A Mortal’s Journey to Immortality: Wang Yu’s Rebirth as the Reincarnation Dao Ancestor - Chapter 190

Chapter 186 Han Li’s Inner Discomfort (Add 3k words)

Yuan Yao and Han Li, a man and a woman, rode the Icefire Wolf at a rapid pace.

Their four hooves were firmly planted on the ground, so they weren’t flying and

therefore wouldn’t trigger the anti-flying restrictions.

The Icefire Wolf exuded a chilling aura, easily neutralizing the approaching heat.

With the demonic power of a level seven Icefire Wolf, it could easily release chilling energy for half a month or even longer, let alone just a few days. Furthermore,

once its demonic power was nearly depleted, the Icefire Wolf could transform into a fire wolf form to absorb the heat of the area and replenish its demonic power.

This was the Icefire Wolf’s greatest advantage in adapting to this place.

“Husband, this place is so dangerous.”

Upon arriving at a lava swamp area, Yuan Yao turned around, a hint of tension in her voice.

On the back of the Icefire Wolf, Han Li hummed in agreement, nodding as he witnessed the entire ordeal of a cultivator being robbed several miles below the hill.

That cultivator was in the mid-stage of the Core Formation realm.

Restricted by the no-fly zone, they couldn’t fly, lest they attract deadly lightning. To conserve their limited mana for unforeseen circumstances, they were forced to dart and leap among the exposed rocks of the lava swamp, using them to cross the swamp.

However, no one expected that one of these rocks was a fire-type demon spirit in disguise.

The mid-stage Core Formation cultivator stepped on it and immediately fell into a trap.

After a fierce battle, although he had luckily killed the high-level demon spirit, he was seriously injured and had consumed a considerable amount of mana.

Crucially, his fire-repelling artifact was damaged, requiring even more mana to maintain its effect and resist the intense heat and fire poison of the area.

To save time and cross the lava road canyon as quickly as possible, he had to push forward desperately.

Then,

he lost his footing

and fell into yet another natural trap.

It turned out that many parts of the lava swamp, seemingly solid, were actually hollow underneath. Given that a Core Formation cultivator’s divine sense cannot penetrate deeply enough to explore the specific conditions beneath the swamp, they would have no idea what great surprises lay hidden below without stepping on it.

In the outside world,

this design wouldn’t pose a problem for cultivators.

Everyone has ways to find a safe path.

But here, where is the time to test everyone’s abilities?

With only five more days to complete the challenge, it’s a test of both strength and luck.

That mid-Core Formation cultivator, lacking both strength and luck, fell into the lava pit and never climbed out.

“Let’s go. Since he chose to challenge the lava path, he must have been prepared to perish.”

Therefore, there’s nothing to regret.

He respects others’ choices and, more importantly, their fates.

So, he sent the Ice-Fire Wolf closer.

With each stomp of the Ice-Fire Wolf, seven or eight zhang of lava in the swamp would freeze into blue crystals. As soon as its foot left, the frozen area would quickly melt back into crimson magma.

In this way, they quickly approached the lava pit where the previous person had been buried.

After freezing the area, Han Li used his magical power to reach down and retrieve several pieces of charred bone fragments, melted by the lava and reduced to blackened pieces, from a depth of thirty feet.

There was also a damaged, gleaming blue jade pendant, and some items that hadn’t been destroyed by the lava.

These included a fragment of a Void Heaven Map, three materials for crafting magic weapons, two finished magic weapons, and two other ancient treasures.

“Quite a fortune,” he thought

, even richer than his master, Hong Fu, who was only a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator back then.

But he wouldn’t hold back.

…

Three hours later.

Han Li and Yuan Yao rode Icefire Wolves, traversing the fiery red forest, crossing lava swamps, walking through crimson grasslands, and even braving a lava river where over a dozen high-level fire-type demon spirits nested…

They traveled thousands of miles, passing through more than twenty dangerous places, and slaying twenty or thirty high-level demon spirits.

Finally, they arrived near a black desert.

“Husband, is this the Black Desert?”

“Yes.”

The Black Desert is the latter half of the Lava Road’s trials.

Actually, in the past, such a large and dangerous place as the Black Desert wouldn’t have appeared.

However, since the Star Palace broke some of the restrictions here a thousand years ago, they could control certain powerful traps to ensnare people.

The Black Desert on the Lava Road, paired with the Iron Fire Ants, is the work of two enforcement elders of the Star Palace.

In the Xuanjing Path, it’s the “Blood Ice Forest” paired with the Silver Light Rat.

This is a sneak attack targeting all cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage.

Even those in the late Core Formation stage are highly likely to fail.

“Are they including me?”

Han Li sighed softly.

“Perhaps they don’t even take me, a Core Formation elder of the White Water Sword Sect, seriously…” So

what if I die?

That’s true.

The White Water Sword Sect is merely an outer force of the Star Palace.

It’s a branch.

In the eyes of the Nascent Soul elders of the Star Palace, even the Core Formation cultivators of the Star Palace itself are just dispensable consumables. How could they possibly value the Core Formation cultivators of an outer branch?

Rationally, he understood the logic—after all, he wasn’t an important figure in the Star Palace, nor was he a blood relative of those two old guys who controlled part of the restrictions of the Void Heaven Palace. Why would they give him special treatment or back channels?

But emotionally, he still felt uncomfortable. He was

somewhat frustrated and annoyed.

“Then, husband, should we wait here for Senior Sister?”

“No need. I’ll try my best to wipe out the iron fire ants along the way and give my gold-devouring insects a good meal. When Yanli arrives, she’ll find the traces we left behind and then catch up.”

“Okay.”

Understood.

The next moment, Han Li led Yuan Yao into the black desert of this area.

The so-called black desert was actually a kind of black iron ore.

After being heated by the high-temperature restriction, it was scalding hot.

Cultivators walking on it were not much better than walking on the leaves of red wild grass.

What makes this place even more dangerous is the presence of the Ironfire Ant, the 37th ranked rare insect on the Spirit Control Sect’s list of rare insects.

Sure enough,

just as the two stepped into the Black Desert and ventured two miles deeper, a sudden change occurred.

The once tranquil Black Desert seemed to come alive.

Countless black iron grains of sand floated up and danced in the air.

Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be tiny black flying ants hovering in the air, their wings flapping.

“These are Ironfire Ants?”

Yuan Yao asked seriously.

“Let’s go, test their quality,”

Han Li suggested.

Ironfire Ants are one of several extremely powerful flying ant-like spirit insects.

When moving in swarms, they can automatically condense into weapon forms to attack and can also spew black flames.

When camouflaged and lying in wait, they are exactly the same as the iron sand ore found everywhere in the Black Desert, making them difficult to distinguish even with divine sense. A single careless move could send a Nascent Soul cultivator stumbling into a swarm’s trap.

In terms of defense, these strange insects are no less formidable than the Gold-Eating Insects; both are quite extraordinary. They are practically impervious to blades and spears.

Moreover, Ironfire Ants are immune to most magical attacks.

Except for mid-level and higher water and ice attribute spells, and a few other attribute spells that can harm them, these flying ants have almost no weaknesses.

Furthermore, they are even superior to the Gold-Eating Insects in resisting direct attacks from magical treasures.

The only pity is that they cannot recognize a master.

Once a forced contract is formed, all the Ironfire Ants will spontaneously explode and die, without exception.

The current swarm only numbers three or four thousand, perfect for Yuan Yao to practice on.

Then,

as expected,

Yuan Yao’s ordinary methods were completely ineffective against the Ironfire Ant swarm.

Not only did she destroy an ordinary magical artifact, but she herself was also put in grave danger.

Originally,

Yuan Yao wanted to use water-based magic to inflict some damage on the Ironfire Ant swarm, but the extremely high temperature here greatly reduced the power of her water-based magic, ultimately only giving the raging, black-fire-breathing Ironfire Ants a cold shower.

Helpless, she could only temporarily retreat from the desert.

“How are you feeling?”

Han Li asked with a smile.

“They’re really tough. Each one feels like a level 2 demonic beast. Once they combine and condense into a weapon, they’re terrifying. Any single attack is comparable to a late-stage Core Formation cultivator unleashing the full power of a magic weapon. I even lost an ordinary magic weapon I used for testing.”

Yuan Yao said dejectedly,

“Besides, even with water-based spells to help me, even after consuming almost half my mana, I’ve only managed to eliminate a little over a thousand. At this rate, I have no chance of crossing this vast desert within five days.”

She thought that reaching the late-stage Core Formation stage would be enough to help her husband, but she was still just a burden.

“Don’t be discouraged. It’s already quite good that you managed to get out of the desert on your own.”

You see, many mid-stage and even late-stage Core Formation cultivators have perished under these iron fire ants.

Yuan Yao only used half her mana to kill over a thousand; she figured that if she were willing to sacrifice the remaining mana, she could easily defeat these thousands of iron fire ants.

Then, they walked a long distance through the black desert.

“Does my husband have a plan?”

Han Li smiled upon hearing this.

In the next instant, several spirit beast pouches at his waist opened simultaneously, and tens of thousands of Gold-Eating Insects flew out.

“To deal with spirit insects, we’ll use spirit insects.”

“Perfect, I have quite a few here too.”

Han Li cracked his knuckles.

Immediately, several enormous swarms of insects surged towards the Ironfire Ant swarm like a tidal wave.

Individually stronger, and far more numerous.

Their

control was more precise, and they also possessed a suppression of the Ironfire Ants’ divine sense.

Under these circumstances, he couldn’t imagine how the remaining two or three thousand Ironfire Ants could possibly contend with over sixty thousand Gold-Eating Insects.

However,

the Ironfire Ants were also tenacious.

Even with an absolute disadvantage in numbers, they refused to retreat an inch, vowing to defend their territory to the death.

Nearly three thousand flying ants transformed into three small streams, colliding with the six massive streams of ten thousand insects formed from the sixty thousand Gold-Eating Insects.

In just one exchange, over a thousand Ironfire Ants lost their life force, turning into fragments and falling to the ground.

The fire ants were enraged, coalescing into a massive hammer and swinging it with tremendous force towards the gold-devouring insect swarm.

The gold-devouring insects nimbly transformed into a large net, enveloping the hammer and skillfully deflecting its force before swarming in to devour it. In just a dozen breaths, the gold-devouring insects dispersed again, but where was the fire ants’ hammer?

The area was completely clean, not even a single fire ant’s wing remained.

All had been devoured by the gold-devouring insects who had swiftly cleaned up the battlefield.

And throughout the entire process, not a single gold-devouring insect had perished!

This scene left Yuan Yao speechless

and utterly shocked.

Only those who had experienced it firsthand knew how troublesome the fire ants were. Only those who had experienced it

firsthand knew how terrifying the gold-devouring insect swarm, which had so easily wiped out the fire ants, truly was.

She then realized the unfathomable depths of her husband.

…

In a dark corner of the Grand Canyon, two white-robed elders calmly conversed:

“Was it a bit too hasty to use the Ironfire Ants and Silverlight Rats this time? In the past, while our Star Palace has sometimes tampered with treasure hunts, it was relatively discreet. But this time, the Black Desert and Blood Ice Forest have expanded more than twenty times; it feels far too obvious. Aside from a lucky few who won’t encounter these two perilous places, most of the other cultivators, especially those in the Core Formation stage, will likely perish here…”

In previous trials, those in the early Core Formation stage with deeper foundations had a chance of passing.

Those in the mid-Core Formation stage had a good chance. Those in the late

Core Formation stage had a relatively easier time.

But this time, let alone the mid-Core Formation stage, even the late Core Formation stage would have to think twice. Even

Nascent Soul cultivators could suffer losses if they weren’t careful.

“Wan Tianming and the others are not to be fooled.”

“No need to fool them; they know perfectly well. The only one to watch out for is that old codger, Ji Yin. He actually brought so many demonic offspring this time. Heh, I hope they don’t all die too easily.”

“Ji Yin won’t go mad, nor would he dare to. That old demon is extremely conscious of his life; he would never dare to be an enemy of our Star Palace.”

“Indeed.”

“As for that Core Formation cultivator from the White Water Sword Sect, what a pity…”

“For the great cause of our Holy Palace, his sacrifice was worthwhile.”

“We should have sent him a telepathic warning earlier…”

“No, sending a random telepathic message could easily be intercepted by Barbarian Beard and Wan Tianming. It’s better not to take that risk, otherwise both the righteous and demonic paths will know how many restrictions of the Void Heaven Palace we control. Besides, he’s just a mere Core Formation stage cultivator; it’s not worth us making exceptions for him…” It

would be more appropriate for Young Master Yu Ling to do it.

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(End of Chapter)