Han Li hovered at a distance, showing no immediate intention of returning to where he had been. After a moment of hesitation, he slowly closed his eyes and released a powerful wave of spiritual sense in an instant, blanketing an area of a hundred li in every direction.
There was nothing unusual in the sky. That enormous bird of prey had truly vanished without a trace.
Without further hesitation, Han Li sent a tendril of spiritual sense plunging straight down to the sea floor, probing into the depths below.
After a good while, his eyes snapped open, a flicker of surprise and suspicion crossing his features.
After pondering for a moment, he suddenly slapped the storage pouch at his waist with one hand. With a flash of silver light, a pale azure humanoid figure materialized before him — it was the human-shaped puppet.
"Go."
Han Li flicked his sleeve toward the distance and spoke in a cold, flat voice.
The puppet moved at once, transforming into a massive streak of silver light that shot toward the distant sea surface. Its speed was astonishing — after only a few flickers, it had already traveled several li.
In short order, the silver streak arrived at the spot where the ghostly mist had appeared and plunged downward without the slightest hesitation. The light flickered as it sank beneath the waves, diving straight toward the depths of the ocean floor.
Meanwhile, Han Li sat cross-legged in midair, linking his own spiritual sense to the puppet's split consciousness. He controlled the puppet as though it were an extension of himself, a clone acting under his direct command.
The sea floor nearby was far deeper than in ordinary areas. The puppet descended four or five thousand zhang in a single breath before finally reaching the bottom.
But it was empty down there — not the slightest sign of any spirit beasts. In fact, the area was far too clean. Not only were there no corals or seaweed of any kind, but the terrain was remarkably flat as far as the eye could see, without even the faintest undulation in the landscape.
The puppet circled the area in a wide loop, then suddenly shot off in a specific direction.
After a short while, it spotted a glowing azure sphere drifting ahead, several li away.
The sphere bobbed up and down as it moved, seemingly brimming with spiritual awareness.
The puppet's lifeless eyes erupted with an eerie purple glow. Its speed doubled in an instant, and after a few flickers it closed in on the sphere, ending up only a dozen or so zhang behind it.
Now the details became clear. Inside the sphere of light floated a feather roughly a zhang long, its radiance pulsing between dim and bright, glowing faintly with spiritual light as though it were a living thing.
The silver light around the puppet flashed once more, and it instantly appeared directly above the feather. Without a moment's hesitation, it reached down to grab the object.
But what happened next was entirely unexpected!
The instant the puppet's silver-glowing fingertips touched the azure light, the feather's radiance flared brilliantly. In a blur, it vanished on the spot — as though it had slipped directly into the void itself.
The puppet's grasp closed on empty air.
The puppet froze for an instant, as though it too was caught off guard.
But in the next moment, thirty-odd zhang away, a flash of azure light appeared, and the spirit object leisurely materialized again — as though it had been something else entirely that had teleported moments before.
This time, the puppet coldly fixed its gaze on the azure feather and did not act rashly. The spirit object, for its part, began drifting away once more.
The puppet did not watch for long, however. When the azure sphere had floated over a hundred zhang away, it moved again.
With a blinding burst of silver light, the puppet transformed into a streak of silver and materialized above the feather. This time it did not reach down with its palm. Instead, it swept one hand downward through the empty air.
A dazzling silver hand of light appeared, reaching down to seize the object below.
The same scene repeated itself. The azure light trembled, and the feather vanished in another flash of teleportation.
But this time, the very instant it reappeared nearby, a deafening peal of thunder erupted overhead. A golden net of lightning came crashing down, and with lightning speed it enmeshed the spirit object completely.
The feather's spiritual light flickered wildly as it teleported several times in rapid succession, but each time it vanished, it slammed headlong into the golden net and was ruthlessly bounced back by the golden light, its teleportation ability thoroughly suppressed.
At that moment, a figure flickered into existence above the golden net — it was Han Li himself, who had made his way down to the sea floor as well.
Han Li stared at the azure feather trapped within the golden net, clicking his tongue in amazement several times.
This object was truly extraordinary!
It was an exceptionally vivid green, suffused with a hazy azure glow. Upon closer inspection, the patterns on its surface were actually composed of mysterious runes of all shapes and sizes, densely packed and flickering between visibility and invisibility.
However, the very tip of the feather was scorched and blackened over a small section, while at its base near the root, several streaks of bloodstains glimmered with threads of golden light.
Seeing the feather in this state, Han Li had no doubt about its rarity. A look of delight crossed his face, and he slapped his waist with one hand, immediately producing several talismans in his palm.
With a flick of his wrist, one of the talismans shot toward the net. But the azure light flashed, and the feather passed through the talisman as though it were nothing more than a phantom.
Han Li was briefly startled, but rather than growing annoyed, his delight only increased.
The more spiritual awareness this object possessed, the more extraordinary it proved to be.