Staring at the small feline creature some thirty zhang away, Han Li took a deep breath, his breathing slightly disordered, yet his eyes never wavered from the opponent for a single moment. This creature, seemingly reduced to the size of a cat, moved with astonishing speed—so swift that it was truly astonishing. Even with the Roxy Step technique fully deployed, Han Li still found himself outpaced. The result of the earlier fierce battle had been his once-pristine blue robe torn to shreds, revealing beneath it a grayish battle armor and a pale golden complexion. Not only was the creature swift, but its four claws were astonishingly sharp. The deep and shallow scratches on his armor were evident, and more remarkably, Han Li’s current strength—developed through years of cultivation—was still pierced by the claws, leaving thin trails of blood where they made contact. Fortunately, under the nourishing effects of the spiritual fruits and herbs such as the Heavenly Corpse Pearl and the Dragon Scale Fruit, Han Li’s muscles had grown as resilient as ordinary divine artifacts, and his healing capabilities were extraordinary. Within just a short while, these flesh wounds were fully restored and healed as if they had never occurred. Even so, Han Li felt deeply frustrated. When he first encountered this small leopard, which seemed to be a creature of some unknown kind, the animal was peacefully sleeping on a nearby tree trunk, appearing entirely harmless. At the time, Han Li, driven by a sudden burst of childlike enthusiasm, had instinctively bowed slightly and reached out to gently stroke the creature. Yet he had never imagined that upon being startled, the leopard would react with such fury—its movements became so vigorous that it seemed as though dozens of small leopards were simultaneously attacking him. With his spiritual awareness unable to extend beyond his body, even though he possessed keen spiritual eyes, he found himself at a severe disadvantage when his magical power could not be channeled. For a moment, he was forced to retreat step by step, his body quickly covered in wounds. In desperation, Han Li activated the Luo Yan Step to its fullest extent, simultaneously drawing upon his full spiritual strength to move his arms, weaving the long spear into a powerful stream of black light. The roaring sound of the spear's movements soon caused the leopard to hesitate, and its attacks gradually eased. Yet, despite his extraordinary strength, Han Li could not sustain such vigorous dancing for long. Only a slight pause in his long spear earlier allowed the young leopard to insert both claws into the gust of wind, lightly grazing its throat. Han Li naturally jumped in surprise; in desperation, his spear suddenly accelerated by three beats compared to before, its shaft spinning swiftly and brushing past the creature's arm. The leopard, equally startled, leaped several feet away, then fixed its bright emerald eyes on Han Li with intense alertness. Thus, Han Li and the creature now stood motionless, locked in the current standoff. It was likely that the leopard, encountering such a powerful, invulnerable being, felt deeply frustrated. Now, with his spear held horizontally before him, Han Li took the opportunity to closely examine the creature with a slightly narrowed gaze. After a while, Han Li sighed softly. Besides its relatively small size, it was clearly a leopard—nothing out of the ordinary. He had gone through all the intelligence he had gathered in Luoyi City and found no mention of any ancient beast resembling this. As for the mythical creatures, that was even less likely. This small beast clearly behaved just like him—fighting purely through its abilities, showing no trace of magical aura. It might be a mutated creature! After pondering for a while, Han Li arrived at a conclusion that even he himself found hard to believe. Finally, growing impatient after prolonged confrontation with Han Li, the opposing beast flashed a fierce gaze, lowered its body slightly, and launched another attack. Han Li was immediately on alert, tightening his grip on the lance and adopting a defensive stance. Yet with his other hand, a flash of white light revealed a spirit-animal pouch in his grasp. Inside were over ten thousand gold-devouring insects. Han Li made up his mind: as soon as the small beast charged forward, he would immediately use his spirit-ring to open the pouch. Though he now had no magical power at all, unable to command or direct the spirit insects, the insects' innate instinct to consume anything would naturally handle the smaller creatures. The only difficulty lay in releasing the insects and gathering them back together—under the condition that his consciousness remained anchored to his body, this would require considerable effort. But at the moment, Han Li didn't have time to worry about such details. The beast stared at Han Li for a long moment, then turned sharply and shot deep into the dense forest. It vanished without a trace within moments. Han Li sighed with relief, drawing his spirit-beast satchel back to his side. Though he didn't know what had happened, he had no intention of chasing after it and making a fuss for himself. Instead, he needed to find a place right away to ponder the insights he had just gained. That extraordinary performance during the battle had given him a strong sense of something significant—perhaps even a golden opportunity for a breakthrough. Han Li reached into his storage bracelet, pulled out a long, green robe, and donned it. With a subtle shift in his form, he turned and headed in the opposite direction. Fearing that the fleeting inspiration might fade, he didn't go far, but instead ran continuously for over a hundred li, eventually settling in a small valley. He carved a rough cave into the stone wall and immediately entered, settling into meditation. This time, the enlightenment lasted for three days and three nights. When Han Li opened his eyes once more, a touch of disappointment settled upon his face. Though this enlightenment brought some gains, it still fell short of enabling him to break through his current bottleneck. Yet he did not feel overly discouraged. This failure, while not a success, clearly indicated that such intense combat in life-and-death struggles could indeed aid in breakthroughs. With a few more such experiences, success would surely follow. After calming his mind, Han Li gathered his belongings and immediately stepped out of the stone cave. Though he paused at the cave entrance, pondering for a while, he ultimately concluded that the small creature remained his most promising opponent. Should they meet again several times, he might even achieve another enlightenment. Although he recognized certain risks involved, these paled in comparison to the urgency of restoring his own spiritual energy. Han Li's expression remained uncertain and fluctuating, until finally he made up his mind to take another risk and seek out the creature once more. He promptly left the small valley and headed directly toward the direction where the creature had vanished—only to be deeply disappointed. He thoroughly searched the entire region, covering hundreds of miles of mountain ranges, yet failed to spot a single trace of the small creature. With no other choice, Han Li had to temporarily leave this mountain range and seek out other suitable targets.十余 days later, on the shore of a vast lake, a group of human cultivators dressed in varied attire were surrounded by a cluster of strange serpents with feathered crow-like crests and entirely red bodies. Forced to stand back-to-back, they desperately activated their spiritual artifacts, striving to fend off the attacks of these serpents. The serpents' assaults were limited to two types: first, they exhaled blood-red toxic mist from their mouths; second, they surged forward with the force of powerful bows and arrows. The toxic mist was manageable—each human cultivator carried a poison-removing pill in their mouth, so they remained unharmed for the time being. However, the direct impacts from the serpents proved difficult to withstand. Though the serpents themselves were relatively small in size, their thrusts were exceptionally powerful. Even though the human cultivators wielded potent spiritual artifacts, the impacts only managed to knock the serpents off balance, failing to inflict serious damage. Thus, after several rounds of defense, these human body-builders found their arms growing heavier and heavier, eventually unable to lift or swing them. Besides these strange serpents, there was another colossal serpent far larger than its peers behind the group. This serpent, clearly the king of the troop, grew increasingly confident as it saw its side gaining the upper hand, emitting a series of proud, guttural calls. At that moment, suddenly, a thunderous hum resonated from beneath the nearby lake surface. Before the humans and the serpents could react, a broad expanse of silver light flashed across the lake's surface, and countless slender, water-arrow-like jets—each about a foot long—burst forth, instantly enveloping the human and serpent figures along the shore. "Ah!" the human body-builders cried out in sheer surprise, utterly unable to dodge. In the blink of an eye, they too were pierced like a honeycomb, collapsing into pools of blood. Only the largest serpent at the rear proved agile, leaping suddenly and soaring over ten zhang, just barely escaping the piercing water arrows. But before the serpent's body had fully touched the ground, the stone map beneath it suddenly cracked. A silver hand shot forth through the dust, seizing the seven-inch section beneath the serpent's head. Startled, the serpent's neck instantly expanded like a spring, stretching by a foot, and as its head turned, it opened its mouth to bite hard into the silver hand. With a crisp "crack," the silver hand remained unharmed, yet the serpent's eyes revealed pain, and blood began to flow from its mouth. The silver hand proved impossibly firm, even snapping several of the serpent's sharp teeth. As the serpent struggled in pain, it tried to release its grip, but it was too late. Suddenly, another silver hand appeared nearby, grasping the serpent's head. With a coordinated effort from both hands, the massive serpent's head was forcibly pulled off, and the body, now without a head, burst forth with a fountain of blood several feet long. One by one, the silver hands released their hold, and the heavy body of the serpent settled onto the ground. At that moment, the dust swirling in the sky finally settled, and suddenly a figure emerged on the spot—tall and shimmering with silver light, his face indistinct. Just then, the waters of the nearby lake surged violently, and a translucent, crystal-like figure of about a foot tall appeared, its gender indistinguishable. "Water spirit! It's truly you!" The silver figure exclaimed, his voice suddenly booming like thunder. "How interesting, Iron Blade—didn't you come all this way specifically to find me? Chìmiè should have arrived as well. Have him step forward." The water figure's surface shimmered with water light, responding with a voice devoid of emotion. "Ah, no need for your invitation. I'll make my appearance myself." Suddenly, a stranger appeared. In the vicinity of the silver figure, a cluster of crimson light bloomed and swiftly solidified into a fire-being about half a foot tall. Flames surged and danced throughout his form.