Han Li did not carefully examine these scattered particles, but instead circled around the area, confirming that nothing had been overlooked. He certainly didn't want to let this beast go—besides its other attributes, those front limbs alone were truly rare and excellent materials for crafting immortal artifacts in the realm of cultivation. As for the idea of capturing and taming it, Han Li thought it over briefly and then abandoned it. He was well aware that any spirit beast capable of being controlled by cultivators had, from an early age, been bound by seals and gradually tamed through patient training. To simply seize a powerful, wild spirit beast without having nurtured it himself was simply beyond imagination. Indeed, the cultivators of Yuling Sect were unable to control the giant mantis precisely because they had lost their physical forms and had been reborn as entirely different individuals. Otherwise, once such beasts were fully tamed, they would remain loyal and devoted for life, far more faithful than human beings. As for the matter of informing the seven sects' allied army, Han Li thought carefully and still couldn't be certain whether the information given by Yu Ling Sect's cultivator was true or not. Thus, he decided to stay at this location for a few more days, observing the situation before making a decision. After all, his speed was quite fast, so even if he arrived a little later, he would still be able to reach the seven sects' main camp on time. Therefore, Han Li spent one full day quietly setting up the "Five Elements Reversal Great Array" deep within the dense forest not far from the mountain cave. This time, unlike during the palace battle when he had only hastily laid out part of the array, he completed the entire array, greatly enhancing its power. During this period, he also witnessed the giant mantis going out to forage once again. This time, it returned with a massive black tiger, which left Han Li marveling for a long time. To be honest, he had never seen a black tiger before—clearly no ordinary wild beast. Alas, such a strange being ended up in the jaws of the giant mantis, and could only be served as a delicious meal. After carefully preparing his complete strategy, Han Li quietly slipped into the cave at noon. Yet within mere moments, he swiftly launched himself from within, riding the divine wind boat, speeding toward the main array. The dark figure trailing behind was none other than the giant mantis, startled by Han Li's sudden movements. Since the array was positioned close by, Han Li had just stepped out of the cave when he immediately entered the array's influence. Though the mantis possessed a certain level of intelligence, it had no understanding of array techniques and thus easily fell into Han Li's trap, becoming trapped within the array. Over the following two days, Han Li allowed the giant mantis to dash wildly throughout the inverted five-element array, fully exploiting the array's illusionary effects to confine it within that limited area of several mu. Only when the yōbu beast grew somewhat exhausted two days later, wishing to simply lie still within the array and cease all movement, did Han Li release a large number of puppets to begin continuously harassing it outside the array, preventing it from resting even for a moment. This mantis-type yōbu beast was known for its exceptionally high offensive power but relatively weak defense, thus it dared not allow the puppets' attacks to come close. It could only constantly wave its two mantis arms to shield its entire body. As a result, after just half a day of relentless pressure, the beast could no longer sustain itself and began to be struck by the puppets, though the injuries were not severe—clearly, its strength had been nearly depleted. At this point, Han Li had already rotated the driving spirit stones for the puppets several times, five or six times in total. Seizing the opportune moment, Han Li raised his talismanic artifact—the small yellow knife with a handle—under the protection of the puppets' attacks, and in a single strike, pierced through the giant mantis's head, killing it right within the array. Seeing the great success, Han Li couldn't help but excitedly walk over to the body of the beast. He then produced a large silver sword and severed the pair of exceptionally sharp forelimbs, removing them whole. With great hope, he began carefully probing through the abdomen of the mantis. He hoped this creature would be a five-tiered beast, which would allow him to obtain a particularly rare inner essence. Suddenly, a look of surprise appeared on Han Li's face, which quickly turned strange. When he pulled his hands out of the body, bewildered, he found several identical oval objects on them—white, with some streaks of blood. "Beast eggs?" Han Li murmured in astonishment. Even if he were the most forgetful, he wouldn't have mistaken these for inner essences of the beast. But his surprise wasn't over yet—soon, he managed to pull out another seven or eight eggs from the mantis's abdomen, bringing the total to over a dozen. Han Li glanced at these egg-sized objects and could not help but smile warmly. What a pleasant surprise! But then he remembered something, furrowed his brows, and gently tapped one white egg with a finger before closing his eyes to sense its inner vitality. Not long afterward, Han Li's expression grew grave—the egg inside showed absolutely no signs of life, clearly a dead one. This was not uncommon among mythical beasts, as these creatures were far more than ordinary insects or wild animals and did not easily produce offspring. With a serious expression, Han Li checked the remaining eggs one by one. Indeed, all of them were dead, which left him feeling rather frustrated. Frustrated, Han Li had originally intended to burn them all to ashes, but after a moment's hesitation, he instead took out a jade box and carefully stored them. "This giant mantis is no ordinary mythical beast," Han Li thought, "even these dead eggs might still prove useful!" After removing the pair of gray wings from the mantis, Han Li transformed the妖兽's corpse into ash and then flew back to the cave. Though the chances seemed slim, he still hoped to find some additional gains. Upon entering the cave and inspecting it thoroughly, Han Li was astonished. In a corner of the cave, he discovered a set of white bones draped in a gray robe, with a perfectly intact storage pouch securely fastened at the waist. Holding the storage pouch in his hands, Han Li's heart raced. Without needing to ask, he knew for certain that these bones must belong to the cultivator from Yuling Sect—remarkably, the cultivator had not yet taken the time to store the pouch separately before his spirit departed. This truly left Han Li delighted. Han Li was unaware that the Yuling Sect cultivator had succumbed immediately due to the severity of his injuries; he had barely had time to attend to funeral arrangements. Only in a rush, he had managed to wrap the "Lühuang Sword" and gather half of the qi from his golden elixir into green pills, before hastily departing with these two items in his spirit form. After all, if it were any later, both the immortal soul and the body would perish together. Naturally, the storage bag of the Dan-stage cultivator on the other side piqued Han Li's curiosity. He managed to suppress his excitement and sent his divine awareness deep into the bag, carefully examining its contents. Yet, when his awareness had fully explored every corner, Han Li nearly fainted. Inside such a spacious storage bag, there were mostly jars and bottles—most of which bore inscriptions detailing the diet of certain beasts or insects, which Han Li found utterly useless. A smaller portion was slightly better, containing various samples of insects, each labeled with the name of a specific insect species. Han Li gently sensed the insects sealed within the bottles and was astonished to find that most of them were still alive. It had been several years since they had been cultivated, yet they remained alive—what a remarkable resilience! As for the high-level scroll, the urgently needed artifacts, and the magical relics that Feng Li had hoped for, there was not a single one in the storage bag—this left Feng Li utterly speechless for quite some time. Fortunately, finally at the very bottom of the storage bag, Feng Li discovered a green jade scroll, and the contents within immediately captured his interest. Inside were the cultivation insights of the Xu Ling Sect's practitioners on nurturing rare insects. Not only did it introduce over a thousand species of insects that Feng Li had never heard of, but it also detailed some secret methods for nurturing and commanding the insects. Most notably, Feng Li found that the cultivator had ranked the insects according to their prowess. The giant mantis, naturally, was included—though it was gray in color, it was referred to as the "Golden-Backed Divine Mantis," which left Feng Li blinking in mild confusion. Yet, surprisingly, the giant mantis ranked only 73rd among the various rare insects, with seventy-two even more formidable mythical insects ranking ahead of it—this fact, which Feng Li had personally witnessed firsthand, left him quietly astonished. Han Li carefully studied the jade scroll for a full half-day before withdrawing his awareness from within. After a moment of contemplation, he began comparing the rare insects described in the scroll with the samples he held in his hands. Yet, the more he examined them, the more dissatisfied he became! He didn't yet know what other uses these insects might have, but their rankings were simply too low—only two insects ranked among the top hundred, and even those were near the bottom of the list. Most of the others were clustered between ranks 200 and 300. Han Li had no idea that if the cultivator from Yunling Sect heard his complaints, he would surely point at him and storm off in a rage. How could such rare insects be so easily collected? Even the top 300 or 400 were exceptionally uncommon—each one had taken the cultivator centuries of effort, painstakingly secured through relentless pursuit and strong negotiation.