Han Zhan's tone turned serious. "Not just you. Both of us have seen similar things."

Han Zhan's words made Luo Chen pause. While keeping his attention on the enormous golden eagle rampaging through the mountains, he desperately searched through his memories. 

At first, nothing came to mind. Then, as he went over those exotic creatures they had encountered since entering the mountain range, a faint sense of familiarity gradually surfaced.

After a long pause, he said uncertainly, "My Nascent Core… Hidden Dust Sand?"

"Exactly!" Having voiced the theory, Han Zhan seemed even more convinced of it himself. "That's it. If my eyes haven't failed me, all of the beasts we've encountered are the same kind of existence as Hidden Dust Sand. They're sprites, the spirits of heaven and earth!"

Sprites were among the rarest forms of life in existence. Unlike demonic beasts, they possessed neither fleshly bodies nor souls at birth. In fact, some originated from stones, and others from trees and plants. More unusual examples could even be born from entire mountains, flames, bodies of water, or even wind. After countless years of exposure to spirit energy, they would gradually develop sentience, then...