“Red Coral Island! This is the nearest coral island. It’ll do!” Han Li murmured to himself aboard the Divine Wind Boat. He then steered the vessel in a swift circle around the island, hovering in the air for a while. After confirming that there were no other cultivators or demonic beasts nearby, Han Li and Qu Hun slowly descended onto the island.
The island was not particularly large, with an irregular ring-like structure formed by clusters of coral reefs of varying sizes scattered haphazardly. Han Li stood on the smooth, solid ground, rubbing the dark red sand-like powder beneath his leather boots. He raised his head to carefully survey the island’s terrain. Soon, he narrowed his eyes, a thoughtful gaze appearing in them.
Suddenly, Han Li ordered Qu Hun to stand guard nearby while he began to explore the island. With Qu Hun keeping watch, Han Li spent the next two days inspecting the island from east to west. He surveyed every part of the coral island, and by the end, he even dove into the seabed at the center of the ring-shaped island, remaining submerged for half a day without resurfacing.
By the third day, Han Li finally stopped, having made up his mind. He ordered Qu Hun to set up three major formations—”Inverted Five Elements Formation,” “Heavenly Wind Fury Formation,” and “Illusory Form Net Formation”—at several selected locations. These formations effectively blocked the three essential pathways leading to the center of Red Coral Island.
Then, at the ring-shaped center of the island, Han Li used all the remaining formation tools to set up several smaller formations, sealing off the surroundings completely. This could truly be called an inescapable net.
After completing all this, Han Li carefully inspected everything once more to ensure there were no oversights. Only then did he take out a jade box from his robe. He gently stroked the surface of the box for a moment, a mysterious smile appearing on his face, before lightly opening the lid. Inside was a spiritual herb about an inch tall, with a single stem and thirteen leaves. All of its leaves were curled into cylindrical shapes, giving it a rather peculiar appearance.
Even more astonishing was its milky white hue, emanating a faint, dazzling radiance that made it look like an immortal’s treasure. This was Han Li’s ultimate trump card for this journey—the “Rainbow Skirt Grass.”
In truth, while this grass couldn’t be considered common, it wasn’t exceedingly rare either. It could be found on coral reefs in the Chaotic Star Sea. However, if planted in ordinary soil without a vibrant, colorful environment, the Rainbow Skirt Grass would wither and die within a day or two, which was quite intriguing.
The most marvelous thing about it was that the light it emitted would always match its surroundings, changing along with the environmental colors. It could radiate red light, blue light, or other colors.
However, its medicinal effects were not particularly important to cultivators, unlike its captivating appearance. It was merely used as an ingredient for some low-level elixirs and generally didn’t attract much attention from cultivators. But another extremely bizarre name for the Rainbow Skirt Grass—”Demon Luring Grass”—had once caused quite a stir in the Chaotic Star Sea’s cultivation world.
It was unclear which cultivator had accidentally discovered it, but this exceedingly gorgeous herb, despite having thirteen curled, cylindrical leaves from the start, would gradually unfurl one leaf every hundred years. The unfurling process would last six to seven days, during which it would emit a peculiar odor.
This odor had no effect on cultivators, but for most demonic beasts in the sea, it was incredibly alluring. Any demonic beast within a certain range that caught wind of this scent would be drawn to it and immediately compete to devour the grass.
Moreover, the older the Rainbow Skirt Grass, the larger the area it could affect when unfurling its leaves, and the greater its allure to high-level demonic beasts.
It was said that a Nascent Soul stage expert once stumbled upon a thousand-year-old Rainbow Skirt Grass in the depths of the Outer Star Sea, which was just unfurling its eleventh leaf. As a result, the expert witnessed dozens of sixth and seventh-level demonic beasts charging toward him simultaneously, frightening him into fleeing for his life.
After this discovery was made public in the cultivation world, many cultivators began to consider using this grass to lure demonic beasts, making it easier to kill them and retrieve their cores.
For high-level cultivators venturing into the Chaotic Star Sea to hunt demonic beasts, the most frustrating scenario was spending months roaming the seas without spotting a single demonic beast.
For most cultivators, fifth-level demonic beasts were the ideal targets. Sixth and seventh-level beasts posed a risk of casualties, while eighth-level and above were only manageable for Nascent Soul stage experts; cultivators of other levels would flee at the mere sight of them. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be hunting demonic beasts but feeding themselves to the beasts.
The number of demonic beasts in the Outer Star Sea was indeed vast, but if they remained submerged in the deep sea without surfacing, they were nearly impossible to detect. If not for high-level cultivators’ ability to travel tens of thousands of miles in a day and use their spiritual sense to scan the sea’s surface and depths, it would be entirely normal to wander the Chaotic Star Sea for half a year or even a full year without encountering a single demonic beast.
After all, aside from the sheer vastness of the Outer Star Sea, most demonic beasts had unique concealment methods. Even using spiritual sense to search for them, it was easy to overlook their presence.
Now, with the Rainbow Skirt Grass’s demon-luring effect revealed, it naturally caused a stir in the cultivation world at the time. For a while, hundred-year and multi-hundred-year-old Rainbow Skirt Grass became exorbitantly expensive.
However, these cultivators soon realized that such hopes were mere pipe dreams. First, they had no way to accurately predict the unfurling time of the Rainbow Skirt Grass. While it was said to unfurl one leaf every hundred years, an error of two or three years was quite common. These seafaring cultivators couldn’t effectively utilize such a timeframe.
Second, they frustratingly discovered that once planted, the Rainbow Skirt Grass couldn’t be uprooted until a full hundred years had passed; otherwise, it would lose its ability to unfurl leaves and emit the peculiar odor.
Thus, their idea of carrying nearly unfurled Rainbow Skirt Grass with them and transplanting it in the Outer Star Sea was dashed. Soon after, the name “Demon Luring Grass” was abandoned by cultivators, and the herb reverted to being called “Rainbow Skirt Grass.”
Han Li had come across this information in a jade slip, where it was recorded as an amusing anecdote. At the time, a spark of inspiration struck him: he realized the miraculous effects that could be achieved by combining the Mysterious Small Bottle with this spiritual grass, creating a “waiting for the rabbit” scenario.
He immediately acquired a batch of Rainbow Skirt Grass from the market and began experiments in his cave dwelling. Sure enough, after dripping the green liquid onto the grass, within one to two days, or at most four to five days, the Rainbow Skirt Grass would unfurl a leaf. During the unfurling process, it emitted a peculiar scent—neither pleasant nor foul, but a deeply memorable, strange odor.
Skeptical, Han Li released two Jadeblood Spiders into the medicine garden. The two spiritual beasts immediately became intensely excited, leaping forward without hesitation to devour several stalks of the oddly scented Rainbow Skirt Grass.
Once the scent disappeared, the two white spiders quickly returned to their normal state.
Overjoyed yet cautious, Han Li observed the Jadeblood Spiders for more than ten days. When no abnormalities appeared, he finally set his mind at ease.
With this trump card in hand, he felt immensely confident about his journey to hunt demonic beasts and retrieve their cores. After making new preparations, Han Li not only brought a large quantity of Rainbow Skirt Grass seedlings and the small bottle but also specifically chose the Ningcui Island海域, known for its abundant coral reefs, to teleport to. After all, Rainbow Skirt Grass could only survive in places with plentiful coral.
Now, having set up an inescapable net on Red Coral Island, he only needed to mature the Rainbow Skirt Grass and wait for the demonic beasts to come to him.
Han Li found a solitary coral reef at the ring-shaped center of the island and transplanted the Rainbow Skirt Grass seedling from the jade box onto it.
Although he knew that older Rainbow Skirt Grass would affect a wider sea area when unfurling its leaves, for safety’s sake, he decided to start with a hundred-year-old specimen.
Han Li took out the small bottle and carefully dripped a drop of green liquid onto the Rainbow Skirt Grass. Then, he began meditating on a nearby coral reef. Qu Hun had long since returned to his side, and together they conserved their energy.
By the third day, the Rainbow Skirt Grass finally began to show signs of unfurling its leaf under Han Li’s watchful eyes, emitting its peculiar odor.
Without a word, Han Li’s hand suddenly glowed, and several formation flags of varying radiance appeared around him, neatly planted in the ground before him.
Han Li glanced at these formation flags for a moment, his expression unchanging, before closing his eyes again. He had already decided: if no demonic beasts appeared after a few days, he would drip another drop of green liquid to expand the demon-luring range of the Rainbow Skirt Grass.
This way, demonic beasts were bound to come to him eventually.
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