The sea breeze swept across the beach, carrying the salty tang of the ocean. Han Li watched the Magnetic Essence Griffin licking his wounds, the seven-colored radiance of the Illusory Star Escape Talisman in his palm not yet fully dispersed.
When they had burst out of the deep sea three days earlier, the griffin's magnetic essence blood had nearly run dry. Now, millennium star spirit flower honey kept him clinging to life, yet he still stubbornly held his neck straight-the pride of a Nascent Soul cultivator, and his way of honoring their promise to roam heaven and earth together.
"Senior, let's return to the Star Palace to recover first." Han Li took out a Starship Token and channeled spiritual power into it through his fingertips. A palm-sized Silver Shuttle shot out, expanding in the wind into a thirty-foot flying boat. The griffin leaped onto its prow, his jade-green scales glimmering in the sunlight like a loyal sentry.
The flying boat sped along using the Star-Magnetic Escape Method. Three days and nights later, a familiar curtain of star-patterned light appeared on the sea's distant horizon-the hallmark of the Star Palace's protective Heavenly Circumference Stars Formation.
Beneath the curtain of light, Purple Star Peak, the Star Palace's main peak, pierced the clouds like a sharp sword. The glazed tiles of the Star Palace Hall floating above its summit reflected the morning sun. Everything looked just as Han Li remembered, yet an oppressive stillness hung over it.
[System notification: Arrived at the outskirts of the Star Palace. Protective Heavenly Circumference Stars Formation detected in operation. Strength: peak Nascent Soul Late Stage. No hostile spiritual power fluctuations currently detected.]
Han Li put away the flying boat and entered the formation on foot with the griffin. Star power spread through the formation like