Black Flood Dragon, after repelling Han Li with one claw, ignored him and brought down the other massive dragon claw directly toward the golden lotus below.

Han Li's pupils constricted slightly upon seeing this.

Although he knew the Black Flood Dragon was terrifying, he was unwilling to give up on the golden lotus, a supreme spiritual object.

While pondering, he waved his hand and stored the Emerald Flying Chariot. His body shone with golden light, and he transformed into a golden rainbow, flying toward the golden lotus.

However, he didn't fly far when the ground ahead suddenly shook, as if there were an earthquake.

Han Li's figure faltered, and without another word, he retreated rapidly, faster than when he came.

"Rumble!" A loud crash echoed.

The ground ahead exploded, and an enormous black object emerged from underground, coiling toward the Black Flood Dragon in the air.

An immense force radiated from the black object, creating a hurricane. Although Han Li was hundreds of feet away, his body felt like a leaf in a storm, involuntarily being blown backward.

He felt as if he had been struck a heavy blow, his body almost falling apart. If he hadn't reacted quickly and possessed an extremely tough physical body, he would have been smashed into pulp.

After stabilizing himself ten miles away, Han Li immediately looked ahead, his heart filled with shock.

The gigantic black object was an incredibly thick black tentacle, a thousand feet thick, covered with huge black suction cups. It resembled a heavenly demon hand emerging from the earth, currently coiling around the Black Flood Dragon's body.

The once-imposing Black Flood Dragon, in the face of this tentacle, was like a chick caught by an eagle, screaming and struggling desperately, but to no avail.

Several more loud explosions occurred as the ground in other nearby locations also burst open, and several more identical heavenly black tentacles emerged, coiling toward the Black Flood Dragon's body, instantly binding it tightly.

"This..." Han Li was incomparably horrified by the scene before him.

The black tentacles had appeared without any warning, and even his vast divine sense hadn't detected a trace of anything unusual.

Rumble!

The entire swamp shook as an incredibly massive black figure slowly emerged from underground behind Han Li. It was a monster of unimaginable size.

The upper half of the beast resembled a lizard, with a long neck and a bright red fleshy crest on its head, like a rooster's comb.

The lower half, however, resembled an octopus, with a dozen enormous tentacles. It was unknown what kind of monster it was.

This giant monster was dozens of times larger than the Black Flood Dragon, its massive figure obscuring half the sky. Enormous black tentacles danced wildly around it, coiling the Black Flood Dragon and sending it into its mouth.

The Black Flood Dragon in the monster's mouth looked like a rooster holding a large earthworm.

Boundless and immense aura radiated from the black monster.

Han Li's face suddenly turned as pale as paper, and he felt a long-absent sense of fear rising in his heart.

He abruptly turned around, his body radiating golden light, and the Mantra Treasure Wheel appeared behind him, spinning rapidly in reverse.

Han Li's figure instantly transformed into a blurred golden shadow, shooting away into the distance.

The monster's scarlet eyes turned, and a black tentacle shot out like lightning, its speed unbelievable. It instantly caught up with Han Li, who had already teleported nearly a hundred miles away, and coiled around his body like lightning.

Han Li's vision went black as he was completely surrounded by the black tentacle.

A tremendous force squeezed in from all directions, causing his bones to creak.

Han Li groaned, his body erupting with golden light. The reversed Mantra Treasure Wheel instantly stopped spinning, then began to spin in the normal direction.

Countless golden ripples appeared, spreading out and instantly forming a golden ripple zone a thousand feet in size, enveloping part of the black tentacle.

Where the black tentacle was enveloped by the golden ripples, it seemed to be frozen in place by golden ice crystals. The entire tentacle suddenly stopped and couldn't move.

The black monster roared, and black light erupted from the tentacle as it pulled violently.

The golden ripple zone shook violently, on the verge of shattering and collapsing.

At that moment, a golden lightning bolt flashed.

The golden ripples vanished in a flash, and the black tentacle regained its freedom, flying back to the black monster.

The black monster unfurled its coiled tentacle, but Han Li's figure was no longer inside. It let out a cry of surprise.

At this moment, a golden light flashed ten thousand miles away, and Han Li's figure appeared, his face extremely pale. A stream of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, and one arm was twisted grotesquely, obviously broken.

He ignored his injuries, and dazzling golden lightning erupted from his body again, spreading out to form a lightning formation.

With a deafening thunderclap, Han Li's figure disappeared again.

...

Above a dense, verdant forest, golden arcs of electricity appeared, coalescing into a lightning formation.

The space in the center of the formation flickered, and Han Li's figure emerged.

He looked around and let out a long breath.

Golden and white light flashed at his waist and hand, and Jin Tong and Pi Xiu's figures appeared.

"Uncle, that scared me to death! What was that monster just now..." Jin Tong seemed frightened, his little face pale.

Pi Xiu didn't say anything, his eyes also filled with horror.

"I don't know, probably some kind of wild true spirit." Han Li said, his expression settling slightly.

"Are wild true spirits that terrifying? I thought they were only about as strong as that Great Sand Beast." Jin Tong said, still shaken.

Han Li didn't speak, his eyes flickering, as if pondering something.

"Xiao Bai, weren't you born in the wilderness? Why did you bring us running around here when it's so dangerous? Are you trying to kill us?" Jin Tong then looked at Pi Xiu and said angrily.

"Master, although I was born in the wilderness, I was taken away by that wilderness hunter soon after I was born, so I don't know much about this place. Besides, I've signed a contract with my master. If my master dies, my fate won't be good either. How could I do such a thing?" Pi Xiu quickly defended himself.

Hearing this, Jin Tong felt that there was some truth to it, so he snorted and didn't say anything more.

"It seems we underestimated this wilderness..." Han Li muttered to himself, secretly on alert.

He had been searching for treasures for the past few days without encountering any major danger, so he had become somewhat careless. If he hadn't reacted quickly just now, he would have almost lost his life.

While pondering, he flipped his hand and took out a healing pill, then reset his broken arm. He raised his head and looked toward the endless wilderness ahead, his brow furrowed.

He had only just entered the wilderness and had already encountered such a terrifying beast. If he went deeper, he didn't know how many dangers he would face.

"Uncle, what should we do next?" Jin Tong asked.

Han Li made a series of hand seals and inscribed them in the void. Wisps of light emerged, coalescing into a holographic map in mid-air. It depicted the areas they had passed through before, as well as areas that repeatedly appeared on most maps.

This was a map he had pieced together based on the map he had obtained from Jiao San earlier, combined with the maps he had purchased from Yuanhuang City.

"We'll go here." Han Li pointed to an area of hills and said.

"Deer Dawn Hills..." Jin Tong glanced at the small words marked on it and read it out word by word.

"According to these map markings, this area isn't far from here. There are only some wild exotic beasts living here, and there are no tribes of any size. We'll go there to rest for a while, and then make a decision." Han Li said slowly.

Then, he swiped his palm, and the holographic map disappeared.

The Emerald Flying Chariot's light reappeared, flying close to the ground and heading toward the distance.

Having learned from his previous experience, Han Li put away his contempt for the wilderness. He not only activated all the chariot's restrictions without worrying about the consumption of immortal essence stones, but he also stopped recklessly searching for treasures. He flew without incident for more than ten days before finally reaching the edge of the Deer Dawn Hills.

As they approached, the dense forests on the ground began to thin out gradually.

It was late at night, and Han Li, hovering in the high sky, could see tall, ferocious-looking exotic beasts foraging in the forest or fighting with their natural enemies.

Among them, some more perceptive exotic beasts noticed the anomaly in the high sky and roared at them, their voices shaking the mountains and forests.

Han Li looked into the distance, his expression suddenly changing slightly, revealing a trace of doubt.

Hundreds of miles ahead, there were bursts of strong spiritual energy fluctuations, as if many people were fighting.

After a moment of contemplation, Han Li waved his hand and stored the Emerald Flying Chariot.

Then, he took out the "Dragon Five" mask and put it on his face. After a flash of spiritual light on his body, he transformed into a wooden-faced middle-aged man, concealing his aura and silently flying toward the area where the battle seemed to be taking place.

As he got closer, the spiritual energy fluctuations and noise ahead became stronger.

At a distance of less than fifty miles, Han Li flew down directly, entered a sparse forest, and flashed to the vicinity.

In the center of a clear open space ahead, there was a bonfire platform about ten feet high, burning with raging flames, illuminating everything around it.

On either side of the bonfire, two groups of strange-looking alien races were fighting each other.

One side resembled humans, but they were tall and thin with extremely long necks, each about ten feet tall. Their skin was dark green, and they had two half-foot-long white fangs at the corners of their mouths, protruding from their lips and curving to the sides.

The other side, in contrast, looked somewhat ferocious and terrifying.

Each of them was only about five feet tall, extremely wide, and looked very bloated. Their skin was grey-brown, covered with a thick layer of plate armor. They had almost no necks, their chins and chests connected together, and their lips were wide and thick, making them look like giant upright toads.