Han Li waited until the cold and aloof woman had disappeared from sight with her escaping light before flipping his palm to examine the items in his hand: a blue jade slip, a green jade slip, and a yellow token.
The green jade slip contained methods and insights for cultivating the medicinal herbs in the garden. Since the herbs here were of relatively common grades and limited variety, they were quite easy to handle—unless one was utterly incompetent.
The blue jade slip, on the other hand, contained the “Profound Ice Art” left behind by the woman surnamed Mu. This technique was certainly not a top-tier cultivation method, nor could it even be considered second-rate—its power was pitifully weak. Its only advantage was that it was easy to practice and had relatively few bottlenecks to overcome.
Truth be told, the woman had no ill intentions. In her eyes, as an outer sect disciple, Han Li’s aptitude naturally wouldn’t be outstanding, so she deliberately chose this simpler technique for him.
As for the final token, it was used to control a rudimentary formation outside the herb garden. Han Li naturally didn’t take it seriously. After storing the items, he leisurely strolled into the three thatched huts, took a quick look around, and then unhurriedly stepped back out.
Standing in front of the huts, Han Li swept his gaze around before settling on the small rocky hill behind the garden, a faint smile appearing on his face.
He first closed his eyes and slowly released his powerful spiritual sense, enveloping an area of several dozen miles to confirm that no other cultivators were paying attention to this place. Satisfied, he unceremoniously waved both hands.
A crisp ringing sound echoed as over a dozen emerald-green flying swords surged from his sleeves. Under the control of his divine sense, they shot toward the small rocky hill. The swords hacked away at the stone with ease, as if cutting through tofu, and in moments, a deep cave entrance had been carved out.
Han Li then split his divine sense into ten strands, each controlling a flying sword as they busily carved out various stone chambers of different sizes and purposes. He was so familiar with this process that he didn’t even need to think about it. After a few hours, a brand-new small cave dwelling had silently taken shape within the hill.
Seeing the cave dwelling completed, Han Li showed a hint of satisfaction before immediately taking out several sets of formation flags and disks. He flew up and down around the small rocky hill, busily setting up several high-level concealment formations.
While these formations couldn’t deceive the deliberate scrutiny of a Nascent Soul cultivator, Core Formation cultivators wouldn’t be able to detect anything amiss in a casual glance.
For Han Li, this was sufficient for now. After all, why would a high-level cultivator come to such a shabby herb garden for no reason? Besides, these arrangements were only temporary. Once he thoroughly studied the method for setting up the Spirit Binding Formation, he would layer it over these existing formations. By then, even Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn’t be able to detect anything unusual.
After finishing the formations, Han Li still didn’t rest. Instead, he transplanted the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng into a small medicinal garden within the cave dwelling and carefully set up powerful restrictions nearby before finally relaxing. If he wanted to form his Nascent Soul, this spirit ginseng absolutely could not be lost.
Next, Han Li placed the gold-and-silver Devouring Gold Beetles into an insect chamber. As for the tricolored Devouring Gold Beetles, since they couldn’t be matured with Rainbow Skirt Grass, he had no choice but to keep them on his person.
In the chamber next to the insect room, Han Li carved out a special beast room for the Soul-Crying Beast. Ever since devouring a large number of shadow beast spirits on Stormwind Mountain, the beast had fallen into a deep slumber within its spirit beast pouch. Even Han Li himself had been unable to wake it—a stark contrast to its usual drowsy state.
However, after some thought, Han Li guessed the reason. Having consumed too many spirits in succession, the Soul-Crying Beast was undergoing another evolution.
Han Li was naturally delighted by this. Now that he had a secure place to stay, he immediately settled the beast down. At the same time, he decided that while the beast remained unconscious, he would take the opportunity to fully refine the unprocessed Soul-Suppressing Pearl in his abdomen.
As the beast’s abilities continued to grow, Han Li had begun to worry about losing control over it. Back in the Netherworld, when the Soul-Crying Beast transformed into a giant silver ape and voraciously devoured shadow beast spirits, the Soul-Suppressing Pearl in its belly had shown signs of restlessness multiple times.
Though Han Li had maintained a calm demeanor in front of Zi Ling and the other woman, inwardly he had been deeply unsettled. Now, he dared not take any more risks—it was better to fully refine the pearl and make it his own.
As for the splitting headaches Yuan Yao had warned would come after refining the Soul-Suppressing Pearl, Han Li believed his cultivation and spiritual sense far surpassed hers, so it shouldn’t be a major issue. Moreover, after two unexpected evolutions, it was unclear whether the beast would still exhibit such symptoms. Compared to the Soul-Crying Beast’s astonishing abilities now, taking this small risk was nothing.
Having made up his mind, Han Li didn’t immediately deal with the Soul-Suppressing Pearl. There was another important matter he needed to address first—the lingering Wind Spirit Force within his body.
The ninth-grade Wind-Splitting Beast Feng Xi naturally couldn’t pursue him to the Heavenly South, but having this energy inside him still made Han Li uneasy, fearing it might cause unforeseen complications over time. However, given his current cultivation, directly refining this sinister energy was nearly impossible.
He had tried several times before without success. Now, the only option was to use brute force—expelling it bit by bit with his spiritual power. Though this process wouldn’t be quick, it was at least feasible. Since it couldn’t be completed in a short time, Han Li had delayed until now.
Now that he was settled, he planned to eliminate this hidden danger once and for all. First, he released a few giant ape puppets to guard the herb garden as his eyes and ears in case anyone unexpectedly came looking for him. Then, he entered the cultivation chamber.
Inside the quiet room, Han Li sat cross-legged with a solemn expression, sinking his consciousness into his body to observe the state of the Wind Spirit Force.
A golden, shimmering orb remained stationary in his dantian, showing no abnormalities.
After some thought, Han Li carefully loosened a tiny gap in the golden arcs of the Evil-Warding Divine Lightning surrounding the sinister energy. The previously subdued energy immediately surged toward the opening.
The moment a wisp of the energy escaped, Han Li swiftly manipulated the golden arcs to seal the gap again, trapping the remaining energy inside.
Whatever chaotic evil energy the Wind Spirit Force contained, even this minuscule amount caused Han Li’s meridians to twist and spasm in excruciating pain.
Enduring the discomfort, he mobilized all his spiritual power to forcibly expel this trace of energy.
For hours, he sat motionless in the quiet room, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, his face pale.
Finally, his tightly shut eyes snapped open, gleaming with sharp light. He flipped his hands and flicked his middle fingers, shooting two drops of gray liquid from his fingertips. They struck the stone wall opposite him, leaving two small holes.
Han Li exhaled deeply, wiping the cold sweat from his brow as his expression eased slightly.
Though the process had been agonizing and mentally exhausting, the method was effective. If he expelled a little each day, he estimated that within half a year, the sinister energy in his body would be completely cleansed. This lifted a weight off his mind.
After resting for a while, Han Li calmly retrieved a black jade slip from his storage pouch. It contained the method for setting up the Spirit Binding Formation.
He had been interested in this formation before but hadn’t had the time to study it in detail. Now was the perfect opportunity. After all, only by adding the Spirit Binding Formation outside his cave dwelling could he truly feel secure.
In the days that followed, Han Li divided his time into several parts. Aside from the two daily hours spent expelling the sinister energy, he devoted part of his time to studying the Spirit Binding Formation and another part to refining the Soul-Suppressing Pearl in his body.
As for the herb garden outside, he left it to the puppets to handle the superficial tasks.
Additionally, Han Li continued using the green liquid to accelerate the growth of Rainbow Skirt Grass, feeding it all to the gold-and-silver Devouring Gold Beetles. He had a vague sense that these insects were entering another phase of reproduction and evolution.
This monotonous routine continued for several months. During this time, Mu Peiling only visited twice. Seeing that Han Li was managing the herb garden adequately—meeting her expectations—she didn’t inquire further.
As for the Profound Ice Art, Han Li didn’t ask any questions, and the woman had no interest in offering explanations.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage