Chapter 1686: Repairing Armor

The Ganoderma Immortal, witnessing this scene from the side, had an unusually gentle expression. Suddenly, he stepped forward and reached out his hand, making a grasping motion in the air towards the white rabbit. A purple light flew from his hand, instantly enveloping the white rabbit and the tuber on the ground, drawing them towards him. The white rabbit continued to eat steadily within the shimmering light, seemingly unfazed.

After gazing at the white rabbit for a moment, a strange light flickered in the Ganoderma Immortal's eyes, and he couldn't resist reaching out his hand towards the creature in the glow. However, before his fingers could actually make contact with the white rabbit's fluffy body, the rabbit's form shimmered with spiritual light, and it suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving a series of afterimages.

The next moment, the white rabbit reappeared on the ground. But it reared up on its hind legs, its pure white fur bristling, and bared its teeth at the Ganoderma Immortal, snarling continuously. Clearly, the Ganoderma Immortal's previous action had greatly irritated this spiritual creature.

The Ganoderma Immortal, seeing this, merely smiled. His aura shifted, and the purple light emanating from his body simultaneously changed to an emerald green. A strong surge of wood-element spiritual energy emanated from him.

The white rabbit, which had initially been baring its teeth and claws, paused in surprise as it sensed this spiritual energy. After sniffing twice with its pink nose, its expression visibly softened, and its gaze towards the Ganoderma Immortal even became a little affectionate.

"Little fellow, come here," the Ganoderma Immortal said, clapping his hands together, then beckoning with one hand towards the white rabbit. The white rabbit seemed to truly understand the Ganoderma Immortal's words. After a brief hesitation, it gave a push and actually jumped into his embrace.

The Ganoderma Immortal was overjoyed. He carefully stroked the white rabbit's head with his palm, looking utterly delighted. The white rabbit, narrowing its eyes, also showed a pampered expression, extending its tender red tongue to lick the Ganoderma Immortal's fingers.

"Good, good. It seems it's not far from truly developing its spiritual intelligence," the Ganoderma Immortal said, carefully stroking the white rabbit in his arms as he turned his head to address Han Li. "Fellow Daoist Han, since this kindred spirit can move so freely in your medicinal garden, it's clear you've treated it with great care. If that's the case, I'd like to help it further awaken its intelligence and teach it a few things. Do you have any objections?"

"Help it awaken its intelligence?" Han Li was slightly startled, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

"Indeed. As a spiritual medicine that achieved sentience, some of the divine abilities and cultivation methods I've comprehended can only be inherited and practiced by those of my kind. This way, it can avoid many detours in the future. If this creature can also transform into a human form like me, I imagine it would be a considerable aid to you in the future." The Ganoderma Immortal's eyes flickered as he spoke slowly.

"It's not impossible, but whatever you do to it, my puppet must be present to observe. Furthermore, from now on, this puppet will not leave your side by even half a step." Han Li stared at the Ganoderma Immortal for a while before finally nodding, but he also put forth his own conditions.

"No problem at all. There's nothing secretive about what I do," the Ganoderma Immortal replied, looking satisfied.

"Then there are no further issues. For the coming year, please recuperate well here. If anything comes up, you can inform this puppet of mine." After Han Li finished speaking, he clapped his hand behind him. Immediately, the "Doll" behind him stepped forward and stood beside him. "From today onwards, you will follow Fellow Daoist Ganoderma Immortal and not leave his side for a moment," Han Li instructed sternly.

Although this spiritual puppet's sentience wasn't high, it could naturally understand simple commands. The Doll's eyes flickered a few times, then it nodded expressionlessly.

Seeing this, the Ganoderma Immortal let out a faint chuckle. With a flick of his wrist, a swirl of purple light enveloped the white rabbit, gently depositing it onto the ground. He himself flickered, appearing several tens of feet away from the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng. As his two feet parted, his entire body glowed with emerald light, and his four limbs once again transformed into pale purple tentacles, which then drilled straight into the ground. At this point, the Ganoderma Immortal's body became a vibrant, glistening emerald green, radiating a verdant, crystalline glow.

Han Li stood rooted to his spot until the towering, ten-foot-tall purple giant ganoderma appeared before him, and its roots had plunged unknown depths into the earth. Only then did he turn with a faint smile and leave the medicinal garden. Although he was greatly curious about the mysterious purpose of this Ganoderma Immortal, he now had to make a trip out. The date that Fairy Xianxian had agreed upon for repairing the Skyfiend Armor was almost at hand, and he was greatly anticipating its completion.

However, to be cautious, Han Li left his Leopard-Scaled Beast and his second Nascent Soul in the cave mansion when he departed, and only after activating all the restrictions within the mansion did he leave with peace of mind.

Several hours later, he arrived in a beast carriage in front of the Crystal Race woman's shop. The shop's doors were still tightly shut, appearing as though it wasn't open for business. Without further ado, Han Li raised a hand, and a flash of fire appeared from his sleeve. A streak of fire immediately shot out, vanishing in a flash as it entered the door, leaving no trace. He then waited quietly outside the door.

A moment later, the door creaked open, and the Crystal Race woman's gentle voice emanated from within: "Brother Han is truly punctual; you've come knocking just as the half-month period expired."

"I, too, am eager to repair my Devil Armor, so I might be a bit impatient. I hope Fairy won't mind," Han Li said with a light chuckle as he stepped inside. With a slight tremor, the door then closed by itself.

In the middle of the shop, a gentle and beautiful woman was smiling as she looked towards Han Li. It was none other than Fairy Xianxian. The moment she saw Han Li approach, she pursed her lips, saying no more. With a single hand sign, she immediately activated the teleportation formation. With a flash of radiant light, Han Li and the woman suddenly vanished from the shop, directly teleported into the Crystal Race woman's spatial rift.

The moment Han Li stepped out of the formation beneath his feet, his gaze swept across the area and immediately settled on a corner of the space. There, a large formation, over ten zhang in diameter, had been conspicuously set up. It was as black as ink, with more than a dozen equally dark crystal stones embedded around its perimeter. At the core of the formation, there was a greenish-bronze cauldron, about half a zhang tall. Its surface was engraved with intricate runes, and it emitted a faint white mist. A few feet above the cauldron, another object, fist-sized and enveloped in a thin white mist, hovered motionless, emitting a dazzling black glow.

Upon seeing this scene, Han Li couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Although the object on the cauldron had somewhat changed in appearance, the chilling demonic energy it emitted was completely unchanged. It was unmistakably the Saint-tier demon core of that devil ape. However, the demon core was now completely crystallized, shining like a piece of black crystal.

"What do you think, Fellow Daoist? I haven't been idle these past few days either. It took a great deal of effort and many rare materials to completely erase the traces of that Saint-tier devil ape from the demon core and make the demonic energy it contains less violent and uncontrollable," Xianxian said with a smile, after also stepping out of the teleportation array.

"Oh, so Fairy Xianxian doesn't intend to embed the entire demon core into the Devil Armor, but rather plans to thoroughly refine it?" Han Li asked, stroking his chin.

"I didn't expect Brother Han to be proficient in artifact forging as well," the Crystal Race woman said, a hint of surprise in her voice as she explained. "That's right, I do intend to do that. While embedding the entire demon core into the Devil Armor could indeed repair some of the largest cracks, it wouldn't address the smaller ones. Brother Han surely wouldn't want to leave any openings for your opponents when using this Devil Armor, would you?"

"I'm merely somewhat familiar with artifact forging," Han Li said with a smile. "Please proceed as you intended, Fellow Daoist. I have great confidence in the Crystal Race's artifact forging techniques."

"When we begin repairing the Devil Armor later, I will activate the restrictions within this space. At that time, I might also need your assistance, Fellow Daoist. If all goes smoothly, I estimate the repairs should be completed in about three days." Hearing Han Li's modest reply, Xianxian smiled sweetly and, without further questions, explained this in a somewhat informal tone.

"Three days isn't long," Han Li replied, showing no objection whatsoever. "And it's only natural for me to contribute my effort when repairing my own treasure."

"Since Brother Han has no objections, let's begin right away." Xianxian seemed disinclined to waste any more words. She immediately raised her delicate hand, and a spell disc flew from it, spinning rapidly above her head. Radiant light pulsed, and streaks of multicolored incantations flew out from it, vanishing in a flash as they merged into various parts of the space.

The next moment, the entire space above suddenly roared with a violent gale, and a massive, oppressive dark cloud surged forth. Simultaneously, the four walls of the space hummed lowly, and layers of gray mist emerged. The entire space immediately became pitch-black, so dark that one couldn't see one's hand in front of their face, as if they had fallen into a demon realm.

Upon seeing this, Han Li's eyes merely flickered. With a shake of his sleeve, an egg-sized white light-brick flew out and began to circle him, making the surrounding area significantly brighter. Meanwhile, Xianxian had already stepped forward, reaching the edge of the large formation. Seeing this, Han Li remained silent, but his figure moved. What seemed like just two slow steps instantly brought him to the Crystal Race woman's back, as if he had teleported.

Xianxian, however, seemed oblivious. She simply raised a hand and cast an incantation into the formation before her. Immediately, a low hum emanated, followed by a swirling of dark, ominous light, and the entire formation was activated. Han Li's expression stirred. He hadn't yet discerned the profound uses of this formation, but the waves of demonic energy emanating from it were undeniably pure. He wondered where the other party had gathered such a large amount of demonic energy.

Just then, Xianxian suddenly began to chant, and a brilliant green light burst forth from her body. Behind her, a several-zhang-tall azure Qilin phantom abruptly appeared. The Qilin phantom initially remained motionless, but as the Crystal Race woman's chanting grew more rapid, it finally opened its mouth slowly and spewed out a head-sized fireball. This fireball was extraordinarily strange, containing both black and azure colors simultaneously. It flashed and instantly struck the bronze cauldron at the center of the formation. With a "whoosh," a layer of black and azure flames immediately appeared on the cauldron's surface, burning fiercely.