However, in order to produce a beetle monarch, these beetles had to continue to devour one another. This naturally made Han Li quite frustrated, yet he was unable to find a suitable solution, so he could only employ all types of methods to refine the bodies of these beetles for now.
In doing so, he would be able to gradually improve their powers, thereby increasing the possibility of a beetle monarch being nurtured in the long run.
Furthermore, even though he hadn't managed to nurture a beetle monarch, it was now a simple task for him to control these 13 Purple-striped Gold Devouring Beetles with his spiritual sense. As such, they became a far more feasible option to be used in battle than tens of thousands of Gold Devouring Beetles, and they were a new addition to his collection of trump cards.
During these past years, Han Li had also exhausted most of his supply of Divine Infernal River Elixir, and his physical constitution had undergone some profound changes. The most prominent of these changes was that the rate at which he could convert the world's origin Qi into magic power during cultivation had sped up by over 30%.
30% didn't seem to be all that incredible, but this essentially meant that he was able to achieve the same effect in his cultivation as he had in the past in two-thirds of the original time.
On top of that, Qing Yuanzi had told him with great confidence that cleansing one's body with Divine Infernal River Elixir would benefit one immensely when it came to breaking through Body Integration Stage bottlenecks. Otherwise, the four demon monarchs of the earth abyss wouldn't have taken such a massive risk to try and obtain some of the elixir.
Furthermore, Han Li had also been constantly consuming all types of pills that could enhance his cultivation base, so his magic power was progressing at a rapid rate.
At this point, he had already reached the pinnacle of the mid-Body Integration Stage, and he would only require less than 20 more years of preparation before he could begin to attempt making a breakthrough.
With that in mind, Han Li heaved a faint sigh and closed his eyes to cultivate again. However, right at this moment, white spiritual light suddenly flashed from the door of the secret chamber, following a semi-transparent burst of light rippled throughout the chamber.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this before immediately sweeping a sleeve toward the door, which instantly opened amid a flash of spiritual light.
A fireball then instantly shot forth into the chamber before quickly flying into Han Li's grasp, and he looked down at the fireball before injecting his spiritual sense into it, following which his expression changed drastically.
His fingers abruptly came together, and the fireball was crushed amid a dull thump. Under the illumination of its red light, an extremely dark expression had appeared on Han Li's face.
"I didn't think the devilish mark would appear so soon! Looks like I have no choice but to come out of seclusion," he murmured to himself as spiritual light erupted from his body.
The other two Han Lis turned toward him in an expressionless manner upon seeing this, then flew toward him as a pair of projections. The three combined as one amid a pair of dull thumps, and Han Li's aura abruptly swelled drastically as he rose to his feet.
He waved a hand toward the giant azure cauldron, and it rapidly shrank down to the size of a human fist, then vanished up Han Li's sleeve amid a flash of azure light.
After that, Han Li raised his head, and he suddenly arrived in front of the entrance to the secret chamber, covering a distance of over 100 feet in a flash. After that, he strode out of the chamber and vanished on the spot.
…
At the foot of a giant mountain deep within a certain mountain range in the primordial world, there was a white-robed young man engaged in a tense standoff with three enormous primordial beasts.
One of the three beasts was a two-headed giant that was over 1,000 feet tall. It had an extremely vicious appearance that was only accentuated by its head of disheveled yellow hair, and it was holding a massive black club in one hand.
The other two beasts consisted of a pair of giant crimson pythons, one of which was larger than the other. The larger of the two pythons was over 3,000 feet in length, and the smaller one was around 700 to 800 feet in length.
Both of them were expelling red mist out of their mouths that appeared to be extremely toxic, and all three of the primordial beasts were staring intently at the comparatively tiny young man with wariness in their eyes.
The white-robed young man had peculiar golden and silver runes on his face, and he said in a frosty voice, "Hehe, I already issued a warning a few days ago for all of the powerful living beings in this place to leave. All of the smart ones have left, and only the three of you have refused to do so. Do you really think you can oppose me by banding together? How naive! In that case, you don't have to go anymore; I'll take your souls and inner cores, and make this your final resting place!"
The three primordial beasts seemed to have developed some level of intelligence, and as soon as they heard this, the two-headed giant gnashed its sharp teeth together before thumping a huge fist violently into its own chest, then threw its head back and let loose a furious snarl.
The two crimson pythons also had cold looks in their eyes, and they began to flick their forked tongues with increased urgency as their hissing grew louder and more menacing.
A cold smile appeared on the white-robed young man's face upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal before abruptly tumbling to the ground.
A dull thump rang out as a burst of white glacial Qi erupted forth, covering an area of several acres in the blink of an eye. Immediately thereafter, countless glittering and translucent egg-sized snowflakes appeared in the air, and all of them began to shimmer with dazzling light under the sun.
A peculiar sharp cry abruptly erupted from within the white Qi, and a pristine white centipede that resembled an ice statue rushed out.
The centipede had six wings on its back and a pair of bright red eyes. When it first emerged from the white glacial Qi, it was only around 70 to 80 feet in length, but it then rapidly elongated to over 1,000 feet in length in a flash. It then opened its mouth without any hesitation to expel a burst of white glacial flames, which surged toward the three beasts as a white glacial sea.
The three beasts' hearts jolted upon seeing this, and they immediately unleashed their own defensive techniques, clearly well aware of how fearsome this glacial Qi was.
The two-headed giant gripped onto its black club with both hands before violently swinging it through the air in front of itself a few times in rapid succession. A string of explosive booms rang out, and a gust of fierce wind was swept up before hurtling directly toward the glacial Qi in the distance.
Meanwhile, the two giant pythons opened their cavernous mouths to expel a huge burst of red mist that transformed into scorching flames, which formed a barrier around their bodies.
However, in the face of the white glacial sea, the fierce wind and scorching flames were all instantly vanquished, much to the shock and horror of the three giant beasts. Before they even had a chance to react, they were frozen into a trio of ice statues.
The massive centipede circled around in the air above the three beasts, then flapped its six wings to release six streaks of white light. The streaks of light revolved around the three ice statues a few times like lightning, following which a resounding boom rang out, and the statues crumbled into piles of ice flakes.
Light flashed, and the three giant beasts' souls emerged before immediately attempting to flee the scene in a panicked manner, but the six-winged centipede opened its mouth again to expel a burst of invisible suction force that instantly encompassed the entire area down below.
The shards of the three giant beasts' frozen remains and their souls were all swept up before being devoured by the massive centipede.
Immediately thereafter, white light flashed, and the six-winged centipede vanished, only for the white-robed young man to reappear in its place.
He looked down with a cold expression, and after verifying that he hadn't missed anything, he turned his gaze toward the giant mountain up ahead with a fanatical gleam in his eyes.
His body swayed, and he instantly flew through the air as a streak of white light, vanishing into the mountain after just a few flashes.
A short while later, the white-robed young man appeared within a natural cave that was situated countless feet beneath the mountain. He was staring at a certain rugged reddish-purple stone wall within the cave with a look of excitement on his face.
"Haha, I've found a Purple Yin Ore mine! Looks like I'll be attaining a true spirit body even sooner than I anticipated!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately tumbled to the ground and adopted his centipede form again. On this occasion, the centipede was only several tens of feet in size, and it expelled a burst of light that encompassed the entire stone wall.
The reddish-purple stone wall then slowly disappeared amid flashes of white spiritual light, and a giant gaping black hole was left in its wake.
After that, the six-winged centipede immediately flapped its wings and vanished into the hole as a streak of black light, following which a string of rumbling booms rang out from within.
…
Within a certain secret chamber in a deep-sea palace, there was a giant cocoon suspended in mid-air. The cocoon was enshrouded within countless crimson threads, and was writhing incessantly. Immediately thereafter, countless crimson runes appeared over its surface, and it began to expand at an incredible rate.
Within just the span of a single breath, the entire spacious secret chamber was entirely filled by the expanding giant cocoon, following which a faint black shadow within the cocoon moved ever so slightly.
The cocoon immediately exploded amid an earth-shattering boom, and a naked young man appeared in mid-air within the secret chamber.
The young man had skin that was as fair as jade, and a set of extremely handsome facial features. There was a shimmering golden lotus flower diagram inscribed both on the front of his body, as well as on his back.
The flowers were several feet in size and extremely vivid and life-like. They had spread over virtually the entirety of the young man's body, and strangely enough, just the mere sight of them struck one with a sense of dizziness.
The naked young man's eyes were tightly shut, and his expression was calm and placid as he hovered in mid-air in a completely stationary manner.
After a long while, faint golden light flashed from his body, and the golden lotus flower diagrams began to twist and flash as if they had sprung to life.
The young man slowly opened his eyes to reveal a pair of remarkably bright pupils that seemed to contain some kind of mysterious power.
A pair dull thumps rang out, and two balls of flames were suddenly ignited within the young man's eyes. One of the fireballs was golden, while the other was silver, and they flashed incessantly as the young man moved his head.
All of a sudden, his gaze settled upon a certain item situated in a corner of the secret chamber, and a very peculiar look appeared on his face.
This item was a crystal ball that had been placed on a short jade table. The ball was around the size of a human fist, and its surface was shimmering with faint spiritual light, illuminating a clear image within it.
The image depicted a shimmering silver lotus seed pod, and it was extremely life-like and realistic.
