With a flash of white light, the jade bottle eerily appeared beneath the hole, and the silver liquid instantly transformed into a thin silver thread that dripped directly into the bottle’s opening.
A bizarre scene unfolded!
As the silver liquid flowed out, the young toad’s body began to shrivel and shrink.
The silver liquid extracted from the corpse wasn’t much, and within moments, it had all drained away, leaving the corpse reduced to less than half its original size.
Han Li’s brow twitched slightly, and with a single breath, he spat out a silver fireball that struck the corpse.
With a *pfft* sound, the young toad instantly turned to ash, vanishing without a trace.
But as the silver flames dissipated, numerous glistening silver droplets, each the size of a grain of rice, remained suspended in the air.
It turned out that Han Li had relied on the extreme yin and yang power of the Devouring Spirit Heavenly Flames to effortlessly refine the residual blood hidden within the young toad’s body.
With a flick of his sleeve, a stream of azure mist swept out.
In a flash of green light, the mist gathered all the droplets together, forming a fist-sized silver liquid mass before enveloping it and sending it into the jade bottle.
The spiritual blood of the True Toad was something Han Li couldn’t cultivate, so he naturally didn’t want to waste a single drop.
In this manner, Han Li processed all the corpses of the Emerald-Eyed True Toads identically, filling several jade bottles with the legendary True Toad Blood.
Only then did he exhale in relief, finally feeling at ease.
Now that the True Toad Blood had been extracted, he wasn’t in a hurry to refine the True Toad Elixir. Instead, he needed to first cultivate his own cultivation to the peak of the mid-Nascent Soul stage and break through the bottleneck of this realm.
Speaking of which, his choice to pursue both physical and spiritual cultivation seemed to have been the right one.
With his formidable physique and an abundance of elixirs, what might take other cultivators centuries to achieve, he could accomplish in just a hundred years—or even mere decades. The only challenge was breaking through bottlenecks, which might take a bit more time.
Thus, after releasing a few giant ape puppets and summoning his Second Nascent Soul to oversee the accelerated growth of spiritual herbs in the cave, Han Li sealed the door of his cultivation chamber and devoted himself entirely to his training.
With ample elixirs, the continuous consumption of Dragon Scale Fruits, and the support of techniques like the Bone-Tempering Art, Han Li’s spiritual power grew increasingly dense by the day, and his physical strength advanced rapidly.
During this period, aside from diligently practicing the Vajra Demon Subduing Art, he also began refining the seventy-two Emerald Swarm Swords into the vital bones of his body, one by one, following the Hundred Meridians Treasure Refining Art.
If he succeeded, the defensive power of these vital areas, combined with the might of the Vajra Demon Subduing Art, would reach an unimaginable level.
He might even be able to withstand a direct strike from a Void Refinement cultivator with his bare body, completely unharmed.
Of course, this process was far more complex and time-consuming than refining his hands.
Thus, the door to Han Li’s cultivation chamber remained tightly shut. Only once every few years would the Second Nascent Soul, in the form of a shadow, pass through the walls to deliver spiritual herbs and fruits.
Months passed, years flowed by, and in the blink of an eye, sixty years had elapsed.
One day, atop a small mountain about ten miles from Han Li’s cave, faint wisps of black and yellow demonic qi flickered intermittently. From within, hushed voices could be heard, as if some demonic creatures were conversing.
Within the black qi, two silver eyes blinked incessantly, while the yellow qi contained a single crimson eye that gleamed brightly.
The two demons seemed to have seen through the illusionary array Han Li had placed outside his cave, staring intently at it.
However, they also appeared wary of Han Li’s cave and didn’t immediately take action. After a brief discussion, they dispersed.
Three days later, several more clusters of demonic qi gathered outside Han Li’s cave. This time, the demons made no attempt to conceal themselves. Instead, they brazenly summoned a demonic wind, while thousands of wild beasts and monstrous insects emerged on the ground, converging menacingly as they openly launched an assault on Han Li’s cave.
The demons that appeared in the air were of various forms. One was a three-headed blue-and-green serpent, its three heads—one large and two small—twisted in grotesque ferocity. Another was a giant boar, six or seven zhang in size, with a pair of massive silver tusks that gleamed as if forged from pure silver. The last two demons bore some resemblance to the leaders Han Li had seen during the beast horde battle—one was a towering golden-furred ape, wielding a massive black trident, while the other was a small, ox-headed, lion-bodied creature, no more than a few chi in length, its body a vivid emerald green as if carved from jade.
Had Han Li been present, he would have recognized these demons as the sixth and seventh-grade demonic beasts he had sensed in the nearby mountains.
Among them, the ox-headed demon was the strongest, already at the peak of the seventh-grade, just one step away from achieving humanoid form.
For some unknown reason, these demons had gathered to attack his cave.
But even though Han Li was in seclusion, oblivious to the outside world, the restrictions he had laid down as a Nascent Soul cultivator were not something these mid-grade demonic beasts, relying solely on their innate abilities, could hope to breach.
As the horde of beasts and venomous insects, driven by the airborne demons, broke through the outermost illusionary array, they immediately triggered Han Li’s defensive formations.
A sudden surge of azure light erupted, followed by a violent gale that sent sand and stones flying. Hundreds of massive rocks hurtled through the wind, crashing down with earth-shaking force, instantly pulverizing some of the beasts.
The horde fell into chaos, with many attempting to flee.
But the ox-headed demon in the air let out a piercing screech, causing the beasts below to tremble in fear. The other three demons also bared their fangs and growled threateningly.
Left with no choice, the horde turned back and charged once more into the azure light.
This time, instead of rocks, countless razor-sharp azure wind blades shot forth, filling the air with a deafening shriek. The beasts had no chance to evade.
Amidst the howls of agony, thousands of beasts were either decapitated or sliced into pieces. When the wind finally subsided, fewer than a hundred survivors remained. Even these, though lacking intelligence, were utterly terrified, unable to stand their ground as they fled in panic.
The airborne demons exchanged glances, clearly taken aback.
Suddenly, the ox-headed demon spoke in a melodious, feminine voice—clear and precise, yet in a language unknown to either humans or demons.
The other three demons responded in the same tongue.
After a brief discussion, they abandoned the fleeing beasts and descended in a swirling mass of demonic qi, merging mid-flight into a single black hurricane that crashed violently against Han Li’s cave.
These demons intended to rely on brute force to break Han Li’s formations.
Had they been eighth-grade or higher, they might have stood a chance. But as mere sixth and seventh-grade beings, they couldn’t hope to make even a dent in the restrictions laid by a Nascent Soul cultivator.
The light outside the cave abruptly shifted to a five-colored radiance, surging forward to meet the black hurricane.
Upon contact, the black hurricane was instantly shredded into nothingness.
The four demons scattered in panic, regrouping in the air as they stared down in shock.
Though they hadn’t directly clashed with the five-colored light, the terrifying aura it exuded left them trembling with fear.
After a hushed exchange, they transformed back into their individual demonic winds and retreated.
From that day onward, no demonic beasts dared approach Han Li’s cave. In fact, within a hundred-mile radius, not a single bird or beast could be seen.
Throughout it all, the door to Han Li’s cave remained firmly shut, showing no signs of opening.
Time flew by, and another thirty years passed in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly, a dragon-like roar erupted from behind the chamber door, followed by a thunderous explosion as the door shattered into pieces.
From outside, a dazzling golden halo could be seen within the chamber, with Han Li seated cross-legged at its center. Behind him loomed a golden, three-headed, six-armed shadow—a Dharma Form.
This shadow, though still somewhat indistinct, was far more tangible than before. It mirrored Han Li’s posture, its six hands each forming a different mudra.
Abruptly, both Han Li and the golden Dharma Form trembled, sending out rippling golden waves that radiated outward. When these waves struck the chamber walls, five-colored light flared, and the entire room shook violently with a deafening roar.
Within the golden light, Han Li’s face contorted in pain, beads of sweat the size of peas rolling down his forehead. The massive golden halo trembled uncontrollably, causing the golden Dharma Form behind him to flicker and blur.
With a faint *crack*, the golden halo split down the middle like a shattered mirror. The three-headed, six-armed Dharma Form crumbled into fragments before vanishing into thin air.
Han Li exhaled deeply, the pain on his face fading as the chamber returned to stillness.
After an indeterminate length of time, he finally opened his eyes, a wry smile tugging at his lips.
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