The Winds Rise Overseas — Wind and Thunder United

Five months had passed since Han Li first began refining the treasure.

Though he had anticipated the process would be lengthy, witnessing the three demon cultivators remain seated in meditation without moving a step—save for occasionally tossing strange materials into their dan fire—left him somewhat astonished.

During this entire period, the three demons had only paused three or four times to briefly restore their magic power. For the most part, they kept their demon cores suspended in midair, spewing dan fire continuously, all while maintaining an air of unhurried composure.

Truly worthy of eighth- and ninth-rank demon beasts. Their magic reserves were indeed unfathomable.

Because Han Li had been continuously circulating his qi, his magic power remained perpetually full. The small amount of spiritual energy siphoned by the light barrier was nothing worth worrying about.

As he watched, the bone wings suspended within the dan fire grew increasingly crystalline and translucent, with faint sounds of thunder rumbling and wind howling emanating from them.

The joy in Feng Xi’s eyes became more apparent by the day.

Han Li understood intuitively that the Wind Lightning Wings were nearing completion.

During these past months, the evil qi that had been troubling Han Li internally had not appeared at all. There was not even the slightest trace of its existence.

This left Han Li somewhat puzzled.

After some quiet reflection, he speculated that it might have something to do with the evil-banishing divine lightning inherent in the treasure within his body. After all, that divine lightning possessed the wonderful property of purifying evil and expelling filth.

Perhaps the evil qi had already been cleansed by the divine lightning without his knowledge.

At this thought, Han Li naturally felt relieved.

In truth, even if the evil qi did reappear, he had already planned to use this divine lightning to eliminate it.

If that failed, he could take the risk of shrinking the Gold Devourer Beetles and swallowing them into his stomach, allowing them to forcibly devour the evil qi.

Thus, the restraining method that the Gale Beast had placed on him was, in Han Li’s eyes, nothing to fear. He had never really taken it to heart from the very beginning.

That old demon could never have imagined that although Han Li’s cultivation was low, the supreme treasures and spiritual items on his person were shockingly plentiful.

With no lingering concerns, Han Li was certainly not about to sit idly and wait for death.

He had already rehearsed several escape plans in his mind, filtering through them repeatedly. He would observe the situation when the time came and adopt whichever strategy seemed most appropriate on the fly.

As expected, one month later, the Gale Beast, who had been sitting in meditation with eyes closed, seemed to judge that the refinement had progressed enough for the next step.

He opened his eyes, stared intently at the nearly completed bone wings in the air, and took a deep breath.

Without warning, he fired more than a dozen hand seals toward the air. Instantly, the dan fire extinguished completely, revealing three demon cores and two bone wings.

Compared to before, the demon cores had dimmed slightly in luster—the result of months of sustained dan fire emissions that had lightly damaged the three demons’ vitality.

The two bone wings, however, presented the opposite picture. Not only were their forms slender and complete, but they also shimmered with two kinds of luster—milky white and silver—making them extremely eye-catching.

Feng Xi did not hesitate. He pointed at his own demon core, which spun a few times before shooting back through the air, allowing him to retract it into his abdomen.

The Poison Flood Dragon and Turtle Demon exchanged a glance, then followed suit, withdrawing their remaining two demon cores.

Without a word, the three demons immediately closed their eyes to rest.

After a full several days of recuperation, Feng Xi and the other demons finally restored their magic power and replenished their vitality.

At this point, the ninth-rank Gale Beast finally turned his face toward Han Li. He fired a hand seal at the light barrier that had been trapping Han Li.

A red light shot into the barrier, flickered wildly a few times, and then the entire shield dispersed of its own accord.

Han Li’s expression remained calm. He did not show any sign of surprise.

“Now then, I and my two brothers will fuse the two bone wings into one and begin the fusion of wind and thunder. This process requires Fellow Daoist’s wood-attribute spiritual power as a balancing force to mediate. Prepare yourself, Fellow Daoist Li,” Feng Xi said in a somewhat relaxed tone.

“Understood.” Han Li did not say much, merely replying briefly as he slowly rose to his feet.

Seeing Han Li’s demeanor, Feng Xi frowned slightly, a flicker of suspicion passing through his eyes.

He lowered his head in brief contemplation, then, without warning, flicked his finger. A white streak shot straight toward Han Li with a sharp “whoosh.”

Han Li’s expression shifted drastically, but after a moment of hesitation, he did not dare to move aside. He let the white light fly into his body, though his face had turned extremely unpleasant.

“Senior Feng, what is the meaning of this?” he asked, his voice dark and heavy.

“Relax. This Wind Spirit Restraint is nothing serious. It will dissipate on its own after some time. But during this period, if I simply channel a bit of my magic power into it, you will wish you were dead. Conduct yourself wisely, and it is best not to have any other ideas,” Feng Xi said coldly.

Hearing this, Han Li cursed silently in his heart. Most of his carefully prepared escape plans now seemed invalid.

Seeing Han Li finally show visible anger and frustration, the Gale Beast was satisfied.

He paid no further attention to Han Li, instead pulling three small bottles from his storage pouch and tossing two of them to the other two demons.

“Both of you be careful. The fusion of wind and thunder elemental power is a highly mana-intensive task. Each bottle contains a single drop of collected Millennial Spirit Liquid. Take it when you find your mana insufficient. We must ensure the fusion proceeds without interruption—there cannot be any mistakes. Otherwise, these Wind Lightning Wings will never be born,” the demon instructed with grave solemnity.

“Rest assured, Brother Wu will give his utmost,” the Poison Flood Dragon replied, his eyes flashing with surprise at the mention of Millennial Spirit Liquid, before promptly agreeing.

“Indeed! Old Gui also wants to see what divine abilities these Wind Lightning Wings will possess once completed,” the Turtle Demon chimed in, patting his chest in guarantee.

Feng Xi nodded in satisfaction at this.

Without another word, he rubbed his hands together, and a pillar of white light as thick as a bowl shot forth from his palms, striking the five-colored barrier in the air.

The barrier trembled violently, emitting a low hum as multicolored radiance flickered erratically.

Then the barrier’s colors began to shift, until only a glaring, blinding white light remained.

Seeing this, the Poison Flood Dragon and Turtle Demon below hurriedly released slightly thinner pillars of yellow and blue light. Midway through the air, the two merged into a single pillar of lightning-attributed spiritual energy, roughly as thick as the white pillar, which struck the other side of the airborne barrier.

A rumbling sound rose up as the barrier underwent further transformation. Silver and white light interwove with thunderous roars, the glow fluctuating wildly, flickering unsteadily.

“Fellow Daoist Li. One-tenth of your cultivation. Inject your spiritual power,” Feng Xi commanded without hesitation, his voice low and icy.

Han Li understood that if he so much as hesitated for a moment, the other party would surely activate the Wind Spirit Restraint inside his body and give him a taste of agony.

His expression flickered, but he could only comply. He raised a hand and pointed a single finger at the sky. A thin stream of azure light shot into the two-colored radiance above.

A strange sight occurred!

The barrier—which had been humming and looking somewhat unstable—immediately quieted down upon the injection of the azure light. The noise diminished, the radiance converged, and it gradually stabilized.

“Good! Maintain this level of spiritual power input,” Feng Xi said, a look of relief and excitement crossing his face. It seemed the fusion method for wind and thunder spiritual power he had designed was truly feasible.

Seeing this, the other two demons also felt a surge of confidence.

With the aid of the formation, the three demons began forming a series of complex hand seals, firing countless spells into the barrier.

Moments later, silver lightning and milky-white gale winds burst forth from within the barrier. The force of wind and thunder tightly wrapped around the two bone wings suspended in the center, beginning the fusion process.

…

Two days later, the sounds of wind and thunder within the barrier grew increasingly loud. Feng Xi, while directing Han Li to increase his wood-elemental power input, focused his attention alongside the other two demons as they continued to replenish the barrier’s wind and thunder energy.

Seven days later, colossal silver arcs of lightning and howling white gales raged and rampaged within the barrier.

The three demons were full of tension, continuously casting various calming spells into the barrier. The Gale Beast, in particular, wore a grim expression.

Han Li stood within the formation, coldly observing everything, periodically injecting bits of wood-elemental spiritual power as directed. Occasionally, a flicker of eagerness to act passed across his face, but in the end, he made no reckless move.

Perhaps Han Li judged that the time was not yet right.

…

One month later.

The three demons’ faces showed unmistakable signs of exhaustion. Though their hands never stopped forming seals and circulating spiritual power, all three had clearly reached the brink of depleting their magic reserves.

But within the barrier, though the lightning and gale still raged violently, a strange phenomenon of coexistence had begun to appear.

Flashes of lightning appeared within the fierce wind, and whistling wind emerged from within the arcs of electricity.

Seeing this, the three demons’ eyes shone with barely concealed joy.

On the second day, the Turtle Demon, whose magic power was the weakest, was the first to take the spirit liquid from his bottle. His power was restored to normal shortly after.

Over the following days, the Poison Flood Dragon and Feng Xi did the same.

Han Li watched all of this coldly, his face expressionless. But he reached down and touched an object in his storage pouch, a faint, barely perceptible glint of strangeness flashing through his eyes.

The next time the three demons’ magic power was heavily depleted, if the treasure was still not fully refined… that might be his opportunity.

Han Li had originally considered this strategy the least reliable.

But now, it seemed there was a real chance it could succeed.