Those Green Spirit Race members were instantly reduced to ash amid the deafening booms.
Of nearly a thousand alien cultivators, only a scant few dozen remained.
The surviving Green Spirit Race members were terrified to the core upon witnessing this scene. They finally realized that the enemy aboard the massive vessel was far beyond anything they could contend with, and one after another they turned and fled in panic.
Han Li watched the scene unfold with cold indifference, showing no intention of giving chase. He was about to turn and head back into the cabin when a sharp whistling sound suddenly rang out from the distant horizon behind them. Three dazzling streaks of light shot toward them like rainbow arcs tearing across the sky.
Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly and remained standing at the bow, gazing back without moving another muscle.
Moments later, the three streaks of light converged and faded, revealing one woman and two men — three powerful Green Spirit Race experts.
Upon taking in the surroundings and seeing how many of their clan's elite had been killed and wounded, all three wore expressions of mingled shock and fury.
They had anticipated that their opponents would be formidable and that their clansmen would be unable to halt their advance, but even with the ability to draw upon the power of the Green Sea, the sheer scale of the casualties far exceeded their expectations.
After all, from the moment they had finished their brief consultation to the moment they came flying after the ship, barely the time it took to drink a cup of tea had elapsed.
When the three Green Spirit Race cultivators finally directed their gazes toward Han Li, they exchanged startled glances with one another, each seeing a flicker of horror in their companions' eyes.
"A Mahayana existence — it really is a human Mahayana cultivator!"
Han Li regarded the three with a calm, indifferent look. At a single glance he could tell that their cultivation was merely at the mid or late stages of the Body Integration — not worth worrying about in the slightest.
"A human has truly produced a Mahayana cultivator. May we know your honored name, Senior? Given your level of cultivation, to strike so viciously against juniors — don't you feel that's a rather unfair display of bullying the weak?" The Green Spirit Race woman took a deep breath and spoke with barely concealed indignation.
"Bullying the weak? They dared to obstruct my path. If I didn't kill a few, I'm afraid my fellow cultivators of comparable standing would laugh me to scorn if word got out. As for my name — there's no need for you to know it." Han Li replied noncommittally.
"You've come from the outside world?" The robust man caught something in Han Li's words, and his expression shifted at once.
"What if I have, and what if I haven't?" Han Li said with effortless composure.
"If you truly have come from outside, then for the sake of every race in the Small Spirit Heaven and their future, the three of us may have no choice but to ask you to remain here in the Green Sea for a time." The gaunt-faced man's eyes flashed with cold light as he spoke.
"Three mere Body Integration cultivators, and you dare speak such bold words before me? Are you counting on that Ancient Tree Ancestral Spirit to possess you?" Han Li chuckled, a faintly mocking smile playing at the corners of his lips.
"You know of the Ancient Tree Ancestral Spirits. It seems you didn't wander into this realm by accident." The robust man's pupils contracted as he spoke thoughtfully.
Han Li gave a soft laugh but made no further comment.
"Fellow Daoists, it seems words are useless. We have no choice but to summon the Ancestral Spirits to possess us. For the future of our race, we absolutely must capture this man. And three against one — the odds should favor us." The Green Spirit Race woman's expression turned severe.
The other two men nodded in agreement.
Based on their long record of past victories, all three had near-religious faith in the might of the Ancient Tree Ancestral Spirits. Even facing a Mahayana existence — something the Small Spirit Heaven had never before seen — they were still brimming with confidence.
All three then raised their left arms simultaneously. The long sleeves covering them tore away at once, each revealing a vividly detailed image of an ancient tree tattooed on the flesh of their arms.
The three ancient tree images were all different. One depicted an ancient tree of deep, verdant green, its branches thick with luxuriant foliage. Another showed a towering, straight ancient tree gleaming with radiant silver light, its leaves sharp as blades. The last was an ancient tree of dazzling, multicolored hues, its boughs covered in all manner of exotic blossoms both large and small.
"Ancestral Spirits, descend!"
The three Green Spirit Race cultivators simultaneously pinched a hand seal with their other hands and uttered a low shout. Immediately, a swirl of emerald light swept across their arms, and a translucent phantom of a small tree roughly a foot tall materialized on each.
Far below in the dense forest, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth suddenly surged. Countless threads of green light were drawn from every tree and rushed like a tide toward the small tree phantoms floating above the Green Spirit Race cultivators' arms.
In the span of an instant, the surfaces of the three small tree phantoms blazed with frantic green light, expanding wildly in circle after circle until they transformed into colossal ancient trees over a hundred zhang tall, their crowns scraping the sky.
The three Green Spirit Race cultivators vanished from where they had been standing.
On the trunks of the three great trees, a moment of blurring distortion passed, and a face emerged on each one. Upon closer inspection of the three faces' features, they were unmistakably the two men and one woman of the Green Spirit Race who had disappeared moments ago.
"So this is the Ancient Tree Ancestral Spirit? How truly fascinating. And what remarkably pure wood-attribute spiritual energy!"
Han Li could sense the formidable auras emanating from the three colossal trees, and a trace of surprise flickered across his face.
Then the three great trees blurred and warped once more, transforming into three giants of distinctly different appearance.
One giant had a mane of green hair cascading over its shoulders, wore a set of azure wooden armor, and held nothing in either hand.
A second giant was somewhat slimmer in build, bore a pair of radiant wings on its back, and gripped a massive sword that shimmered with green light.
The third and tallest giant was clad in a suit of silver armor studded with barbs, and each hand held a great silver hammer.
The moment these three giants finished their transformation, the one with the flowing green hair immediately spoke in a deep, resonant voice: