After obtaining the location of the Wind Split Beast’s lair from Wen Siyue, Han Li casually left her a bottle of medicinal pills to refine and absorb. Naturally, Wen Siyue felt immensely grateful and immediately went into seclusion, overjoyed to refine the pill’s energy. Meanwhile, Han Li entered another stone chamber, intending to study the newly acquired copper piece first.
Now seated cross-legged in the chamber, he carefully examined the object in his hand.
Only one side of the copper piece was inscribed with text, while the other side bore an extremely peculiar illustration—a monster with three heads and six arms. Its three heads glared with furious eyes, and all six arms were raised toward the sky, though the meaning behind this was unclear.
Frowning, Han Li studied it for a while before pulling out the beastskin scroll to compare the texts on both items. It was then that he noticed the characters on the copper piece were largely similar in structure to those on the beastskin scroll but differed in subtle ways. It was as if they shared a common origin but had evolved into different scripts.
Unable to discern anything from the surface, Han Li did not hesitate to channel spiritual power into the copper piece.
As spiritual power flowed into it, the copper piece emitted a soft, clear hum and began to tremble on its own. Suddenly, a brilliant light burst forth, and a hazy yellow beam shot from one side of the copper piece, projecting onto the opposite stone wall. An animated ancient scroll instantly appeared.
Han Li’s heart leaped with joy at first, but upon seeing the projection, he froze.
A humanoid demon beast covered in scales, with a single horn on its head, appeared in the image. Its appearance was identical to the three-headed, six-armed monster carved on the back of the copper piece, except it currently had only one head.
Just as Han Li was puzzling over this, the light flickered, and the demon beast in the image sat cross-legged on the ground, forming a strange hand seal with its hands. Its body twisted slightly, assuming an odd posture.
Han Li’s expression turned astonished.
After a short while, the demon beast’s hand seal changed. Its body twisted again, adopting an even more peculiar seated posture.
At regular intervals, the humanoid demon beast shifted into various mysterious postures and hand seals, as if practicing some kind of cultivation technique. After a full half-hour, the light from the copper piece dimmed, and the image vanished.
Han Li carefully counted—the demon beast had assumed thirty-six different postures in total.
Rubbing his nose, Han Li looked at the object in his hand, his face filled with a strange expression. Although he didn’t understand the text on the copper piece, the imagery suggested it was undoubtedly not meant for human cultivators but rather recorded a demon beast’s cultivation technique.
He had never known that high-level demon beasts also practiced cultivation techniques. Weren’t demon beasts born with the innate ability to absorb spiritual energy and cultivate on their own? Judging by the fact that the practitioner was a demon beast capable of shapeshifting into human form, this technique was absolutely extraordinary.
However, Han Li’s expression turned wry as he looked at the copper piece. Even if he could decipher the text, would he dare to practice a demon beast’s cultivation technique? Besides, he wasn’t lacking in high-level techniques. The complete Profound Yin Scriptures were still sitting obediently in his storage pouch.
Thinking about it, it was no wonder the dark-skinned cultivator had made such a mysterious show of trading this item—it was utterly useless to him! Han Li felt as if he had fallen for a clever trick, and a hint of frustration settled in his heart.
Since the text on the copper piece was part of a demon beast’s unique heritage, searching through human texts would yield no clues. It seemed there was no need to exhaust himself trying to decipher the beastskin scroll either—it was likely another demon beast cultivation technique.
Letting out a long sigh, Han Li tossed both items into his storage pouch with a disgruntled expression and left the stone chamber.
With his hopes dashed, Han Li naturally felt disappointed. However, he quickly adjusted his mindset and prepared to leave for the Abyssal Ocean. The matter of the Companion Demon Grass was of utmost importance to him, directly related to his ability to advance further on his path of cultivation! Moreover, after consuming the Five-Colored Pearl, he felt his cultivation aptitude had been steadily improving over the years. Although he still couldn’t compare to prodigies with Heavenly Spirit Roots or Variant Spirit Roots, his ability to absorb and convert spiritual energy was now on par with that of a Triple Spirit Root cultivator.
The Heaven Mending Pill truly lived up to its reputation! It gave Han Li renewed hope for forming his Nascent Soul.
By the time Han Li emerged, Wen Siyue was still in seclusion, refining the pill’s energy. It was likely she wouldn’t emerge for another two or three months.
Not wishing to disturb her, Han Li left a few magical instruments and the incantation to control the cave’s restriction spell in her bedroom before departing alone.
High above the island, Han Li scanned his surroundings, identified his direction, and transformed into a blue streak of light, heading toward the Abyssal Ocean.
Along the way, he encountered several demon beasts and disposed of them without hesitation. Occasionally, he came across human cultivators but paid them no mind, simply flying past from a distance.
A month later, Han Li finally approached the vicinity of the Abyssal Ocean.
At this point, he began concealing his aura and hiding his traces. This area was the lair of high-level demon beasts, so Han Li proceeded with extreme caution, not daring to take any chances.
As expected, he frequently encountered various demon beasts on the remaining journey, but thanks to his superb concealment techniques, he managed to approach the sea region without any major scares.
Several days later, Han Li halted his advance. Hovering in the air, he gazed solemnly at a faintly visible small island in the distance.
According to Wen Siyue, the lair of the grade-eight demon beast was on this very island. Han Li didn’t dare to charge in recklessly—if the ten-thousand-year Wind Split Beast was in its lair, he would be walking straight to his death. For the same reason, he refrained from releasing his spiritual sense to casually scan the island.
Instead, Han Li found a reef protruding from the water some distance from the island and set up a small illusion array nearby. He settled there, meditating and patiently monitoring the island. Until he could confirm the movements of the grade-eight demon beast, he didn’t dare act rashly.
Unfortunately, the Neon Demon Grass had no effect on demon beasts above grade eight. Otherwise, he could have used it to lure away the adult Wind Split Beast, saving himself this trouble. For now, all he could do was wait patiently.
Days passed, and Han Li remained on the reef, watching the island from afar for several months. No demon beasts were seen coming or going on the island.
Even with his patience, Han Li began to grow restless.
“Could it be that the adult demon beast isn’t on the island? Or has the Wind Split Beast abandoned this lair? Is the island empty?” Han Li grew suspicious.
After another month with no changes, Han Li had no choice but to resolve himself to enter the island and investigate. He couldn’t afford to wait on the reef for years!
The next day, at the break of dawn, Han Li suppressed his spiritual energy completely and quietly descended onto the island using his light-body technique.
After months of covert observation, he had become thoroughly familiar with the island. Flying to the mountainside of a stone hill, he discovered a dark, gaping cave entrance concealed behind several large boulders—exactly as Wen Siyue had described. It measured several zhang in size.
Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly. After casting several auxiliary spells on himself, his figure vanished into thin air. Invisible, he cautiously entered the cave, slowly releasing his spiritual sense to probe the surroundings.
The cave was extremely deep, sloping downward all the way. The further he went, the damper it became. After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Han Li arrived at a corner and stopped, a trace of tension on his face.
He closed his eyes and scanned ahead with his spiritual sense. A moment later, a strange expression crossed his face. Pressing his lips together, he hesitated briefly before steeling himself and stepping past the corner.
Ahead suddenly brightened, revealing a massive natural cavern. It spanned nearly a hundred zhang and stood over ten zhang high. The walls and ceiling shimmered with a faint green light, and in the center was a steaming blue pool. Strange plants grew around its edges.
Han Li’s gaze immediately fell on a few jet-black, inch-long grasses among the plants, and his eyes gleamed with excitement.
These were the Companion Demon Grasses he had been searching for!
Only the Companion Demon Grasses near grade-eight demon beasts were black; those near lower-grade beasts were gray. When Han Li turned his attention to the central pool, his joy faded quickly, replaced by solemnity.
If the Wind Split Beast was in the cave, it was almost certainly at the bottom of this pool. Although he had already scanned the pool with his spiritual sense, it appeared bottomless. He had only probed a small section before withdrawing his sense in alarm.
Licking his lips, Han Li didn’t hesitate any longer. In a flash, he appeared at the edge of the pool. With one hand, he lightly tapped his storage pouch, and a jade box appeared. With the other hand, he made a grasping motion toward the ground.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage