Chapter 1141: Qing Yu

Han Li hovered in the distance, showing no immediate intention of returning to his original spot. After hesitating for a moment, he slowly closed his eyes and released his powerful spiritual sense, enveloping an area of several hundred miles in an instant.

The sky showed no unusual phenomena—the astonishingly large avian creature had indeed vanished without a trace.

Without further hesitation, Han Li directed a strand of his spiritual sense downward, probing deep into the ocean.

After a while, his eyes abruptly snapped open, revealing a trace of surprise and suspicion.

After a brief contemplation, he suddenly slapped the storage pouch at his waist. A flash of silver light later, a faint azure humanoid figure appeared before him—his humanoid puppet.

“Go!”

With a cold command, Han Li flicked his sleeve toward the distant sea.

The puppet moved instantly, transforming into a silver streak that shot toward the ocean surface at incredible speed. In just a few flashes, it had already traveled several miles.

A short while later, the silver streak arrived at the spot where the ghostly mist had previously appeared. Without hesitation, it plunged downward, disappearing beneath the waves as it descended toward the ocean depths.

Meanwhile, Han Li sat cross-legged in mid-air, linking his spiritual sense with the puppet’s, controlling it as if it were an extension of himself.

The seabed here was far deeper than usual. The puppet descended nearly four to five thousand zhang before finally reaching the bottom.

Yet, the area was eerily empty—no signs of any demonic beasts. Strangely, the surroundings were unusually barren, devoid of coral or seaweed. The terrain was unnaturally flat, lacking any variation in elevation.

After circling the area, the puppet suddenly accelerated toward a certain direction.

Soon, it spotted a faint azure glow drifting ahead.

The glow bobbed up and down as it moved, as if possessing a will of its own.

The puppet’s eyes suddenly flared with a violet radiance, and its speed doubled. In a few flashes, it closed the distance to within ten zhang of the glowing object.

Now, it became clear—the glow contained a feather, about a zhang in length, flickering between dim and bright, pulsing with faint spiritual light as if alive.

The puppet’s silver light flared once more, and it instantly appeared above the feather, reaching down to seize it.

But something unexpected happened.

The moment the puppet’s silver-tipped fingers touched the azure glow, the feather suddenly erupted in dazzling light and vanished without a trace, as if slipping into the void.

The puppet grasped at empty air, momentarily stunned.

Yet, moments later, the feather reappeared leisurely about thirty zhang away, as if it had never moved at all.

This time, the puppet coldly observed the feather without acting rashly. The feather, however, began drifting away once more.

But the puppet’s patience was short-lived. When the feather had floated about a hundred zhang away, it acted again.

In a burst of silver light, the puppet reappeared above the feather. This time, instead of grabbing directly, it waved a hand downward, summoning a massive silver hand that descended to seize the feather.

The same scene repeated—the feather shimmered and vanished once more.

But as it reappeared elsewhere, a deafening thunderclap erupted overhead. A golden lightning net descended with lightning speed, trapping the feather within.

The feather flickered wildly, attempting to teleport several times, but each time it reappeared, it collided with the golden net and was forcefully repelled, its teleportation ability completely suppressed.

Above the golden net, a figure materialized—Han Li himself, who had now descended to the seabed.

Staring at the trapped feather, Han Li let out a few murmurs of astonishment.

This object was truly extraordinary!

Not only was it an exceptionally vibrant emerald green, but upon closer inspection, its surface was covered in intricate, densely packed mystical runes that flickered in and out of visibility.

However, the tip of the feather was slightly charred, while its base bore traces of blood that shimmered with faint golden light.

Recognizing its rarity, Han Li’s face lit up with delight. He slapped his storage pouch, summoning several talismans into his hand.

With a flick of his wrist, he sent one talisman flying toward the net. Yet, the feather shimmered, allowing the talisman to pass through it as if it were an illusion.

Han Li was momentarily stunned but then smiled even wider.

The feather’s sentience only further proved its extraordinary nature.

He immediately formed hand seals and began chanting incantations.

The golden net shrank rapidly under his spell, condensing to a diameter of about a zhang, leaving the feather with no room to escape.

Then, he spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the talismans in his hand, simultaneously weaving a series of spells that vanished into them.

This time, when he shot the talismans forward, they adhered firmly to the feather despite its frantic struggles.

The azure glow dimmed, and the feather became dull and unremarkable.

Only then did Han Li retract his Divine Devilbane Lightning and reach out to grasp the now-motionless feather.

Upon closer inspection, his eyebrows rose slightly, and he extended a finger to lightly tap it.

An incredible sight unfolded—the feather shrank rapidly under faint spiritual light, reducing to about a foot in length.

The talismans adhered to its surface also shrank proportionally, displaying remarkable adaptability.

Han Li’s expression shifted slightly as he gripped the feather’s base and gave it a gentle shake.

Instantly, layers of azure light rippled across its surface, releasing an exceptionally pure and powerful wind spiritual energy.

The purity of this energy made it impossible for Han Li to conceal his delight.

Now was not the time to ponder its uses. After storing the feather in a jade box and placing it in his storage pouch, he had the puppet search the area once more, but this time, it found nothing.

Nevertheless, Han Li was satisfied. He recalled the puppet, transformed into a streak of light, and departed the area.

During his journey to Biling Island, Han Li began carefully considering the events involving the giant avian and the ghostly mist.

The battle he had witnessed was clearly beyond the capabilities of any human realm cultivator. The giant avian was likely a powerful demonic beast from the Spirit Realm or another realm, while the ghostly mist was alive—and seemingly even more formidable than the avian.

This realization had shocked Han Li at the time.

In the human realm, only a few legendary demonic beings possessed such inconceivable abilities.

Years ago, when he was trapped in the Netherworld, some had speculated that the ghostly mist and the Netherworld were connected to the demonic entity Rahu. After all, only such half-spiritual, half-demonic beings could effortlessly tear through space and traverse realms.

The impossibly large avian creature likely possessed similarly heaven-defying abilities, allowing it to attack the ghostly mist across realms.

With his current knowledge and the ancient texts he had studied, Han Li had pieced together most of the truth.

But regardless of how much he guessed, beings as terrifying as Rahu were far beyond his influence. He could only treat this as a bizarre encounter.

Two months later, as Han Li flew over the ocean, his expression suddenly shifted. Adjusting his course slightly, he shot toward a certain direction.

After traveling a few miles, he heard the sounds of explosions ahead.

In the distance, spiritual light flickered wildly as three cultivators desperately fought off a high-tier demonic beast. Among them, only one was at the early Core Formation stage, while the other two were at late Foundation Establishment. Yet, the beast they faced was a sixth-tier demonic beast. Even working together, they could barely hold their own.

Han Li halted his flight silently, observing the battle carefully.

The Core Formation cultivator was a middle-aged man wearing a wide-brimmed hat that obscured most of his face, his complexion dark. He wielded an earthen-yellow flying sword with remarkable skill, blocking most of the beast’s attacks. The other two—a white-haired elder and a young woman in her late teens—controlled a green trident and a fiery red wheel, respectively, displaying decent combat prowess.

The sixth-tier demonic beast was shrouded in white mist, emitting eerie infant-like cries. From within the mist, it launched bursts of blue lightning—a signature of the “Infant Carp Beast,” the first high-tier demonic beast Han Li had encountered in the Chaotic Star Sea.

However, this beast was noticeably larger than the one he had seen before. Its four pale arms each wielded a treasure—a blade, a sword, a drum, and a banner.

Among these, the blade, sword, and banner were merely rare top-grade magic tools, but the small yellow drum was a genuine ancient treasure. With each swing, it released rippling silver waves, indicating considerable power.

Han Li’s arrival immediately drew the attention of both sides. Recognizing him as human, the hat-wearing man cried out in relief, “I am Chen Jing of Thunder Void Island! If you lend us your aid, I will reward you handsomely!”

Pressed by the beast, the man hadn’t even had time to scan Han Li’s cultivation level, assuming he was merely a passing Core Formation cultivator. After all, Han Li’s flight aura had been deliberately subdued to match that of an ordinary Core Formation cultivator.

However, the sixth-tier Infant Carp Beast, having developed partial intelligence, scanned Han Li’s cultivation with its spiritual sense. Its infant-like face instantly twisted in terror.

Before Han Li could even respond to the cultivators, the beast let out a shrill cry. From within the mist, it unleashed a barrage of a hundred blue lightning orbs at the three cultivators, then shot out of the mist like a meteor, plunging toward the ocean below.