A contemplative look appeared in Han Li's eyes as he looked down at the pair of metal beasts beneath his hands.

If he wanted to kill these two metal beasts, then he was naturally perfectly capable of doing so, but he was feeling a little hesitant as he was thinking that it would not be a bad idea to send them into the Flower Branch domain to serve as a pair of guardian beasts.

Right at this moment, the tail of the two metal beasts suddenly wound themselves together, and a burst of radiant golden light appeared as the bodies of the two metal beasts suddenly liquefied, following which they fused as one to form a single giant golden tiger.

The combined golden tiger's wings were several times larger than before, but they were still rather disproportionate compared with the rest of its body.

So they can even fuse together! As expected of metal beasts formed by such pure metal-attribute spiritual qi.

The combined metal beast possessed a far superior aura to before, and it let loose a thunderous roar as it pounced at Han Li.

Right at this moment, the five-colored fire pit suddenly churned violently, and an enormous fiery bird flew out from within, then pecked down with its enormous silver beak.

Before Han Li had a chance to stop it, the fiery bird's beak had already pecked down onto the giant golden tiger, following which the creature was devoured whole.

What a pity.

Han Li heaved a forlorn internal sigh upon seeing this, while the fiery bird cocked its head to the side slightly, wondering why Han Li was looking so disappointed.

"It's fine. You've already eaten them, so it can't be helped. I'll just have to get Xiao Bai to look after the Flower Branch domain once we're reunited," Han Li said, and he promptly reverted back to his human form.

The enormous fiery bird also shrank down drastically in size before arriving at the edge of the fire pit.

Han Li strode over to it to discover that it was carrying four longan-sized beads on one of its wings. The beads were yellow, green, azure, and blue in color, corresponding with the colors of the flames in the pit.

The four beads were glowing radiantly while giving off bursts of stifling heat, and a look of surprise appeared on Han Li's face as he exclaimed, "You found this many beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand?"

The fiery bird's beak opened and closed a few times, and even though it uttered no sounds, Han Li was able to understand what it was trying to communicate.

"You're saying that there was also a crimson one, but you already ate it?"

The fiery bird nodded joyfully in response, causing the flames in the fire pit to ripple violently.

"I'm glad to hear it. If you can absorb all of these beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, then your powers will be even further enhanced," Han Li said with a pleased smile.

The fiery bird was extremely excited, and it fell back into the fire pit before gliding gracefully through it on its back, as if it were performing a backstroke.

"Stay here and refine these pieces of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, I'll go and see if there's anything else worthy of note here. If anything happens, notify me through our spiritual connection right away, and I'll come and find you," Han Li said.

The fire raven rose up out of the fire pit before swooping back down again, indicating that Han Li that it had understood his instructions.

Han Li briefly examined the area around the fire pit, and only after he was certain that nothing was amiss did he depart.

After passing through a gradually rising underground tunnel that was several thousand feet in length, Han Li emerged into a golden hall.

The hall was completely empty with the exception of three round, white jade cushions, upon which were engraved circles of complex patterns that resembled mazes.

After observing these patterns for a short while, Han Li was struck by a sense of dizziness, and he hurriedly steadied himself as an intrigued look appeared on his face.

He strode over to the cushions for a closer examination, and only then did he discover that the cushions were connected to the ground, making them impossible to move.

However, there didn't appear to be anything else special about them, and they displayed no changes in the face of injections of spiritual sense and immortal spiritual power.

After examining the cushions for a while longer, he lost interest and made his way out of the hall.

Only upon arriving outside the hall did he discover that he had already reached the cluster of golden buildings that he had previously seen from afar.

Outside the hall was a white stone plaza, which was also completely empty with the exception of a stone sundial at its center.

On the other side of the plaza was the entrance to this cluster of buildings.

After looking around momentarily, Han Li decided to make his way down a path beside the hall, and he passed through a small, circular archway to arrive in a floral garden.

There were all types of spirit flower and spirit trees planted in the garden, all of which were giving off immense world's oriqin qi.

Upon setting foot in the garden, Han Li's expression instantly changed slightly. Just like back at the spring before, he had once again detected a faint hint of time law powers.

However, the time law powers were quite scattered, and he was unable to determine its source. Instead, it seemed that the time law powers were spread throughout every single spirit flower in the entire garden.

Han Li casually plucked down a purple, nine-petaled night-blooming cereus before conducting a close examination, only to discover that it didn't contain any time law powers.

"How strange," Han Li murmured to himself as he made his way deeper into the garden.

Beyond the garden was a separate courtyard that had a total of three rooms.

Han Li entered the room on the left first to discover that it was also very sparsely furnished, with only a few bookshelves that were laden with books placed flush against the walls.

He picked out one of the books at random, and after flipping through it briefly, he discovered that it was only a poem anthology, as opposed to any profound scripture.

Han Li was rather perplexed as he picked out another book, and after briefly flipping through it, his expression became even more peculiar. This book wasn't a cultivation art or a poem anthology. Instead, it was an erotic novel.

Looks like the owner of this place has some very diverse interests!

After lingering in this room for a while, Han Li departed and made his way into the room on the right side of the courtyard.

This room contained a lot of antiques, including things like cultural artifacts, precious jewels, and chinaware, but there wasn't even a single spirit or immortal treasure inside.

Han Li couldn't help but feel a little exasperated by the tastes of this manor's former owner. Everything in his collection was tacky and ostentatious, giving them the impression of a man who possessed vast wealth, but no refined taste to speak of.

As Han Li entered the final room in the courtyard, he had already abandoned all hope of finding anything useful, but he discovered that it was a pill refinement chamber.

At the center of the chamber was a cauldron that was around half the height of an average human adult, and placed on either side of it was a wooden shelf, both of which were laden with containers of different sizes and colors.

The flame in the cauldron had already burned out, but there were many vials of pills on the wooden shelves. The pills of the highest caliber here were Spirit Sea Pills fit for consumption for High Zenith cultivators, while even the worst pills present were Dragon Forest Pills for Golden Immortals.

Finally, something useful!

Han Li's eyes lit up slightly as he stowed all of the pills away, and right as he was about to depart, his gaze suddenly fell upon the cauldron in the room.

He had just detected some faint spiritual power fluctuations from it.

He strode over the cauldron before lifting its lid, and as soon as he did so, a burst of golden light that contained extremely potent time law power fluctuations erupted out of the cauldron.

A surprised look appeared on his face as he peered into the cauldron to discover ten longan-sized pills sitting inside.

He drew one of the pills into his grasp, and after examining it closely for a moment, his brows furrowed ever so slightly.

These pills are on the verge of completion, so why didn't whoever was here see the refinement process through to the end?

After a brief hesitation, he placed the pill back into the cauldron, then replaced its lid as well.

He then reflexively attempted to summon his Essence Fire Raven to help him refine the pills, only to recall that it was currently refining the beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, so he could only ignite the cauldron with his own nascent flame.

Forty-nine days flew by in a flash.

On this day, golden light was flashing incessantly within the pill refinement chamber, and there was a cloud of lingzhi-shaped golden mist above the cauldron that refused to dissipate.

So these pills were refined using the Flowing Fire Lingzhi as the primary ingredient. No wonder they contain such abundant time law powers even though they've already been left here in this incomplete state for countless years.

With a sweep of his sleeve, the nascent soul beneath the cauldron surged back into his body.

With another sweep of his sleeve, the cloud of golden mist dissipated, and the lid of the cauldron was lifted.

Han Li looked into the cauldron to discover that three of the ten pills inside were riddled with cracks, having been ruined during the final refinement process, but the remaining seven were all glowing brightly, and each of them had four dao patterns on their surface!

With these pills at his disposal, he would be able to make far faster progress in his cultivation of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.