When the flood dragon’s soul saw that it had been revealed, it panickedly disappeared with a flash of scarlet light.
A chilling glint flickered from Han Li’s eyes. He slapped a spirit beast pouch at his waist, summoning a yellow streak of light. When it fell onto the floor, a small, gloomy monkey with a lazy appearance appeared. It was the Weeping Soul Beast.
Han Li didn’t have the time to worry about the beast’s mood and slapped its head, causing the Weeping Soul Beast to involuntarily snort and shoot a yellow light out from its nose. The yellow light spiralled through the air before eventually enveloping an empty area. With a flash of yellow light, the miniature flood dragon’s soul appeared.
Soon after, the yellow light wrapped around the the flood dragon’s soul and dragged it back into the Weeping Soul Beast’s nose.
The flood dragon’s soul was naturally unwilling to face death and stopped itself halfway by releasing a blinding blue light. The blue light stopped the yellow mist in its entirety.
With a soul that powerful, it was worthy of belonging to a desolate beast at the metamorphosis stage. It was far more capable than any grade seven demon beast. Of course, this was also partially due to the Weeping Soul Beast’s young age. Otherwise, it would’ve fully displayed power for which it was famed.
Han Li never intended for the Weeping Soul Beast to truly suck in the flood dragon’s soul. Grade eight demon beast souls were an extremely precious material, and he naturally wasn’t going to waste it.
As a result, while the Weeping Soul Beast and the flood dragon’s soul were locked in confrontation, Han Li disappeared with a blur. He reappeared a moment later next to the flood dragon’s soul with his hand covered in sparkling azure light. Unable to escape, the soul entered Han Li’s tight grasp.
The soul was only several inches long, but it managed to forcefully sway his hand in its struggles. However, Han Li had already prepared a jade bottle in his other hand. In a single, quick movement, Han Li enveloped the flood dragon in azure light and slipped it into the bottle. He quickly covered the bottle and carefully placed it into his storage pouch. At that moment, he finally let out a breath of relief.
Han Li then turned around to face the demon tortoise, possessing not the slightest intention to delay it’s death.
But at that moment, a brittle crack sounded out. The light barrier was finally broken through by the two huge swords. Without turning his head, he opened his hand and shot a wide cloud of azure light from his palm. A moment later, the light brought back the Thunderstorm Wings and dropped them into his hand. Since he couldn’t deal with them at the time being, he stuffed them into his storage pouch for later.
This action caused Feng Xi to nearly spit out a mouthful of blood. His originally calm expression was now brimming with hatred.
Han Li’s gaze fell upon the mound of beetles lying on another part of the room. He let out a low whistle, and the beetles flew off, revealing the demon tortoise underneath.
Han Li felt his breath turn cold.
The demon tortoise’s body was shredded and mangled, but his body was enveloped in a faint yellow light. His bare flesh was squirming before Han Li’s eyes and was healing at an amazing rate. In an instant, a majority of the wounds had already healed.
Wearing a stupefied expression, Han Li bitterly yelled, “A self-mending body!”
Self-mending bodies were quite common amongst demon beasts, and there were many low-grade demon beasts that possessed one. It would allow for quick recovery from wounds and for severed limbs to regrow. However, this instinctual trait was rare amongst high grade demon beasts. Despite having killed so many grade six and seven demon beasts, Han Li had never seen an ability of near rebirth such as this.
Han Li was immensely shocked to discover that this grade eight demon tortoise actually possessed such a trait.
But with this, Han Li’s problems had grown much larger. Apart from somehow slicing open the demon tortoise’s head and shattering its demon core, Han Li had no other methods to kill it. Unless he could somehow exhaust his regenerative abilities, he was helpless.
Unfortunately, he had only refined his Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords several tens of years ago, and he had scarcely spent any of that time tempering them. As a result, they couldn’t be considered powerful amongst magic treasures of cultivators at a similar grade, despite being made out of the legendary Golden Lightning Bamboo and being refined with the exceedingly precious crystal.
In the past, he had mostly relied on the magic treasure’s quantity and astonishing coordination to slay grade six and seven demon beasts. Of course, while its power was immensely strengthened when a set of twelve combined together into a huge sword, this was merely one of the beneficial aspects of a set of magic treasure.
But even with the huge sword fusion, it was clear that he was incapable of defeating either of the present demon beast’s long cultivated bodies.
Chapter 552: Escaping Pursuit
Han Li was extremely vexed when his swords proved completely harmless to the demon cultivators. But after some thought, he regained his calm.
A vast majority of high grade demon beasts specialized in cultivating their bodies. Their dense flesh and hardened skin could rival the magic treasures of similarly ranked cultivators. Furthermore, demon beasts had lifespans that lasted several times longer than common cultivators, sometimes possessing lifespans that were tens of times longer. As a result, the higher grade the demon beast, and the longer they cultivated, the more astonishingly durable their body would be.
Before arriving at Nascent Soul stage, cultivators relied on their magic treasures and knowledge to slay demon beasts of grade seven and under. But once demon beasts reached the metamorphosis stage at grade eight, they would often suppress human cultivators of the same rank with their cultivated bodies and expanded intellect.
Since flood dragons were a primordial race, their grade eight demons were comparable in both combat and defensive power to common grade nine demon beasts. As for demon tortoises, their race had the strongest defensive powers amongst all demon beasts.
After taking this into consideration, it wasn’t any surprise that Han Li’s flying swords were unable to harm them in the slightest. Though it may have gone differently if a Nascent Soul eccentric attacked them with a magic treasure that had been nurtured for several hundred years.
Conversely, were it a common Nascent Soul eccentric lying on the ground, Han Li would’ve easily been able to slay him. Very few cultivators refined their bodies like demons did; Man Huzi being a particularly notable exception.
As for the Divine Devilbane Lightning, while it may hold fatal power against devilish arts and evil techniques, it wasn’t particularly effective against the demon race. The formidable might of the Divine Devilbane Lightning originated from the Gold Lightning Bamboo itself, but at Han Li’s current cultivation, he was only able to tap into about a tenth of its power.
With this now clear in his mind, Han Li didn’t feel dejected in the least. He understood that once he reached Nascent Soul stage and spent another hundred years tempering his Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, his magic treasures would experience an enormous breakthrough in strength. At that point, he would be able to break through the demon beasts’ defenses with relative ease.
After all, the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were a peak grade magic treasure that he had spent an enormous amount of effort on to acquire. As such, Han Li believed they held immense potential.
Although Han Li could easily slay grade seven demon beasts and late Core Formation cultivators like himself, he didn’t dare to fight Nascent Soul cultivators or grade eight demon beasts. There was a huge divide between the Core Formation and Nascent Soul stages; they were in entirely different worlds!
All of these thoughts flashed through Han Li’s mind in a mere instant. When he took another glance at the demon tortoise and Feng Xi, his expression wavered and he revealed a deluge of emotion.
He came to the conclusion that unless he took the risk
and used the Celestial Ice Pearl, he would have no other method of exterminating the two demon beasts in a short amount of time. Even with this, Han Li suspected that while he would be able to finish off the demon tortoise, he would likely prove incapable of breaking through the protective treasure of the Windbreaker Beast. Since he couldn’t control the Celestial Ice Pearl, he wouldn’t be able to focus its power onto the demons’ bodies, greatly weakening the efficacy of the ice flame’s strength.
But what especially made Han Li hesitate, was that the ice flames couldn’t be recovered once used. If he wasn’t able to kill Feng Xi after using them, he would be leaving the flames in the room as a parting gift for Feng Xi to make use of. In this situation, it would be better for Han Li to just leave the flames for himself! He could refine the pearl after condensing a Nascent Soul and have it become another deadly weapon in his arsenal.
Han Li spent very little time in thought as he couldn’t afford to waste a single moment.
While the demon tortoise was still very much swollen, the Windbreaker Beast’s abdomen had already greatly shrunk. Feng Xi’s dark expression was becoming more hostile by the moment.
Han Li wouldn’t have much longer before Feng Xi fully suppressed the green liquid’s medicinal power and regained control over his body and magic power.
As a result, Han Li gritted his teeth and snatched the demon tortoise’s storage pouch before sending him off with a kick into the pit of rampant earthfire. Soon after, he fished out another storage pouch from within the remains of the flood dragon and disappeared with a blur. When he reappeared at the side of the Windbreaker Beast, he quickly sent him flying off into the pit of earthfire to accompany the demon tortoise. Then without taking another look at the demons, he flew off as a streak of azure light.
Han Li didn’t believe they would be able to track him down to whatever random island he chose to conceal himself on, no matter how profound and remarkable their abilities may be. Hence, Han Li struck a large hole through the room’s stone door and flew off without a trace.
The tool refinement room became completely silent!
After an unknown amount of time, a resentful and vicious roar came from the room’s earthfire pit. Following the roar, a streak of blinding white light flew out of the earthfire pit and broke through the room’s ceiling and then all of the cave residence’s restrictions.
A moment later, the white light appeared above the small island and flew a circle around it at an imperceptible speed. After stopping in its original place, the light faded away to reveal Feng Xi.
From his neat appearance, it appeared that he had been left entirely unscathed by the earthfire. However, he was gritting his teeth in seething rage as he held the body of the still disabled demon tortoise in his hand.
The demon tortoise didn’t have any treasures protecting its body, and as such its body was charred and smoking. It appeared to have suffered quite a bit in the earthfire pit.
Feng Xi’s eyes glowed with white light as it swept its gaze past the horizon. After some thought, a malevolent expression appeared on his face. He then clutched his hand in an incantation gesture and white light flickered from his fingertip. A short moment later, his expression grew hostile.
After wordlessly confirming the direction, he tore through the skies in a streak of white light.
At that moment, Han Li broke into a cold sweat as he wildly flew through the skies. The wind spirit energy had begun to stir and the constraints of the Divine Devilbane Lightning had become unstable. Fortunately, Han Li quickly responded, hastily cutting his spirit power from the cloak and using it to forcefully suppress the changes.
After entering late Core Formation, Han Li was able to cut off the forceful extraction of his spiritual power from the cloak, despite still being unable to smoothly control it. This had greatly increased the usefulness of the ancient treasure.
Han Li bitterly grimaced. The Windbreaker Beast was coming for him. Han Li instinctively changed direction and wildly poured spiritual power into his cloak before swiftly shooting off.
He had undoubtedly enraged Feng Xi, and if he were caught he would undoubtedly be chopped into pieces and have his soul refined.
Much to Han Li’s vexation, Feng Xi was still able to control the wind spirit energy within his body despite being such a great distance away from him. This was a completely unanticipated variable. He now felt regret at having not released the Celestial Ice Pearl inside the tool refinement room when he had the chance.
But there was no point in thinking about that now. Han Li could only wildly escape with the aid of his blood-red cape. As Han Li continued with his escape, the wind spirit energy within his body would flare up once every four to six hours.
Although he managed to suppress it every time within a quarter of an hour, he still had to change the direction of his flight each time to prevent Feng Xi from determining his direction.
Han Li’s speed was far inferior to that of the Windbreaker Beast, but he always managed to seize the initiative each time and throw him off by a large distance. However, Feng Xi was still able to relentlessly chase Han Li down by relying on the reaction of the wind spirit energy.
This game of cat and mouse continued for a month as they travelled across a huge expanse of the sea.
As the chase continued, Han Li felt increasingly more on edge and gloomy. In order to permanently escape from the Windbreaker Beast’s pursuit, he wanted to refine the wind spirit energy within his body and rid himself of it for good. However, it was proving to be extremely durable. In the month he had been escaping, the wind spirit energy hadn’t decreased in the slightest despite all of his efforts to refine it. It seemed it wasn’t something a Core Formation cultivator could get rid of. Helpless, Han Li wholeheartedly continued his efforts to escape.
However, Han Li was extremely puzzled as to why the Windbreaker Beast didn’t flare the wind spirit energy more often. Had he done this, the demon would’ve long since captured him.
Of course, Han Li couldn’t have known that several thousands of kilometers away, Feng Xi constantly wanted to do just that. But much to his vexation, he found himself in the same position in Han Li.
Although the demon cultivator didn’t know what strange poison had been placed inside the spirit milk, he would periodically have his spiritual power constrained and his body would begin to swell. Each time this happened he had no choice but to stop flying and forcefully suppress it.
Although he was sure that he could completely refine this poison after a period of meditation, he couldn’t allow Han Li to escape from his pursuit. Moreover, Feng Xi didn’t have much magic power left, so he had to do his utmost to pursue Han Li before he ran out!
As for the demon tortoise, he had long since recovered. But since he was too slow, Feng Xi had left him behind and continued on his own.
To his great annoyance, he was surprised to see that Han Li was able to travel so quickly. He faintly guessed that Han Li must’ve possess a magic treasure capable of such speeds.
Chapter 553: Lightning Movement
As day after day continued passed of the continued pursuit, the intervals at which the wind spirit energy flared grew increasingly further apart. At the start, it would trigger once every six hours which became once every twelve, and eventually, only once per day. Furthermore, the flares grew increasingly more weak each time. In the end, the wind spirit energy finally ceased flaring up altogether. It seemed the Windbreaker Beast had finally given up on the chase.
Han Li was naturally delighted. Regardless of whether the wind spirit energy had failed to activate due to the great distance or due to Feng Xi having ran into trouble, Han Li was finally given the opportunity to truly escape. Han Li took another drop of spirit liquid without any hesitation and identified his bearings before flying through the skies without worry.
On a small, desolate island several tens of thousands of kilometers away from Han Li, the Windbreaker Beast was sitting in an empty cave with an ashen expression. During
the long, relentless pursuit, he had exhausted the entirety of his magic power and could no longer restrain the strange poison inside his body. As he had no method to instantly recovering his magic power, unlike Han Li with his Myriad Year Spirit Milk, Feng Xi could only helplessly stop on an island and spend some time to thoroughly rid himself of the poison afflicting him before continuing his pursuit of Han Li. Having expended so much of his time and effort on refining the Thunderstorm Wings, he was dead-set on getting them back.
The demon cultivator vowed to accomplish this with bone-burning hatred before closing his eyes and entering a meditative state of selflessness.
…
A month later, Han Li found himself at an unfamiliar, abandoned island.
Upon seeing that there were neither cultivators nor high grade demon beasts nearby, he descended onto the island and quickly carved out a crude stone cave.
After placing down several concealment spell formations, he hurriedly entered this cave and took out the Thunderstorm Wings.
Han Li glanced at the small, palm-sized wings in his palm with unconcealed delight.
Since the wings possessed both wind and lightning attributes and Feng Xi only possessed wind spirit power, the wings only required either lightning or wind to drive them. With the Divine Devilbane Lightning within his body, Han Li should be able to control the magic treasure. If they were as miraculous as the demon had said, then the sooner he could utilize them, the more likely his survival.
However, as Han Li examined the wings, he saw that the white feathers were faintly distorting.
Upon seeing this, Han Li immediately knew that this was because the treasure hadn’t finished refining. Although they had been greatly weakened, they had managed to last this long despite Feng Xi’s claims that all of their efforts would’ve been in vain.
Han Li didn’t reveal the slightest alarm and calmly made a small cut on his fingertip. After a drop of blood essence gathered onto his fingertip, he clutched his hand in an incantation gesture and conducted the master recognition rites.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 298