Han Li smiled faintly at the demonic infant and beckoned with one hand. Instantly, a flash of spiritual light shimmered over the infant’s body, and it transformed into a streak of black light, merging into his own form.
Originally, after Han Li had initially refined the Dharma Form golden body using several rare materials, he unexpectedly discovered that the disembodied demonic infant could easily attach itself to the golden body. Moreover, it could continue cultivating the previously halted Profound Yin Demonic Qi by drawing upon the demonic energy within the golden body. While cultivating demonic techniques, the infant could also continuously temper the golden body with expelled demonic energy, greatly benefiting the refinement of the Dharma Form golden body.
Naturally, Han Li was more than happy to let the demonic infant attach itself to the golden body. After all, the second Nascent Soul was almost an independent entity, requiring no mental effort from him whether in cultivation or controlling the golden body.
Unfortunately, the demonic infant’s cultivation was too low. If it could reach a level comparable to his main body and then attach itself to the golden body for combat, it would instantly become akin to an external avatar, doubling Han Li’s strength.
For ordinary people, progressing step by step from the Nascent Soul stage to the Void Refinement stage was extremely difficult. However, Han Li’s main Nascent Soul could directly transmit high-level cultivation experiences to the second Nascent Soul. Coupled with an endless supply of rare elixirs, the second Nascent Soul’s cultivation speed far surpassed that of the main body.
While it couldn’t be said that cultivation bottlenecks no longer existed for the demonic infant, breaking through them was undoubtedly much easier than for normal cultivators. After all, the insights gained from previous breakthroughs would prove immensely useful.
This was why, whether human or other races, once they reached a certain level of cultivation and found further progress difficult, most would begin cultivating external avatars or second spiritual consciousnesses. However, no matter which method was used to nurture a second “self,” the cost was extraordinarily high. Often, it would consume the majority of one’s remaining lifespan before achieving significant results.
This was also why, despite knowing the immense benefits of external avatars, most people would only cultivate one or two, and their avatars’ cultivation levels would usually be far inferior to their main bodies. After all, they didn’t possess a mysterious small vial capable of infinitely producing the required spiritual medicines.
Under the influence of the golden body’s demonic energy and the consumption of numerous elixirs, Han Li’s second Nascent Soul had now reached the peak of the mid-Nascent Soul stage, on the verge of advancing to the late stage. With the opening of the Cold Moon Realm, he wasn’t in a hurry to have the demonic infant continue cultivating. He planned to let the second Nascent Soul attempt the late-stage breakthrough after entering the Cold Moon Realm.
Given the realm’s dense spiritual energy, which could allow Void Refinement cultivators to advance to the Body Integration stage, breaking through a mere Nascent Soul bottleneck would be a hundred times more effective than any elixir.
As Han Li pondered this, his gaze shifted to another “Han Li,” and a flash of excitement crossed his face.
“Who would have thought that the Spirit Mushroom Immortal’s body would be such an exceptional material for crafting external avatars and substitutes? Even more surprising is that the maturation elixir could be directly absorbed by the Spirit Mushroom Immortal, converting into pure spiritual energy and allowing this body’s cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds. In just a few short years, its cultivation was forcibly elevated by an entire stage to the mid-Void Refinement level, with no bottlenecks whatsoever. Truly unbelievable! But upon reflection, it makes some sense. Such heaven-earth spiritual beings, born from medicinal herbs, require countless years to develop sentience. To manifest great power and take form would take hundreds of thousands of years. This process relies solely on the accumulation of time to slowly refine their power. If there were bottlenecks in their advancement, the heavens would be too unfair to them. However, it’s strange that the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng, another heaven-earth spiritual being, could only recover its vitality when treated with the elixir, showing no signs of advancement. Could it be that only the Spirit Mushroom Immortal can absorb this elixir? Or perhaps only such spiritual herbs that have reached the stage of manifesting their true forms possess this talent?” Han Li murmured, frowning deeply before shaking his head. “Well, whatever the reason, a tremendous opportunity lies before me now. Although splitting my spiritual consciousness to cultivate an external avatar would hinder my main body’s progress, refining this into a substitute is entirely feasible. In the future, I can directly use my Nascent Soul to control this spiritual body in battle.”
After discovering that the mysterious small vial’s elixir could enhance the Spirit Mushroom Immortal’s body, Han Li had a simple plan: continue using the maturation elixir on the body to see if it could eventually attain the astonishing power of a Body Integration cultivator. Even if it only possessed raw power without the corresponding realm—a “half-Saint” stage—when his Nascent Soul possessed this body in battle, combined with his own divine abilities and the body’s immense power, he would fear no Body Integration cultivator.
Moreover, the substitute body’s power might continue to skyrocket. If it could eventually rival the power of a Great Ascension cultivator, Han Li would have little to fear in the Spirit Realm. Of course, all this depended on his assumptions holding true.
For some reason, he had a vague feeling that such an overwhelmingly heaven-defying outcome might not be possible. Perhaps the spiritual body’s power would only reach the Body Integration stage or the peak of Void Refinement. After all, when he used the small vial’s elixir to mature the Golden Lightning Bamboo to ten thousand years, it showed no further changes. With this precedent, Han Li couldn’t be certain whether the Spirit Mushroom Immortal’s body had similar limitations with the elixir.
Additionally, once the pure spiritual energy converted from the elixir accumulated to a certain level in the body, it had to be refined using the dantian and meridians’ power. The Spirit Mushroom Immortal’s body couldn’t do this on its own. Fortunately, Han Li had a stroke of inspiration and devised an alternative method.
At this thought, a faint smile curled his lips as he addressed the “Han Li” within the purple light: “Qu’er, you’ve worked hard these days. You may leave this body now and take a break from refining the spiritual energy. For the next month, I’ll halt the maturation of all other herbs and focus the elixir solely on this substitute body. You can refine the energy at your leisure later.”
“Yes, Young Master,” a clear, childlike voice replied from the Spirit Mushroom Immortal’s body. The “Han Li” in the purple light patted his head, closed his eyes slowly, and a ball of white light flew out, swirling in the air before transforming into a girl of about six or seven. Dressed in a snow-white robe with nine tiny black braids, she looked utterly adorable.
Seeing the girl appear, Han Li smiled and said, “You’ll accompany me into the Cold Moon Realm this time. I’ll bring your true form along. For now, return and rest.”
“Really? I can go too?” The girl’s face lit up with pure joy.
“I don’t know what we’ll encounter in the Cold Moon Realm, and now that your spiritual consciousness has taken human form, I can’t leave you here alone. If someone were to break into the cave while I’m away, it would be disastrous,” Han Li explained gently.
“That’s wonderful! Ever since I became like this, not only has my mind sharpened, but I’ve also longed to see the outside world,” the girl said happily.
“Heh, it’s only natural for you to feel this way, having just gained sentience. But for now, stay in the herb garden and avoid being seen. The cave might not be very peaceful in the coming days,” Han Li said gravely.
“Understood. Qu’er will return to the herb garden now,” the girl replied timidly, clearly startled by the possibility of intruders. Her figure blurred as she transformed back into white light, darting into the ground and vanishing.
This girl was the spiritual consciousness of the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng. The Spirit Mushroom Immortal had once promised to help the ginseng gain sentience and teach it. However, Han Li hadn’t expected that just a year after the Spirit Mushroom Immortal’s dissolution and reincarnation, the ginseng’s spiritual consciousness would evolve from a white rabbit into a girl. Clearly, the Spirit Mushroom Immortal had bestowed additional benefits beyond what was mentioned, enabling this unexpected advancement.
Naturally, Han Li was pleased and named the sentient ginseng “Qu’er.” He later discovered that, being a heaven-earth spiritual being like the Spirit Mushroom Immortal, Qu’er could also enter the latter’s abandoned body and manipulate its vast spiritual power. Moreover, while refining the energy, Qu’er herself benefited greatly from the dense spiritual energy.
Thus, Han Li entrusted the task of refining the Spirit Mushroom Immortal’s body to the girl, who had performed admirably over the past two years, much to his satisfaction.
Watching the girl disappear, Han Li chuckled softly and reached out toward the distant “body.” A gray mist enveloped the spiritual form, shrinking it to a few inches before carrying it back to Han Li, who tucked it into his sleeve.
With everything settled, Han Li scanned the empty chamber and strode decisively toward the exit.
Over the next month, Han Li frequently visited major shops in Cloud City, gathering materials and obscure magical artifacts. Soon after, Duan Tianren, Qian Jizi, and others came knocking, each leaving satisfied after brief discussions.
A month passed in the blink of an eye. One day, as Han Li meditated in the main hall, a red light flew in from outside, circling him. Raising an eyebrow, he caught it and immersed his consciousness within.
“It’s finally beginning,” he murmured, rising to his feet and heading out.
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