Right at this moment, Han Li's Nascent Soul also opened its eyes. Two pillars of azure light erupted from its pupils, shooting directly into the eyes of the second Nascent Soul, as if it were forcibly injecting something into the second Nascent Soul's body.
The second Nascent Soul's limbs hung limply by his sides, yet its body was trembling uncontrollably. At the same time, an expression of excruciating pain suddenly appeared on its blank face, as if it wanted to cry out, but was unable to do so.
Han Li's Nascent Soul remained completely expressionless throughout this entire process. It merely continued to blast the azure pillars of light out of its eyes, and completely ignored the second Nascent Soul's suffering.
Chapter 1191: Tribulation Transcendence
Half a month later, the stone door of the secret chamber opened by itself, and Han Li emerged from within with a tranquil expression.
Silver light flashed outside the door, and the humanoid puppet, which was now completely identical to Han Li, appeared before him.
Han Li glanced at the puppet, and a smile appeared on his face. He stroked his own forehead, upon which the second Nascent Soul immediately appeared.
The Nascent Soul wore a completely blank expression as its body swayed before flying through the air as a streak of black light, disappearing into the humanoid puppet's body.
Moments later, the puppet suddenly blinked its dead eyes, and it was suddenly filled with vitality, as if it were an actual living person.
Han Li rubbed his hands together with a smile upon seeing this. "Not bad. This is exactly how I envisioned this go. Using the secret technique on the Great Development Treasure Scriptures to inject the second Nascent Soul into the humanoid puppet's body allows it to control the puppet. From now on, I won't have to worry about being unable to control the puppet due to distance constraints. As long as I don't go on excessively lengthy journeys in the future, the humanoid puppet can remain in this cave abode along with the second Nascent Soul."
"This is indeed a very creative masterstroke, Fellow Daoist Han, but aren't you worried that mishaps could occur if the second Nascent Soul develops sentient will again? In that case, it would possess a late-Nascent Soul Stage vessel in the form of this humanoid puppet. It'll be extremely difficult for you to recover the second Nascent Soul again after that," the unimpressed voice of a small child suddenly sounded from within Han Li's sleeve.
"I'm well aware of that potential risk, Fellow Daoist, which is why on this occasion, I'll be using a few restriction secret techniques that I recently mastered as a late-Nascent Soul cultivator on the second Nascent Soul, and I'll also be tinkering with the humanoid puppet a bit as well. Unless the second Nascent Soul's spiritual sense really becomes more powerful than that of my main Nascent Soul, I'll be able to completely immobilize at any time I want," Han Li replied confidently.
"Hehe, looks like you've planned things out well in advance, Fellow Daoist Han. It appears that my concerns were unwarranted," the small child chuckled.
"Regardless, I must still thank you for your kind intentions. Now then, would you like to transcend your lightning tribulation here on the interconnected peaks or go somewhere else during this process?" Han Li asked.
The small child hesitated momentarily before suggesting in a euphemistic manner, "These interconnected peaks most likely won't be a good place for tribulation transcendence. After all, even the restriction here won't be able to conceal the metamorphosis stage lightning tribulation. I have full trust in your abilities, but I think it's best to find a more secluded place."
"Alright, I'll go and see Wan'er first, then take you somewhere else." Han Li had no intention of arguing with the Endless Sky Beast on this manner.
He then exited the cave abode and traveled to the Drifting Cloud Sect to visit Nangong Wan in order to check on her cultivation progress.
A day later, Han Li left the Drifting Cloud Sect again, and flew toward the west as a streak of azure light.
Five days later, Han Li appeared above an extremely barren and desolate set of plains.
There was not a single blade of grass growing on this land, and there were only yellow soil as well as greyish-white rocks of different sizes stretching as far as the eye could see in all directions.
Han Li unleashed his spiritual sense to survey the area in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers, upon which he discovered that there wasn't so much as a single cultivator or mortal around.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and a small cauldron enshrouded in a ball of azure light shot forth from within. He then said, "How about this place? This is a vast expanse of dead land on the border between our State of Xi and the State of Huayu. There's no one around for hundreds of thousands of kilometers, so it'll be a lot safer for you to transcend your metamorphosis stage lightning tribulation here."
The small child inside the cauldron gave an elated reply, "This is indeed a good place for tribulation transcendence! Please release my true body from the cauldron and let me meditate for three days. After that, I'll be ready for the tribulation transcendence."
"No problem!" Han Li nodded before flicking a finger toward the small cauldron in the air.
A light thud rang out as the cauldron lid flew into the air of its own accord. The small cauldron then tipped itself over, and a burst of azure light swept forth, revealing a demon beast that was about half a foot in size with the head of a cow and the body of a wyrm.
Upon emerging from the azure light, the demon beast's body instantly swelled drastically to several tens of feet in size, and its entire body was shimmering with azure light.
"I'll have to trouble you to protect me for a while here, Fellow Daoist," the demon beast said in the voice of a small child. Its wyrm body then coiled up, and it descended onto a large white rock down below, where it sat in a completely stationary manner.
Han Li didn't say anything as he looked on from above. However, his body then swayed, and he also descended onto a nearby rock, where he sat with his eyes closed and his legs crossed.
Thus, the two of them sat for three days and three nights.
Just as the sun began to rise on the fourth day, both of them opened their eyes in unison.
"The magic power within my body is now in its most optimal state, so I have at least a 60%to 70% chance of being able to successfully transcend this lightning tribulation. You don't have to help me in the initial phase; if I encounter any difficulty, it should be in the later phases. If you can defend me from the final three waves of lightning strikes, I'd be extremely grateful to you," the Endless Sky Beast said with a serious expression.
"I see. I'll do as you say. I suggest you take a drop of this before you transcend your tribulation." Han Li suddenly flipped his hand over to summon a small profound ice vial that was emanating bursts of glacial Qi, and he tossed the vial to the demon beast before him.
"What's this?" The demon beast caught the vial with a slightly bewildered expression, then opened the lid on the vial and assessed its contents with its spiritual sense.
"Glacial Quintessence? I didn't think you would have something like this, Fellow Daoist," the Endless Sky Beast exclaimed with shock and elation.
"I happened to obtain some during my time in the Great Jin. Seeing as you taught me the beveled silver text, I can offer a drop of this Glacial Quintessence to you. I hope that's enough for you," Han Li said as he stroked his chin.
"Haha, it's definitely enough! Glacial Quintessence is something that's extremely rare, even in the Spirit Realm. Some would occasionally be discovered, but they would quickly be taken by my demon race brethren." The Endless Sky Beast was very excited as he turned to Han Li, and said, "Just a single drop of this is enough for me. I'll remember this and be sure to repay you handsomely for this in the future."
The demon beast's final sentence was very earnest.
Han Li smiled upon hearing this, but didn't reply. Instead, he patted the storage pouch hanging from his waist, and a stack of formation flags and formation plates a
bruptly appeared in his hand.
He then began setting up a relatively complex restriction formation in the surrounding area.
Around 10 minutes, Han Li's body swayed, and he returned to his original spot. Layers of white mist had appeared nearby, concealing the entire area.
Han Li turned to the demon beast, and said, "This formation should be able to prevent any unforeseen mishaps from taking place. I'll be assisting you from outside the formation, and I'll leave the initial waves of lightning tribulation to you, Fellow Daoist."
"Of course. Metamorphosis stage tribulation lightning is true heavenly lightning, so there's no way that a normal restriction in the human world would be able to keep it at bay. By the way, my lightning tribulation can perhaps benefit you as well." A thought seemed to have suddenly occurred to the demon beast, and a peculiar light flashed through its eyes.
"Your lightning tribulation can benefit me?" Han Li was quite surprised to hear this.
"Indeed. This is a little-known fact in the human world, but something that is common knowledge in the Spirit Realm." The Endless Sky Beast chuckled before its lips tremored, and it began to transmit its voice to Han Li.
Han Li listened within a hint of bewilderment on his face, which was gradually replaced by excitement.
"If that really is true, then this is indeed a rare opportunity. I just so happen to be carrying a treasure that fits this description, so I can give it a try," Han Li said with a nod.
"Haha, I wouldn't lie to you about something like this, Fellow Daoist. However, make sure you strike only when the moment is right. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, it could harm you rather than benefit you," the demon beast cautioned.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist, I won't act recklessly," Han Li replied with a smile.
"I can see that you're not a rash individual, Fellow Daoist Han. Now then, I'm going to draw the heavenly lightning to me and prepare to transcend my tribulation. If it weren't for the fact that I'm proficient in some concealment secret techniques, the lightning tribulation would've descended from the moment that I emerged from the cauldron." The Endless Sky Beast heaved a faint sigh before slowly hovering up into the air.
Han Li's heart stirred upon hearing this, and he immediately flew out of the formation he had just set up as a streak of azure light.
Blue light then flashed within his eyes as he stared intently at the demon beast through the layers of dense white mist.
After rising to an altitude of over 300 feet, the demon beast stopped and looked up into the sky. All of a sudden, a dull sound rang out from its nostrils, and azure light began to flash violently all over its body. At the same time, gusts of grey demonic winds were swept up around it, concealing its body within.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this.
An earth-shattering roar then erupted from within the gusts of demonic wings, and a burst of powerful demonic Qi erupted into the heavens. The Endless Sky Beast seemed to have unleashed some type of secret technique that had made its body swell drastically to several times its original size.
It was putting its demonic Qi as an eighth grade demon beast on full display.
Within the span of a breath, a clap of thunder suddenly exploded in the cloudless sky. Immediately thereafter, gale-force winds were swept up in a radius of thousands of kilometers as dark clouds appeared from thin air, giving the sky an extremely dark and sinister appearance. At the same time, rain began to pelt down amid the rumbling thunderclaps.
Han Li couldn't help but click his tongue in wonder upon seeing this.
As far as he was aware, this barren land was known as the dead land as it had always been an extremely dry place. It was often the case that this land would experience no rainfall for stretches of several decades. However, as soon a the Endless Sky Beast had unleashed its demonic Qi, the climate here had been completely transformed. It appeared that its metamorphosis stage lightning tribulation really wasn't something to be scoffed at.
The dark clouds in the air before tumble and surged drastically as arcs of lightning as thick as human arms surfaced within the dark clouds. Each and every flash of lightning was followed by an astonishing clap of thunder. A series of massive lightning nets gradually took shape.
Han Li pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes as he looked on from below.
Right at this moment, the demon beast within the formation let loose an almighty roar.
As a result, the grey demonic winds became several times more powerful, transforming into a greyish-white hurricane that rose straight up into the sky, as if it were threatening to plunge into the dark clouds and eradicate the lightning within.
Chapter 1192: Consecutive Heavenly Lightning
A thunderous boom erupted as an arc of lightning descended from the dark cloud like a gargantuan sword, directly striking the apex of the demonic hurricane.
Silver light flashed, and the greyish-white hurricane tremored violently before it was sliced apart down the middle.
The lightning and the hurricane disappeared in unison, and the demon beast's figure was revealed again.
At this moment, it had coiled its body up into a ball, and its appearance was also slightly different from before as it had grown a pair of purple fleshy wings and muscular green arms on the sides of the body.
Han Li stared at it for a long while, but was still unable to draw any connection with this beast and any of the legendary heavenly spirit beasts.
The Endless Sky Beast looked up at the thick bolts of lightning in the sky as it gently flapped its new purple wings. With each and every flap of its wings, a ball of demonic Qi would appear around it, and its body was completely enshrouded within grey Qi in the blink of an eye.
The bolts of lightning in the sky seemed to have finally reached a point where there was no going back, and arcs of lightning that were each over a foot in size descended from above amid deafening thunderclaps. The lightning fell in dense waves, enshrouding the entire area in a radius of over five kilometers. Even the spectating Han Li wasn't exempt from the scope of the lightning strikes.
Han Li exhaled lightly as he made a hand seal. A dull thunderclap erupted as a golden net of lightning appeared. The net then expanded drastically, transforming into a massive golden net that shielded Han Li's entire body beneath it.
An arc of lightning struck the golden next from above, upon which golden and silver light flashed before instantly vanishing. In the aftermath of that lightning strike, the golden net tremored gently, but remained completely unscathed.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he continued to look up at the ball of greyish white demonic Qi through narrowed eyes.
Even though he had been swept up in the scope of the lightning strike, the majority of the lightning arcs were still crashing down toward the Han Li. The demon beast was at the very center of the blast area, and the bolts of lightning striking down upon it was many times that of the lightning that Han Li had to deal with.
With Han Li's spirit eyes, he was able to see that the cloud of greyish-white Qi had been completely inundated by silver light. The arcs of lightning were falling like rain, and there was simply no way to evade them.
Han Li's face remained expressionless, but he was quite surprised internally.
He had witnessed a metamorphosis stage lightning tribulation once before in the Scattered Star Seas, which was when that demonic tortoise that he had slain was transcending its tribulation. However, the commotion from that tribulation couldn't even compare to this one and at the time, the demonic tortoise had already reached the final stages of its tribulation transcendence, whereas the Endless Sky Beast was only just getting started. It was difficult to imagine just how insane this tribulation would become in its final stages.
Could it be that different demon beasts were afflicted by completely different levels of lightning tribulations?
When Han Li thought about the subject, he realized that there really weren't many books or tomes in the human world that described demo
n beast tribulations. On the rare instances that this topic was mentioned, the descriptions were always very brief and revealed very little information. Metamorphosis stage lightning tribulations were exclusive to demon beasts and had nothing to do with human cultivators, so it was no surprise that there were barely any records on the subject.
Even if there were human cultivators who were curious about this topic, it was an extremely rare opportunity to be able to witness the tribulation transcendence of a high-grade demon beast. After all, demon beasts were in their most feeble state right after their tribulation transcendence, so there was no way that they would allow a human cultivator to spectate from nearby.
Even though Han Li was rather perplexed, but he didn't think much of this matter. After all, at his current power level, this lightning tribulation wasn't a big deal to him.
Following a sustained assault from the arcs of lightning for a short period of time, the thunderclaps in the sky temporarily subsided.
Han Li looked on from below to find that the greyish-white demonic Qi within the formation was already in tatters, and only an extremely thin layer of it remained. The Endless Sky Beast took advantage of this temporary respite to make a series of hand seals as its fleshy wings flapped rapidly. At the same time, it opened its massive mouth and also blasted forth bursts of grey demonic Qi.
Thus, a ball of demonic Qi that was several times denser than the one before took shape in the blink of an eye, encapsulating the demon beast within again.
The Endless Sky Beast's expression remained quite calm and it wasn't flustered in the slightest, appearing as if it had already anticipated the ferocity of this lightning tribulation.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this.
It appeared that the demon beast would be able to withstand the earlier stages of the lightning tribulation, so he wouldn't have to step in anytime soon.
However, the opportunity that it had disclosed to him earlier was quite important, so he had to focus and make sure he didn't miss out on it.
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