As expected of a fearsome mid-Body Integration Stage being; the early-Body Integration Stage Jiao Chi being that he'd faced in the past couldn't even hold a candle to this devilish ape.
If neither of them used their Profound Heavenly Treasures and the ape was at the height of its powers, he'd have no choice but to flee for his life.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath, but he certainly wasn't about to give up.
Shimmering golden light radiated from his arm as his magic power surged forth in a frenzy, injecting itself into the azure longsword in his hand.
A clear cry akin to a dragon's roar instantly erupted from the longsword, following which a cold azure light flashed from it, and it began to stab into the dried corpse inch by inch.
After several inches of the blade had burrowed itself into the ape's dantian, Han Li suddenly flicked his wrist, and the tip of the sword created a circular incision that was comparable to the size of a large bowl.
Immediately thereafter, the azure longsword disappeared in a flash, and Han Li extended a hand into the dantian of the corpse to pull something out from within.
Chapter 1639: Profound Heavenly Tool Refinement Technique
This was an egg-sized inky-black bead that was emanating extremely pure True Devilish Qi, and it was none other than Han Li's target for this trip; the devilish core of a holy-grade devilish beast!
With this item, he'd be able to repair the suit of Heavenly Devilish Armor. He couldn't accurately estimate the power of the suit of devilish armor after being repaired, but it shouldn't be inferior to the suit of purple armor he'd just captured.
Unfortunately, the suit of purple armor had clearly been completely refined by the devilish ape, and even if he were to refine it again, its powers would most likely be severely debilitated, so it wasn't very useful to him.
Han Li contemplated this issue in a rather forlorn matter as he turned a hand over to produce a black jade box.
He removed the lid of the box before pointing a finger at the devilish core, and a burst of black light instantly surged forth from within the box to draw the devilish core into it.
After that, Han Li placed the lid back on the box, then summoned two golden and silver talismans, both of which he plastered onto the box.
Brilliant golden and silver light erupted, and the wisps of devilish Qi emanating from within the jade box were completely cut off, thereby completely sealing the devilish core within.
Han Li stowed away the jade box in an unhurried manner before inspecting the purple blade segment.
Han Li stared at the treasure, and a rather peculiar look appeared on his face that was a mixture of excitement and befuddlement.
"Is this actually a Profound Heavenly Treasure? Its power is far inferior to my Profound Heavenly Sword. Could it be that it's because this is a damaged treasure?" Han Li murmured to himself as he narrowed his eyes.
Instead of approaching the blade segment, Han Li closed his eyes, and his spiritual sense circulated throughout his body as he carefully inspected his internal condition.
In the end, he made a hand seal, and brilliant golden light flashed from his body as he summoned his golden projection again before also sweeping his spiritual sense toward it.
As evidenced by the dark expression that appeared on his face, the situation wasn't a very positive one.
Not only had he expended close to half of the magic power within his body, his Provenance True Devil Projection had also shrunk down considerably, and it would most likely take several decades of arduous cultivation to return it to its former glory. These were heavy losses for just a single battle.
The only silver lining here was that he hadn't had to expend any blood essence on this occasion, so no direct damage had been inflicted on his body.
However, this was also due to the fact that the attack he'd unleashed with the Profound Heavenly Sword on this occasion wasn't even 10% as powerful as that of the previous occasion.
This was partially due to the fact that he hadn't directly used his physical body to power the Profound Heavenly Treasure, using the power of his projection to serve that purpose instead. The other reason for this was that the Profound Heavenly Sword had been forced out of his body by the power of laws emanating from the blade segment.
As such, the power unleashed by the Profound Heavenly Sword was naturally severely hampered, but he still managed to kill the devilish ape without completely crippling himself.
The purple blade segment before his eyes could perhaps also control some kind of power of laws, but it was clearly incomparable to his Profound Heavenly Sword. Thus, Han Li was rather skeptical about whether this was actually a real Profound Heavenly Treasure.
However, the fact of the matter was that a slash unleashed by this blade segment had been able to destroy his Spring Dawn Sword Formation with ease, so if this weren't a Profound Heavenly Treasure, it was definitely not something that normal Divine Spirit Treasures could compare with.
As such, Han Li was leaning more toward the notion that this treasure was incomplete, thereby severely hampering its power and allowing it to be used by the devilish ape.
Of course, this could also be due to the fact that the power of laws imbued with this blade segment was of the lowest caliber among all Profound Spirit Treasures. Alternatively, the power of laws imbued within his Profound Heavenly Sword could've just so happened to be the bane of the power of laws contained within this blade segment, which would explain why the clash between the two powers of laws proved to be such a mismatch in the end.
These thoughts raced rapidly through Han Li's mind, and he analyzed all of the potential factors involved within mere moments.
The more he pondered these notions, the more he began to value the purple blade segment.
The Profound Heavenly Sword sealed within his arm was too powerful for him to control at present, but this incomplete and severely debilitated Profound Heavenly Treasure should be a different story.
Otherwise, how had the devilish ape been able to use the treasure even after losing its physical body and having its cultivation base drop down to around Han Li's level?
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath to repress the excitement in his heart before raising a hand. He then flicked his five fingers through the air, and five bursts of grey light surged forth from his fingertips, sweeping directly toward the purple blade segment.
However, a swath of purple light suddenly erupted from the blade segment, and the grey light sweeping toward it was repelled as a result.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this before reaching out with his other hand to send a wave of five-colored glacial flames surging through the air.
However, following a string of loud rumbling explosions, the five-colored glacial flames were also kept at bay by the blade segment.
A hint of surprise finally appeared on Han Li's face, and after stroking his chin in deep thought for a moment, a thought suddenly seemed to have occurred to him. He abruptly raised a hand, which instantly took on a shimmering golden hue, and a burst of golden light erupted from his palm, sweeping directly toward the blade segment.
On this occasion, the purple blade segment offered no resistance, allowing the golden light approach it before drawing it closer to Han Li'. A hint of elation appeared on his face as he carefully appraised this treasure.
At such close quarters, he discovered that the treasure was close to completely transparent, and that it was slowly absorbing the golden light around it. As it did so, the slightly feeble strange creature within the blade suddenly became more energetic as it moved around within the blade.
Wisps of golden light were also gradually emanating from the blade segment, looking as if it were being assimilated by Han Li's Provenance True Devil Arts.
Han Li was initially given quite a fright upon seeing this before being overjoyed by this development. This incomplete Profound Heavenly Treasure was far too easy to control! He could sense that he'd immediately be
able to control the treasure after injecting some more of the devilish Qi from his Provenance True Devil Arts into it.
He was almost certain now that this blade segment was a Profound Heavenly Treasure from the Elder Devil Realm. Otherwise, it definitely wouldn't have been so sensitive toward devilish Qi.
After a brief hesitation, brilliant golden light began to radiate from Han Li's body, and golden scales also began to surface along his skin.
He had activated his Provenance True Devil Arts to its maximal extent, and bursts of golden light were flowing toward the blade segment in a frenzy.
The blade segment devoured the golden light with relish, and after just the span of a few breaths, it had taken on a golden hue as opposed to its original purple color. However, the blade segment wasn't devouring the golden light any slower as a result. Instead, the unknown creature within it suddenly became very elated, and its body also took on a golden color.
In contrast, Han Li was beginning to struggle a little. A third of what remained of his magic power had been absorbed by this blade segment in mere moments, and he immediately put an end to this process as the golden light around his body faded.
After that, the golden blade segment in his hand disappeared up his sleeve.
He hadn't completely assimilated this treasure yet, but he could just barely use it, and that was enough for now.
He wasn't going to stand around like an idiot, wasting all his magic power to feed a treasure when he was situated in such a perilous place.
With that in mind, Han Li quickly pulled out several small vials of different colors from his storage bracelet, then tipped out a few pills from each vial before swallowing them all at once.
These pills were naturally all fast-acting magic power replenishment pills, and even though they couldn't immediately help him recover to his peak condition, they were certainly better than nothing.
After that, green light flashed from one of Han Li's hands, and a top-grade spirit stone appeared.
Green light then flashed as he began to absorb the pure spiritual power within the spirit stone. This place was fraught with peril, so he certainly wasn't going to be stingy with his spirit stones here.
While absorbing spiritual power from the spirit stone, Han Li cast his gaze toward the devilish ape's dried corpse, and his expression changed slightly as if a thought had suddenly occurred to him.
He carefully inspected the corpse a few times, but didn't discover any storage bracelets or anything of that nature.
His brows furrowed slightly as he raised his other hand, and an inky-black ring shot forth. The ring revolved around the dried corpse before emitting a vast expanse of white light, and the corpse was drawn into the ring before the latter flew back to Han Li.
After that, Han Li's body swayed, and he flew into the empty hall again as a streak of azure light.
Aside from the ruined formation on the ground below, the hall was almost completely empty.
The reason why it was only "almost" completely empty was because the crimson jade bed was still lying motionlessly in a corner, flashing with faint crimson light.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense throughout the area to ascertain that there were no other suspicious items in the area, then immediately waved his hand toward the crimson bed.
The hefty-looking jade bed rose up into the air and flew toward Han Li, who thrust a palm toward it, and the bed hovered a certain distance away from him at his behest.
Han Li inspected the bed carefully to find that nothing special could be gleaned from its surface. He then swept his spiritual sense toward it, only for it to be repelled by the bed.
As opposed to being disheartened by this, Han Li was quite elated as blue light flashed through his eyes.
The sight that he was greeted by after unleashing his spirit eye ability immediately made him utter a faint cry of surprise. A slightly grim expression appeared on his face as he raised an arm again to cast an incantation seal toward the crimson bed, following which an unexpected turn of events unfolded.
All of a sudden, bright crimson light erupted from the bed, and a series of fist-sized silver ancient characters emerged from it. These characters revolved around in the air before forming a mysterious scripture before Han Li.
"Beveled silver text!"
Han Li immediately identified what these silver characters were, and his eyes immediately lit up.
How had this text appeared on the crimson bed? How had this bed ended up in the possession of the holy-grade devilish ape?
Han Li's mind was filled with questions, but he ignored them for now as he quickly read through the scripture before him, upon which a peculiar look appeared on his face.
"Profound Heavenly Tool Refinement Technique," Han Li finally murmured hesitantly to himself after a long while, as if he didn't dare to believe what he was seeing.
Chapter 1640: Landslide
Even though Han Li didn't read through the scripture in detail, he could still roughly deduce that the scripture of beveled silver text was detailing a mysterious tool refinement technique that he'd never seen before.
Just a quick glance through its contents struck him with a sense of absurdity. This was because the materials and refinement methods stipulated in the scripture were all things that Han Li had never even thought about before.
At the conclusion of the scripture, it even proclaimed that using this secret technique to refine treasures could create products that were comparable to Profound Heavenly Treasures, which was why this was known as the Profound Heavenly Tool Refinement Technique.
Miraculous feats like refining the sun and evaporating oceans were only the simplest tool refinement methods stipulated in this scripture, and these methods were most likely only feasible to true immortals of the True Immortal Realm.
As such, they were nothing more than a pipe dream to Han Li. Even before reading the scripture in any greater detail, Han Li was left feeling quite disappointed.
If it weren't for the fact that this scripture had been written in beveled silver text, Han Li would've most likely thought that the devilish ape had fabricated it on a whim.
After pausing momentarily to ponder the scripture, blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he cast his gaze toward the crimson bed again.
Moments later, his expression changed slightly, and he really did make another discovery.
All of a sudden, his body blurred, and he abruptly appeared in the air above the bed.
He then spread his fingers and patted the crimson bed with a single hand.
Loud rumbling booms rang out as countless thin arcs of golden lightning erupted from his fingers, forming a massive golden net that encompassed the entire bed within.
The silver runes all withdrew as if they'd encountered the bane of their existence, and they instantly disappeared without a trace.
In the face of the violent attacks from the golden arcs of lightning, the crimson bed was completely pulverized, and a putrid gag-inducing burst of blood Qi instantly wafted through the air.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he brought his fingers together, and the net of lightning was immediately withdrawn. Golden lightning flashed, and the blood Qi down below was completely eradicated.
Immediately thereafter, a palm-sized white jade badge was revealed, and there were silver runes flashing erratically upon it.
Han Li wasn't all that surprised to see this, but his brows furrowed as he mused to himself, "It really is another one of the outer pages! Looks like this thing is definitely authentic, but pages of the Golden Jade Tome should only be found on in the human and demon territories; how had it fallen into the Elder Devil Realm and into the hands of this devilish ape?"
This was the third page of the Golden Jade Tome that Han Li had obtained, but unfortunately, it's contents were completely useless to him as he currently was. Perhaps he'd be able to make use of it after progressing to the Grand Ascension Stage.
Even so, he could certainly conduct further research into thi
s Profound Heavenly Tool Refinement Technique. If he could glean some unique insights from it, that would still be immensely beneficial to him.
With that in mind, Han Li knew that it wasn't the right time to be researching this jade page, so he swept a sleeve through the air, and a burst of azure light swept forth to draw the page up his sleeve.
However, the object flew away in the opposite direction as if it possessed sentient will. Fortunately, Han Li was already prepared for this, and his hand shot forth like lightning as he made a grabbing motion.
A burst of invisible power immediately sealed the space in a radius of over 100 feet, and the jade badge was forcibly drawn into his hand.
Han Li then immediately pulled out a jade box from his storage ring before carefully storing the jade badge into it, following which he plastered several restriction talismans onto the box. After stowing the jade box away, there was nothing else in this hall that caught Han Li's interest, so he immediately flew out into the devilish Qi passageway as a streak of azure light.
During his flight, he summoned another top-grade wood-attribute spirit stone, holding one in each hand as he absorbed spiritual power form both of them at once.
At the same time, the pills that he'd taken earlier were also beginning to take effect, and wisps of pure spiritual Qi surged throughout his body before being slowly absorbed by his meridians.
He was currently flying toward the location where he could sense his Gold Devouring Beetle.
That was where Xian Xian's true objective lied. He didn't know what she was plotting, but it had to be something quite big for her to be willing to take such a big risk.
Now that Han Li had completed his objective for this trip, he no longer had any qualms, and he was naturally very interested in taking a look at what Xian Xian was up to.
His battle with the devilish ape had been an extremely perilous one, but it hadn't actually taken all that long.
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