Chapter 1428: Golden Marrow Body Refinement

Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that these bells were actually bell-shaped, golden-yellow small flowers, emanating a strong wood spiritual energy. They were incredibly lifelike, truly resembling bells cast from pure gold.

“There are really so many Wood Spirit Flowers, and all of them are over a thousand years old!” Seeing these spirit flowers, the giant ape let out a buzzing sound, its face filled with astonishment.

“The Wood Spirit Flowers, you’ve seen them. Where are the Golden Marrow Crystal Worms and the Golden Mother Coral Sand?” Han Li asked.

“Just these probably aren’t enough. There are only about a hundred spirit flowers here; according to our agreement, they would only be enough for ten pairs of spirit worms.” The small beast’s eyes flashed with delight, but it spoke with a calm demeanor.

Han Li smiled slightly, tossing the jade box in his hand forward, where it floated in the air. With a flip of his other hand, another long jade box appeared. When its lid opened, it too was filled with Wood Spirit Flowers. This sight instantly left the few demonic beasts dumbfounded.

“Are these enough? Bring out all the crystal worms and coral sand you brought,” Han Li said slowly, staring at the demonic beasts before him.

After their initial shock, the demonic beasts conversed in low voices for a few moments. Finally, the small beast pulled out a fist-sized, crystal-like mineral from its body, while the other demonic beasts each produced a palm-sized, dark black gourd. In an instant, fifteen crystals and three black gourds appeared in the hall. Han Li’s eyes lit up. Without a word, he reached out with one hand. Instantly, a crystal bounced up and was drawn into his hand. He lowered his head and examined it carefully.

Inside the transparent crystal, a pair of milky-white, two-inch-long small worms were congealed, motionless as if fossilized. His powerful spiritual sense instantly transformed into countless threads, penetrating the crystal and acting upon one of the small worms.

Immediately, a layer of milky-white light emanated from the worm’s body. With a slight movement, it surprisingly spat out a golden-yellow droplet, which then permeated into the crystal. The entire crystal’s light transformed, becoming resplendent with golden radiance.

Seeing this, Han Li’s expression shifted. He tightened his grip on the crystal, and an immense force surged into it. However, the crystal only flickered with golden light a few times and remained unharmed. “Indeed, they are Golden Marrow Crystal Worms!” Han Li murmured.

“Senior, please rest assured. Even if we had the guts of a bear and a leopard, we wouldn’t dare deceive you.”

“Is that so?” Han Li replied noncommittally, then set down the crystal. With a movement of his other arm, he picked up one of the dark black gourds.

As he tilted it, a stream of purplish-golden sand poured out, quickly forming a pile about three feet high on the ground. He casually scooped up a small handful of the purplish-golden sand, brought it close to his eyes, and gazed at it for a long while. He then proceeded to pour out the purplish-golden sand from the other two black gourds as well.

“Indeed, this Golden Mother Coral Sand is of excellent quality. Considering its weight, along with the fifteen pairs of crystal worms, although it’s slightly less than the value of these two boxes of Wood Spirit Flowers, it’s close enough. Let’s proceed with the exchange,” Han Li said casually after a quick glance at the objects. Hearing Han Li’s words, the four demonic beasts showed delight and nodded in agreement.

Han Li tossed the two jade boxes, which the small beast and the golden-furred giant ape caught respectively, then carefully put them away.

At the same time, Han Li swept his sleeve across the ground. After a wave of shimmering green light, the crystals and gourds vanished without a trace.

“I am very satisfied with this exchange. In the future, if you have any surplus crystal worms, coral sand, or other rare items, you can come to me to exchange them for what you need. I, Han, possess more than just Wood Spirit Flowers, and I won’t let you suffer any losses. You may leave now.” Han Li had no intention of keeping the demonic beasts any longer. After a few calm words, he effectively dismissed them. Under the powerful oppressive aura of Han Li, the small beast and the other demonic creatures dared not say more. They respectfully exited Han Li’s cave dwelling and fled, riding on demonic winds.

Only after flying over a thousand *li* without stopping did they finally sigh in relief and halt, regrouping in mid-air.

“This is wonderful! I never imagined we could obtain so many Wood Spirit Flowers at once, and all of them are over a thousand years old. If we submit all of them, perhaps we can be excused from other tributes, and those Heavenly Roc clan members won’t punish us,” the enormous wild boar grunted, highly excited.

“Indeed, I also didn’t expect this person could produce so many spirit flowers. If I’m not mistaken, the number of Wood Spirit Flowers growing on that giant mountain didn’t seem to be this abundant. Could it be that when we previously investigated this mountain, some other hidden areas were overlooked? From what he implied, it seems he still has quite a few of these flowers,” the giant ape said, frowning deeply. “Most likely. Or perhaps this person simply possesses so many Wood Spirit Flowers already. This also seems to be…”

The Heavenly Roc clan values this flower so highly, which speaks to its rarity. “Most likely, this flower is a specialty of our Black Hidden Mountain,” the three-headed giant python said, its eyes darting.

“Alright, no matter how rare these Wood Spirit Flowers are, it has nothing to do with us. As long as we can endure these hundred years, we can remove our slave marks and finally be free. However, we must do our best to provide the high-grade spirit stones that Elder requests. Otherwise, if anything goes wrong, all these years of waiting will be for naught,” the small beast said after pondering for a long time.

“With the Wood Spirit Flowers, enduring another hundred years certainly won’t be an issue. But the crucial point is, we don’t have many spirit stones left. Low-grade spirit stones are useless to us. And mid-grade spirit stones are no longer useful to Elder. As for high-grade spirit stones, the spirit stone mines have long been exhausted. Furthermore, Elder this time also requested four top-grade spirit stones of different attributes. Such supreme-grade spirit stones have never appeared on our Black Hidden Mountain, let alone among other cultivators around the island, who at most only have water-attribute spirit stones. Even if we wanted to trade for them, there’s nowhere to do so,” the yellow-furred giant ape buzzed.

“But according to Elder, these top-grade spirit stones are essential for him to break through his bottleneck; otherwise, his divine abilities will be difficult to master,” the enormous wild boar also murmured. The four demonic beasts fell silent for a moment.

“It would have been hard to say before, but the person we just met possesses immense divine abilities and came here from elsewhere. Perhaps he has spirit stones of other attributes,” the giant python said, shaking its three heads, its middle head slowly opening its mouth.

“We naturally thought of that. But with our cultivation level, how could we possibly use top-grade spirit stones? If we were to exchange for such an item, it would immediately arouse the other party’s suspicion. Let’s first think of other methods. Only if we truly have no other choice should we approach this person,” the small beast said cautiously.

“That makes sense. Let’s discuss it in detail after we’ve dealt with the Heavenly Roc clan’s envoy,” the giant ape suggested. The other beasts had no better ideas and nodded in agreement. Thus, the four demonic beasts transformed back into four wisps of demonic energy and fled in different directions.

At this moment, Han Li was in a secret chamber, toying with a crystal containing a crystal worm in one hand, his eyes flickering as he pondered something.

Although Golden Marrow Crystal Worms were extremely renowned and their legends had circulated among both humans and demonic beasts for a long time, the instances of them being discovered and captured alive were pitifully few. Even when occasionally found, there were usually only a pair or two. The immense value of each pair was enough to significantly deplete a high-level cultivator’s resources. Therefore, when Han Li learned that these few sixth and seventh-level demonic beasts could actually provide such crystal worms, the shock and ecstasy he felt were immense.

Crystal worms had multiple uses: they could serve as main ingredients for several cultivation-enhancing pills, and their body-refining effects were notable. Applying the golden marrow spat out by these worms onto one’s body, and then absorbing it to cleanse marrow and reshape tendons, could instantly elevate a cultivator’s physical strength by a major tier. However, given Han Li’s current formidable physical body, the effect would likely be greatly diminished. Compared to the first two uses, Han Li was more inclined to use these worms for a third, more obscure purpose. This was to use the crystal worms to forge his True Devil Projection of Brahma, solidifying it into a true physical entity.

This divine ability, when combined with the True Devil Arts of Brahma, possessed power capable of flattening mountains and seas, and could also be considered a most unique external avatar technique.

Of course, a great divine ability like the Buddhist sect’s Vajra Body Projection was not some complex secret art, and many knew of it. However, besides the Golden Marrow Crystal Worms, it also required several other legendary spirit herbs as auxiliary materials. The rarity of these spirit herbs was no less than that of the Golden Marrow Crystal Worms. To gather them all depended on a matter of destiny and was definitely not something that could be expected in the near future. Han Li stared at the crystal in his hand, quietly pondering for a long while. Suddenly, with a flick of his wrist, four more crystals appeared before him.

Ten pairs of crystal worms should be sufficient for forging the True Devil Projection of Brahma. As for the remaining five pairs, he intended to use them unhesitatingly to strengthen his physical body and to attempt another breakthrough to the mid-Nascent Soul stage. He estimated that even if everything went smoothly, this process would take five to six years.

With these thoughts in mind, Han Li did not hesitate at all. He immediately took one of the crystal blocks into his hand, and a pure, surging blue spiritual light emanated from his palm as he simultaneously closed his eyes.

The two small worms, originally motionless within the crystal, suddenly twitched their heads and tails simultaneously under the stimulation of spiritual energy. Opening their mouths, they each spat out a droplet of golden liquid.

The two droplets of liquid treated the crystal block as if it were nonexistent, seeping directly out of it without any obstruction and flowing onto Han Li’s palm, where they were enveloped by the blue spiritual energy. The next moment, the golden liquid within the blue light seemed to be stimulated, erupting into a bright golden radiance.

Immediately, this light and the blue spiritual energy intertwined and flickered, spreading directly down his arm. In an instant, his entire arm was enveloped in golden light.

When all the light subsided, the surface of his arm’s skin was completely dyed a brilliant golden color.

Han Li held his golden arm with one hand, muttering incantations.

The golden light on his arm flickered on and off again, while a layer of milky-white glow appeared on the golden arm, circulating continuously.

Han Li’s breathing became steady, his expression serene, as the spiritual energy within his body entered a miraculous grand circulation…