Han Li did not scrutinize these scattered granules closely. Instead, after searching the vicinity to ensure nothing had been overlooked, he began considering how to deal with the giant mantis.
He had no intention of letting this demon beast escape. Regardless of its other parts, those forelimbs were undoubtedly rare and excellent materials for crafting artifacts in the cultivation world.
As for the idea of capturing it alive and taming it, Han Li briefly entertained the thought before dismissing it. He knew all too well that demon beasts capable of being controlled by cultivators were invariably those subjected to restrictions from a young age and gradually domesticated. The notion of effortlessly claiming a powerful spirit beast one hadn’t raised oneself was nothing but a pipe dream.
He surmised that the Spirit Beast Sect cultivator had lost control of the giant mantis only because he had lost his physical form and become someone else. Otherwise, once such a demon beast was fully tamed, it would remain loyal for life, unwavering in its devotion—far more faithful than any human.
Regarding the matter of reporting to the Seven Sects Alliance, Han Li pondered but remained uncertain about the truth of the Spirit Beast Sect cultivator’s claims. Thus, he decided to linger in the area for a few more days to gauge the situation. After all, his speed was exceptional; even if he delayed slightly, he could still reach the Seven Sects’ camp on time.
So, Han Li spent a day quietly setting up the “Inverted Five Elements Grand Formation” in the dense forest not far from the cave.
This time, unlike the hasty partial deployment during the imperial palace battle, he completed the entire formation, making its power incomparably greater than before.
During this period, he witnessed the giant mantis venturing out to hunt once more. Surprisingly, it returned with a massive black tiger, leaving Han Li marveling for quite some time. A black tiger was something he had never seen before, clearly not an ordinary beast. Unfortunately, such a rare specimen had ended up as a meal for the giant mantis.
After making thorough preparations, Han Li stealthily infiltrated the cave at noon. However, mere moments later, he emerged at high speed aboard his Divine Wind Boat, heading straight for the formation. Close on his heels was the giant mantis, provoked by Han Li’s intrusion.
Since the formation was set up nearby, Han Li entered its range almost immediately after exiting the cave. Although the mantis demon beast possessed some intelligence, it knew nothing of formations and easily fell into Han Li’s trap, becoming confined within the array.
Over the next two days, Han Li allowed the giant mantis to roam wildly within the Inverted Five Elements Formation, fully utilizing the array’s illusory confinement effects to restrict it to an area spanning several acres.
Only after two days, when the demon beast was nearly exhausted and attempted to lie still, did Han Li release numerous puppets to harass it incessantly from outside the formation, denying it any rest.
The mantis demon beast was a species with exceptionally high attack power but average defense. It dared not let the puppets’ attacks land and had to constantly swing its mantis arms to protect itself.
This continued for just half a day before the demon beast could no longer hold out and began taking hits. Though the injuries were minor, its stamina was clearly nearly depleted. By this time, Han Li had already replaced the spirit stones powering the puppets five or six times.
Seeing that the timing was right, Han Li summoned his talisman treasure—the small yellow knife with a handle—and, under the cover of the puppets’ attacks, pierced through the giant mantis’s head, killing it within the formation.
With the task accomplished, an excited Han Li approached the demon beast’s corpse and retrieved his silver greatsword to carefully sever its extremely sharp forelimbs.
Then, with great expectation, he slowly felt around the mantis’s abdomen. He hoped this demon beast was at least a fifth-level creature so he could obtain an exceptionally valuable demon core.
Suddenly, Han Li’s face lit up with delight, but soon took on a peculiar expression. As he withdrew his hand from the corpse in bewilderment, he was holding several uniformly sized oval objects, pale in color and veined with blood vessels.
“Demon beast eggs?” Han Li muttered in astonishment. Even he wouldn’t mistake these for demon cores.
But his surprise didn’t end there. He retrieved seven or eight more eggs from the mantis’s belly, bringing the total to over a dozen.
Looking at these egg-sized objects, Han Li couldn’t help but break into a smile. This was truly an unexpected windfall!
However, he soon thought of something and frowned, pressing a finger against one of the white eggs and closing his eyes to sense its energy.
Before long, his expression darkened. The egg showed no signs of life; it was clearly dead. Such occurrences were common among demon beasts, as they were not ordinary insects or animals and rarely reproduced easily.
With a grim face, Han Li examined the remaining eggs one by one, only to find all were dead. He licked his lips, feeling thoroughly frustrated.
Annoyed, he considered burning the eggs but hesitated and instead took out a jade box to store them properly.
“This giant mantis is no ordinary demon beast. Even if the eggs are dead, they might still have some use,” Han Li thought, unwilling to give up.
After removing the mantis’s pair of gray wings, Han Li reduced the demon beast’s corpse to ashes and flew back to the cave. Though his hopes were low, he wanted to see if there were any other gains to be made.
Upon inspecting the cave, Han Li was stunned. In a corner, he found a skeleton clad in a gray robe, with a intact storage pouch still attached to its waist.
Holding the storage pouch, Han Li’s heart raced. Without a doubt, this skeleton was the remains of the Spirit Beast Sect cultivator, who had surprisingly not hidden his storage pouch before undergoing soul emergence. This was both a shock and a delight to Han Li!
Unbeknownst to Han Li, the Spirit Beast Sect cultivator had been too severely injured and on the verge of death to handle his affairs. He had only managed to wrap the “Green Glow Sword” and condense a portion of his golden core’s energy into a green pellet before hastily undergoing soul emergence with these two items. Any delay would have meant his soul perishing along with his body.
Naturally, Han Li was immensely curious about the storage pouch of a Core Formation cultivator. Suppressing his excitement, he sent his spiritual sense into the pouch to carefully examine its contents.
However, after thoroughly scanning it, Han Li nearly fainted from frustration. The large storage pouch was filled with bottles and jars, most labeled as food for specific demon beasts or insects, none of which were useful to Han Li. The remainder consisted of various insect samples, also labeled with their names.
To his surprise, most of the insects in the bottles were still alive, astonishing Han Li. Despite years without care, they had survived—a testament to their tenacity.
As for the high-level talismans, urgently needed magical instruments, or talisman treasures Han Li had hoped for, the storage pouch contained none, leaving him speechless for a long while.
Fortunately, at the very bottom of the pouch, Han Li found a green jade slip. Its contents immediately captivated him.
It contained the Spirit Beast Sect cultivator’s insights on raising exotic insects, introducing thousands of species Han Li had never heard of, along with secret methods for breeding and controlling them. Most intriguingly, the cultivator had ranked these insects based on their power.
The giant mantis was among them, oddly referred to as the “Goldback Demon Mantis” despite its gray color, which puzzled Han Li.
However, the giant mantis ranked only seventy-third among the exotic insects, with seventy-two more powerful demon insects ahead of it. Having witnessed the “Goldback Demon Mantis’s” strength, Han Li was secretly astounded.
Han Li spent a long time engrossed in the jade slip before withdrawing his spiritual sense. After some thought, he began cross-referencing the insects described in the slip with the samples he had.
The more he compared, the more dissatisfied he became. Regardless of their other uses, the rankings of these insects were simply too low! Only two ranked within the top hundred, and even those were near the bottom. Most fell within the two to three hundred range.
Little did Han Li know that if the Spirit Beast Sect cultivator had heard his complaints, he would have pointed at Han Li’s nose and scolded him vehemently. These exotic insects were incredibly difficult to collect. Even those ranked in the top three or four hundred were rare varieties in the world, obtained through centuries of effort, coercion, and seizure.
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