As soon as the Inchlight Beast appeared before it, the Lightning Beast opened its beak without any hesitation and swallowed the little beast that was completely powerless to resist. It then let loose a low roar of satisfaction before its body instantly shrank. At the same time, a layer of black mist erupted from nearby to completely obscure it from view.
Within the restriction, everything had reverted back to the exact same scene that Han Li and the others had originally witnessed.
"What kind of spirit beast is this Lightning Beast? I've read countless ancient tomes, but I've never seen any description of a beast that fits this one," the young man asked with an astonished look in his eyes.
"Didn't I tell you that this beast's origins are very unique, and that it'd be best if you didn't ask about it? All you have to do is help me tame it." The shopkeeper's words seemed to carry a warning.
The young man's expression changed slightly, and he raised no further questions.
A hint of a peculiar light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he suddenly said, "You said that this beast is unique in the Spirit Realm, so can I interpret that as an admission that this beast does not hail from the Spirit Realm?"
The shopkeeper's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, but he immediately forced a smile onto his face as he replied, "What nonsense are you spouting, Brother Han? If this beast isn't something from the Spirit Realm, then how could it have appeared here?"
Despite the shopkeeper's denial, all three men could tell that he was trying to hide something, and they couldn't help but glance at one another with surprise in their eyes.
"If this Lightning Beast isn't from the Spirit Realm, then could it be a spirit beast that's unique to one of the lower realms? Wait, no, this beast is clearly no less powerful than a Spatial Tempering being, so there's no way it could exist in a lower realm. In that case, it has to be from a higher realm; it must be from the legendary True Immortal Realm!" the young man completely disregarded the shopkeeper's warning as he mused.
The armor-clad man's eyes also gradually lit up as he stared at the black mist within the restriction.
However, the shopkeeper seemed to be relieved that they arrived at this conclusion, and a peculiar look appeared on his face as he said, "So you truly believe that this spirit beast is from the True Immortal Realm?"
"Are we wrong? Even if it isn't from the True Immortal Realm, I still think you should reveal its origins to us, seeing as you want us to help you tame it, Brother Yu. Perhaps a better understanding of this beast will be helpful to us in our attempt to subdue it. If you really don't want to reveal anything, then we won't force you to. We'll just have to regard it as a spirit beast from the True Immortal Realm," the young man sighed.
"You dare to threaten me?" The shopkeeper's expression instantly darkened.
The young man took a half-step backward in retreat, but his expression remained calm as he said, "Even if the three of us were to join forces, we'd still be no match for you, so I certainly wouldn't dare to threaten you, Brother Yu. However, don't forget that my elder brother is the youngest elder of the Tian Peng Race. I'm sure you won't do something reckless that you'll regret later on."
Both Han Li and the armor-clad man were both surprised to hear that the young man was the brother of a Tian Peng Race elder, and both of them were forced to look at him through new eyes.
A hint of wariness flashed through the shopkeeper's eyes, and after a moment of indecision, he finally said in a cold voice, "I suppose there's no harm in telling you the origins of this beast. It's not something that has to be kept strictly confidential anyway, and it would prevent you three from spinning any more ridiculous yarns. The reason why this Lightning Beast is unique in this world is because it was artificially created by me through gathering the power of lightning, then nurturing it using a secret technique. It is a lightning spirit born from lightning itself, and I've spent most of my life attempting to create one with only this one resulting in success, so it's naturally unique to this world."
"A lightning spirit?" Everyone's eyes widened upon hearing this.
"How is that possible? Even the legendary Spirit Tribe hasn't been able to nurture a living being from lightning. You may be an extremely powerful cultivator, but surely this is beyond even your capabilities, Brother Yu," the young man said with a skeptical expression after recovering from his initial shock.
Han Li and the armor-clad man's brows also furrowed tightly.
Much to everyone's surprise, the shopkeeper conceded in the end, and revealed, "Hehe, I certainly wouldn't have been able to achieve this through my own research alone, but many years ago, when I was traveling through the territories of several foreign races, I was passing through a place where a certain powerful being had fallen, and I just so happened to stumble upon a spirit beast nurturing secret technique that was passed down from the True Immortal Realm. This Lightning Beast nurturing secret technique was the only complete technique that was recorded."
After a brief pause, the young man's demeanor suddenly shifted drastically as he smiled, and said, "If it's a secret technique that was passed down from the True Spirit Realm, then this is indeed quite plausible. Apologies for my rudeness, Brother Yu."The armor-clad man was also stroking his chin and clicking his tongue with wonder.
The shopkeeper wore an expression of displeasure on his face, and merely harrumphed coldly in response.
Meanwhile, Han Li was scrutinizing the Lightning Beast within the restriction with a hint of intrigue in his eyes.
He didn't know whether the shopkeeper had told the truth, but this beast truly was capable of wielding astonishing lighting power, so even if it wasn't a spirit born from lightning itself, it was still a vastly powerful spirit beast.
However, even if it possessed Spatial Tempering Stage power and was capable of wielding lightning, that still definitely wasn't worth the immense investment the shopkeeper hade made to tame it. After all, just the three items that he'd promised to Han Li's trio was definitely not inferior in value to a Spatial Tempering Stage spirit beast, and that wasn't even taking into account all of the time and effort he'd expended to nurture this Lightning Beast in the first place.
It appeared this beast either possessed more abilities than it had just displayed or it served an extremely important purpose to the shopkeeper. Otherwise, there was no way that he would sacrifice so much to tame it.
Not only was Han Li aware of this, the armor-clad man and the young man were had also figured this out for themselves.
However, all three of them simply wanted the treasured they were promised, and they were also fearful toward the shopkeeper's fearsome cultivation base, so they could only pretend to be oblivious.
The origins of and uses for this strange Spatial Tempering Stage spirit beast were both rather sketchy, but it wasn't worth offending the shopkeeper just to get to the bottom of things.
"Alright, everything that needs to be said has been said, let's get down to business. I'm going to use the restriction to temporarily immobilize the Lightning Beast; all you three have to do is enter the cage and inject your lightning powers into its body. Remember to keep going until I tell you to stop. Otherwise, all of your prior efforts could go to waste," the shopkeeper announced in an implacable tone.
Han Li's trio expressed no further objections on this occasion.
The shopkeeper nodded before rustling his sleeve, upon which the Xumi Paradise Scroll appeared in his hand once again. This time, he tossed the scroll forward, and it immediately unfurled before him.
Five-colored spiritual light flashed as the artwork of the Xumi Paradise was revealed to everyone again.
The shopkeeper began to chant something before pointing a finger quickly toward a certain spot on the piece of artwork.
Blue light flashed deep within Han Li's eyes, and he was instantly able to glean what the shopkeeper was doing.
The spot that he had pointed to was none other than the tall pavilion that they were currently situated in.
In the next instant, brilliant white light erupted from the artwork, and a burst of white mist suddenly appeared. Within the mist, the walls on the first and second floors of the pavilion slowly backed away before vanishing.
Han Li's expression changed slightly, yet before he could figure out what those changes entailed, tremors suddenly ran through the ground beneath his feet. The actual pavilion that they were situated in tremored violently as white light radiated from the walls around them. They then backed away before disappearing into nothingness.
In the blink of an eye, everyone was situated under the blue sky along with the Lightning Beast. The ground of the pavilion underfoot had also been transformed into a bare plaza.
The black mist within the restriction surged erratically, clearly indicating that the Lightning Beast had also been alerted by these changes.
Han Li stroked his chin while the young man and the armor-clad man glanced at each with surprise in their eyes.
Right at this moment, the shopkeeper let loose a low cry, and a crimson arrow shot forth from within his mouth. The arrow disappeared in a flash into the scroll he was holding, and a loud thunderclap suddenly erupted high up in the sky, following which howling winds were swept up around them.
Arcs of silver lightning peeked through the dark clouds amid an incessant burst of rumbling, and it appeared as if a powerful devil were about to descend upon this world.
Before Han Li's trio had a chance to ask, the shopkeeper took the initiative and provided an explanation for a change. "In the past failed experiences, the power of lightning that the three of you possess is most likely insufficient for the task. As such, I've activated all of the world's origin Qi within this Xumi Paradise Scroll to manifest the power of heavenly lightning in order to assist you three. After this, the scroll will most likely be ruined, so this is my final roll of the dice. I hope the three of you can help me to the best of your abilities, and if you can help me successfully tame this beast, not only will I give you your promised rewards, I'll also throw in a large sum of spirit stones for each of you."
The shopkeeper spoke in a very solemn and serious voice.
Han Li's trio was elated to hear this, and all of them expressed their willingness to do everything in their power.
The shopkeeper nodded in response before abruptly flapping his wings toward the scroll before him. A swath of white light immediately surged forth, sweeping up the Xumi Paradise Scroll within it.
The scroll rotated within the white light before countless runes of different colors suddenly appeared on its surface. In the end, following a rumbling boom, it transformed into a five-colored pillar of light that disappeared into the dark clouds up above.
An incredible scene then ensued.
After a bout of tumbling and surging, an earthshattering thunderclap suddenly erupted within the dark clouds. Immediately thereafter, an extremely vibrant bolt of five-colored lightning that was as thick as a large bowl shot appeared before flashing through the clouds like a massive five-colored python.
"Five-colored heavenly tribulation?" the armor-clad man exclaimed in alarm as the sight of this five-colored lightning.
"There's no need for panic. This isn't the true five-colored heavenly lightning that appears during a tribulation transcendence for Flying Spirit True Monarchs; it's merely something I've simulated using a wisp of the world's origin Qi, and it possesses less than a thousandth of the power of true five-colored heavenly lightning," the shopkeeper consoled in a calm voice.
Han Li and the young man also wore horrified looks on their faces but their expressions eased after hearing this.
However, there was still a hint of shock in Han Li's eyes as he looked up at the five-colored lightning in the sky.
This five-colored heavenly lightning was rumored to be tribulation lightning for cultivators of the Grand Ascension Stage, and even purple-golden tribulation lightning for Body Integration cultivators couldn't even hold a candle to its extraordinary power.
Even if it possessed only thousandths of the power of actual five-colored heavenly lightning, it could still quite possibly be capable of killing anyone of Han Li's trio.
At this moment, the shopkeeper could no longer pay any heed to Han Li and the others. He was busy casting incantation seals toward the 81 copper pillars up ahead.
