. "Everyone, what do you think about the Worm Spirit's surprise attack on the Hushi Clan's stronghold?" Nuo Qinglin asked, her eyes sweeping over the crowd.

"After spending decades, gathering elites from hundreds of races near and far in front of Dark Star Canyon, they abandoned the Zerg army after a failed attack, and instead launched a solo sneak attack on Red Snail River Valley. This... doesn't make sense..." Wu Lu pondered, rubbing his head.

"This behavior is indeed puzzling, and it doesn't match the Worm Spirit's past nature..." Man Lin also said.

Everyone spoke their minds, but ultimately no one could come up with a reason. However, Nuo Yifan, who had been standing on the side of the hall with the elders of the clan, was now silent and seemed to have realized something.

"Senior Li is at Dark Star Canyon, and the Worm Spirit unreasonably led the Zerg army to attack the Youchen Clan. Senior Li leaves Dark Star Canyon, and the Worm Spirit unreasonably attacks the Hushi Clan... Is there really an internal connection between these two things?"

She remembered that when she first met Senior Li, a strange golden insect had appeared beside him, and its aura was somewhat similar to that of the Worm Spirit. However, she had not thought too much about it because she had seen the golden insect mercilessly kill the Grey Toad Clan. Now, she vaguely began to feel that some clues were emerging.

According to rumors, some species among the Zerg liked to cannibalize each other. Could it be that the Worm Spirit attacked Dark Star Canyon to obtain the golden insect that Senior Li carried?

Thinking of this, Nuo Yifan was even more shocked. This meant that the previous turmoil in Dark Star Canyon was entirely caused by her own actions...

Her face turned pale, and she lowered her head heavily, ultimately not daring to voice her speculation, which she could not yet confirm.

It wasn't that she was afraid of being blamed or even punished by her father or others, but rather that she was afraid of causing other races to become dissatisfied with the Youchen Clan, something she couldn't afford to bear.

...

Time flew by, and several months passed.

After the battle in Red Snail River Valley, although the Taiyi Realm Gold Devouring Immortal severely injured the True Spirit Nine Spirits of the Hushi Clan, he had also exhausted himself greatly. Therefore, his pursuit of Jin Tong had slowed down a lot, allowing Han Li to enjoy a rare period of relatively easy time.

However, this ease was only relative to the embarrassment of being desperately chased by the Gold Devouring Immortal.

In fact, as they ventured deeper into the desolate realm, the surrounding environment became increasingly complex. The strange beasts of the same level as the sand beasts and octopuses they had encountered initially were even more common here, and those with even stronger auras were naturally not uncommon.

Fortunately, having learned from the past and gained some understanding of the complex environment of the desolate realm, Han Li relied on his vast divine sense to avoid them from the beginning, never venturing into their territories.

But even so, he could not avoid some ferocious beasts that actively sought them out. Regardless of their strength, Han Li was unwilling to entangle with them, fearing that he would waste time and slow down his speed.

Yet even so, their speed inevitably slowed down a lot.

One day, at night.

Crab Daoren drove the jade flying chariot, speeding across a vast plain.

Han Li sat cross-legged in the rear of the carriage, holding a black jade slip in his hand, gently stroking it.

His brows were tightly furrowed together, as if he was pondering something, appearing somewhat hesitant.

After a moment, he took a deep breath, raised the jade slip, and pressed it against his forehead.

The jade slip contained nothing other than the fourth layer of the Refinement Art. Although he had devoted himself to understanding this layer of cultivation technique for a period of time after obtaining it, resolving his backlash at the time, he had not been able to fully master it. He had originally wanted to wait until he had crossed the desolate realm and found a stable place to cultivate it properly.

But now, he had no choice but to start early.

The reason was simply to gain some means of self-preservation when facing such a powerful opponent as the Taiyi Realm Gold Devouring Immortal. After all, it was difficult to improve his cultivation realm in a short period of time, but he might have a chance to find some breakthroughs in his own soul cultivation technique, since the Gold Devouring Immortal was also weak in the soul aspect.

As the jade slip shone brightly, Han Li's expression gradually calmed down, and he entered a meditative state.

Jin Tong sat sideways on the edge of the flying chariot with her back to him, her feet dangling in the air.

Since the Taiyi Realm Gold Devouring Immortal seemed to have gradually figured out the means of her hiding in the Pixiu's belly to change direction, he simply stayed in place after she hid in it, waiting for her to come out before continuing to pursue. Therefore, Han Li simply stopped letting her hide in it all the time, but only used this method at critical moments.

As a result, the time she spent outside had become longer.

At this time, Jin Tong had less of the usual smile on her face, and she seemed to have grown up a lot overnight, and was also much more silent.

Being chased by such a powerful mortal enemy for so long was definitely not a pleasant experience.

She lowered her head and looked at the winding river flowing on the plain below, which shimmered with fish scale-like white light under the moonlight. She suddenly remembered that she still had a piece of crystal stone with similar light that she had not finished eating. She quickly took it out, held it in her hands, and took small bites, her face immediately showing a satisfied expression.

At midnight, the bright full moon had passed its zenith, and without the obscuring clouds, it appeared even clearer.

Han Li was bathed in the moonlight, and his body was enveloped in a layer of hazy light, as if plated with a somewhat blurred white light, making his lines appear softer.

However, his body was trembling slightly at this moment, and a celestial eye seemed to have opened between his eyebrows, with strands of crystal silk coming in and out, back and forth, looking very peculiar.

Crab Daoren stood at the front of the flying chariot with his back to Han Li, and couldn't help but look back when he felt the strange fluctuations coming from behind.

His brow furrowed slightly, and a hint of worry flashed in his eyes.

Han Li's divine sense fluctuations at this time seemed a little unstable, like a bubble that was constantly expanding and contracting, or like a ripple that was constantly expanding and shrinking.

In fact, the scene in Han Li's sea of consciousness at this time was indeed like this, only much grander.

All of his divine sense power was in his sea of consciousness, surging back and forth like a tide, the fluctuations becoming larger and larger until they stirred up layers of towering waves.

After a long time, Han Li suddenly opened his eyes and gasped, breathing heavily.

"Uncle, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Jin Tong, who was sitting next to him, was shocked and quickly retracted her legs, jumping to Han Li's side and asking.

Han Li did not answer immediately, but put away the black jade slip with some fatigue, and after taking out a pill and swallowing it, he raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"I'm fine. I was just a little impatient when trying to cultivate just now, and I almost went wrong," he said slowly without explaining in detail.

The fourth layer of the Refinement Art did not have much obscure content, but the further one cultivated it, the greater the risk. If one was not careful, one would cause a storm in the sea of consciousness and go crazy, just like what almost happened just now.

"That's good... Your movements just now startled me," Jin Tong said, exhaling lightly.

"Is there any new movement?" Han Li asked, collecting his thoughts.

"It's still the same as before, sticking to us like a plaster. It should be..." Jin Tong said, carefully feeling her connection with the Gold Devouring Immortal, her face suddenly becoming extremely ugly.

"What? Is it catching up?" Han Li's expression changed, and he immediately understood what had happened, and said quickly.

"Uncle, it didn't have any movement just now, but it suddenly sped up again..." Jin Tong said immediately.

"About how many days will it take to catch up to us?" Han Li asked in a deep voice.

"It won't take many days. At this speed... it will catch up to us in a few hours at most," Jin Tong said with a bitter face.

"Crab Daoren, take a rest for a while, and I'll drive the flying chariot," Han Li said, turning to Crab Daoren.

The latter nodded upon hearing this. Without any extra words, his body flashed and turned into a golden light, flying into Han Li's sleeve and disappearing.

Han Li glanced at the immortal essence stones in the formation on the chariot and estimated that he did not need to replenish them for the time being. He then regained control of the chariot, urging it to shine brightly and rush forward rapidly.

"Don't worry, go back to Xiaobai's belly first and hide your aura. We'll change direction a few times to see if we can shake him off," Han Li said, looking back at Jin Tong and comforting her.

Jin Tong nodded and took out the Soul Armor Talisman, but her hand froze when she was about to stick it on her forehead.

"Is it crazy? It's actually burning its own origin power, and its speed has become faster again... At this rate, it will catch up to us in less than three hours," she exclaimed.

"It seems like its patience has been exhausted," Han Li frowned slightly.

After saying that, the jade flying chariot's speed suddenly decreased and hovered in the air.

"Why did you stop, Uncle..." Jin Tong asked in confusion.

"It's not a solution to keep running away like this. We'll definitely be caught," Han Li said, looking at the deep night sky.

"But Uncle, your time daow紋 haven't fully recovered yet. We definitely don't have any chance of winning if we confront it head-on..." Jin Tong said in surprise.

"Who said we're going to confront it head-on? We're just changing the way we escape. Stick on the Soul Armor Talisman first and stay in Xiaobai's belly," Han Li said, squeezing out a smile.

Jin Tong responded and stuck the talisman on her head.

Han Li then summoned the white jade Pixiu and swallowed Jin Tong, who had transformed into a golden beetle, in one gulp.

After putting away the white jade Pixiu, Han Li couldn't help but frown, muttering, "It's coming really fast..."

At this moment, without Jin Tong needing to sense it, the Gold Devouring Immortal had already entered Han Li's divine sense range. The distance between them was very close.

Han Li waved his hand to put away the jade flying chariot, his eyes slightly narrowed, and strands of silver electric arcs lit up in his eyes. His hands moved quickly, forming hand seals.

Soon, the bright silver arcs outside his body began to intertwine and expand, forming a silver thunder formation.

With a roar, the silver thunder formation suddenly shone brightly, and Han Li's figure blurred and disappeared.