After a prolonged flabbergasted silence, a peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face as he asked, "Even so, how did I become an inner demon of yours? I've barely even met you before."
"How would I know?! As soon as I reached the Core Formation Stage, you began to appear in my cultivation as my inner demon. Even though I was able to barely make a breakthrough to the mid-Core Formation Stage by recruiting some external assistance, I haven't been able to progress ever since. I have to overcome the obstacles posed by my inner demons before I can continue to make progress. I also asked Old Devil Cloudpart about this, and he told me that the reason you became my inner demon was most likely because you used some kind of special cultivation arts in the past, and was immune to my bewitching charming techniques as a result. After that, when I was abducted and suffered backlash from my own bewitching charming technique, you left too strong of an impression in my heart, thereby becoming my inner demon."
Han Li was completely speechless.
Han Yunzhi was also completely bewildered.
After a long while, Han Li finally managed to compose himself. A cold light flashed through his eyes as he asked, "I heard that you once deployed some people to search for me right after you progressed to the Core Formation Stage. If you had found me, how were you going to take care of your inner demons?"
"How else does anyone overcome their inner demons? They either have to do so by sheer force of will or destroy the subject responsible for the manifestation of their inner demons. Alternatively... At the time, I wanted to employ the latter of those two methods." Dong Xuan'er was stuttering slightly as she spoke, and a blush suddenly appeared on her face, further enhancing her seductive charm.
Han Li's eyes narrowed initially upon hearing Dong Xuan'er's words, but after listening to everything she had to say, a surprised look appeared in his eyes. A thought then seemed to have occurred to him, and a slightly awkward expression surfaced on his face.
He was silent for a moment before asking, "I know why you're here now. You want me to use my spiritual sense to pass my secret technique onto so you can overcome your inner demons, right?"
Dong Xuan'er had also recomposed herself as she willingly admitted, "That's right. I wanted to request for your help during the Moulan invasion, but at the time, you'd already progressed to the Nascent Soul Stage, and I hesitated to approach you, thus missing out on that opportunity."
"What makes you so sure that I would help you, Fellow Daoist Dong?" Han Li asked with a faint smile on his face.
"You're already the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region, so I don't know if you'd be willing to help a lowly Core Formation cultivator like me, either. However, if I want to have any chance of reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, then this is my only hope," Dong Xuan'er replied with an indignant look in her eyes.
"I know that we aren't exactly on good terms with one another, but we were once both disciples of the same sect, and your inner demon did stem from me. Helping you out here won't be a difficult task for me, so I can lend you my assistance on this occasion," Han Li said in a slow voice.
"Really?" Dong Xuan'er was elated to hear this.
"It would be easy for my current self to help you overcome your inner demon; why would I lie to you? However, after this, the two of us will no longer have anything to do with one another. Don't expect me to lend you any further assistance in your cultivation," Han Li warned.
Dong Xuan'er's face paled upon hearing this, and she was silent for a moment before replying expressionlessly, "I'm already extremely grateful that you're willing to help me just this once; I wouldn't dare to dream of troubling you any further."
"Alright, take a rest here for three days, Fellow Daoist Dong. Three days later, I'll come back here and help you overcome your inner demon," Han Li replied calmly.
Dong Xuan'er nodded in an aloof manner and refrained from speaking any further.
After that, Han Li and Han Yunzhi chatted for a while longer before he departed from the pavilion.
Five days later, Dong Xuan'er and Han Yunzhi departed from the Drifting Cloud Sect one after the other, returning to their respective Controlling Spirit Sect and Harmonious Bond Sect.
After receiving Han Li's help in overcoming her inner demons, Dong Xuan'er would encounter no further impediment during her attempt to progress to the late-Core Formation Stage. Meanwhile, Han Yunzhi received many treasures and pills from Han Li, and he also entrusted her with a letter addressed to the grand elder of the Controlling Spirit Sect.
When Han Li descended in front of his cave abode as an azure streak of light, there was a young woman in a white palatial dress waiting for him with a smile on her face. As soon as Han Li arrived, she asked in a gentle voice, "Why did Little Sister Yunzhi leave so soon? You could've asked her to stay for a few more days."
"There's no need for that. Spending a few days here with me is enough for her." Han Li shook his head with a smile.
"By the way, I just received some news about your other soulmate, that Violet Spirit woman; she reached the Nascent Soul Stage several years ago, and has since embarked on a journey to the Great Jin. You probably won't be able to see her for a while," Nangong Wan said with a hint of a smile on her face.
Han Li smiled, and replied, "With Violet Spirit's aptitude, it's no surprise that she was able to progress to the Nascent Soul Stage. As for whether she's here in the Heavenly South Region or not, that's completely inconsequential. We'll naturally meet again if we're fated to do so. Also, I'm getting some tool refinement materials sent here in a few days, and I plan to go into seclusion after that. I want to get to the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage as quickly as possible, then completely master the Great Development Technique. After that, I'll fuse the five types of glacial flames with the Unbroken Cinque Devils."
"Sure. I was just thinking about making a breakthrough to the late-Nascent Soul Stage as well. Hopefully, we'll both have achieved our objectives when we come out of seclusion." Nangong Wan nodded with a gentle smile.
"Haha, I certainly hope that would prove to be the case. However, in the days before I go into seclusion, you'll have to keep me company in my lonely nights." A sinister look suddenly appeared in Han Li's eyes as his eyes roamed over Nangong Wan's sensitive regions.
"When did you become such a smooth talker?" Nangong Wan scoffed with a deep blush on her face, but the amusement in her eyes was quite apparent.
"This is the first time anyone has called me a smooth talker in my life. You're probably the only one who'll get to see my smooth-talking side." Han Li threw his head back and chortled heartily as his laughter echoed throughout the interconnected peaks.
Within the cave abode on another peak, a young girl was reading a jade slip in her hand, and her concentration was broken by Han Li's raucous laughter.
A sweet smile also appeared on her face before she turned her attention back to her jade slip.
Chapter 1202: Seclusion
Within the secret chamber on the main peak of the Dreamcloud Mountains, everything was enshrouded in a vast expanse of white mist. It seemed that a restriction had been set up within the entire secret chamber.
At the center of a chamber sat a man with his legs crossed and azure light shimmering all over his body. Around him were five pristine white jade-like humanoid skeletons that were also seated with their legs crossed.
These skeletons were enveloped in a layer of greyish-white devilish Qi, yet all of their mouths were slightly agape, and there were respectively black, white, blue, yellow, and green flames shimmering within.
The azure humanoid figure sitting at the very center of the chamber had his palms almost joined together in front of his chest, and there was a ball of indistinct purple flames burning between his hands.
This humanoid figure was none other than Han Li, who had been seclusion for an indeterminate number of years.
All of a sudden, silver light flashed on the wall, and another azure humanoid figure appeared within the restriction, sta
nding next to the wall in a completely stationary manner.
After a long while, Han Li suddenly opened his mouth, and the ball of purple fire was sucked into his mouth as a purple line of flames.
In contrast, the five skeletons nearby all closed their mouths, and the different-colored flames within disappeared in a flash. Immediately thereafter, the greyish-white devilish Qi over their bodies quickly receded to reveal the skeletons, which had turned into different colors that matched their respective flames.
At this moment, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, but they were still completely glazed over. Only after a long while did his pupils regain their clarity. He turned his gaze toward the azure humanoid figure off to the side, and his brows furrowed slightly.
That azure humanoid figure was naturally none other than the humanoid puppet, which Han Li had left outside the cave abode. During these past few years, Han Li would summon the humanoid puppet to him at regular intervals to assimilate it with the second Nascent Soul again, but aside from that, the puppet was left to look after the cave abode. Now that it had suddenly appeared here, something important that had to be brought to his attention must've happened.
Han Li felt this to be rather strange. After all, the second Nascent Soul paired with the humanoid puppet was not inferior in power to a normal great cultivator, so what could've happened that even it wasn't able to take care of? With that in mind, he immediately swept his spiritual sense toward the humanoid puppet and began to assimilate with the second Nascent Soul's spiritual sense.
After around 15 minutes had passed, a peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face. The stationary humanoid puppet suddenly raised a hand before pulling an item out of the storage pouch hanging from its waist, then calmly handing it over to Han Li. Han Li immediately accepted the item to find that it was a broken jade talisman around half the size of a palm.
After injecting his spiritual power into object, many tiny crimson characters began to appear on its surface.
Han Li only glanced at these characters for a short while before a contemplative look appeared on his face. "Fellow Daoist Endless Sky, you're also awake now, right? It looks like we've been in seclusion for a long time." Han Li's voice was slightly raspy and stiff from not speaking for so long.
"It's only been about 120 to 130 years; not really all that long. Why do you say that? Do you want to come out of seclusion now? You've reached a critical juncture in combining your glacial flames and Unbroken Cinque Devils; it'll only take another decade or so before the five devils will be able to successfully refine the five type of glacial flames. Wouldn't it be a pity if you left now?"
Spiritual light flashed, and a small cauldron flew out from within Han Li's sleeve. The cauldron hovered before him, and the figure of a small child appeared above it. In its current state, the demon beast appeared to be two or three years older than it was when it had first gone into seclusion with Han Li.
Han Li shook his head, and said, "It's not really a big deal; I can just continue the refinement process when I come back. It's just that this Myriad Distance Talisman is revealing to me some news from the Scattered Star Seas. I once made a deal with the Heavenly Star Sages, and it looks like Ling Yuling is in trouble now, so I can't just ignore the situation."
"The Heavenly Star Sages? You mean that late-Nascent Soul Stage couple from the Scattered Star Seas? Back then, I used a secret technique to examine their bodily conditions. They did have an abundance of magic power within their bodies, but they appeared to be approaching the ends of their lifespans at the time. Even if they haven't been killed, they've most likely passed away already. Otherwise, with that couple looking after the Star Palace, why would this Ling Yuling request assistance from you?" the small child speculated.
"The message that Ling Yuling sent me has indeed neglected to mention the Heavenly Star Sages, so it's most likely the case that they truly have passed away already. This is an opportunity for me as well; I've always been very interested in the Star Palace's Divine Essencefused Light. I've carefully studied the methods to progress to the Deity Transformation Stage that the Heavenly Star Sages provided me with, and the only viable one is to completely master the Divine Essencefused Light. During this trip, I can go and obtain that cultivation method," Han Li mused.
"I've never heard of a cultivation art known as the Divine Essencefused Light in the Spirit Realm before, so this is most likely something created by a cultivator of this world. Won't you be dabbling in too many different areas if you use this cultivation art? Take care that you don't let these things distract you from your pursuit of the Great Dao," the small child cautioned.
"I'm aware of this. Prior to cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light, I'll make sure to progress to the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage first, then try to use my glacial flames to try and break through the Deity Transformation Stage bottleneck. If I can succeed in doing that, then there would be no need to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light. Otherwise, I have no choice in this matter," Han Li said with a grave expression.
"If that's the case, then I don't really have anything else to say. I also know many methods that can help once progress to the Deity Transformation Stage, but it's a shame that they would be ineffective in this world due to the sparse spiritual Qi here. By the way, how have you been cultivating for the past century? The magic power within your body seems to have grown a lot more abundant," the small child asked after assessing Han Li's bodily condition."That may be true, but I'm still far away from reaching the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage. It's going to take me at least another 50 to 60 years of cultivation to get there, and that's only through constantly taking all types of pills as well. If I were to cultivate through meditation alone, I most likely wouldn't be able to reach that point even after an entire century," Han Li heaved a forlorn sigh.
At this moment, Han Li suddenly thought of the Fuschia Cloud Pill that he had refined in that mysterious medicine garden. If he had a sufficient number of such pills, he would be able to accelerate his rate of cultivation by severalfold.
It was a pity that certain types of spirit herbs required to refine the Fuschia Cloud Pill had already gone extinct, and it was impossible to take those spirit herbs out of the medicine garden and plant them in the outside world. At his current cultivation base, the pills that he was taking had a very limited enhancement effect for him, and he was rather dissatisfied with their efficacy.
Furthermore, he hadn't been wasting the green liquid in that mysterious vial during these past years, either. After setting aside a sufficient amount to satisfy his pill refinement requirements, the rest of that liquid had all been used to cleanse his spirit eyes and mature his spirit insects.
However, he stopped cleansing his spirit eyes after just over 20 years over. This was because after cleansing his spirit eyes countless times, the Brightsight Spirit Water no longer provided any benefits to him. As such, it would've been simply wasteful to continue cleansing his eyes with the spirit water.
Despite that, Han Li's spirit eyes had already undergone a drastic transformation.
After injecting spiritual power into his eyes, not only was Han Li able to see through clouds and mist, he could see objects that were 10,000 feet away as clearly as if they were right before his eyes. In that case, unless he found himself confined within a restriction that cut off one's spiritual sense, his spirit eyes would prove to be extremely pragmatic and useful to him.
After maturing for over 100 years, the Six-Winged Frost Centipede finally grew their second pairs of wings. As such, they had ascended straight from fifth grade demon beasts to become seventh grade demon beasts, and at the same time, they had attained the power to control wind and snow. If all 12 centipedes were to unleash their full power in unison, they could instantly transform an area with a radius of over five kilometers into a glacial land.
In contrast, the Gold Devouring Beetles showed no signs of imminent evolution yet. He had obtained a method from the Endless Sky Saintess to mature these
beetles through the use of five-elemental spiritual Qi, but it was clearly not the right time to employ such a technique. It appeared that he was going to have to nurture these spirit insects for many more years before that course of action became applicable.
As for the Armored Earth Dragon that he had found in the Great Jin, which was only proficient in searching for heavenly materials and earthly treasures, it was also very content to cultivate by itself in the cave abode. However, judging from its cultivation base, it was still very far away from reaching the eight grade metamorphosis stage.
In terms of cultivation arts, Han Li was cultivating the Azure Essence Sword Art and the Great Development Technique at the same time.
Perhaps it was due to the changes in his spiritual root aptitude or perhaps it was because he really did have exceptional aptitude in spiritual sense cultivation; in any case, he was able to cultivate up to the final layer of the Great Development Technique in one fell swoop, and the process seemed to have gone even smoother than when he was cultivating the first few layers.
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