When Han Li looked at the small beast over a hundred meters away, he let out a deep sigh. He panted for a short moment before his breath returned to normal.
However, his eyes didn’t leave the beast for a moment.
The leopard was the same size as a common cat, but it possessed a shocking speed.
Even Han Li’s s.h.i.+fting Smoke Steps still paled in speed.
As a result, a few swipes managed to land on his azure robes during the battle, revealing the grey armor and golden flesh underneath.
Not only was the beast’s speed astonis.h.i.+ng, but its claws were incredibly sharp as well.
There were varying degrees of scars on his armor. Even his cultivated hardy body had blood drawn from the feline’s claws.
Fortunately, under the effects of various medicines, fruits, and treasures, his flesh had become as hardy as an ordinary magic treasure and possessed shocking regenerative abilities. In a short moment, Han Li was able to heal his wounds.
Even so, Han Li still felt quite gloomy.
When he first encountered the leopard, it appeared soundly sleep on top of a nearby tree and appeared harmless.
At that time, Han Li’s mind welled with a child-like curiosity and thought to pet the small beast.
But he hadn’t expected at all that he would startle the beast and send it flying into a ferocious rage.
In a few leaps, it would surround him with a dozen after images attacking him.
As he was unable to release his spiritual sense, he was unable to grasp its location even with his spirit eyes and suffered much from it.
Eventually, the small beast was forced to retreat with minute scars covering its body.
Helpless, Han Li could only use the Smoke Sifting Steps to its maximum level and circulate the enormous power of his body into his arms, flicking his spear until it became a cloud of black light.
As the spear shadow whistled, it inspired fear in the beast, stalling off its attacks.
But no matter how powerful Han Li may be, he couldn"t sustain his attack for long.
As the spear in his hand somewhat slowed, the leopard swept through spear mist and swiped at Han Li’s throat.
In Han Li’s furious alarm, he desperately exerted a speed greater than before and quickly turned the spear to block the leopard’s claw.
The small beast was greatly alarmed and jumped ten meters away. Then it cautiously stared at Han Li with a pair of green eyes.
Han Li and the leopard found themselves in a deadlock.
The beast was extremely gloomy to find a strange character such as Han Li who possessed immense strength and impenetrable flesh.
With the formation of the stalemate, Han Li used this opportunity to thoroughly examine the leopard with narrowed eyes.
Soon, Han Li let out a sigh.
Apart from its small size, it appeared to be an ordinary leopard. After searching through his memories of the records he read in Setting Sun City, he wasn’t able to think of what this ferocious ancient beast could be.
It was also impossible for it to be a demon beast.
This small beast was fighting solely with the strength and abilities of its body. It didn’t possess any demonic power.
This should be a beast variant.
After a long while, that was the only conclusion Han Li could think of.
Eventually, the small beast lost its patience and an ominous light flashed in its eye. It crouched in preparation for another attack.
Han Li’s mind trembled and he tightened his grasp on the spear, a.s.suming a defensive stance.
But white light lit up from his other hand as it grasped a spirit beast pouch.
The pouch contained his myriad of Gold Devouring Beetles.
Han Li made the decision that if the beast pounced on top of him, he would open the bag with his spirit ring.
Although he had no magic power and couldn"t control the beetles, he could still rely on its ability to dispose of the small beast. The only trouble would be for him to take them back. Without his spiritual sense, he would have to waste them.
However, Han Li was left with no choice.
The small beast let out a snarl and its body blurred, turning to two, then four...
In the blink of an eye, over thirty identical small beasts appeared on top of the trees with their fangs bared and ready to pounce.
In Han Li’s alarm, he realized that the beast hadn’t made use of its full strength. He immediately brought the back in front of him and was about to toss it.
But then in that crucial moment, a strange bird’s cry sounded from a distance. It sounded like a crow, but it was far harsher.
When the leopard heard this, its face froze and its afterimages disappeared. In the blink of an eye, only one of them remained.
The feline took a deep glance at Han Li before turning its head and shooting deep into the forest.
A short moment later, it disappeared from sight.
Han Li relaxed and retrieved his spirit beast pouch.
Although he didn’t know what was going on, he had no interest in pursuing the cat. He needed to find someplace where he could comprehend what just happened.
In the last battle, there were exceptional developments and he came to a faint realization of something. This was a possibility for him to make a breakthrough.
With a flip of his hand, he took out an azure robe from his storage bracelet and replaced the torn clothes on his body. Then, he head off in a direction away from the leopard.
Because Han Li feared that this feeling of revelation would soon disappear, Han Li didn’t walk far away. Rather, he quickly ran fifty kilometers away to a small valley and struck open a rough cave in a stone wall.
He immediately entered it and sat down cross-legged.
Comprehending his recent flash of enlightenment took him three entire days.
When Han Li opened his eyes once more, he wore a disappointed face.
Although he made some gains from that battle, it wasn’t enough for him to break past his current bottleneck.
But he wasn’t too saddened.
Although he didn’t succeed this time, this ill.u.s.trated life and death battles would be of great a.s.sistance in making a breakthrough. If he experienced several more desperate battles, he was bound to succeed.
After calming his heart, he arranged his belongings and left the cave.
Standing outside the cave, he paused in thought for a long while. He felt that the small beast was the ideal opponent for him. If he could fight it several more times, he may succeed in obtaining an epiphany.
Although he knew it would be dangerous, the restoration of his magic power was far more important.
His expression wavered for a long while before resolving himself to seek out that dangerous leopard.
When he left the valley, Han Li headed in the direction where the leopard is last seen, but he ended up greatly disappointed.
In a single breath, he swept through hundreds of kilometers in the surrounding mountain range, but he found no trace of the beast.
Helpless, Han Li could only depart from the mountains and find another suitable objective.
Over ten days later at the edge of a huge lake, there were a dozen variously dressed body refiners. They were surrounded by crimson snakes with a crest on their heads. The body refiners were using their spirit tools to their utmost extent while attacking the serpents.
The serpent’s attacks were separated into two types. There were those shooting a crimson venom mist, while the others were pouncing at the body refiners like darts.
The venom was tolerable enough as they had swallowed an antivenom beforehand, but they weren’t able to block the serpents’ direct attacks.
The serpents weren’t very large, but their bodies possessed considerable power. Despite the powerful spirit tools the body refiners wielded, they weren’t able to injure the serpents when they struck them.
As a result, the body refiners defended against the serpents many times before they felt their limbs grow heavy and slow.
In addition to these few serpents, there was also a giant serpent behind them.
The serpent appeared to be the group’s king. When it saw that its party had the advantage, it let out several hisses as if it were expressing satisfaction.
But suddenly, booms of lightning sounded from below the lake. Before the humans or the serpents could react, a large silver light flashed from below and countless arrows of light burst forth, felting the humans and serpents on the sh.o.r.e without discrimination.
“AH!” The body refiners could only cream, but they weren’t able to dodge, and the serpents were no better. The lot of them were turned into pincus.h.i.+ons by the ice spikes.
Only the huge serpent at the back was quick enough to react. It suddenly bent its body and pounced thirty meters away, narrowly dodging the ice arrows.
But before the serpent landed, the earth beneath it burst. A silver hand shot out from the soil and grabbed the serpent by the neck.
In the serpent’s alarm, it turned like a spring and wound its head around to bite down on the hand.
But a clear ring sounded after the strike. The hand was unharmed and the serpent was in pain, blood trailing from its mouth.
The huge serpent’s teeth were completely shattered by the silver hand’s exceptional hardiness.
In pain, the serpent could only relax its mouth let go.
Another silver hand then strangely appeared nearby. It grabbed ahold of the serpents head and both hands exerted their stretch, pulling them apart. Left headless, the serpent’s body spouted in a fountain of blood.
The serpent corpse was then tossed to the ground.
At that moment, the dust eventually cleared and a silver man appeared, hidden by flickering sliver lights around his body.
At that moment, the ice from the lake moved, suddenly merging into a crystalline person a foot tall. It didn’t have any features of a man or a woman.
“Water Wraith! It’s you!” When the silver silhouette saw the ice woman, he suddenly spoke with a thunderous voice.
The ice person stirred and expressionlessly said, “What? Tie Ren, didn’t you come here to find me? Chi Mie should’ve come too. Call him out.”
“Hehe, there is no need to call for me. I’ll show myself..”
An unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded and a ball of scarlet flame appeared near the silver silhouette. In the blink of an eye, he took the form of a man half a foot tall.
Flames still roiled from his entire body.