If any other Body Integration cultivator were to hear of this, they would most likely find such a thing impossible to believe.
After all, a cultivator of Han Li's caliber would have to cultivate arduously for at least several centuries or perhaps even 1,000 years to achieve the same thing. Even the miraculous pills of the True Immortal Realm couldn't have such an extraordinary effect in just two years.
However, despite the fact that his cultivation base had reached a sufficient level, Han Li had no intention of commencing a breakthrough right away.
After cultivating in the secret chamber for another year to completely consolidate his newly gained magic power, he flicked a wrist to send a ball of white light flying out of his storage bracelet. The ball of white light then transformed into a translucent jade box that was several feet in length with a shimmering silver restriction talisman plastered to its surface.
Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that removed the talisman from the box, then flicked a finger toward it, upon which the lid of the box was opened to reveal a crimson fruit shaped like a grain of rice.
The fruit was over a foot in length and around as thick as an infant's arm with a very sharp end; this was one of the pieces of Bloodtooth Rice that Han Li had obtained from the Elder Devil Realm.
Han Li made a grabbing motion to draw the piece of Bloodtooth Rice into his grasp and gently stroked it as he murmured to himself, "As expected of a piece of premium Bloodtooth Rice; it's of a far better quality than normal Bloodtooth Rice. If I were to consume it before cultivating the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, I'm sure my rate of progress will be accelerated significantly."
At this point, he had already reached initial mastery of the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, but he was still far from achieving complete mastery.
With his current physical body, it would take at least over 100 years for him to reach that level.
Of course, if a normal Body Integration Stage human cultivator were in his place, they wouldn't be able to achieve this even if they were given all the time in the world. Instead, it would be very likely that their meridians would be shattered, and their body would implode.
After benefiting from the Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus, Han Li's body and meridians had become far more powerful than before, and the extraordinary effects of the Bloodtooth Rice would undoubtedly shorten the amount of time required for his cultivation significantly.
As such, he was very confident in his mastery of the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra.
Once he mastered this powerful ability, it would definitely be of great help to him for his breakthrough attempt to the Grand Ascension Stage.
As Han Li considered all of his, he slowly injected a burst of pure Yang energy into the Bloodtooth Rice.
In the next instant, the Bloodtooth Rice was enveloped in a layer of gentle white light and was quickly cooked, giving off a rich fragrant aroma during the cooking process.
Han Li immediately devoured the entire piece of Bloodtooth Rice in a few bites, and countless bursts of heat instantly began to surge through his meridians.
A serious look appeared on his face as he made a hand seal, and his Provenance True Devil Projection appeared behind him amid a flash of golden light as he began to cultivate according to the mantra.
One season passed by after another, and 40 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Silvermoon was cultivating in her secret chamber when she suddenly heard what appeared to be countless dragon's roars erupt from a nearby secret chamber. Immediately thereafter, the sound of howling winds and rumbling thunder rang out, and the ground began to tremor slightly as if there were a violent storm taking place not far away.
A hint of surprise flashed through Silvermoon's eyes, and she was just about to get up when her expression changed slightly, and she heaved a faint sigh before closing her eyes again.
Meanwhile, a series of astonishing phenomena were taking place in another secret chamber.
Han Li was still seated with his legs crossed within the secret chamber, and his entire body was radiating purplish-golden light. At the same time, countless silver spirit patterns were rapidly surging over his skin, forming a series of formations of different sizes before quickly crumbling away, presenting a very peculiar sight to behold.
The Provenance True Devil Projection behind him also had identical silver spirit patterns running along the surface of its body, and what was even more incredible was that the sounds of howling winds and rumbling thunder were stemming directly from within Han Li's body.
Fierce winds were sweeping through the nearby area, and they were intermingled with arcs of silver lightning.
Han Li's eyes were currently glowing with dazzling blue light, and he was appraising himself with an ecstatic expression.
All of a sudden, he rose to his feet before thrusting a palm forward in a casual manner.
The silver spirit patterns on his arm instantly converged to form an extremely profound formation, and at the same time, azure light flashed from his palm before pouncing directly toward the door of the secret chamber as a ferocious azure wyrm.
A resounding boom rang out from the stone door, and piercing five-colored light immediately erupted.
Han Li was quite stunned to see this, and he hurriedly withdrew the silver formation on his arm, upon which the azure wyrm also vanished.
After that, the restriction on the stone door flashed violently a few times before returning to normal, and an ecstatic look immediately appeared on Han Li's face.
He had only unleashed a casual strike with his arm, which had been refined by the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, and it was already displaying such incredible power; it seemed that the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra was far more powerful than even what he had originally anticipated.
This was naturally fantastic news to him.
During the past 40 years of arduous cultivation, he had consumed all of his Bloodtooth Rice and finally achieved complete mastery of the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra.
Currently, every single part of his body could be transformed into a powerful treasure with different profound abilities, allowing him to kill other beings of the same caliber without even using any treasures or weapons.
Chapter 2178: The Third Extreme Mountain
Han Li gently clenched his other hand into a fist with an elated expression, and countless golden threads appeared before disappearing in a flash after revolving around his fist for a short while.
At the same time, a string of cracks and pops rang out in rapid succession within Han Li's body, and a burst of enormous power surged through all parts of his meridians in a frenzy.
Blue light flashed within Han Li's eyes, and the cracks and pops suddenly subsided as he threw a punch at the stone door in the distance.
An explosive boom instantly rang out, and the stone door flashed with five-colored light before abruptly exploding.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then swept a sleeve toward the rubble in the distance to release a burst of azure light.
The azure light surged over the pile of rubble, which reverted back into a stone door once again.
After that, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed and began to carefully examine every single part of his own body, assessing the differences between the abilities of each of his body parts.
Three days and three nights passed by, and Han Li finally mastered all of the intricacies of his Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, following which he consumed the vial of Azure Luan True Blood, then immediately began to cultivate the second stage of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
During the past few centuries, he had already completely interpreted the second stage of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and his physical body and spiritual sense were now both powerful enough to cultivate this second stage, so his rate of progress was quite fast.
After only around a dozen years, Han Li was able to master the sec
ond stage of the Spirit Refinement Technique, but to his surprise, no astonishing phenomenon was triggered, as had happened back when he had mastered the first stage of the technique. Instead, everything happened in a peaceful manner.
After mastering the second stage of the Spirit Refinement Technique, even Han Li himself was astonished by how powerful his spiritual sense had become.
Upon releasing his spiritual sense, he was able to sense everything within a radius of around 40,000 kilometers, and this was definitely beyond what even the most seasoned Grand Ascension Stage beings could accomplish.
Of course, during this time, the vial of Azure Luan True Blood had already been completely refined, thereby adding another form to his 12 Awakening Transformations.
After adopting his Azure Luan form several times in his secret chamber, Han Li reverted back to his human form with a pleased expression, then flicked a wrist to produce two green crystals of different sizes out of his storage bracelet.
One of them had a diameter of around a foot, while the other was the size of a fist; they were none other than the crystalline cores that contained the Five Elemental Yin Yang True Light.
One of them had been obtained from the underground mine, while the other had been refined from the demon core of that Magnetic Light Beast.
In conjunction with some of the other precious materials he had prepared in advance, he now had enough to refine the third extreme mountain.
Han Li appraised the crystalline cores in his hands in silence while thinking back to the relevant portion of the Integrated Five Extreme Mountains' refinement method.
Two hours later, Han Li suddenly tossed the two green crystals in his hands up into the air, following which his storage bracelet removed itself from his wrist on its own.
Han Li then pointed a finger at the storage bracelet, and it immediately released a vast expanse of light onto the ground.
In the next instant, a series of containers appeared on the ground beside Han Li in a neat and orderly fashion.
After that, a ball of silver light that contained a silver cauldron emerged from the storage bracelet amid a dull thump.
Initially, the cauldron was only around an inch in height, but it quickly swelled to around 10 feet tall before crashing down heavily from above.
A resounding boom rang out as the entire secret chamber tremored slightly, and three legs of the cauldron had buried themselves around half a foot deep into the ground.
Han Li waved a hand toward the pair of green crystals, and they immediately flew into the cauldron as two balls of green light.
After that, Han Li opened his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames, which transformed into a small silver Fire Raven that flew toward the underside of the giant cauldron.
Silver spirit flames instantly began to burn outside the cauldron, and the surrounding temperature spiked drastically, causing the nearby air to warp and twist as if it were about to be melted.
Meanwhile, Han Li flicked his fingers in rapid succession toward the containers on the ground, and the lids of all of the containers were quickly removed.
Immediately thereafter, the containers appeared in the air above the giant cauldron before tipping out the materials they contained.
Han Li injected his magic power into the silver Fire Raven in a frenzy, causing the bird to swell to around twice its original size, and the silver flames engulfed virtually the entire lower half of the cauldron.
Five-colored light flashed from the surface of the cauldron, and a series of dazzling pea-sized runes appeared before revolving around it.
At this moment, Han Li slowly closed his eyes, but at the same time, he began making a series of rapid hand seals.
Within the giant cauldron, the two green crystals and other precious materials were embroiled in extraordinarily high temperatures, and the surfaces of some of the materials were even beginning to melt...
Perhaps it was due to the slight shortage of materials, or perhaps this Five Elemental Yin Yang Extreme Mountain was far more difficult to refine than previous two extreme mountains to begin with, but it took Han Li around a month to finally successfully refine the extreme mountain.
Inside the secret chamber, the giant silver cauldron had already shattered into countless fragments, and a dazzling mountain that was around a foot tall was hovering around 10 feet above the ground.
Not only was the mountain completely translucent, it was giving off piercing five-colored light that made it impossible for one to look directly at it for too long.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li's face at the sight of the miniature mountain as no one was more aware than he was of just how fearsome it was.
However, this extended period of continuous refinement had been extremely taxing to him, so he had to rest and recuperate.
With that in mind, Han Li waved a hand toward the mountain, and it shrank down to only around an inch tall before landing in his hand, following which it was stowed away.
After that, Han Li closed his eyes in a weary manner and began to meditate.
Two days and two nights later, he reopened his eyes, and all of his exhaustion had been wiped away.
After a brief moment of contemplation, he made a hand seal, and golden light flashed behind him as the Provenance True Devil Projection appeared once again. He then swept a sleeve through the air, and 72 small azure swords were released before revolving around his body.
Immediately thereafter, he flipped a hand over to produce an azure jade slip, and countless white runes instantly surged out of the jade slip at his behest. The runes converged to form a passage of text, which hovered before him in a still manner.
This was none other than the Azure Essence Sword Art that he had cultivated in the past.
Even though Han Li had already completely memorized this sword art, he still stared intently at it with an unblinking gaze, and his eyes quickly became as clear as water.
He had entered a completely tranquil state and was reassessing this cultivation art.
During the process, some of his 72 azure swords converged together, while others separated, occasionally forming a series of miniature sword formations, and occasionally soaring independently through the air.
All of the small azure swords seemed to have been imbued with life force of their own, which was quite an extraordinary concept.
This process lasted a total of five years before a faint sigh finally rang out within the secret chamber.
All of the small azure swords returned to Han Li's body, and a hint of life finally returned to his eyes.
Immediately thereafter, he stowed the azure jade slip away before producing a golden jade badge, which released countless golden runes at his behest to form another passage of text.
Judging from the profound appearance of the characters, this was none other than the original text of the Provenance True Devil Arts.
Han Li stared intently at the passage of text, and the Provenance True Devil Projection behind him suddenly opened its six eyes while making different hand seals with each of its six hands.
Almost at the exact same moment, golden light flashed from Han Li's body, and a series of golden runes surged out of his skin, forming a series of golden scales that spread over his entire body, while a single horn appeared on the top of his head.
Han Li studied this cultivation art for far longer than the Azure Essence Sword Art, and before he knew it, eleven years had flown by.
On this day, a cry of elation suddenly rang out from within the secret chamber, and the Provenance True Devil Projection behind Han Li disappeared alongside the horn on his head and the golden scales all over his body.
Han Li then opened his eyes, and an irrepressible smile appeared on his face.
During this reassessment of his cultivation arts, not only had he managed to make sense of some parts of the cultivation arts that he had failed to understand in the past, he had also developed several new abilities that branched off from those cultivation arts.
He had decided to do this after taking into account the Grand Ascension Stage bottleneck breakthrough experience that had been bestowed upon him by Mo Jianli and Patriarch Ao Xiao.
At present, he had completely mastered the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra and had three extreme mountains to help him transcend his heavenly tribulation. In conjunction with the new abilities he had mastered and the fact that the medicinal effect of the Clean Spirit Lotus he had consumed had been mostly refined, he estimated that there was a 60% to 70% chance of making a successful breakthrough.
Such an incredibly high probability would be enough to fill all Body Integration Stage beings with intense envy.
One had to realize that even after spending their life's savings and making preparations for tens of thousands of years, the average late-Body Integration Stage being would still only have a less than 10% chance of making a breakthrough to the Grand Ascension Stage. Some late-Body Integration Stage beings with lackluster aptitude wouldn't even be able to survive the heavenly tribulation.
Otherwise, there wouldn't be so little Grand Ascension Stage beings in the Spirit Realm.
The preparations that Han Li had made were far from what the average late-Body Integration Stage being could hope to match, so he had decided to attempt a breakthrough right away.
Breaking through the Grand Ascension Stage bottleneck was naturally going to be far more difficult than breaking through his previous bottlenecks, and the world's origin Qi triggered during the breakthrough would be extremely destructive, so he naturally couldn't attempt the breakthrough within the secret chamber.
Thus, a determined look appeared on his face as he stood up and exited the secret chamber.
Chapter 2179: Preparations
As the stone door was opened, Daoist Xie had already sensed what Han Li was doing, and he arrived before Han Li in a flash, then appraised him with silver light flashing within his eyes.
At this point, Daoist Xie had already recovered his Grand Ascension Stage powers, and his gaze was sharp as a blade, striking Han Li with a sense of discomfort.
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