Han Li merely remained silent and pointed a finger up at the dark clouds above the sea of lightning.
Just as everyone else was wondering what he was pointing at, Bai Qi also swept his gaze upward, upon which he immediately exclaimed, "What is that thing?"
Everyone else also looked up into the dark clouds, but none of them could see anything.
Right at this moment, Han Li made a grabbing motion, and an azure longsword appeared in his grasp before being slashed toward the distant sky.
A clear ringing sound erupted, and an azure sword projection that was over 1,000 feet in size appeared before hurtling directly toward the dark clouds up ahead.
Han Li had injected an enormous amount of power into the attack, and everyone was stunned by how fearsome it was.
The surrounding space in the wake of the azure sword projection warped and twisted, and a massive rift was sliced into the dark clouds up above.
Through this rift, everyone else was able to catch a glimpse of a mountainous golden beast hovering high in the air.
This was a gargantuan shimmering golden beast with countless dazzling bolts of lightning revolving around its body.
The Long Family patriarch was only able to make out a hard golden shell and a series of sharp spikes on the shell, but was unable to identify what type of devilish beast this was.
A wisp of the giant beast's aura seeped out of the rift, and everyone's expressions changed drastically as they discovered that they were completely unable to ascertain the cultivation base of the golden beast with their spiritual sense.
On top of that, there was a hint of pressure imbued within that wisp of aura that was extremely threatening even to late-Body Integration cultivators like the Long Family patriarch.
The term "true spirit" instantly sprang into everyone's minds upon sensing this fearsome aura.
What was even more peculiar was that despite the massive commotion that Han Li had caused, the giant golden beast remained completely still, as if it were in a deep slumber, and it was a good thing that this was the case. Otherwise, everyone on the giant ark would've fled for their lives already.
Even so, everyone's faces had paled significantly, and they were scrutinizing the giant golden beast with intense unblinking eyes, ready to bolt as soon as it made any move.
A tense silence settled over the entire giant, and after a long while, the silence was finally broken by Bai Qi.
"Rest assured, fellow daoists; the beast isn't displaying any signs of life, so it should just be a carcass."
"Are you sure, Brother Bai?" The woman from the Ye Family was still quite concerned.
"I've cultivated an ability that can detect signs of life within all living beings; the fact that this is a beast carcass is the reason why I was unable to sense it earlier," Bai Qi replied.
"That's good to hear. Having said that, for a carcass to possess such a fearsome residual aura basically confirms that this is indeed a true spirit carcass," the woman from the Ye Family said as he looked up at the sea of lightning with glowing eyes.
The value of a true spirit carcass was naturally astronomical.
Setting aside everything else, if there were any residual true essence in the carcass, then it would be able to benefit Body Integration Stage beings like them immensely.
On top of that, true spirit carcasses were the most precious tool refinement materials and pill refinement ingredients, and just a tiny section could easily start a war.
Everyone else was also very tempted by the carcass.
At this moment, the giant rift created in the clouds by Han Li's sword projection slowly sealed, and the giant golden beast was concealed again.
"Brother Bai, were you able to identify what type of true spirit carcass that was?" Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns asked.
Among everyone present, Han Li and Bai Qi were the only ones able to see the complete carcass with their spirit eye abilities.
Bai Qi looked up at the dark clouds for a while longer before replying in an unconfident manner, "It was a giant golden crab with four pincers."
"A giant golden crab? Does such a true spirit being exist?" the woman from the Ye Family asked.
"I've never heard of one! None of the true spirit beings known to our Spirit Realm match that description. Having said that, this is nothing to be surprised about; true spirit beings exist on many planes, so there are bound to be ones we've never seen before," the Long Family patriarch said.
"That's true; perhaps this is a true spirit being that we don't know about, but if it's already dead, then isn't this a splendid opportunity for us?" Elder Hui said with an excited expression.
"Indeed, we can't pass up such a splendid opportunity. If we can obtain such a massive true spirit carcass, our journey will be worth it even if we can't find the Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus."
Everyone else nodded in agreement upon hearing this.
Just as everyone was growing very excited by this unexpected opportunity, Han Li suddenly asked, "How long do you think this carcass has been here for?"
"There's no way to tell, but surely it has to have been here for a very long time already," Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns replied as her brows furrowed slightly.
"It was very difficult for us to reach this place, but it's nowhere as difficult for high-grade devilish beings to find this place. If the carcass were that easy to take, do you think the high-grade devilish beings would leave it here for us?" Han Li said in a calm manner.
Contemplative looks appeared on everyone's faces upon hearing this.
"So you're saying that the devilish beings have left this carcass here as they're aware that it's not as easy as it seems to obtain it," the Long Family patriarch said.
"Hehe, that's only one of the reasons," Han Li chuckled in a meaningful manner.
"Oh? Did you discover something else, Brother Han?" Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns asked in a surprised manner.
"If I'm not mistaken, this isn't some true spirit carcass; it's a Devil Crystal Puppet instead," Han Li sighed with a wry smile.
Everyone was stunned to hear this, and Elder Hui immediately shook his head in disbelief. "That's impossible! How could such a fearsome puppet exist? And what is a Devil Crystal Puppet?"
The Long Family patriarch and Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns also exchanged a bewildered glance.
In contrast, Bai Qi faltered slightly upon hearing this before hurriedly casting his gaze toward the sea of lightning up above once again.
"Devil Crystal Puppets are a type of puppets that is unique to the Elder Devil Realm. I obtained the refinement technique for these puppets back in Illusion Night City; I'll show you a Devil Crystal Puppet that I refined to support my claim," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a ball of green light, which was revealed to be a giant green wolf.
This was none other than a low-grade Devil Crystal Puppet that Han Li had refined some time ago.
Everyone immediately began to carefully inspect the giant wolf puppet, and after a while, a wry smile appeared on Bai Qi's face as he said, "I think Fellow Daoist Han is right. The patterns on that giant golden crab's body are very similar to the ones on this Devil Crystal Puppet. It seems I was too careless and jumped to a premature conclusion."
"But if it's a puppet, why was it left here? It's quite clear from its aura alone that it's extremely fearsome."
"Could it be that this really is a true-spirit-level puppet?"
Everyone erupted into chatter, but right at this moment, Bai Qi opened his mouth to expel a dark blue copper mirror.
The mirror rotated on the spot before hovering around 10 feet in front of him, and a beam of white light shot forth out of his forehead before silently vanishing into the mirror.
In the next instant, the surface of the mirror blurred, following which an extremely clear image appeared.
The image depicted none other than the giant golden crab that was hidden within the dark clouds.
The Long Family patriarch's expression changed slightly upon seeing this. "Is this the renowned Spirit Light Reversal Technique of your Spirit Race? I've heard that this technique can depict something that the user has recently seen and heard with perfect accuracy."
"Indeed. Take a look for yourselves and see if this giant beast shares any similarities with Brother Han's Devil Crystal Puppet," Bai Qi said as he pointed a finger at the copper mirror.
Everyone immediately gathered around to inspect the giant crab in the mirror, and after a while, the image in the mirror faded, upon which the Long Family patriarch said with a wry smile, "Looks like Brother Han was right; this is indeed just a puppet. In that case, there's no need to take a risk to try and obtain it. For such a powerful puppet to have been abandoned here clearly presumably means that it's been damaged beyond repair. Otherwise, the high-grade devilish beings would try to get their hands on it regardless of the risk involved."
"Looks like we got all excited for nothing. Let's think about how we're going to pass through all this lightning to get onto the island; that's the true objective of our trip," Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns said.
