Chapter 1442: 惊蛰十二变

Jin Yue said nothing more. The giant peng in the sky folded its wings, its enormous body steadily shrinking within a soft green glow, quickly returning to its original size.

A bird cry echoed from the great peng's mouth. With a flash of dazzling spiritual light, a bare-chested man materialized. Forming a hand seal, he slowly descended towards the jade platform, enveloped in a sheet of green mist.

The young woman's eyes narrowed, her gaze fixed on the man's bare chest. There, strikingly, was an eerie blue Great Peng pattern, lifelike and shimmering with a faint spiritual glow. This man was, of course, Han Li, who had integrated the Kunpeng true blood and refined the relic.

A True Saint Manifestation! This was the mark of possessing True Saint blood and fully activating it, an unusual phenomenon that most Holy Sons exhibited. With this manifestation, even if other races knew this person was not a true Sky-Peng, they likely couldn't give any reason to prevent him from participating in the trial.

Jin Yue secretly sighed. After comforting herself with these thoughts, she felt a sense of calm. However, Elder Xu and the beautiful woman grew increasingly uncomfortable seeing the pattern on Han Li's chest. A foreigner exhibiting a True Saint Manifestation, something most high-ranking members of their own race didn't possess, naturally caused them great displeasure.

With a flash of gold and silver light, a gold and silver long robe appeared on Han Li's upper body. He then landed in front of the three, cupped his fists, and said, "Thank you, three seniors, for your assistance. I have largely mastered the Sky-Peng transformation art. If there are any imperfections, I hope you seniors will kindly offer guidance." His attitude seemed extremely sincere.

"Your transformation art is already quite good. We have nothing more to instruct you on. You may return. Two months from now, before I take you to participate in the trial, I will bring out the auxiliary scroll of the Sky-Peng Oath for you to sign your name on. During this time, as long as you don't leave the Holy City, you are free to move about. Oh, and I should also tell you something. Although I helped you refine the Kunpeng relic, the malevolent energy and other impurities within it have not yet been cleared. They will lie dormant within your body but won't manifest in the short term. When you return from the trial, I will help you expel them completely." The young woman said this casually.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but he quickly returned to normal. "Seniors, rest assured, I will definitely participate in the trial on time two months from now."

The young woman merely nodded.

Han Li, understanding the unspoken cue, immediately bowed to the three again, then transformed into a ball of green light and departed. The young woman and the other two watched Han Li's figure disappear without a trace on the horizon. They exchanged no further words, but their expressions varied. Jin Yue looked at the sky, expressionless, while Elder Xu and the other person's faces flickered between light and dark, seemingly pondering something inwardly.

Less than half a day later, Han Li was in a top-floor bedroom of the guest house, sitting cross-legged on a wooden bed with eyes slightly closed. His hands formed a seal, and a faint blue glow flickered around him unsteadily. His face twitched, revealing a trace of pain, and pea-sized beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. With a long sigh, Han Li loosened his hand seal, and as the green mist receded, he opened his eyes.

"Interesting, I didn't expect the residual spiritual power of this Sky-Peng Elder called Hong Yun to be so fierce. If not for the Grand Evolution Arts being extraordinary, there might truly be endless trouble later. Fortunately, it has no independent sentience, so I can suppress it first and then refine it bit by bit," Han Li murmured to himself, his eyes flickering a few times.

In fact, even if it was just a portion of the elder's divine sense, as an Integration Stage expert, the strength of this spiritual power was still terrifying. It would likely take hundreds of years to completely refine it. But because of this, the effect after refining was equally astonishing, potentially increasing his spiritual sense by a considerable amount. As for the trivial malevolent energy in the relic, he didn't care about it at all. The True Devil Arts of the Brahma Saint were precisely the nemesis of such things.

Han Li pondered for a moment longer, then suddenly swept his hand over his thunder robe. After a burst of thunder, the robe transformed into countless gold and silver electric arcs, retracting into his body. He lowered his head slightly and naturally saw the blue hawk pattern on his chest.

"Hmph, Sky-Peng Manifestation? It should be called the Awakening Manifestation, shouldn't it?" Han Li's face showed a hint of strangeness. He suddenly extended a finger and lightly tapped the pattern. An incredible scene unfolded. The light blue great peng pattern suddenly flashed with five-colored light, transforming into a five-colored peacock with fully spread wings. Then, a golden light burst forth, and it transformed again into the image of a golden ape roaring with its head raised. Finally, after a brilliant white light, the pattern vanished without a trace.

If Jin Yue and the other two Sky-Peng elders had seen this scene, they would certainly have been dumbfounded. How could something like a True Saint Manifestation change forms repeatedly and even disappear on its own? Generally speaking, once a True Saint Manifestation pattern appears on the body, it remains with the owner for life, rarely undergoing significant changes.

Han Li stared at his chest, revealing a satisfied expression. "The Twelve Transformations of Awakening... I've now mastered three of the incantations. Although I lack the true blood of the Five-Colored Peacock and the Mountain Ape, preventing me from truly transforming into other true spirit avatars, the power of this divine ability is simply too astonishing," he murmured.

This cultivation method, unexpectedly obtained after refining Hong Yun's spiritual power, theoretically allows him to transform into twelve true spirit forms. Its power was immense. If he could thoroughly master all twelve true spirit manifestations and harness the divine abilities of numerous true spirits, even True Immortals in the heavens would likely retreat three paces.

Of course, this was merely a pipe dream. Even if he cultivated this Awakening Art to its highest realm, he would at most possess only a very small fraction of the various true spirits' divine abilities. Unfortunately, despite the reputation of true spirits in the Spirit Realm, although the Twelve Transformations include transformations of the True Dragon and Heavenly Phoenix, the incantations remained hidden deep within the unrefined portion of Hong Yun's spiritual power, and he didn't know how long it would take to obtain them. Otherwise, with the bit of True Dragon and Heavenly Phoenix blood he possessed, he could immediately gain two more transformations. Han Li felt a touch of regret.

As for the Kunpeng transformation, it was originally the foundation of many transformations, and the former Sky-Peng Grand Elder was most proficient in it. Otherwise, despite Han Li's exceptionally strong physique, it would have been impossible for him to grasp the essence of the Sky-Peng transformation art so easily upon first contact.

Immediately, Han Li remembered something, and a hint of mockery appeared at the corner of his mouth. With Jin Yue's assistance during the refinement of the relic, although he hadn't refined much spiritual power in a short time, he had obtained some useful information. This former Sky-Peng Grand Elder, Hong Yun, was indeed a rare genius, seen perhaps once in ten thousand years. Through his diligent study of the Sky-Peng Avatar transformation art, he managed to draw parallels, conceiving the idea of integrating various true spirit transformation arts and thus creating the Awakening Art.

But unfortunately, even though he was a late-stage Integration Stage expert and painstakingly collected various true spirit bloods, he only managed to develop this art up to the twelfth transformation. His divine sense and physical strength couldn't keep up, ultimately leading to backlash from numerous true bloods, which caused him to go mad and die. Somewhat strangely, this former Sky-Peng Grand Elder didn't leave the Sky-Peng race the cultivation method for this art before he went mad. Han Li found this somewhat puzzling.

Han Li naturally didn't know that when Hong Yun was the Grand Elder, it was the Sky-Peng race's golden age. Believing himself to possess extraordinary talent, he intended to astonish everyone with this art and unify the entire Sky-Peng race. He strictly guarded the specific divine abilities of this art, not revealing a single detail. At that time, other elders of the same race only knew that Hong Yun had created a unique divine ability called the Awakening Art, but they knew nothing else. Consequently, when he suffered backlash from the true blood and died in madness, the content of the Awakening Art naturally became lost to everyone. As for why his relic contained this set of Awakening Arts, only heaven knew the reason. Perhaps it was an unconscious act after Grand Elder Hong Yun went mad, or perhaps it was his last moment of clarity before his demise, when he suddenly wished to leave this incantation for his race, acting intentionally.

Han Li didn't dwell on it. Now that this set of incantations was in his hands, he naturally wouldn't return it to the Sky-Peng race. Otherwise, in their great joy, the Sky-Peng elders wouldn't first think of thanking him. More likely, they would immediately consider silencing him to prevent the incantation from leaking. He would certainly not do something so self-destructive.

Han Li's expression kept changing as he meticulously considered everything. Suddenly, the corner of his mouth curved upwards, revealing a smile. Speaking of which, besides the Awakening Art, his assimilation of the Kunpeng true blood and relic this time also brought another significant and delightful gain. His cultivation bottleneck had unexpectedly broken through, stimulated by the two substances in succession. He was now at the late Soul Transformation stage, and with the assistance of True Toad Water, his subsequent cultivation path would be unhindered. Meanwhile, the three Sky-Peng elders were only shocked by his mastery of the Sky-Peng transformation art and said little about his sudden increase in cultivation. It was unclear if they hadn't noticed it at all, or if such a minor increase in cultivation was simply beneath the notice of Integration Stage beings like themselves.

Han Li thought for a moment longer, narrowing his eyes slightly. Then, he flipped his hand, suddenly produced a verdant jade bottle, and poured out a few pills. After taking the pills, he closed his eyes and began meditating and cultivating again. Having just entered the late stage of cultivation, he still needed to consolidate this realm.

One day later, Han Li, refreshed, left his residence and headed straight for the Grand Trading Hall. It was now the day of his appointment with the owner of the Ten Thousand Thunder Workshop. Determined to obtain the Azure Luo Fruit, he naturally wouldn't miss the appointment.

The journey was uneventful. When Han Li stood once again in the shop on the ninth floor of the Grand Trading Hall, looking at the gaunt, middle-aged man before him, his expression turned somewhat grim.

"What's going on? Why are these people here? Did you not only arrange to meet me?" The speaker was not Han Li, but a burly man with a full beard and black armor, exuding an exceptionally powerful aura. At this moment, besides Han Li, there were actually three other people present in the shop.