Chapter 841: Alien Beast

"There's no need to rush," Han Li replied calmly, though his heart was equally stirred. "This spiritual herb has been here for so many years; it's impossible for it to have no guardian. Otherwise, even with the illusion array concealment outside, its spiritual fruits would have been devoured by other ancient beasts long ago."

"Brother Han, do you mean there's still an ancient beast guarding this place?" Zi Ling asked, surprised, her mind clearing instantly. She had already heard Han Li briefly mention the existence of ancient demonic beasts in Demonfall Valley.

"Precisely," Han Li said slowly. "Look at the top of the spiritual herb; there are two clear chew marks. It seems two spiritual fruits have been swallowed raw by the guardian beast twice. While the Spiritual Candle Fruit doesn't directly accelerate cultivation, it does have some effect on breaking through bottlenecks. No wonder that creature didn't devour them all at once." He then scanned the green lake before lowering his gaze slightly to its small surface.

Undoubtedly, if anything was lurking nearby, it would be hidden within the lake.

Upon entering the inner valley, Han Li had already removed his cloak. He hadn't bothered to conceal his use of the Wind Chasing Chariot or the Brightsight Spirit Eyes from Zi Ling along the way. After all, she had already guessed he possessed a method to avoid spatial rifts, so there was no need to hide anything from her.

After his divine sense swept through the lake water and found nothing unusual, a blue light flashed in Han Li's eyes. His gaze instantly pierced through dozens of zhang of water, directly reaching the bottom of the green lake, and his expression subtly changed. "What is it, Brother Han? Have you found something?" Zi Ling asked, her eyebrows arching slightly and furrowing, as she had been carefully observing Han Li's expression.

"Step back a bit," Han Li said to Zi Ling, his expression returning to normal in an instant. "This guardian ancient beast seems a bit troublesome. I'll likely need to employ some methods to deal with it."

The ancient beast in the lake actually had a way to evade his divine sense. Han Li naturally regarded it with more seriousness.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Brother Han!" Zi Ling replied tactfully, knowing that her low cultivation level would only cause trouble if she stayed close to Han Li. She immediately flew back thirty to forty zhang before stopping her escape light, hovering motionless in the air.

As soon as Han Li saw Zi Ling move aside, he unhesitatingly reached for his waist, producing three spirit beast pouches that were successively conjured into mid-air. Then, forming a hand seal, tens of thousands of golden flying insects swarmed out from the three pouches, fluttering across the sky, obscuring the sun. They transformed the sky for dozens of zhang around into an eerie, resplendent golden hue.

"Ah!" Zi Ling, watching the scene from a distance, couldn't help but gasp softly, her face filled with surprise at the terrifying sight.

Zi Ling naturally knew that Han Li practiced insect manipulation; she had even witnessed it twice before during the battle in the Heavenly Void Palace against the Six Paths Transmission. However, the flying insects, now close to evolving into mature forms, were far larger and different in color compared to the Gold Devouring Beetles from before.

Now, these golden, fearsome spirit insects, doubled in size, were released by Han Li in the tens of thousands, creating a truly extraordinary presence. It was natural for Zi Ling to be inwardly stunned, caught off guard.

Han Li had no time to concern himself with Zi Ling's astonishment. After deploying the Gold Devouring Beetles, he flicked his sleeve, and thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswords streamed out from his cuff, transforming into dozens of golden lights, each about a foot long, that circled and danced beneath the insect cloud.

He successively cast several incantations into the air.

All the golden sword lights trembled a few times, then immediately split into hundreds of identical sword lights, simultaneously radiating brilliant splendor.

"Go!" Han Li pointed a finger at the sword lights in the air and let out a low shout.

The hundred sword lights trembled in the air, then strangely began to disappear one by one from their original positions. In an instant, the space beneath the insect cloud became empty.

He had instantly set up the Great Geng Sword Formation all around them.

Han Li pursed his lips, finally feeling truly at ease. He looked down at the lake surface, a hint of sternness flashing across his face.

He rubbed his hands together, releasing a brilliant golden light. A loud thunderous roar erupted as a fist-sized golden electric sphere appeared between his hands, gradually growing larger and more dazzling under Han Li's cold gaze.

In an instant, the electric sphere expanded to the size of a child's head.

Han Li pushed with both hands, and with a roaring "whoosh," the electric sphere shot out, striking the lake surface over ten zhang in front of him.

Golden light flashed wildly, and a tremendous thunderous roar echoed as the electric sphere exploded. The entire lake surface was instantly covered with electric arcs of varying thickness, crackling ceaselessly.

Behind him, Zi Ling's heart skipped a beat. She lightly bit her red lip, her bright eyes flickering.

Before the golden arcs could dissipate, the lake surface suddenly began to churn violently.

A massive vortex several zhang wide suddenly emerged in the center of the lake. Then, a muffled growl emanated from the lakebed, and a surge of black-and-white demonic energy shot out from the vortex, vaguely enveloping a peculiar-looking ancient beast.

This ancient beast had a bizarre appearance; its body, six to seven zhang long, resembled a mass of black rotten flesh, covered in various pits and holes. In the center, a huge, head-like fleshy orb slightly rose, possessing nothing but a single pitch-black eyeball. At the very least, Han Li couldn't see any mouth, nose, or similar organs.

In short, the ancient beast's appearance was truly repulsive; even Han Li felt a murmur of disgust. From a distance, Zi Ling's face turned pale at the sight of the beast, looking somewhat horrified.

However, Han Li had never heard of or seen this ancient beast, enveloped in black-and-white energy, in any records. He couldn't help but glance at Zi Ling, who offered him a wry smile. Clearly, she also knew nothing of the beast's origins.

Faced with a creature of unknown origin, Han Li, for caution's sake, wasn't going to slowly probe its background and allow it to unleash its abilities.

So, he immediately raised his hand, cast an incantation onto the insect cloud in the air, and at the same time, let out a long, clear cry from his mouth.

Instantly, the swarming insects, buzzing loudly, swiftly converged in the center, immediately transforming into a massive golden cloud that descended, swooping down to engulf the ancient beast.

As soon as the ancient beast heard the buzzing of the Gold Devouring Beetles, it seemed to realize the danger. Its body instantly swelled and contracted, spraying an unknown emerald green liquid from its many holes towards the golden cloud above.

A nauseating, foul odor immediately spread in all directions.

Han Li's brow furrowed initially but then relaxed.

This was because the Gold Devouring Beetles struck by the green liquid were completely unfazed, suffering no damage whatsoever. As the golden cloud descended, it instantly enveloped the ancient beast. However, the beast was protected by a black-and-white aura, so while it was submerged within the golden insect cloud, it wasn't severely harmed for the moment.

The beast watched as countless flying insects desperately gnawed at the black-and-white energy it had cultivated for many years, a small portion of which was torn away in an instant, and it was seized with great fear. Its body sank, plunging downwards, intending to dive back into the lake.

But just then, Han Li, who had been prepared, suddenly extended a finger towards the lake. With a soft "poof," a walnut-sized blue fireball appeared at his fingertip. Then, with a gentle flick of his finger, the blue fireball shot out instantly.

With a "zzzz" sound, the fireball exploded, emitting a blinding blue light.

Immediately, a layer of blue cold mist rapidly spread, instantly turning the lake water into thick ice wherever it passed. In a blink of an eye, the entire green lake was frozen into a massive block of ice.

The ancient beast's plan to dive into the water naturally came to nothing. Instead, it crashed headfirst into the blue ice and was bounced away.

The beast became even more terrified. Its black-and-white aura suddenly trembled. It then darted diagonally away, still covered in a dense swarm of golden insects.

But as it flashed, just as it reached one side of the green lake, a strange, slender golden thread flickered into existence in the seemingly empty air, sweeping past the ancient beast in a fleeting flash.

A small piece of black, putrid flesh, dripping with blood, fell from the insect cloud.

The protective shield formed by the beast's black-and-white aura was instantly severed, and a small piece of the ancient beast's body was sliced off by the golden thread. Without the shield to impede them, countless golden insects swarmed forward, immediately covering the beast's main body.

The ancient beast immediately let out a piercing shriek. Spiritual light flickered on its body, and with a "puff," a layer of eerie green fire appeared on its surface, enveloping all the Gold Devouring Beetles that had gathered close to it, burning ferociously.

Unfortunately, although the green fire was a powerful ability the beast had painstakingly cultivated, these Gold Devouring Beetles were completely unaffected by this level of demonic flame. Instead, it only intensified their ferocity, causing the flying insects to accelerate their devouring. In unbearable pain, the beast instantly changed direction, desperately fleeing towards the other side of the green lake.

Han Li stood by the lake, hands clasped behind his back, coldly watching the ancient beast, enveloped by the insect cloud, flying and crashing around like a headless fly. Unfortunately for the beast, Han Li had already deployed the Great Geng Sword Formation in this area. While he had not yet formally activated the formation to completely decimate the beast, it ensured that wherever the beast fled, golden threads formed from sword light would appear, savagely cutting off a piece of its body.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the beast's body had vanished, and its piercing shrieks grew weak. Finally, with a thud, it plunged onto the ice surface, unable to move even an inch.

The true ability of this unnamed ancient beast lay in its breath concealment and shapeshifting. Once it utilized this ability to transform and hide, even late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn't be able to detect its presence. Its combat capabilities, however, could only be described as average.

Unfortunately, this beast was first seen through by Han Li's Brightsight Spirit Eyes, then inexplicably targeted by the Gold Devouring Beetles and trapped by the Great Geng Sword Formation. It was utterly unable to utilize its innate talent for escape and thus died easily at Han Li's hands.

A moment later, the golden insect cloud buzzed and soared into the sky. The ice surface instantly became empty, leaving behind only a peculiar black-and-white orb, which was the beast's demonic core.

At this moment, Zi Ling flew closer and said to Han Li with an envious expression:

"Brother Han, your current abilities are truly unfathomable. Even a creature like this ancient demonic beast was eliminated effortlessly. It seems the rumors circulating outside, that you are the most powerful individual beneath the Three Great Cultivators, are not unfounded."

"It's not that my abilities are extraordinary," Han Li said, shaking his head dismissively. "It's just that this ancient beast wasn't particularly powerful; it was much weaker than some of the other ancient beasts I've encountered before." He then raised his hand, performed a void grasp, and with a "whoosh," the demonic core was drawn into his hand.

Han Li looked down at the demonic core, where black-and-white spiritual light flickered erratically on its surface. This was the first time he had seen a demonic core of such colors, and he couldn't help but show a hint of interest.