Storms Brewing Overseas: Wind-Lightning Wings

“Hmph! Humans are all treacherous and cunning. Wherever you’ve seen me before, it’s best you stop playing clever tricks!” The Poison Flood Dragon had been toying with a large, glittering pearl in his hand, but with a sudden clench of his fingers, the pearl instantly turned to powder. Then a savage gleam flashed across his狰狞 face.

Han Li felt a slight chill in his heart, but outwardly he could only force a bitter smile and say nothing.

“Alright, Fellow Daoist Li has now met my two brothers. I, Wind Xi, will be relying on the strength of you three Daoist friends. Losing any one of you would give me a terrible headache.” Seeing the tense atmosphere, Wind Xi quickly stepped in to smooth things over, then invited Han Li to sit on the other side of the table, a little farther from the two across from him.

“Brother Wind, we’ve known each other for some years now. What exactly is this matter that you’re being so mysterious about? You haven’t given us a hint this whole time. And you need a human cultivator to help. What use is a mere Core Formation cultivator?” The Poison Flood Dragon tilted his head back and downed a large cup of wine in one gulp, speaking in a brash, straightforward manner.

“That’s right! I was also curious why you insisted we both come this time. Could it be that Brother Wind’s matter involves some danger?” The green-faced Turtle Demon, who had a thick, hard shell growing from his back, also furrowed his brow, revealing a hint of suspicion.

Although this one was incredibly tall and large, he seemed to be somewhat overly cautious.

“Brother Gui, there’s no need to worry. I’ve invited you both here not to deal with some enemy, nor to go to some dangerous place. Rather, I want you two brothers to help me refine a treasure.” Wind Xi laughed and waved his hand dismissively.

“Refine a treasure?” The Turtle Demon and the Flood Dragon were both stunned, exchanging glances.

Han Li, listening from the side, was also greatly surprised, a look of astonishment flashing across his face.

“Indeed. I plan to refine a magical treasure tailored specifically for myself.” Wind Xi said slowly, a trace of fanaticism faintly appearing on his face.

“Did I hear that wrong? Brother Wind wants to refine an external object? Brother Wind, have you forgotten? For us demon cultivators, our body is the best treasure. What material could be more suitable for refinement and strengthening than our own demonic bodies?” The Poison Flood Dragon shook his head, revealing a disapproving expression as he tried to persuade him.

“Brother Wu is absolutely right. No magic treasure’s power can compare to the innate talents of us demon cultivators. Instead of wasting time on external objects, it’s better to cultivate the innate abilities of your own body more. Take Brother Wu’s Flood Dragon spirit-body, for example. It has a natural, almost automatic understanding of all water-attributed techniques. With just a little bit of cultivation, he can be a hundred times stronger than other races. And Brother Wind’s spirit-bird body is an excellent wind-attributed physique. If you train your Wind-Fire Wings to their deepest level, you can traverse ten thousand li in an instant and roam the four seas. As for my Profound Tortoise body, though I don’t have the vast divine powers of you two brothers, if I can cultivate this hard shell to the state of spiritual intelligence and deification, it can be said to be an indestructible body of Vajra. Why must we learn from humans and refine magic treasures?” The Turtle Demon nodded repeatedly, adding his own advice.

Hearing this from the two demons did not anger Wind Xi; instead, he laughed heartily.

“What you two brothers say is reasonable. Have I, Wind, cultivated for so many years and not known this? But the treasure I plan to refine has a special secret. It’s another pair of spiritual wings. However, they will no longer be Wind-Fire Wings, but Wind-Lightning Wings. With this second pair of spiritual wings to assist me, I am confident that there will be no place under heaven I cannot go!” This ninth-grade Gale Beast said, barely containing his excitement, shocking the two demons across from him.

“Wind-Lightning Wings?” The Turtle Demon blinked, somewhat at a loss.

“That’s right. A few years ago, while traveling and cultivating in the deep sea, I found the remains of an ancient giant bird from the ruins of an ancient cultivator on a solitary island. Although only the silver skeleton remained, the surviving pair of bone wings still contained astonishing lightning power. It was the corpse of a Thunder Roc that had reached the final stage of transformation. As you know, the flying speed of this heavenly spirit bird, the Thunder Roc, ranks among the top ten of all high-grade spirit birds and demonic beasts. The speed of its thunder-lightning escape is almost like lightning and fire. Our Gale Clan knows we are far from its equal. So, I had a sudden inspiration and brought that pair of bone wings back to my cave dwelling. I plan to use these bone wings, along with the wing materials of some other spirit birds, to learn from human methods and attach this pair of lightning wings to my body.” As he said this, Wind Xi’s eyes shone brilliantly, as if he could no longer suppress the excitement in his heart.

“After being re-refined, these wings naturally won’t be purely thunder-attributed. I’ll need to imbue them with some wind-attributed spiritual power. That way, I can control them more easily.” He added by way of explanation.

“Will this really work?” The Poison Flood Dragon’s face showed a half-believing, half-doubting expression, as if he still wasn’t entirely convinced.

The Turtle Demon sitting beside him also had eyes full of suspicion.

“Rest assured. For this pair of wings, I researched for many years. I even went so far as to change my appearance and travel to human markets to acquire numerous books on artifact refinement. I had several human cultivators teach me the relevant knowledge. Then, combining it with our Gale Clan’s method of cultivating the Wind-Fire Wings, I arrived at today’s treasure-refining plan. I won’t say I have one hundred percent certainty. But at least seventy to eighty percent hope. Of course, I won’t have you two brothers work for nothing. Whether the treasure is successfully refined or not, I will...” The Gale Beast Wind Xi said with great confidence, then his voice suddenly trailed off. He began to transmit his voice, his lips moving slightly. It seemed he didn’t want Han Li to hear the content of their discussion.

Han Li sat motionless at the side, appearing oblivious to this, his expression calm.

But his hands, placed under the table, had somehow intertwined, showing that his inner state was not as peaceful as his surface suggested.

Han Li knew that the terms they were discussing might very well be unfavorable to him. Yet, he knew full well that he had no right to speak in front of these three demon cultivators. He could only sit in silence and contemplate his own countermeasures.

“Alright, since Brother Wind has laid everything out, we’ll lend you a hand.” The Poison Flood Dragon hesitated for a moment, then discussed it briefly with the Turtle Demon before finally agreeing.

Upon hearing this, Wind Xi was naturally overjoyed.

“With you two brothers’ earth-attributed and water-attributed techniques, I can temporarily fuse them into lightning-attributed spiritual power using a formation during the refinement. Combined with my wind-attributed technique, the power of wind and lightning will be complete. However, to balance the forces of the two, we’ll finally need Fellow Daoist Li’s wood-attributed technique to neutralize the subtle differences between them. With this, the success of the Wind-Lightning Wings is highly promising!”

Wind Xi let out a confident, light laugh. But as his gaze shifted and he saw Han Li sitting there without saying a word, he suddenly seemed to remember something. A strange light flickered in his eyes, and he said to Han Li with a beaming smile:

“Fellow Daoist Li, I forgot to tell you. The Green Flame Wine you drank, while it can help a cultivator break through bottlenecks and increase cultivation, was ultimately prepared for us demonic cultivators. So, for a human who drinks it, after about a year, a strand of Chaotic Evil Qi will appear inside your body. Although it seems harmless now, before long, this evil qi will spread. It will completely mix up your true essence, leading to an explosion of your spiritual power and a grisly death.”

After saying these words, the ninth-grade Gale Beast immediately shut his mouth, staring coldly at Han Li, saying nothing more.

Han Li, however, merely furrowed his brow slightly and let out a soft sigh. He did not show any signs of panic or anger.

“Brother Wind, just say it plainly: what needs to be done for you to remove the evil qi? Is it that only if the treasure is successfully refined will I, Li, have a path to survival?” Han Li asked slowly, his face extremely calm.

This caused a flicker of surprise to flash in Wind Xi’s eyes. The Poison Flood Dragon and Turtle Demon on the other side also looked on with interest.

“Hehe! Fellow Daoist Li is a clever man. Since you already understand, I won’t say much more. Once my Wind-Lightning Wings treasure is successfully refined, I will naturally remove the隐患 for you, Daoist. If it fails… then you, Daoist, will naturally be the first sacrifice for my anger. And don’t even think about resolving it yourself. Even if a human Nascent Soul cultivator were willing to help you, they would similarly be utterly unable to eradicate the Chaotic Evil Qi from my Green Flame Wine.” Wind Xi opened his mouth slightly, spitting out words as cold as ice, his expression utterly blank.

“I know what to do.” Han Li nodded slightly, a bitter smile finally appearing on his face.

But there was another sentence he kept to himself, unspoken: I’m afraid that the moment the treasure is finished, it will also be the moment my little life comes to an end.

Just as Han Li was feeling an extreme sense of helplessness, the three demonic cultivators began chatting idly at the jade table.

“I heard that Brother Wu’s Flood Dragon clan also participated in the human cultivator attack on the Ten Thousand Zhang Sea. Is that true? I recall that the Flood Dragon clan generally doesn’t get involved in such matters.” Seemingly in a good mood now that the treasure seemed within reach, the Gale Beast casually asked the Poison Flood Dragon.

“Hmph! That’s right. Some of the high-grade demonic cultivators from our clan did make a move this time. Otherwise, those wastes from the Ten Thousand Zhang Sea would never have been able to break through the enemy’s city so smoothly. They probably couldn’t even have breached the city, let alone killed two Nascent Soul cultivators.” The Poison Flood Dragon didn’t bother to hide anything, saying all this right in front of Han Li.

Even though Han Li was a master at not letting his emotions show on his face, his expression involuntarily changed slightly.