Chapter 545: Wind and Thunder United

Although Han Li had anticipated that the artifact refinement would take a long time, five months later, the three demonic cultivators had not moved an inch from the ground, merely tossing strange materials into the soul-fire at intervals.

This left Han Li somewhat stunned.

During this period, aside from pausing three or four times to briefly restore their spiritual power, the three demons had continuously kept their demonic cores suspended in midair, spewing soul-fire without interruption, yet appeared utterly composed.

Truly worthy of being a **-level demonic beast— their spiritual power was truly unfathomable.

Because Han Li had been continuously refining his qi, his spiritual power remained fully replenished; the slight amount siphoned off by the barrier was negligible.

The bone wings within the soul-fire were growing increasingly translucent and crystalline, with faint sounds of thunder and howling wind emerging from within.

Feng Xi's eyes also showed growing delight.

Han Li knew that the Wind-Thunder Wings were nearly complete.

Over these months, the malevolent qi within his body had never reappeared—not even the slightest trace of it.

This puzzled Han Li.

Yet after pondering it silently, he suspected it might be due to the exorcising divine thunder latent within his artifact, for such divine thunder inherently possessed the power to purge demonic and evil influences.

Perhaps the malevolent qi had already been automatically cleansed by the divine thunder.

Thinking of this, Han Li naturally felt relieved.

Even if the malevolent qi did reappear, he had already planned to use this divine thunder to destroy it.

If that failed, he would risk shrinking the Golden Insect and swallowing it whole to forcibly consume the malevolent qi.

Thus, the Wind Devourer's control over him was nothing to fear—he had never taken it seriously from the start.

This old demon surely never imagined that although Han Li's cultivation base was low, the treasures and spiritual items on his person were astonishingly numerous.

With no lingering threats, Han Li would not sit idly awaiting death.

Several pre-planned escape strategies had been reviewed countless times in his mind, ready to be deployed adaptively depending on the situation.

Indeed, after another month, the Wind Devourer, who had been sitting with closed eyes, seemed to feel the refinement was complete and took his next action.

He opened his eyes, gazed intently at the nearly perfected bone wings in midair, and drew a deep breath.

Suddenly, he shot over a dozen hand seals into the air—the soul-fire instantly extinguished, revealing three demonic cores and two bone wings.

Compared to before, the demonic cores now appeared slightly dull, due to the three demons' months of continuous soul-fire projection, which had slightly depleted their primordial energy.

But the two bone wings were the opposite: their shapes were elongated and complete, radiating both milky-white and silver luster, strikingly brilliant.

Without hesitation, Feng Xi pointed at his own demonic core; it spun rapidly, then shot back from midair and was reabsorbed into his abdomen.

Seeing this, the Poisonous Dragon and the Tortoise Demon exchanged glances and similarly retracted their remaining two demonic cores.

Without a word, the three demons immediately closed their eyes to rest.

After several full days of rest, Feng Xi and the others finally restored their spiritual power and replenished their primordial energy.

At this point, the ninth-level Wind Devourer finally turned to look at Han Li, then swiftly cast a hand seal toward the barrier imprisoning him.

As the red light pierced the barrier, it flared violently several times before the entire shield collapsed on its own.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged, showing no sign of surprise.

"Now, my two younger brothers and I will merge the two bone wings into one, initiating the fusion of wind and thunder. We require your wood-element spiritual power as a balancing force to harmonize them. Li Daoist, prepare yourself!" Feng Xi said, his tone slightly softened.

"Understood," Han Li replied briefly, then slowly rose to his feet.

Seeing Han Li's demeanor, Feng Xi frowned slightly, a flicker of suspicion passing through his eyes.

He lowered his head, pondered briefly, then suddenly flicked his finger without warning—a white streak shot out with a "whoosh" straight toward Han Li.

Han Li's expression changed drastically, but after a moment's hesitation, he did not move, allowing the white streak to enter his body; his face turned grim.

"Master Feng, what is the meaning of this?" he said, lips pressed tight, voice dark.

"Relax. This Wind Spirit Force is harmless—it will dissipate gradually over time. But during that period, if I activate it with my spiritual power, you will wish you were dead. Behave yourself—don't entertain any other ideas," Feng Xi said coldly.

Hearing this, Han Li inwardly cursed. His pre-planned escape strategies now seemed mostly useless.

Seeing Han Li finally show distress and anger, the Wind Devourer was satisfied.

He ignored Han Li entirely, instead pulling three small vials from his storage bag and tossing two to the other two demons.

"My two younger brothers, be careful. Merging wind and thunder spiritual power is an immense drain on spiritual strength. Each vial contains one drop of ten-thousand-year spiritual essence. Take it only when your power begins to wane—ensure the fusion proceeds without interruption, for even the slightest error will prevent the Wind-Thunder Wings from ever being born." The demon spoke with utmost gravity.

"Rest assured, Wu will do my utmost," the Poisonous Dragon said, eyes flashing with surprise upon hearing the vials contained ten-thousand-year essence, but he immediately agreed.

"Indeed! Gui also wishes to see what kind of abilities these Wind-Thunder Wings possess once completed," the Tortoise Demon added, thumping his chest in assurance.

Seeing this, Feng Xi's face filled with satisfaction.

Without another word, he rubbed his hands together, and a white beam as thick as a bowl's mouth erupted from his palms, striking the five-colored barrier above.

The barrier trembled, emitting a low hum, its five-colored aurora flickering erratically.

Then the colors shifted continuously until only a blinding milky-white radiance remained.

Seeing this, the Poisonous Dragon and Tortoise Demon did not hesitate—they released slightly thinner yellow and blue beams, which merged midair into a single thunder-element spiritual column, nearly matching the white beam's thickness, and shot it toward the opposite side of the barrier.

Instantly, a deep "rumbling" arose—the barrier transformed again, white and silver light intertwining with thunderous roars, the radiance fluctuating wildly between strong and weak.

"Li Daoist, inject one-tenth of your spiritual power," Feng Xi ordered without hesitation, his voice low and cold.

Han Li knew that if he hesitated even a moment, the demon would activate the Wind Spirit Force inside him and make him suffer terribly.

Thus, after a slight hesitation, he obediently raised his hand, pointed a single finger upward, and shot a slender green light into the two-colored radiance above.

A strange sight appeared!

The barrier, which had been humming and appearing unstable, instantly quieted its sound, dimmed its glow, and gradually stabilized.

"Good! Maintain this level of spiritual input!" Feng Xi's expression relaxed, his voice tinged with excitement—he clearly believed his method for fusing wind and thunder spiritual power might actually work.

Seeing this, the other two demons also gained renewed confidence.

With the array's aid, the three demons began forming a series of complex hand seals and launching countless hand seals onto the barrier.

Moments later, silver lightning and milky-white gales erupted from within the barrier, tightly wrapping the two bone wings in the center, beginning their fusion.

…

Two days later, the wind and thunder sounds within the barrier grew louder; Feng Xi urged Han Li to increase his wood-element input while concentrating with the other two demons to replenish the wind and thunder energy within the barrier.

Seven days later, massive silver lightning arcs and roaring white gales raged violently within the barrier.

The three demons wore tense expressions, continuously casting soothing hand seals into the barrier; the Wind Devourer's face was icy.

Han Li stood coldly within the array, observing everything, obeying their commands, and intermittently injecting wood-element spiritual power. Yet occasionally, a flicker of eagerness passed over his face—though he ultimately made no reckless move.

Perhaps Han Li felt the timing had not yet come.

…

One month later, the three demons showed unmistakable signs of exhaustion; though their hand seals and spiritual power input never ceased, all three were clearly on the verge of complete depletion.

Yet within the barrier, the lightning and gales, though still violent, began exhibiting a strange symbiotic phenomenon.

Lightning flickered within the gales, and wind-like moans echoed within the thunderbolts.

Seeing this, the three demons' eyes gleamed with unmistakable joy.

The next day, the weakest of the three—the Tortoise Demon—was the first to swallow the essence from his vial, and his spiritual power returned to normal within moments.

In the following days, the Poisonous Dragon and Feng Xi did the same.

Han Li watched all this coldly, expressionless, but his hand brushed against an object in his storage bag, a faint, almost imperceptible glint of cunning passing through his eyes.

When the three demons next faced severe spiritual depletion—if the artifact was still not fully refined, perhaps this would be his chance.

This strategy had originally seemed the least reliable to Han Li.

But now, it appeared to hold a real chance of success.

WM