Even though Han Li couldn't see any apparent changes in the Leopard Kirin Beast, the fact that he was sensing a threat from it naturally meant that it had definitely undergone some kind of transformation.
Unfortunately, he didn't have time to carefully analyze the beast, and he would have to wait until he left the Vast Glacial Realm before conducting a thorough examination.
With that in mind, Han Li issued the Leopard Kirin Beast an instruction using his spiritual sense, then sat down with his legs crossed and began to meditate.
He hadn't recovered much of his magic power to begin with, and after that battle with the golden-horned Jiao Chi being, he was almost completely spent. Hence, Han Li stayed in the tree hollow for seven days, and only then did he manage to recover close to 90% of his magic power.
He had naturally intended to fully recover all of his magic power before continuing in his journey, but at around noon of the eighth day, the Leopard Kirin Beast suddenly let loose a low snarl, immediately jerking Han Li out of his meditative state.
His eyes abruptly sprang open, and he could sense chaotic spiritual Qi fluctuations surging through the nearby area. Furthermore, there were faint explosions ringing out in the extremely far distance, and it seemed that someone was engaged in battle in the air above.
Han Li immediately released his spiritual sense out of the tree hollow without any hesitation, and a peculiar look appeared on his face as he discovered that there were two ferocious beasts, one large and one small, engaged in battle tens of thousands of feet in the air above.
As they battled, the larger of the two beasts was pursuing the smaller beast, the latter of which was a beast that was only around 10 feet in size with shimmering golden fur and a pair of inky-black eyes.
This was none other than the Dark Beast Monarch that Han Li had seen earlier in the Dark Beast Forest, the very same one that was being hunted down by its own brethren. This Dark Beast Monarch was now in an even sorrier state. Not only were there charred sections on its body that were devoid of fur and skin, most of its thin and long tail had somehow been severed.
Even so, it was still just as ferocious as ever, relentlessly blasting golden blades of wind toward its pursuer as it fled up ahead as a golden streak of light.
As soon as the golden blades of wind erupted from its mouth, they extended to several feet in size, then covered a distance of several hundred feet in a flash before crashing downward with vicious force.
However, the larger of the two beasts completely disregarded the golden blades of wind, relying on the spiritual light that was glowing around it to repel these attacks. Its defensive abilities were truly astonishing!
This beast was over 100 feet in length, and it was a strange beast with the body of a wyrm and the head of a pig. Its head was snowy white while its body was of a shimmering blue color, and its aura was even more powerful than that of the Dark Beast Monarch, so it was no wonder that the latter was fleeing from it.
Han Li stowed the Leopard Kirin Beast up his sleeve, and azure light flashed from his body as he held his breath. The two beasts had most of their attention focused on one another, so neither of them noticed Han Li lurking down below.
Moments later, the two of them vanished into the distance, and only then did Han Li withdraw the azure light around him as he furrowed his brows slightly.
"Why did that Dark Beast Monarch come all the way here?"
He was naturally a little perplexed, but with his current powers, he certainly wasn't fearful of those two beasts. However, he naturally wasn't eager to draw unnecessary trouble to himself, either, which was why he chose to remain hidden.
The appearance of the Dark Beast Monarch was rather abrupt and surprising, but it didn't have anything to do with him, so he didn't think much of it. Even so, he decided it was best to leave this place after that disturbance.
After all, the remnant auras left behind by the two beasts as they passed through this area was quite powerful, and it could easily attract nearby beasts to the area.
Thankfully, the two beasts had rushed off in a different direction from the one he was planning to go, so he wasn't overly concerned. Thus, after withdrawing the formation flags at the opening of the tree hollow, he flew out from within as a streak of azure light and continued on his journey.
As he flew through the air, he summoned a top-grade spirit stone in each hand to continue to replenish his magic power, and at this rate, it wouldn't be long before he fully recovered his magic power even without seated meditation.
Han Li traveled day and night for an entire month straight, encountering only a few foolish low-grade beasts along the way that dared to oppose him, all of which were naturally easily taken care of, and he was naturally quite elated by his good fortune.
On this day, Han Li caught sight of a gigantic lake with no end in sight in the distance. The surface of the lake was as blue as the sea, and there was not a single cloud in sight, creating a captivating sight to behold.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face at the sight of this lake, and the same time, he carefully released his spiritual sense toward the lake. If he weren't mistaken, he would be reaching his destination soon.
Moments later, he withdrew his spiritual sense and began to fly over the lake.
Several hours later, a hint of surprise had appeared on Han Li's face. This lake was far more massive than he had originally envisioned, and even after flying for so long at his incredible speed, there was still no end to the lake in sight.
If it weren't for the fact that all of the correct landmarks had appeared along the way, he would've most likely been led into believing that he had accidentally stumbled upon an unknown sea.
What was even more unsettling to Han Li was during these past few hours, he detected barely any beasts in the lake aside from some ordinary fish. The few lake beasts that he did encounter were all low-grade beasts that were very adept at concealing themselves, and all of them were hidden in a completely stationary manner on the lakebed.
If it weren't for his powerful spiritual sense, it would've been very difficult for him to detect them.
A hint of wariness began to appear in Han Li's eyes, and many thoughts also quickly flashed through his mind.
This was not an unfamiliar scenario to him; it was most likely the case that there was an extremely powerful beast in the lake that had startled all of the other low-grade beasts away.
The Stone Cocoon Race had told him that this area was very safe and devoid of powerful beasts, but that was only the case on the last occasion that the Vast Glacial Realm had opened. So many years had passed since then that it wouldn't be any surprise to Han Li if a powerful beast had taken over this area.
With that in mind, he became rather hesitant. Was it really worth taking this risk to secure the tool refinement materials for the Stone Cocoon Race?
After all, even if he didn't make this trip, Duan Tianren had assured him that he would help Han Li gain access to the super teleportation formation. With his lofty status in the Vast Glacial Realm, he most likely wouldn't lie about something like this. However, there was always a possibility.
Furthermore, he had already traveled so long to get here, and he was rather reluctant to simply turn back after coming this far.
Thus, an indecisive look appeared in his eyes, and he gradually began to decelerate.
Right at this moment, a black spot appeared in the distance, and it expanded further and further in Han Li's field of view before revealing itself to be a massive island.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he stopped in mid-air as he looked on from afar.
This island appeared to be close to 1,000 kilometers in size, and there were two mountains on the island, one tall and one short, that were situated next to and connected to one another.
The taller mountain was over 100,000 feet tall and was completely grey with most of the mountain completely devoid of any greenery. The shorter of the two mountains was around 30,000 to 40,000 feet tall, and it was filled with lush greenery.
"Looks like this is the place," Han Li murmured to himself. His gaze quickly fell upon the grey mountain, and he appraised it in an intent manner. The shape of the island was virtually completely identical with the one on the map, and the precious material requested by the Stone Cocoon Race was a type of unique ore that could only be found on the tall grey mountain.
This ore could only be sourced in the Vast Glacial Realm, and it seemed to be quite important to the Stone Cocoon Race.
Just as Han Li was inspecting the island, his expression suddenly changed, and he abruptly swept a sleeve through the air to send a small azure sword hurtling forth in a flash.
Almost at the exact same moment, a pillar of water suddenly erupted from the placid mirror-like surface of the lake before hurtling directly toward Han Li.
Azure light flashed, and the pillar of water was parted by the streak of sword Qi.
A strange cry rang out, and a strange fish that was concealed within the pillar of water was also sliced in half by the sword Qi, sending green blood raining down from above.
Han Li lowered his head, and blue light flashed through his eyes as he appraised this strange fish to find that it was only around a foot in length with a green body and a pair of wings on its back.
Upon closer inspection, Han Li could see that its head resembled that of a venomous snake, and there were a pair of claws on its abdomen that were so thin that they were barely visible.
Han Li's eyelids twitched, and he was suddenly struck by the feeling that he had heard of this type of strange fish from somewhere. However, he was unable to immediately recall the exact details.
All of a sudden, an alarming turn of events unfolded. As soon as the carcass of the strange fish fell into the lake, a myriad of loud cries suddenly rang out within a radius of several feet.
Countless pillars of water erupted from the lake before revealing a series of the same strange fish of different sizes, all of which were hovering in mid-air and appraised Han Li with completely expressionless eyes.
These fish were completely identical to the one that he had just slain, except these ones were shimmering with spiritual light of all types of different colors.
"Flying Rainbow Fish!" Han Li exclaimed as he finally recalled the origin of these strange fish.
Back when he was in the holy city of the Tian Peng Race, he had seen records regarding this fish by chance in a very ancient tome.
These strange fish had a very pleasant name, but in ancient times, they were extremely polarizing creatures that were both loved and hated by foreign beings that dwelled in the sea.
These foreign beings loved these strange fish as their inner core was the main ingredient for an extremely rare type of ancient pill that was known as the Rainbow Pill. Rainbow Pills were special pills that were specifically fed to primordial spirit insects, and it was said that consumption of these pills would allow the spirit insects to mature in advance, and that even mature spirit insects that took them had a certain probability of evolving once again.
However, what was hated about these strange fish was that not only are they extremely poisonous, the venom they blasted was virtually indefensible, and they always dwelled in large schools of at least several thousands.
If someone were to encounter a school of these fish while traveling alone, they were as good as dead unless they possessed some special abilities.
However, these strange fish had already gone extinct in ancient times, and records of them only existed in some ancient tomes.
Never did Han Li think that he would encounter these strange fish here in the Vast Glacial Realm, and at the same time, he finally understood why all of the high-grade beasts in this lake had disappeared; they must've either been devoured by these fish or fled in horror.
