The black beach was cold enough to pierce bone, and a faint smell of salt, blood, and decay hung in the air. Han Li dragged his battered body onward, every step sending tearing agony through him. His golden core was on the verge of collapse, his spiritual power circulated sluggishly, and his spiritual sense had been compressed to a range of less than a thousand feet. He was like a mortal dying of a grave illness.
Clinging to his last shred of clarity, he struggled to activate the Profound Yin Spirit Eye and surveyed his surroundings. The black beach stretched endlessly. Behind him lay a deathly silent sea of surging, ink-black waves; ahead stood barren hills shrouded in gray mist, without any sign of vegetation or living creatures. The sky remained an oppressive gray, making day and night indistinguishable.
"I must... find somewhere... to heal..." A bloody sweetness rose in Han Li's throat, and he coughed up another mouthful of clotted blood. In his current condition, even a low-level demonic beast could easily kill him.
He staggered toward a nearby stretch of jagged black rocks, hoping to find shelter from the wind. The rocks were cold and hard, riddled with honeycomb-like holes, as though some acidic substance had once eaten into them.
Just as he approached the shadow of an enormous rock, something suddenly happened!
Splash!
The black seawater beneath the rock burst apart. A slender black shadow shot out like a poisoned arrow, stabbing straight toward Han Li's face at astonishing speed!
Though grievously wounded, Han Li still retained his combat instincts. At the critical instant, he jerked his head aside!
Hiss!
An icy gust skimmed his cheek and pierced straight through a rock behind him! Looking closely, he saw a pitch-black, eel-shaped fish bristling with ghastly white, serrated