It was rumored that when one’s cultivation reached late-Deity Transformation stage, their Nascent Soul would become truly solid, allowing them to live bodiless with no fear of celestial winds.
This was also the most reliable method for a cultivator to ascend to the spirit realm.
But despite his increase in magic power, he was still far from reaching the peak of mid-Nascent Soul stage. Oddly enough, after he refined the pill, he felt completely assured that he would reach that point after a hundred years of secluded cultivation without any problems or bottlenecks.
This strange feeling delighted Han Li.
Once his Nascent Soul returned into his body and settled down, he opened its mouth and spat out two golden streaks.
They fluttered around him and turned into two dim golden swords. They were the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that the Elder Devil had captured at Devilfall Valley.
Although their spiritual nature had yet to be entirely eradicated and could still be somewhat controlled, they were still incapable of being used to create the Aureate Sword Formation.
As such, Han Li specifically allocated some time to restoring the two.
Under his mental command, the swords flew a meter in front of him and remained still.
He spat out two clouds of his nascent flame and instantly enveloped thems within it.
When he saw crackling azure flame dancing on the blades, Han Li waved his sleeve, summoning several small bottles he prepared beforehand. They all opened of their own volition and their contents poured into the azure flames, staining them with various colors.
Han Li then stared at the two weapons with complete focus and cast spell seals with flicks of his fingers, putting him in control of the refinement process.
The repair of the flying swords continued for three entire days.
When Han Li’s complexion turned completely pale, he spat out blood essence and combined them into the flying swords
It was only then that the two swords were returned to their original glistening golden light and were cleansed free of any devilish Qi.
He then took the two swords back into his body and immediately sank into meditation once more.
After a day passed, Han Li sensed that his magic power was restored and opened his eyes, now summoning an emerald wooden ruler into his hand: the Eight Spirit Ruler.
He traced the simple grains in the wood with a pensive expression.
Back inside the Devil Subjugating Pavilion, Han Li had already discovered that ordinary spiritual power seemed to not affect it, and due to a lack of time, he wasn’t able to research the matter.
He now held the hilt of the ruler in one hand, slowly pouring spiritual power into it as azure light roamed down his fingers.
Of course, the result was the same. Spiritual power was circulating in the ruler, but it didn’t display the slightest change apart from a few lines of green light flowing across the surface.
After pouring in a full tenth of his spiritual power to little effect, Han Li cut his magic power and lowered his head in contemplation.
A short moment later, he raised his other hand and extended a single finger in front of him.
Rainbow-colored light flickered from his fingertip, summoning the Vajra Barrier he kept within his body.
A thread of Buddhist light flashed from it and disappeared into the ruler without a trace.
Light then suddenly pulsed from Eight Spirit Ruler and it released a mist of azure light. Emerald-green characters appeared from within the mist to create a set of scriptures.
Surprised, he immediately focused his gaze.
After looking at it for a few moments more, Han Li let out a long sigh and guessed, “So it was what I had expected!”
The Eight Spirit Ruler was a Buddhist treasure and controllable through Buddhist light as he suspected. The scripture that appeared from the light it released was the artifact imprint technique for the treasure.
Han Li’s main cultivation art had always been Daoist in nature with a few very powerful devilish techniques mixed between. The only Buddhist technique he ever cultivated was the Brightjade Arts.
Although it was a top-grade Buddhist technique, it focused mainly on the body. It was incredibly difficult and was beyond painful to practice as a result of its effects of bodily purification. Since he only cultivated the art to the second layer, the technique wasn’t able to produce any Buddhist light.
However, the vajra barrier had an abundance of Buddhist light within, allowing him to cultivate the first layer of the Artifact Imprint Technique.
Han Li’s thoughts quickly flickered like lightning and he came to a decision in an instant. Even if he could only use a portion of its strength, it would still be an immensely powerful asset.
With that decided, Han Li poured even more Buddhist light into the ruler, causing its Artifact Imprint Technique to become even clearer to read.
The imprint technique for the Eight Spirit Ruler greatly differed from that of the Heavenvoid Cauldron. However, it wasn’t very difficult either and could be cultivated with only a years time.
With that thought, he silently swept his sleeve and withdrew the ruler in an azure flash. Then, he flipped it to produce the damaged Black Wind Flag.
This treasure was now reduced to meager bits of flag, but a majority of the pole still remained.
But despite its tattered appearance, the flag still glistened with black light as if its spiritual nature was still present. It was clear to see how powerful it was while it was still whole.
However, Han Li didn’t take it out with any intention of repairing it. He was only curious about spatial treasures and wondered if he could learn anything from it.
After all, spatial type treasures were incredibly rare, even amongst Divine Spirit Treasures. As storage pouches were the lowest grade spatial magic tools, there was nothing to be gained from researching them.
It was a pity that Divine Spirit Treasures were truly beyond his current scope of understanding. After several days of strenuous observation, he wasn’t able to grasp anything about the flag.
Feeling a bit of regret, he put away the flag and exchanged it with the giant flame cauldron he acquired from the Spirit Change Hall.
Even before the treasure had unintentionally gained intelligence, it was a top-grade ancient treasure. As it was able to produce over a thousand pure yang firebirds, it couldn't be underestimated.
Of course, the cauldron also came with a nameless transparent material, twelve flame pillars, and three variously sized black crystals. Although he knew these items were rare, he only now found the time to identify them.
As for the scroll and the earthy yellow devil rod that he acquired from Kunwu Hall and Old Devil Qian’s storage pouch respectively, their power was immense. With only a bit of refinement, he could control them as he pleased.
Unfortunately, the blood blade had left him quite disappointed.
The blade was clearly refined from a Devil Essence Diamond. He reckoned that it was created from one of the two he sold at the underground auction at the Jun Capital. The blade’s power was fearsome from absorbing the flesh and souls of several Nascent Soul cultivators, but now that power had disappeared, reverting it back into a common treasure.
Then with some thought, Han Li figured out the mystery behind this.
The blood blade was able to increase its might by devouring the flesh and blood of others, but it was incapable of storing it. After some time, the gained power would gradually dissipate. After all, it was a replica, and couldn't be compared to the true Devil Dragon Blade.
Greatly disappointed, Han Li put away the treasure.
He lowered his head in thought for a moment more and slapped the back of his head. Afterwards, he spat out a sphere of golden Qi, the vajra barrier. There were five balls of sparkling golden light within it.
Han Li looked at the golden sphere with a grave expression, and a trace of hesitation betrayed from his eyes.
He then frowned as a thought flickered throu
gh his mind. He raised his head to point at the barrier and it trembled before massively growing in size.
Thunder roared from the five spheres and countless arcs of lightning flickered between to reveal five human skeletons covered in talismans. All of them had an additional jet-black skull at the pit of the stomach that was also covered in talismans, restraining them from making the slightest movements. These skeletons were Old Devil Qian’s Unbroken Cinque Devils.
Chapter 1078: Taking the Devils
Han Li sighed and muttered, “The Cinque Devils each possess early Nascent Soul cultivation. With the addition of devil refinement, the cinque devils are united as one and are particularly adept at joint devilish techniques. Together, they could potentially rival late Nascent Soul cultivators. If I can somehow take them as my own, they are certain to be a great boon. But they are vicious and unruly, having even turned on their master once before. I fear it would be too dangerous.” He slapped his storage pouch and summoned a black jade slip into his hand, paying no further attention to the cinque devils and immersing his spiritual sense into slip.
Although the Divine Devilbane Lightning constraining the cinque devils had long dissipated, continuous imprisonment in the vajra barrier and the many restraint talismans attached to their bodies had left them powerless, causing them to appear as if their violent nature had long disappeared.
Not long after, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip and he raised his head to stare at the cinque devils with an unwavering gaze.
The black jade slip was a nameless devil scripture that Han Li acquired from Old Devil Qian’s storage pouch. Although the scripture was incomplete, it did contain many vicious secret techniques, including the refinement method for the Unbroken Cinque Devils.
The refinement process required the fresh corpses of five Nascent Soul-stage cultivators. The Nascent Souls of these bodies must’ve perished as well, leaving behind a lingering aura of resentment.
After being refined with various rare materials, the corpses must also be buried in a place of concentrated Yin Qi, where a Yin cultivator is beheaded every month to feed the corpses with their blood, flesh, and soul.
With this repeated for a hundred years, the cinque devils will gain sentience and arise. Then using a particular secret technique to refine the corpses for several tens of years further, the cinque devils will have been cultivated to their initial stage.
However, at the point the cinque devils would only have Core Formation stage cultivation. It would take meticulous effort and great cost to further increase their abilities.
But even in that case, it should’ve been impossible for the cinque corpses to reach past late Core Formation stage.
However, Old Devil Qian was a heaven-shaking genius. Through some unknown method, he managed to somehow to raise them to early-Nascent Soul stage.
It is possible that this also led to the cinque devils turning on their master. If the devil heads were only at Core Formation-stage, there would be no problem controlling them.
According to the refinement method for the cinque devils, Han Li could control the cinque devils, but he wasn’t the one who had nurtured them from the very beginning. However, the scripture did mention a devil control technique that he could use on the cinque devils.
With placing down several exceptional restrictions on each of the cinque devils and periodically providing them with his blood essence, he should be able to forcibly control them.
Of course, this wouldn’t allow him to make use of the cinque devils as personal incarnations such as Old Devil Qian. It would be impossible for his Nascent Soul to enter the cinque devil’s body.
Furthermore, there was a far greater risk of backlash than with Old Devil Qian. In any moment of weakness where he would lose control of the cinque devils or if he failed to provide them with his blood essence, they would relentlessly attempt to devour him.
However, there was one benefit to this method. He wouldn’t need to use his Nascent Soul to house the cinque devils. Even if there is backlash, Han Li would be able to escape them, rather than fight them off.
Despite the risks, the cinque devils were worth the benefits.
Han Li struck the devils with several spell seals, each one disappearing into their body.
A sphere of blood then emerged from his mouth.
Han Li’s complexion turned pale from the vast amount of blood essence consumed. Then without taking a moment’s rest, he waved his hand.
In an azure flash, the sphere of blood split into five even balls.
Afterwards, Han Li swept his sleeve and the balls of blood flew towards each of the cinque devils.
Under his mental command, the balls of blood blurred and passed through the vajra barriers, making their way to the five skeletons.
When the blood balls neared the black skulls, the main souls of the cinque devils, its eye sockets sparkled green and began to incessantly shake as if it were excited.
But when the skulls contacted the skeleton densely covered in talismans, a flash of green light repelled it, seeming to provoke it even further.
Clacking filled the air as the skulls gnashed their teeth without end.
A cold glint shined from Han Li’s eyes and he raised his hand, producing five small golden swords from his sleeve. They flickered above the five black skulls and nailed down between their teeth, immobilizing them even further.
The skulls howled without an end, and the green light in their eyes began to pulse.
Han Li expressionlessly formed an incantation gesture and thunder clapped, golden lightning erupted from the five small swords.
Slender arcs of golden lightning flickered and the skulls trembled from the strike. Their howls turned to wails and their ferocity greatly waned.
Han Li wore a satisfied expression when he saw this. The five balls of blood then dropped into the mouths of the skulls.
Green light surged from their eyes, and in a moment, much of their strength seemed to be restored.
Han Li shut his eyes and he clenched his hands in a strange incantation gesture. He slowly released his spiritual sense, drawing support from his blood essence to form a mental connection with the cinque devils.
As Han Li expected, the cinque devils became docile and their aggressive bearing had disappeared.
After letting out a long sigh, he touched his storage pouch, taking out five sparkling silver needles into his hand. He waved his hand and released five silver threads into the skulls without a trace.
He muttered an incantation and spat out five clouds of azure Qi.
Azure Qi began to continuously fluctuate as the incantation continued. In the end, they formed five small faceless bodies.
As soon as they took shape, Han Li stopped chanting, paused, and shouted. He swiped his hand at the ground, taking five slivers of yellow earth Qi and having them violently fuse together with the small bodies, creating five lifelike yellow snakes.
“Awaken,” Han Li uttered. The five small bodies suddenly blurred as they rushed out, burrowing them into the skulls.
He then continued, taking out a pile of silver rings from his storage pouch.
These magic tools were a devil restraint magic tool from Old Devil Qian’s devil scriptures that he created while he was in flight. Since he used the remnants of his Tailstar Essence in refining these rings, they were incredibly durable.
With a wave of his hand, over twenty silver rings flew into the air and let out a strange chime, blurring out of sight before reappearing at the necks and limbs of the skeletons. Then, they strangely warped out of sight as if they were never there.
With that done, Han Li sighed.
He waved his hand once more, causing the vajra barrier to quickly shrink and fall into grasp.
But strangely enough, the cinque devils, both skeleton and black skull, had fallen through the barrier and onto the ground. As the five golden swords withdrew from the skulls, the talismans stuck onto their bodies began to burn away, ignited by devili
sh flames.
Having regained their freedom, the skulls turned into clouds of grey Qi and entered the skeletons, disappearing without a trace.
When Han Li saw this, he mentally activated the devil control arts from the Old Devil Qian’s jade slip, summoning the cinque devils to shakingly stand straight. They then slowly floated towards him.
With another command, the five skeletons stopped, but their eyes flickered with green light as if they wished to approach even closer to him.
Han Li’s expression sank and he suddenly let out a string of incantations.
Five silver bands appeared from each of the skeletons and azure flames roiled from their surface. As a scorched scent filled the air, the cinque devils backed away with squeaks sounding from their mouths in a display of panic.
When Han Li ceased his incantation, the azure flame instantly disappeared, now knowing that the vicious cinque devils have become obedient.
Han Li inwardly nodded in satisfaction. It was acceptable so long as he could order them to attack his enemies, even if he couldn't control them to a finer degree.
With that thought, Han Li willed the devil control art once more, shrinking the cinque devils before eventually vanishing them into five clouds of grey Qi.
He flipped his hand and produced a small black bottle into his hand. The five clouds circled around the bottle and flew into it.
After the last of the clouds flew into the bottle, he sealed it and placed several talismans on it for good measure. Finally, he carefully placed it in his storage pouch.
So long as he fed them his blood essence periodically, there should be no problem controlling them.
However, this was only possible due to the amount of vitality restoring medicine pills Han Li possessed. Even those with greater cultivation than him wouldn’t dare to sustain devils over a long time.
After all, blood essence was one’s own vitality. Normally, it couldn't be drained over a long time.
Even the founder of this devil control technique only proposed this method because he was a pill refinement grandmaster as well. He could research these techniques because he could replenish his lost blood essence.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 581