“Each of these Five Devils of Shared Heart possesses early Nascent Soul stage cultivation. Moreover, having been refined through demonic techniques, the five devils share a telepathic connection and are highly skilled in combined demonic arts. Even against a late Nascent Soul stage cultivator, they wouldn’t necessarily be at a disadvantage. If they could be tamed, they would undoubtedly be invaluable assets. However, their savage nature makes them difficult to control, and having already rebelled against their previous master, subduing them would likely involve considerable risk.” Han Li sighed and muttered to himself before patting his storage pouch. A black jade slip flew out and landed in his palm.
Ignoring the five devils trapped within the golden bubble, he immersed his consciousness into the jade slip.
Fortunately, although the Divine Annihilation Lightning had dissipated from the devils, they had been weakened by prolonged exposure to the golden bubble’s Buddhist radiance and the numerous restriction talismans covering their bodies. They appeared listless, their ferocity seemingly extinguished.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip and raised his head, his gaze flickering as he studied the Five Devils of Shared Heart.
The black jade slip was an unnamed demonic scripture he had obtained from Qian Laomo’s storage pouch. Though somewhat incomplete, it recorded several formidable demonic techniques, including the method for cultivating the Five Devils of Shared Heart.
According to the scripture, to successfully cultivate these devils, one must first locate five corpses of recently deceased Nascent Soul stage cultivators. Their Nascent Souls must have already dissipated, leaving only lingering resentment clinging to their bodies.
With these corpses, one could refine them using various rare materials before burying them in a place dense with Yin energy. Each month, a cultivator practicing Yin-attribute techniques must be sacrificed, their flesh and soul used to nourish the five corpses.
After over a century, the Five Devils would spontaneously gain sentience. Then, using a special technique, one could simultaneously refine the five corpses for several decades before the Five Devils of Shared Heart could be preliminarily completed.
However, the initial form of the Five Devils would only possess Core Formation stage cultivation. Their future power and abilities would depend on the effort and resources invested by their cultivator.
Generally, once the devils reached late Core Formation stage, further progress would be nearly impossible.
Yet Qian Laomo, a prodigious talent, somehow managed to refine the devils further, advancing them all to early Nascent Soul stage.
This very achievement, however, likely led to the devils’ eventual rebellion. Had they remained at Core Formation stage, Qian Laomo’s abilities would have been sufficient to suppress them.
Following the refinement method described in the scripture, Han Li naturally couldn’t control these devils as he hadn’t been refining them since their weaker stages. However, the scripture mentioned another demon-control technique that made subduing them seem possible.
This involved forcibly implanting several special restrictions into the devils, combined with regular feeding of one’s own essence blood. Under a specific incantation, this would allow for rudimentary control over the devils.
However, this method was far inferior to Qian Laomo’s technique, which allowed him to command the devils as if they were his own avatars and even temporarily house his Nascent Soul within them.
Moreover, the risk of rebellion was several times greater. If Han Li’s cultivation weakened slightly, making him unable to suppress the devils, or if he failed to provide essence blood, they would immediately turn on him without mercy.
The sole advantage was that this method didn’t require merging the devils’ primary souls with his Nascent Soul. Even if they rebelled, Han Li could escape unharmed.
Despite the risks, the potential benefits of controlling the Five Devils proved irresistible to Han Li.
He fired several incantations into the devils, which disappeared without a trace.
The blood mass began glowing with a golden hue.
Han Li’s face turned slightly pale, suggesting the essence blood extraction had significantly drained his vitality. Without resting, he waved a hand.
A green flash later, the blood mass transformed into five thumb-sized blood pearls.
With another sleeve flick, the pearls floated toward the Five Devils.
Under Han Li’s spiritual guidance, the pearls passed effortlessly through the golden bubble, drifting toward the five skeletons.
The black skulls—manifestations of the devils’ primary souls—which had been nearly lifeless, suddenly fixed their glowing green eyes on the approaching pearls. Stimulated, they began thrashing wildly within their ribcages, displaying unusual excitement.
However, whenever they touched the numerous talismans covering the skeletons, spiritual light repelled them, further enraging them.
Their jagged teeth gnashed incessantly, producing eerie clicking sounds!
Han Li’s eyes flashed coldly as five golden swords shot from his sleeve, pinning the skulls in mid-air.
The skulls roared continuously, their green eyes flickering erratically.
Expressionless, Han Li formed a seal, and thunderous cracks erupted as residual Divine Annihilation Lightning surged from the swords.
Golden arcs lashed the skulls, reducing their ferocity to pitiful whimpers.
Satisfied, Han Li guided the blood pearls into the skulls’ mouths.
Upon consuming the pearls, the skulls’ green eyes blazed brightly, seemingly revitalized.
Closing his eyes, Han Li formed an unusual seal, extending his spiritual sense to communicate with the devils through the essence blood.
To his surprise, within moments, the devils’ gazes softened, their violent aura diminishing significantly.
Exhaling deeply, Han Li retrieved five silver needles from his pouch and sent them into the skulls.
Chanting, he exhaled five bursts of green Qi that morphed into small, featureless humanoid figures.
Seeing them form, Han Li ceased chanting and grabbed at the ground, extracting five strands of yellow earth energy that snaked into the figures.
Uttering “Go!”, the figures flew into the skulls.
Not stopping there, Han Li produced a stack of silver rings—specially crafted demon-restraining artifacts made from remnant Hard Silver during his journey.
Tossing them into the air, over twenty rings vanished before reappearing around the skeletons’ necks and limbs, then disappearing again.
With this complete, Han Li relaxed.
The golden bubble shrank and flew back into his hand, leaving the skeletons and skulls behind.
As spiritual light flashed, the talismans ignited into black flames and vanished, while the golden swords returned.
Freed, the skulls dissolved into grayish-white mist and merged with the skeletons.
Reciting the control incantation, Han Li willed the skeletons to rise unsteadily and float toward him, weightless as air.
Another mental command halted them, though their glowing green eyes betrayed a desire to approach.
Han Li’s expression darkened as he chanted.
Silver rings materialized on the skeletons, wreathed in blue flames that emitted a scorching smell, forcing the devils back with panicked screeches.
The flames vanished with his chant, leaving the cowed devils motionless.
Han Li nodded inwardly. He hadn’t expected perfect obedience—only that they’d follow commands in battle.
With another incantation, the skeletons shrank into five wisps of grayish-white mist.
Producing a small black vial, he collected the mist, sealed it with talismans, and stored it carefully.
Henceforth, periodic feedings of his essence blood would maintain control.
This risky approach was only feasible due to Han Li’s ample supply of vitality-restoring pills. Ordinary cultivators, regardless of power, couldn’t sustain such prolonged essence blood loss.
Even the demon-control technique’s creator, a pill-refining master himself, relied on constant medicinal supplements to offset the toll.
With the Five Devils subdued, Han Li felt greatly relieved but still had crucial matters to attend to—namely, preliminary refinement of the Taiyin True Flame from the fire-attribute cauldron for combat use. Merging it with his Purple Apex Flame would require far more time and wasn’t currently a priority.
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