Five years can’t be considered long, nor short.
During this time, not only did Han Li completely absorb the golden marrow of five pairs of crystal insects, but he also refined the Golden Coral Sand with other medicines into liquid and had them absorbed into his flesh.
As a result, five pairs of Golden Marrow Crystal Insects vanished along with three gourds of the Golden Coral Sand.
One day, Han Li opened his eyes from meditation and raised his hands. He took a glance at his seemingly ordinary hands and wore an odd expression.
“I’ve absorbed much golden marrow and Golden Coral Sand into refining my body and my flesh is immensely strong, but I’ve made no progress to resolving my bottleneck at mid-stage. Could it be that the chance still hasn’t come?”
Han Li sighed and gloomily closed his eyes when an azure light suddenly flashed from the wall of his secluded room. His second Nascent Soul flew inside in a ball of black light and wildly spoke as it jumped around his hand.
Han Li was stunned, but he soon chuckled.
“I’ve nearly forgotten. Those Tian Peng fellows are about to arrive on the island. I should get some knowledge of this foreign race.” After muttering to himself, he stood up and walked out.
Although he hadn’t taken a step out of his room in several years, he ordered his second Nascent Soul to smoothly use puppets to monitor the actions of the four demon beasts. As a result, he overheard a private discussion of theirs and discovered that an envoy from the Tian Peng Race will soon arrive on the island.
Now that another foreign race is about to arrive, the demons have already prepared someone to receive them.
When he killed the Lord of Treasured Light, he had used the Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flame to consume his soul. Han Li now regretted he forgot to use soul searching techniques on him. After all, a grade eight metamorphosed demon beast should know much about the area.
Although he already used the soul searching technique on the golden fish demon beast, the fish hadn’t gone too far out into the ocean and didn’t understand much. He only knew that the ocean’s name was the Scarlet Devil Ocean and that the island Han Li occupied was the Dark Infernal Island. It was in truth only a peninsula.
On the peninsula, a small portion was occupied by the Hidden Black Mountains. Most of the island was enveloped in the Black Infernal Mist. Fortunately, the peninsula was still linked to the Feng Yuan Continent. He hadn’t teleported to the other unfamiliar continents, much to his relief.
So long as he was on the Feng Yuan Continent, there will be a method to return to the humans.
In the oceans nearby the peninsula, there was a winged foreign race known as the Flying Spirit Tribe that governed the Region. They are only a branch of the Feng Peng Race. Furthermore, they are comparatively weaker of the tens of branches. Many other demon beasts have been expelled to the ocean from the continent by the Flying Spirit Tribe, otherwise the fish demon wouldn’t have known this information.
Apart from this, the fish demon had no other accurate information.
The fish demon only had a vague impression that the Tian Peng Race had a pair of wings and could draw on the support of their ability to transform into huge legendary birds in combat. This was something that the humans were aware of as well.
As such, Han Li was very interested in seeing the Tian Peng envoy arriving to take tribute.
Not long after, Han Li turned into an azure streak as he flew hundreds of kilometers through the air. A half-foot-long golden insect crawled on his shoulder.
As Han Li flew forward, he stroked the Gold Devouring Beetles that recently awoken.
The beetle had no changes to its appearance, but the beetles were incredibly heavy. When the beetles had begun to devour the strange stone material, they turned many times heavier. Fortunately, Han Li had already tested that these Gold Devouring Beetles variants and discovered their original nimbleness had returned and that each of them was incredibly strong.
A single beetle could easily bite and drag something weighing over five hundred kilograms. Han Li was dumbstruck by this result.
Apart from these two points, Han Li hadn’t discovered any more differences about these five thousand changed beetles. It was unknown if there weren’t any more changes, or that he hadn’t discovered them yet.
Feeling somewhat disappointed, Han Li wasn’t sure what else to do with the three particular stones.
A day later, an azure streak appeared above a short flat mountain.
He blinked and the azure streak faintly blurred until it eventually disappeared.
Han Li fully used his abilities to completely conceal himself and his flight light, also decreasing his speed several fold.
After flying across a small lake, he arrived above a small green mountain covered in ten-meter-tall bamboo. At the center of the mountain, over a thousand bull-headed lion-bodied beasts were grazing there.
Han Li examined the beasts and soon looked at the other small mountains.
At that moment, white mist filled the air.
Han Li’s eyes flashed with blue light. His Brightsight Spirit Eyes penetrated the fog and he caught sight of a green stone gate.
It was the cave residence of the small bull-headed beast.
Han Li faintly smiled and he rose into the air. Once he was ten kilometers in alt.i.tude, he stopped.
Afterwards, he cast several spell seals around him.
Clouds of fog suddenly appeared in the nearby air. In the blink of an eye, he was hidden by a common grey cloud.
At that moment, Han Li’s shoulder shook and the huge beetle brightly glowed in golden light. It turned into a beetle the size of a pea. Then it flew off and towards the small mountain.
Han Li glanced at the insect. When it disappeared into the mountain, Han Li remained still inside the cloud.
A quarter hour later, light flashed from another corner of the sky. Three large silver birds were riding on two demonic winds.
Han Li narrowed his eyes and stared at the three birds.
He saw their bird bodies were over ten-meters long and strikingly resembled a huge hawk. Their bodies s.h.i.+mmered in silver light as if their feathers were forged from silver. The pair of deep purple eyes on their heads also appeared quite sharp.
The three large birds were clearly stifling their speed, but when they saw the small pretty mountain, the three birds unfolded their wings and white lightning flashed from their bodies as they flew forward.
They left the deep rumble of lightning in their wake.
A short moment later, the three large birds arrived in front of the white mist wrapped in lightning.
After they folded their wings, the three birds flashed with silver light to turn into two men and one woman. They were foreign beings with silver wings.
“Those are Tian Peng beings?” Under closer examination, a trace of alarm appeared on his face.
The two men appeared heroic while the woman appeared dainty. Apart from their wings, they appeared like young humans.
From their aura, the three appeared to be on the level of Deity Transformation-stage.
The mean that appeared thirty years of age had the strength of a mid-Deity Transformation cultivator. The other two were at early-stage.
The three wore plain white robes, but the two men wore silver headbands while the woman wore a shawl.
After making certain of their strength, Han Li felt relaxed. Then he silently chanted an incantation and completely withdrew his aura before drifting downward.
The three hadn’t discovered anything above them. They simply floated in front of the small mountain and calmly waited.
A short moment later, two demon winds arrived in front of them, revealing the huge boar and the three-headed python.
The huge python promptly smiled and said, “Esteemed Lords, welcome! Fellow Daoist Cui and Jin were currently checking the tribute and preparing a feast. We hope you’ll honor us with your appearance.”
The thirty-year-old man indifferently said, “There is no need to be so troublesome. We wish to return as soon as we have the tribute.” The other two also appeared indifferent.
It was no wonder they appeared this way. With the two demon’s cultivation, how could they regard them with any importance.
Were it not for the importance of the island’s tribute, they wouldn’t have bothered to speak.
At that moment, the white fog parted from the mountain and the green gate slowly opened.
The small bull-headed beast and the huge golden ape emerged. They muttered a few words with an apologetic expression and welcomed the three Tian Peng beings into their cave residence. The other two demons closely followed.
Unbeknownst to anyone, in the instant the gates shut, a gentle wind blew outside.
The four demons gracefully welcomed the three Tian Peng beings. Although the four demons had yet to metamorphosed, they had tables and chairs.
The three Tian Peng beings simply took a seat as the four demons deferentially stood at their side.
After taking a seat, the younger man bluntly said, “Alright, enough small talk. Tell us whether or not you have the tribute properly prepared.”
The small bull-headed beast trembled and quickly replied, “Esteemed Lords, most of the tribute had been prepared, but there are some items that have been extinct from the island. We couldn"t find them.”
The older of the men spoke with a sullen expression, “You haven’t prepared it? Hmph, if the tribute isn’t complete, you should know of the consequences. Without the tribute, what worth do your lives have?”
The small beast trembled and hastily uttered a prepared statement, “Esteemed Lord, please calm down! Although we are lacking some of the materials, we’ve prepared fifty Woodbud Flowers. I hope you will be pleased.”
“What? You’ve prepared fifty Woodbud Flowers?” The three Tian Peng beings exchanged a glance and smiled.
A thought quickly flashed through the older man’s mind and he sternly said, “You had better not think of excusing yourselves with Woodbud Flowers that haven’t yet aged.”