Chapter 541

Han Li flicked his fingers slightly, and a green sword light silently pierced half an inch into the wall.

Before Han Li could even show any sign of joy at this sight, a flash of red light appeared—a shimmering barrier emerged from the wall. The sword light was forcibly pushed back out.

Han Li's expression darkened.

But after thinking for a moment, he still couldn't bring himself to give up.

He opened his palm, and a tiny sword, no more than an inch long, shot out from his hand, circled once above his head, then settled steadily before his chest.

Han Li silently activated the sword incantation; a faint golden lightning arc flickered and danced along the blade's surface, then the small sword spun rapidly in a green glow and drove straight into the wall with full force.

A muffled thud echoed as the Evil-Repelling Thunder exploded. A patch of red aurora rippled across the wall.

A flicker of hope passed through Han Li's eyes, but was quickly replaced by disappointment.

Under the guidance of the thunder, the small sword advanced only another inch before being halted. Deep within the wall, faint five-colored auroras still shimmered back.

This coral wall had been fortified with extremely potent, multi-layered seals by the demonic cultivator.

It was simply impossible to break through with magic treasures alone!

After retrieving his treasure back into his body, Han Li frowned deeply, one hand unconsciously pressing against the spirit beast pouch at his waist.

He was certain that no matter how ingenious the seals on the wall were, they could not withstand the relentless gnawing of a horde of Golden-Consuming Insects.

But one point made him dare not release these spirit insects so easily.

The time required for these insects to devour the seals would not be a matter of moments.

By then, the demonic cultivator Feng Xi would surely sense the disturbance and come to investigate.

With the opponent's demonic speed, he would have no chance to escape.

After turning the matter over and over in his mind, Han Li glared fiercely at the coral wall, then returned to the jade couch with a grim expression.

At this moment, he felt a heat beginning to rise in his abdomen—clearly, the Green Flame Wine was taking effect.

Not knowing what strange properties this wine possessed, Han Li dared not neglect it; he set aside all other thoughts and began sitting cross-legged to refine his Qi.

He closed his eyes and turned inward, frowning as he forced out a thread of green spirit-fire from his four-colored Golden Core. The tightly compressed emerald liquid was instantly wrapped in the flame.

Soon, Han Li sat utterly motionless, his face expressionless.

The process of refining the Green Flame Wine was extremely slow; over a month passed, yet less than a quarter of it had been dissolved.

It seemed the humanoid Wind Beast's claim—that half a year would be needed—was no exaggeration.

But such a pace was far too slow, causing Han Li to grow impatient.

If he truly failed to reach the later stage within half a year, he believed the Wind Beast named Feng Xi would unhesitatingly strike him down with one claw.

To this end, Han Li gritted his teeth and boldly forced all his spirit-fire out of his Golden Core; the thickened green flame, nearly twice as wide as before, instantly engulfed the remaining emerald liquid.

Han Li pushed his magic power to its limit, forcibly accelerating the refinement process.

This method drained his magic power at double the rate; every so often, he reluctantly swallowed a single drop of ten-thousand-year spirit-liquid to sustain the spirit-fire.

After two months of such extravagant use of spirit-fire, the wine had finally been refined by two-thirds, and its complete dissolution now seemed imminent.

Han Li felt a slight easing in his heart.

At that moment, an accident occurred.

Due to his desperate resolve, Han Li had swallowed the Dry Blue Ice Pearl. Later, out of extreme caution toward the Wind Beast, he had kept this life-or-death treasure inside his body and never removed it.

But today, just as Han Li's magic power was completely depleted and he was about to swallow a drop of ten-thousand-year spirit-liquid to restore it,

for some unknown reason, the Evil-Repelling Thunder coating the Dry Blue Ice Pearl suddenly became unstable and began warping within his body.

This sight sent a chill through Han Li, who had been fully focused on monitoring his internal state—he nearly lost his soul.

His magic power was utterly drained; he could not react in time. Seeing the pearl's surface bulge and tremble uncontrollably, in desperation he forcefully activated the remaining Green Flame Wine, wrapping the unstable pearl in its liquid.

Han Li's heart pounded violently; his face was utterly pale.

What reaction would occur if the Green Flame Wine wrapped the Dry Blue Ice Pearl? Only heaven knew.

The thought of the pearl exploding inside his body made his hands turn icy cold and his back drenched in sweat.

Fortunately, whether by blind luck or because the Dry Blue Pearl was inherently incapable of true detonation, the pearl wrapped in liquid finally calmed down after a moment.

Han Li exhaled a long breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and felt as if he had narrowly escaped death.

He quickly swallowed a drop of ten-thousand-year spirit-liquid; as soon as his magic power slightly recovered, he spat out the pearl and, trembling with relief, carefully re-stored it.

Keeping this thing inside his body felt like playing with fire—dangerously reckless.

When he finally tidied everything up and casually checked his internal state, he suddenly realized:

Without noticing, in the midst of that terrifying episode, he had broken through his bottleneck and quietly entered the later stage of Core Formation.

Han Li was first stunned into silence, then overwhelmed with shock and joy.

To be honest, he still had not sensed any special effect from the Green Flame Wine.

Yet now, before the wine was even fully refined, he had unexpectedly broken through—this was truly unbelievable.

He tested his cultivation slightly; now he could simultaneously launch and skillfully control twenty-four Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords.

This instantly increased his combat power significantly!

Yet despite his elation, Han Li did not waste the remaining Green Flame Wine; he sat cross-legged for another two months, fully refining the last of the liquid and simultaneously consolidating his new realm.

Only then did he begin to ponder what the ninth-level Wind Beast intended for him, and desperately devise a plan to escape.

As the half-year deadline drew nearer, Han Li's expression grew heavier, and anxiety flickered constantly in his eyes.

…

Just a few days after the half-year mark, a hole opened precisely in the coral wall, and Feng Xi's calm voice came from outside.

"Master Li, step out—the time has come. Have your cultivation skills improved?"

Han Li, seated on the jade couch, opened his eyes expressionlessly, stood up without a word, and walked out.

Outside, Feng Xi waited with narrowed eyes.

Upon seeing Han Li emerge, the ninth-level demonic cultivator immediately scrutinized him, then clapped his hands and burst into loud laughter.

"Excellent, excellent! Congratulations, Master Li—you've reached the later stage! It seems my Green Flame Wine was not wasted." Feng Xi's face beamed with delight; clearly, Han Li's breakthrough was of genuine use to him.

Seeing this, Han Li's heart stirred slightly.

"Master Li, come with me. I'll introduce you to two other demonic allies. This time, the three of you must cooperate fully—if we're to have any hope of success!" Feng Xi said cheerfully, speaking to Han Li with unusual warmth.

"Two other elders?" Han Li's heart jolted at this.

"Yes. My two friends are both at the initial stage of transformation—what your humans call eighth-level demonic cultivators. But both are born of the Heavenly and Earthly Spirit Tribes; their true abilities are by no means weaker than mine. Still, when you meet them, speak as little as possible. They are genuine sea-dwellers and hold no goodwill toward humans." Feng Xi gave Han Li a meaningful glance, subtly warning him.

Han Li's heart tightened, and he replied solemnly.

Moments later, Feng Xi led Han Li into the same great hall, where Han Li immediately saw the two beings he had been told were his allies.

Han Li's expression changed instantly.

One had a dragon's head and a steel-like tail, his entire body covered in crimson scales. The other had a green-faced tortoise shell and an unusually towering stature.

The latter could be guessed at, but the one with the dragon's head—wasn't that the Poisonous Dragon who had clashed fiercely with human cultivators near the Misty Sea? The other, though Han Li had never seen before, he could easily deduce: it was almost certainly the giant tortoise who had just completed its Tribulation Crossing.

Upon seeing Feng Xi emerge, the two eighth-level demonic beasts turned their heads simultaneously.

The Poisonous Dragon caught sight of Han Li's startled expression; his green eyes flashed with cold light as he sized Han Li up.

"Human, have you seen me before?" he asked in a voice chillingly cold, though slightly muffled, yet perfectly understandable.

Hearing this, Han Li hesitated.

It seemed that, due to the Blood-Cloak he had used, the opponent had not clearly seen his face.

If so, he must not mention the battle with the humans—it would only invite trouble. He could only pretend ignorance for now.

Thinking this, Han Li cleared his throat and forced his expression into calmness:

"I have never met Elder before. I merely lack experience—I've never seen a true dragon before, so I was taken aback. I beg your forgiveness." Reluctantly, Han Li lowered his posture as much as possible, to avoid any trouble.

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