As soon as the tree creature took shape, it immediately regained some ability to move, and it flailed its limbs violently through the air as a burst of shockwaves surged through its body to shatter part of the black threads.

It then strode forward as a cloud of mist emerged beneath its feet, carrying it up into the sky.

The Baleful Blood Corpse formed by Master Tian Wu's remains had been moving quite sluggishly up to this point, but it suddenly reached out like lightning with both hands, releasing countless crimson threads that intertwined to form a lethal net.

The tree creature had only just risen up into the air when its body was sliced into countless pieces by the net.

A burst of green Qi emerged from the remains of the tree creature, transforming into a faint green shadow that covered a distance of over 200 feet in a flash, yet right as it was about to catch up to the two miniature figures up ahead, the giant corpse suddenly opened its mouth to release a burst of dazzling crimson light.

The space around the green shadow abruptly tightened, and a burst of incredible powerful suction force erupted behind it.

It only had a chance to let loose an anguished cry before it was dragged down into the corpse's mouth by the crimson light and quickly devoured, unable to offer any resistance.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Nascent Souls of the remaining two elderly men rushed out of the metal cage, then turned around just in time to see the demise of their companion.

The two of them were furious to see this, and one of the Nascent Souls rubbed its hands together to summon a ball of black flames, which then transformed into a giant black scorpion projection.

The Nascent Soul then made a hand seal and was about to send the projection flying into the cage when the other Nascent Soul suddenly grabbed onto its arm.

"That type of attack won't do anything. We've lost our physical bodies and expended too much energy; there's no way we'll be able to do anything to this Baleful Blood Corpse. Our top priority now should be to escape. Otherwise, all three of us will perish here,"

As soon as the Nascent Soul's voice trailed off, the metal cage down below tremored violently, and the giant corpse stood up on one leg in a shaky manner before directing its fiery green eyes toward the two Nascent Souls outside.

At this point, most of the black threads within the corpse's body had already been devoured, and there was only a small portion left in its other leg, continuing to struggle against the crimson threads.

Both of the Nascent Souls shuddered involuntarily at the sight of the corpse's menacing gaze, and the first Nascent Soul gritted its teeth as it withdrew its giant scorpion projection. "You're right, Brother Wu. Let's go!"

"You've made a wise decision, Brother Yu. As long as we're still alive, we'll be able to take our revenge eventually," the other Nascent Soul said.

All of a sudden, the corpse within the metal cage let loose a bone-chilling roar, and its other leg swayed as it slowly began to stand up straight.

The Nascent Souls didn't dare to linger any longer upon seeing this, and they immediately flew away as two streaks of light, one azure and one white.

The two Nascent Souls quickly rushed all the way to the edge of the crimson lake, and they were just about to escape from this area when a burst of rumbling suddenly rang out up ahead, following which a vast expanse of crimson light surged toward them without any warning.

The two Nascent Souls were quite alarmed to see this, and they hurriedly drew to a halt before exchanging a quick glance. One of them then made a hand seal to summon its black scorpion projection again, while the other opened its mouth to release a small azure bell and a white bone shield.

The crimson light appeared to be extremely far away, but it reached them in a flash, following which five identical young men emerged.

"You're the Five Xue He Clones!" one of the Nascent Souls exclaimed.

"Why are you here? Have you been following us this entire time, waiting for an opportunity to ambush us?" the other Nascent Soul asked as a hint of killing intent flashed through its eyes.

However, the five young men remained still on the spot with wooden expressions, as if they couldn't hear what was being said to them.

The two Nascent Souls both faltered slightly upon seeing this, and only then did they begin to carefully inspect the Five Xue He Clones, upon which they finally discovered that there was something amiss.

The Five Xue He Clones all had crimson light flashing within their eyes, and their smooth skin had become dried and withered. At the same time, they were giving off a rank rotten odor.

A thought immediately occurred to the two Nascent Souls upon seeing this, and their expressions darkened significantly.

After exchanging a brief glance with one another, the two Nascent Souls immediately began to slowly retreat, opening up some distance between themselves and the Five Xue He Clones.

"Where are you going, fellow daoists? You've already lost your physical bodies, so why not hand over your Nascent Souls for my consumption?" A sinister voice suddenly rang out nearby, following which a murky crimson figure emerged above the Five Xue He Clones amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.

"Do you really think we're completely at your mercy just because we've lost our physical bodies?" one of the Nascent Souls replied in an enraged voice.

"Perhaps I wouldn't be able to capture the two of you on my own, but with these five blood puppets, it'll be a simple task," the crimson figure chuckled coldly before making a hand seal, and a burst of loud rumbling rang out from all directions as countless crimson clouds suddenly took shape without any warning, surrounding the pair of Nascent Souls, as well as the crimson shadow and the Five Xue He Clones.

The mysterious crimson figure then pounced toward the two Nascent Souls with a triumphant smile on his face.

Meanwhile, the Five Xue He Clones each released a streak of sword Qi that was over 100 feet in length, which swept toward the two Nascent Souls with ferocious might.

The pair of Nascent Souls naturally unleashed different treasures and abilities to defend themselves, but they were immediately forced onto the back foot, and a hint of despair appeared in their eyes.

Having lost their physical bodies, they definitely wouldn't be able to last too long, and being captured was only a matter of time.

Sure enough, a short while later, the crimson figure was examining several new treasures that he was holding with a pleased expression, and the crimson light emanating from his body had become noticeably denser.

All of a sudden, a thunderous roar rang out from the center of the crimson lake.

"That's a Baleful Blood Corpse! Hehe, I only intended to obtain Daoist Tian Ding's inheritance, who would've thought that I would encounter a Baleful Blood Corpse instead? On top of that, this is a Baleful Blood Corpse of someone who was considered to be extremely powerful even among Grand Ascension Stage beings. Once I refine this corpse, it'll be extremely effective both in battle, as well as for resisting heavenly tribulations," the crimson figure murmured to himself with an elated expression before stowing his new treasure away as he cast a cold gaze toward the direction where the roar had come from.

He then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of crimson light to sweep up the Five Xue He Clones before flying directly toward the center of the crimson lake.

At this point, the Baleful Blood Corpse had finally completely devoured the black threads within its body and risen to its feet.

In the face of the crimson light surging toward it, the corpse let loose another thunderous roar before flying out of the cage with a ferocious look in its eyes.

Moments later, a fierce battle ensued in the air above the lake.

......

"I've finally repaired the formation; it should be able to support two or three more teleportations now," Han Li murmured to himself with a faint smile on his face as he appraised the repaired formation.

During the past half a day, he had repaired and even slightly altered the formation with the materials he was carrying, thereby restoring its teleportation ability.

He quickly made a hand seal, and the formation was easily activated amid a faint buzzing sound, upon which he immediately strode into the formation before vanishing on the spot amid a flash of white light.

In the next instant, he arrived in a dark space.

Blue light flashed within his eyes, and he was able to quickly take in his surroundings.

At this moment, he was situated on the summit of a small mountain with several giant pine trees around him that were over 100 feet tall, while a small teleportation formation laid beneath his feet.

There were even more mountains and trees in the distance, and it seemed that he was situated in a mountain range.

After only a brief inspection of the surrounding area, Han Li suddenly swept a sleeve through the air to release an azure flying sword, which instantly swelled to over 1,000 feet in size before circling around in the air while releasing bright azure light.

He then uttered the word "slash", and the giant blade released massive sword projections over 10,000 feet in length in all directions.

The space before the sword projections was instantly sliced apart, and the surrounding area immediately brightened as the mountain range twisted and warped before transforming into pristine white stone walls that were over 100 feet tall.

The walls surrounded the small mountain and the trees around him in all directions, and it was revealed that he was situated in a massive courtyard.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as he inspected the white stone wall in the distance, and a peculiar look suddenly appeared on his face as he turned toward a certain tree on the small mountain.

"You've been hiding there for quite some time now; are you going to come out and meet me or do I have to make you reveal yourself?"