Han Li did not bother examining the scattered fragments. He simply searched the surrounding area for anything he might have missed, then began to consider how to deal with the giant mantis.
He had no intention of letting this demon beast escape. Regardless of its other parts, that pair of forelimbs was undoubtedly rare and precious material for artifact refinement in the cultivation world.
As for the notion of capturing and subduing the creature alive, Han Li considered it briefly before dismissing the idea.
He knew full well that any demon beast capable of being controlled by cultivators had been bound with restrictions from a young age and gradually tamed. Wanting to claim a powerful spirit beast he had not raised as his own was nothing but a daydream.
After all, the cultivator from the Spirit Controller Sect had only lost control of the giant mantis because he had lost his original body and become someone else entirely. Otherwise, once such a demon beast was fully tamed, it would remain loyal for life, never abandoning its master—far more faithful than any human.
As for the matter of reporting to the allied forces of the seven sects, Han Li thought it over and still could not determine whether the Spirit Controller Sect cultivator’s words were true or false. Thus, he decided to linger here for a few more days and observe the situation before making a move.
His speed was exceptional; even if he delayed a few days, he could still reach the seven sects’ encampment on time.
So, Han Li spent a day secretly setting up the “Five-Element Inversion Array” in the dense forest not far from the cave.
This time, Han Li did not hastily deploy only part of the array as he had during the battle at the imperial palace. Instead, he laid out the entire formation to its full extent, and its power naturally far surpassed before.
During this period, he saw the giant mantis go out to hunt once more.
This time, it brought back a massive black tiger, which left Han Li marveling for quite a while.
After all, he had never seen a black tiger before; it was clearly no ordinary beast. It was a pity such a rare creature had fallen into the giant mantis’s jaws—its only fate was to become a meal.
Once his preparations were complete, Han Li slipped quietly into the cave around midday.
But only a moment later, he soared out at high speed, standing atop the Divine Wind Vessel, and headed straight for the array.
The dark figure pursuing him closely was, of course, the giant mantis he had startled.
Since the array was set up nearby, the moment Han Li flew out of the cave, he entered its range. The mantis demon beast, though somewhat intelligent, had no knowledge of formations and easily fell into Han Li’s trap, becoming trapped within.
Over the next two days, Han Li first allowed the giant mantis to run wildly throughout the Five-Element Inversion Array, fully exploiting the formation’s illusory trapping effects and confining it to an area of just a few acres.
Only when the creature was somewhat exhausted after two days and tried to lie still in the array did Han Li release numerous puppets outside the formation to harass it ceaselessly, denying it any rest.
This mantis demon beast was of the variety with extremely high offensive power but only average defensive capability. It dared not let the puppets’ attacks get close, so it had no choice but to keep waving its two arms to protect its entire body.
Thus, after merely half a day, the creature could hold out no longer and began to be hit by the puppets. Although the injuries were minor, its stamina was clearly almost depleted. By then, Han Li had already cycled through five or six spirit stones to power the puppets.
Seeing that the timing was right, Han Li activated his talisman treasure—the yellow dagger with a hilt—and under the cover of the puppets’ assault, it pierced straight through the giant mantis’s head, killing it within the array.
With his great success achieved, Han Li could not hide his excitement as he approached the demon beast’s corpse. He then drew the massive silver sword and cut off its razor-sharp forelimbs in one piece.
Afterward, with great expectation, he began to feel around the mantis’s abdomen bit by bit.
He hoped that this demon beast was at least a fifth-level creature, for in that case, he would obtain a beast core of extraordinary value.
Suddenly, a look of surprise appeared on Han Li’s face, but it quickly turned into a strange expression. When he withdrew his hand from the corpse with a mix of curiosity and apprehension, several oval objects of the same size were in his grasp—white and covered with fine blood vessels.
“Demon beast eggs?” Han Li muttered in astonishment.
No matter how muddled he might be, he would not mistake these for beast cores.
But Han Li’s surprise was not over. He reached into the mantis’s belly again and pulled out seven or eight more. Combined with the first few, there were over a dozen in total.
Looking at these egg-sized objects, Han Li’s face broke into a wide grin.
This was truly an unexpected windfall!
But then, as if remembering something, he frowned and placed a finger on one of the white eggs, then closed his eyes to sense it.
Before long, Han Li’s expression soured. There was not the slightest trace of life within the egg—it was clearly a dead egg.
Such occurrences were common among demon beasts.
After all, demon beasts were not ordinary insects or wild animals; producing offspring was never that easy.
Han Li, his face grim, examined each of the remaining eggs one by one. Indeed, they were all dead eggs. He licked his lips, feeling thoroughly depressed.
Inwardly angry, Han Li originally intended to burn the eggs to ashes, but after a moment’s hesitation, he took out a jade box and stored them carefully.
“This giant mantis is no ordinary demon beast. Even if they are dead eggs, they might still have some use!” Han Li thought with a touch of unwillingness.
After also removing the mantis’s pair of gray wings, Han Li turned the demon beast’s corpse to ashes and flew back to the cave.
Although his hopes were slim, Han Li still wanted to see if there might be other gains.
But upon entering the cave and conducting a thorough search, Han Li was stunned.
In the corner of the cave, he found a skeleton draped in a gray robe, with a still-intact storage pouch attached at its waist.
Holding the storage pouch, Han Li’s heart began to pound wildly.
He did not need to ask to know that this skeleton must be the remains of the Spirit Controller Sect cultivator. The man had truly not hidden his storage pouch before his soul departed the body. This was indeed a delightful surprise for Han Li!
Of course, Han Li did not know that the Spirit Controller Sect cultivator had been so gravely injured that his physical body was about to perish immediately. He had no time to attend to his belongings. He had only managed to wrap up the Green Radiance Sword and condense a small portion of the spiritual energy within his Golden Core into a green pellet before hurriedly departing with both items in his soul’s form.
After all, any delay would have caused his soul to perish along with his body.
Naturally, Han Li was immensely curious about the storage pouch of a cultivator at the Golden Core stage.
He barely suppressed his excitement and extended his spiritual sense into the pouch, beginning to carefully examine its contents.
However, after Han Li’s spiritual sense had thoroughly swept through it, he nearly fainted with rage.
This large storage pouch was filled with nothing but bottles and jars, most of which were labeled as food for some demon beast or insect—completely useless to Han Li. A slightly better portion consisted of various insect specimens, each labeled with the insect’s name.
Han Li gave them a brief sensing check and was astonished to find that most of the insects in the bottles were still alive.
They had not been tended to for years, yet they still lived—truly tenacious life force!
As for the high-grade talismans Han Li had hoped for, or the artifacts and talisman treasures he urgently needed, there was not a single one in the storage pouch. This left Han Li speechless for a good while.
Fortunately, at the very bottom of the pouch, Han Li finally found a green jade slip. The contents within made his heart skip a beat upon reading them.
It contained the notes and insights of the Spirit Controller Sect cultivator on raising exotic insects. Not only did it describe over a thousand species Han Li had never even heard of, but it also included secret methods for cultivating and controlling these insects. What intrigued Han Li the most was that the cultivator had actually ranked these insects according to their power.
The giant mantis was, of course, among them. Despite being gray, it had been called the “Golden-Backed Demon Mantis”—a fact that made Han Li blink in confusion.
However, this giant mantis was ranked only seventy-third among the myriad exotic insects, meaning there were seventy-two even more formidable demon insects ahead of it. This fact secretly shocked Han Li, who had witnessed the “Golden-Backed Demon Mantis” in action.
Han Li read with great interest for a long while before withdrawing his spiritual sense from the jade slip. After a moment’s thought, he began to match the insect specimens in his possession against those described in the slip.
The result left Han Li increasingly dissatisfied!
Setting aside what other uses these insects might have, their rankings were simply too low! Only a mere two were ranked within the top hundred, and they were right at the bottom of that list.
The majority were ranked in the two or three hundreds!
Han Li did not know that if his complaints had been heard by the Spirit Controller Sect cultivator, the man would have pointed at his nose and cursed loudly. How could such exotic insects be collected so easily? Not to mention the top hundred—even those ranked in the three or four hundreds were rare and precious species in the world, obtained only after centuries of effort and ruthless acquisition.