Under the influence of this spell array, the situation reversed itself. Just as Han Li had begun to feel temporarily secure, an unexpected event occurred! A tremendous roar echoed, and suddenly the ground near the three young women erupted, from the sand and soil rising a serpentine creature with a human head. This creature had a tangled mass of golden-yellow hair, and its face bore the fierce features of a woman. On either side of its serpentine body, two slender, infant-like arms emerged, each holding a bone spear several feet long, wrapped in swirling black mist—clearly low-grade magical artifacts. As soon as the creature appeared, Han Li was momentarily stunned, and the three young women who were actively channeling the spell array were even more alarmed. When the serpentine woman turned her gaze toward the three girls managing the array, a cold, grim smile spread across her face. Without a word, she raised her hand and, in a single motion, swept it through the air three times toward the three girls. Instantly, three streaks of dark light shot forth from the tips of the spears, rushing straight toward the three women. Xiang'er and the three girls proved remarkably quick-witted, swiftly recovering from their initial shock upon seeing the serpent demon. Suddenly, she snapped a small flag from the array before her and swiftly waved it in front of herself. "Pffft!" A series of soft sounds followed, and instantly, shimmering spiritual halos materialized before the three girls, enveloping them. The dark glow struck directly upon the halos. Three thunderous booms echoed out. Xiang'er and the young girl in the white robe fared better—their halos, though scattered and splintered, managed to withstand the impact. However, the youngest girl in the red robe had cast a more fragile halo, and upon contact with the dark glow, her body shuddered violently, causing her to involuntarily recoil and fall backward, momentarily breaking free from the protective aura. The red-robed girl gasped in alarm, her face instantly turning pale, yet she found herself unable to control her own movements at that moment. The serpent spirit evidently also perceived this, then slammed her tail hard against the ground behind her. With a sudden shift in posture, she materialized like a flash directly beneath the red-robed maiden, driving her bone spear with unwavering determination straight through the girl. The other two women gasped in alarm, yet had no time to intervene. As the maiden seemed to be instantly vaporized by the spear, which pierced her body from front to back, a sharp, piercing sound suddenly rang out. A white, seemingly ordinary object flashed by, striking with astonishing precision right at the point of the vaporized light. "Thud!" The bone spear was then knocked back half a foot, its tip grazing the red-robed maiden's garments, leaving her stunned and pale. Taking advantage of this brief moment, the maiden regained control of her body, twisting slightly and gracefully settling her feet on the ground. The white object, however, turned out to be merely an unremarkable stone. The serpent spirit stood momentarily stunned, but her eyes flashed with fierce determination. With a swift motion of her other arm, she launched a second, continuous series of bone spear thrusts. But shortly thereafter, another roar of impact echoed, and another stone hurtled toward them. This time, however, the stone did not strike the bone spear—it aimed directly at the serpent demon’s head. Given the immense force demonstrated by the previous stone, if it truly hit the demon, even if it failed to shatter its head, it would surely knock it senseless on the spot. Though deeply enraged, the serpent demon had no choice but to tilt its head slightly and rotate the bone spear to deflect the stone. A deep thud followed, and then a powerful surge of force rushed through the demon’s hands, causing it to step back several paces. It immediately turned its head in furious rage toward the direction from which the stone had come. There, on a turtle carriage nearby, a young man stood calmly, gazing at them, gently tossing a similar stone in his hand. It was Han Li. Meanwhile, the red-robed maiden had already stepped back, into the radiance of another woman, and exhaled in relief. The serpent demon, having suffered two consecutive setbacks, was filled with furious indignation. Suddenly, it opened its mouth and unleashed a thick, black-toxic mist, sweeping toward the protective light halos of the three women. Yet at that very moment, a cold sneer echoed from the other turtle chariot: "You dare!" As the sound rang out, a beam of white light shot forth from the carriage, spiraling before cutting straight toward the serpent demon—revealing a small, translucent jade sword, only a few inches long. Seeing this, the serpent demon, still spewing black mist, grew pale in alarm. It swiftly hurled a bone spear at the nearby turtle chariot, then twisted its body and vanished into the sand below. Upon spotting a cultivator, it dared not engage in combat, instead immediately employing the technique of evading through the terrain. The bone spear, however, was aimed directly at Han Li. Clearly, the demon intended to slay this mortal who had disrupted its plans, thus venting its accumulated resentment. Han Li saw the bone spear transform into a streak of dark light, yet a faint smile of苦笑 appeared on his face. Instead of using his stone to strike it down, he remained motionless in place. As a result, with a thunderous crash, the spear drove straight into Han Li's body, hurling him several dozen feet through the air. He landed on a large turtle's shell, where he struck a cargo container, creating a large dent. A flurry of sounds followed as a heap of gleaming weapons spilled out from the container. "Ah!" The three young girls gasped in surprise, while Nan Qi Zi emitted a slightly surprised murmur of light wonder from within the carriage. Then, the small sword spiraled once in the air before darting back toward the carriage. Only then did the red-robed girl and the others wave their small flags to disperse the shimmering light, and rush toward the damaged cargo container. "Han brother, are you all right?" The red-robed young lady, saved by Han Li, was deeply grateful and, standing beneath the great turtle, became increasingly anxious, calling out loudly. Xiang and the white-robed young lady shared a similar look of mild concern. "Relax, we won't die," came Han Li's苦笑 from within the cargo container. "Just that I can't move my body right now." Upon hearing this, the three young women felt a great relief. They exchanged glances and then swiftly jumped onto the great turtle, turning their attention toward the damaged cargo container. There, Han Li lay disheveled among piles of weapons and spears, looking utterly helpless, yet with only minor injuries. The three girls were overjoyed and, together, managed to lift Han Li out of the container and lay him gently upon the turtle. "Mr. Han, thank you so much for saving my life!" the red-robed young lady said gratefully. "It's nothing at all—just a small favor. This kind of attack isn't even enough to harm me. I've just been lying here for a while." Han Li smiled gently and spoke with ease. As the carriage door on the other giant turtle opened, Nan Qi Zi stepped out and, with a few flowing gestures, floated directly to Han Li's side, grasping his wrist and channeling a pure stream of spiritual energy into it. "There is no need for concern. The Golden Body Technique truly ranks among the Five Great Body-Training Secrets. At the third level, it already possesses such power. That demonic artifact has not harmed Master Han at all—only the stones it threw earlier have slightly damaged some of his meridians, adding to his current condition. With a little more rest, everything will be fine." The Taoist's expression of surprise flickered briefly before turning into a smile. "Indeed true!" The red-robed young woman brightened at these words. "Haha, how could I deceive you? On the other hand, your small 'Return to Youth' array has now stopped functioning—things seem to have turned less favorable once again," Nan Qi Zi said with a smile, glancing at the now dimmed array, his words carrying a clear sense of deeper meaning. As soon as the words were spoken, the three young girls grew pale and hurried to look around. Only then did they notice that, without the support of the Xiaohuichun array, the guards now showed signs of exhaustion and began to suffer fresh casualties. "It's bad," exclaimed the young woman in white, her voice rising. "We brought only one map of the Xiaohuichun array. When we fought off the serpent demon, we used up all the power of the accompanying banner flags at once. Now we can no longer activate the spell array." The other two girls exchanged puzzled glances. "This is indeed a serious problem," the Taoist remarked, frowning. As they were just beginning to devise a plan, the surrounding shouts of battle suddenly ceased, and at the same time, the guards on the turtle chariots erupted into cheers. The girls stared in surprise, then looked again. They saw the giant insects, which had been fighting alongside the guards, now leaping off the chariots and fleeing in all directions. The insect swarm, once disciplined and fierce, now appeared utterly disorganized, losing all their previous ferocity. "Success!" "It must have been the sisters Li and the others who defeated that insect demon," the young lady in green said with a bright smile, and the other two women likewise beamed with joy. Indeed, shortly afterward, a group of more than thirty riders surged out from the yellow dust, galloping swiftly toward the convoy. These riders were precisely those who had charged into the insect swarm earlier, mounted on giant wolves. Though they had originally numbered fifty, only about thirty remained now, all of them wounded, their bodies streaked with blood, clearly indicating the fierce battle they had endured. Riding their giant wolves, they reached the convoy in no time. The scarred man at once hurled something forcefully onto the ground—a massive insect head, golden in hue, clearly no ordinary sand-dwelling creature. The young lady in blue also returned safely with her blood-streaked strange tiger. Upon seeing the three women and Nan Qi Zi gathered around Han Li, both of them expressed a moment of surprise. At that moment, guards who had just witnessed the scene stepped forward to recount the entire incident in detail to the two. The scar-faced man was first stunned, then burst into laughter: "It seems Zhang San truly hasn't missed a thing. Brother Han has indeed proven himself remarkable—he saved Qian'er right from the very beginning of joining our guild. Otherwise, should anything truly have gone wrong, I would have no face in seeing my wife again." After listening, the blue-robed young lady looked at Han Li with a warmth and kindness that instantly bloomed in her eyes. Han Li merely smiled slightly, saying nothing further. Once the group of sand-crab beasts had been repelled, the entire caravan naturally needed to be reorganized. Thus, they rested in place for half a day before resuming their journey. The journey ahead grew remarkably quiet. After three more days, the caravan emerged from the Qing Luo Desert, revealing an endless expanse of vast grasslands stretching out before them. The terrain was exceptionally flat! As a result, the caravan's pace immediately accelerated several times over—those giant turtles began to move with steady strides, rushing forward swiftly as if flying. Han Li, who had previously been unable to move even in the carriage, suddenly noticed that the lively chatter and laughter that had been audible throughout the convoy had instantly fallen silent the moment they entered the grasslands. Moreover, the four women seated in the carriage, gazing out at the lush green grass, each appeared increasingly uneasy, their expressions subtly tinged with apprehension. (Second update!)