Chapter 2263: Emergence of the Beetle Monarch

Half a day later, Han Li was seated on a futon within a secret chamber on the holy island that was surrounded by powerful restrictions.

There was a yellow ball of light hovering before him, within which was contained a fist-sized yellow gourd.

This was none other than one of the three most premium treasures he had obtained from Qi Ling’s collection.

The azure halberd had been given to Silvermoon, and the final one of those three treasures was naturally none other than that Inkspirit Holy Ark.

The azure halberd had been infused with a fragment of an unknown Profound Heavenly Treasure, granting it immense metal and wood-attribute powers.

As for the Inkspirit Holy Ark, not only was it extremely massive and fast, it also possessed the ability to tear through space, so it certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the top three flying treasures of the Elder Devil Realm.

In contrast, this yellow gourd was refined from some type of unknown material that could absorb one’s spiritual sense, and its lid was sealed tightly on its opening, making it impossible to open through conventional means.

As such, Han Li had no idea what the gourd contained, nor what its true purpose was.

However, whenever he grabbed the gourd and shook it around, a string of resounding booms would ring out within, indicating that it most likely contained something quite extraordinary.

The mysterious nature of the gourd naturally made Han Li very intrigued.

Back when he had first obtained the item, he had swallowed it and used his true essence to refine it day and night.

Now that so many days had passed, the treasure had finally been mostly refined and could be truly opened.

Han Li appraised the gourd momentarily before making a hand seal, then instantly flicked his 10 fingers through the air.

A string of five-colored runes shot forth, then vanished into the gourd in a flash.

He then made an extremely peculiar hand seal, and the Provenance True Devil Projection emerged behind him amid a flash of golden light.

A ball of black Qi also surged out of his glabella before transforming into the Law Destruction Eye.

Black light flashed erratically within the eye, following which an inky-black translucent thread shot forth before revolving around the opening of the gourd in a flash.

The lid of the gourd shuddered before falling off on its own.

A resounding boom rang out as specks of yellow light surged out in a frenzy, transforming into countless grains of yellow sand.

These grains of sand were very translucent and had wisps of yellow Qi revolving around them.

All of the grains of sand then converged to form a yellow cloud that was around 10 feet in size, looking completely unremarkable.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense toward the cloud of yellow sand, and a surprised look immediately appeared on his face.

"This is Baleful Golden Astral Sand! On top of that, it’s been carefully refined so that it’s completely fused as one with the gourd. It’s quite impressive that this Sacred Ancestor Qi Ling was able to track down such an exotic treasure," Han Li murmured to himself as he made a grabbing motion toward the cloud of sand.

A burst of invisible suction force swept toward the yellow sand, and all of the grains of sand suddenly converged to form a translucent sand ball that was extremely heavy.

As a result of its enormous weight, the sand ball only moved a short distance before stopping on the spot.

Han Li’s expression changed slightly upon seeing this.

He hadn’t even unleashed a tenth of his power with that grab, but it was still more than powerful enough to crush the average Body Integration Stage being, yet it wasn’t even enough to move this ball of sand; this was further testament to the remarkable properties of Baleful Golden Astral Sand.

Han Li had read about this rare material on some ancient tomes, and he knew that the most remarkable aspect about this material wasn’t its incredible weight. Instead, it was a pair of fearsome abilities that the sand possessed.

"This is quite a pleasant surprise! Having said that, I’m the only one that can maximize the power of this sand. In the hands of anyone else, even that Sacred Ancestor Qi Ling, they most likely wouldn’t even be able to unleash half of this material’s power," Han Li murmured to himself with a smile on his face before drawing the gourd into his grasp, then chanted something as he swept a hand toward the cloud of sand up ahead.

The ball of sand immediately disintegrated, fusing back into the surrounding sand cloud, following which the sand cloud transformed into a massive yellow python that pounced toward the gourd.

The yellow gourd drew in the sand python amid a resounding boom, and the lid that had fallen off earlier somehow reappeared to seal the gourd’s opening once again.

Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and the gourd was stowed away amid a flash of golden light.

After that, he began to meditate in the secret chamber.

Around two hours later, his eyes suddenly sprang open again, and he flicked his wrist to release a black bracelet.

He then chanted something before pointing at the bracelet several times in succession, and a black object emerged from the bracelet amid a flash of golden light before hovering still in mid-air.

This was a black insect cocoon that was riddled with thin purple patterns, and it was roughly the size of a watermelon.

Han Li’s brows furrowed slightly as he appraised the cocoon, then waved a hand through the air to draw it closer to him.

He laid his hand onto the cocoon while inspecting it through narrowed eyes, seemingly using some type of secret technique to detect something.

Moments later, an elated look appeared on his face.

"It’s very close to breaking out of the cocoon; let me give it a hand."

As soon as his voice trailed off, golden light erupted from his hand, and a burst of enormous true essential power surged into the cocoon through his hand.

The purple patterns on the surface of the cocoon immediately began to glow, and the entire cocoon fluctuated erratically in size.

Shortly thereafter, the sound of a heartbeat rang out within the cocoon.

The sound gradually became louder and more pronounced, while Han Li continued to inject true essence into the cocoon.

After two whole hours had passed, the black cocoon finally shattered, and a streak of golden light shot out from within, containing a miniature purplish-golden figure that was around three inches tall.

The miniature figure had a full set of limbs and a pair of eyes that were as pristine white as jade, but it had no mouth or nose.

"So this is the legendary Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch," Han Li mused with a peculiar look on his face as he appraised the miniature figure.

In the next instant, the purplish-golden figure suddenly turned its gaze toward Han Li, who was immediately struck by a cold chill on either side of his neck.

Two streaks of golden light that were around a foot in length appeared without any warning before converging toward the center.

Han Li’s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he instantly vanished on the spot in a wraith-like manner.

The two streaks of golden light swept through the spot where he had been standing just a moment ago at an incredible speed before abruptly vanishing in a flash.

Spatial fluctuations erupted nearby, and Han Li re-emerged in another corner of the secret chamber.

As soon as he appeared, he laid a hand onto his own neck with a stunned expression.

A thin gash had appeared on each side of his neck, looking as if he had been attacked by a pair of sharp blades.

Considering how powerful Han Li’s body was, it was quite astonishing that he had been harmed so easily.

Han Li’s heart jolted as he cast a grim gaze toward the miniature purplish-golden figure.

At the same time, he suddenly bit through the tip of his own tongue to expel a mouthful of blood essence, then quickly pointed a finger forward.

The ball of blood essence quickly transformed into an unknown crimson rune, which swelled drastically in size at Han Li’s behest before flashing erratically in brightness.

At the same time, an identical rune of a much smaller size appeared on the miniature figure’s glabella, and the figure shuddered as the rune vanished into its head in a flash.

The miniature purplish-golden figure began to shudder even more violently as if it were under immense agony, but in the next instant, it suddenly stood up straight again before sweeping its fingers toward Han Li from afar.

10 dazzling streaks of golden light immediately reached Han Li before slashing toward him in a flash, striking him with a bone-chilling sensation, and even his protective spiritual light seemed to be unable to withstand the attacks.

Even at his current cultivation base, Han Li couldn’t help but shudder in response to this chilling sensation, and his limbs suddenly became extremely sluggish.

Right as the streaks of golden light were about to slice Han Li’s body into pieces, a cold harrumph suddenly rang out.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

As soon as the miniature purplish-golden figure heard this sound, it felt as if it had received a hammer blow to the head, and it stumbled as it almost plummeted out of mid-air.

As a result, the 10 streaks of golden light become completely erratic and directionless.

Han Li took advantage of this opportunity to transform into a bolt of lightning to evade the attacks, then appeared elsewhere in an unhurried manner.

Almost at the exact same moment, the massive crimson rune also shot forth toward Han Li as a ball of crimson light.

Countless spiritual sense threads suddenly erupted out of Han Li’s glabella, all of which vanished into the crimson rue in a flash, and the rune was abruptly brought to a screeching halt.

Right at this moment, the miniature purplish-golden figure suddenly let loose a sharp cry, then fell onto the ground in an unconscious state.