Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly, taking in the scene not far away.
Under the relentless assault of the Gold Devouring Beetles, the flood dragon's scales had finally crumbled. But the consequences of its mangled flesh were a torrent of blood-light erupting from within its body, dissolving swarms of the flying insects into toxic liquid in an instant. Before long, the dense carpet of beetles covering the flood dragon's body had been reduced to almost nothing.
The flood dragon was now covered in grievous wounds, its vibrant green blood seeping from every part of its body. The hatred in its gaze as it stared at Han Li was profound enough to carve into bone.
Han Li's heart gave a sobering jolt. The name "poison flood dragon" was well earned.
The Gold Devouring Beetles had already evolved to the point where ordinary magical treasures could scarcely harm them, yet they were so easily exterminated under these blasts of toxic light. That spoke volumes about just how potent the poison was.
But then a cold smile crept onto Han Li's face.
What this demon beast didn't know was that his insect swarm was far more than what it had seen. Even if he sacrificed more than half of his Gold Devouring Beetles, taking out one of these three demon beasts was one fewer to worry about.
With that thought, he quickly glanced to the other side, where the turtle demon was completely buried under the swarm of insects.
The crunching sounds—the "shh shh" of their gnawing—had not stopped for a single moment, yet the pile of insects remained utterly motionless.
If not for the faint demonic aura still emanating from within it, and the conspicuously bulging mound, he would have assumed the creature was already dead.
Despite his growing suspicion, Han Li had no time to dwell on it. His expression darkened, and with a flick of both hands toward the sky, he sent several more spirit beast pouches flying into the air.
In an instant, the buzzing and fluttering of wings filled the entire weapon-forging chamber. Over a hundred thousand three-colored Gold Devouring Beetles blanketed the space above, obscuring every inch of the ceiling.
At the sight of such an enormous swarm, the flood dragon's expression changed dramatically, followed by a look of utter despair.
In the pillar of white light, Feng Xi's face likewise twisted with shock, a flash of genuine horror crossing his features.
After all, compared to ordinary spirit beasts, colony insects might have shorter breeding cycles and produce more eggs per clutch, but each generation still took a minimum of a century to develop. After hatching and bonding to a master, they required several more decades of training and nurturing before they could be of real use. The more powerful the insect species and the higher their rank, the longer the process naturally took.
This was why, despite the fact that many cultivators knew of insect-controlling techniques, those who actually gained fame in the Starfall Sea for their insect mastery were exceedingly rare. After the Core Formation stage especially, such practitioners were almost unheard of.
Most insect cultivators who managed to amass a swarm of a thousand or more in their lifetime considered themselves fortunate. Even then, it usually required a master passing them down to a disciple, who in turn passed them to the next generation, before such numbers could be maintained. Moreover, spirit insects were far more fragile than other spirit beasts. It was entirely common for every last insect to be wiped out in a single battle. This was precisely why, even though many cultivators knew the lethal potential of spirit insects, few chose to pursue the art of insect control.
Feng Xi and the flood dragon had already witnessed the terrifying power of Han Li's Gold Devouring Beetles. Even as eighth- or ninth-level demon beasts, they found them utterly horrifying. Seeing Han Li release such a massive number, the two could scarcely believe their eyes.
Of course, they had no idea that these Gold Devouring Beetles had not yet evolved to their mature form—otherwise, their expressions would have been even more grim.
Han Li paid no attention to the mixture of rage, shock, and venomous hatred in the flood dragon's eyes. With a sweep of his spiritual sense, every insect in the swarm rose to a deafening crescendo, splitting into several streams that plummeted one after another toward the flood dragon.
Blood-light erupted once more from the demon beast's wounded body, dissolving every beetle it touched, but the swarm on the ceiling circled and dove with absolute disregard for their own destruction.
In the span of mere moments, the blood-light began to diminish and dim, and after a short while further, it faded away completely under the flood dragon's expression of certain death.
Han Li's eyes lit up at the sight.
The insect swarm descended without mercy, swallowing the flood dragon in an instant.
Before long, the towering mound of insects shrank from high to low, from enormous to small.
With its scales breached, the flood dragon could hold out no longer. In the end, it was gnawed to death by the relentless swarm.
Watching this scene, Feng Xi's face shifted momentarily, but he quickly composed himself, fixing Han Li with a frigid stare.
Han Li let out a low hum. The insect swarm lifted away from the spot, revealing what little remained of the flood dragon's carcass.
Among the remnants, a fist-sized blood-colored demon core flickered and pulsed with an unsteady glow.
A strange expression crossed Han Li's face. Before he could make a move, the demon core flashed with blue light, shot into the air, and streaked toward the chamber door.
Without a moment's hesitation, Han Li flicked his finger. A streak of azure sword qi flew from his hand and struck the demon core squarely.
The core spun wildly from the impact, then suddenly a ball of blue light burst from within, enveloping a miniature flood dragon no larger than an inch—the creature's primordial soul.
The moment the dragon spirit revealed itself, it flashed with blood-light in panic and vanished without a trace.
A cold glint passed over Han Li's face. He slapped one of the spirit beast pouches at his waist, and a streak of green light shot out, landing on the ground to reveal a small monkey with a thoroughly lazy expression and a distinctly unhappy look on its face—none other than the Crybaby Beast.