Chapter 1445

Upon seeing the furry beast arrive before them, the thunder beast did not hesitate, opening its maw wide and swallowing the small beast that offered no resistance in one gulp, then letting out a few satisfied low growls as its body instantly shrank, while a layer of black vapor rose nearby, completely concealing its form.

Within the restriction, everything returned to the appearance Han Li had seen earlier.

"What kind of spirit beast is this thunder beast? Though I consider myself well-versed in various ancient texts, I have never heard of such a spirit beast," the effeminate youth said, somewhat startled.

"Did I not say so already? This beast has an unusual origin, and I do not wish for you to ask too many questions. As long as you can help me subdue this beast, that will suffice," the gaunt man said, sweeping a glance at the youth, his tone carrying a hint of warning.

The youth's expression changed slightly, but he indeed fell silent and asked no further.

Seeing this, Han Li's eyes flashed with an unusual color, and he suddenly spoke:

"Senior, you just boasted that this beast is unique in the spirit realm—could it be understood that this beast is not of the spirit realm?"

Hearing this, the shop owner was startled, his expression suddenly changing drastically, but he immediately forced a smile and replied:

"Han Xiaoxiong, what nonsense are you spouting? If this beast is not of the spirit realm, how could it appear here?"

The burly man and the youth, having cultivated to their current divine abilities, were certainly not ordinary individuals; they instantly saw through the shop owner's attempt to conceal the truth, and exchanged a surprised glance.

"The thunder beast truly is not of the spirit realm—could it be a unique spirit beast from some lower realm? No, that cannot be, given the divine abilities it displayed just now, which are nearly on par with those of a Void Refinement cultivator; the lower realms could not possibly give birth to such a spirit beast. If not the lower realm, then only the upper realm of the spirit realm remains—the so-called True Immortal Realm spoken of in legends," the youth said, no longer heeding the shop owner's warning, speaking each word deliberately.

The burly man stared at the black mist within the restriction, his eyes gradually glowing brighter.

"What, do you truly believe this beast is a spirit beast of the immortal realm?" At this, the gaunt man instead calmed down, though a strange expression appeared in his eyes.

"Could we have been mistaken? Even if not, Fisher Brother, if you wish us to help you subdue this beast, you should at least explain its origin. We three would like to learn more about it—it might aid our later assistance. If you truly do not wish to speak, we three will not press you, but we can only regard it as an upper-realm spirit beast," the youth sighed.

"You dare threaten me!" The shop owner's face flashed with rosy light, and suddenly a killing intent appeared between his brows.

"Even if we three join forces, we are no match for Fisher Brother—how dare we threaten him? But my elder brother is at least the youngest elder in the clan. Fisher Brother would not truly do something unwise, would he?" The youth, shaken by the killing intent, his expression changing as he retreated half a step, but immediately regained composure and spoke these words.

This effeminate youth turned out to be the younger brother of the Tian Peng clan elder, causing Han Li and the burly man to start, and they could not help but reevaluate the youth with a second glance.

Hearing this, the gaunt shop owner's wary expression flashed and vanished, his face shifting through clouds and sun before he coldly said:

"Telling you the beast's origin poses no problem, and it is not something truly requiring special secrecy—just to prevent you from wildly guessing. The reason I said it is a unique object of this realm is because this beast was fundamentally born from my gathering of thunderous power, then nurtured through a secret technique, thus becoming a spirit of thunder and lightning from within the lightning itself. I spent most of my life to achieve this single beast, and thus, naturally, only one such thunder beast exists in the world."

"A spirit of thunder and lightning!" Han Li and the three others instantly widened their eyes.

"Impossible! Even the legendary spirit race could not possibly spawn a spirit from thunder and lightning—Fisher Brother, no matter how great your divine abilities, if you could achieve this, it would still be utterly impossible," the youth said, being the first to recover from astonishment, his face showing disbelief.

Han Li and the burly man also furrowed their brows tightly.

"Hehe, relying solely on my own exploration would naturally be impossible. But in my past years, I once traveled through several foreign lands, and by chance, I obtained from the meditation site of a high expert of a certain tribe a fragment of a spirit beast nurturing secret technique passed down from the True Immortal Realm. This thunder beast's nurturing secret technique is the sole complete method recorded therein," the shop owner said, to the great surprise of Han Li and the youth, his face darkening for a while before speaking words that startled the three.

"A beast-nurturing technique passed down from the immortal realm—this is indeed quite possible. I have just offended you somewhat, and I hope Fisher Brother will not hold it against me," the effeminate youth said, his eyes flashing several times before his attitude suddenly shifted completely into an apologetic smile.

The burly man stroked his chin, likewise marveling repeatedly.

The shop owner, however, wore a full face of displeasure, merely letting out a cold snort.

Meanwhile, Han Li, gazing at the thunder beast within the restriction, his eyes flashed with interest.

Though I do not know whether birthing a spirit from lightning is true or false, seeing this beast's lightning power so astonishing, even if not so, it is nonetheless a body born of thunder and lightning.

However, even if the thunder beast possesses Void Refinement-level divine abilities and can command thunder and lightning power, it is absolutely not worth the shop owner expending such great effort to subdue it. After all, the three items promised to them alone are of such value that they would certainly not be inferior to a single Void Refinement-level spirit beast, let alone the effort and time said to have been spent in nurturing the thunder beast.

It seems this beast either possesses some greater divine ability not yet displayed, or it has some other immense use for the gaunt man, making him unwilling to spare such a great cost.

In fact, regarding this point, not only Han Li, but the burly man and the effeminate youth also all understood it implicitly.

Yet, with the three harboring different thoughts, and added to their fear of the shop owner's formidable cultivation, they unanimously feigned ignorance.

A strange Void Refinement-level spirit beast, even if its origin and purpose are highly suspicious, is not worth truly offending the gaunt man before them. Moreover, even if someone among the three truly had an idea, they would absolutely not reveal even a trace of it here.

"Very well, all that needed to be said has been said. Now, matters should not be delayed—let us attend to the proper business. I will alter the restriction to temporarily immobilize this beast. Then you will enter and pour your thunder and lightning power into its body. Remember, you must persist until I say it is enough before stopping; otherwise, all prior effort may be wasted," the shop owner said without room for doubt.

This time, Han Li and the three others had no objections, all expressing agreement.

The shop owner nodded, then flicked his sleeve, and the Sumeru Heavenly Cave painting scroll reappeared in his hand. This time, he flung the object in his hand forward, and the scroll instantly unfurled vertically.

With the five-colored spiritual light shining brightly, the Sumeru Heavenly Cave painting reappeared before everyone's eyes.

The gaunt man murmured incantations, and a finger shot forward, striking a certain point on the painting scroll with lightning speed.

A blue light flashed deep in Han Li's pupils, and suddenly he saw everything with perfect clarity.

The point the gaunt man pointed to was precisely the tall pavilion on Little Mountain where they were located.

In the next instant, the Sumeru painting burst forth with white light, and suddenly a faint milky-white mist rose. Within the mist, the four walls from the first to the second floor of the pavilion on the painting appeared to faintly and gradually unfold outward in all directions, then dissipated and vanished.

Han Li's expression shifted, and before he could ponder what this signified, the ground beneath his feet trembled violently, the real pavilion shaking intensely, its surrounding walls blazing with white light, then collapsing like a door in all directions, finally vanishing into the void.

In the blink of an eye, Han Li and the others, along with the thunder beast in the plaza, found themselves beneath a vast blue sky, the ground beneath the pavilion now transformed into a bare, naked platform.

The black mist within the restriction churned, and the thunder beast inside was clearly startled.

Han Li stroked his chin, while the youth and the burly man exchanged glances, each showing a hint of surprise.

Just then, the shop owner let out a low shout, and from his mouth spurted a blood arrow, which flashed and vanished into the painting scroll.

High above, the clear sky suddenly rang with a thunderclap, followed immediately by raging winds and rolling dark clouds.

Amidst the continuous rumbling, silver arcs flickered in and out within the dark clouds, as if demons had descended upon the world, all gathering above the platform where Han Li and the others stood.

Before Han Li and the three could speak to inquire, the gaunt man proactively began to explain:

"Based on my past failures, relying solely on your three persons' thunder and lightning power would likely still be insufficient, so I activated all the heavenly and earthly spiritual energy contained within this Sumeru Heavenly Cave painting, transforming it into heavenly thunder power to assist you. After this matter concludes, this painting will likely be destroyed. Thus, this time, I am staking everything on one throw. I hope several fellow cultivators will exert your utmost effort—so long as you subdue this beast, I will not only deliver the promised items as agreed, but also bestow upon each of you a large sum of spirit stones."

As he spoke the final sentences, the shop owner's expression became unusually solemn.

Han Li and the three others rejoiced, all unanimously declaring they would exert their utmost effort.

Upon hearing this, the gaunt man nodded, then his double wings behind him suddenly flapped forward against the painting scroll, and instantly a roll of rosy clouds poured out, wrapping the Sumeru painting within.

And as the painting spun within the rosy clouds, suddenly countless runes of various colors appeared, and then with a tremendous boom, it transformed into a five-colored pillar of light, which flashed and vanished into the high dark clouds, leaving no trace.

An incredulous scene appeared.

After the dark clouds in the sky churned for a moment, they suddenly emitted a heaven-splitting, earth-shattering thunderclap, and then a bowl-thick five-colored electric arc appeared within the clouds, its colors extraordinarily vivid, flashing and darting incessantly within the clouds, as if a five-colored giant serpent were tumbling uncertainly within the clouds.

"Five-colored heavenly tribulation?" The black-armored burly man, upon seeing this five-colored thunder and lightning, jumped up on the spot as if seeing a ghost, and was seized by terror.

"Rest assured, this is not the true five-colored heavenly thunder when the True Spirit True King undergoes tribulation—it is merely me using a trace of heavenly and earthly spiritual energy to simulate it. Its power is still less than one-thousandth of a true five-colored heavenly tribulation. You may rest assured," the shop owner said solemnly.

Han Li and the youth, who had originally likewise shown fear, upon hearing this, finally relaxed their expressions.

Han Li gazed at the five-colored thunder and lightning in the sky, his eyes still occasionally flashing with astonishment.

These five-colored heavenly thunderbolts are the unique Lei Jie that only existences at the level of Mahayana cultivators and above must endure—far beyond the purple-gold Lei Jie that Body Integration cultivators face.

Even with only one-thousandth of their power, whether those present can truly withstand a single strike of these five-colored thunderbolts is uncertain to anyone.

At this moment, the emaciated man no longer had the leisure to pay attention to Han Li and the others; he rushed toward the eighty-one copper pillars before him and began casting a separate spell to activate the restriction.

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