Han Li flicked his finger slightly, and a streak of azure sword light silently pierced half an inch into the wall.
Before a trace of joy could appear on his face, a flash of red light surged forth and a layer of barrier surfaced from the wall. The sword light was forcibly repelled back out.
Han Li's expression darkened.
But after a moment's thought, he wasn't quite ready to give up.
With one hand open, a tiny sword less than an inch long shot out from his palm, circled once above his head, then came to a steady stop before his chest.
Han Li silently activated his sword incantation. A faint golden arc of lightning crackled and danced across the blade, and the tiny sword began spinning rapidly within a shroud of azure light, driving itself savagely toward the wall.
A muffled thud sounded as the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning detonated. A swath of crimson radiance flickered across the wall's surface.
A glimmer of hope flashed through Han Li's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by disappointment.
Under the cover of the lightning, the tiny sword had managed to penetrate only an inch further before being halted. Deep within the wall, a faint five-colored radiance shimmered in reflection.
This coral wall had actually been reinforced by that beast cultivator with multiple layers of extremely formidable restrictions.
Breaking through with treasure artifacts alone was practically impossible!
After retrieving his treasure into his body, Han Li furrowed his brow tightly. One hand moved unconsciously to the spirit beast pouch at his waist.
He believed that no matter how wondrous the restrictions on this wall were, they couldn't withstand the frenzied gnawing of the Gold Devouring Beetles.
But there was one thing that kept him from releasing these spirit insects so freely.
The time it would take for the beetles to devour through the restrictions would likely not be a short affair.
With that much time, that beast cultivator Feng Xi would surely sense something and come to investigate.
Given that creature's inhuman speed, he would have absolutely no chance of escape.
After turning the matter over and over in his mind, Han Li shot one hard glare at the coral wall, then returned to the jade platform with a grim expression.
By now, he could feel a growing heat building in his abdomen — it seemed the Azure Flame Wine was beginning to take effect.
He didn't know what exactly was so peculiar about this wine, and he didn't dare let his guard down. He had no choice but to set aside all other concerns and sit cross-legged to begin refining qi.
He closed his eyes and turned his gaze inward. After a brief furrow of his brow, he forced a wisp of azure core fire from his four-colored golden core. The clump of compressed emerald-green liquid was instantly entangled by the core fire.
Before long, Han Li sat perfectly still, his face devoid of expression.
The process of refining the Azure Flame Wine was extremely slow. After more than a month had passed, the wine had yet to be even a quarter dissolved.
It seemed the humanoid Gale Wind Beast hadn't been exaggerating when it said half a year would be needed.
But this pace was far too slow, and Han Li couldn't help growing anxious.
If he truly couldn't break through to the late stage within half a year, he was certain that Gale Wind Beast named Feng Xi would ruthlessly take his life without a moment's hesitation.
With that thought, he steeled himself and took a risky gamble — forcing all of his core fire out of his golden core at once. The azure flames, nearly twice as thick as before, engulfed the remaining green liquid entirely.
Han Li unreservedly burned through his magical power to accelerate the refining process.
By doing so, his magical power would be consumed at double the rate as well. Every so often, he would reluctantly swallow a single drop of the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid to sustain the core fire.
After two months of such extravagant use of his core fire, the wine had finally been refined by two-thirds. Complete dissolution was now within reach.
Han Li felt a slight measure of relief.
It was then that the unexpected happened.
That day, driven by a death-defying resolve, Han Li had swallowed the Qianlan Ice Pearl. Later, out of extreme wariness toward the Gale Wind Beast, he had kept this desperate trump card inside his body without extracting it.
But on this particular day, just as Han Li had exhausted his magical power and was about to take a drop of Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Liquid to recover, something went wrong.
For reasons unknown, the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning forming the outer layer of the Qianlan Ice Pearl suddenly destabilized and began deforming inside his body.
This sight scared the wits out of Han Li, who had been carefully observing his internal state with full concentration.
In his current state of depleted magical power, he was utterly incapable of mounting any emergency response. As the surface of the pearl bulged and wavered ceaselessly, in a moment of desperation he forcibly drove the remaining Azure Flame Wine to envelop the unstable Qianlan Ice Pearl.
Han Li's heart pounded wildly, his face drained of every drop of blood.
What kind of reaction would wrapping the Qianlan Ice Pearl in Azure Flame Wine produce? That was something only the heavens could know.