The cultivation art was split up into three stages. Mastering the first stage could double one's spiritual sense, mastering the second stage could quadruple one's spiritual sense, and mastering the third stage could enhance one's spiritual sense by eightfold or even more.
Han Li was naturally quite astonished by the enormous enhancements being outlined, and it was certainly quite plausible that this Spirit Refinement Technique was quite extraordinary, even in the True Immortal Realm.
However, just as Fairy Yue had stated, the conditions required to cultivate this technique were indeed extremely rigorous.
There weren't many conditions, and the minimum cultivation base requirement was only the Deity Transformation Stage, but one of the prerequisites was that one had to possess a sufficiently powerful body and spiritual sense so they could handle the immense backlash from the cultivation art.
If one's spiritual sense were to be multiplied by this cultivation art, but their body and spiritual sense weren't powerful enough to handle such a drastic boost, then they would instantly self-detonate and perish.
According to the guidelines stipulated by the cultivation art, one had to possess spiritual sense that was around twice as powerful as that of others at the same cultivation base if they wanted to cultivate the first stage. The requirements stipulated for one's physical body were even more diabolical; even the extreme outliers in terms of physical constitution would only just barely satisfy the outlined conditions.
It was extremely rare for anyone to be able to fulfill even one aspect of these two sets of conditions, and those who fulfilled both sets of conditions were virtually non-existent in the Spirit Realm.
After all, most cultivators either excelled in one aspect or another, or were far from satisfying the conditions in both areas.
As for the second and third stages, the requirements were even more insane.
Fairy Yue was someone who specialized in magic power cultivation, which was why she had been so disappointed upon seeing these conditions. However, just as she had deduced, the second half of the cultivation art did indeed provide a solution.
This consisted of two recipes for pills that Han Li had never heard of before. One of them was known as the Body Fulfillment Pill, while the other was known as the Soul Condensing Pill.
According to the recipes, one of the pills could enhance one's spiritual sense while the other bolstered one's physical body. Consumption of those pills over a long period of time could slowly allow one to satisfy the conditions required to cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Of course, such extraordinary pills couldn't be found in the Spirit Realm.
The two pills recipes were enclosed in an extremely detailed manner, and even the specific refinement process had been outlined. However, none of the main ingredients used were ones that Han Li had ever heard of. Hence, it would be next to impossible to refine these two types of pills in the Spirit Realm.
After inspecting the conditions required to cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique, Han Li was quite astonished, but he also heaved a sigh of relief.
He was pursuing the path of simultaneous cultivation, and his spiritual sense was far more powerful than that of others with the same cultivation base due to the Great Development Technique he had cultivated in the past. Furthermore, with his Provenance True Devil Arts and some body refinement pills he had consumed, his physical body was also insanely powerful. As such, he was capable of mastering the first stage even as he currently was.
For the second stage, as long as he could master the first stage, his enhanced spiritual sense would most likely be able to just barely satisfy the conditions. In terms of his physical body, if he could cultivate his Provenance True Devil Arts to the extreme and also had some luck come his way, then it wasn't a hopeless endeavor for him to satisfy the relevant conditions, either.
As for the third stage, Han Li could only stroke his chin with a wry smile on his face as he inspected the required conditions. In any case, being able to double his spiritual sense through the Spirit Refinement Technique would naturally be extremely useful.
Not taking into account anything else, if he could master this first stage, he estimated that his chances in battle against Body Integration Stage beings would increase by at least 20%. Thus, time slowly passed by as Han Li studied the Spirit Refinement Technique. On this day, Han Li was meditating within the belly of the mountain when a buzzing sound suddenly rang out from his storage bracelet.
His heart stirred as he hurriedly opened his eyes and looked down at the storage bracelet, just in time to see three balls of golden and silver spiritual light emerge from within it.
These were none other than the three Vast Glacial Badges.
The three badges swayed slightly before vanishing into specks of spiritual light right before his eyes.
The ground then began to tremor slightly, and the world's origin Qi in the nearby area was also thrown into disarray.
"Is it time?" he murmured to himself as spiritual light flashed from his body, and he flew away as a streak of azure light.
Moments later, the azure light receded in the air above the mountain, and Han Li appeared with his gaze directed upward.
Five-colored clouds had appeared in the sky over the Vast Glacial Realm, and they were churning violently amid gusts of fierce winds. The tremors running through the ground were also growing stronger as rocks and stones rolled down the mountain, and some of the trees were also being tipped onto their sides.
All types of flying and land-dwelling beasts rushed out of the mountain before escaping toward flat ground as quickly as they could.
Han Li clasped his hands behind his back and slowly closed his eyes with a solemn look on his face as he sensed the violently surging world's origin Qi around him.
Prior to entering the Vast Glacial Realm, he had been told that these phenomena were signs that indicated that the Vast Glacial Realm was beginning to close.
After half a day at most, outsiders like them would be forcibly ejected by the power of laws in this realm.
As such, they had left behind their own marks on the formation prior to departing, and they were also carrying special treasures that could resonate with the formation, thereby ensuring that they would be sent back to where they had first departed from.
Han Li thought back to all of the rewards he had reaped during his time in the Vast Glacial Realm while sensing the astonishing changes taking place around him, and all of a sudden, his expression changed slightly.
He opened his eyes in a surprised manner before turning toward a certain direction. There, two streaks of light, one golden and one white, were hurtling toward him beneath the layer of five-color clouds in the sky.
The two streaks of light were quite dim, but the white light was clearly more powerful than the golden light, and the latter was being hunted down by the former.
The streak of golden light up ahead struck Han Li with a sense of familiarity, and blue light flashed through his eyes, allowing him to see the two creatures within the streaks of light, upon which a surprised look appeared on his face.
There was a giant golden wolf within the golden streaks of light, and it was fleeing with all its might. Its fur was ragged and in tatters all over its body, and it was none other than the Dark Beast Monarch that Han Li had encountered twice before already.
The white light that was giving chase contained a winged white tiger monster, and it was also in a rather sorry state, but it was determined to hunt down the Dark Beast Monarch.
The two flew through the air, one after another, and due to the fact that both of them were completely spent and Han Li was concealing his aura, both of them failed to notice him.
A series of thoughts raced through Han Li's mind, yet before he had a chance to decide what he wanted to do, a low roar that was filled with eagerness and anxiety suddenly rang out from within his sleeve.
The sound came from the Leopard Kirin Beast in Han Li's spirit beast bracelet, an
d it seemed to be reacting very strongly to the two oncoming beasts.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly as he sensed the Leopard Kirin Beast's reaction. He naturally thought back to how the beast had devoured several high-grade Demon Beast demon cores, resulting in changes that he still couldn't quite comprehend even to this day.
Thus, a cold look appeared in his eyes as he turned toward the streak of golden light in the distance.
A loud thunderclap rang out as a pair of wings appeared on his back, and he vanished as an azure and white thread in a flash.
In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted above the Dark Beast Monarch, and a giant golden figure with three heads and six arms appeared. The golden figure's six arms swept through the air, and six pillars of golden light erupted forth like lightning, reaching the Dark Beast Monarch in the blink of an eye.
The Dark Beast Monarch's early-Body Integration Stage powers should've allowed it to evade these attacks, even if it had been caught off guard, but it was currently a completely spent force with less than a tenth of its magic power remaining.
As such, even though it tried to evade with all its might, it was still struck by three of the pillars of golden light.
A rumbling boom rang out as piercing golden light inundated the Dark Beast Monarch's body.
Immediately thereafter, spatial fluctuations erupted up above once again, and a giant black mountain that was over 10,000 feet tall appeared alongside a giant silver ruler, both of which then crashed down in unison without any delay.
Chapter 1747: Return
Countless silver runes surged forth from the underside of the mountain, forming a giant light formation that instantly sent a burst of enormous power crashing downward.
After being struck by the three pillars of golden light, the Dark Beast Monarch had only just barely returned to its senses before an overwhelming weight appeared over its body.
It immediately let loose a thunderous roar of rage and alarm, and its fur instantly stood up on end before transforming into a vast expanse of golden light that surged through the air.
With the Dark Beast Monarch's Body Integration Stage powers, the golden light would've been able to free it from the surrounding restrictions under normal circumstances, but in its severely debilitated state, the golden light only managed to travel around 10 feet away from its body before being stopped cold by the enormous weight crashing down from above.
A fearful look appeared on the Dark Beast Monarch's face.
It possessed a range of powerful abilities, but without magic power to support itself, it was unable to unleash any of them.
Right at this moment, the giant silver ruler up above swayed before conjuring up countless ruler projections, all of which crashed down upon the Dark Beast Monarch.
The Dark Beast Monarch let loose a shrill cry of anguish as its physical body was instantly surrounded by countless arcs of silver lightning, sending the acrid smell of burning flesh and fur wafting through the air.
Right at this moment, a giant azure sword also swept downward from above. The Dark Beast Monarch was completely immobilized by the enormous weight and silver lightning, so it was unable to evade. Azure light flashed, and its body was sliced in half.
A loud explosion rang out, and a golden Dark Beast that was around half the size of the original Dark Beast Monarch suddenly sprang out of the carcass.
A burst of crimson mist erupted from its body, and it flew through the air as a ball of crimson light.
"Hmm?" A faint cry of surprise rang out from the nearby space, following which a resounding boom erupted.
The giant black mountain had instantly teleported through the air before crashing down upon the fleeing crimson light with unerring accuracy.
However, a peculiar scene then ensued.
The crimson light instantly erupted in all directions while a thin streak of golden light shot forth from within; it was a fist-sized golden Dark Beast on this occasion.
It had left behind another empty husk in its attempt to escape.
A cold harrumph rang out from above, and silver light flashed, following which a head-sized silver Fire Raven abruptly appeared ahead of the fleeing miniature Dark Beast. The Fire Raven spread its wings and pounced toward the golden Dark Beast, which didn't have enough time to evade and was devoured by the bird.
The miniature Dark Beast didn't even get a chance to utter a single sound before it was incinerated into nothingness by the Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames.
Right at this moment, a dull thunderclap rang out, and an azure and white thread of light abruptly appeared near the silver flames.
The light then receded to reveal Han Li, and he quickly raised a hand and made a grabbing motion.
A thumb-sized golden crystalline core was immediately drawn out of the flames and into his grasp; it was none other than the Dark Beast Monarch's demon core.
Han Li only briefly inspected the demon core before casting his gaze toward another direction.
There, the white winged tiger demon was situated several thousand feet away, appraising the demon core in Han Li's hand in an enraged manner. There was a greedy look in its eyes, but it didn't dare to approach Han Li.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as he waved a hand toward the giant black mountain and silver ruler, upon which both treasures reverted back to their original size before flying back to him.
Meanwhile, he merely held the demon core and stood still in mid-air, appraising the white tiger demon in a completely expressionless manner.
The phenomena taking place in the surrounding area became even more violent, and arcs of silver lightning began to appear among the five-colored clouds.
Immediately thereafter, torrential rain began to fall, and a dense layer of mist appeared over the entire sky.
The white tiger demon became rather blurry in the distance, and it was still hesitating about how to proceed.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as a disdainful look on his face, and he flapped his wings gently, conjuring up balls of azure and white lightning that hovered around him.
A string of loud thunderclaps rang out, and the white tiger demon's pupils abruptly contracted upon seeing this. It then let loose an indignant roar before reluctantly flying away as a ball of white light.
Han Li didn't set off in pursuit of the white tiger. Instead, after it disappeared into the distance, he flapped his wings again, and all of the balls of lightning silently disappeared.
The small black mountain and silver ruler also vanished in a flash.
This white tiger was also at the early-Body Integration Stage, and it had far more magic power left than the Dark Beast Monarch did. The Vast Glacial Realm was about to close soon, so Han Li naturally wasn't willing to take any risks by going after the white tiger beast.
It was simply not worth risking any mishaps at such a critical juncture.
The white tiger beast was clearly quite an intelligent creature. It was extremely furious that Han Li had taken its prey, but the ease with which he had slain the Dark Beast Monarch made it realize that there was no way it could defeat Han Li in its current state. As such, it could only reluctantly depart.
The Leopard Kirin Beast was becoming more and more excited in the spirit beast bracelet, and it was already beginning to snarl incessantly, clearly very eager to get its paws on the Dark Beast Monarch's demon core. It was transmitting its will to Han Li, and he could tell that it was growing very impatient.
A faint smile appeared on his face, and he sent the golden demon core into the storage bracelet.
An elated cry immediately rang out from within the bracelet, and the Leopard Kirin Beast eagerly swallowed the demon core whole. It then transmitted emotions of gratitude toward Han Li before immediately sprawling onto the ground and closing its eyes.
Not long after that, it fell into a deep slumber.
This had already happened once before when the Leopard Kirin Beast had devoured the demon cores of those high-grade Dark Beasts, so Han Li wa
sn't surprised by this at all. Instead, he was looking forward to seeing how the Leopard Kirin Beast would turn out after this.
The inner core of the Dark Beast Monarch was clearly far superior in caliber to those of the high-grade Dark Beasts, and he was very much looking forward to seeing how it would enhance the Leopard Kirin Beast.
After that, Han Li hovered in mid-air and didn't do anything else.
Several hours later, a thunderous rumbling boom rang out from within the five-colored clouds, and they came plummeting down from above.
Han Li's body was instantly inundated by cloud and mist, within which lightning was flashing violently, and bursts of astonishing spatial fluctuations were surging in all directions.
After about 10 minutes, all of the cloud, mist, and lightning in the sky suddenly dissipated, and Han Li had already vanished.
The same scenes were unfolding all over the Vast Glacial Realm, and thousands of foreign beings were ejected from this realm by the power of laws.
......
Piercing five-colored light flashed before his eyes, and it was impossible to look directly into the light even with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes. The ground beneath his feet then disappeared, and he was struck by a rush of dizziness.
When a solid surface appeared beneath his feet again, a deafening explosion suddenly rang out nearby, following which a chilly sensation descended toward his head.
Han Li was quite startled by this development, and black Qi immediately erupted from his body, upon which his black suit of Heavenly Devilish Armor instantly appeared.
"Clang!" He opened his eyes right as a faint clang rang out, and he looked up to find a flying sword that was around a foot in length above his head. It was currently being kept at bay by the black light being released by his suit of devilish armor, and the owner of the sword was a horned being in a suit of silver armor.
It was a Jiao Chi being!
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1004