Han Li's worries had clearly been unnecessary.
In just half an hour, Han Li felt two powerful surges of spiritual energy approaching Red Coral Island rapidly from the east and west. His expression shifted slightly.
He snapped his eyes open, staring fixedly at the row of formation flags before him, pressing his dry lips tightly together.
Although everything had been arranged properly, facing two high-rank demon beasts at once still made his heart involuntarily tighten with tension.
Suddenly, a green-purple formation flag before him blazed with brilliant light, then began trembling faintly.
Han Li's expression turned solemn, but he took no immediate action. He simply watched in silence.
He knew that while a fifth-rank demon beast already possessed some degree of spiritual intelligence, once it had fallen into a grand formation like the Five-Elements Reversal Array, it would be impossible for it to break free in a short time. Although the cultivation of a fifth-rank demon beast was said to be comparable to an early Core Formation cultivator, in true combat, most were no match for cultivators of the same level.
After all, they suffered from having low spiritual intelligence, and the innate spells they knew were too simplistic, making it easy for cultivators of equal rank to seize upon openings and slay them.
Something as profound as a formation array was even more impossible for them to break through in a short time.
That was why Han Li could wait in peace until the second demon beast also fell into the formation before striking with full confidence.
Just as he was thinking this with a nervous heart, a yellow formation flag also blazed with radiant light and emitted a low humming buzz.
Immediately, a trace of delight appeared on Han Li's previously stern face. He then formed a series of hand seals, sealing off the aura of the Rainbow Garment Grass with the restrictions of the surrounding illusory formation.
Otherwise, if one or two more demon beasts were drawn here, he would not be able to handle them.
After finishing this, Han Li reached out and made a light grasping motion toward the void. Two formation flags that had been emitting unusual light flew automatically into his hand. He softly uttered the word "Go!"
Behind him, Qu Hun immediately opened his mouth and spat out a beam of yellow light. The yellow radiance then blazed brilliantly, sweeping up Han Li and transforming into a streak of yellow rainbow that shot into the sky.
Moments later, Han Li appeared above the Illusory Sky-Net Array at the far western position. Within the formation, swirls of yellow and green light churned and roiled ceaselessly, and from deep inside came a booming roar like that of a bull.
Han Li released the Divine Wind Boat, mounted the artifact, and flew away on his own.
He then drew the yellow formation flag from within his robes, shook it lightly, and a beam of yellow light shot from the flagpole, striking the colorful light within the formation. Instantly, all the various lights of the formation receded, revealing a demon beast trapped within.
The beast was roughly two to three zhang long, its entire body round and plump, covered entirely with fiery red spines. At first glance, it looked like an enormous sea urchin. But its bulging body was studded with dozens of emerald-green eyeballs, all the same size.
Those eyeballs glared with an extreme coldness, firing crimson beams one after another in a relentless assault on the restrictions of the grand array. The bull-like roaring emanated ceaselessly from its bloated belly, as if it were in a violent, frenzied state.
"Thousand-Eye Demon."
The moment he saw the demon beast's appearance clearly, Han Li immediately recognized it, and a wave of excitement welled up in his heart.
This was one of the most common fifth-rank demon beasts in the Sea of Scattered Stars—perfect for him to practice on.
He could not delay for too long! This was not the Five-Elements Reversal Array, and it would not withstand much more of this beast's thrashing. He immediately sent a mental command to Qu Hun.
Upon receiving the order, the yellow light around Qu Hun's body transformed, suddenly shifting into a towering crimson glow. He then pressed his palms together and swiftly pulled them apart. A crescent-shaped beam of yellow light shot from between his palms and plunged into the formation, slashing savagely toward the Thousand-Eye Demon.
This was the magical treasure Primordial Bowl, which Qu Hun had refined to about seventy or eighty percent completion.
Though the Thousand-Eye Demon was trapped within the formation, it seemed to sense the danger of the yellow light. The eyeballs across its body instantly locked onto the direction from which the Primordial Bowl was approaching. Dozens of crimson beams converged together, forming a thick, massive column of red light that forcefully held the yellow light at bay, creating a contest of spiritual power between the beast and Qu Hun who was driving the magical treasure.
Seeing this, Han Li was not angered but rather broke into a delighted expression.
He slapped a bulging storage pouch at his waist, and over a hundred streaks of white light flew out in rapid succession, landing around the grand array in the blink of an eye. They revealed themselves to be grotesque and ferocious puppet beasts.
Once these puppet beasts, each about a zhang tall, materialized, they immediately opened their mouths. Colored beams of piercing light began condensing within their jaws, poised to strike at any moment.
At this point, a flush of excited color rose to Han Li's face. He flipped his hand, and the Red-Line Escape-Light Needles appeared in his palm.
At the same moment, over a hundred beams of light shot in perfect unison from the mouths of the puppet beasts, hurtling toward the Thousand-Eye Demon within the formation.
The demon beast seemed to sense the danger. It let out a piercing shriek and suddenly curled its entire body into a massive sphere bristling with spines. At the same time, the color of the beams shooting from its eyeballs shifted—crimson turned to green. These green beams did not fly out to attack the enemies. Instead, they condensed around the spiny sphere to form a thick barrier of light.
Over a hundred beams of light struck the green barrier simultaneously. Amid the thunderous cascade of scattered light, the demon beast's shield actually held—but the green light flickered erratically across its surface, already showing signs of strain.
Meanwhile, the Primordial Bowl had finally shattered the red light column that no longer had energy to sustain it. Under Qu Hun's command, the treasure expanded, instantly transforming into an enormous disc several zhang in diameter. Coordinating with the beams of light, it slammed down at an angle with devastating force.
A series of crisp cracking sounds rang out. Although the Thousand-Eye Demon frantically sprayed green light to bolster it, the barrier could not withstand the combined assault of the light beams and the Primordial Bowl. It collapsed completely.
Seeing this, Han Li, who had been waiting for this moment, wasted no time. He flicked his wrist, and over a dozen red lines shot from his hand, threading through the gap and piercing straight toward the beast's exposed body.
After the time it takes to eat a meal, Han Li stood in the center of the formation, holding a green sphere the size of a chicken egg in his hand, his face beaming with joy.
At his feet lay the demon beast's corpse, riddled with wounds. A fist-sized bloody hole gaped open at one spot on the body.
"Let's go."
Han Li wasted no further time. He stored the Thousand-Eye Demon's body into his storage pouch, and immediately Qu Hun transformed into a yellow rainbow that swept him up and sped toward the next grand array.
...
In this manner, Han Li remained on Red Coral Island for over a month.
He dripped green liquid onto the Rainbow Garment Grass several times, forcing it to unfurl its leaves and emit its scent, gradually expanding the range at which it lured demon beasts.
As a result, nearly every two or three days, a demon beast would be attracted to the island.
With Qu Hun at his side, he slew over a dozen fifth-rank demon beasts in rapid succession. This left Han Li ecstatic with joy!
However, when the Rainbow Garment Grass reached four hundred years of age, it attracted a rare sixth-rank demon beast—a Cockscomb Flood Dragon—which gave Han Li a terrible fright. He hurriedly used the formation to seal the grass's aura from spreading any further, causing the beast to pace around the vicinity a few times before finally departing in disgruntlement.
Having been badly shaken, Han Li came to understand that it was best to mature the Rainbow Garment Grass only to three hundred years. Increasing its age further would attract higher-ranked demon beasts.
He quickly switched to a new seedling of Rainbow Garment Grass and began maturing it anew.
But by this point, most of the fifth-rank demon beasts around Red Coral Island had already been slain by him.
After seeing no more demon beasts approach for six or seven consecutive days, Han Li and Qu Hun did not linger. They immediately packed up the formation arrays and flew deeper into the Outer Star Sea for several days, finding another coral island upon which to set up the grand arrays once more, continuing their campaign of slaying demons and seizing cores.
This life—thrilling yet monotonous, dangerous yet repetitive—lasted for five full years in the Outer Star Sea.
During this period, he slaughtered hundreds of fifth-rank demon beasts, including some species completely unknown in the cultivation world. These unfamiliar creatures plunged Han Li into moments between life and death on several occasions.
Had it not been for Qu Hun and the puppet beasts' fearless, unyielding combat prowess, even with the aid of formation arrays, he would most likely have perished in the vast ocean.
Moreover, after years of attrition, not only had the puppet beasts been depleted to only about twenty or thirty from their original hundreds, but most of the formation array instruments had also been destroyed or severely damaged when several violent-tempered demon beasts self-destructed.
Even the most powerful formation—the Five-Elements Reversal Array—had been lost half a year ago when he inadvertently attracted a seventh-rank demon beast. Left with no choice, he had to abandon the array to temporarily trap the creature while he and Qu Hun made their hasty escape.
Such staggering losses over five years—yet the harvests were even more astonishing!
Beyond obtaining hundreds of fifth-rank demon cores, the rare demon beast materials Han Li acquired were beyond counting. He was even forced to discard items of lesser value just to relieve the burden on his storage pouches.
Furthermore, through the hundreds of life-and-death battles, he had honed his practical combat skills to a state of sublime mastery and acquired numerous unique techniques for dispatching demon beasts.
The Han Li of today could face an ordinary fifth-rank demon beast alone without a trace of fear, meeting it with calm composure.