Chapter 666: Translucent Lotus Flower
Han Li hovered in mid-air as he carefully observed the pond below for a moment, and he discovered that the lotus flowers on the pond appeared to be distributed in a completely haphazard fashion, but in reality, they were arranged into a large array.
After a brief moment of contemplation, he descended onto the pond, then looked down with his Infernal Devilish Eye, which allowed him to see the distribution of lotus flowers over the pond with even greater clarity.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he swept a hand through the air, releasing a burst of silver flames that transformed into a silver fire raven, which flew in a circle around the pond, and all of the lotus pads in the pond were instantly set alight.
Within mere moments, all of the lotus pads in the pond had been incinerated into ashes by the Essence Fire Raven, and the pond had become completely barren and lifeless.
Even so the dense white mist over the pond refused to dissipate, and the lotus flowers also still remained.
This seemed to have come as no surprise to Han Li, and he made a beckoning motion to summon the Essence Fire Raven back to himself.
Upon flying back to Han Li, the fire raven transformed into a tiny silver figure that skipped its way onto his shoulder.
The silver figure then began to look around with a perplexed expression, wondering why Han Li had instructed it to burn down all of the lotus flowers in the pond, but not finish the job.
If it had been granted just a little more time, it would've reduced all of the lotus flowers to ashes as well.
All of a sudden, specks of green light began to appear around the lotus flowers, following which some green buds began to sprout among them, and the surrounding mist also began to swirl violently.
Shortly thereafter, the buds began to unfurl at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, and before long, the entire pond was filled with lotus pads once again.
This was not the result of some illusion. Instead, there was simply such an immense abundance of spiritual qi in the pond that these lotus pads were able to almost instantly regrow, albeit with the assistance of an array.
The silver figure's eyes widened with shock upon seeing this, and silver flames rose up all over its body as it prepared to swoop down to incinerate the lotus pads once again.
However, Han Li raised a hand to pat it on the head, indicating for it to stay put, and the flames around its body faded, following which it flew back up Han Li's sleeve.
At this point, the layout of the pond had already become clear to him, and he flew several thousand feet horizontally, arriving above one of the pink lotus flowers before reaching down toward it.
He then made a grabbing motion, and a large azure hand appeared, then grabbed onto the pink lotus flower before uprooting it.
Its roots were glowing blue, and there was an incredibly beautiful translucent blue lotus flower hanging from them.
As soon as this blue lotus flower emerged from the water, all of the other pink lotus flowers in the pond instantly began to wilt.
However, all of the lotus pads in the pond were still standing instead of also withering away, but they had lost their previous green luster, as if they had also been robbed of their vitality.
The woman was none other than Yan Ziyan, the city lord of Illusory Smoke City.
At this moment, there was a furious look in her eyes, and her brows were tightly furrowed, pushing the red mole on her glabella. She was holding a purple jade lute, and her fingers were quickly strumming over the lute's strings.
Beautiful maidens conjured up out of illusory smoke emerged one after another, and all of them were holding curved purple blades as they launched themselves at the hunch-backed elderly man, who was swaying back and forth on the plaza in front of the palace, evading the oncoming smoky maidens with ease.
His cultivation base was far superior to Yan Ziyan's, so there was no fear in his eyes, whatsoever. Instead, his eyes were filled with mockery, and he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the experience of having so many beautiful women around him, even if they were only conjured up out of smoke.
His gaze was blatantly roaming over Yan Ziyan's chest and backside, and there was perverted smile on his face as he chuckled, "You and I stuck in the middle of nowhere in these ruins, all by ourselves, so why don't we engage in some more fun activities than senseless battle, City Lord Yan?"
"You recognize me?" Yan Ziyan asked in a grim voice.
"How could I not? You're the mistress of the vastly renowned Palace Master Fu. Unfortunately for you, Fu Yuanhai isn't around to save you in these ruins," the elderly man chuckled.
"You're nothing but a perverted coward! If you truly had a spine, then you'd discard your Robe Change Order disguise and show me your true appearance! I assure you that once we're out of these ruins, I'll call on Palace Master Fu, and the two of us will pay you a visit together!" Yan Ziyan spat through gritted teeth.
Despite what she was saying, she didn't dare to look down on her opponent. The elderly man's cultivation base was far superior to hers, and if it weren't for the fact that he was intentionally toying with his prey, there was no way that she would've been able to survive to this point completely unscathed.
"Fine. If that's what you want, then your wish is my command." the hunch-backed elderly man said with a smile, then grabbed onto his own collar from behind before wrenching it forward.
As a result, his robes and his skin were torn away, revealing a handsome man in a pristine white robe.
"How about now? Is this appearance of mine more appealing to you?"
Not only had his appearance completely changed, his demeanor and voice had also been drastically altered, and in the blink of an eye, he had become a completely different person.
Yan Ziyan could see that there were no longer any signs of disguise on his body, indicating that this really was his true appearance, and a sense of foreboding immediately welled up in her heart.
The fact that he was willing to reveal his true appearance to her indicated that he was going to make sure that she wasn't going to live to tell the tale of their encounter.
The white-robed young man licked his lips at the sight of Yan Ziyan's apprehensive expression, then burst into laughter as he said, "Rest assured, there's no way I could bring myself to kill a woman as beautiful as you. Instead, I'm going to cut off all of your limbs and deprive you of all of your senses, then add you to my collection."
A chill ran down Yan Ziyan's spine upon hearing this, and she grabbed tightly onto her lute, then suddenly pulled back its strings like bowstrings before releasing them in the white-robed young man's direction.
A loud twang rang out as a pillar of purple light erupted out of the lute, transforming into a giant purple bat that swooped directly toward him.
Within Yan Ziyan's purple spirit domain, the bat let loose a sharp screech, sending invisible soundwaves sweeping through the air.