Chapter 1781: 念剑诀

With a gentle touch of his finger, the scroll slowly unrolled. A shocking aura of malevolence surged skyward. The image on the scroll was shrouded in a golden mist, making it impossible to discern anything. A crystalline blue light flickered in Han Li's eyes. Under the power of his spiritual vision, the scene instantly became clear.

The scroll depicted countless golden flying swords of varying sizes, each lifelike and emanating a distinct aura. Strangely, although the painting was only a few feet in length and width, it gave the impression of containing an infinite number of flying swords. Moreover, these flying swords were in various stances, some large, some small. The largest resembled sky-piercing colossal swords, appearing tens of yards long, while the smallest were barely an inch. Yet, with a single glance, even the intricate patterns on their blades were perfectly clear, as if seen from close range.

This painting was none other than the "Myriad Sword Scroll" he had obtained from the restricted ruins in the Guanghan Realm. As the scroll clearly contained an extremely powerful cultivation method, Han Li had spent a considerable amount of time on it over the years, in addition to cultivating his Divine Refinement Art, and had truly comprehended some insights from it. The insights gained from the Myriad Sword Scroll were naturally related to sword arts, and also closely connected to the manipulation of divine sense.

With his current cultivation level, he could long ago have cultivated the final sword formation of the Azure Essence Sword Art, the "Azure Ant Sword Formation." This sword formation was naturally more powerful than the Spring Dawn Sword Formation. However, after witnessing the might of Integration Stage cultivators on several occasions, Han Li felt it was still somewhat lacking. Thus, with a sudden inspiration, he integrated the insights gained from the Myriad Sword Scroll into the Azure Serpent Sword Formation. As a result, the new sword formation's power surged dramatically, becoming even more responsive to his will; he could deploy the formation with a single thought.

Han Li gazed at the Myriad Sword Scroll floating in the air, his eyes fixed. He had named the insights he gained from the scroll "Mind Sword Art," but he was well aware that this "Mind Sword Art" comprised less than one or two tenths of the true essence contained within the scroll. The remaining content, however, was too profound for someone at his Void Refinement Stage to comprehend.

After a long moment, Han Li let out a soft sigh and flicked his sleeve forward. With a flash of green light, the Myriad Sword Scroll rolled up, transforming back into its scroll form, and instantly vanished into thin air. Han Li, however, fell into deep contemplation.

His gains from the Guanghan Realm had been considerable! Besides the Divine Refinement Art and the Myriad Sword Scroll, what he valued most was the Void Spirit Pill, which he had cleverly kept hidden. This Void Spirit Pill was so highly prized that even the two Integration Stage cultivators, Cai Liu and Ying, had spent tens of thousands of years scheming to obtain this spiritual medicine. Its immense value was self-evident. Unfortunately, it was his first time hearing of this spiritual pill, and he surmised it would only be of great use to cultivators at the Integration Stage. Therefore, it was temporarily useless to him before he advanced to the Integration Stage.

Besides the Void Spirit Pill, he had also obtained numerous other spiritual herbs from the medicine garden within the restricted ruins. Most of these herbs, however, had already been sold to Tian Jizi and others, leaving him with only one or two plants as seeds for future cultivation. Although he couldn't identify the unique spiritual flowers and fruits, each one was undoubtedly a rare treasure in the Spirit Realm. Among them, what concerned him most was naturally the silver lotus pod he had obtained last. This spiritual medicine was most likely the rarest in the medicine garden, but since he didn't know its origins, he could only look at it wistfully. Han Li could only hope that he would have the chance to figure out the uses of these spiritual herbs in the future.

Even so, the Crimson Luo Fruits could be used to brew some Crimson Luo Heavenly Wine according to the recipe. This wine had the miraculous effects of prolonging life and improving one's physique. He figured there would be no harm in drinking a little first. Moreover, the Crimson Luo Fruits he possessed had accumulated medicinal properties for tens of thousands of years, so the spiritual wine brewed from them might even have other extraordinary effects. As for the Corrosive Poison Grass, it was a primary ingredient for refining several types of pills that could enhance Integration Stage cultivation, and it would be an essential pill after advancing to the Integration Stage.

Besides these, the few talismans with depleted spiritual power and the starry sky map from the folding screen's Sumeru space were also valuable for research. He believed they held significant value for comprehending the paths of talismans and formations. However, for the past century, he had primarily focused on cultivating the Divine Refinement Art and other secret techniques, so he couldn't spare any attention for them. He could only keep these two items safely stored in his storage bracelet for now.

Han Li silently pondered all of this, his gaze flickering slightly. After a while, he exhaled slowly, dismissed his distracting thoughts, and began to contemplate breaking through the Integration Stage bottleneck. With his greatly enhanced divine sense and the many spiritual pills obtained from the Thunderclap Continent, his chances of breaking through were naturally far superior to those of ordinary cultivators. However, before that, he still needed to refine another batch of spiritual pills and magical artifacts. After all, the Integration Stage bottleneck was significantly different from his previous breakthroughs. It not only required the assistance of numerous spiritual pills but also necessitated setting up a separate formation to harness the power of worldly essence, thereby increasing the chances of success.

This formation was something Han Li had coincidentally acquired from a certain foreign race on his journey back. It was said that this formation was a closely guarded secret of that foreign race; had it not been for his fortunate coincidence, he truly would not have obtained its method of deployment. This formation wasn't overly complex, but its conception was extremely ingenious, requiring several magical artifacts to serve as its core. Han Li naturally had to refine these artifacts himself. This was also the main reason he had purchased so many materials in Tianyuan City.

Han Li flicked his wrist, and his storage bracelet transformed into a streak of black light, flying into the air. After circling once, it hovered motionless. With one hand, he gestured towards the void around the circular bracelet. A flash of red light appeared, and a colossal crimson cauldron materialized beneath it. Subsequently, a stream of azure mist swept down from the storage bracelet. Spiritual light shimmered on the ground, and various jade boxes, bottles, and other items densely appeared. With a single-handed incantation, the cauldron spun in the air, instantly growing several feet tall.

Han Li smiled faintly and pointed another finger at the cauldron. With a soft hiss, a wisp of azure flame spurted from his fingertip. After gently circling the cauldron, the flames surged, the rolling azure fire growing several times in intensity. Simultaneously, a scorching aura filled the secret chamber, and the temperature significantly increased. Han Li, maintaining a neutral expression, made a grasping motion towards a jade box on the ground. The box opened by itself, and a piece of unknown metal flew out from within. The metal had a dark, lustrous surface, subtly emitting wisps of spiritual energy. It was clearly a semi-finished material that had undergone initial refining. With a whoosh, the dark metal vanished into the cauldron. Han Li flicked his sleeve towards the item, and the azure flames surged again, engulfing the entire cauldron. One after another, other materials were then drawn into the cauldron...

In this manner, Han Li spent a full two months refining all the necessary magical artifacts and pills. He then spent another half-month meticulously setting up a large formation, centered around the mountain peak. After this, Han Li entered seclusion again for half a year to recuperate, adjusting his mind and body to their optimal state. Finally, in his secret chamber, he began his breakthrough to the Integration Stage.

On this day, the white-haired elder of the Gu family branch was quietly meditating and cultivating in his cave dwelling when he suddenly felt the ground tremble, causing the entire secret chamber to shake. Startled, the elder opened his eyes, intending to shout and inquire something from the other clan members, but his expression immediately changed. A streak of light flared up, transforming into a startling rainbow that shot out of the secret chamber. After a few flashes, the white-haired elder appeared on a large boulder on the mountain peak, gazing solemnly at the distant sea of mist. A moment later, several other streaks of light also flew up from the base of the mountain, obediently landing behind the elder. A similar scene was unfolding around the sea of mist.

"A celestial phenomenon! It's a celestial phenomenon again!" This thought resonated almost simultaneously with a groan in everyone's minds. In the distant sea of mist, over a dozen enormous, shimmering silver pillars of light had appeared at some unknown point. Each pillar was over a hundred yards tall, with faint golden runes flickering intermittently on their surfaces. The white mist in the sea of mist violently churned, and looking up into the sky, one could see countless densely packed, multicolored light specks surging wildly from all directions towards the center of the mist. Someone sensed it slightly, and their face instantly turned pale. Within the range of their divine sense, all the world's essence was frantically converging towards the sea of mist. Several nearby spiritual veins, seemingly strongly attracted by something, began to stir restlessly, gushing out far more spiritual energy than usual.

In the blink of an eye, large swaths of five-colored spiritual clouds condensed above the sea of mist, obscuring most of the sky. Rumbles of thunder intensified, and streaks of purple lightning arcs emerged within the clouds, intertwining and flashing wildly, like purple electric snakes appearing and disappearing among the clouds. Suddenly, a long howl echoed from within the sea of mist, followed by the eruption of immense spiritual pressure. This spiritual pressure was almost unbelievably strong. Even hundreds of miles away, the surrounding human cultivators felt their bodies sink. Those with weaker cultivation directly toppled over and fainted, faint trails of blood trickling from their seven orifices. Even those with higher cultivation, like the white-haired elder, felt their vision blur and dropped to one knee. These individuals were naturally both alarmed and enraged.

But before they could take any action, strains of Buddhist chants suddenly emanated from the five-colored spiritual clouds, and various colored runes flickered in and out of sight within the clouds. At this moment, a low, inhuman roar came from the mountain peak at the center of the sea of mist, followed by a burst of golden light. As the light dispersed, it transformed into a golden phantom. This golden phantom was over a hundred yards tall, with eyes like bells and exposed tusks. It was an exceptionally ferocious golden giant ape. The moment the ape appeared, the five-colored spiritual clouds in the sky instantly responded with a surge of thunder. Numerous purple electric snakes simultaneously shot towards a single point within the clouds, coalescing into a colossal purple flood dragon, whose size was in no way inferior to that of the giant ape. An earth-shattering clap of thunder resonated as electrical light burst from the purple flood dragon's body. With a single movement, it aggressively lunged downwards. Seeing this, the golden giant ape became exceptionally enraged. After fiercely pounding its chest with its two enormous fists, it leaped up to meet the purple flood dragon.