Chapter 940: Obtaining the Feather

A spiritual bird, resembling a firebird, flickered in and out of sight amidst the flames.

Inside the yellow light cluster was an ugly, ball-shaped demonic beast. Its body was covered in rough, hard, earthy yellow skin, wrinkled and baggy, as if it wore thick armor. From the center of its extremely corpulent body protruded a pointed rat's head and a long, slender tail, making it resemble a mutated giant demonic rat.

"What kind of demonic beast is that? So bizarre. But it seems to have a cultivation level of around rank seven. No, it looks like it flew in from beyond the mountains," Han Li said, surprised and puzzled.

"That's an Earth Armored Dragon! It's an incredibly rare demonic beast, renowned for its defense and its ability to locate rare treasures. This is a blessing delivered right to our doorstep!" Dayan Divine Lord exclaimed, pleasantly surprised.

"That spirit beast? I thought it looked somewhat familiar," Han Li said, suddenly realizing.

The moment Han Li spoke, the two demonic beasts, one following the other, plunged fiercely into the white mist in the valley. Their target was precisely the Iridescent Gown Grass below.

After a brief encounter, Han Li flipped his palm, and a green formation plate appeared. He swiftly slammed it down. The plate shone with brilliant light, and the outermost layers of restrictions flashed simultaneously, allowing the Hao Yang Bird, which had descended first, to enter the restricted area instantly. However, when the Rat-Armored Dragon from the yellow light cluster anxiously followed, several restrictions reappeared, temporarily blocking the beast outside the formation.

The Earth Armored Dragon was naturally enraged and alarmed. Its entire body swelled dramatically amidst flashing yellow light, reaching a colossal size of seven to eight *zhang*. Its limbs, head, and tail retracted into its body, and layers of grayish-white stone armor appeared on its surface. It transformed into a perfectly round, fleshy cannonball, slamming violently into the restrictions.

With a thunderous "bang," a single strike shattered the two outermost restrictions. The yellow light paused for a moment before smashing into the remaining restrictions.

This brief delay gave Han Li enough time to subdue the Hao Yang Bird.

As soon as the bird passed through the restriction, it flapped its wings a few times, sending clusters of crimson flames splashing in all directions. This dispelled most of the mist below, revealing a vibrant pink peach forest. Its spiritual eyes flashed, and it immediately spotted Han Li standing beneath a peach tree, along with the Iridescent Gown Grass emitting a strange scent from the red coral.

This bird's spiritual intelligence was not yet fully developed, but Han Li's undisguised mid-Nascent Soul cultivation instinctively filled the spiritual bird with fear. After circling at a low altitude, it dared not land directly. However, the allure of the Iridescent Gown Grass was simply too great, and the bird was even more reluctant to leave.

As the bird hesitated, Han Li, expressionless, raised his hand. A black talisman shot out, and with a flash of dark light, the jade talisman transformed into a dark red ghostly claw, seizing at the Hao Yang Bird.

The Hao Yang Bird was startled. Without a moment's thought, it flapped its wings, and over thirty fist-sized fireballs shot out, striking the ghostly claw.

A series of explosions rang out. Black light and blazing flames intertwined and flickered, temporarily preventing the ghostly claw from approaching.

Seeing this, Han Li let out a soft gasp. But with a quick hand seal, silver wings suddenly appeared on his back.

After a clap of thunder, Han Li vanished from his spot without a trace. The next moment, with a flash of silver light, his figure appeared several *zhang* above the bird's head. With a cold expression, he rubbed his hands together, then simultaneously flicked his five fingers.

Two thick golden arcs shot out from his palms, exploding open to form a massive electrical net that descended upon the bird.

The Hao Yang Bird was entirely focused on battling the black ghostly claw. Caught off guard, it was instantly enveloped by the golden electrical net.

The bird immediately panicked. It shook its body, and some fiery feathers detached and fell, transforming into dense red light that shot towards the electrical net.

Instantly, rumbling explosions echoed ceaselessly from within the net.

A cold light flashed in Han Li's eyes. He flicked his wrist and uttered a command. The large net made of electric arcs flashed wildly several times, then suddenly contracted, showing no fear of the fiery attacks. Amidst the brilliant golden light, the desperately resisting Hao Yang Bird was instantly bound tightly by thumb-thick golden arcs, unable to move even an inch. It could only let out sharp, mournful cries.

A look of joy flashed across Han Li's face. Just then, a sudden thunderous "boom" came from overhead.

His expression shifted, and Han Li suddenly looked up, only to see that the last layer of restrictions above him had been shattered by the Earth Armored Dragon. These restrictions, hastily set up with formation flags and plates, were indeed a bit too flimsy against a rank seven demonic beast.

However, when the Earth Armored Dragon, having reverted from its massive stone bullet form, rushed into the white mist and saw the Hao Yang Bird tightly bound by thick golden arcs above the peach forest, along with Han Li, its pair of small emerald eyes swiveled continuously, revealing an anthropomorphic expression of surprise.

Seeing this, Han Li's heart stirred. "This Earth Armored Dragon's intelligence seems remarkably high."

At this moment, after the Earth Armored Dragon's gaze swept over the Iridescent Gown Grass on the ground, a hint of cunning appeared in its eyes. Suddenly, its body flashed with yellow light, and it plunged directly towards the ground.

"Stop it! It can use earth escape techniques; the moment it touches the ground, it'll vanish into the earth," Dayan Divine Lord warned.

"Don't worry, I've already made arrangements," Han Li replied unhurriedly, a slight smile on his face.

The Earth Armored Dragon instantly reached the ground. Seeing no one else around the Iridescent Gown Grass, it was overjoyed and immediately moved to swallow the grass in one gulp.

But at that very instant, continuous *puffing* sounds emerged from beneath the ground around the Iridescent Gown Grass, and twelve streams of crystalline cold air shot out without any warning.

The Earth Armored Dragon, still airborne and at such close proximity, had no time to defend or dodge. It was instantly frozen solid by thick layers of ice, transforming into a glistening white ice sculpture.

Immediately, white light flashed beneath the ground, and twelve half-foot long snow-white centipedes emerged, their heads raised and tails swaying, continuously spewing cold air from their mouths.

"So you had the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes arranged underground. I worried for nothing," Dayan Divine Lord chuckled softly, seeing the Earth Armored Dragon subdued.

Even with its rough skin and thick flesh, the Earth Armored Dragon couldn't rely on its tough body to withstand the cold air spewed by twelve Six-Winged Frost Centipedes. It was not surprising that it was subdued by a sneak attack.

"I originally set this up as a precaution, just in case. I didn't expect the Earth Armored Dragon to run right into it," Han Li said calmly.

With a flicker of his figure, Han Li appeared behind the Hao Yang Bird. After his gaze swept over its long tail feathers, he actually smiled at the spiritual bird before him:

"I know your intelligence isn't very high yet, but you can still understand some human words. I don't intend to harm you, but those fiery tail feathers need to come off—either they fall off naturally, or I'll pluck them out myself," Han Li stated.

The Hao Yang Bird in the net indeed understood human words. The moment Han Li uttered these words, the bird immediately trembled, an expression of alarm, anger, and unwillingness appearing in its eyes, and its cries grew even sharper.

Han Li's expression darkened, and he let out a cold snort. Without another word, he raised one hand, a layer of green spiritual light enveloping his entire palm, and reached towards the bird's tail.

Finally, a look of fear flashed in the Hao Yang Bird's eyes. In desperation, it shook a few long feathers from its tail, and after a flash of red light, they all detached and fell. After all, these long feathers were connected to its vital essence and bloodline; if forcibly removed, the damage to its body would be significant. By actively shedding them, although it would still lose a considerable amount of vital essence, it could avoid severe physical injury.

With a flash of green light, Han Li was overjoyed. With a single scoop of his hand, he immediately grabbed the fiery red long feathers. He flipped his other palm, and a pre-prepared jade box appeared.

He quickly placed the long feathers into the box and affixed several talismans to the lid. Only then did Han Li carefully put the jade box into his storage pouch.

After completing all this, Han Li lightly patted the Hao Yang Bird's head with the back of his hand. With a slight surge of spiritual power, the Hao Yang Bird immediately flipped over and fell unconscious.

Han Li smiled, his gaze shifting to the Earth Armored Dragon frozen below.

Although this demonic beast was bound by thick ice, it seemed to retain its consciousness within. When Han Li looked over, the beast's small eyes met his gaze, revealing an expression of extreme fear.

Han Li transformed into a green rainbow and shot downwards...

A quarter of an hour later, a dazzling golden rainbow, like lightning from beyond the heavens, flashed and vanished, appearing above the valley. After a single sweep, the golden rainbow's light faded, and the purple-robed old woman from Yueyang Palace's secret hall appeared in the air. Beside her stood another person who didn't dare to even breathe loudly: Fang Chu.

By this time, the peach forest was entirely free of restrictions, and the place was deserted. Only the Hao Yang Bird, now resembling a bald-tailed chicken, was left abandoned beneath a peach tree, still unconscious.

Seeing the Hao Yang Bird in such a state, the old woman was startled. She immediately swept her spiritual sense over it, discovering that although the spiritual bird had lost all its tail feathers and suffered a loss of vital essence, it hadn't sustained other injuries. Only then did she feel a sense of relief. However, after glancing at the Hao Yang Bird's unsightly tail, anger immediately flared within her.

"Check the spiritual bird's condition and wake it up first, then we'll talk," the old woman commanded with a gloomy expression.

Fang Chu, standing nearby, heard this and repeatedly affirmed, not daring to delay. He hastily flew down on his artifact.

If he hadn't been caught up by this Elder Ancestor of Yueyang Palace mid-journey and brought along, he wouldn't have reached this place yet with his artifact's speed.

At this moment, the old woman glanced left and right. After a moment of thought, she closed her eyes and slowly released her spiritual sense, beginning to search for the audacious individual.

A moment later, her expression suddenly changed, as if she had found a clue. After hastily giving a few instructions to the person below, she transformed into a golden rainbow and hurriedly departed.

A moment later, she arrived high in the sky, hundreds of miles away, blocking a strange-looking cultivator who was about to leave the mountain range.

"Well, well, if it isn't Fellow Daoist Ma of the Demonic Wood Sect. Why aren't you meditating quietly within your sect? What are you secretly doing in our Heavenly Mountain Range? Was the recent demonic beast commotion caused by you?" the old woman questioned coldly, her gaze fixed suspiciously on the other person.

Opposite her was a masked cultivator dressed in a yellow-green robe, whose exposed eyes glowed with an inhuman golden light, appearing exceedingly eerie.