Han Li flicked his finger slightly, and a cyan sword radiance silently pierced half an inch into the wall.
Just as a hint of joy was about to appear on his face, a red light flashed, and a shimmering curtain emerged from the wall, forcibly pushing the sword radiance out.
Han Li’s expression darkened. After a moment of thought, still unwilling to give up, he opened his palm, and a small sword about an inch long shot out, circled above his head once, and then hovered steadily before his chest.
Han Li silently activated his sword art, and a faint golden arc of electricity crackled and danced along the blade. The small sword then spun rapidly within a cyan glow and thrust fiercely into the wall. With a soft, muffled sound, the Evil-Suppressing Divine Thunder exploded, causing a ripple of red light to shimmer across the wall.
A flicker of hope appeared in Han Li’s eyes, but it was soon replaced by disappointment. The small sword, aided by the thunderous force, had only advanced another inch before being halted. Deep within the wall, a faint, multicolored glow reflected back.
This coral wall had been reinforced by the demonic cultivator with extremely powerful layered restrictions. Relying solely on magic treasures to break through was nearly impossible!
Retracting the treasure into his body, Han Li frowned deeply, one hand unconsciously resting on the spirit beast pouch at his waist. He believed that no matter how mystical the restrictions on the wall were, they couldn’t withstand the frenzied gnawing of an army of Gold Devouring Beetles. However, one concern held him back from releasing the insects.
The time it would take for the beetles to devour the restrictions would likely not be short, and during that period, the demonic cultivator Feng Xi would surely sense the disturbance and come to investigate. Given the other’s monstrous speed, Han Li would have no chance to escape.
After turning the matter over in his mind, Han Li glared fiercely at the coral wall before returning to the jade couch with a grim expression.
By now, he could feel a growing heat in his abdomen, a sign that the effects of the Blaze Wine were beginning to take hold. Uncertain of the wine’s peculiarities, Han Li dared not delay. Setting aside other thoughts, he sat cross-legged and began circulating his energy.
Closing his eyes to inspect his inner self, he frowned and drew a wisp of cyan core flame from his tri-colored golden core. The compressed mass of emerald-green liquid was instantly enveloped by the core flame.
Before long, Han Li sat motionless, his expression unreadable.
The process of refining the Blaze Wine was exceedingly slow. After over a month, less than a quarter of the wine had been refined. It seemed the humanoid Stormwind Beast had not exaggerated when he claimed it would take half a year.
The sluggish pace made Han Li increasingly anxious. If he failed to reach the late stage in time after six months, he was certain that Feng Xi, the Stormwind Beast, would not hesitate to end his life with a single claw.
Determined, he took a risk and forced all the core flame out of his golden core. A cyan flame, nearly twice as thick as before, engulfed the remaining green liquid. Han Li relentlessly drove his spiritual power, accelerating the refinement process.
This approach, however, doubled the consumption of his spiritual energy. At regular intervals, he reluctantly swallowed a drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Milk to sustain the core flame.
After two months of such extravagant use of core flame, two-thirds of the wine had finally been refined. It seemed that complete refinement was within reach, and Han Li felt a slight sense of relief.
Just then, an unexpected event occurred. In his desperation days earlier, Han Li had swallowed the Dry Blue Ice Pearl. Later, due to his extreme wariness of the Stormwind Beast, he had kept the life-threatening treasure inside his body without retrieving it.
On this day, just as Han Li’s spiritual power was depleted and he was about to take another drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Milk to recover, the layer of Evil-Suppressing Divine Thunder surrounding the Dry Blue Ice Pearl suddenly became unstable and began to warp within his body.
The sight horrified Han Li, who had been intently monitoring his inner state. With his spiritual power exhausted, he was unable to mount any emergency response. As the pearl’s surface bulged and quivered uncontrollably, he desperately channeled the remaining Blaze Wine to envelop the unstable Dry Blue Ice Pearl.
His heart pounded violently, and all color drained from his face.
What reaction would occur from enveloping the Dry Blue Ice Pearl with Blaze Wine? Only heaven knew. The thought of the pearl exploding inside his body made Han Li’s hands turn icy cold while sweat poured down his back.
Fortunately, whether by blind luck or because the Dry Blue Pearl was never truly on the verge of exploding, the pearl calmed down after a moment encased in the liquid.
Han Li let out a long breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and felt as though he had narrowly escaped death.
He quickly swallowed a drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Milk. As soon as his spiritual power recovered slightly, he spat out the pearl and stored it away, extremely shaken by the close call. Keeping such an item inside his body felt like playing with fire.
After settling this matter, he casually inspected his inner state and was startled to discover that, amidst the shock and panic, he had unknowingly broken through the bottleneck and quietly advanced to the late Core Formation stage.
Han Li was first dumbfounded, then overwhelmed with ecstasy!
To be honest, he had yet to feel any special effects from the Blaze Wine. Yet, before even fully refining it, he had unexpectedly broken through the bottleneck. This seemed utterly unbelievable to him!
Testing his cultivation, he found he could now simultaneously summon twenty-four Emerald Swarm Swords and wield them with proficiency.
This significantly boosted his combat power!
Despite his elation, Han Li had no intention of wasting the remaining Blaze Wine. He continued refining the leftover liquid for over two more months, solidifying his cultivation in the process. Only then did he begin pondering what the ninth-grade Stormwind Beast wanted him to do and devising a plan to escape.
As the half-year deadline drew nearer, Han Li’s expression grew increasingly grave, with frequent flashes of anxiety in his eyes.
A few days after the deadline passed, a hole opened in the coral wall, and Feng Xi’s calm voice sounded from outside: “Fellow Daoist Li, it’s time. Have your cultivation advances progressed?”
Sitting on the jade couch, Han Li opened his eyes expressionlessly, rose without a word, and stepped out.
Feng Xi was outside, squinting as he waited.
Upon seeing Han Li, the ninth-grade demonic cultivator immediately scrutinized him carefully before clapping his hands and laughing heartily.
“Excellent, excellent! Congratulations on reaching the late stage. It seems my Blaze Wine was not wasted.” Feng Xi’s face was full of delight, indicating that Han Li’s progress was genuinely useful to him.
Seeing this, Han Li’s heart stirred slightly.
“Fellow Daoist Li, follow me! I will introduce you to two other close friends from the demon clan. This endeavor requires the collaboration of all three of you to have any hope of success!” Feng Xi said cheerfully, treating Han Li with unusual warmth.
“There are two other seniors?” Han Li was taken aback.
“Indeed. Both of my friends are at the early Transformation stage—what you humans would call eighth-grade demonic cultivators. However, they hail from innate spirit clans, and their true abilities are not far inferior to mine. That said, try to speak sparingly in their presence. They are true sea tribes and harbor no goodwill toward humans.” Feng Xi gave Han Li a meaningful look, offering a subtle warning.
Han Li felt a chill and responded solemnly.
Shortly after, Feng Xi led Han Li to the main hall. At a glance, Han Li recognized the two individuals Feng Xi had referred to as close friends.
His expression involuntarily shifted.
One had a dragon’s head, a steel tail, and was covered in crimson scales. The other had a tortoise shell, a bluish face, and an exceptionally tall stature.
Leaving the latter aside for now, the one with the dragon’s head was none other than the venomous flood dragon that had clashed fiercely with human cultivators near the Misty Sea! Although Han Li had never seen the other, he could guess with near certainty that it was the giant tortoise that had recently undergone a tribulation and transformed.
The two eighth-grade demon beasts turned their heads as Feng Xi entered.
The venomous flood dragon noticed the change in Han Li’s expression, its green eyes glinting coldly as it looked him up and down.
“Human, have you seen me before?” it asked icily. Though its speech was somewhat slurred, its meaning was perfectly clear.
Hearing this, Han Li hesitated inwardly. It seemed that due to the blood-colored cloak he had worn previously, the other had not gotten a clear look at his face. Under these circumstances, bringing up the past battle with humans would be asking for trouble. It seemed he had no choice but to gloss over the matter.
Clearing his throat, Han Li replied as calmly as possible, “This is my first time meeting you, Senior. It’s just that this junior has limited experience and has never seen a true flood dragon before, so I was momentarily overwhelmed. I beg your forgiveness!” Left with no alternative, Han Li adopted the humblest posture possible to avoid further complications.
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