The young woman was naturally unable to answer her mother"s questions, but she took a deep breath and responded with a question of her own. "Even if it really is the Black Rakshasa Race that"s targeting us, won"t we be able to take care of them with your current cultivation base and my a.s.sistance?"

"I"d naturally be quite confident if we were facing normal Black Rakshasa beings, but from the traces that they"d left behind, it appears that there are Black Rakshasa royals among them," the woman replied with a shake of her head.

"Black Rakshasa royals? That"s impossible! Several of our Naga Race"s heavenly priests combined their powers to unleash a powerful divination technique countless years ago; didn"t they discover at the time that all of the royalty of the Black Rakshasa Race had been destroyed back then?" the young woman exclaimed with incredulity in their eyes.

"We"d also thought at the time that all Black Rakshasa beings had been driven to extinction, but that clearly wasn"t the case. Hence, it"s certainly not impossible that a few Black Rakshasa Monarchs had managed to escape from that battle. Those Black Rakshasa royals possess abilities that place us Naga beings at a severe disadvantage, and aside from Naga royalty, other Naga beings wouldn"t even be able to unleash a tenth of their powers in the face of Black Rakshasa royals. Furthermore, the rate at which Black Rakshasa royals progress in their cultivation is definitely not inferior by much compared to the beings of the major races on the Thunder Continent. Now that they"re slaughtering out three races with reckless abandon, it"s quite clear that they"re absolutely confident in their ability to destroy all of us," the woman said with a concerned look on her face.

Her daughter also fell silent upon hearing this. However, moments later, she suddenly continued, "I still think there"s no need to be so worried, Mother. If those Black Rakshasa beings truly are so terrifying, then why would they allow our Fire Yang Race time to prepare? They must"ve sustained casualties to their forces while wiping out the other two races, which means that they"re still susceptible to our powers."

"That would be best, but don"t forget about all of the male beings that they"ve abducted."

A thought abruptly occurred to the young woman upon hearing this, and her face paled even further. "What you"re saying is, they"re currently..."

"That"s right. This is why their race had become the sworn enemy of our Naga Race in the first place. They"ll most likely only attack us after they finish doing that. After all, our Fire Yang Race is the most powerful among the three races, and our island is more heavily guarded than that of the other two races as well. It would only make sense for them to attack us after making ample preparations. If that Mr. Han truly possesses a cultivation base as powerful as I predict, then it could well be the case that he could be the key to our race"s survival," the woman said with a grim expression.

"Is that man really that powerful? I heard from your conversation with the others that he"s carrying extremely severe injuries; will he even be useful to us at all?" The young woman furrowed her brows with a perplexed look on her face.

"I"ve already decided to give him the Scorching Sun Divine Pill," the woman said in a calm manner.

"What? You"re giving him the divine pill? You can"t! If you consume the divine pill for yourself, you could recover part of your lost lifespan, but you"ll be stuck like this if you give the pill to him," the young woman objected vehemently as she struggled free from her mother"s arms.

"That"s what I was hesitating about. If that man"s cultivation base is comparable to that of your master, then it would naturally be a worthwhile investment to give him the divine pill. However, if he"s not much more powerful than me and he"s only concealing his cultivation base using a special treasure, then that would be a ma.s.sive waste," the woman sighed with a wry smile.

"How can that man possibly compare with my master? She"s a fifth-tier upper race being; one of the five most powerful cultivators in this nearby region!" the young woman said in a skeptical manner.

The woman hesitated momentarily before replying in a cautious manner, "I couldn"t ascertain that man"s cultivation base, but I could deduce that he"s most definitely far more powerful than me. Even with such severe injuries, my instincts still told me that he could kill me with ease. Otherwise, I wouldn"t have made such an effort to beg him to stay. If that man really can help our race survive this ordeal, then giving him the divine pill wouldn"t be a big deal."

"From your conversation earlier, it sounds like that man hasn"t shown you any of his power this entire time. If we give him the Scorching Sun Divine Pill like this, it would simply be a blind investment. Even if we do choose to give him the pill, we have to test him first," the young woman said with furrowed brows.

"Test him? How are we going to do that when he"s currently nowhere near his peak condition?" The woman was tempted by this notion, but she didn"t see how it was possible.

"Even if he"s carrying severe injuries, a high-grade upper race being like him would undoubtedly possess powerful spiritual sense. How about I accompany you to visit him when you give him the Scorching Sun Divine Pill? I"ll work something out when I see him in person. If that man really does possess unfathomable power, then we can give him the pill for the future of our Fire Yang Race. If not, then we definitely can"t hand over such an important pill," the young woman said with a determined expression.

"Well..." The woman became rather hesitant upon hearing this.

The Scorching Sun Divine Pill could indeed restore her lifespan to a significant extent, so she was quite reluctant to offer it to someone else unless it was for a worthy cause.

"Alright, you can give it a try, Zhu"er, but no matter what you do, don"t overstep the mark and get on that man"s bad side." The woman nodded in agreement in the end.

"Don"t worry, Mother, I"ll do things within reason," the young woman replied with a sweet smile.

"I should be able to extract the divine pill from the earthen flames after three days. You can come with me to visit the man then. The Black Rakshasa Race most likely won"t delay for much longer, and I"ve sent out requests for help to a few races that we"re on friendly terms with, but I don"t think we can count on them. During this time, I"ll discuss with our race"s elders to further bolster our island"s defenses," the woman decided in the end.

Zhu"er nodded emphatically in response, and after that, the two of them began to discuss some details regarding their defensive efforts against the Black Rakshasa Race.

A day pa.s.sed by in the blink of an eye.

Han Li was sitting with his legs crossed at the foot of a small mountain close to 100 kilometers away, and he suddenly opened his eyes as the golden light emanating from his body faded.

His slightly dull eyes seemed to have brightened a little, and he remained expressionless as he held up a hand in front of his face before slowly clenching it into a fist.

He then heaved a faint forlorn sigh.

Even though he"d recovered some of his magic power, he"d expended far too much spiritual power and blood essence. Even with his vast supply of pills, it would most likely take three or four years before he could recover to his peak condition.

However, he had agreed to stay on this island, so he was naturally confident in his ability to protect himself.

With that in mind, Han Li suddenly rustled his sleeve, and a black bracelet emerged from within, following which a streak of black light and a ball of golden light shot forth.

The black and golden lights then revealed themselves to be a small black monkey and a small leopard-like beast, respectively.

These were none other than his Weeping Soul Beast and his Leopard Kirin Beast!

Han Li wasn"t sure about the extent of the Weeping Soul Beast"s powers, but he knew that the Leopard Kirin Beast was already comparable to a Deity Transformation Stage being.

He had only been barely able to summon these two beasts following an extensive period of rest and recuperation that had allowed him to recover some magic power and spiritual sense. Back when he had just awoken in that valley, there was no way that he would"ve been able to accomplish this.

As soon as the two spirit beasts appeared, the Weeping Soul Beast leaped onto Han Li"s shoulder with a cheeky smile on its face. The Leopard Kirin Beast charged into Han Li"s arms, leaving an afterimage in its wake before licking the back of Han Li"s hand in an affectionate manner, leaving a rather warm and abrasive sensation on his skin.

Han Li smiled as he patted the two beasts, then forcibly activated his spiritual sense again to issue a few instructions to them.

Thus, the Weeping Soul Beast leaped out off his shoulder, then swelled drastically amid a flash of black light before taking on an appearance that was completely identical to Han Li"s, even down to the robes that they were wearing. Immediately thereafter, this "Han Li" sat down beside Han Li with his legs crossed and began meditating as well.

Meanwhile, the Leopard Kirin Beast shot forth from within Han Li"s arms and abruptly disappeared, having hidden itself somewhere within the room.

After doing all that, Han Li swept a hand over his storage bracelet, and spiritual light flashed as a stack of formation flags of different colors appeared.

He raised a hand, and the formation flags disappeared into the surrounding walls as streaks of spiritual light.

At the same time, a flas.h.i.+ng barrier of white light appeared outside the wooden cabin.

Han Li finally heaved an internal sigh of relief after all that was done, and after a brief pause, he suddenly raised an arm before appraising it with a solemn expression.

There was an extremely faint yellow mark on his arm, and blue light flashed through his eyes as he carefully inspected. After a brief hesitation, azure light suddenly flashed from his arm, and he focused what little remained of his spiritual power toward the mark.

The faint and indistinct yellow mark immediately became clearer and more defined as a result.

Judging from its shape and size, one could tell that this was none other than the Profound Heavenly Fruit, which had disappeared right after Han Li had unleashed the sword strike that had rendered him unconscious. As such, he had no idea how the fruit had managed to enclose itself within his arm.

Han Li"s brows were tightly furrowed as a slightly bewildered look appeared on his face.

With the pitiful amount of magic power that remained in his body, all he could do was make the yellow mark slightly clearer than before. That was clearly the extent of his current capabilities.

This made Han Li feel quite uneasy.

Setting aside the power of the longsword that the Profound Heavenly Fruit had transformed into, just the recollection of the price that he"d had to pay to unleash a single sword strike still sent chills running down his spine.

If he were to use the sword in battle, he"s most likely inflict just about the same amount of damage to himself as he would to his enemies.

After a long while, Han Li finally let his arm fall back to his side. By this time, he"d already made a decision; once he recovered his magic power, he was going to immediately force this treasure out of his arm.

Otherwise, it was far too unsettling to have such a volatile treasure enclosed in his arm.