single drop of this false Creation Dew can sustain me in free movement for two months. Of course, that is on the premise that I don't encounter any powerful enemies or engage in combat. Otherwise, once I mobilize my energy reserves, they would only support a few full-power strikes at most." The Golden Giant Crab's eyes flashed with brilliant light as it answered in its droning voice.
"So what you're saying is, the reason you were sleeping here before and never left was simply because you lacked sufficient energy?" Han Li's eyes lit up, and he asked thoughtfully.
"You could put it that way. But this Sacred One's staying here is also because the spiritual energy in this place is the purest in this entire realm. If I slumber here, I expend no energy. And once I've accumulated enough Immortal Spirit Power, there's a chance I might even return to the Upper Realm." The Golden Giant Crab spoke candidly.
"The Upper Realm you speak of — you mean the
"Correct. You people of the Lower Realm do indeed call it the True Immortal Realm or simply the Immortal Realm. But we inhabitants of the Immortal Realm still prefer to call it the Upper Realm," the Golden Giant Crab replied without hesitation.
"It seems your former master was a True Immortal being. No wonder he possessed such a powerful puppet as yourself. However, if I were to provide sufficient energy, would you be willing to follow me for a time?" After rolling his eyes a few times, Han Li suddenly made a startling proposal.
"Have this Sacred One follow you! If you can provide one drop of that false Creation Dew each month, that could be arranged. But if you want me to fight on your behalf as well, the compensation will be calculated separately. And once I've accumulated enough energy, I will leave of my own accord — you must not attempt to stop me." This time, the Golden Giant Crab was silent for a good while before speaking in a deep, measured tone.
"How long would you need to accumulate energy before you have enough Immortal Spirit Power?" Han Li hesitated briefly before counter-questioning.
"The mechanism within me that converts Immortal Spirit Power is severely damaged. With Creation Dew of the sort you provided, I can convert at most one drop per month. If you supply one drop each month, roughly a little over a thousand years should suffice." The Golden Giant Crab blinked its enormous eyes before answering.
"A little over a thousand years! Heh, that's more than enough time. Very well — I agree to provide one drop of Creation Dew each month. Fellow Daoist, come with me during that period." Upon hearing this, Han Li burst into several hearty laughs and spoke without any further hesitation.
"Agreed. But during this period, if you fail to produce the offering in any given month, I will consider it a violation of our contract and will kill you on the spot." The Golden Giant Crab's tone was utterly unyielding.
"That… fine. This junior agrees as well." Han Li wavered for a moment, but when his gaze flickered to the front of his robes, he gritted his teeth and gave his assent.
"In that case, this Sacred One has no further objections. We may enter into a temporary contract." The golden runes on the Golden Giant Crab's body surfaced once more, flickering faintly for a time before its voice rumbled forth.
The Golden Giant Crab then opened its maw and spat out a slab of dark green stone, fully three or four chi in size. With a flash, it appeared before Han Li.