Chapter 2017: Cauldron Refinement
The giant azure ark then continued on into the ocean without any pause. Meanwhile, the Spirit and human beings on the ark were all meditating in their own rooms to prime themselves to the best possible condition.
Everyone knew that despite how long they had been preparing, this trip was definitely still going to be an extremely perilous one. If they weren't careful, all of them could easily be wiped out in the Elder Devil Realm.
As such, everyone was doing everything they could to prepare for the foray into the Elder Devil Realm.
In a room on the bottom level of the ark, there were three identical Han Lis seated with their legs crossed. There was a colorful restriction shimmering from the walls, and the three Han Lis were all of different colors.
One was shimmering with golden light, one was radiating green light, and the final one was enshrouded within a cloud of black Qi.
These were none other than Han Li, his spirit body, and his Provenance Golden Body.
Back when Han Li was being pursued by the four Sacred Ancestor clones, he had no choice but to release his spirit body and second Nascent Soul as red herrings to distract his pursuers.
Both of them had managed to survive the ordeal, and Han Li naturally unleashed a secret technique to summon them back to himself as soon as he returned to Deep Heaven City.
However, due to the fact that the entire city had been surrounded by the devilish army, the spirit body and second Nascent Soul didn't dare to return to the city and could only temporarily hide in the outskirts of the devilish army.
After the devilish army was forced into retreat, the two were finally able to return to Han Li as he was recuperating in seclusion.
The second Nascent Soul was extremely familiar with the restrictions set up in the stone pagoda that Han Li had been staying in, so it was able to sneak in without alerting anyone else.
As for Qu'er and the spirit body, not only had they returned completely unscathed, they had made some progress in their powers during their time away from Han Li.
The second Nascent Soul had self-detonated to escape from the Yuan Cha clone, and even though it had been able to manifest itself into a new Nascent Soul, it had naturally been severely debilitated by the ordeal.
For a normal Body Integration cultivator, this would naturally be a very troublesome matter to deal with as it would take at least several decades of arduous cultivation to get the second Nascent Soul to fully recover. However, with the countless medicines and pills at Han Li's disposal, this wasn't an issue at all.
He fed the second Nascent Soul a series of fortifying spirit pills, and within just half a year, it had recovered most of its powers. It was still far from the height of its powers, but in its current state, it would still be able to control the golden body in battle.
Han Li was currently focusing the entirety of his attention on a small purple cauldron that was hovering before him.
The cauldron was only several inches in size, and its surface was covered in profound runes. It was currently being enveloped within a burst of azure flames that was being expelled out of Han Li's mouth, and he was staring intently at the cauldron while flicking his fingers toward it to cast incantation seals into the flames.
The azure flames flickered, and a low buzzing sound rang out from within the cauldron. There was a blurry grey strip of light that was half-concealed within the cauldron while the other half was extending out of it.
The strip of light was only around as thick as a human finger, and it was writhing violently as if it were extremely fearful of the azure flames around it.
Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged, but the frequency with which he was unleashing an incantation seal began to increase, a wisp of golden light began to appear in the azure flames being expelled out of his mouth.
Finally, the grey strip of light seemed to be unable to stand the refinement of the azure flames any longer, and it transformed into a white ball of light that shot forth out of the azure flames to try and flee the scene.
However, Han Li was already prepared for this, and he flicked a finger through the air in an unhurried manner, unleashing a bolt of golden lightning amid a loud thunderclap.
The white ball of light was instantly reduced to nothingness by the arc of golden lightning, and a hint of elation appeared in Han Li's eyes upon seeing this. "I've finally managed to force out that old devil's spiritual sense. Now, I just have to refine the cauldron again with my own blood essence to be able to use it."
Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal and opened his mouth to expel a ball of blood essence, which exploded into a cloud of blood mist that vanished into the cauldron.
The azure flames then began to burn with greater intensity, and the small cauldron began to revolve on the spot.
This was none other than the Purple Word Cauldron that Han Li had taken from the Xue Guang clone.
It was an incomplete Profound Heavenly Treasure that he had found to be extremely troublesome to deal with, and he hadn't dared to refine it right away due to the presence of Che Qigong's spiritual sense within the treasure.
This wisp of spiritual sense had already developed a hint of spiritual nature, and not only did it refuse to come out of the cauldron, it was even able to use some of the cauldron's power to protect itself.
As such, it had taken Han Li several years to finally force it out of the cauldron before destroying it on the spot. Now, all he had to do was refine the cauldron, and it would become a powerful weapon for him.
In terms of versatility and unpredictability, this Purple Word Cauldron was superior even to the blade fragment that had been taken from him, so it was certainly a very good replacement.
Han Li refined the small cauldron for seven days and seven nights, and only on the eighth day was the process completed. He swept a sleeve through the air with an elated expression to snuff out the azure flames, following which the cauldron shrank down to around the size of a human thumb before adhering itself tightly to his forehead.
Han Li closed his eyes and began to assess the uses of the cauldron, while the cauldron itself was shimmering with faint purple light that was fluctuating in brightness.
After another three days and three nights, Han Li reopened his eyes as a smile appeared on his face. He had already mastered most of the uses of the cauldron, and he laid a hand onto his own forehead to stow the treasure away.
Han Li paused momentarily, then suddenly raised an arm before opening his mouth to expel a burst of azure light, which severed his sleeve to reveal his bare arm.
On his forearm was the faint yellow mark left behind by that Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword. Han Li cast his gaze toward the mark, and a hesitant look appeared on his face.
After a long while, he finally gritted his teeth and pressed his arm hand onto his exposed forearm, then drew upon the magic power within his body.
Golden light flashed all over his entire body as golden ripples surged over his arm, and under the stimulus of pure spiritual power, the barely visible mark on his forearm began to become clearer. It gradually turned from yellow to green, then slowly transitioned to a dark green color.
From a distance, it looked as if a miniature dark green sword had been embedded within his arm.
A tense look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, but he continued the injection of spiritual power.
After a full 10 minutes had passed, the miniature dark green sword suddenly shuddered, then began to roam over his arm as if it had sprung to life.
Han Li's heart stirred as he immediately released his own forearm, and the injection of golden spiritual power also ceased in a flash.
In the instant that the miniature sword had been roaming over his skin, his entire arm had become scorching hot, as if it were being baked over an open flame, and all of the meridians within that arm were also struck by a burst of excruciating pain, which was why he had hurriedly stopped what he was doing.
Without the injection of spiritual power, the dark green sword returned to its original position, then reverted back to a barely visible yellow mark.
Han Li's brows furrowed tightly as he appraised the yellow mark, and only after a long while did he hesitantly flex his own arm. A layer of azure light flashed over his arm, and the torn sleeve was instantly restored.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face as he murmured to himself, "Looks like my late-Body Integration Stage magic power still isn't enough to allow me to use the treasure. If I really want to make use of this treasure, I'll have to reach the Grand Ascension Stage first."
After that, Han Li paused for a while longer before closing his eyes and entering a meditative state.
Two months later, the giant azure ark suddenly stopped in mid-air, and Han Li opened his eyes upon sensing this as a contemplative look appeared on his face.
Almost at the exact same moment, the Long Family patriarch's voice suddenly sounded within his secret chamber. "Brother Han, we've almost reached the spatial node. The flying ark is too big of a target, so we can't travel in it any longer; we'll have to disembark and fly from here."
"I see," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice, then swept his sleeve through the air around him.
Several tens of formations flags of different colors instantly shot out of the walls of the room before vanishing up his sleeve as streaks of spiritual light.
After that, he flew out of the room as a streak of azure light, and by the time he arrived in the air above the giant ark, there was a group of human and Spirit beings already waiting there.
He wasn't the last to emerge from the ark; immediately following him were the long-haired man from the Lin Family, and the elderly scholar of the Spirit Race.
As soon as the elderly scholar arrived, he immediately chanted something before pointing his finger at the giant azure ark, which rapidly shrank down into a small piece of azure wood that was then drawn up the scholar's sleeve.