Chapter 1052: Running Away First

Chapter 1052: Running Away First

"I don't know the answer to that, I just felt like this skeleton was rather strange, so I thought I'd have you take a look at it," Weeping Soul replied.

Han Li nodded in response as he observed the skeleton in silence.

Right at this moment, he suddenly turned to a certain direction, then swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light as he said, "Su Anqian and the others are coming, so stay in the Flower Branch domain for now."

Weeping Soul gave an affirmative response before flying into the door of silver light, following which Han Li sped away in a certain direction.

Moments later, several dozen streaks of light of different colors appeared on the distant horizon, traveling in a slightly different direction from Han Li.

Han Li immediately began approaching the streaks of light, and they also changed directions to meet him.

Before long, the two parties met, and Han Li found himself face to face with Su Anqian, Jin Liu, and around thirty to forty other people.

Valley Master Fu and all of the High Zenith cultivators were still among them, but all of them were carrying injuries and looking rather worse for wear.

"You're Fellow Daoist Shi, right? You were with Fellow Daoist Yu, weren't you? How are you still alive? Where's everyone else?" Su Anqian asked.

"We encountered many powerful metal beasts beyond the stone gate, and everyone was killed by those metal beasts. I was fortunate enough to escape with several other fellow daoists, but we've all been split up since then. Thank heavens I managed to run into all of you," Han Li replied as he feigned an expression of lingering fear.

Everyone had already guessed that this would be the case, but grim looks still appeared on their faces upon hearing this.

A hint of derision flashed through Jin Liu's eyes at the sight of Han Li's fearful display, and he sneered, "You really are lucky, aren't you?"

Han Li pretended to not have heard the mockery in Jin Liu's voice as he gave an earnest nod and replied, "Indeed, Fellow Daoist, I've always had very good luck. Otherwise, I would've surely perished to those metal beasts as well."

Jin Liu was momentarily rendered speechless by Han Li's clueless response, following which he asked, "There must've been treasures inside that golden area, right, Fellow Daoist Shi? What were they, and who's in possession of them right now?"

A look of greed flashed through his eyes as he raised this question.

"There were no treasures at all in that area. On top of that, as soon as we went in, we were attacked by the metal beasts, and I was only just barely able to escape by the skin of my teeth," Han Li replied.

"Is that right?" Jin Liu asked as he raised an eyebrow, making his suspicion abundantly clear.

"Did we not agree that everyone gets to keep the treasures that they secure from that area? Why are you interrogating Fellow Daoist Shi all of a sudden?" Valley Master Fu suddenly interjected.

"Please don't misunderstand, Valley Master Fu, I have no intention of taking his treasures from him. Instead, I just wanted to make a deal with him. If there was nothing inside, then I suppose there's no deal to be made," Jin Liu replied.

"Any deals can wait until after we've all left the Eon Pagoda. Fellow Daoist Shi, you arrived on this second level ahead of all of us, have you discovered anything?" Su Anqian asked.

"I'm afraid not. I've been stumbling around in here for quite some time already, but there seems to be nothing but sand here," Han Li replied.

Su Anqian's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

Bursts of intense heat surged out of the sea of flames, causing the nearby space to tremble and warp, as if it were about to be set alight.

The sea of fire then rose up to form a giant fiery wave that was over a thousand feet tall at the man's behest, and it swept toward the swarm of insects, swallowing up thousands of Fire Age Fireflies in the blink of an eye.

The Fire Age Fireflies that had been swept up by the crimson flames were immediately thrown into a state of disarray, tumbling end over end as if they had lost control of their own bodies.

An elated look appeared on the man's face upon seeing this, but it only lingered for a moment before vanishing without a trace.

After briefly stumbling around within the crimson flames, the Fire Age Fireflies spread their wings to stabilize themselves, then continued flying toward the red-faced man, seemingly completely unharmed by his fire.

A look of alarm and fury appeared on the man's face upon seeing this, and he let loose a thunderous roar as he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a fiery red scroll that gave off tremendous fire law power fluctuations, clearly indicating that it was an immortal treasure of a very high caliber.

He cast a rapid string of incantation seals into the scroll, which immediately unfurled to form a radiant fiery barrier around him.

In the next instant, countless Fire Age Fireflies swarmed over the red-faced man and the fiery crimson barrier around him, forming an enormous cocoon.

One Fire Age Firefly flew into the fiery barrier after another, rapidly whittling it down at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, and in the blink of an eye, the fiery barrier had been completely snuffed out, reverting it back to a crimson scroll.

However, the scroll currently resembled an uncared for artifact from countless years past, and it was riddled with creases and tears and completely devoid of spiritual nature.

Countless Fire Age Fireflies converged around the red-faced man like an enormous swarm of mosquitoes, burrowing their way through the protective spiritual light around his body with ease.

The man screamed in horror and agony as he struggled with all his might, frantically trying to swat away the Fire Age Fireflies, but to no avail.

He began to age rapidly right before everyone's eyes, and in no more than the blink of an eye, he had been reduced to a severely eroded skeleton, while his clothes had also been eroded into nothingness.

Following his demise, the swarm of insects lost all interest in him, allowing his remains to fall to the ground while they set off in pursuit of other targets.

It didn't take long before the other Golden Immortals at the very back of the group were also caught by the swarm of insects, and a string of bloodcurdling howls rang out, only to then instantly trail off into silence.

All of a sudden, a look of recognition appeared in Jin Liu's eyes, and he yelled in a horrified manner, "I remember what those things are now, they're Fire Age Fireflies! They're born with time law powers in their bodies, and they can release flames of time that can incinerate the lifespans of other living beings! How are there so many of them here?!"

Everyone else's expressions changed drastically upon hearing this, and they hurriedly unleashed some secret techniques to enhance their own speed, ensuring that they were able to at least maintain the same speed as the swarm of insects behind them.

"Fire Age Fireflies are extremely sensitive to living, physical bodies, so conceal your physical auras and fly to the side to avoid directly facing the swarm!" Su Anqian yelled.

Everyone hurriedly did as they were told, concealing their physical auras before flying collectively flying away to the left.

Han Li also heeded this advice, channeling his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique to conceal his own physical aura.

As a result, the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies was instantly thrown into a state of directionless disarray, as if they had suddenly lost track of everyone.

This naturally came as a huge relief, but with the horrific fates suffered by the red-faced man and the others still fresh in everyone's minds, no one dared to let their guards down as they continued to flee with all their might.