Spiritual light flashed from Han Li's glabella, and his Law Destruction Eye vanished before he cast his gaze down toward the miniature figure and heaved a faint sigh.
"I knew that the restrictions I planted in the past wouldn't work once this thing evolved to become a beetle monarch. Fortunately, I had the foresight to tamper with the three faux beetle monarchs before they devoured one another. If I hadn't done that, it would be very difficult to control this beetle monarch. However, as a safety precaution, it looks like I'll have to refine it again using a secret technique."
As soon as his voice trailed off, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release over 100 flags, which instantly formed a formation that was several tens of feet in size in the secret chamber.
At the center of the formation was none other than the unconscious publish-golden figure.
Han Li began to chant an incantation as he flicked incantation seals through the air, all of which vanished into the formation in a flash.
Countless thin five-colored threads emerged around the formation, then quickly converged toward the center to bind the miniature figure tightly.
Han Li then opened his mouth to expel several more balls of blood essence that transformed into crimson runes, which shot forth toward the purplish-golden figure.
At the same time, loud buzzing rang out within the entire formation, and waves of light surged toward the center of the formation…
After a long while, the door of the secret chamber was opened, and Han Li emerged from within with a smile on his face; it was clear that his refinement of the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch had been very successful.
A month later, Qi Lingzi and Bai Guo'er bade farewell to Han Li, embarking on their journey to the primordial world.
After roughly another half a month, Han Li, Silvermoon, and Zhu Guo'er also departed from the holy island, traveling toward a certain region of the demon race on the Inkspirit Holy Ark.
Close to a month passed by in a flash, and the Inkspirit Holy Ark encountered any demonic beings, but all of them immediately gave the ark a wide berth upon seeing its mountainous stature and the vast array of powerful Devil Crystal Puppets standing on the ark's deck.
However, not long after that, Han Li's ark still alerted a demonic cultivating residing deep in the sea as if it was flying over that stretch of the ocean.
This demonic cultivator was at the early-Body Integration Stage, and it had arrived here over 10,000 years ago before forcibly evicting several powerful demonic tribes in the area.
Since then, it had regarded this area of the sea, which was quite abundant in resources, as its own territory.
Not only was this demonic cultivator extremely powerful, it also had a very foul temper and several powerful treasures, so even other Body Integration Stage demonic cultivators generally refrained from encroaching upon its territory.
Thus, all demonic beings that traveled through the area had to inform this demonic cultivator in advance.
On this day, the demonic cultivator was in the process of refining a cauldron of extremely important pills in a secret chamber of its underwater cave abode when a siren suddenly rang out outside the secret chamber.
The demonic cultivator was startled by this, and azure demonic flames that he was fanning abruptly reared up.
The pristine white cauldron that the pills were being refined in flashed erratically, and a charred smell immediately wafted through the air.
The Body Integration Stage demonic cultivator roared with fury upon seeing this, and it didn't even bother to check the alarm formation outside the secret chamber before flying out of its cave abode as a streak of white light.
The ingredients required to refine the pills were extremely precious, and it had taken the demonic cultivator a lot of effort to gather enough for one bout of pill refinement.
Now that the pills had been ruined, it immediately flew into a blind rage and rushed out to confront the culprit.
Even though it didn't know who it was that had activated the alarm restriction, it had already made up its mind: if the culprit were an important figure, then it would let things slide with some compensation. However, if that weren't the case, then it would tear the culprit to shreds to assuage its fury.
This demonic cultivator was able to travel extremely quickly through the water using a water movement technique, and as soon as it sprang out of the surface of the sea, it bellowed, "Who dares to encroach upon my territory? Surrender yourselves now and perhaps I'll…"
The demonic cultivator's voice abruptly cut off as a stunned look appeared on its face as it caught sight of the "culprit".
A mountainous black ark was currently traveling toward it at an altitude of several thousand feet, and standing atop the ark was a massive puppet army that sent chills running down the demonic cultivator's spine.
There were several puppets that were giving off auras superior even to its own, and it immediately swallowed the rest of its words.
The demonic cultivator immediately put on a fawning smile, and said, "Ah, there's been a misunderstanding; I mistook you for someone else. I'll be on my way now so I don't delay you any longer." Immediately thereafter, it began to descend toward the sea down below.
"Hold on, you're Patriarch Hua Shi, right? We just so happen to be looking for a powerful being familiar with this area; you can stay for now."
Silvermoon's voice rang out from the ark.
As soon as her voice trailed off, four Body Integration Stage puppets rose up from the ark before flying directly toward the demonic cultivator.
Patriarch Hua Shi's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately plummeted out of the sky as a streak of white light while releasing several protective treasures at once.
However, right at this moment, the four Devil Crystal Puppet thrust their eight palms down toward Patriarch Hua Shi in unison, unleashing a burst of tremendous force that instantly shattered his protective treasures into specks of spiritual light.
Patriarch Hua Shi himself was also completely immobilized as the air tightened around him.
His face turned deathly pale, and he could only look on helplessly as the four puppets flew toward him.
One of them puppets picked him up with a single hand, then flew back toward the giant black ark with its puppet companions.
Moments later, Patriarch Hua Shi was presented before Han Li, Zhu Guo'er, and Silvermoon in the hall on the highest level of the Inkspirit Holy Ark.
The puppet tossed Patriarch Hua Shi onto the ground, then retreated expressionlessly out of the hall.
Even though Patriarch Hua Shi was no longer being bound, the puppets had somehow managed to completely seal away his magic power, making it impossible for him to access it.
Furthermore, it could sense that Silvermoon's aura was more powerful than his own, while Han Li's aura was completely unfathomable to him, and he didn't dare to resist any further as he extended a respectful salute toward Han Li with a wry smile.
"Hua Shi pays his respects to his seniors. What can I do for you?"
Han Li appraised Patriarch Hua Shi with a hint of a smile on his face, but didn't immediately reply to his question.
Instead, it was Silvermoon who asked, "You're acting very tame and civilized now; why was it that you were trying to escape just a moment ago?"
"That was only an instinctive reaction for self-preservation. After all, it's only natural that I would try to avoid beings as powerful as yourselves," Patriarch Hua Shi replied in an awkward manner while stealing occasional wary glances at Han Li.
"Hmph, judging from how aggressive you were, I don't think self-preservation was on your mind. Could it be that you were trying to target us?" Silvermoon harrumphed as a cold look appeared on her face.
"Most definitely not! I… I was merely too brash and mistook you for some juniors that were encroaching upon my territory; please forgive me for my arrogant display," Patriarch Hua Shi hurriedly explained as cold sweat began to pour down his back.
Silvermoon chuckled coldly in response before falling silent.
At this moment, Han Li said in an indifferent voice, "I don't care what your intentions were; you dared to provoke me, so you have to do something for me before I'll let you leave. Otherwise, you'll be facing some stern punishment."
Patriarch Hua Shi was lamenting his own ill-fortune internally, but he could only force a smile onto his face as he replied, "I'll be sure to serve you to the best of my abilities, Senior! What is it that you would like me to do?"
"Don't worry, it's a very simple task; all I want is for you to find a certain place for me. I heard that there's a damaged ancient altar here that travels through the area on its own; is this true?" Han Li asked with a faint smile.
Patriarch Hua Shi's heart eased slightly upon hearing this, and he hurriedly replied, "Ah, so you're searching for that altar. I have seen it on multiple occasions in the past, but it'll require some luck to track it down. All I can do is take you to the places that the altar has frequently been sighted at."
"Alright, then lead the way," Han Li instructed, and Zhu Guo'er's eyes immediately lit up with excitement upon hearing this.
