A figure emerged—a young man dressed in a green robe, with a pair of luminous feather wings sprouting from his back. His face was ordinary. The scholar with a missing arm felt a sudden spark of recognition, and with a swift sweep of his consciousness, he was immediately struck dumb, his face brightening with joy as he urgently called out, "Senior, be careful—the Stone Yuan Turtle below has developed sentience and is quite formidable!" "Stone Yuan Turtle!" Hearing this, the young man seemed to notice the four human figures and the ancient turtle for the first time. Yet upon a quick glance, he burst into hearty laughter. "You are all humans! Excellent! Indeed, is this place not near Tianyuan City?" Remarkably, the young man paid the ancient turtle no more than a passing glance—he completely ignored it. The ancient turtle, sensing the air's presence, seemed equally aware of the man's strength. With its sharp, intelligent eyes darting back and forth, it remained poised, choosing not to launch an immediate attack. "This place is still some distance from Tianyuan City. If the Senior does not mind, we four would be honored to serve as your guides." The red-armored man also realized that the man in the air possessed an incalculable cultivation level, his divine awareness unable to gauge his depth—thus, he too cried out with the urgency of grasping a lifeline. The scholar and the other two women nodded in agreement, one after another. "Let's go, yes—that would be good. But wait a moment, this stone tortoise seems to have some momentum of its own. I'll take its inner essence first before we proceed!" The young man smiled slightly, then turned his gaze toward the ancient beast below. Though the tortoise could not understand their conversation, upon sensing the young man's gaze, it instinctively felt a chill run through its body, and without hesitation, roared lowly. With a single breath, a thick beam of bluish light shot upward into the sky. At the same time, its back's dozen tentacles swayed and danced, forming countless dark shadows that surged directly toward the young man. In response to an inexplicable sense of impending danger, the creature suddenly erupted into wild energy. At the sight of the giant turtle launching such a stunning assault, the four figures below grew pale, quickly activating their treasures to radiate shimmering light and form a protective shield, then retreating a few steps. Yet the young man with wings in the air laughed heartily at this scene. With a simple sweep of one sleeve, a hazy luminous veil materialized in front of him. When the blue energy beam struck the veil, the light flashed once and vanished silently—its powerful impact rendered completely ineffective. As the vast network of dark shadows descended like a flood, the young man barely blinked, but suddenly flapped his wings, producing a thunderous sound. Countless streaks of pale and jade-colored lightning surged across his wing feathers, crackling loudly as they surged upward into the sky. At the same time, he moved his arm, extending a dark, ink-black palm from within his sleeve, and reached out to grasp the descending network. A thunderclap burst through the heavens—what a stunning scene unfolded! At the very instant when the palm was clenched, the azure-white electric arcs in the air converged precisely toward a single point, thundering into a massive azure-white hand, stretching nearly a zhang in size, woven together by countless thick arcs. As the five fingers parted, the colossal network formed from the tendrils was instantly torn apart like paper by the great electric hand, then vanished in a flash. Immediately afterward, at the towering apex below, a massive electric arc surged into view, swiftly reformed into a giant hand, and in a lightning-fast motion, seized the target. This attack was instantaneous and decisive—the great turtle had no time to react, its protective azure spiritual glow shattered by the electric surge and firmly grasped by the hand. A tremendous thunderclap followed, as the azure light descended, and countless electric arcs burst forth. These arcs possessed an astonishing power; within mere flashes, the stone turtle's body was reduced to ashes, without even a single cry of pain. After the flash of electricity and its sudden vanishing, only a phoenix embryo the size of an egg hung silently in midair. The young man glanced at it, then, without a word, reached down again with one hand. With a sharp "whoosh," the embryo shot upward and was instantly seized in his hand. He handled it a few times, then, with a sudden inspiration, stored it away, and calmly said to the scholars: "Alright, we can begin our journey." The four scholars, however, had already been left utterly stunned. This stone turtle, only at the Lingxu stage of cultivation—something they had just personally experienced and nearly perished under—had been effortlessly defeated by this young stranger in a single encounter. It was simply beyond belief. Could it be that the young man's cultivation level surpassed even their initial expectations? "Could I kindly ask your honorable name, sir?" the scholars inquired, "Are you perhaps a Sheng-stage cultivator at the Hé Tǐ level?" After taking a deep breath, the young scholar hurriedly bowed deeply and asked with great courtesy, "A combined stage? I have not yet reached that level. As for my name, I am Han." The young man glanced at the scholar calmly and replied. This young man, of course, was Han Li himself. Now, it was over a hundred years since he had been transported back to the Fengyuan Continent. When he first returned from the Leimeng Continent, he had landed in a remote area near a transmission array on Fengyuan Continent—besides the guardian cultivators specially dispatched by the Tianyun people, there were no other ethnic groups present. After presenting his identity scroll, he simply drifted away peacefully. Yet, Han Li himself had never anticipated that his journey back to the Human race would prove so long and arduous. At the time, with his cultivation level, even a combined-stage cultivator would have posed little challenge. Nevertheless, the Fengyuan Continent was vast, and along the way, countless dangers awaited him, not to mention the need to pass through several regions inhabited by other ethnic groups. Even with Han Li fully concentrating and carefully managing every situation, he still faced several near-fatal encounters. Among these, there were instances where he was pursued for months by a group of seven or eight ancient beasts at the Consolidated Realm stage, only managing to escape thanks to his abundant spiritual pills and stones. There was also a time when he accidentally stumbled into an exceptionally cold, isolated region, where a strange and terrifying cold current engulfed him. In that case, had it not been for his five-colored cold flame unexpectedly advancing and even absorbing the unique cold energy under the stimulation of the current, he would have been permanently turned into an ice sculpture, remaining there forever. It took him nearly a year to finally escape from that extreme terrain. On another occasion, he encountered a group of high-level beings from a foreign race who, upon seeing him alone, decided to kill him and seize his treasures. After a fierce battle, despite summoning his great powers and even deploying the Golden-Feeding Insects and the Remnant Blade of Xuan Tian, he consecutively defeated seven or eight entities at the Liangxi stage and severely wounded two at the Hétǐ stage. Yet he himself was left severely drained, carrying a peculiar toxin, and had to flee in desperation. This serious injury forced him to remain in seclusion for over a decade in a hidden location, only to fully restore his vital energy and finally eliminate the toxin. On the journey thereafter, he naturally became increasingly cautious, yet the perils remained constant, leaving him deeply frustrated. Now he finally understands why, whenever the topic of traversing the continent arises, even entities at the Hétǐ stage often grow pale with apprehension. With his own powers nearly failing several times, it's no surprise that many ordinary Hétǐ entities have indeed perished during such continental journeys. Still, one must recall that such cross-continental expeditions are indeed a common practice among the highest-ranking beings of each clan, undertaken after they achieve their peak cultivation. Only after enduring so many perilous experiences could such beings be refined once more, and possibly regain a measure of fortune and destiny that belongs to them. Likewise, the risks Han Li encountered on his journey back to the Human race were so numerous that the rewards he reaped were truly unimaginable. Beyond the materials he obtained deep within the wilderness, even the secret techniques and internal arts he learned from various non-Human ethnic groups during his travels—techniques distinctly different from those of the Human race—proved immensely beneficial. To avoid detection by these ethnic groups, he always operated at the periphery of their settlements, entering only small towns without the presence of top-tier figures. As a result, the risks were naturally reduced to a minimum. Yet even under such favorable conditions, he was not always safe. Once, while entering a small non-Human city known as the "Ming" clan, he unexpectedly encountered a stranger who introduced himself as the "Lei Yun Zi." This cultivator, merely at the Mid-Transcendent stage, was instantly recognized as a member of a foreign race. A fierce battle immediately erupted between them. To the astonishment of Han Li, who had originally intended to eliminate him outright, he found himself utterly unable to make headway against such a relatively low-ranked Mid-Transcendent cultivator. The foreign cultivator, known as Lei Yunzi, was said to possess the legendary "Five-Thunder Body," a natural ability to command and manipulate five distinctly different forms of lightning energy. His cultivation technique, an ancient and long-lost grand mastery of thunder, allowed him to freely transform his body between solid form and lightning. Though limited by his current level and unable to sustain this state for long, it was still enough to leave Han Li helpless, merely watching in bewilderment. Even more extraordinary, Lei Yunzi was also the master of his people's array arts, and through the integration of his own thunder-based powers, he had developed a unique, proprietary Thunder-Light Array. It was truly astonishing that he could instantly transform the electrical energy within his body into various magical arrays to encircle, attack, or defend his opponents. Of course, with Han Li's great prowess, the Lightning Cloud Monk could hardly gain any advantage—after months of intense combat, they ended up developing a mutual rapport. Han Li was deeply intrigued by the Lightning Monk's mastery of lightning-based array techniques, while the Lightning Cloud Monk was equally fascinated by Han Li's Divine-Purifying Lightning and the refined Lightning Pattern technique he had learned from the Heavenly Lightning Tree. After just a brief conversation, the two decided to settle in a place and begin exchanging insights. As a result, Han Li mastered several highly practical lightning array techniques, while the Lightning Cloud Monk absorbed some of Han Li's Divine-Purifying Lightning power and learned the art of Lightning Patterns. Only then did they part ways, both satisfied. However, it seemed the Lightning Light Array was either genuinely extremely difficult to master, or Li Yunzi had concealed some crucial details, which prevented Han Li from achieving true spontaneity during his practice and frequently caused minor issues when executing the technique—something that greatly frustrated him. As he delved deeper into studying the array over time, Han Li eventually concluded that it was most likely the latter. This led him to grow increasingly dissatisfied with Li Yunzi. Although Han Li had made a few subtle adjustments to the Lightning Pattern technique, Li Yunzi still managed only one successful formation out of ten when concentrating the lightning orbs.