A Breakthrough by Chance

Han Li flicked his finger, and a cyan sword-light silently pierced half an inch into the coral wall.

Before he could show any joy at this sight, a layer of light flickered red across the wall's surface. The sword-light was inexorably pushed back out.

Han Li's expression darkened.

But after a moment of thought, he was still unwilling to give up.

With a casual gesture of his hand, an inch-long miniature sword shot out from his palm, circled once above his head, and then came to a steady halt before his chest.

Han Li silently activated his sword art. A pale golden arc of lightning bounced and crackled along the blade. Then the small sword spun rapidly within a shroud of cyan light and stabbed viciously into the wall.

A dull thud rang out as the Evil-Crushing Divine Lightning exploded on contact. A patch of red light rippled across the wall.

A flicker of hope passed through Han Li’s eyes, but it was immediately replaced by disappointment.

With the lightning clearing the way, the small sword had only managed to penetrate another inch before being stopped. From deep within the wall, a faint, five-colored radiance was also reflected back.

This coral wall had been reinforced with extremely powerful, layered restrictions by the demon cultivator.

Forcing one's way out through such a wall with just a magic treasure was simply not feasible!

Han Li retracted his magic treasure into his body, his brow deeply furrowed. One hand subconsciously pressed against the spirit beast pouch at his waist.

He believed that no matter how miraculous the restrictions on this wall were, they could not withstand the swarm of Gold Devourer Beetles gnawing and biting.

But there was one factor that prevented him from releasing these spirit insects so lightly.

The time it would take for these bugs to devour the restrictions was no small matter.

With that much time, the demon cultivator Feng Xi would certainly sense it and come to investigate.

Given the other party's monstrous speed, he would have no chance at all of escaping.

After weighing the matter back and forth for a long time, Han Li gave the coral wall one last hard glare before returning to his jade bed with a grim expression.

Right now, he could already feel a heat beginning to stir in his abdomen. It seemed the Azure Flame Wine was about to take effect.

Not knowing what was so peculiar about this wine, Han Li did not dare to be careless. He set aside his other concerns for the moment and sat down cross-legged to begin circulating his qi.

Closing his eyes and inspecting his internal state, his brow furrowed slightly. He then forced out a wisp of azure Core Flame from his four-colored golden core. The ball of compressed green liquid was instantly enveloped by the flame.

Soon after, Han Li's expression went blank, and he remained motionless.

The process of refining the Azure Flame Wine was exceedingly slow. After more than a month, less than a quarter of the wine had been dissolved.

It seemed that what the humanoid Gale Beast had said—that it would take half a year—was no exaggeration.

But at this rate, it was far too slow, and Han Li began to grow restless.

If he truly could not reach the late stage in half a year, he believed that the Gale Beast named Feng Xi would not hesitate for a moment to take his life with a single claw.

So he hardened his heart and took a risk, forcing all of his Core Flame out of his golden core. The azure flame, now nearly twice as thick as before, completely enveloped the remaining green liquid.

Disregarding his mana consumption, Han Li forcibly accelerated the refining process.

Doing this caused Han Li’s mana to be consumed at a doubled rate. Every so often, he would painfully swallow a drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Milk to sustain the Core Flame's continuous burn.

After two months of such extravagant use of his Core Flame, two-thirds of the wine had finally been refined. Complete dissolution was now clearly within sight.

A slight feeling of relief washed over Han Li.

It was right at this moment that an unexpected event occurred.

Back then, driven by a death-defying resolve, Han Li had swallowed the Dry Blue Ice Pearl. Later, because of his extreme wariness of the Gale Beast, he had kept this life-risking treasure inside his abdomen, never taking it out.

But on this day, just as Han Li had exhausted his mana and was about to consume a drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Milk to restore his spiritual power, the layer of Evil-Crushing Divine Lightning on the outer surface of the Dry Blue Ice Pearl suddenly became unstable and began to distort within his body.

This scene nearly scared the soul out of Han Li, who was intently observing his internal state.

With his mana completely depleted, he was utterly unable to react. Seeing the pearl’s surface bulge and tremble continuously, in his desperation, he violently activated the remaining Azure Flame Wine, using it to wrap around the unstable Dry Blue Ice Pearl.

Han Li's heart pounded wildly, and his face was drained of all color.

What reaction would wrapping the Dry Blue Ice Pearl in Azure Flame Wine produce? That was something only heaven knew.

At the thought of the pearl exploding inside his body, Han Li felt only that his hands were ice-cold and his back was drenched in hot sweat.

Fortunately—whether it was a lucky fluke on Han Li’s part, or the Dry Blue Ice Pearl was never truly going to explode—the pearl, wrapped in the liquid, finally calmed down after a short while.

Han Li let out a long breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, feeling a profound sense of having escaped certain death.

He quickly swallowed a drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Milk. As soon as his mana had recovered slightly, he spat the pearl back out, put it away with lingering trepidation, and stored it carefully.

Having this thing inside his body truly felt like playing with fire for Han Li.

After he had settled everything, he casually inspected his internal state again and suddenly noticed.

Unbeknownst to him, amidst all this shock and excitement, he had broken through the bottleneck and had silently, quietly entered the late Core Formation stage.

Han Li was first dumbstruck, then overwhelmed with a mixture of shock and joy!

To be honest, he still hadn't felt any special effect from the Azure Flame Wine.

But now, before the wine had even been fully refined, he had accidentally broken through the bottleneck. This truly felt unbelievable to Han Li!

He briefly tested his cultivation and found that he could now simultaneously release and skillfully control all twenty-four Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

This immediately increased his strength by a great deal!

But Han Li, amidst his wild joy, had no intention of wasting the remaining Azure Flame Wine. He still sat obediently for another two months, refining the remaining liquid completely and taking the opportunity to stabilize his current cultivation.

Only then did he begin to ponder what this ninth-level Gale Beast wanted him to do, and he racked his brains for a way to escape.

As the half-year deadline drew closer and closer, Han Li’s expression grew increasingly heavy, and a flicker of anxiety could occasionally be seen in his eyes.

...

A few days after the half-year deadline had passed, a hole precisely opened in the coral wall. Feng Xi's indifferent voice came from outside.

"Fellow Daoist Li, come out. The time is nearly right. I wonder if your cultivation has made any progress?"

Han Li, who had been sitting on the jade bed, opened his eyes with an expressionless face. Without a word, he stood up and walked out.

Feng Xi was waiting for him outside with narrowed eyes.

As soon as he saw Han Li emerge, this ninth-level demon cultivator immediately gave him a careful once-over. After a moment, he clapped his hands and let out a hearty laugh.

"Good, good! Congratulations on reaching the late stage, Fellow Daoist. It seems my Azure Flame Wine was not wasted." Feng Xi was beaming with joy. It appeared that Han Li's success in his cultivation art was genuinely useful to him.

Seeing this, Han Li was inwardly moved.

"Fellow Daoist Li, come with me. Let me introduce you to two other close friends of mine from the demon race. This time, the three of you will need to work together closely. Only then will this matter have any chance of success!" Feng Xi said with a grin, appearing exceptionally amiable towards Han Li.

"Two other seniors?" Han Li was startled by this news.

"Yes. Both of these friends of mine are at the early stage of transformation, what you humans call eighth-level demon cultivators. But they both hail from heaven-and-earth spirit clans, and their true abilities are not much weaker than my own. However, when you meet them, try to speak as little as possible. They are trueborn sea races and don't have a very pleasant attitude towards you humans." Feng Xi gave Han Li a meaningful glance, a silent warning in his tone.

Han Li's heart tightened. He replied with a subdued voice, "Understood."

Shortly after, Feng Xi led Han Li to the main hall from the other day. Han Li immediately spotted the two so-called 'close friends.'

The sight made Han Li's expression flicker.

One of them had a flood dragon's head and a tail, his entire body covered in blood-red scales. The other had a turtle shell and an azure face, his stature exceptionally tall and broad.

Leaving the second aside, wasn't the one with the flood dragon's head the very same Poison Flood Dragon who had engaged in a massive battle with human cultivators near the Mist Sea that day? Although Han Li had never seen the other one, he could guess that he was most likely the giant turtle who had just successfully crossed his tribulation, now in his transformed human form.

When these two eighth-level demon beasts saw Feng Xi emerge, they both turned their heads to look.

That Poison Flood Dragon happened to catch Han Li's expression change. A cold light flickered in its green eyes as it sized Han Li up.

"A human. Have you seen me before?" it asked with icy bluntness. Though its voice was somewhat indistinct, it was perfectly understandable.

Hearing this question, Han Li was gripped by hesitation.

It seemed that because he had been using the Blood-colored Cloak that day, the other party hadn't gotten a clear look at his face.

This being the case, he absolutely could not bring up the great battle with the humans that day. It would be nothing but asking for trouble. It seemed he would have to bluff his way through this for now.

With this in mind, Han Li cleared his throat and did his best to maintain a calm expression as he spoke.

"This is the first time this junior has met a senior. It's just that my experience is shallow, and I have never seen a true primordial flood dragon before, so I lost my composure a bit. I beg the senior's forgiveness." Forced into a corner, Han Li had no choice but to humble himself as much as possible to avoid any trouble.