Chapter 346: Great Formation Exterminates Demons

Han Li did not carefully examine the scattered particles. Instead, he thoroughly searched the surroundings to ensure nothing was overlooked before beginning to consider how to deal with the giant mantis.

He certainly didn't want to let this demonic beast escape. After all, its forelimbs alone, not to mention its other parts, were extremely rare and excellent materials for artifact refining in the cultivation world.

Han Li briefly considered the idea of capturing and taming the creature alive, but then dismissed it.

He knew very well that all demonic beasts controlled by cultivators were, without exception, tamed gradually from a young age with imposed restrictions. To simply claim a powerful spirit beast one had not personally raised was nothing short of a pipe dream.

The cultivator from the Spirit-Taming Sect could no longer control the giant mantis only because he had lost his physical body and, in essence, transformed into someone else. Otherwise, once such demonic beasts are fully tamed, they remain fiercely loyal for their entire lives, never abandoning their masters—far more loyal than humans.

Regarding the matter of informing the Seven Sects' allied army, Han Li considered it but remained unsure about the veracity of the Spirit-Taming Sect cultivator's words. He thus decided to linger in the area for a few more days to observe the situation before acting.

After all, he was very fast, so even if he delayed for a few days, he could still reach the Seven Sects' main camp on time.

Consequently, Han Li spent a day secretly setting up the "Reversing Five Elements Grand Formation" in a dense forest not far from the cave.

This time, Han Li didn't just hastily set up a partial formation, as he had during the imperial palace battle; he completed the entire grand formation. Its power was naturally incomparable to before.

During this period, he again observed the giant mantis leaving to forage.

To his surprise, it brought back a huge black tiger, which made Han Li marvel for a long time.

He had never seen a black tiger before, and it was clearly not an ordinary wild beast. It was a pity that such a rare creature ended up as a meal for the giant mantis.

After making full preparations, Han Li quietly infiltrated the cave at midday.

But in mere moments, he swiftly flew out of the cave on his Divine Wind Boat, heading directly towards the grand formation.

The black shadow relentlessly pursuing him from behind was, of course, the giant mantis, which Han Li had disturbed.

Because the grand formation was set up nearby, Han Li had barely flown out of the cave before he entered its coverage. Although the mantis demonic beast possessed some intelligence, it couldn't understand formations, so it easily fell into Han Li's trap and became ensnared within the formation.

Over the next two days, Han Li allowed the giant mantis to rampage wildly within the Reversing Five Elements Formation, fully utilizing the formation's illusionary and trapping effects to confine it to an area of several mu.

Only after two days, when the demonic beast was somewhat exhausted and wished to rest within the formation, did Han Li release numerous puppets to continuously harass it from outside, denying it even a moment of rest.

This mantis demonic beast was a type with extremely high attack power but only average defense. It dared not allow the puppets' attacks to get close, so it continuously waved its two mantis forelimbs to protect its entire body.

In this manner, after only half a day, the demonic beast could no longer hold on and began to be struck by the puppets. Although its injuries were not severe, its stamina was clearly almost depleted. By this time, Han Li had also rotated the spirit stones powering the puppets five or six times.

Seeing that the time was right, Han Li activated the talisman treasure in his hand—the small yellow knife with a handle. Under the cover of the puppets' attacks, he immediately pierced the giant mantis's head, killing it within the grand formation.

Seeing his task completed, Han Li, unable to hide his excitement, walked to the demonic beast's corpse. He then took out his silver greatsword and severed its pair of extremely sharp forelimbs whole.

Then, filled with great expectation, he slowly began to feel around the mantis's abdomen.

He hoped this demonic beast was a Level Five demonic beast, in which case he would be able to obtain an exceptionally precious demon core.

Suddenly, an expression of surprise and delight appeared on Han Li's face, but it quickly turned strange. As he hesitantly withdrew his hand from the corpse, he found several oval-shaped objects of the same size in his hand, white and streaked with blood vessels.

"Demonic beast eggs?" Han Li murmured in astonishment.

No matter how confused he was, he wouldn't mistake these objects for demon cores.

But Han Li's surprise wasn't over. He then pulled out another seven or eight from the mantis's abdomen, bringing the total to well over a dozen.

Han Li looked at these egg-sized objects and couldn't help but smile brightly.

This was truly an unexpected bonus!

But then he thought of something. Frowning, he placed a finger on one of the white eggs and closed his eyes to sense it. Before long, Han Li's expression turned grim. There was no life essence within this egg; it was clearly a dead egg.

Such a situation was common among demonic beasts.

After all, demonic beasts were not ordinary insects or wild animals; it wasn't so easy for them to produce offspring.

With a somber expression, Han Li examined the remaining eggs one by one. Indeed, they were all dead, which made him lick his lips, feeling utterly dejected.

Secretly annoyed, Han Li initially wanted to burn the eggs, but after a moment's hesitation, he took out a jade box and carefully stored them away.

"This giant mantis isn't an ordinary demonic beast," Han Li thought, somewhat unwilling to give up. "Even if they're dead eggs, perhaps they have some miraculous use!"

After also removing the mantis's pair of gray wings, Han Li incinerated the demonic beast's corpse and then flew back towards the cave.

Although he didn't have high hopes, Han Li still wanted to see if there might be other gains.

Upon entering the cave and performing a quick check, Han Li was stunned.

In a corner of the cave, Han Li surprisingly found a skeleton clad in a gray robe, with a perfectly intact storage pouch still attached to its waist.

Han Li held the storage pouch in his hand, his heart beginning to pound.

He knew without asking that this skeleton must be the remains of the Spirit-Taming Sect cultivator. The fact that the cultivator had not hidden the storage pouch separately before his Nascent Soul left his body truly filled Han Li with both surprise and joy!

Han Li naturally didn't know that the Spirit-Taming Sect cultivator, gravely wounded and on the verge of perishing, had no time to arrange his affairs. He had only managed to hastily retrieve the "Green Radiant Sword" and condense a small portion of his Golden Core's spiritual energy into a green pellet before his Nascent Soul, clutching these two items, frantically exited his body.

After all, had he delayed, his Nascent Soul would have perished along with his body.

Han Li was naturally extremely curious about this storage pouch, which belonged to a Core Formation stage cultivator.

He barely managed to suppress his excitement, extending his divine sense into the pouch to meticulously examine its contents.

However, after Han Li's divine sense had thoroughly swept through its contents, he nearly fainted from anger.

This large storage pouch surprisingly contained only bottles and jars. Most of them were engraved with the names of food for various demonic beasts or insects, rendering them utterly useless to Han Li. The other smaller portion was slightly better, containing various insect specimens, also engraved with their names.

Han Li briefly sensed that most of the insects in the bottles were surprisingly still alive, which greatly astonished him.

No one had fed them for several years, yet they were still alive. Their vitality was truly tenacious!

As for the high-level talismans, much-needed magic tools, and talisman treasures that Han Li had hoped for, there wasn't a single one in the storage pouch, leaving him speechless for a long time.

Fortunately, at the very bottom of the storage pouch, Han Li finally found a green jade slip. The contents of the slip greatly intrigued him at first glance.

Inside were insights from the Spirit-Taming Sect cultivator on cultivating exotic insects. It not only introduced thousands of exotic insects Han Li had never heard of but also contained secret methods for cultivating and controlling them. What interested Han Li most was that the cultivator had actually ranked these insects according to their power.

The giant mantis was, of course, also among them. Although it was clearly gray, the cultivator had referred to it as the "Golden-backed Demonic Mantis," which made Han Li blink in confusion.

However, this giant mantis was only ranked seventy-third among the many exotic insects, with seventy-two even more powerful demonic insects preceding it. This secretly astonished Han Li, who had personally witnessed the "Golden-backed Demonic Mantis'" strength.

Han Li read with great interest for most of the day before withdrawing his divine sense from the jade slip. After a moment of contemplation, he began to compare the insect specimens in his hand with the exotic insects described in the slip.

As a result, Han Li became increasingly dissatisfied the more he looked!

Han Li didn't concern himself with what other uses these insects might have for now, but their rankings were simply too low! Only a mere two of them were ranked within the top hundred, barely clinging to the bottom of that list.

Most of them were ranked in the two or three hundreds!

Han Li didn't know that if his complaints had been heard by the Spirit-Taming Sect cultivator, the cultivator would have undoubtedly cursed him out. These exotic insects were not easy to collect! Not to mention those in the top hundred, even those ranked in the top three or four hundred were rare species seldom seen in the world. All of them had been acquired only through hundreds of years of painstaking effort, by force or plunder.