Because the Leopard Kirin Beast only had the strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator when he first tamed it, Han Li rarely sent it out against enemies. But after he gave it an unending supply of rare medicine pills, its cultivation made huge bounds and it now had the strength of a demon beast at the peak of grade ten. With another step, it would breakthrough and become a Deity Transformation-grade existence.
According to conventional reasoning, most grade eight demons would be subjected to lightning tribulation, gaining human form and full sentience.
However, a few variant spirit beasts and beasts of peculiar bloodlines are an exception to this rule. There were a few that underwent tribulation at a different rank, or those that didn’t transform during their entire lifetime. But when these exceptions did acquire a transformation, their wisdom and abilities would far exceed those from beasts of similar grade, to the point where they would outright exterminate them.
The Leopard Kirin Beast was originally a strange beast that inherited the Kirin bloodline. Only the heavens knew if this was the opportunity it needed for a change or if a later opportunity would come.
But now it appeared, the ice fiend Qi gave the beast the chance to breakthrough the bottleneck to Deity Transformation-stage.
Han Li could only wryly laugh in his mind when he quickly realized what the beast was facing.
If the beast were to breakthrough any other time, it would be well received, but they were currently in the earth abyss. If the beast advanced during this period, it could provoke trouble. Lei Lan and the others didn’t know the circumstances of the Leopard Kirin Beast, but the increasingly dazzling white light shining from its body and its growing aura amazed the party nonetheless.
At that moment, their party already threaded deep into the ice fiend territory. They’ve nearly traveled halfway through the area.
After the Leopard Kirin Beast devoured another mid-grade ice fiend, it crouched back down on Han Li’s shoulder and closed its eyes drowsily. It was glowing with unending white light and roamed across its body in a blinding fashion.
At that moment, the party was flying past an icy mountain range when they came across an extremely long canyon. Black winds stormed in the skies above it, appearing as if only the canyon was safe to pass through.
Han Li and company wasn’t surprised at all by this strange scene.
They’ve seen this several times on their journey already, and they made their way into the canyon without any hesitation.
The canyon wasn’t very wide. It was only about a kilometer wide, but it was three thousand kilometers deep. With the addition of the black winds whistling above them, they felt an indescribable gloominess cloud their mood.
Fortunately, Han Li and company were unordinary people and didn’t allow this strange atmosphere to cloud their thoughts.
But then, Han Li’s expression stirred as he heard a roar and he couldn't help but turn his head.
The Leopard Kirin Beast crouching on his shoulder, stood up on its hind legs and widely opened its eyes. Its fur stood up on its back as if faced a great enemy.
Han Li was stunned. The beast encountered so many ice fiends, but it never reacted like this. Could it be that…
As the thought flashed through his mind, he came to a sudden stop.
The others stopped one after another behind him and began to look around with suspicion.
Without speaking a sword, Han Li looked ahead of him with blue light flickering from his eyes. Before the others could ask anything, he suddenly waved his hand in front of him.
Golden light shot out from his palm and sliced at the canyon’s depths.
A huge boom erupted and golden light flashed through the darkness. It cleaved through the ice at the very bottom of the canyon, creating a narrow long crack.
A strange cry of pain sound from underground, followed by a violent burst of black Qi. In the blink of an eye, a thirty-meter-large ball of black mist had condensed.
“It’s an Ice Fiend King! There is truly such a demon here!” Bai Bi cried out.
Lei Lan and Qin Xiao were immediately startled.
At that moment, the huge ball of mist spun in the air, gathering up countless shards of ice towards it from every direction.
Black light blindingly shined as a sixty-meter-large black ice phoenix flew out from the mist. Its body was crystalline black and its eyes glared black, rigidly staring at Han Li.
No, it was actually staring at the Leopard Kirin Beast on Han Li’s shoulder as if it were its nemesis.
The Leopard Kirin Beast snarled, excitement clear in its green eyes.
Han Li raised his brow and pondered.
Then he grabbed the small beast from his shoulder, and to the shock of everyone, he mustered his strength, throwing the beast high into the air.
Han Li promptly spread his wings and disappeared in a flash of azure-white lightning, only to leave a clap of thunder behind.
In the next moment, thunder rang above the ice phoenix, followed by Han Li’s swift appearance. His shoulder blurred and a chain of afterimages passed by the phoenix as he made his way below it.
The ice phoenix paused in surprise, soon letting out a cry of anger. It stretched out its claws to crush Han Li, a meager insect in its eyes.
The black three-meter-long claws immediately grabbed a hold of Han Li.
However, Han Li didn’t seem to care. His hands blurred as black-white fists left a torrent of afterimages above him.
Booms deafened without end as black-white light erupted from the claws.
The two huge claws began to break before shattering like porcelain. They crumbled inch by inch until they were no more.
The black ice phoenix let out a worldshaking shriek. It opened its mouth and a black torrent of wind emerged. In the blink of an eye, the attack was about to submerge him from above.
But Han Li only blinked as the black wind passed him by, and he suddenly vanished.
The ice phoenix couldn't help but look around to see where he went.
At that moment, a gentle wind blew from behind the black winds to reveal a silent figure.
The figure stirred, arriving at the ice phoenix’s back with ghost-like agility. His black-white fists flashed as he struck down ice phoenix’s back with vicious power.
Two huge explosions followed. Black-white halos of light ripped out from the impact, completely enveloping the phoenix’s body.
It didn’t react in the slight. The huge phoenix began to crack like its claw and shatter in a rain of ice shards.
The large black mist reappeared in the air, taking a formless shape and flickering with a strange black light.
With a rustle of wind, a small silhouette appeared, pouncing at the black mist. It hugged it with its limbs and it began to feast. Its nose snorted with clear excitement. This was the Leopard Kirin Beast that Han Li had tossed high into the air.
After the beast fell, it saw that the ice phoenix formed from the black mist was shattered. Of course, it wasn’t about to turn away from such a great prize! It happily leaped forward and began to devour the mist.
Since the black mist was a so-called ice fiend demon king, it was unwilling to be eaten by this small beast by all accounts. Not only did it lash out with black tentacles, but it also began to gather up black ice from the ground in an attempt to condense another body.
However, the black tentacles were easily resolved with a swipe of the Leopard Kirin’s claws.
As for the black ice, Han Li waved his hand, sending countless embers to melt them away.
It only took Han Li the span of a few breaths to shatter the black ice phoenix.
Although it wasn’t the first time the party saw Han Li in action, they couldn't help to feel completely touched as this display of might. Their exceptions vastly changed.
As the Leopard Kirin Beast stood on top of the black Qi cloud, it appeared completely helpless and unable to move.
In the blink of an eye, nearly half of the black cloud was devoured.
Afterwards, the small beast let out a roar and its body wildly flashed with light. Then, it leaped off the black Qi and crouched on the ground.
With a faint change of expression, Han Li flipped his hand and summoned a white jade bottle. He pointed it to the remnants of the black Qi and muttered an incantation.
The jade bottle twirled and its lit flipped, spouting out an azure mist.
The mist roiled and gathered up the remaining strands of black Qi before absorbing them back into the bottle.
Bai Bi and the others couldn't help but show a trace of envy.
Although the ice fiend was called a demon king, in truth an ordinary Deity Transformation-grade existence could easily deal with it. However, they were also rarely seen. The pure Qi of an ice fiend demon king could be used to refine pills, tools, or even cultivate secret techniques. It was far more valuable than the Qi of a common ice fiend.
However, since the demon was defeated by Han Li, they didn’t dare to complain.
A short moment later, the remaining ice fiend Qi was completely absorbed into the jade bottle.
Han Li waved his hand, retrieving the bottle in a streak of white, and had it disappear into his sleeve.
At that moment, he glanced at the Leopard Kirin Beast with a trace of worry.
It was curled up with white light repeatedly pulsing from its body as its eyes drooped.
As Han Li was connected to its mind, he could sense the beast’s excitement, fear, and anxiousness all mixed into one.
He sighed and slowly descended from the sky. He landed at the side of the beast and knelt down.
He rubbed the beast’s head and stroked its soft fur. Afterwards, he attempted to calm it with his spiritual sense.
The Leopard Kirin Beast licked Han Li’s hand with its pink tongue and began to gradually calm down.
