These three Gold Devouring Beetles were the only three remaining after the ferocious skirmish that had taken place between all of the Gold Devouring Beetles and beetle monarch candidates.
In the urgent situation where Han Li had been transcending his true lightning tribulation, he had released all of his Gold Devouring Beetles, which had been in a state of hibernation after devouring the water from the Spirit Cleansing Pond.
However, they had all been jolted awake by the tribulation, and after consuming much of the black and white ball of lightning, they had begun attacking and devouring one another, which was quite an unexpected and pleasant surprise for Han Li.
After his progression to the Grand Ascension Stage, these three beetles were the only ones left, and they could be referred to as faux beetle monarchs.
Not only were these three faux beetle monarchs far more massive than they had previously been, all of them had lightning-shaped purple patterns on their backs, presenting quite a menacing sight to behold.
At the same time, their auras had been significantly enhanced and could virtually compare with that of late-Body Integration cultivators.
In conjunction with the fact that these three faux beetle monarchs were near indestructible and could devour almost everything, they were truly extremely fearsome.
Unfortunately, the three faux beetle monarchs had called a truce once again instead of continuing to devour one another.
Otherwise, the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch that Qing Yuanzi had mentioned to be quite a fearsome prospect even for true immortals to face may have come into existence already.
All of a sudden, the three giant golden beetles began to fly through the air as three balls of golden light at Han LI's behest.
The three golden balls of light were as fast as lightning and whizzed through the air in a wraith-like manner.
On top of that, Han Li was able to control them perfectly with his spiritual sense as if they were extensions of his own body.
Han Li was quite pleased with this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the three giant golden beetles rapidly shrank before vanishing up his sleeve.
With these three faux beetle monarchs, Han Li essentially had earned himself three late-Body Integration Stage allies, which would undoubtedly be a massive boost for him.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li's lips began to move in a silent manner, as if he were transmitting his voice to someone.
Shortly thereafter, spatial fluctuations erupted in front of Han Li, and a humanoid figure emerged amid a flash of silver lightning.
"You wanted to see me, Fellow Daoist Han?"
"Please take a seat, Brother Xie, and we'll continue our earlier conversation now that we have some privacy," Han Li said with a smile.
"Sure. The current situation is very simple; you already satisfy the basic prerequisites to become my master, so if you satisfy a few more of my conditions, I'll be yours for you to use as you see fit," Daoist Xie explained.
"Who was the one that established these conditions? You didn't just make them up on the spot, did you, Brother Xie?" Han LI asked in a cautious manner.
"Of course not; the conditions were created by my former master, and I'll only reveal them to those who can satisfy the basic prerequisites," Daoist Xie immediately replied.
"Your former master was a true immortal, so I'm sure the conditions he's proposed will all be quite meaningful. Tell me the conditions and I'll see if I'll be able to satisfy them," Han Li prompted after a long pause.
"Alright, to begin with, I have a list of a few items here that I need you to track down," Daoist Xie replied with a nod, then raised a hand to send a blue jade slip flying toward Han Li.
Han Li caught the jade, and his brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Is this the only condition I need to fulfill?"
"Of course not, but if you can't even do this, then there's no need for you to be made aware of the rest of the conditions," Daoist Xie replied.
"I see." Han Li nodded in response before adhering the jade slip to his own forehead, then instantly injected his spiritual sense into it.
Moments later, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense and removed the jade slip from his forehead with slightly furrowed brows.
"These items are all very hard to find. Not only will I need to spend a lot of time to track them down, some luck will also be required. If luck isn't on my side, perhaps I'll never be able to track them down. Are you sure you require every single item on this list, Fellow Daoist Xie?"
"Not only do I need every single item, I can't make the slightest compromise even on the quantities required," Daoist Xie replied without any hesitation.
"Alright, it looks like this certainly won't be an easy task; I'll do my best," Han Li replied with a determined nod after a moment of contemplation.
"I wish you luck, Fellow Daoist Han. If that's all you wish to speak to me about, then I'll be taking my leave now," Daoist Xie said with an expressionless nod, then vanished into thin air again amid another flash of silver lightning.
A peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face as he appraised the spot where Daoist Xie had just disappeared.
It appeared that following his breakthrough to the Grand Ascension Stage, Daoist Xie really had become a lot more sentient. It seemed that this Faux Immortal Puppet had some secrets about it that were still unknown to him.
After that, Han Li stowed the jade slip into his storage bracelet, then sat down with his legs crossed and began to meditate.
Having completed all of his errands, he was finally able to consolidate his cultivation base in peace now.
Thus, Han Li remained in the secret chamber for day after day, and a month flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Han Li suddenly opened his eyes, and two bursts of scintillating blue light flashed through his eyes, following which he immediately laid a hand onto his own head.
A miniature humanoid figure emerged from the top of his own head amid a flash of golden light, then appeared in the air above him.
This was a tiny azure-robed figure that was completely identical to Han Li in appearance. It had a small azure sword strapped to its back, and there was a thumb-sized goldens beetle each clinging tightly to its two shoulders and chest like three shimmering golden pendants.
As soon as the miniature humanoid figure appeared, it carefully examined itself, upon which an elated look appeared on its face.
All of a sudden, Han Li stood up and extended a slight bow toward the miniature azure figure.
Almost at the exact same moment, azure light flashed from Han Li's body, and another azure figure that was identical to Han Li in appearance emerged.
This was none other than the spirit body being controlled by Qu'er, and the miniature azure figure turned toward the spirit body before instructing in Han Li's voice, "Look after my physical body; I want to try out the Boundless Spiritual Journey technique now that my Nascent Soul is complete, and I'll return soon."
Immediately thereafter, the miniature azure figure vanished on the spot in a flash.
Down below, Han Li's physical body and the spirit body exchanged a brief glance, then both sat down in silence.
Meanwhile, Han Li's Nascent Soul had already appeared hundreds of thousands of feet up in the air. A blanket of white clouds down below was only barely visible from this altitude, and gusts of fierce white winds were blowing toward the Nascent Soul, striking it with a stinging sensation on the skin of its face.
However, not only was the Nascent Soul not alarmed by this, a smile appeared on its face as it murmured to itself, "These Heavenly Astral Winds are truly as fearsome as the rumors proclaim them to be; if my Nascent Soul had come to this altitude prior to my breakthrough, these astral winds would've instantly torn it apart. Now, the astral winds are still rather uncomfortable to deal with, but I no longer have to fear them."
As soon as its voice trailed off, the Nascent Soul immediately made a hand seal, and it vanished into the astral winds as a ball of golden light, then began to traverse through the winds at an incredible speed, rising up higher and higher.
As the Nascent Soul ascended, the white winds sweeping through the air around it became more and more fearsome.
Blades of wind were beginning to take shape within the ferocious winds, slicing a series of black spatial rifts into the air around the Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul's pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, but it still continued onward without displaying any intention of taking evasive measures.
All of a sudden, a blade of wind flashed past the Nascent Soul, and a thin spatial rift appeared up ahead.
The Nascent Soul seemed to be about to be drawn into the thin rift, but it abruptly twisted around and escaped from the spatial rift, then continued onward as if nothing had happened.
These spatial rifts were lethal even to Body Integration cultivators, yet they were completely unable to harm Han Li's Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul ascended another 100,000 feet in the blink of an eye, following which an indescribable roar suddenly rang out up above, accompanied by a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations.
The nearby astral winds shuddered and completely shattered, following which a gargantuan creature tore through the space overhead, glowering intently at Han Li's Nascent Soul with a pair of massive pavilion-sized eyeballs.
