He had no intention of letting this demon beast slip away. Setting aside everything else about it, that pair of forelimbs was undoubtedly rare and precious material for refining artifacts in the cultivation world.
As for capturing the creature alive and subduing it, Han Li thought about it briefly before dismissing the idea entirely.
He knew full well that every beast a cultivator could command had been placed under restrictive seals from infancy and gradually tamed over a long period. Hoping to claim a powerful spirit beast he hadn't raised himself as his own — that was nothing but a daydream.
The cultivator from the Spirit Command Sect had only lost control of the giant mantis because he had lost his original body and become someone else entirely. Otherwise, once such a demon beast was fully domesticated, it would remain loyal for life, never abandoning its master — far more faithful than any human.
As for reporting to the Seven Sects Alliance, Han Li deliberated for a while but could not verify whether what the Spirit Command Sect cultivator had told him was true or false. He decided to linger in the area for a few more days and gauge the situation.
After all, his speed was remarkable. Even if he delayed a bit, he could still arrive at the Seven Sects' encampment on time.
And so Han Li spent an entire day quietly setting up the "Inverted Five Elements Grand Formation" in a dense thicket not far from the cave.
This time, he had not merely arranged a partial version of the formation as he had during the battle at the palace. He completed the entire Grand Formation, and its power was incomparably greater than before.
During this period, he witnessed the giant mantis venture out to hunt once more.
This time it returned with an enormous black tiger, which drew exclamations of wonder from Han Li for quite some time. Black tigers were something he had never seen before, and it was clearly no ordinary wild beast. What a pity that such an extraordinary creature had fallen into the mantis's jaws — reduced to nothing more than a fine meal.
Having made every preparation, Han Li slipped into the cave at midday.
But mere moments later, he came flying out at great speed aboard the Divine Wind Ship, heading straight for the formation.
The dark shadow pursuing him from behind was, of course, the giant mantis he had startled.
Since the formation had been set up so close to the cave, Han Li had barely cleared the entrance before entering the formation's range. The mantis demon beast, though possessing a degree of intelligence, knew nothing of formations and fell easily into Han Li's trap, becoming confined within.
Over the next two days, Han Li first let the giant mantis run wild inside the Inverted Five Elements Formation, fully exploiting the illusory trapping effect of the Grand Formation to restrict it within an area of just a few acres.
After two days, the beast was growing exhausted and was about to lie down and cease moving. Only then did Han Li release a multitude of puppets outside the formation to harass it ceaselessly, denying it even a moment's rest.
The mantis demon beast was the type with overwhelmingly powerful attacks but only average defenses. It dared not let the puppets' strikes get close, so it was forced to keep brandishing its two blade-like arms to protect its entire body.
In this manner, after merely half a day, the beast could hold out no longer. It began taking hits from the puppets — the wounds were minor, but its stamina was clearly nearly spent. By that time, Han Li had already cycled spirit stones into the puppets five or six times over.
Seeing the moment was ripe, Han Li activated the talisman treasure in his hand — the small yellow knife with a handle — and under cover of the puppets' assault, pierced it straight through the giant mantis's head, killing it within the Grand Formation.
With his great work accomplished, Han Li could barely contain his excitement as he walked up to the demon beast's corpse. He drew his massive silver sword and cut off that pair of razor-sharp forelimbs in their entirety.
Then, with immense anticipation, he began carefully searching through the mantis's abdomen inch by inch.
He was hoping this was at least a fifth-rank demon beast, so that he could obtain a demon core — an exceedingly precious prize.
Suddenly, a look of delighted surprise appeared on Han Li's face, but it quickly turned to puzzlement. When he withdrew his hand from the corpse with an air of uncertainty, he found several oval objects of identical size resting in his palm — white, laced with threads of blood.
"Demon beast eggs?" Han Li blurted in astonishment.
No matter how muddled he might be, he would never mistake these things for a demon core.
But his surprise was not yet over. He reached back into the mantis's belly and pulled out seven or eight more, bringing the total to over a dozen.
Han Li examined these egg-sized objects and could not help but break into a wide smile.
What a wonderful windfall!
But then a thought struck him, and he furrowed his brow. He pressed a single finger against one of the white eggs and closed his eyes to sense what lay within.