After the four demons gratefully took their leave, Han Li sat in the hall and retrieved the wooden box containing the Blood Apricot once more. He picked up the treasure with two fingers, holding it up to his eyes for a thorough examination.
“Truly, it came without effort. Another material for refining the True Devil Dharma Form of the Sacred Vajra has been obtained. Along with the spiritual medicine found in the Skywing Tribe’s holy city, all that remains is the legendary Essence of Flaming Gold. Once paired with the Golden Marrow Crystal Worms, I can begin the physical refinement of the Dharma Form!” Han Li murmured to himself, a trace of excitement flickering across his face.
He placed the Blood Apricot back into the wooden box, and with a flash of cyan light from his hand, it vanished without a trace.
Han Li’s eyes flickered thoughtfully as he sat in the chair. After a moment, he rose and walked out of the hall.
Shortly after, he appeared in a corner of the cave’s medicinal garden.
Before him stood seventy-two emerald-green bamboos, each about ten feet tall, enveloped in a faint golden glow.
Han Li gazed at the bamboos for a while before suddenly reaching out to pinch a leaf from the nearest one.
The moment his fingers touched the leaf, a thunderclap erupted, and a golden arc shot from the bamboo’s trunk, striking the back of his hand without hesitation.
With a sizzle, his hand instantly turned pitch-black, and the golden arc vanished into it, as if absorbed.
Han Li paid no heed to this. Instead, he closed his eyes, seemingly sensing something through the bamboo leaf he held.
After a long while, he abruptly opened his eyes and released the leaf, though his brow furrowed slightly.
“Although the method works, the transformation process seems slower than expected. It might be better to seal it for a while longer. I’ll attend to other matters first.” Han Li stroked his chin and muttered to himself.
With a flash of golden light, he transformed into a golden streak and shot out of the garden, disappearing after a few flickers.
Not long after, Han Li appeared in another square stone chamber.
The room housed seven or eight cauldrons of varying sizes arranged in a circle, with a tall stone platform at the center. A large circular hole on the platform’s surface was tightly sealed by a white jade lid.
The lid emitted a faint white mist, chilling to the bone. It was crafted from a massive piece of Mystical Ice.
Wooden shelves around the chamber held numerous bottles and jars, exuding a strong medicinal aroma.
This was Han Li’s alchemy chamber!
The bottles and jars contained either finished or semi-finished auxiliary medicines. Though mostly ordinary, they were indispensable for regular use.
Han Li couldn’t be bothered to store them in his storage bracelet, so they remained here.
After scanning the cauldrons, his gaze settled on a medium-sized cyan one.
He raised his hand and gestured toward the stone platform’s lid. With a pull and release, the lid flew into the air and landed heavily on the ground with a dull thud.
It was astonishingly heavy!
As the lid lifted, a burst of crimson flames shot out from the hole, instantly filling the chamber with unbearable heat.
Without hesitation, Han Li pointed at the cyan cauldron. It trembled slightly before vanishing from sight.
In the next moment, it reappeared above the crimson flames, spinning rapidly under their glow.
Han Li chanted incantations, formed hand seals, and sent a spell toward the cauldron.
After fluctuating in size, the cauldron emitted a “pfft” sound and dropped directly onto the fiery hole, sealing the flames tightly.
Seeing this, Han Li exhaled deeply and flicked his wrist. A flash of cyan light later, a jade box appeared in his hand.
He carefully opened the box, revealing several purple berries.
Each berry was fist-sized, plump, and round, seemingly filled with transparent coconut juice, exuding an alluring fragrance. Inside each berry was a lifelike dragon-shaped seed, crystal-clear and exquisitely detailed.
These were the Dragon Spirit Fruits Han Li had obtained during his journey with the Wood Spirit Tribe.
The “Soaring Dragon Pills” refined from these rare spiritual fruits had miraculous effects on early to mid-stage Void Refinement cultivators.
Now that Han Li had advanced to the Void Refinement stage, he was ready to begin refining these pills.
However, the complexity of this pill was unprecedented in Han Li’s experience. Just preparing the auxiliary materials would take over half a month.
Fortunately, the Dragon Spirit Fruits took an extremely long time to mature—thirty thousand years. Previously occupied with hastening the growth of the Golden Lightning Bamboo and Green Luo Fruits, Han Li hadn’t had time to accelerate the Dragon Spirit Fruits’ growth, so he’d have to wait a few more years.
With these thoughts in mind, Han Li stored the Dragon Spirit Fruits and reached toward a nearby shelf with one hand.
A dozen bottles and jars flew steadily toward him…
Han Li remained in the alchemy chamber for half a month. Upon emerging, he entered a secluded room to consolidate his recently broken-through cultivation.
Simultaneously, he began truly comprehending the Spring Dawn Sword Formation!
During this period, the four demons, including the small beast, delivered a large batch of rare materials. Though valuable, most were of little use to Han Li now, so the “Han Li” transformed by the Soul-Snatching Beast accepted them without hesitation.
The four demons couldn’t discern the authenticity of the “Han Li” before them but expressed profuse gratitude, not daring to show the slightest disrespect.
Under the Second Nascent Soul’s guidance, the Soul-Snatching Beast grandly accepted the items and sent the demons on their way.
Whether they would soon leave the giant island for broader horizons was none of his concern.
In the following days, everything proceeded as usual.
After several years, the first batch of Dragon Spirit Fruits finally matured. Han Li emerged from seclusion and began mass-producing Soaring Dragon Pills.
The process proved not only extraordinarily complex but also yielded an alarmingly low success rate. Despite his mastery as an alchemy grandmaster, seven or eight out of ten attempts ended in failure.
Though Han Li had anticipated the difficulty, the abysmal success rate still shocked him.
Only then did he realize the true challenge of refining pills to advance Void Refinement cultivators far exceeded rumors. No wonder the Tianyuan City auction house had never seen such high-grade pills. Even if alchemists managed to produce some, they’d likely consume them for their own breakthroughs rather than part with them.
Using such high-grade pills for regular cultivation was nearly unheard of.
Though frustrated, Han Li wasn’t overly concerned. With the mysterious small vial and the abundance of auxiliary materials, it was merely a matter of time.
Thus, time passed as Han Li alternated between alchemy and seclusion.
Forty years later, in a secluded chamber of the cave, Han Li sat cross-legged, forming hand seals as golden light swirled around him, wholly absorbed in cultivation.
Suddenly, an inexplicable sense of dread washed over him, jolting him out of his trance. He stood up abruptly.
“This feels like a high-level cultivator scanning the area with divine sense! Could it be…?” Han Li exclaimed, his expression turning wary.
Only a cultivator above the Void Refinement stage could penetrate the layers of restrictions around his cave and exert such pressure. But why would such a being come to this desolate island? Could it be the Skywing Tribe elders or some other ancient monster from the Flying Spirit Race?
Han Li’s eyes flickered as his thoughts raced. After a brief pause, he flashed out of the chamber and pushed open the stone door.
Moments later, he appeared in another hall with a massive array engraved on the floor. At the center stood a stone platform holding a hexagonal bronze mirror emitting a faint silver glow.
This was the modified Myriad Spirit Pearl restriction, altered after Han Li’s new insights into the Nine Palaces Heavenly Qian Talisman. Now, its range extended thousands of miles, and its intricacies far surpassed its previous state.
Han Li stepped onto the array, formed hand seals, and sent a cyan light into it.
The array hummed loudly as multicolored lights surged toward the bronze mirror.
As the lights merged into the mirror, it emitted a low chime, and a silver screen about ten feet wide projected from its surface.
Countless dots of varying sizes flickered on the screen.
Han Li’s gaze swept across it before settling on two glaringly bright dots at the edge.
“What? There are two of them!” Han Li gasped, his expression turning grave. He stared unblinkingly at the dots.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the two dots remained motionless, neither approaching his cave nor leaving the area.
Han Li’s expression darkened.
“Clearly, these formidable beings aren’t here for me, or they’d have arrived immediately after scanning my cave. Yet their lingering suggests they aren’t merely passing through. This complicates matters. With their cultivation, they wouldn’t appear here without reason. Whether friend or foe, or if they have designs on this island, their proximity—just a few thousand miles away—means their power could reach me in an instant. I mustn’t get caught in the crossfire.” These thoughts weighed heavily on Han Li.
The cold sensation from the earlier divine sense scan only heightened his unease about their intentions.
After a moment of solemn contemplation, he glanced at the array beneath him, clenched his teeth, and made a decision.
He pointed at the bronze mirror, which trembled and rose slowly, emitting dazzling silver light.
Simultaneously, he chanted incantations and spat out a mouthful of essence blood.
With a “puff,” the blood burst into a crimson mist just inches from the mirror, enveloping it entirely.
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