As day after day passed, the frequency of the episodes gradually decreased—from several hours apart at first, to once every half-day, and eventually only once per full day, with each episode growing progressively weaker in intensity. Finally, after two days had passed since the last episode, the Fengling Qi stabilized, and the Liefeng Beast ceased its efforts to stimulate it. Han Li naturally felt greatly relieved. Whether the beast had been too far away, causing the spell to fail, or whether it had encountered its own difficulties, either way, this was the ideal moment to escape. Without hesitation, Han Li drank down a drop of the elixir, set a course, and broke through the air, swiftly flying away from the nearby sea region. On a small island some tens of thousands of miles distant, the Liefeng Beast sat in a deserted, remote cave, its face pale and stern, sitting in quiet exhaustion. After this prolonged pursuit, it had finally depleted its inner strength and could no longer contain the foreign entities within its body. This immortal spirit could not afford the luxury of Han Li, who could instantly restore his spiritual energy with a thousand-year elixir. Forced to stay on the island, he resolved to spend some time thoroughly curing his deep-seated ailments before pursuing Han Li once again. He would absolutely reclaim those wind-and-thunder wings he had painstakingly crafted. After uttering a bitter, resolute vow in his heart, the nine-tiered Rift Wind Beast closed his eyes in resentment and entered the state of divine awareness. …… A month and a half later, Han Li also appeared on a distant, unfamiliar island. Observing that there were no human cultivators or high-ranking immortal beasts nearby, he immediately plunged into the island's depths and swiftly established a simple stone cave. After setting up a few concealment spells at the entrance, he hurried inside, sat down, and then took out the pair of wind-and-thunder wings. Han Li, gazing at the wings now reduced to the size of a palm, could not help but smile with delight. Since this pair of spiritual wings requires both wind and thunder power to function, yet the ninth-level immortal cultivator Feng Xi himself possesses only wind power, it clearly indicates that only one of these two forces is needed—either wind or thunder—enough to activate the artifact. As Han Li is capable of summoning the divine thunder of the辟邪 (Bixie) deity, he naturally has the ability to master this item. Indeed, as Feng the beast had described, the wings are truly remarkable, and if Han Li had acquired them even one day earlier, it would have greatly benefited his future survival. However, upon closer inspection, Han Li noticed that the silvery-white long feathers on the wings seemed slightly trembling and unstable. He immediately recognized this as a result of the wings having been extracted too early, and thus not yet fully stabilized and solidified. While this was not as disastrous as the other party had exaggerated, it did mean that if the delay continued, the wings' effectiveness would indeed diminish over time. Yet Han Li showed no sign of alarm, instead immediately using his fingernail to make a small incision on his index finger and then dropping a drop of his precious blood onto the wings. Then, after further pressing, the ritual of recognizing the divine essence would be completed first. Watching as the wings drew in the essence of his blood, a flash of cold light passed through Han Li's eyes. With a single hand motion, he threw the wind-and-thunder wings into the air, where they floated motionless, as if untouched. Han Li didn't even glance at them; with a quick flick of his fingers, slender arcs of electricity shot out, striking the wings and producing deep, resonant thunder sounds. Han Li's expression grew serious, and the density of the electric arcs in his hands increased steadily. Soon, a delicate golden electric shield formed in the air, fully enclosing the wind-and-thunder wings. The thunder sounds gradually softened and dropped in volume. Observing the wings absorbing the electric arcs of the divine protection lightning, Han Li finally felt at ease. Over the following十余 days, Han Li steadily reinforced the wind-and-thunder feathers on the wings using the divine lightning at his command. Moreover, due to absorbing the divine thunder lightning, some golden threads have appeared within the silver-long feathers, subtle enough to be barely noticeable without close inspection. After completing the remaining tasks of shaping the divine artifacts that the several beasts of the Lìfēng realm had not finished, Han Li immediately stored the lightning arc, then expelled a sheet of emerald light that wrapped and drew the wind-thunder wings into his body. Subsequently, he stepped out of the stone cave and ascended to the sky above the small island, preparing to test the usage and powers of this new artifact. Standing at a high altitude, Han Li gently inhaled and subtly channeled his inner qi to activate the wind-thunder wings within him. To his surprise, a surge of spiritual energy flowed behind him, followed by two soft "pff" sounds, and suddenly, a pair of wings measuring one zhang in length materialized behind him. The wings were silvery-white, subtly glowing with golden threads. Han Li turned his head and, with a mere thought, gently waved the wings twice. They moved effortlessly, as if weightless and imperceptible. Curious, he reached out with his palm to gently stroke one of the wind-thunder wings, feeling a cool At this sight, Han Li furrowed his brow, slightly tightened his fingers, and with ease, his entire palm slipped into the space. "Wait a moment," Han Li was startled, immediately performing an internal inspection of his body. The pair of wind-and-thunder wings, palm-sized and still resting stably above his dantian, emitted a faint white glow. However, the wings now manifesting outside his body were entirely phantasmal, formed anew by his spiritual energy rather than the true form of the artifact. This came as a surprise! After steadying himself, Han Li began channeling his spiritual power into the wings. Instantly, a series of silvery flashes rippled across his back, and as he slightly flapped his wings, he effortlessly glided forward with a soft "whoosh." After circling several times, Han Li came to a stop and stroked his chin, pondering for a while. The speed was nothing extraordinary—it didn't surpass his previous performance at all. Clearly, he would need to try infusing the wings with lightning energy. With this thought, Han Li promptly summoned the divine protective lightning, sending two delicate golden arcs into the inner wings. A sudden thunder roared from behind, and Han Li quickly glanced back. Silver electric arcs flickered across his wings, which unfolded left and right involuntarily, exuding an eerie atmosphere. With a mere thought, Han Li felt a deep rumble, and the silver light flashed—then, he materialized instantly several dozen feet away. "Thunder Translocation Technique!" Han Li was first startled, then greatly delighted. Subsequently, with a gentle sweep of his wings behind him, he reappeared again, this time twenty to thirty feet further out, amidst the thunderous sound. In the following moments, Han Li transformed into a streak of silver lightning, appearing and vanishing in quick succession—sometimes far off, sometimes close at hand—his form elusive and ethereal. Indeed, no wonder the Nine-Rank Rift-Wind Beast had spared no effort to craft this very artifact. How much more extraordinary it would become after prolonged refinement? Given that it was already one of the rare speeds in the world, and with the Wind-Thunder Wings aiding it, there would probably be only a few beings—human or beast—capable of eliminating it. As a silver arc reappeared, Han Li smiled warmly, gently stroking one of the wings and murmuring softly. Then, with a flash of white light around him, the wings gradually dissolved. As for the incident where he was pursued by the Yuan Ying elders due to the Void Celestial Cauldron, it has now been over thirty or forty years—by all accounts, the storm should have largely subsided. With his Ji Dan stage late-phase cultivation, as long as he didn't encounter particularly formidable opponents like the Bearded One and a few others, even if he couldn't hold his own against extremely cold-natured figures such as Ji Yin, he would still be able to escape. After settling his plans, Han Li returned to his stone cave on the island and found, to his surprise, that the storage bags of the Tortoise Demon and the Venomous Dragon contained numerous rare animal essences and exceptionally precious materials. Particularly striking were a black turtle shell the size of a clenched fist and over a hundred crimson scales—items that had naturally shed during the two beings' transformations into human form, thus proving exceptionally valuable. This discovery left Han Li both pleasantly surprised and delighted. If these two materials were used to forge a protective armor, it would surely match or even surpass the Royal Scale Armor of the Bearded One. Nevertheless, at present, Han Li had no immediate plans to pursue this matter, and instead, he simply retrieved the banner flag Then, he departed from the island, heading directly toward the sea region where the Miao Yin Gate's marketplace was located. Since the Miao Yin Gate had established a teleportation array, it was likely well-prepared after such a long time. Whether through persuasion or by force, he would surely rely on this array to teleport to the inner sea. Han Li did not know where exactly the Miao Yin Gate's marketplace would be established, but as long as he found any informed human cultivator, he should be able to locate it. However, he was equally unaware that the surviving turtle demon, deep within a cavern thousands of feet below the sea surface in some distant part of the ocean, had already informed the chieftain of the sea-jade dragon clan—another nine-tiered, mid-form dragon, the Li Huo Dragon—about his defeat at the hands of the toxic serpent dragon.