Wind Rising Beyond the Seas: Three Heads, Six Arms

After asking Wen Siyue about the location of the Gale Beast’s nest, Han Li casually left her a bottle of medicinal pills for her to take and refine. Naturally, Wen Siyue was extremely grateful and immediately went into seclusion to refine the pill’s power.

Han Li, meanwhile, entered another private chamber to study the newly acquired copper plate.

Now seated cross-legged in the chamber, he carefully examined the object in his hand.

The copper plate bore text on only one side; the other side was engraved with a bizarre picture—a monster with three heads and six arms.

The three-headed beast glared with furious eyes, its six arms all raised toward the sky, its intent unclear.

Frowning, Han Li studied it for a while, then pulled out the beast-skin scroll and compared the text on the two items.

He realized that the characters on the copper plate and those on the beast-skin were mostly similar in structure, but differed in minor details. They seemed to share the same origin but had evolved into different scripts.

Unable to discern anything from the surface, Han Li wasted no further time and channeled his mana into the copper plate.

As mana flowed into it, the plate emitted a low, clear hum and began to tremble on its own.

Suddenly, light flared, and a hazy yellow beam shot from one side of the plate, splashing onto the stone wall across from him.

An ancient, moving tableau unfolded on the wall.

Han Li felt a flash of joy at first, but the moment he looked, he froze.

A humanoid demon beast covered in scales, with a single horn on its head, appeared first in the image. Its appearance was identical to the three-headed, six-armed monster engraved on the back of the copper plate—except at this moment it only had one head.

While Han Li was still puzzled.

With another flash of light, the demon beast in the image sat cross-legged on the ground, its hands forming a strange hand seal. Its entire body twisted slightly into an odd posture.

Han Li showed a look of astonishment.

After a short while, the demon beast’s hand seal changed. Its body twisted again, shifting into an even stranger sitting pose.

Thus, at regular intervals, the humanoid demon beast changed into a series of mysterious postures and hand seals, as if cultivating some kind of cultivation technique.

A full half hour later, the copper plate’s light dimmed, and the image vanished.

Han Li counted carefully in his mind—the demon beast in the image had gone through thirty-six postures in total.

Han Li rubbed his nose, looked at the object in his hand, his face full of peculiarity.

Though he had no idea what the text on the copper plate actually said, judging from the images, this object was definitely not something left by human cultivators. It recorded a demonic cultivation technique.

He had never known before that high-grade demon beasts could have cultivation techniques. Didn’t demon beasts naturally absorb spiritual qi and cultivate on their own?

Given that it was a cultivation technique for demon beasts capable of shapeshifting into human form, this technique was definitely extraordinary.

But looking at the copper plate, Han Li’s expression turned into a mix of amusement and frustration.

Even if he could decipher the text, would he dare to cultivate a demonic cultivation technique?

Besides, he was not lacking in high-grade techniques right now. The complete Profound Yin Scripture was still sitting obediently in his storage pouch.

Thinking this way, it made sense why that dark-skinned cultivator had put on such a show to trade this item. It was utterly useless!

Han Li felt as though he had been somewhat taken in, which left him a bit annoyed.

Since the text on the copper plate was a unique inheritance of demonic cultivation, searching through any number of human ancient texts would yield no clues.

Looking at it that way, the contents of that beast-skin scroll were probably not worth the effort of deciphering either. Likely just another demonic cultivation technique.

Han Li let out a long sigh, tossed both items into his storage pouch with a feeling of bad luck, and walked out of the stone chamber.

His expectations had fallen flat, and he naturally felt some disappointment.

But he quickly adjusted his mood, ready to leave this place and head for the Abyssal Sea Region.

The matter of the Companion Herb was, for him, the top priority. It directly concerned whether he could take another step forward on the path of immortality!

Since taking the Five-Colored Round Pearl, he had felt that his cultivation aptitude had been continuously improving over the years for the better.

Although he still could not compare to those with exceptional talent like the “Heavenly Spiritual Root” or “Mutated Spiritual Root,” in terms of absorbing spiritual qi and converting spiritual power, he was now roughly on par with a cultivator of three spiritual roots.

The Heaven-Mending Pill was living up to its reputation! It added another sliver of hope in Han Li’s heart for forming a Nascent Soul.

When Han Li came out, Wen Siyue was still in her secluded chamber refining the medicinal power. It would likely take two or three months before she emerged.

Han Li did not disturb her. After thinking it over, he left several magic tools and the control incantations for the cave’s defensive formations in her bedroom, then left the place alone.

In the sky above the island, Han Li looked around, oriented himself, and turned into a streak of azure light, flying in the direction of the Abyss.

Along the way, he encountered a few demon beasts and killed them without hesitation.

Occasionally, he ran into human cultivators, but Han Li ignored them, simply flying past at a distance.

A month later, Han Li finally approached the region of the Profound Abyss Sea.

At this point, he began to restrain his aura and conceal his traces.

This was the lair of high-grade demon beasts. Naturally, Han Li was extremely cautious, daring to have no trace of luck.

And true enough, on the remaining journey, Han Li frequently encountered various demon beasts. But fortunately, his concealment technique was sophisticated enough that he still managed to approach this sea region with danger but no actual mishap.

Several days later, Han Li halted mid-air, staring solemnly at a faintly visible small island in the distance.

According to Wen Siyue, the nest of the eighth-grade demon beast was on that island.

Han Li certainly did not dare to just barge in like that. What if the adult Gale Beast happened to be in its nest on the island? Wouldn’t he just be delivering himself to his death?

For the same reason, he did not dare to casually extend his spiritual sense to broadly scan the island either.

Thus, Han Li found a reef protruding from the water not far from the island, set up a small illusion formation nearby, and sat cross-legged atop it. While meditating, he patiently monitored the island’s direction.

Without confirming the movements of that eighth-grade demon beast, he dared not act rashly.

Unfortunately, the Rainbow Garment Grass had no attraction for demon beasts at the eighth-grade level and above. Otherwise, if he could lure the adult Gale Beast away with it, he wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble.

Now, he could only wait bitterly.

Day after day passed. Han Li sat on the reef, watching the island from afar. Months went by.

No demon beasts were seen coming or going from the small island.

Even with Han Li’s patience, he began to feel restless inside.

“Could it be that the adult demon beast isn’t on the island? Or has the Gale Beast already abandoned this nest, leaving the island completely empty?” Han Li grew a bit suspicious.

Another month passed, still with no results.

Left with no choice, Han Li finally steeled himself to go onto the island and see for himself.

He couldn’t really waste several whole years just sitting on this reef!

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Han Li restrained every bit of his spiritual qi, leaving not a trace leaking out, and quietly flew on his遁光, landing on the small island.

Having secretly observed this small island for months, he now knew it like the back of his hand.

Flying to the middle slope of a rocky mountain, Han Li—just as Wen Siyue had told him beforehand—saw a pitch-black cave entrance, several zhang in size, hidden behind several large boulders.

Pupils slightly contracting, Han Li施加 several辅助 spells on himself, and his figure vanished into thin air.

After turning invisible, Han Li cautiously walked inside, slowly releasing his spiritual sense to probe his surroundings from time to time.

The cave was very deep, sloping downward the whole way. The further he went, the more damp the air felt.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Han Li appeared at a corner and stopped, a hint of tension showing on his face.

He slowly closed his eyes, using his spiritual sense to scan ahead.

A moment later, his face twisted into a strange expression.

Pursing his lips, Han Li hesitated briefly before gritting his teeth and walking past the corner.

Before him, the view suddenly brightened. He had entered a naturally formed, massive cavern. It covered an area of over a hundred zhang in width and was over ten zhang high.

The stone walls and ceiling of the cavern emitted a faint green glow. In the center was a blue, clear pool, steaming with heat.

Around the pool grew some strange-looking plants.

Han Li’s gaze locked immediately onto several jet-black, inch-long grasses among the plants, and a faint gleam of excitement flashed in his eyes.

This was exactly the Companion Herb he had been searching for!

Only the Companion Herb growing near an eighth-grade demon beast was black; below the eighth-grade, it was gray.

When Han Li turned his gaze to the pool in the center, his brief joy vanished, and his expression turned serious.

If the Gale Beast was in the cave, it was most likely under the water of this pool. Although he had already used his spiritual sense to scan the pool, this pool turned out to be unfathomably deep. He had only scanned a tiny portion before withdrawing his spiritual sense in alarm.

Han Li licked his lips and hesitated no longer. His figure flickered, and he appeared at the edge of the pool. One hand lightly patted his storage pouch, producing a jade box, while his other hand reached out and grabbed swiftly toward the ground.

(Terribly sorry, I had some urgent family matters that delayed this chapter. But tonight, I will still manage to write another chapter, and you can read the next one in the morning. Hehe! I hope everyone will throw some recommendation votes my way for support!)

(End of this chapter)