No need to ask—this little thing was undoubtedly the avatar of the "Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng."
Han Li stared at the white rabbit, his eyes bright with excitement.
Under the full circulation of the Great Development Technique, the spiritual energy radiating from the creature's body blazed with astonishing brilliance.
Truly worthy of being a wondrous treasure born of heaven and earth!
Han Li marveled inwardly, but he let his guard drop not even slightly. A spell seal had long been forming in his hand, and his gaze remained locked unblinkingly on the white rabbit.
The rabbit below stood just outside the grand formation, sniffing the air for a time. Its pair of flame-red eyes circled around the jade box several times.
Clearly, it was not content merely sniffing from where it stood and appeared to be hatching some scheme.
Seeing the rabbit display such keen intelligence, Han Li grew ever more cautious, a hint of tension creeping into his expression.
After all, the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng was most famous for its escape techniques. The slightest lapse could mean all their efforts were for nothing.
The little creature circled the perimeter of the formation once, its long ears twitching without cease, as if it had detected something amiss about the ambient spiritual energy. It hesitated to step inside.
Han Li began to grow anxious.
He suspected the ginseng avatar had seen through the trap and would not enter the formation after all. He could not help but consider whether he should simply deploy the golden net right now and try to seize the creature by force.
But if he did that, his chances of success were pitifully slim.
Just as Han Li was vacillating, the white rabbit's form flickered—it executed several bounding hops and vanished into a patch of wild grass nearby.
Watching this from the tree, Han Li froze as though struck dumb.
Yet in the very instant Han Li stood in a daze, a white shadow flashed from another clump of grass. The white rabbit shot forward at a speed so extreme it left afternoimages behind, bursting from the grass and arriving before the jade box in the blink of an eye. It ducked its head, snatched up the contents of the box, and without the slightest hesitation spun around and charged outward.
Though Han Li had been somewhat stunned by the creature's rapid-fire maneuvers, he snapped back to awareness almost immediately. How could he let it escape after pulling off such a petty trick?
In an instant, a streak of yellow light shot down from the tree like an arrow, striking squarely at the path the white rabbit needed to take for its leap back. The creature, still mid-air, was so startled that it twisted its body violently, tracing an arc as it veered off in another direction.
But by now, it was too late.
A square, yellow barrier of light rose abruptly all around, sealing the area tight.
The white rabbit slammed into the luminous wall and bounced back. It tumbled across the ground several times before shaking its small head and staggering back to its feet, its eyes brimming with panic.
Then, however, its body flashed with white light, and it transformed into a fist-sized, seven-colored sphere of radiance that immediately dove toward the earth.
But after a flash of yellow light, the sphere had penetrated only a few inches into the soil before a surge of golden radiance forced it back out.
This time it was truly desperate. The seven-colored sphere ricocheted wildly within the barrier like a headless fly, crashing against the walls from every direction—but each time, without exception, it was repelled.
It was at that moment that a beam of golden light shot down from the tree, sweeping up the sphere—which had launched itself into the air once more, completely unprepared—and netting it squarely within.
Then a figure flickered, and Han Li appeared on the ground.
The golden light flew straight into his hand—none other than the golden silk net that Xuan Gu had entrusted to him.
Inside the net, the white rabbit had reverted to its original form, struggling with all its might. Its silhouette wavered between blurred and clear, swelling larger one moment, shrinking smaller the next—but all of it was futile.
The golden silk net expanded and contracted in tandem with the creature's shifting form, binding it as tightly as ever.
Seeing this, Han Li broke into a pleased smile.
He drew the net closer for a brief inspection of the rabbit, then unceremoniously tucked it at his waist. After that, he settled into a cross-legged seat at the very center of the grand formation, with no intention of dismissing it.
Han Li now needed to wait quietly for Xuan Gu to unearth the main body of the "Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng" and come to meet him.
Before that, however, he solemnly retrieved the ancient treasure he had obtained from his storage pouch and placed it before him.
He then released all the Gold Devouring Beetles from both of his spirit beast pouches in a single breath, letting them hover in a swirling cloud above his head that coalesced into a vast, shimmering canopy of gold and silver radiance. Only after everything was in place did he close his eyes and settle into a state of calm composure.
Han Li had arranged all of this as a message. He wanted Xuan Gu the person to see reason. It would be best if they did not tear apart their alliance—the man should simply hand over the ginseng honestly.
Because he understood perfectly well that only by demonstrating his strength would the two have any hope of maintaining their pact.